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.

This will be displayed on the political placards in the run up of "CARE UNDER CONSERVATIVES".

The home care system in England is close to crisis because of the way workers are exploited, a report says.

The review, led by former Care Minister Paul Burstow, found a combination of inadequate funding and poor working practices was putting people at risk.

About 500,000 older and disabled people rely on home care for daily tasks such as washing and dressing. Some pay for it, but others get help from councils.

But the report said zero-hours contracts and low pay was harming care.

The review was set up by the Local Government Information Unit think tank and home care provider Mears, after a number of scandals in residential care homes.

It analysed existing data as well as taking evidence from those in involved in the sector and concluded it was "only a matter of time" before there was a major scandal in home care.

If found about 60% of care workers were employed on zero-hours contracts, while there were many staff - up to a third - who were effectively not being paid the minimum wage because they are not paid while travelling between clients.

'Completely unacceptable'
These practices contributed to a high turnover rate in the sector with over a fifth of staff leaving their jobs each year - twice the national average.

The lack of stability meant that those receiving care were often faced with short visits and constant changes in staff - there were reports of some people having up to 50 different carers in a year.

Mr Burstow said: "The price of poor care is paid for by the most frail and vulnerable in our community and by the care workers they rely on, who get a raw deal."



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30278034


Or as the Cons will claim Business as usual

Watch out Manuel and Haze, you never know what is around the corner and you care make cost a fortune by them!

1 seat barely constitutes "most" and methinks you distort your earlier protestations
looks to me that we're in for a really awful period of very weak gov't, not that this one has shown much backbone, albeit that they inherited a poisoned chalice

I expect far more than 1 seat to be the largest party. The trend is towards the Conservatives, slowly albeit.

Cynic I don't think you have been reading Haystack's posts properly, I can't recall him "shouting the odds of the conservatives getting an overall majority".

Cynic,

I suggested before the last G/election it was perhaps a good election to lose.

But if that was an election to lose this is even worse one to win.

Cameron has irritated the EU and the majority of the the World's economic power and probably we will need their help and them, ours.

He has provoke constitutional problems without rational resolution.

He has overseen fragmentation of UK society and set groups one against another.

He hasn't sorted out the banks or financial services.

He has produce apathy and chaos in the NHS and Education and Welfare Services.

He has increased debt and not resolved the deficit.

He has overseen the creation of a toxic mess.

This government has behave like conceited adolescents or juveniles who know everything without reading the books and have little experience of the real world of the majority of the UK society.

====

You like myself are probably insulated from the chaos created, but I feel sorry for a large percentage of the less "able" and possibly more deserving in society.

DB4..

Bore yourself and read early posts of you mate Haze and you will see Manuel's remark is accurate.

i don't necessarily agree with you fred my old grandad as your views are far too partisan for me
the real truth of the matter is that i do not see any party with a worthwhile leader let alone lieutenants in support which has the strength of either character or will let alone ability to pull this country back into prosperity

on the other hand, whatever you may think let alone say, the present bunch have certainly done well to avoid many of the siren calls, and economically (like it or not) the country is in far better shape than it would have been had labour retained power with the mindset attaching

Sorry, don't know how to make it bigger and easier to read.

You put height and width figures in the link

Thanks Haystack.

This is the link, could you give a demo as it doesent have the pixel numbers on display.


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B3yDtb1CMAAtg2x.jpg:large

It's easy to expand on an iPad, but the problem is that the whole page is now in a smaller font!

height="600" width="600"

Before />

I notice Hays talking Clap Trap all day again.......whats new........now this is where the Election Battle will be won.........

Ashcroft National Poll: Con 30%, Lab 32%, Lib Dem 7%, UKIP 16%, Green 6%
Monday, 1 December, 2014 in The Ashcroft National Poll

nice try Hays................start at GO again.

Ed Miliband and Doncaster North: a correction (and apology)
Monday, 1 December, 2014 in Labour Party, Political Leadership, Polling

By Lord Ashcroft

One of the most important principles behind my polling is transparency. All the data from my polls is published for all to see. This is important as it shows the research is done properly, and allows anyone who is interested to get the maximum possible value from the work.

The slightly more uncomfortable but nonetheless crucial side of transparency is that people can see when a mistake is made. Unfortunately that was the case last week in my poll of Doncaster North.

I am grateful to Anthony Wells for bringing to my attention an error in the way this survey was weighted. A mistake at the data processing stage meant that the poll included too many Conservative voters and not enough Labour voters. This made opinion in Doncaster North look considerably less favourable towards Ed Miliband than it actually is.

Corrected data tables are below, as is an amended summary of the results. In a nutshell, Labour lead UKIP by 29 points in Doncaster North, not twelve; Miliband leads Cameron as best PM by 14 points, not one point; Miliband’s constituents would rather see him as PM than Cameron; they give him the highest ratings of the four main party leaders, not the third highest; and they trust Miliband and Balls more on the economy than Cameron and Osborne, not the reverse.

I hope readers will appreciate that I always aim to conduct my research to the highest standards, that data is always checked, and that instances like this are very rare. As ever, I welcome questions and observations on my research, and will always seek to correct errors that inevitably crop up from time to time.

Meanwhile, my apologies to all readers and especially to Ed Miliband.

Come on!!!!!!!!!! How can Jimmy b be voted off I'm a celebrity get me out of here. A major character gone.

Looks like ex-Tory MP Edwina Curry is going to absolutely walk it!

Probably Mel Sykes will come in second.