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.

Oct 16, 2014 07:46
OPINION BY TORCUILCRICHTON
TORCUIL believes Labour Party can't afford to be seen to be offering the smallest amount of revenue raising powers to Holyrood out of Westminster parties.

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Gordon Brown warns against giving full tax powers to Scotland but Labour must compromise
HOW do you reverse out of a lobster creel?

That is the question facing Labour as it takes tentative steps into the Smith Commission on more devolution for Scotland.

David Cameron set out bear jaws for Ed Miliband after the referendum by explicitly linking more Holyrood powers to English votes for English laws.

Sheer Scottish fury made the Prime Minister deactivate that blatant trap.

But by proposing almost full devolution of income tax to Holyrood, the Tories have laid a smarter snare.

Labour enters the talks as the party with the lowest tax devolution offer, 15p out of 20p.

They appear reluctant to deliver tax demands which would allow Ruth Davidson to re-launch the Scottish Tories as the low-tax party.

Labour’s arguments are reasoned, to keep the Union together there has to be shared responsibility for taxation.

The effects of full tax devolution on the UK would be two-fold; it would weaken the pooling of resources for pensions and welfare.

By implication, if English votes are part of the trade-off, there would be less reason to detain Scottish MPs at Westminster.

For Gordon Brown such a move hands the constitutional war to the referendum losers, the SNP.

But in simultaneously opposing both tax devolution and English votes, Labour could be portrayed as anti-Scottish and anti-English in the anti-politics 2015 election. Tricky things, these lobster creels.

A hint of what will go on behind closed doors was offered by Greg McClymont MP in the Commons devolution debate.

The success of the UK, he said, has been based on “England’s tolerance of the desires of the much smaller Celtic nations of this Union.”

Historically the elaborate legal, religious and political balances in the Union ironed out the majority influence of the largest partner, England. It makes Britain a great success. Better, for example, than Holland, the dominant region of the state we should properly call The Netherlands.

If they want to keep the UK the Tories will have to look at the other end of periscope and appreciate that for mongrel Celts sharing an island nation with a dominant partner can seem unfair too.

But it strike me that Labour is going to have to compromise, and up it’s tax offer in that argument for shared responsibilities.

How do you reverse out of a lobster creel? Walk sideways like a crab, I guess.

http://news.sky.com/story/1353387/ebola-hazmat-suits-on-sale-for-halloween

£50 for a Halloween suit!

From t'Interweb:

"At times like these the best thing to do is usually nothing at all. An investor who remained fully invested in the market during the 20 years from 1994 would have made a cumulative return of over 300pc. One who missed just the 10 best days in the market by withdrawing during periods of volatility would have reduced their total return by two thirds.

Short-term volatility is the price that stock market investors pay for long-term outperformance."

Ahhh but wait on an active fund manager would have beaten that return by at least double.

Say 20 years times 30% a year= 600%

that's a brave call!
active fund managers are often and rightly accused of churning

Ok somebody with a smaller portfolio and less restrictions, I remember you once saying a few years back you had made over 70% for the year, I regulary do between 60% and 75%.

Add in the Dot Com Year and it blows this even higher.

I have no idea what I do on spreads, I make alot more withdrawals than deposits is all I know... On equities and bonds I've lost count, I just hold these and every now and again I either withdraw the divi's or reinvest them.

DO ANGRY UKIP VOTERS THREATEN TORY FUTURE?

by Peter Kellner in Commentary, Front Page and Politics
Mon October 13, 2014 10:51 a.m. BST

David Cameron has six months in which to stop Ukip’s bandwagon. If he fails, the Conservatives risk not only losing next year’s general election but suffering lasting damage.

http://yougov.co.uk/news/2014/10/13/do-angry-ukip-voters-threaten-tory-future/

Still I've not got enough yet for one of these..!

Farage seen as doing better than ever

by William Jordan in Front Page and Politics
Sun October 12, 2014 10:21 a.m. BST

Six in ten voters now say the UKIP leader is doing well, but only 11% think he would make the best Prime Minister out of the main party leaders Nigel Farage has promised victory for Tory defector Mark Reckless in his upcoming by-election in Rochester and Strood, following a week ...
Read more...

http://yougov.co.uk/news/2014/10/12/farage-seen-doing-better-than-ever/

At the last election Labour enjoyed the benefit of incumbency. They represented a known quantity. People may not have liked Gordon Brown or his administration, but they knew where it stood on the major issues of the day. Back then it was David Cameron and the Tories who represented a leap in the dark. In seven months time it is the black void of an Ed Miliband government the voters will see stretching before them. And come the moment of decision many of them will refuse the invitation to jump.

There is one final reason why the 29 per cent Labour secured in 2010 is no longer the floor for Labour’s vote share. A significant proportion of that 2010 vote has already crumbled away. A YouGov poll published in February found that Labour had lost 26 per cent of its vote from the last election. Half a million Labour voters have died. 1.2 million have switched to other parties. And a further 800,000 say they don’t know how they’ll vote now. In fact, YouGov’s survey found the Tories have more “loyal” voters (6.5 million) than Labour (6.1 million). So, based on those figures, Labour’s base is actually around 21.5 per cent.

It’s unlikely that even Ed Miliband will manage to drag Labour that far down. But those Labour supporters who were reassuring themselves with the thought that at least things couldn’t get worse than 2010 were wrong.

In 2010 Labour had a more popular leader. Since 2010 Labour has not acknowledged its mistakes, nor has it moved on. The only way the Lib Dem vote can go is up. In 2010 there was no SNP threat in Scotland. Or Mansion Tax threat in London. Or Ukip surge. Labour enjoyed the benefits of incumbency. David Cameron and the Tories represented the risk of the unknown. And quarter of those 2010 votes have already melted away.

Things can get worse for Labour. A lot worse.


The Telegraph

DB - You have to also remember that Gordon Brown although he had the title of PM and assumed the position of PM was never elected by the people. Also his and Blairs handbags at 10 feet commotion didn't do his chances any good along with his attitude.

That is very true Shortie and neither did the fact that he forgot he still had his microphone switched on when he called that woman a -------------------- and it was on all the television networks about five minutes later!

Interesting odds.

Wavy Dave had better get down there quick if he wants the Kippers to win.


UKIP 2/7

Conservatives 10/3

Labour 33

Greens 250

Democrats 500

strood by-election odds i assume

Apparently.....Richard Madely has warned about : somebody wanting to rape Judy Finegan : Jesus...crikey!...........................................................................................................................................................................................................must be insane !.....

the party who states for real that they will get immigrants down and out will take the biggest votes all my family and thousands of friends want out of the stinking eu and get immigrants out

I think it was threats of rape against his daughter.

Look at the TWIT thread required field.