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.

I thought the tory Neo-cons were obsessed with Maggie.

Milibland's speech did help him any!

Conservatives and Labour tied

Latest YouGov / Sunday Times results 12th December -

Con 32%, Lab 32%, LD 7%, UKIP 16%;

The commentators have been scathing regarding Milibland's speech. There was no detail and no promise of it until after the election.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/poll-shows-voters-believe-ukip-is-to-the-left-of-the-tories-9923416.html

Shock poll shows voters believe Ukip is to the left of the Tories
Labour fears that Nigel Farage is eating into its support are borne out by an intriguing survey asking voters to place parties and leaders on a political spectrum

Voters see Ukip as more left wing than the Conservative Party in a shock poll finding that will fuel concerns among Ed Miliband's allies that Nigel Farage is "parking his tanks on Labour's lawn".

A poll for The Independent on Sunday exposes what Labour strategists have been fearing for months – that voters do not regard Ukip as a party of the far right, but as one closer to the centre ground than the Tories. As such it could win Labour votes in the North. It suggests that attempts by Labour to portray Mr Farage's party as "more Thatcherite than Thatcher" have fallen flat.

Which commentators, Scnapps or Central Office?

IDS was made to look a liar over his barbaric and inhumane Welfare ideological reforms, by Andrew Neil on Politics show, which of course he is for many voters.

I think the tories should stick with him as he is one of their own!

=========

Interesting what Polly Toynbee and other journalist thought of IDS, representative of Cameron's government.

Come on Theresa, you know you can reform the Tories.

How do you fancy being leader for 10 years and doing it while out of office.

New figures have revealed the dramatic spread of low-paid, insecure and casual work across the British economy since the financial crash of 2008.

In that year, one in 20 men and one in 16 women worked in the casualised labour market. Now, one in 12 of both men and women are in precarious employment, which includes zero-hours contracts (ZHCs), agency work, variable hours and fixed-term contracts, according to new TUC data.

==============

i'm inclined to say, so what, for it is the just the way the world (and economies) move

i certainly don't like the way many work-people can be or even are exploited - and i really don't need to explain what i mean and why - and of course the trades unions don't like, but then, they wouldn't would they and i really care not about that aspect

Cynic,
As long as the governments do not intervene to resolve problems in other countries (rather than taking side and fairing the fighting), the world has to continue its downward growth and we see more and more people losing jobs and become poorer.

By stopping conflicts through helping to sort out their differences, we can develop prosperity and give hope to those innocent people (mainly in poor countries) and generate growth and future for them. The world will be better place and we will benefit as well.

Many of these fighting are due to lack of education, misunderstanding and historical mistakes by one side or both. UN and powerful countries can help to resolve these or can make them worse. Unfortunately, the latter route is usually chosen -by judging based on some reports we support one of the sides.

I think, it is difficult to say one side is 100% right and the other is 100% responsible. Example, in Iraq&Iran war Saddam was a good guy, then he became a bad guy when attacked Kuwait, and later became a danger to the whole world.

ahoj -there is just a very very tenuous link between conflict in other countries and part-time working and the like in uk ......the train of logic is so remote that it is wildly insufficient on which to hang some sort if global economic argument

Napoleon,

Bullshit!

Try thinking before posting.

And no, I am not going to explain it to you.

You are a big boy and DYOH.
===

Ahoy,


War can and does often raise the level of employment, even if some of the rise in employed spend their time manufacturing arms or weapons to blow bigger and better holes in each other.

If the same enthusiasm could be found for the "forces" and "manufacturers" before, or during a humanitarian crisis then a more "comfortable" world may occur.

Unlikely, as can be seen the "dollar" is still the icon of worshiped and "possessions" the measurement of personal value for the majority.

Humm,
You might be right about defence jobs, but it certainly won't generate future prosperity and hope. It leaves death, disabled, and long term downturn for that country and its people

Clearly, since the start of conflict in Ukraine, Europe started downturn (with delay off course) and its side-effects is felt here.

It has stuttered due to the "conflict".

But what has hammered the markets is confusion arising from "oil" pricing and its support mechanisms and servicing industry.

(I think, but may be completely wrong.)

52991 - fred can splutter as much as he likes, but i stand my view which imo is a damn sight more accurate


fred- try thinking before posting, and no i am not going to explain it you ......
there is nothing remotely confusing about the current price of oil, not the logic behind its manipulation, nor the knock-on effects

We have Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen, and probably many more countries unstable or in war, and we sanctioned Iran and Russia as a result of one or the other. All of these contribute to lack of demand for everything and oil is one of them, IMO.
Count the population ??? about 350 mln people? I might be wrong though

you could very easily be wrong, though the current unrest in m/e has certainly hit biz confidence in that region

the chinese economy is now less robust - just a measly 7% growth forecast from memory - and india has been going through some very tough economic times over the last 2/3 years ...... i'm not sure how the south american countries are faring, though their love of imposing hefty withholding taxes often means that goods and services have to be over-priced by suppliers to compensate

the sudden collapse of the oil price is, i think, far more serious ......
leaving aside that russia and the us shale producers have been very much targetted, the effect has been touching on the disastrous for all sorts of petro-linked industries

however, just as the world economies learned to cope with much higher oil prices, so no doubt it will come to terms with the reverse should it remain that way for any length of time .....

however, i would doubt that even saudi will want to tolerate prices at the current levels for very long, for though it is a very cheap producer, i recollect that its budget was and i guess still is predicated on a crude price of about $85

ahoj,




I was interested and tried to dig up some charts, but whether GDP etc. was defined then as now, I am not sure.

I would have expected growth to be bigger and a little surprise by post war expansion, but again should have expected it.

I'd like to know when we are going to see 50p a litre petrol..


(never)

There is a strong likelihood that Saudi and the US are using the low oil price to beat Russia with. The price has been predicted to go much lower yet. One prediction last week was $43. The US shale producers will carry on as usual as a lot of their costs were up front. The same applies to many of the conventional producers. The situation is very serious for many countries who have budgeted for much higher prices. Venezuela will probably default on debt payments soon. Russia's economy is funded by oil. Many producers are now selling at lower than production costs. Exploration companies are already cutting back with BP announcing several thousand jobs to go. The lower oil price will increase world instability for sure with Russia getting increasingly angry.

Is there such a thing as a platform for future oil prices that ordinary punters can gamble on?