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.

Why does the Labour party continue to elect such dismal leaders? They are all unsuitable to run the country. They are chosen by the influence of the unions. It also seems that the Labour party is very good at recruiting incompetents in general.

Haze,

Because the prefer a reasonably honest group of individuals who have aspire to a social responsibility rather than the elected a corrupt bunch of self serving elitist who tend to dependent on inherited advantages and intent on preserving their personal advantages.

Hopefully, and probably the UK electorate will hold similar views.


-=-=-=-==

Max,

If you haven’t already viewed http://www.gresham.ac.uk/professors-and-speakers/professor-vernon-bogdanor-fba-cbe
Have a look.

http://www.gresham.ac.uk/professors-and-speakers/professor-vernon-bogdanor-fba-cbe

It was part of my period of growing up and was an interesting reflection of the 45-51 political period and effects on UK politics.

Also, one may see similarities to the present political period.

==========


I wish he had included a critique of the successes and failures of the actual period of government.

Ed is the biggest gaffe of all of them. David Milliband would have been our next PM without doubt imo.

TV was blinkin awful I thought .....don't watch much anyway but what do you get ? Eastenders, Emmerdale, Coronation Street and some panel shows.......is that the best they can serve now ? if the younger generation could go back to the seventies and see the fantastic shows throughout the Christmas/New Year where you were really spoilt for choice....would never have believed then how poor it is today...thank god for dvds...anyway..having a quiet Christmas/New Year.....

And what the hell is a ...Crimbo ?......does that come from latin ?...

RF

Didn't you watch " On The Buses " , just as funny as it was in the 70's

Don't you have Free view ? there are loads of old shows to watch.

Anyway...stuffing myself with leg of lamb follow-up....chateau plonko....followed by deserto muller corner out of date cherry.....

Yes Allders....I do....had a look on channel 24...nothing....15...can't remember...6....Bond seen too many times....will have a look tonight....I do have some Steptoe dvds to watch.....

Didn't you see that "On the Buses " was on yesterday and all the Carry on films

Didn't you see that "On the Buses " was on yesterday and all the Carry on films

Missed on the Buses...(the inspector made the show)....I used to think....saw a Carry on film a couple of weeks ago....with Corbett as a dectective....looking for Watt...sort of "The Munsters show"....ohhhh Iiii... sayyyy....with Kenneth Williams....those bolts...really suit you Herman....(along those lines)....a scream.....

What a jumper.

Some things to read at leisure .. the end of the US dollar as a reserve currency?

Long-ish articles, well worth a read imo.



China


Dec 17, '14



THE ROVING EYE
Go west, young Han
By Pepe Escobar

November 18, 2014: it's a day that should live forever in history. On that day, in the city of Yiwu in China's Zhejiang province, 300 kilometers south of Shanghai, the first train carrying 82 containers of export goods weighing more than 1,000 tons left a massive warehouse complex heading for Madrid. It arrived on December 9.

Welcome to the new trans-Eurasia choo-choo train. At over 13,000 kilometers, it will regularly traverse the longest freight train route in the world, 40% farther than the legendary Trans-Siberian Railway. Its cargo will cross China from East to West, then Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, France, and finally Spain.



More: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/CHIN-01-171214.html


...................................................................................

Russia and China, time's, they are a changing...


Russian Roulette – Is the west about to shoot itself in the head, heart and the foot – just to make sure?

Posted on December 24, 2014 Updated on December 26, 2014


One year on, as the Federal Reserve celebrates another birthday, both Gold and Silver were beaten down in the London aftermarket close, while trading was at its lowest. And the Russian Rouble was similarly attacked by those behind the curtain.

As the Russian Rouble recovers some of its losses of the last week, in the last few days, I have been re-visiting some of my reading matter, of the last few weeks.

Ever since Russia annexed Crimea, ostensibly to give citizenship to ethnic Russians, but many feel it was to save its only warm water port, “The West”, has been ratcheting up the tension and the rhetoric on Russia.

The NATO block has interfered in Ukraine, too many times. The American led organisation the IMF, has been interfering, with its money, and the West has provided IMF led financial support to the Ukrainian Government and military, and rumours abound, that the IMF and its minions have taken Ukraine’s Gold – some 40 tons apparently – as a surety. (Rumoured to be the source of Holland’s recently returned 127 tons of Gold).

According to Bloomberg today, Ukraine has sold more of its Gold holdings, reducing its holdings from 26.1 tons, to 23.6 tons (2.5 tons) and Russia has bought more rising from 1,168.7 tons to 1,187.5 tons (18.8 tons).

But Russia is not the one in trouble – the Fed and the U.S. is. Russia’s Debt to GDP ratio is roughly 11 percent. What is the Debt to GDP ratio in the United States? According to the IMF it’s 112 percent. What is the Debt to GDP ratio in Japan? It’s a staggering 230 percent. And Russia is sitting on a lot of reserves of very valuable natural resources.



More: http://moneymatterstoo.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/russian-roulette-is-the-west-about-to-shoot-itself-in-the-head-heart-and-the-foot-just-to-make-sure/?preview=true&preview_id=28691&preview_nonce=957e3242a0&post_format=standard

The US debt is not a problem. China holds a huge amount of the debt. Both parties are happy with this. The US gets funded by China and they get access to a huge market enabling their rapid expansion. It also means a lower exchange rate for China. This relationship has existed for many years already and is set to continue into the middle of this century.

The point of both articles have sailed straight past you...you didn't even come close to twigging.

Both the articles are similar to a number of similar pieces written recently. It is a sort of alternative reality. I am not sure what the motives are of the authors.

Our area has a warning for tomorrow for 'yellow snow'.

Or was it a 'yellow warning' for snow? Hmmm? Well, whatever....

Warning: Do not eat yellow snow.

From the comment section:


If you pay for your van, pay for the fuel and pay for the insurance City Link will still give you a job! (According to their website).


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http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cartoon/2014/dec/26/ben-jennings-collapse-city-link-cartoon

It is up to HMRC to determine self employment. The basis always was that self employment was not allowed where you worked exclusively for one company for a long period, meaning you were not running a proper business. This relationship was always regarded as employer/ employee. There has always been casual labour to cope with temporary needs such as seasonal demand.

Yes, thats's the way it used to be.

It's obviously changed, and not for the better.

Most self employed people don't know how to run a business, they confuse going to work with making money...see city link story above.

Even if the company had kept going, most of the self employed drivers would have eventually gone bust...you cant run a business on the rates being offered, not with the overheads that come with the "job"