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.

"Bone idle".

Is that the same as lying on one's back and earning a living?

Or, perhaps, sitting one one assets and screwing the market?

From a post on the other side.

Devo max is lunacy. Handing Salmond a blank cheque as well as the ability "to borrow" off England/Wales credit card is a crack pot idea of the first order.

Who came up with that one?

Oh yes Gordon Brown I see. Now there's a surprise

Actually, doods, I disagree with you about the frogs being the best wine producers in the world. Their wine is far too inconsistent in quality imo, something you don't get from many of the new world vineyards.

And the food? I've not meant a froggy chef yet who isn't up his own backside, and the standard of service in their restaurants is very often, err, non-existent. Gimme Italian food any day of the week, but, if you're a lover of steak, I suggest you get yourself down to Buenos Aires in time for dinner.

Scottish Independence Bank Run Already Underway - Video

Politics / Scotland
Sep 16, 2014 - 11:41 AM GMT


http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article47357.html

WINE
i confess i don't entirely agree with you hilary
at the top end, i don't think new world red burgundies come anywhere close to their french counterparts, nor do i think there is anything even akin to rhone white roussanne and marsanne, nor even viognier ..... for that matter, where else is there the equivalent of quality CNP or even cru beaujolais?


STEAK
give me well hung scottish grass-fed aberdeen angus entrecote with some decent marbling, or 2-4-bone forerib for roasting


FRENCH RESTAURANTS
it's certainly far easier to eat poorly than of yore, and as for french motorway stops, they've gone back 20 years to the bad old days in UK
but come with us on our cycling trips, or follow my (our) recommendations, and you'll eat very well without breaking the bank, and sometimes in some surprising places

Bad news for anyone wanting shot of the jocks.



Https://betting.betfair.com/politics/scottish-independence-referendum-betting/scottish-independence-betting-betfair-sportsbook-pays-out-early-on-no-160914-51.html

Simon Jack ‏@simonjacktoday
Betfair have paid out on a NO vote. Meanwhile Ladbrokes say they have taken 250k in last 24 hours - 70% of bets taken in Scotland on YES.

What do you reckon gf?

the markets nearly always get it right, and i have no reason to think otherwise this time

Whatever happens, Cameroon's finished!



David Cameron faces Tory 'bloodbath' over 'unfair' cash for Scotland

Tory backbenchers vow to block 'on the hoof' promise to sustain higher Scottish funding





By Matthew Holehouse, Political Correspondent

16 Sep 2014




David Cameron faces a “bloodbath” at the hands of Tory MPs after all three parties pledged to continue high levels of funding for Scotland if it rejects independence.


The Prime Minister is facing mounting dissent among English backbenchers after promising that Scotland’s special funding arrangements will continue even when the country is given control over its own taxation and spending.


One Tory MP said the promise to Scottish voters, issued by Mr Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg in the Daily Record newspaper, “smacks of desperation”.


Under the Barnett formula, devised in the 1970s by Labour Treasury minister Lord Barnett, spending is allocated according to population size, rather than the amount each country actually needs.


Critics say this gives Scotland an unfair share of government spending and even Lord Barnett has called for it to be replaced.



One female Tory MP said Mr Cameron’s promise, issued just two days before the polls open, was “desperate”.

“There will be a bloodbath. Last night as I was listening to Cameron saying we are going to be providing all these additional benefits to Scotland, when we are struggling in so many areas of the UK.




more : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scottish-independence/11098825/David-Cameron-faces-Tory-bloodbath-over-unfair-cash-for-Scotland.html

Hilary I think you must be going to some strange eating places in France! I'm fed up of eating ridiculously expensive poor quality food in this country. Bog standard pub grub is now silly prices, plus you can be surrounded by screaming kids whose parents cannot be arsed to keep them under control. Dining in France is totally different and I agree with cynic that you can find some real hidden gems where the locals produce some wonderful food which they take pride in presenting to their customers.

MaxK to close to call.

Im just down to 4 stocks now in my folio.

Has Cameron been watching Roxy Music with Jerry Hall (Clegg coming on with a wig).....?...looks like it....Miliband is looking more and more like Jack Nicholson in "The Shining" in the pictures I see of him !..
Can't beat France for food....I think a big problem for the French is that they have had it very good for decades now but there is now a lack of good job prospects over there and to put it bluntly : France is like one giant holiday camp....and they can't see it !....that's all very well for the well-off, but there are a lot of poor people in France that are really in desperate need of a job !...also the french are always shouting about Europe all the time...but they are the first to slam it.....the two things don't mix...

Doods,

I'm not going to disagree that eating out in rural France can sometimes represent good value for money. But that's not what you originally said...

You said 'the quality of food they serve takes some beating'. You weren't making a comparison to British cuisine in that statement. It's a matter of personal opinion, of course, but I would say that I prefer Italian, Indian, Chinese and some others to French cuisine. Those nations have done more, imo, in terms of getting flavour out of their food than the French ever had.

As examples, I was fortunate enough to eat at elBulli a couple of times before it closed, so it's probably a dis-service to the Spanish to bemoan their food, and if you've ever had street food from the Dai Pai Dongs in Hong Kong, you'll know that the tastes and flavours can be sublime. Ditto, if you've ever been to New Orleans and sampled some of the creole food they serve there. Probably the nicest risotto I've ever had was in a hotel in the Italian Alps, and the fegato con burro e salvia they serve in a little place I know outside Milan really takes some beating.

So yeah, I've been around the world, and I've eaten in a few joints, and I have to say that French cuisine doesn't stand out for me in a global comparison.

chacun a son gout

and the wines?
or shall we by-pass that one? :-)

No, there's no need to pass the wines by, Cyners.

It's a matter of personal opinion and taste as to which wines are the very best and you quickly named a few that suited your palate. But you neglected to mention that some froggy vineyards produce real paint stripper, and the stuff from the co-operatives can be mediocre at best. The quality varies considerably (probably because they let old grannies with verukas tread the grapes) within each French wine producing region.

That variation in quality is much less common from new world wines.

The type of joint I would expect to see Manuel waiting on the hairy one at.