Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Populus – CON 33%, LAB 37%, LDEM 9%, UKIP 13% (tabs)
Ipsos MORI – CON 34%, LAB 33%, LDEM 7%, UKIP 15% (tabs)*
YouGov – CON 31%, LAB 35%, LDEM 7%, UKIP 16% (tabs)

* rougue poll........fiddled.

Cynic,

I do.

And remember we had a new comer to the primary school I was at.

He was a Maltese.

Also, can remember the newspapers with the maps with arrows and Swastikas.

Also, remember the film at a later date called The Malta Story(?).
=======

England will eventually be a full member of the EU, unless the rest of the EU reject them.

quite interesting ...... the markets are now telling us that a NO vote is the (very) likely outcome

Tonight on BBC2 9pm part 1 of part 2 documentary........."Traders: Millions By The Minute".

"Traders: Millions By The Minute" - the TV Programme

I was at Euston station earlier, seeing off my son going back to uni. There were police in pairs wearing body armour carrying large automatic weapons.

You must be a VIP Haystack , all that just for you .

Its TANKER who is on the loose.

Here's nasty for you...supposedly a charity




Would you give your home away in exchange for care?

Comment: Charity Age UK runs a controversial scheme whereby elderly homeowners sign away their properties in exchange for help living there



By Richard Dyson

10:01AM BST 15 Sep 2014

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/insurance/longtermcare/11090016/Would-you-give-your-home-away-in-order-to-be-able-to-carry-on-living-in-it.html



Would you swap your home in return for the help you need to carry on living in it? Many people do this – and have done for years – under an arrangement known as the “gifted housing service”, overseen by the giant charity Age UK.


The fact this service exists is a grim sign of how complicated and inadequate care funding in Britain has become.


Here’s how it works. Under a legal arrangement – not, importantly, a regulated financial one, like a mortgage or equity release arrangement – home owners sign away their property to Age UK.


The charity undertakes a valuation of the property and gets a medical report on the owner’s health. Most people who do this are in their 70s or 80s.


In exchange, the home owners are allowed to live on in their property, with the charity footing the bills for council tax, water, insurance and maintenance. It also promises to meet the costs of “repairs, maintenance and decoration of the structure”.


The service “helps older people live independently in their own homes while reducing the cost and responsibility of upkeep”.

There are also pledges – somewhat vague, although to be negotiated in more detail with individual donors – of help to meet care costs, such as “contributing towards home and residential care costs, should this become necessary”.

“We don’t provide hands-on care ourselves, but if you need this we will contribute to the cost of care and help find people who will provide you with good care which respects your needs,” Age UK promises.


The advantages of the gifted housing service are clear. The property owner gets to live in a well maintained home without the hassle and costs of upkeep. There is also support, advice and help at hand in the form of Age UK’s staff, plus some financial assistance with care.

But the disadvantages and potential for things to go badly awry also seem clear.

In a world where scrutiny and transparency are increasingly valued, the gifted housing service seems an anachronistic set-up.

It is a financial transaction involving elderly people parting with a major asset. That is a potentially disastrous mix.

Age UK stresses that few deals are done and extreme care taken in ensuring the arrangements are suitable for donors and understood.

But there is also the issue of profit. Quite how much Age UK has made out of this scheme isn’t clear. But I reckon it would have done very well out of some of the properties signed over to it in recent years.

True, many donors would have wanted the proceeds of their home to go to the causes Age UK champions, but it remains the case that no donor can know the value of what they sign away.

I didn't realise that Haze and family were that dangerous.

I thought a puff of wind would blow him away!

I wonder what the "Big Companies" and "city and con party toffs" are really afraid of, if, or when, Wee Alec takes over.

I wonder, if it the thought of the Scots looking at some of the tax avoidance carried on by the City members and Cooperate companies at the moment.

A little more exposure might be frightening them!

Perhaps, they are afraid of a new broom!

Just a thought.

Inflation rate - CPI has fallen to 1.5%. That should postpone any interest rate rises for a while.

So, are the jocks going to do the right thing?

Says it all!

I think Cameron is an embarrassment.

Clegg and Milliband and number of others are no better.

The changes offered have to be "ratified" by parliament.

The changes suggested are too little and too late.

Get ready for another U-turn.

The Scots (similar to many English, Irish and Welsh) don't trust Cameron or the London elite.

Cameron and his henchmen are in office and should have seen the results of the referendum and are obviously by their actions and preparations are incapable and should not be in office.

They behave like "children" without foresight and go for immediate PR short lived satisfaction!


The worst and most incompetent government the UK has had in 60years.

Whilst I share your view of Cameroon Fred.

Surely you haven't forgotten one G. Broon esq and the bust he manufactured?

And why in 2010 the Nats got in.

Wee Eck promised free prescriptions and to freeze council tax for five years. (To date he has kept his promise.).

telegraph.co.uk

French bank warns: Stay away from these 20 stocks ahead of Scotland vote
Societe Generale has warned investors to avoid 18 UK companies and two French firms ahead of a vote on Scottish independence

by Peter Spence Sept. 15, 2014

Edinburgh is home to dozens of popular investment trusts - but most of their shareholders live in England.

A 'Yes' vote this Thursday “would trigger another phase of underperformance” in Scotland exposed stocks, said Roland Kaloyan, of Societe Generale Photo: AP
France’s second biggest bank has warned investors to stay away from UK equities ahead of the Scottish referendum, singling out 20 European stocks to avoid.

Societe Generale’s basket of Scotland-exposed stocks has already underperformed the FTSE 100 by 8pc in the year-to-date, suggesting that “a risk premium is already emerging”.

18 of the 20 companies identified are based in the UK, while two are French.

A 'Yes' vote this Thursday “would trigger another phase of underperformance”, said Roland Kaloyan, of Societe Generale, while “some companies could benefit from a weaker currency in the long run”.

The list includes a number of grocers and other retailers which see a considerable proportion of their sales come from Scotland, along with banks Lloyds and RBS, both of which have Scottish brands, and are incorporated north of the border.

“A Scottish exit would probably trigger a major political crisis with the shakeup of the UK’s political landscape”, said Mr Kaloyan.

Other companies that could lose out include property, media, oil, software, telecoms, and insurance firms.

Societe Generale identified 13 stocks that could benefit from a weaker pound, as analysts suggested that a Yes vote would see the value of sterling fall further.

The stocks in this basket have all shown a 90pc correlation with sterling’s strength against the dollar.

BAE Systems featured in both lists. The company does £1.7bn of sales in Scotland, and has 3,500 employees in the country, many of which work on naval shipbuilding at Rosyth.

20 stocks investors were warned to avoid:

BAE Systems

Lloyds Banking Group

Royal Bank of Scotland

Diageo

Pernod Ricard

J Sainsbury

Tesco

WM Morrison

Standard Life

British Sky

BG Group

Technip

Hammerson

Intu Properties

Marks & Spencer

Next

Sage Group

BT Group

Centrica

SSE

13 stocks that could benefit from a weaker pound:

BAE Systems

Barclays

HSBC

Standard Chartered

SABMiller

Smiths Group

Unilever

Reckitt Benckiser

Burberry Group

WPP

ARM Holdings

British American Tobacco

Experian

Max,

I blame Brown for encouraging the USA housing market an borrowing facilities to be profligate.

Europe to spend more than their earnings on bloody social projects.

For encouraging the UK "financial" industry for encouraging s.bs. for borrowing and chasing borrowing in order for themselves to get fatter and greedier.

I blame Brown for encouraging the public to think that money grew on trees and by swapping property around they were getting "richer".

I blame G Brown for encouraging greedy B---s to think they can get fatter and ignore social responsibility and when they get they fingers burnt to turn round and blame anybody and everybody else for their own stupidity.

I blame Brown for everybody else's mistakes.

Compared with the brilliant lot currently in power he is a right idiot, as you can see, by the UK debt going down and the present deficit.


Mind the bloke Farage is a bloody genius, he knows where the blame lies and who should be held responsible.

He would make a bloody good Dalek.

Can't remember their mantra.

=============


PS,

I do blame GB for endorsing and continuing PFI contracts and the concept bequested him by Maggie Thatcher brigade!

Exec,

Are the French concerned about Taxable profits and how legislation "MAY" change ?