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.

Cynic accept it all Tories are yes men, lemmings.

All you have to do is watch the herd mentality on advfn to realise that.

i wouldn't go anywhere near advfn, but clearly you do, so what does that make you? :-)

Manuel,

Wasn't at the Lab/conference.

Was it good?

UMMMH!

cynic - 01 Oct 2014 14:11 - 46604 of 46605

i wouldn't go anywhere near advfn, but clearly you do, so what does that make you? :-)................ends

A SILLY TWA-.

IDS cons Tory conference with two missing universal credit words

Category: Latest news
Created: Tuesday, 30 September 2014 12:48

Iain Duncan Smith announced yet another slowdown of the rollout of universal credit to the Conservative conference yesterday, but managed to make it sound like a success by omitting just two vital words from his speech. Whether he actually lied or was just deeply misleading is for the reader to decide.

In a speech that verged at times on the messianic, but failed to refer at any point to massive waiting times for PIP and ESA medicals, Iain Duncan Smith announced that the roll out of universal credit was to be accelerated.

He told conference that:

“Universal Credit has now rolled out in the North West of England – to couples, shortly to families, to more than 1 in 8 jobcentres by Christmas – safely and securely as we always said.

“But, Conference, today I can announce more.

“I can announce that we are going to accelerate the delivery of Universal Credit…

“… from the New Year, bringing forward the national roll-out through 2015/16 to every community across Great Britain.”

The only problem with this was the two vital words missing from IDS’ speech, but present in the DWP press release – the roll out will only be for ‘single jobseekers’.

In other words:

not for couples;
not for families;
not for people in work;
not for people too sick and disabled to work.
In fact, only for the smallest and simplest group of universal credit claimants for whom no complex software is required at all. This is not a rollout or universal credit at all, it is the rollout of ‘universal credit lite’ to a fraction of the 8 million people who are supposed to be going to be moved onto it.

Cameron now introduces himself as gushing insincerity and a wet hand!

He believes that :

“Sincerity - if you can fake that, you've got it made.”

He didn't make it, except in the perhaps in the bars tory of the conference building.

The hangovers start to-morrow.

======

Heard another MP is forsaking the tory whip.

ESA death statistics – DWP say they will publish details, but won’t say when

Category: Latest news
Created: Thursday, 18 September 2014 10:59

The DWP is continuing to use delaying tactics to block publication of ESA death statistics, whilst claiming that they intend to release them at an undisclosed future date, we can reveal. This is the same claim that the DWP have been making for well over a year and the refusal to publish the figures is now the subject of a further challenge by Benefits and Work.

In July 2012 the DWP released a set of statistics which campaigners argued showed that around 73 people were dying every week after being found fit for work or placed in the work-related activity group.

The figures covered the period up to November 2011. Blogger and activist Mike Sivier then made a Freedom of Information Act request for updated figures for 2012. This request was refused and Sivier finally managed to get the case before an information tribunal in May 2014.

However, the tribunal ruled against Sivier on the grounds that he had urged readers of his blog to submit similar requests for the information, saying that ‘There is strength in numbers’. This action, in the view of the tribunal, made the request a vexatious one which could properly refused.

Nonetheless, the tribunal also found that had Sivier not tried to get others involved, his request would have been reasonable and even adding that “We have considerable sympathy for the Appellant”.

Based on this decision, Benefits and Work made an application to the DWP for exactly the same information contained in the original request and drawing the DWP’s attention to the tribunal’s findings.

That request was made on 15 May 2014 and should have received a response by 23 June. In fact, we received absolutely no reply to the request or to a subsequent reminder to the DWP. We then asked for a review of the DWP’s apparent decision to refuse to respond to our request.

On 10 September we finally received two responses from the DWP, one to our review request and one to the original enquiry.

The DWP apologised for the delay in replying but offered absolutely no explanation for their repeated failure to do so.

In relation to the request for the information about ESA deaths the DWP pointed out that they published the total number of deaths in July of this year.

However, those figures do not give a breakdown of how many of the claimants were found fit for work or how many had been placed in the work-related activity group. The response went on to say that:

“We can confirm that we do intend to publish further statistics on this topic and these will answer a majority of your questions. As the statistics are intended for future publication this information is exempt from disclosure under the terms of Section 22 (Information intended for future publication) of the FOIA. “

However, the DWP added that “We do not have a definite publication date at this stage but we will pre-announce the agreed date here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements”

We have now requested a review of this decision and made it clear that if we do not receive a response within the statutory period we will immediately forward the correspondence to the Information Commissioner without further notice. We’ll keep readers posted.

IDS a mass murderer???????????

In July 2012 the DWP released a set of statistics which campaigners argued showed that around 73 people were dying every week after being found fit for work or placed in the work-related activity group.

The Chancellor's hidden blow to disabled people.

Category: Latest news
Created: Tuesday, 30 September 2014 21:35

The Chancellor’s Conference speech contained a statement about disabled people and benefits which was misleading, but went largely unchallenged by the mainstream media. Mr Osborne promised a two year freeze on working age benefits if the Conservatives are re-elected but made a point of saying, "disability benefits will be excluded". Is that true?

Well, it all depends on what you consider to be a disability benefit. Included in the proposed freeze are people who receive Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and are part of the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG). These are people who the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have decided are not fit for work at the moment, but are required to undertake work related activity, with a view to returning to work in future.

The public would probably assume that this group was for people who had had an accident or injury from which they would soon recover, or an illness which was expected to get better. No doubt that’s what most of the audience in the conference hall who applauded the Chancellor’s speech would think, if they thought about it at all.

However, this is far from the truth. People placed in the WRAG may have serious disabilities or degenerative conditions, from which (barring a miracle), they will never recover. Last year Parkinson’s UK reported that 43 per cent of people with Parkinson’s, MS, or other progressive conditions, who found they could no longer work and put in a claim for ESA, were placed in the WRAG group. The DWP was telling them they would recover, but as Parkinson’s UK pointed out, "This directly contradicts the definition of a progressive condition, which can only get worse over time."

He didn't mention in the previous heart of manufacturing:


1 October 2014 Last updated at 11:01

UK manufacturing growth at 17-month low in September

And borrowing and DEBT at the highest its been for years.

Dan Hodges

Dan Hodges is a former Labour Party and GMB trade union official, and has managed numerous independent political campaigns. He writes about Labour with tribal loyalty and without reservation. He is on Twitter at @dpjhodges.







Ed Miliband is toast. Only Nigel Farage can stop David Cameron now




By Dan Hodges Politics Last updated: October 1st, 2014

Comment on this Comment on this article




That should be it. Anyone objectively assessing where British politics stands after David Cameron’s speech to the Conservative Party conference could only reach one logical conclusion. It is him, rather than Ed Miliband, who will be Britain’s Prime Minister after May next year.

Talking to MPs and advisers in the wake of the Labour leader’s speech last week, the most optimistic line I could get from any of them was the assessment: “Yes, it’s been a disaster. But the impact of party conferences is overestimated.” They’d better pray long and hard that is indeed the case. Because I’m struggling to recall a conference season – or two leaders' speeches – that have so starkly drawn the dividing line between the two men, and parties, who seek to lead their country.

In what was easily the most political address of his premiership, David Cameron tore the Labour Party to pieces. Its senior leadership were simply eviscerated. Ed Miliband: “Ed – people forget their car keys, school kids sometimes forget their homework. But if you want to be Prime Minister of this country, you cannot forget the biggest challenge we face”. Ed Balls: “A few weeks ago, Ed Balls said that in 13 years of government, Labour had made 'some mistakes'. 'Some mistakes'? Excuse me?” Tristram Hunt: ““Tristram Hunt and I might both have been educated at some of the best schools in our country. But here’s the difference. You, Tristram – like the rest of the Labour Party – want to restrict those advantages. I want to spread them to every child in Britain.”

Labour’s strategy had been to try to bridge the chasm between the two parties on economic credibility by arguing that the macroeconomy could not be divorced from the day-to-day costs being born by ordinary families. Cameron turned that strategy on its head. You can only deliver for ordinary people, he said, if you get the management of the macroeconomy right.

He then proceeded to drive a coach and horses through Labour’s cost of living narrative, by unveiling not one but two dramatic tax cuts. The bottom rate income tax threshold would be raised to £12,500, he announced, while the threshold on the 40p rate would be raised to £50,000.

A strong element of intellectual – not to mention economic – dishonesty underpins this offer. Despite the constant mantra of “tough choices”, it’s nothing more than a good old fashioned pre-election bribe, one that a country staring at a £100 billion deficit mountain can ill afford. But it will work, for the simple reason that over the past four years the Tories have earned the right to be trusted on the economy, and Labour have not.

With every fresh passage he pumped another bullet into the warm corpse of Ed Miliband’s New Politics. “Other parties preach to you about a Brave New World. We understand you have to start with the real world and make it better."

And then, in the most powerful section of his speech, he set out to demonstrate that – unlike his opponents – he was not prepared to accept any political no-go areas. “I am someone who has relied on the NHS – whose family knows more than most how important that is. Who knows what it’s like to go to hospital night after night with a child in your arms, knowing that when you get there you will have people who will care for that child and love that child like their own. How dare [Labour] suggest I would ever put that at risk for other people’s children? How dare they frighten those who are relying on the NHS right now?”

Tonight on your news bulletins, you’ll see Samantha Cameron, moved to tears by that passage. And it will remind the voters – not that they really need any reminding – that David Cameron does not need to go wandering about on Hampstead Heath to connect with ordinary people.

So that should be it. There will be no more relaunches for Ed Miliband or his party. There is no more time. Today was the day that David Cameron finished Labour as an electoral threat. The choice facing voters at the next election will be as glaring as it was when Margaret Thatcher and Michael Foot were last on the ballot paper in 1983.

Or that would be it, if Labour were the only political threat confronting David Cameron. But they’re not. Rumours are currently circulating of a fresh Ukip defection, to be unveiled at 5pm. It could turn out to be a feint. But even if it is, the threat of further defections will remain.

Yesterday, I wrote that the time had come for David Cameron to tackle Ukip directly. In the end, he did tackle them, but only obliquely. “If you vote Ukip that’s really a vote for Labour,” he said, before adding “Here’s a thought. On 7 May you could go to bed with Nigel Farage, and wake up with Ed Miliband."

It was a nice line, and it underpins his central message: “Vote Farage, Get Miiband”. But will it be enough?

David Cameron has drawn a clear dividing line between himself and Ed Miliband. What he hasn’t done is draw a clear dividing line between himself and those malcontents in his party who would be only too happy to get into bed with Nigel Farage, even if it means seeing Ed Miliband taking up residence in the master bedroom of Downing Street.

Perhaps the strength of his speech will give them pause for thought. The Tories are leaving Birmingham emboldened, confident that the election really is there to be won. Maybe that will be sufficient to keep David Cameron's backbenches pacified, if not unified.

But maybe it won’t. The Prime Minister has had conference triumphs before. And when the applause has faded, treacherous figures have again and again been seen flitting through the Westminster shadows.

Last week, Ed Miliband’s supporters were telling anyone who would listen that party conference speeches don’t really matter. After the speech David Cameron just delivered, they will be praying long and hard that they're right. The Prime Minister and his supporters must pray with equal fervour they are wrong.

I have been listening to a number of BBC interviews of Wavy Dave's speech since he gave it.

They are hitting ---- out of the figures and the speech.

It must be embarrassing for others than Hazyone trying to defend him.

Can be seen from a donation to UKIP from a Mr Nobody Arron Banks has been lifted from £100,000 to £1,000,000.

See Cameron is running the party coffers like he has run the UK economy.

I suppose that neither are his, so it doesn't matter.

I wonder if he has shorts on the Cons and the UK.

What I don't agree with is : the referendum on Europe; now is that going to make people vote Tory ?...it's putting me right off !.......but the problem is that in the UK the average person in the street probably doesn't want to be with Europe....but then again perhaps they do.....what is the point of this ?....Britain is part of the common market....what shouldn't have been agreed is that all the riffraff throw-outs of Europe arriving here on our shores....this is why the "you quits" are doing well.....it is too late to debate whether we should be part of the common market, but immigration is a massive problem with all the rubbish from Africa arriving on our doorsteps as well !...do we want that middle east no good lot here ?.....if these people were well educated : it wouldn't be so bad, but they are not...it ends up with: crime...drugs..murders..and puts our own jobs at risk because these people will work for much less than us as their own countries are one big F---up...and British people no longer feel at home in their own country !...

To add to this : I fear that this referendum nonsense is an election loser !...and as far as the markets are concerned : it will create market uncertainty in the UK for years as nothing is clear at all....what difference is yes or no going to make ?.....what is JC going to do if he wins the next election ?.....go back to the Euro big-wigs,,, hey...we want a better deal....they are going to answer....vee shall think about zis and will get back to you....it's all bollocks......and this is what we are governed by....jesus...

Seems similar to the indigenous population.

Should mix easily into the UK.

Didn't Britain, France Italy etc. rule these countries at sometime or other and educated and civilised them to "Western Ways" or was that just to pillage and rape?

Perhaps, I am wrong!

======

It is similar to the whims of the London elite trying to socialise the NE.

(Or was that Harrowing of the North of England.)

http://order-order.com/2014/10/01/there-has-been-no-global-warming-for-past-18-years/

Dan Hodges CHRIS!!!!!!!!LOL LO LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LO LOL LOL LOL LO LOL LO LO LO LOL

Ohhhhhhh he hee ha ha ho ho arr ha ha aha hoo LOL.

You obviously dont know the history.

He's spot on though gf :0)

Aye!