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.

SCOTTISH Labour's brief period of unity has ended after the former spokesman for Jim Murphy's defeated rival accused the new leader of "abandoning truth" and "making stuff up" about Scottishness.

Stephen Low, who was the spin doctor for leadership candidate Neil Findlay, said Murphy's comments about an "ingrained" Scottish character amounted to him "buying into fantasies".

Murphy beat left-winger Findlay and Sarah Boyack MSP earlier this month to become Johann Lamont's successor as Scottish Labour leader.

Lamont had quit her post in acrimonious circumstances after blasting Westminster "dinosaurs" and accusing UK Labour of treating the Scottish party as a "branch office".

During the contest, Murphy addressed Lamont's claims by stressing his Scottishness and insisting he would take no orders from his MP colleagues.

He said he would hire Yes voters to his team and, 24 hours after winning, promised to rewrite the Scottish Labour constitution to reflect the country's perceived national identity.

Murphy explained: "We are a socialist party yes, but we recognise that our political faith grew out of something deeper which is ingrained in our Scottish character.

"It was there before our party in the ethics of Burns's poetry, the economic vision of New Lanark, the actions of the Highlanders who took on brutal landlords."

However, Low took to Facebook to criticise Murphy's comments, saying of the "ingrained" Scottishness remark: "This is fiction, not history.

"All I can suggest now is that peddling myths - either out of ignorance or calculation, will do us few favours."

He said it was not a "statement that bears any relation to either history - nor the sociology of nations", adding: "We do ourselves no favours by abandoning truth and reality nor buying into fantasies that nations have 'ingrained character'."

Low added: "Are we going to start discussing the ingrained nature of the German or Hungarian or African culture next ... The idea that the labour movement ... arose from a sense of national rather than class identity would get you a bad fail in any history class.

"Jim does, of course, have the right to say what he wants - but when he maintains things that aren't true, the party does have a duty to point these things out."

He accused Murphy of "making stuff up" and concluded with a warning: "We are making a rod for our own backs here."

The leadership contest was broadly good natured but Labour's biggest trade union affiliate, Unite, launched a personal attack against Murphy.

Union general secretary Len McCluskey said Murphy stood for "reheated Blairism", which would be a "sentence of political death for many Scottish Labour MPs" at next year's General Election.

Low was Findlay's press contact during the election and is a policy officer for another trade union, Unison.

SNP MSP Stewart Maxwell said: "The fact that there is a great deal of unease within the Labour party over the election of Jim Murphy will surprise nobody given he is an MP who backs Trident, voted for the Iraq war, campaigned with the Tories in the referendum and has a track record of voting for tuition fees.

"With a recent opinion poll showing that the SNP has actually increased our lead since the election of Jim Murphy, it is clearer than ever that it will take far more than the election of a new leader to address the fact that Labour is fundamentally out of step with people in Scotland."

Low said: "The campaign is over. These views are mine and no-one else's."

A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: "The new leadership team means it's a fresh start for Scottish Labour and Scotland. We will be working together in the new year to take our positive message of radical change all across our great nation."

The Herald Scotland

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So which way will Lady Eck go, assuming the SNP win loads of seats?

complaints about student property operator Nigel Russell
i do hope this most unsavoury character is not your real self sticky, though i recollect that your empire did indeed include many student lets :-)

cynic.

Here is one for you

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/11315032/British-expat-exodus-feared-to-hit-Dubai-amid-oil-price-rout.html

Hays.

Here is one for you

The youth vote is important – meaning the Coalition is in trouble.29/12/2014


The results: The Observer published the results of the Opinium poll in graphic form, making it easier for all of us to digest. The rise of actress Emma Watson as an opinion-former after her speech on feminism to the United Nations shows the influence of high-profile celebrities who take an interest.

A BBC report today (December 27) suggests that the votes of people aged 18-25 are key to success in the general election next May.

This will be terrific news for the Labour Party, as an Opinium/Observer poll on the views of people aged 17 to 22 has given Labour a 15 per cent lead over its nearest rival – on 41 per cent, compared with the Conservatives on 26 per cent, the Greens on 19 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on just six per cent.

But these polls never compare like for like, and the poll quoted by the BBC, carried out by Populus for the thinktank Demos (who the BBC describes as left-leaning, although some may dispute that), suggests that 44 per cent of young people have not decided which way they’ll vote. The difference is that these are people aged 18 to 25.

Both polls show around three million young people will be eligible to vote in May, but present a spread of information about their preferences that suggests no British political party has entirely claimed their loyalties.

For example, the Opinium poll shows 62 per cent of young people said they believed the UK’s membership of the EU was a good thing, including 57 per cent of Conservative-inclined voters, with only 14 per cent disagreeing.

Asked how they would vote in an in/out referendum, as proposed by David Cameron, 67 per cent said they would vote to stay in, while only 19 per cent would opt to leave. Among all voters, the split is close to 50-50 (according to The Observer).

This suggests that a more strident anti-EU message from the Conservatives, to counter the threat of Ukip, would drive away more young first-time voters, the paper stated.

No party leader fared well in the Opinium poll. Only 13 per cent said they approved of Nigel Farage, against 64 per cent who said they disapproved, giving him a net approval rating of -51 per cent, worse than that of Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg, who scored -44 per cent. Ed Miliband scored -18 per cent and David Cameron -6 per cent.

The Populus poll, quoted by the BBC, asked young people to name the issues that most concerned them, and found that 69 per cent said the cost of living, 62 per cent affordable housing, 58 per cent unemployment and the same proportion said the NHS. These are all issues on which the Coalition government can be said to have made the situation worse.

Exactly 50 per cent were worried about online privacy, with 45 per cent concerned about the environment, and 43 per cent worried about immigration. Tax avoidance only bothered 37 per cent and Britain’s future in the EU concerned just 34 per cent (indicating that Opinium’s finding is more or less correct).

At first glance, it seems the BBC’s report was commissioned in response to The Observer’s, reinforcing suggestions of right-wing bias in the Corporation. The indication of the number of potential voters who are still undecided tends to support this.

But the findings about young voters’ concerns suggests that any such intention has been foiled, as both polls clearly show young voters are dissatisfied with the Coalition parties and want a change.

Perhaps the most striking information for Labour – and an indication of where it has gone wrong over the past two decades – is the suggestion in the Populus poll that more than half of young people would be more likely to vote if there were more working-class candidates.

The party’s continued insistence on marginalising such members in favour of people from the same background as every other party – university graduates who have gone on to work in politics or finance – is harming its appeal to voters, it seems.

Now, why would a party leader with such low ratings as Ed Miliband be ignoring this?

Oldsters to yoofs @ nearly 2-1


http://www.ukpolitical.info/Turnout10.htm

dubai etc
generally speaking, it is the europeans and to a slightly lesser extent, the indian expats who are in the upper management positions and effectively keep the wheels of local industry running

how many of these are involved within the local "civil service", i really have no idea

certainly the expats got clobbered when the building industry collapsed in dubai a few years back, but there was an awful lot more activity when i was there in october, and property rentals were very much on the upswing

in saudi, there are all sorts of major petro-chem projects under way, which assuredly will not be put on ice

There as been talk of bringing the voting age down to 16 years, would be better to bring it up to 20, and that goes for the front line Army unless there was a major war at our door step. Young peoples view on things such as taking risk , and having trendy left wing political views which change when they become much older [ 30 years old ]

The youngsters always seem to have left wing "they ought to do this, that the other"... type tendencies.

Anyone know if advfn have a new policy of not showing posters posts other than there names?????????????

Perhaphs its become all premium now?????????????

Nothing seems to have changed on Advfn.

Aldwick, people generally have a different view and priorities as they get older. Funny thing is most 16 year old's have a better understanding of the EU than people in their 40's as they've learnt about it at school. Young peoples view on taking risk is going to be far different of course to someone a few generations older as they're more likely to have more responsibilities than a young person, its proportional risk to circumstance that maybe could be questioned. For me, I'd happily see the voting age reduced to 16, getting people to the polls though will always be the biggest issue.

"I have reduced the bonus from 160% to 20%. We have made significant steps to diffuse the issue of bonuses. We have had a very difficult time over the festive period," he said.

Only 20%

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30625925

Poor old Carney... It's tough at the top:

it seems very contradictory, as at the beginning of that article it reads ....
Mr Carne said he could get a maximum of £34,000, or around 5% of his £675,000 annual salary (stan - please note the spelling lest others should think it is the guv of BoE)

or perhaps this guy gets quarterly bonuses - ie 4 x 5% = a possible 20%
i agree pretty chunky, though i wonder what the old salary was on which 160% was paid

Greek MPs have rejected the presidential candidate nominated by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, triggering a snap general election.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30623421

What does it matter what his bonus is? If he's negotiated it as a part of his remuneration package, and if he's earned and is entitled to it, he should take it and not feel guilty about it.

in some ways that is true, but if his base salary is pretty excessive - perhaps not relative to your own - and is almost certainly 30/35x that of his lowest paid employee, then it is not unreasonable to question its whole structure, whether negotiated or not

oooooooops wrong bloke

Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne...... GF think you have the wrong Carne!!