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.

sticks - what is interesting, is that eu (not the treasury i think) decided to estimate for gdp the amount earned from drugs and prostitution .... i'm sure it was all declared to hmrc!

it's not much different from when hmrc arbitrarily decides how much a waiter or cab driver has earned from tips and taxed accordingly .... the victim then has to somehow prove a negative

about as fair as morton's fork of medieval times

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0IA0JU20141021?irpc=932

Weary French bosses square up as Hollande takes on '50th worker' reform

PARIS (Reuters) - Of all the decisions that Dominique Goubault says have helped to keep his 117-year-old family business alive, one in particular raises eyebrows: limiting his staff numbers to 49 or fewer.

The CEO is among many bosses in France who won't hire a 50th worker, in order to avoid the subsequent obligation to run and pay for an in-house works council - something Goubault says is costly, time-consuming, and "entirely useless".

Goubault's frustration is shared by bosses of small and mid-sized businesses right across France, who say their growth is stifled by endless bureaucratic demands regulating everything from worker representatives to office space to healthcare.

It's a cry that President Francois Hollande - watching the country's economy stagnate and its unemployment levels stick above 10 percent - is finally heeding. While all of Europe is grappling with poor growth and the threat of deflation, France is one of its weakest members - and under pressure from its euro zone partners to take action to halt the drag.

Though Hollande is now pushing through market reforms such as limited deregulation of protected jobs and more Sunday opening times in order to get more people into work and jumpstart the economy, Goubault says it may be too late.

Bosses have been for so long cowed by high taxes, punitive workforce rules and worries about the wider European economy that, even unshackled, they may still balk at hiring.

"It's great that they are finally doing something about these idiotic rules," said Goubault, 49, the fourth generation of printers to run Goubault Imprimeur in western France.

"But in the current context, with all the other issues we have, I don't think we should expect companies to start recruiting aggressively overnight."

DEAL BY YEAR-END

Hollande has asked managers and unions to strike a deal by year-end to work around rules mandating escalating bureaucratic obligations that kick in at 10, 50 and 300 employees.

France's Ifrap think tank wrote in a recent study that removing threshold effects could create 140,000 jobs, with more than 22,500 firms likely to grow if thresholds were removed.

In 2012, France counted 1,600 companies with 49 employees, which fell abruptly to 600 firms with 50 employees, according to CGPME, the main lobby for small- and medium-sized businesses.

"Companies just don't try to expand, which means they don't have enough critical mass to export their products," said Genevieve Roy, vice president of social affairs at the CGPME.

It's this lack of export capacity that has hurt the French economy and set its firms at a disadvantage to competitors in Germany - a raft of mid-sized, export-oriented firms that have steadily gained market share from France in the past few years and helped keep Germany's economy afloat.

Germany's firms are helped by more flexible worker representation thresholds. A works council can be elected in any unit with staff of five or more, but is not obligatory, while firms with more than 20 employees need only choose one 'safety advisor' - rather than the committee of several that is required in French firms with 50 workers or more.

In 2013, Germany had 55,510 medium-sized firms with more than 250 workers versus 21,418 in France, according to European Commission data. Medium-sized firms accounted for 2.6 percent of all firms in Germany versus 0.9 percent in France.

Among French law's most irksome features for managers - aside from electing worker representatives at set levels - are rules requiring them to set aside designated office space, create permanent health and wellness committees, set up profit-sharing schemes and, in the case of downsizing, strike collective severance deals - all of which drains resources.

Hiring a 50th staffer also increases the amount of paperwork the companies must file to the state. That extra head means companies then have to apply a further 30 legal norms, including obligations to maintain detailed records of their hiring activity to ensure gender equality.

SATELLITES

The rules are so off-putting that many small business-owners simply prefer to start new, satellite firms rather than hire a 50th worker - creating yet more tiny corporate structures.

"I've been tempted at various points to hire a 50th worker," said Goubault, 49. "But when you look at the costs - 3.5 percent of my total salary costs - and all the obligations, you think, what's the point? It bothers me and doesn't help my workers."

cynic - 04 Nov 2014 16:41 - 49175 of 49176

sticks - what is interesting, is that eu (not the treasury i think) decided to estimate for gdp the amount earned from drugs and prostitution .... i'm sure it was all declared to hmrc!...........................................ends

according to big wigs on SKY it was our OBR that submitted the figures and dont forget Osbourne as still to tick them off, make no wonder him and his department kept it quiet from Dave.

HAYS stop deflecting from your creeps actions.

Most bent government ever.

Use 1 figure for the homeland and say its in our best interests and then use the same figure against the EEC, make no wonder Merkel and Co want to pi-s on us.

Look at the 3 month figures for unemployed.

AT LEAST 1.5 MILLION LEFT OFF THE LIST.

Have they become MOLE PEOPLE???????????????

FRED........ IM in top form.

Her indoors looked at this earlier and she said KICK THE SHIT OUT OF THEM. That hays.

She said she liked how Max posted??????????????????????????????

Hey watch it Max.

ah well, rumour has it that she likes flogging dead horses too :-)

according to big wigs on SKY it was our OBR that submitted the figures

why would they do that?
nothing to gain

Hey watch it you. Thats private. You never know whos looking in eg, the chuckle brothers.

Ed Balls said Labour should be proud of its achievements in office, but should also be 'grown up' about where mistakes were made and learn from them





share on Facebook





share
on Twitter





share
on Google+





email





(1) comments





print



. First published Monday 22 September 2014 in National News .
© by Press Association 2014


Shadow chancellor Ed Balls has apologised for "mistakes" made by the previous Labour government, saying it is important to explain how the party will do things differently in future.

He told Labour's annual conference in Manchester that delegates should be proud of many of Labour's achievements in office, including the minimum wage, nursery places, civil partnerships, children's centres and "saving" the NHS.




But he said where mistakes were made, governments should be "grown up" about them, adding: "We should put our hands up, learn from the past and explain how we will do things differently in the future.

"So conference, we should have had tougher rules on immigration from Eastern Europe - it was a mistake not to have transitional controls in 2004, and we must change the rules in the future.

"Longer transitional controls for new countries, a longer time people have to work before they can get unemployment benefit, stopping people claiming child benefit and tax credits for families abroad, cracking down on employers who exploit migrant workers and undercut wages by avoiding the minimum wage and proper rights at work.

"Tough controls, fair rules, that is what we mean by fair movement not free movement.

"And conference, while it was the banks which caused the global recession, and it was the global recession which caused deficits to rise here in Britain and around the world, the truth is we should have regulated those banks in a tougher way.

"It was a mistake. We should apologise for it. And I do.

"As we get the deficit down, we must reform our banks for the future so that can never happen again.

"We didn't do enough to tackle the underlying causes of rising spending on housing benefit and in-work poverty.

. .

"So the next Labour government will raise the minimum wage, build more homes to get the housing benefit bill down and cap overall spending on social security."

Mr Balls added that Labour should not have scrapped the 10p starting rate of income tax.

It is because we are too honest in our stats. Italy and France in particular, lie about their economies. We are regarded as the gold standard regarding our statistics.

whoops - sorry!
just been corrected, it's you she likes flogging but apparently it's mutual pleasure
she says that the reason you weren't on here for a couple of weeks is that she got over-excited and you then couldn't sit on a chair to type

OBR are now like Bank of England, separate and give an unbiased opinion. ..........My arse.

Thing is tho they are based at nos 11 Downing street and we all know who lives,there.

Would be same under labour. ...........certainly.

Which was the worst New Labour mistake, joining the attack on Iraq or the mass immigration tsunami?





















.


Best AnswerAsker's Choice

Veritas answered 7 years ago



Without doubt, immigration. Iraq will stop one day, the effects of immigration will be with us forever. We should never forget which Government was responsible, that, and many other crimes.

Asker's Rating & Comment
5 out of 5absolutely right Veritas, bad as Iraq is it will someday be history. mass immigration will not only be our history it will be our future
2

1



Comment

.


Other Answers (16)
Relevance









Rodriguez answered 7 years ago


Getting into power - actually no, that was the mistake of other people for thinking they would improve the country, not make it 10 times worse. Everyone sing along now...

There's a circus in the town, in the town
Gordon Brown is a clown, is a clown
And Alistair Darling's a tight-fisted ****
And Labour, are going f**king down!

2

1



Comment

.



Simon600 answered 7 years ago


Veritas is right, mass immigration has spoilt our old community and I hope the electorate never forgive them

Gordon Brown, please go and take your experimental internationalisation of the UK with you. If your party ever gets into power in say 50 years I hope you ASK the people before making such a change to the UK.( By then you may need to ask in Arabic)

1

1



Comment

.



lucii answered 7 years ago


Nothing goes as it is promised. This lot may go, but the other party's have to clear up, make their own mistakes, and were back to black But in my opinion immigration is the worst.

5

0



Comment

.



Nicholas answered 7 years ago


In terms of immigration is not all labours fault, some of this is stipulated by the EU about freedom of movement within the EU. Am not saying labour are blameless but there are other factors involved.
To be fair i would like more British people getting access to British jobs and think its a disgrace that British doctors who graduate from Britian are not picked first by the NHS but go for the option of foreign graduates/doctors.

Before anyone comments i am not racist i would just like to see our country support our people. I am talking about graduate opportunities not the job market in general as foreign workers do help contribue where they are a shortage of skills

4

3



Comment

.



Zed answered 7 years ago


Harriet Harmon in a Stab Vest has got to be one of their biggest mistakes. lol...

A fine example of what 10 years of Labour Government does to a country. They've f*cked it up so bad, they themselves feel unsafe in their own constituencies. What an appalling message to the nation.

What is the biggest mistake Labour have ever made since 1997?





















.


Best AnswerAsker's Choice

CLIVE H answered 7 years ago



Withdrawing the 10pence income tax band for the lower paid. This is the group most likely to vote Labour at any election.

This group probably took thei pencils down to the voting booth and placed a firm X against the Tory candidate's name.

I know what I'm talking about - I'm working in the lower paid sector as a cleaner. I don't want benefits, I just want my money from my work with as low a tax level as possible.

I'm now £500 a year worse off thanks to Gawdin Brahn.

If food prices continue on up, I may be forced to ask for benefits for the first time ever in my life.

Just how crap is that?

Not only am I made poorer by Labour, but I'm not voting for them ever again.

"Gordon Brown - a black curse on you and all your family and your party. Go down into Hell and vomit black worms for ten billion years - you bastard".

Source:

GREENWICH 040508.0850BST

Asker's Rating & Comment
5 out of 5.
1

0



Comment

.


Other Answers (17)
Relevance









Zzap! answered 7 years ago


The BIGGEST mistake made was "in" 1997 was by those who voted Labour in, in the first place. They have been a total disaster and now a total humiliation

6

0



Comment

.



Anna1223 answered 7 years ago


Iraq, but the Conservatives would have been more for it than labour as I remember when Thatcher made us a state of the USA and let the USA use our country as an airport to bomb Libya, while the USA was planning a protective shield and we would have nothing.

As for everything else people complain about, I think it's better now than it used to be. I went to France on a coach when the Conservatives were in power and nobody checked my passport when I came back to Britain. I was surprised as it was when the IRA were planting a lot of bombs. I went on the same trip recently and it was really strict with immigration checking my details. Immigration came onto the coach to check our passports, then we had to get out while they checked our bags and the coach and our passports were checked again before we got back onto the coach.

1

1



Comment

.



Rommel answered 7 years ago


every one (including labour MPs) put it down to the 10p tax thing, but i don't think that did it. i think the rot had set in when immigration went through the roof and labour refused to listen to the people and close the borders. + we all kind of woke up to the fact that most of the EU were off loading their!! immigration problem on to us. (France in particular) so with that! a lot of people realised that being part of the EU meant being **** on and used as a dumping ground......labours desperation to please the EU and so book their safe little seats on the EU gravy train caused them to put immigrants rights before the rights of the indigenous people's....that was a big mistake. and i don't think the people will ever forgive them for it.

1

0



Comment

.



Rob l answered 7 years ago


They hurt the traditional voters by imposing a smoking ban.
The Middle class voters were not enough to swing the votes in their favour.
Although they try to gag people who disagree with the ban: this will not be forgotten.
Unless they amend the ban to allow smoking, and non smoking pubs and clubs, the licence trade will disappear with along with New Labour.

2

0



Comment

.



welsh girl answered 7 years ago


Tony Blair deceived us and took us to war in IRAQ
The flood gates were opened to immigrants
fortunately Blair left and I was glad to see him go .

I for one believed in Mr Brown and trusted him I thought he was a decent caring man and unlike Blair did not try to be a celebrity.
but the latest 10 p tax disaster is going to be the final straw for the hard working poor and pensioners .
If Mr Brown does not revert to the old tax most of his supporters like me will desert the Labour Party and vote as we have in local elections and shock the core of Labour.They have been warned ignore the electorate at their peril.

4

0



Comment

.



Ferrari Babe ¸.•*´`*♥ ♥*´`*•.¸ answered 7 years ago


B-liar sold us out to the EU for the chance of a job as EU President. Fortunately Belgium have objected (I knew Belgium must have a purpose) to his eligibility. Labour were ill prepared, their policies 'fluid', and they have consistently put everyone else before the indigenous population. Uncontrolled immigration has been disastrous for England, our society, our infrastructure, our welfare and NHS. Tax payers money floods out of this country in foreign aid, whilst our elderly have to choose between heating and eating, and admission to an NHS hospital can be a death sentence due to poor hygiene. I can't think of one single way in which Labour have improved my country, or my quality of life. Traitorous bastards.

5

1



Comment

.



angela answered 7 years ago


Gordon Brown, by the looks of things.

0

0



Comment

.



Neil T answered 7 years ago


Getting elected?

1

0



Comment

.



ootmaheid answered 7 years ago


Breathing! The invasion of Iraq.....there are so many mistakes to choose from....very difficult question :)

3

0



Comment

.





What is the biggest mistake Labour have ever made since 1997?



Sign in to add your answer
.



Steve M answered 7 years ago


Uncontrolled immigration.

ha ha he he Cynic, you silly sod just blurted out my orange drink, all over the f-ing Key board.

I owe you won buster.

Labour's worst crime wasn't Iraq – it was welfare




By Ed West Politics Last updated: November 9th, 2009

Comment on this Comment on this article


The comedian Mark Steel once said that the Iraq War was so fundamentally wrong and evil that grumbling about Labour's other mistakes was like complaining that Ian Huntley was a rubbish caretaker – in other words, that crime was so terrible that everything else pales into insignificance.

I'd disagree. Labour's worst crime wasn't Iraq, it was welfare. In his excellent The Rotten State of Britain, Eamonn Butler records that the turning point for Labour came on 27 July 1998, "when Frank Field, the Minister of State for welfare reform, was reshuffled into oblivion. Blair had asked the veteran anti-poverty campaigner to 'think the unthinkable' on welfare reform. He did: he wanted an attack on benefit fraud, tighter controls on incapacity benefit, and the end of the perverse incentives that he thought created a dependent, work-shy underclass. But his proposals were by then far too radical for an administration that had already settled comfortably into power and did not want to frighten its own left wing."

And as this league table of benefits show, it was for nakedly cynical political reasons – an incredible 189 of the top 200 constituencies for benefit-claiming are represented by Labour MPs (and it'll be back to 190 if they hang on to Glasgow North East).

It is not the people in these parts of the country are lazy or natural scroungers – it is that the system encourages them to live off the state.

Butler points out: "People find that if they can actually worsen their circumstances – or pretend to – they will qualify for additional benefits.

"For example, because the government's tax credit system gives particular help to one-parent families, it ends up creating one-parent families. A single mother who works 16 hours a week on the minimum wage and is paid tax credits could achieve an income of £487 a week. But a two-parent family on minimum wages would have to work a hundred hours longer to achieve the same income."

At least Tony Blair invaded Iraq with good intentions; Labour's decision to keep millions on benefits was cynical, and to anyone with real "values", not the pantomime Presbyterianism the Prime Minister parades, morally wrong. Idleness saps the spirit and eventually the mind and body too – which is reflected in the fact that even at the height of the insurgency Iraqi male life expectancy never fell below 67, while in Calton in Glasgow, where 44 per cent are on incapacity benefit, it's 54. So Blair the war criminal has done less harm than Brown the welfare criminal.

Wish Mr Carson would come back into the community rather than being an outcast protecting another board member.

Things would start at - ie nil and best forgotten.

Biggest mistake Labour made was giving away our EU veto. Things in the EU would be very different now with the veto.

Haze,

It is only those jolly foreigners who tell lies.

We (exclude me) always tell the truth.

That is why Cameron day by day resembles a beetroot more and more.

Well funny enough on SKY news last night all this open ess was caused by Thatcher agreeing to a 1986 to open boarders in return for some bunkum excuse.,