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.

Aye your right Hays, Mark Twain was crap at golf too :0)

i'm afraid nick faldo had the personality of a garden gnome, though he has improved considerably since he retired from golf and started commentating

on the other hand, gary player is still quite extraordinary in his enthusiasm for the game (and ability) and his general bonhomie with whoever he meets

As a sports 'personality' Hamilton pips my hooter (and I drive a fast Merc, too) so I actually did him a few votes with the 'repeat dial' on my phone.

And he has enough personality to pull and hold someone like Nicole Sherzinger as his girlfriend too.

'Sportsmen?' some of you say? F1 drivers are actually some of the fittest men on the planet!

eg. Jenson Button who is a regular Ironman competitor and did a 42 km run, 3.86 km swim and a, 180km cycle ride in the Philippines earlier this year and came 11th in his age group.

It's not the drivers, they are all good.

It's the tech...which has got out of all proportion...the costs are unreal.


And since Bernie and his mates at CVC got their mits on it, it has gone downhill quite badly. The foreign races are to mostly half empty tracks..it's all for tv and advertising.

Repeat dial on your phone Exec, that's cheating!! :-)

Regarding Mr Twain, I didn't say that I was bad at golf. It was just that I didn't like it that much to play it.

Oil price and Rouble. It shows how raising interest rates has failed to stop the fall of the Rouble.

Ten year oil futures price. It is approaching the 2008/9 recession price. The current future price is $55.20.

http://www.nasdaq.com/markets/crude-oil.aspx?timeframe=10y

The problem with golf is that it is becoming boring to watch on television as the players take far too long to play their shots.The PGA, European Tour and the R&A need to impose stiffer penalties for slow play.

Falling crude prices are hardly doing anyone favours.

The punters don't see it at the pumps.

The treasury wont see it in taxes.


Zero hour contracts are doing a great job for blighty.

And the tories are controlling immigration?

What are you sniffing?

Max,

The price of fuel doesn't particularly affect the treasury. Fuel tax is charged at a flat rate (it's about 58p a litre), regardless of the price paid for petrol or diesel at the pump. In addition, there's VAT, which is also charged on top of the fuel duty. So, the treasury get a minimum of around 70p a litre, regardless of the price paid at the pump.

If the price charged at the pump fluctuates, treasury income fluctuates only by the VAT charged on the element between their guaranteed 70p and the sales price.

In addition, oil is traded universally in USD. When the price of oil falls, cable also tends to fall, and the sterling equivalent price of crude tends to stay the same. That, coupled with the high fixed taxation element, means that prices at the pump fluctuate disproportionately to the price of crude.

But that also works in your favour. When China were blowing massive smoke plumes over Beijing during the 2008 Olympics, and crude was sitting around the $150/barrel level, whilst the price of fuel at the pump went up, it didn't go up by a proportionate amount because cable being at 2 bucks kept the sterling price down.

The next leader of the looney right.

While Cameron remains in charge.

Haze,

Don't panic, Don't panic!

Your dear leader is in charge!

.

high street rejuvenation
i see mary portas is ranting on about how the gov't should do more and more, but she misses an essential element ......

if high street shops do not offer the goods and services that the locals want, and in turn, if the locals do not support those enterprises, then of course they collapse and die

we have seen this in our lovely town where there is no longer a book shop, a butcher or fishmonger (he has now relocated about a mile out of town), greengrocer, delicatessen or hardware shop (he's now moved to a tertiary site on the perimeter)

in all cases, the locals wrung their hands when these shops disappeared, but frankly, they did not support them when they were there, even though, by and large, the products and service were good, though of course a little more expensive (but better quality) than the supermarket

Anyway, our one poll so far this Monday is Populus’s, with topline figures of CON 34%, LAB 36%, LDEM 10%, UKIP 12%, GRN 5%. Tabs are here.
UPDATE: The daily YouGov/Sun poll today has toplines of CON 32%, LAB 34%, LDEM 6%, UKIP 14%, GRN 8%. YouGov have had the Greens sneaking ahead of the Lib Dems quite a few times lately, but until today it’s only been by a single point.
Meanwhile the monthly ComRes/Indy telephone poll has topline figures of CON 29%(+1), LAB 32%(+1), LDEM 12%(+3), UKIP 16%(-2), GRN 5%(-2).

Local shops are always better quality. And fresher.

Mind you cant find a traditional British shop in most Northern towns as the Asians have taken over the High Street with take aways.