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.

Labour calls Commons vote over Lord Freud comments on disabled workers – The Guardian



Labour will force a Commons vote on Lord Freud’s future after David Cameron refused to dismiss him as welfare minister for his suggestion that some disabled workers are not worth the minimum wage, according to The Guardian.

The Conservative peer has been allowed to remain in his job after apologising for the comment, but Labour will table a motion of no confidence to be voted on later this month.

Separately, the Independent on Sunday reported that a second government minister had made contentious comments over the role of disabled people in the workplace. Andrew Selous, a justice minister, was said to have told a fringe meeting at the Tory party conference that “disabled people work harder because they’re grateful to have a job”.

Read the full story here.

Labour calls Commons vote over Lord Freud comments on disabled workers
Shadow ministers say it is disgraceful that David Cameron has not removed Freud from his post as welfare minister

The Guardian, Sunday 19 October 2014 16.33 BST

Labour will force a Commons vote on Lord Freud’s future after David Cameron refused to dismiss him as welfare minister for his suggestion that some disabled workers are not worth the minimum wage.

The Conservative peer has been allowed to remain in his job after apologising for the comment, but Labour will table a motion of no confidence to be voted on later this month.

Separately, the Independent on Sunday reported that a second government minister had made contentious comments over the role of disabled people in the workplace. Andrew Selous, a justice minister, was said to have told a fringe meeting at the Tory party conference that “disabled people work harder because they’re grateful to have a job”.

Rachel Reeves, the shadow work and pensions secretary said the prime minister’s failure to act to remove Freud was astonishing. She said: “When the disgraceful and offensive views like this go unchallenged within the Conservative party it’s clear that mask has slipped and the nasty party is back. Labour will table a motion of no confidence in Lord Freud because we believe it’s completely unacceptable that David Cameron has failed to sack his minister for welfare reform.”

The shadow housing minister Emma Reynolds said it was “absolutely disgraceful” that Freud had not been removed from his post, and rejected the suggestion her party was playing politics with the saga. She told the BBC’s Sunday Politics: “I don’t think suggesting that disabled people, regardless of their disability, should be working for £2 an hour is acceptable.”

Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, said the implication of Freud’s comment was that “some people aren’t worth as much as others”. He disagreed with the suggestion that the peer had been talking about topping up wages with benefits as a way of getting more disabled people into the workplace.

He told Pienaar’s Politics on Radio 5: “This isn’t the first thing he has said … he is completely out of touch, this bloke.” He was referring to a comment last year that an increase in numbers of families using food banks was not necessarily linked to benefits sanctions or delays.

Last month Freud was recorded at a conference fringe meeting responding to a Tory councillor who suggested that people with mental health problems may be unable to work because employers were unwilling to pay them the statutory minimum.

He replied: “You make a really good point about the disabled … There is a group – and I know exactly who you mean – where actually, as you say, they’re not worth the full wage and actually I’m going to go and think about that particular issue, whether there is something we can do nationally, and without distorting the whole thing, which actually if someone wants to work for £2 an hour, and it’s working, can we actually …”

Cameron flatly disowned the peer’s remarks when questioned by the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, at prime minister’s questions, and later ordered Freud to apologise. Freud has since offered “a full and unreserved apology”, saying he was foolish to accept the premise of the question.

Freud said: “To be clear, all disabled people should be paid at least the minimum wage, without exception, and I accept that it is offensive to suggest anything else. I care passionately about disabled people. I am proud to have played a full part in a government that is fully committed to helping disabled people overcome the many barriers they face in finding employment.”

The vote on the motion of no confidence is expected to take place on 29 October during an opposition day debate.

fred - it was most certainly not me describing turkey as a "key ally" but the whole article was related to fighting IS and specifically relieving kobani

How can Labour win the GE without Wales and Scotland ?

How can the Tories win the GE with David Cameron?.

Whoever agrees to link up with ukip (with suitable arrangements about seats etc) will win hands down.

GF.

They can't.

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Farage is also dead in the water.

Political policies which belong in the past and hopefully where both are heading.

Farage back to the pub to rot his liver and Dave to ride with the hounds!

Fred I dont know if you know but word is if Reckless wins for UKIP in the By election there is a list of 40 plus Tories who will force a leadership battle.


Could be very interesting.

Isnt it too late for a leadership battle?

Sounds ok for Labour.

The British Medical Association, the Conservatives, Plaid Cymru nationalists and Labour MP Ann Clwyd are all demanding an independent inquiry. And a survey out today shows that seven out of ten voters agree.

The Mail’s investigation will reveal that:

Police are probing allegations of neglect of vulnerable patients in South Wales hospitals;
Six nurses are on criminal charges, 15 are suspended and more arrests are expected;
Families who have complained say medical records have been altered or gone missing;
Ambulances can take hours to arrive even in emergencies;
Elderly patients are denied food and water for long spells and told to ‘go to the toilet’ in their beds.

Yesterday another scandal erupted at the Glan Clwyd Hospital in Rhyl, North Wales, where police are investigating claims that staff used furniture to restrain dementia patients.

Is Nick Clegg the biggest hypocrite in British politics?

The neutering of the Recall Bill is only the latest piece of humbug from the Lib Dem leader






By Robert Colvile

12:26PM BST 20 Oct 2014





“This country deserves better than the tawdry Westminster politics we get from Labour and the Tories – and I am going to keep hammering away at the system every single day, because bit by bit that system will break to let the people in.”


Whose recent party conference speech is this taken from? It certainly sounds an awful lot like Nigel Farage, with its outsider, smash-the-system message. But no: the speaker is the chap whose name and picture adorn the top of this article: Nick Clegg.


But that’s a bit strange, because tomorrow, Clegg will introduce the Recall of MPs Bill for its Second Reading in Parliament. And that Bill doesn’t “let the people in” at all. On the contrary – it keeps them firmly in their grubby little place.


As today's Telegraph’s leader explains, the idea of recall (which went rapidly up the political agenda after the expenses scandal five years ago) is that if a set proportion of an MP’s constituents petition for their removal, a by-election is triggered.


Alas, the plans fell into the hands of dear old Nick. The result was a Bill which permits voters to recall MPs only if they’ve been convicted of a crime, or suspended from the Commons. In other words, an idea intended to set the voters up as judge and jury has consigned them to the role of occasional executioner – under circumstances so limited that the right will hardly ever be invoked.

How on earth can that be described as “hammering away at the system”, or taking on “tawdry Westminster politics”? It can’t. But that’s classic Clegg – he’s a politician whose defining feature is his capacity not just to engage in acts of hypocrisy, but to continue preaching to the rest of us about our sins as if nothing has happened. On issue after issue, Clegg’s capacity for the volte face is unmatched.


Consider the following: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/nick-clegg/11174093/Is-Nick-Clegg-the-biggest-hypocrite-in-British-politics.html

Cyners,

My history isn't great, but I think the business of Turkey being a western ally stems back to WWII. In addition, it's a geographical crossroads where Christianity meets Islam, so it's understandable that the west want to tread lightly round those parts.

GF>

Can I light the fuse?

8-)

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i was questioning the statement "a key ally" and how on earth that could apply in the present circumstances

Turkey is a key ally in several ways. They are members of NATO these days. They allow NATO and specifically the US to use air bases in Turkey. One base is shared with Turkish military right on the Syrian border and one is on the Aegean Sea for just NATO (the US in practice) and is ideal for Med operations.

Here's a little fuse for you Fred! :-)


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2799411/labour-s-nhs-shame-exposed-mail-investigation-reveals-meltdown-labour-run-welsh-nhs-police-probing-allegations-horrifying-neglect.html

i'm afraid the hospitals in wales have a long history of poor service, so this report is almost old news redredged

doodlebug, aka Stigologist aka Holden, be very careful very careful, new law means you can now go to prison for 2 years for Trolling.

With your record id start collecting corks now bud.

I agree that the story is not new. However, it is always good to remind people of the incompetence and hypocrisy of Labour.