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.

Unemployment rate could be twice as high as figures claim 12/11/2014

The Office for National Statistics has put out new figures on the number of people in work – and it’s more than last month. Hooray!

But, as ever, the devil’s in the detail and – as usual – the small print is annoyingly devoid of the detail we need. Boo!

We are told that figures for September showed employment continued to rise (by 112,000 since the April-June period) and unemployment continued to fall (by 115,000 people). There appear to be 3,000 people for whom these figures don’t account. Interesting…

(Perhaps they’re now on Universal Credit – as those figures aren’t counted in these figures, meaning the current way of calculating these statistics is misleading from the start.)

Pay rates – excluding bonuses – was 1.3 per cent higher than at this time last year. This was being trumpeted as a huge success, as pay has risen about the Consumer Price Index (CPI) calculation of inflation, which stood at 1.2 per cent in September. What a shame the more accurate (which is why the government doesn’t use it) Retail Price Index (RPI) calculation of inflation stood at 2.3 per cent, well above in increase in pay rates.

Let’s all take a moment to remind ourselves of where those wages are going, too. Tom Pride, over at Pride’s Purge, has a little graphic for it, which is stolen and reproduced below:



So all those bankers, directors and MPs are taking all the cash, leaving the rest of us with – what? This article suggests that, when you take out all the variations – like bonuses, wages for people who do real jobs (unlike bankers, directors and MPs) increased by just 0.6 per cent in the past year. That’s from the Bank of England.

If employment has increased – and there’s no reason to say it hasn’t – we can also conclude that the reason employers are more willing to take people on is that they can pay peanuts for them and rely on the government to top them up with in-work benefits. It seems likely that the work was always there but employers weren’t going to take anybody on if it meant increasing the wages bill and reducing the amount of profit available to them. Now that zero-hours contracts are available, along with part-time schemes that deny people pensions and holiday pay, it’s a different matter.

Of course the trade unions are in no position to stand up for workers’ rights – they have been stripped of any influence over the past 35 years of neoliberal, free-market rule.

The number of people who were self-employed increased by a staggering 186,000, to reach 3.25 million, while people working as self-employed part-time increased by 93,000 to reach 1.27 million. That’s 4.52 million – almost one-sixth of the total number of people in work. If you think that’s great, you haven’t been paying attention. Remember this article, warning that the increase was due to older people staying in work? And what about the catastrophic collapse in self-employed earnings we discovered at the same time?

How many of these are people who have been persuaded to claim tax credits as self-employed people, rather than jump through the increasingly-difficult hoops set out for them if they claimed Jobseekers’ Allowance – and do they know they’ll have to pay all the money back when their deception is discovered?

The number of people in part-time employment has also increased, by 28,000 to reach 6.82 million. Are we to take it that this means under-employment has increased again?

Public sector employment has fallen again. If you want to know why the government keeps messing you around, there’s your answer. There aren’t enough people to do the job. This month’s statistics show 11,000 fewer public sector employees than in March, and 282,000 fewer than this time last year.

Unemployment is said to have dropped – but remember, this is not counting people who have been sanctioned. A recent study by Professor David Stuckler of Oxford University suggests as many as half a million people could have been sanctioned off-benefit in order to massage the figures, meaning that the total listed – 931,700 – is probably wrong. Remember also that Universal Credit claimants aren’t counted, nor are those on government work schemes – another 123,000 people.

This means the actual unemployment rate is likely to be double the number provided by the official statistics.

And what about people on ESA/DLA/PIP?

It’s said that the numbers don’t lie.

What a shame that can’t be said about the people manipulating them.

500,000 Sanctioned Jobseekers ‘Disappeared’ From Unemployment Figures

Posted by Steven PreeceDate: November 12, 2014

According to research from the University of Oxford, up to 500,000 unemployed people closed their Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) claim soon after being sanctioned by the DWP.

Rather than moving into employment, these people are simply disappearing from the benefits system entirely and no one has a clue where they’re ending up.

This means that unemployment could be 20,000 to 30,000 higher each month than figures suggest. If true, it would mean that as many as 1,000,000 people would have been claiming JSA in August 2014, rather than the 970,000 widely reported in the press.

It’s also important to note that some groups aren’t included in the claimant count – one measure used to calculate unemployment – including sickness benefit claimants, some working age students and early retirees – among others.

Professor Stuckler, who analysed data from 375 local authorities, said: “The data clearly show that many people are not leaving JSA for work but appear to be being pushed off in unprecedented numbers in association with sanctions.”

The death of a diabetic former soldier after his benefits were slashed sparked a Work and Pensions Select Committee inquiry. More than 210,000 people signed a petition calling for the inquiry.

David, 59, was found dead at his home in Hertfordshire in July 2013. Penniless, David could not afford money for electric to keep his insulin refrigerated and died of fatal diabetic ketoacidosis, a complication caused by lack of insulin.

At the inquiry held last week, Labour’s Debbie Abrahams MP told the Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith MP:

“Hundreds of thousands of people have had their benefits stopped for a minimum of four weeks and then approximately a quarter of these people, from the research that I’ve seen, are disappearing.

“They are leaving and we don’t know where they are going. That’s an absolute indictment of this policy and it’s a little bit worrying if we’re trying to tout this internationally as a real success story.”

Iain Duncan Smith responded: “Well I don’t agree with any of that. I actually believe the sanctions regime as applied is fair, we always get the odd case of …”

Not giving Mr Duncan Smith a chance to complete his sentence, a furious Debbie Abrahams retorted: “People are dying because of these sanctions!”

Jobseekers who fail to comply with strict requirements imposed upon them risk having their benefits docked, or ‘sanctioned’. Some unemployed people claim their benefit payments have been stopped or reduced for trivial or harsh reasons. Such as failing to turn-up to a Job Centre appointment, even though they have informed staff they were in hospital.

After the Select Committee hearing Debbie Abrahams said:

“It’s incredible that the minister can simply brush aside the mounting evidence that inappropriate use of social security sanctions is having on vulnerable people.

“We’ve already heard from a whistleblower who left his job as a JCP advisor because he refused to apply sanctions when people had done nothing wrong.

“And recently, over 200,000 people have signed a petition to look into the death of an ex-soldier and diabetic, from Stevenage, who died after having been sanctioned.

“He was found dead surrounded by job applications, penniless and with an empty stomach according to his post-mortem. He couldn’t even afford to run his fridge so couldn’t keep his medicines cold.

Debbie said “sanctions are being applied unfairly to job-seekers as well as the sick and disabled”. Adding: “And we shouldn’t forget that most people on social security are actually in work but are struggling to make ends meet.”

Jobseekers who fail to comply with strict requirements imposed upon them risk having their benefits docked, or ‘sanctioned’. Some unemployed people claim their benefit payments have been stopped or reduced for trivial or harsh reasons. Such as failing to turn-up to a Job Centre appointment, even though they have informed staff they were in hospital.

Fred, since when have you become an expert at what is supposedly going on in Scottish politics?! The people in Scotland decided yonks ago that the Conservative party were not worth voting for, so many of them switched allegiance to Labour and now they have come to the conclusion that Labour are just a poor imitation of the Conservative party. Labour will go down the plughole in Scotland at the GE - nailed on as Hilary would say!

Can it get any worse? Yes it can!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2831506/Miliband-popular-leader-Devastating-poll-reveals-just-13-think-ready-PM-Tories-build-3-point-lead.html

Miliband is the least popular leader EVER:

Devastating poll reveals just 13% think he is ready to be PM as Tories build 3-point lead

IpsosMORI survey: Tories on 32%, Labour 29%, Ukip 14%, Lib Dems 9%

Miliband's net satisfaction rating slumps 10 points to -44 per cent

Figure is worse than anyone who has ever run for Prime Minister

Six months before election, Foot, Brown, Kinnock and Howard were higher

Labour leader preparing make or break speech on what he stands for

Ed Miliband's leadership relaunch is in chaos after a new poll revealed a devastating collapse in his popularity and the Tories pulling into the lead.

As the Labour leader prepares to give a speech setting out what he stands for, his personal ratings have slumped to the lowest level for anyone running to be prime minister for 40 years, worse even than Michael Foot.

With six months until the general election, the IpsosMori survey shows just 13 per cent of people now think he is ready to run the country, with the Tories now three points ahead – the biggest lead for four years.

Even worse than Michael Foot?!!

people vote for a party and its beliefs and promises not its leader.

Whats not to understand about that.

GF.

I thought this should be repeated daily for the next 6 months.

I think IDS had lower polling figures.

Mind he should be put down the drain.

He leaves a stench wherever he goes!

I bet he never stands in front of foxhound pack!

Sure they do, Fishfnger. But it's very easy to get detached from reality when you live in bleak northern mill town with just a few thousand sheep for company.

You're a multi-millionaire (or so you keep telling us). I'm surprised you don't get a little pied-à-terre in K+C, so you could find out what's going on in the real world.

I'd even pop in and say hello from time to time. Or maybe I wouldn't. :o)

Oops, soz. I caught a bit of 'OBC Syndrome' there.

Don't be silly Hilary, he hasn't got a clue what a pied-à-terre is!

Take this quiz to see which party you should support

https://uk.isidewith.com/political-quiz?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=q_uk_4t

Your welcome anytime hilary.

Please stop getting upset about your mistake with the EAW, we all make mistakes.

Id rather have someone any day who owns up to there mistake like I will have to, to Cynic come just before the GE over our Interest rates increase spat.

He will get a groveling sincere apology from me here on this thread in front of other posters.

I have no shame or loss of face on that, he simply called it right and I called it wrong, nothing wrong with that it happens in every day life.

ohhhhhhhhh doodlebug getting personal and ON A DAY LIKE TODAY.

Have some self respect man.

That's funny coming from you gf, you have been getting personal on this bulletin board for weeks , even years. It's probably why so many posters have you filtered.I was merely pointing out to Hilary that probably most of what she posts goes totally over the top of your head.

I'm sure that Fishfinger is a cunning linguist, Doods.

Like I said doodlebug have some self respect for yourself and why not push off back over to advfn where you came from to join your distressed friends, who judging from the posts on one companys thread dearly need it. BYE.

12 November 2014 Last updated at 17:41


Nigel Farage: UKIP could do deal with Labour





UKIP could support a minority Labour government after the next general election, Nigel Farage has said.

Asked by the New Statesman if he could back Ed Miliband as prime minister, he said: "I'd do a deal with the Devil if he got me what I wanted."

The Conservatives have promised a referendum on UK membership of the EU in 2017. Labour will only offer a vote if Brussels demands fresh powers.

Labour said the party was "aiming for victory and a majority government".

In the question and answer style article, Mr Farage was asked what he would do if Mr Miliband said to him: "Look, Nigel, can I have your eight to ten MPs in the coalition and we give you an in-out referendum?"

Mr Farage replied: "That would depend when the referendum was, and the terms."

But pressed on whether he was ruling a coalition out, he replied: "Of course not."



More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30029004