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.

They are all bloody Welsh in Port Talbot. Damn the b, foreigners.

When the knew Farage was coming somebody must have change the road signs around.

MAX,

Under which administration were the records lost?

He was talking about the M4. And I have been on both the M25 and M4 recently. It has nothing to do with immigration. The roads have become congested at a far higher rate than immigration. It. Is always the same. When you build new roads, the capacity gets used up and traffic patterns change.

I'd like Fogarty to win, but I suspect that the other guy will win. Is his name Jake or something?

No, it's not Luke, so it definitely must be Something.

:-)

Well done to Carl. One of the best series, no the best. Great team.

Point taken Fred.


They're all in toghether.

Could be haze and Manuel.

Tom Kerridge
i see there's a stack of his yuletide recipes in today's guardian
i confess that none of them appealed much

meanwhile, his new so-called tapas bar/pub has just opened in marlow - it seats just 45
it looks very nice, but i suspect that your bill there will come as a bit of a shock .... nevertheless, i'll give it a whirl early in the new year (prob not before) as it is within walking distance

glad to see that TK has also lost about 5 stone in recent months - good job as he was assuredly "morbidly obese"!

Watch out, Westminster - Alex Salmond wants back in
The former Scottish first minster is up to his old tricks again



By Alan Cochrane6:15AM GMT 08 Dec 2014
"Commons will be hung by Scottish rope, says Salmond.” That’s the headline from a framed front page of this newspaper’s Scottish edition that hangs in my Edinburgh office.
As an election that seemed unlikely to produce a clear winner hove into view, Mr Salmond predicted that the Scottish National Party would have a crucial role in any hung parliament. “Common sense would tell you… it is a good time to maximise Scotland’s influence,” he pronounced. He had set his party the target of 20 seats, he announced – although the opinion polls suggested he might win 25.
It was stirring stuff. Especially since this wasn’t a prediction for the general election of May 2015, but a forecast of a huge SNP triumph in May 2010. The headline and quotation are taken from an interview with Mr Salmond in October 2009 by me and my colleague Simon Johnson.
Today, with the political world all a-tremble at the news that Mr Salmond is seeking to return to the Commons as MP for the Gordon constituency, it is worth recalling how accurate his words – and his bravado – proved to be five years ago.
In 2010, the SNP did not win 25 seats. It did not win 20 seats. In fact, it went down from seven to six MPs – although it did increase its share of the vote by a less-than-whopping 2.3 per cent.



It must be said that circumstances now are very much different. In spite of losing the referendum campaign by a significant margin, the Yes voters refused to take No for an answer. The SNP has seen a huge surge in membership, to the extent that it now stands at about 100,000 – four times what it was at the time of the independence vote in September. And the opinion polls are equally promising for Mr Salmond. The latest surveys, says Prof John Curtice, Britain’s leading psephologist, suggest that Labour could be reduced to five Scottish MPs, instead of the 41 it had in 2010 – an epic hammering.



It is findings of this nature that have prompted Mr Salmond to try for the Gordon seat, in the wake of his resignation as SNP leader and First Minister. He talked yesterday of it being a “gamble”. But for an ace tipster like him – he often wins money for his staff with his racecourse predictions – tackling this particular constituency is nothing remotely resembling a long shot.
The seat has a Liberal Democrat majority of almost 7,000, but the sitting MP, Sir Malcolm Bruce, is standing down to be replaced by Christine Jardine, a former journalist and ministerial special adviser, who is regarded as a pushover by the Nats’ hierarchy. The Westminster constituency of Gordon overlaps with Mr Salmond’s East Aberdeenshire seat in the Scottish Parliament – and the very fact that he is standing will make this contest the focus of massive media attention, which is again something that should benefit the vastly more experienced SNP man.
It will be no great wrench for Mr Salmond to return to the Commons, where he served from 1987 to 2010. Privately, he has always preferred its green leather benches to the stripped pine desks at Holyrood. The adversarial nature of Westminster suits his style, too – although as a novice MP, he did make a fool of himself when he got thrown out of the Chamber for interrupting the 1988 Budget speech.
Mr Salmond says he is standing for Gordon because he wants to continue serving the people of North East Scotland. But most of his opponents, and even a few of his colleagues, reckon his decision is more to do with serving his ego. He also claims that he wants to wring more powers for Holyrood out of Westminster. But he has still not fully accounted for the fact that it was he, almost alone, who lost the referendum thanks to his nonsensical economic policy.
He was up to his old tricks yesterday, claiming that the devolution commission set up by David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband had failed to deliver “devo max” – in other words, handing Holyrood power over everything other than defence and foreign affairs. Actually, such a vast transfer had never, ever been promised.
He is also glossing over the fact that, although North East Scotland is seen as an SNP fastness, much of it voted No in the referendum. Nor is an SNP landslide guaranteed. If it elects Jim Murphy as its leader next week, Labour can’t help but do better across Scotland than it does in the current polls. The Tories’ Ruth Davidson is also hopeful of improving her party’s performance, on the back of a good referendum showing. And even if the wily Sir Malcolm is standing down, he will still be there to lead the “stop Salmond” effort.
Could Labour and Tory supporters join in that fight by voting tactically for the Lib Dems and against Mr Salmond? The demands of partisan politics would normally suggest otherwise. But it’s a thought – especially as it might be one way of ending the perpetual “we wuz robbed” whine from the Nats.
And what about Mr Salmond’s own side? Will Nicola Sturgeon, who has escaped from Wee Eck’s shadow to become SNP leader and Scotland’s new First Minister, view with equanimity the prospect of him getting all the headlines at Westminster? Somehow, I doubt it.
Alan Cochrane, Scottish Editor of The Telegraph, can be found on Twitter

for sure AS will be elected

The Tories must stand united
To win an outright majority, the Conservatives must together make a convincing case for how they would continue to make Britain better

By Telegraph View6:25AM GMT 08 Dec 2014
With less than half a year until the election, the Conservatives’ minds ought to be focused on the task of winning an outright majority. David Cameron has written to his MPs outlining the need to take the fight to the Liberal Democrats, and to use last week’s Autumn Statement as a springboard for the hard months ahead.
In his article for the Telegraph today, Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, shows what awaits the Tories during the campaign: demonisation, not just from Labour but also from their Coalition partners, as harsh, uncaring and obsessed with cutting back the state. Meanwhile, Ukip will continue to snipe away from the party’s Right flank.
To counter this, Mr Cameron apparently plans to make the election a choice between “competence and chaos”. Indeed, that is not just a slogan, but an accurate summation of the reality. Either the Tories win an outright majority, and continue their good work in strengthening the economy, reforming public services and putting the state and its finances on a more sustainable footing, or we will be forced to spend five more years enduring the grubby compromises of coalition – or, worst of all worlds, Ed Miliband will replace Mr Cameron in Downing Street, and bring all of that good work to a crashing halt.
At the moment, the polls indicate that both main parties are neck and neck. Mr Cameron will be hoping that, as election day approaches, the nature of the choice voters face will crystallise in their minds: him or Mr Miliband? But he also knows that the electorate rewards parties that appear united. And a Conservative Party that marches towards its Labour foes, swords in hand, is a very different beast to one that takes that result for granted and busies itself burying those swords in colleagues’ backs. That is why it is so disquieting to read that the thoughts of many leading Tories are turning to another election – namely, the choice of successor to David Cameron as party leader. George Osborne, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Sajid Javid have all been mentioned as potential contenders, with their partisans reported to be positioning themselves for the battle to come.


A measure of ambition is natural in any politician. But there are more important matters to attend to – for the significance of this election cannot be overstated, both for the Tories and for the country as a whole. To win an outright majority, the Conservatives need to make a convincing case for how they would continue to make Britain better, and why their policies will help not just the wealthy but all those in society. And in doing so, they must present a united front against Labour, Ukip and the Lib Dems alike

TK is a chef who takes great delight in people enjoying his food. He is at the top of my 'Top 4' favourite TV chefs too. I do like watching:

1. Tom Kerridge
2. Hairy Bikers
3. Rick Stein
4. Jamie Oliver
5. Gok Wan
6. Ching He-Huang
7. Ken Hom
8. Lorraine Pascale
9. Delia Smith
10. James Martin

We have loads ands loads of cook books! Our fitted kitchen was even designed to take quite a few too.

PS. Notice how Nigella is not on my top 10 list. I find her programmes quite irritating. However, I would commend her recipe for marinating a Christmas Turkey prior to roasting it in the oven. What an utterly amazing result!

TV Chefs 'A-Z'

TK is a nice guy, but have never fancied his recipes
all seem too fatty and stodgy by half

========

The Tories must stand united to win an outright majority
not a snowball's chance, and thank goodness, it's also very unlikely that the grey plasticine team on the benches opposite will either
however, it is not inconceivable that SNP will align themselves with labour, perhaps informally

I look forward after May to seeing the CON party spluttering into two separate factions which but all in name they have already done.

One group holding on to their soiled name of Tory party with Boris the Berlusconi of British politics and their party leader and the other group adhering themselves to UKIP with Farage the car salesman of far right British politics.
============-

Having a guess, SNP won't get as many seats as projected at the moment and will align themselves with Labour.

Lib/Dems in England and Scotland will do better than presently expected and will probably attach themselves to Labour.

God knows how the Northern Irish will align.

Can see Toriy MPs almost disappearing in Wales and those Lab and Lib/Dems elected aligning with Labour on important issues.

Overall a Coalition of Labour, Lib/Dems, and SNP.

It will be interesting to watch, but would not like the problems they will have to face.
=======

The things, which the new government will have to address. Almost like post WW2..
1) Devolution of some more power to Scotland.
2) Decentralisation
3) Number of administrators
4) Cost of administrators.
5) Removal of Police commissionaires.
6) Diverting attention from the failures and those responsible in London for them.

(The above introduced as an attempt by Cameron to divert attention from the failed economic policies of the present government. Which seem to me and expensive waste of time, in order to devolve responsibility without real power and of little ongoing benefit. Local representation could be deal with in a different manner.)

7) Damage to the NHS and Welfare state.
8) Repair of the once again deterioration of the general infrastructure of the country.
9) Overhaul of the Tax system and Financial services etc..

That is only a start after 5 years of tory mismanagement!

Of course there will have to be an inquiry of how this present government presented its economic data.

By Christopher Booker
10:00PM GMT 06 Dec 2014
It was on July 14 1998 that Gordon Brown announced that he planned to double public spending in 10 years, writes Christopher Booker.

Strangely missing from all of last week’s talk about the “government deficit” and Gordon Brown stepping down as an MP was any reference to the origins of what future generations will look back on as arguably the most catastrophic political blunder in our history.

The reason why Mr Brown for two years enjoyed a reputation as a “prudent” Chancellor was that he had been committed by his predecessor, Kenneth Clarke, to keep public spending under tight control under the “Maastricht criteria”. (It was not widely noted that Britain was bound by the Maastricht Treaty to comply with stages one and two of Economic and Monetary Union – it was only from stage three, the euro, that we had an opt-out.)

This had cut public spending to a mere 36 per cent of GDP, its lowest point for four decades. But on July 14 1998, carried away by the success of the economy he inherited from the Tories, Brown announced, with the aid of his economic adviser, Ed Balls, that he now planned to double public spending in 10 years. As the Economist memorably observed, he had “morphed from Scrooge into Father Christmas”.

The consequences of Brown’s hubris, as we now see, are that public spending has soared from £322 billion a year to £732 billion, still remorselessly rising every year. Despite the talk of “cuts” so beloved of the BBC, under this Government alone the national debt has more than doubled, having recently topped a mind-boggling £1.5 trillion.

George Osborne may talk airily of spending £2 billion on roads here, another £2 billion on flood defences there. But each of these sums represents only what he has this year had to borrow each week to plug the ever-widening hole in our finances. So dire is our plight that the £60 billion a year we now pay just in interest on our borrowings has risen to become the fifth-largest item in public spending, exceeded only by the ever-rising bills for welfare, education and the NHS.

Mr Osborne may now talk even more recklessly of how he hopes to cut the deficit to zero within five years. But so long as hundreds of council officials and NHS managers continue to pay themselves more than the £142,000 a year earned by the Prime Minister – let alone that £50 billion earmarked for HS2 – we know nothing is seriously being done to rein in a public-spending spree that continues to spray out our cash uncontrollably in all directions.

We can scarcely expect to be told about this by the BBC, when 91 of its executives have also arranged to pay themselves more than Mr Cameron every year. We live in a country where too many people in the public sector have totally lost contact with reality.

But the start of it was that day back in 1998 when Messrs Brown and Balls unleashed a monster that now threatens to swallow us all.

"oil prices could fall as low as $43 a barrel next year"

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102246693

"Without OPEC intervention, markets risk becoming unbalanced, with peak oversupply likely in the second quarter of 2015," Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Longson said.

In a report dated Dec. 5, the U.S. investment bank said oil prices could fall as low as $43 a barrel next year. The bank cut its average 2015 Brent base-case outlook by $28 to $70 per barrel, and by $14 to $88 a barrel for 2016.

Signs that the U.S. shale industry has yet to be hit by the slump in crude prices, adding three new oil-drilling rigs in the last week, further depressed the market.

"It was just a small increase, but nevertheless it was an increase despite the sharp price drop," said Carsten Fritsch, senior oil and commodities analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.