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.

Merry Christmas everyone - peace on earth and goodwill to all ! The usual "hostilities" to recommence on Boxing Day probably.:-)

A suitable Xmas card for IDS

Read it all.


Watch what this homeless man did with £60 in alcohol shop:

http://metro.co.uk/2014/12/23/watch-what-this-homeless-man-did-with-60-in-a-liquor-store-4997325/

in retort to fred - well bollocks to you then!
what a sour and rather nasty old man you are
i can't quite bring myself to wish you a doleful 2015 as that is not in my nature, but for once i am sorely tempted

Don't worry Fred, goldfinger came close but no cigar. Congratulations on keeping the honour and well deserved 'GOBSHITE OF THE YEAR' award. You will never be beaten! :0)

.

How very un festive of you Alf -):

Manuel,

I was born on the bleak side of the street, but when I crossed over I realised the view wasn't much better from there.

Mind the pickings were better.


8-) or 8-(

Save your self for the New Year, may we not repeat the same mistakes we made this year!

There may be hope for some of us yet.

Stan.

Seasons' greetings.

Hope all is going well for you.

I still have a few uncertainties, but perhaps may be possible to meet up in February for a meal somewhere or other.

Take care of yourself and all.

That was THIS homeless man - and what a lovely guy too. Indeed, despite his circumstance, he was still healthily minded and was exceedingly generous.

Fred, have you got any links which are to TYPICAL homeless men who are/were given £60 and such that they might be more generally representative?

It is my understanding that lots of them have undiagnosed Serious Mental Illness (SMI) compounded by past trauma issues, poor coping mechanisms and personality disorders.

Lots have a dual diagnosis and have a history of both substance abuse and issues with mental health. They are often difficult to reach and mistrustful of anyone representing authority.

As such, a gift of £60 is exactly what they do NOT need.

Ok Fred if that is going to be your attitude then you can stick this article where the sun don't shine!

By Peter Oborne

6:10AM GMT 24 Dec 2014

Last Friday, a significant moment passed almost unnoticed. Britain entered the election period, meaning that from now on all party spending must be reported to the Electoral Commission.


The longest general election campaign in history looms. It will stretch for more than four interminable months, with no intermission, till polling day on May 7. Normal political activity has already ceased, thanks to the misconceived Fixed Term Parliament Act of 2011. As a result everyone at Westminster is now hanging around, scoring points off each other and electioneering at taxpayers’ expense.


Nevertheless, if we were to ignore the cock-ups, misjudgments and disasters that collectively describe its foreign policy, we might conclude that when it was working, it was a very good government indeed. I am certain that historians will marvel at the Cameron-Clegg Coalition and its superlative achievements in welfare, education and police reform.

The sheer scope and audacity of its ambition take the breath away. Cameron and Clegg have reshaped the relationship between individual and state in a way which neither Margaret Thatcher nor Tony Blair ever dared to do. Iain Duncan Smith’s achievement at the Department for Work and Pensions, in particular, has been monumental. He is returning social security to the arrangement envisaged by Sir William Beveridge in his famous 1944 White Paper.


Mr Duncan Smith has liberated hundreds of thousands of people from the humiliation of state dependency and given them the opportunity to live independent, responsible and fulfilling lives. His historic reforms, as evidence is now showing, have changed the dynamics of the British job market, removing many of the obstacles which used to prevent men and women from moving from benefits into work and thus reducing the long-term rate of unemployment.

The economic significance of this is profound, but the human importance in terms of restored dignity and self-worth is beyond calculation.

Michael Gove’s period as education secretary was just as remarkable. Ever since Shirley Williams and the Labour Party wrecked public education in the Sixties, with acts of open-eyed and wanton vandalism, schools have enforced a belief in mediocrity. The brute power of the teaching unions has ensured that aspiration has been discouraged and academic excellence distrusted. As a result social mobility has collapsed and the life chances of millions of British children have been scarred. This is slowly beginning to be mended.

Change of this magnitude is hard to measure, but the statistics point to the surprising domestic success of the Cameron/Clegg government. The Coalition Agreement, signed in the summer of 2010, contained 399 objectives. According to Cabinet Office figures, some 344 of these have been met – an astounding record of success. Some 43 are still in progress, while only 12 have been abandoned. The two most headline-grabbing failures have been House of Lords reform and the constituency boundary review, which is urgently needed to rectify pro-Labour bias.

Half-way through this Government, a further 212 commitments were made of which 135 have been delivered, 74 are in progress and only two have been abandoned.

Let’s put these commitments in more concrete terms. More than two million private-sector jobs have been created since the 2010 general election, five times more than the 414,000 public-sector jobs cut during that period. Employment is up by 1.75 million since 2010, while 760,000 more businesses have been created. Crucially, youth unemployment is falling fast and even the long-term unemployed are steadily returning to work. This is momentous, yet the Coalition has been given very little credit.

It is worth asking why not. The answer lies partly with the staggering ineptitude of the 10 Downing Street press machine, but the problem goes deeper. There is a structural problem with political discourse in Britain. Commentators fixate on short-term problems, government announcements and personal squabbles, such as the obscure debate currently raging between Downing Street and the Home Office over what kind of role two temporary civil servants reporting to Theresa May can play in the general election.

There is a price for Westminster’s obsession with the arcane details of everyday politics. It causes us to overlook the moral seriousness which lies at the heart of the Cameron-Clegg Government: Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg, to their huge credit, never made the New Labour mistake of believing that announcing a policy was the same as implementing it.

All the press releases and government Bills that bring easy headlines were out of the way at the end of their first 18 months. Since when, ministers have devoted themselves to bringing about a cultural revolution in British government. This has meant fighting thousands of tiny hand-to-hand battles away from the public eye, in benefit offices, school classrooms, prisons and civil service departments.

It will take a generation of dedicated work to bring about the kind of change that Mr Cameron and his ministers have promised. Of course there have been mistakes, such as the insane decision to sack Michael Gove, the greatest post-war education secretary, and make him Chief Whip instead.

But the Prime Minister has made sound judgments as well. In the autumn, there was a tremendous clamour to sack David Freud, the brilliant, public-spirited welfare minister who is overseeing the introduction of the Universal Credit system which is the key to the social security reforms. Mr Cameron was urged at the time by a panicky Craig Oliver, his director of communications, to save himself from bad headlines and give way to the mob. He did not, and the scheme is now slowly being unrolled across the country. His refusal to bow to such pressure was arguably David Cameron’s most important act of the year.

What lies ahead? I believe that the conventional wisdom is badly wrong, and the general election will see a paradoxical return to two-party politics. Ukip is unlikely to win more than one or two seats, and may even end up with none. The Greens will surge in terms of votes, but will be lucky even to hang on to their existing stronghold of Brighton. Predictions that the SNP will sweep Scotland are overdone.

There has been a great deal of excitable talk about “multi-dimensional politics”. This is nonsense. I predict that Labour and the Conservatives will win between them a higher proportion of seats than at any election since 1992. A hung parliament cannot be ruled out, but it is unlikely.

This is all a consequence of the collapse of the Liberal Democrats. Nick Clegg has been an excellent Deputy Prime Minister and loyal colleague but that will not help either his seat in Sheffield or the Lib Dems in the country. Labour and its under-rated leader Ed Milband seem best placed to take advantage of this collapse, but I wonder whether he can sustain his lead until the election.

David Cameron has an impressive story to tell as the election approaches. He has led a remarkable government with some outstanding achievements to its credit. Its historic talk of reform and consolidation is not yet complete. He and his colleagues deserve the chance to finish the social revolution they launched five years ago.

Exec,

I picked the "article" in my "wanderings".

My interest in it was it questioned expectation.

======

The problems of the "homeless" are of numerous aetiologies and therefore needing a multiple of approaches.

I think, but not looked carefully at the details, was the closure of "Mental Support facilities" and some institutions in the "hope" that "Care in the Community" would take over the problem or relieve government of what I think is its responsibility in a reasonable and developed society.

Again recognising the "foibles" or ill built "traits" does not banish them from the responsibility of a decent society.

Finding the reasonable approach for both "society as a whole" and the "social miscreants" is the difficulty, but chucking them out on the streets and looking down noses and "damning" them is not a solution, just a method of protecting ones own position.


Ps. I think the message at the bottom of the excerpt was offer them a warm drink and a sandwich. (My wife has done that in the past.)

Something the Salvation Army has done for a very long time.

I admire them for dealing with some of "society's problems.

========


Often what they are doing the "damning" wouldn't touch.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year To ALL.

regards gf.

DB4,

Did Peter Oborne write that when he was sober or drunk?

You could put put him on a pole and make him a totem for the the Telegraph readers and the more fascist leaning of the con party's right wing. (Those who haven't left and joined the kipper party.)

Even some of the right winged media are deserting your leader and becoming more and more critical, The PARTY will have to dip into their coffers and bribe them a little more.

----------

The NHS, and broken promises and other lies will sink Cameron and his motley crew.

Fred - ditto post 53706.

Happy Xmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year to all. That includes Fred who does make me smile (He has me on filter from the last Gen Election allegedly) and also goldfinger etc or whoever he is this week. He may require psychiatric treatment now and again but his hearts in the right place now and again. Hic, gees I must be pissed! :0)

Db4.

The Xmas present George and Cameron have left the nations.


2013 Q3 - 6%
2013 Q4 - 5.6%
2014 Q1 - 5.1%
2014 Q2 - 5.5%
2014 Q3 - 6%.

-=-==--

The UK national debt grows at a rate of £5,170 per second!

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

http://www.nationaldebtclock.co.uk/



---------

Have a good one db, pointless arguing with Fred, he makes Scrooge look like Mary Poppins on speed LOL!

PS.

This Johnnie Walker Red £15 from ASDA going down a treat :0)

I don't know what Peter Oborne is drinking, but it's bloody good gear :-)

Fred is one of the worst examples of a political armchair critic who spouts a lot of utter garbage and cares so much about the future of our country that, by his own admission, he can't actually be arsed to get off his verbal backside to vote when the opportunity arises.

Have an enjoyable Christmas, Chris - perhaps you might get a white Christmas in Aberdeen. :-)

Not sure if this is being shown on ITV in England. If it is you have got to watch 'Off their rockers' on STV now. Funny if sober, hilarious if half cut :0)