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.

Don't worry, Tanker. UKIP are going to win it.

I wouldn't confuse true facts with what is published in the Mail.

Any idea when the results will come through?

Or your Torygraph.

The Tories deception Bible.

Conservatism in a nutshell, part 2: Laissez-faire isn’t – kittysjones 20/11/2014



The first part of this article hits the nail right on the head:

Oh, the irony of Cameron trying to blame the “global economy”for the utter mess of the UK economy that his party has created. (Well, unless you are a millionaire, then it’s all a pretty good mess, actually.) Cameron’s mess is an entirely homegrown one, and is entirely down to his policies. Worse still, no matter how desperate things get, his message to the UK is that the only solution is to stick to his plan – more austerity – the plan that has created the problems in the first place.

Labour dealt with the global banking crisis without the need for austerity, and had steered the UK out of recession by 2009/10, Cameron, and his government caused a homegrown recession just like Thatcher and Major did, through redistributing public wealth to private pockets.

Cameron’s “long term economic plan” is to continue transferring public funds to private bank accounts. Not for the benefit of the economy, or the public, but for the sole benefit of hoarding millionaires and Tory donors who are sucking our public funds out of circulation and killing the economy.

To read the rest of it, and find out what it has to do with ‘laissez-faire’ economics, visit the kittysjones blog.

Michael Gove ‘100% convinced’ no more Tory MPs will defect to Ukip

Any more defections, following those of Mark Reckless and Douglas Carswell, will provoke a crisis in the Conservative party



Rowena Mason, political correspondent, and Madeline Ratcliffe


The Guardian, Thursday 20 November 2014 16.58 GMT




Conservative chief whip Michael Gove has hit back at Ukip claims that two MPs are on the verge of joining Nigel Farage, saying he is “absolutely 100%” sure there will be no more defections in the wake of the Rochester & Strood byelection.

The senior Tory, who is in charge of party discipline, said he is “quite confident” his party will win, despite all the polls over the last seven weeks suggesting Ukip is on course to have its second MP. One bookmaker has even started paying out on a victory for Mark Reckless, the former Tory MP whose defection to Ukip triggered the contest in the north Kent constituency.



More: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/nov/20/michael-gove-100-per-cent-no-more-tory-defections-ukip

See Osborne is down on his knees to EU. once again.

The bankers are going to love him.

U-turn U-bend!

How bad will the Labour vote be tonight? Labour must be quaking in their shoes Losing in Scotland and look like loosing in England

How much did it cost the UK poor tax payer for Osborne's futile challenge?

Ask Hays if he can get the figure from Party CO.


=======

“I’m not going to spend taxpayers’ money on a legal challenge now unlikely to succeed. The fact remains these are badly designed rules that are pushing up bankers’ pay not reducing it," the Chancellor said.

Regarding Labour MP's and Scotland, yes they will stand to lose around 40 MP's, but in any resulting coalition the SNP are going to be a powerful source imo.
2517

d4
That's right. The EU rules specify bonuses not greater than salary. To give bonuses that are high then salaries have to rise to be able to give a bigger bonuses. City bankers are already being lured to Asian banking markets in advance of the rules. The rules are likely to damage London as one of the premier finance centres

Why aint you on the stump Haystack?

Michael Gove ‘100% convinced’ no more Tory MPs will defect to Ukip

"Any more defections, following those of Mark Reckless and Douglas Carswell, will provoke a crisis in the Conservative party"................................ends

Ohhh Yeah, DREAM ON BUDDY.

Michael you arent by any chance putting up to be the next leader of the Conservatives are you???.

THE NASTY PARTY AT WORK AGAIN.20/11/2014

Iain Duncan Smith laughed at rape victim’s plight

How much longer must we tolerate this spiteful little thug?

From LabourList: “A victim of domestic violence – for her own safety, she’s known only as A – is taking the government to court. The reason? Because she’s being hit by the Bedroom Tax.

“The ‘spare room’ that the government want to penalise her for having is a specially adapted ‘Panic Room’. It’s there to provide a safe space for her and her child if her abusive ex-partner – who has raped and assaulted her – tries to cause her further harm. It has been specially adapted as a safe and secure space by the police.

“And yet the government want to hit her with the Bedroom Tax, because – as far as they’re concerned – she’s not making full use of her ‘spare’ room.

“Unfathomably, Iain Duncan Smith is defending the DWP and the government – having argued (without success) at a hearing in June that it should be dismissed.

“Today Ed Miliband rose in the chamber to challenge David Cameron on this grotesque case – the cherry on top of the disgusting Bedroom Tax cake. And what did the Prime Minister do? He defended the decision. He claimed that money had been made available for such cases.

“And yet if that’s the case why is A having to go to court to defend her own home? To defend her own safety? To defend her child?

This government are willing – way beyond the point where any rational person has departed from their argument – to argue in favour of the Bedroom Tax. The lives ruined and the families crushed under the weight of this draconian legislation are collateral damage. And all because they’re unwilling to accept that there simply aren’t enough affordable homes in the UK – or do anything about this fact.

“And how did Iain Duncan Smith, the villain (quite literally, a villain) of this piece react to Miliband’s questioning? According to Labour MP Fiona O’Donnell, the response of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions was to laugh.

Laughter.

As Ed Miliband spelled out the horrendous case – which this government are responsible for, caused and defends – of a woman trying to stay safe from her abusive, rapist ex-partner, Iain Duncan Smith laughed.

If you were trying to sum up the ills of this government in one simple act, that laughter might just be it.

Half of all benefit claimants sent on placements turn up to work

Claimants face having their benefits stopped for not turning up to training and work placements


By Holly Watt, Whitehall Editor

2:23PM GMT 20 Nov 2014

Follow





Only half of all benefit claimants ordered to go on work placements or training actually turn up, according to new figures released by the Department of Work and Pensions.


The claimants face having their benefits stopped for failing to turn up to four-week work schemes or training.


The Employment Minister Esther McVey said that it was vital that jobseekers attended the placements to “hold up their end of the bargain”.


Job Centre staff have been given the power to force anyone claiming unemployment benefits to take part in “mandatory work activity” designed to get them used to working from nine to five.


Most of the placements are with charities or involve a form of community service, such as helping to maintain parks. Those who refuse to take part or fail to turn up have their £67.50 benefit halted.


However, the new figures show that of the 251,200 people told to undertake the “Mandatory Work Activity”, only 105,610 started their placements.

Of the 899,760 told to turn up to “skills conditionality” training, only 492,980 attended. Some people may be waiting to take part in the training or work placements.

“The majority of jobseekers do everything they can to find work - and that’s reflected in the record levels of employment we’re seeing across the country,” said Miss McVey.

“But there are still many claimants our advisers identify who will benefit from extra support to improve their skills, or who could find their feet by spending a few weeks in a workplace - which is why it’s vital that jobseekers work with us and hold up their end of the bargain.”

Miss McVey pointed out that there are 680,000 vacancies in the economy.

“We work closely with businesses to design our programmes so that they get the skills and employees they need, and I’d remind the tiny minority who wilfully refuse the support on offer that taxpayers expect them to do so in return for benefits,” she said.

The system was launched after a pilot scheme four years ago found that one in five who were ordered to take part in four-week community projects stopped claiming immediately. Another 30 per cent never turned up and had their Jobseekers’ Allowance axed.

Government officials were said to have been shocked by the figures, which they believed proved that a core group of claimants have no intention of working. Officials strongly suspected the no-shows were people already working on the black market.

The trial was deemed so successful that the scheme was rolled out nationwide in May 2011.

post removed widening thread for some reason.

Labour shadow minister accused of 'contempt for working classes' over white van tweet

Emily Thornberry was attacked after she tweeted a picture of a white van outside a house draped in the St George's Cross with the caption 'image from #Rochester'


By Georgia Graham, Political Correspondent

4:38PM GMT 20 Nov 2014

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A Labour front-bencher has been forced to apologise after being accused of holding working class voters in "contempt" by appearing to mock a terraced family home draped in England flags.


Emily Thornberry, a close ally of Ed Miliband and the party's shadow attorney general, was on the by-election campaign trail in Rochester and Strood when she Tweeted a photo of the house accompanied by the caption "image from #Rochester".


Mrs Thornberry, who lives in a £3million home in Islington, North London, told The Telegraph that she thought that the image was "remarkable" because she had never seen a house "completely covered in flags before".


However, three hours later she issued an apology after Ed Miliband intervened and made it "very clear" that he believes people should be able to fly the England flag with pride.


She faced public backlash and was even criticised by members of her own party for posting the image, which will fuel concerns that Labour has lost touch with working class voters.



Image from #Rochester pic.twitter.com/rOjTgpskmF
— Emily Thornberry MP (@EmilyThornberry) November 20, 2014

Twitter reacted with fury:




What's that sound? It's every Labour Parliamentary Candidate in the country facepalming. Henceforth called "The Thornberry Reaction"
— Martin White (@martinwwhite72) November 20, 2014




Emily Thornberry will probably get a Tetanus jab when she leaves Rochester.
— Ben (@Jamin2g) November 20, 2014




It's around now that Ed Miliband will remember meeting a white van man draped in England flags while walking on Hampstead Heath, #Thornberry
— Justin Dunn (@justindunn) November 20, 2014




Ahem, Labour MP Emily Thornberry tweets her contempt for the working classes live from Rochester #ukip pic.twitter.com/UpZamPMtlP
— Seat of Mars (@seatofmars) November 20, 2014




"@EmilyThornberry: Image from #Rochester pic.twitter.com/ppurXZPUXV" MP never seen a white van or national flag before. A tad out of touch?
— Christopher Gage (@ChristophGage) November 20, 2014

She was offered some advice:




Emily Thornberry should just say I thought it was great to see such a display of patriotism. Lot of inference of what she meant.
— Lewis James Brown (@LewisJamesBrown) November 20, 2014

And even some measured support:




Not a smart move from Thornberry, but for what it's worth Pickles is wrong. St George's Cross isn't a unifying symbol.
— Ian Dunt (@IanDunt) November 20, 2014




So, we've just decided Emily Thornberry was being nasty based on... what? She's tweeted a bunch of bland pics, what makes that one so bad?
— Charlie Lindlar (@charlielindlar) November 20, 2014

But for the most part people were just annoyed.

Simon Danczuk, the Labour MP for Rochdale, told Mailonline: "Everyone will know exactly what she meant by that comment. I think she was being derogatory and dismissive of the people. We all know what she was trying to imply.

"I’ve talked about this previously. It’s like the Labour party has been hijacked by the north London liberal elite and it’s comments like that which reinforce that view."

Eric Pickles, the Local Government Secretary said: “Whatever one’s class, colour or creed, the St George’s flag is a unifying symbol for our nation. Don’t knock it"

Others said the message represented a "insight into the minds of Labour."

A Labour spokesman initially said that he did not see the problem with the picture.

Mrs Thornberry told The Telegraph shortly after posting the image: "My point is that it's a remarkable image of a house completely covered in flags. I grew up on a council estate and I have never seen a house completely covered in flags before. There's three of them."

However, she was later forced to make an embarrassing climb-down. "I apologise for any offence caused by the 3 flag picture. People should fly the England flag with pride."

Michael Heaver, a Ukip Spokesman, Tweeted: "If you don't want snobby Labour MPs knocking on your door ahead of May's election, stick an England flag up."

Anyone tried deers penis like Kendra tonight on I'm a celebrity get me out of here. :-))

THORNBERRY resigns after bollocking from Ed Milliband and good god shes gone.

What a snob she is.

She should be with the Tories.