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.

The €U is not the same animal it was 40 years ago. (common market)

quite so Max .....
the uncontrolled and uncontrollable "it" has become almost entirely indiscriminate in what countries "it" allows to join, their economic wellbeing being pretty much ignored

"it" shows little interest in controlling some or even most of the blatant corruption that gobbles up several fortunes in free hand-outs

"it" creates laws and edicts that many countries should and some do ignore, but not uk where bells and whistles are routinely added

"it" is an uncontrolled and uncontrollable gravy-train with an ever-growing budget to squander as "it" wishes

however, on balance i just about stay on the side of staying in, always provided that at least some of the abuses as outlined above are severely curtailed .... fat chance i'm afraid

Absolutely marvellous isn't it - all this taxpayer's money has been sent overseas to combat Ebola and yet we run out of testing kits at Heathrow and no one seemed to know what they were doing.;


The first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola in Britain after returning from volunteering in Sierra Leone has been named as Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey.

Miss Cafferkey, 39, had written movingly of her work treating Ebola patients in an online diary published shortly before she was diagnosed with the disease.

Miss Cafferkey is being treated at the Royal Free Hospital in north London, having been transferred on a military-style plane from her local hospital in Glasgow on Tuesday.

A doctor who worked with her in Sierra Leone criticised the 'shambolic' testing process at Heathrow airport. Miss Cafferkey was able to pass through Heathrow, board a flight with other passengers to Glasgow and return home before she began to feel ill.

Dr Martin Deahl, from Newport, Shrops, who was on the Heathrow flight with her, said: "The precautions and checks at the airport were shambolic. They ran out of testing kits and didn't seem to know what they were doing."

There is no chance of stopping the trend that the EU is on. It is a march towards federalism with all that entails. Budgets will be set centrally, taxes the same, welfare, healthcare, benefits, h&s, housing etc as well. The controlling groups in the EU have ambitions to be a super power. They don't like NATO and want an EU equivalent. The trend is to suppress sovereignty in member countries.

The economic purpose of a 'common market' has been twisted into a political ideology. Their intention is to absorb any and all candidate countries in the general European zone. At some point, maybe thirty years from now or longer, Ukraine and all countries surrounding, maybe including Turkey, will all be in the EU. The EU must run these countries for the Euro to survive. The Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy crisis has shown that the EU must set taxes, spending, benefits and borrowing levels.

53907 and 53909 have summed up why I want out of the €U.

Where do you want to go?

Just seen the new lady Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, on the telly.....



She seems to be using an orange face powder which is the wrong colour for her skin and is giving her the appearance of having put her 'slap and lippy' on without first having a cleanse.

All IMHO, of course.

Q. But there again, who am I?
A. Not the only person out there that notices things like this. Surely? I do reckon too, that whenever you guys see her from now on, you are also going to notice how she seems to have slapped too much powder on and then question if it is actually the best colour powder, too. Cough, cough.

This is where I don't want to go Fred.



The European Commission


The European Commission has announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the EU, rather than German, which was the other contender.

Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had room for improvement and has therefore accepted a five-year phasing in of "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make sivil servants jump for joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of the "k", Which should klear up some konfusion and allow one key less on keyboards.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f", making words like "fotograf" 20% shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of the silent "e" is disgrasful.

By the fourth yer, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters. After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and everivun vil find it ezi to understand ech ozer.


ZE DREM VIL FINALI COM TRU!

Herr Schmidt

Hey! Is Father Christmas real or fake?

Little 7 yr old boy sets a camera trap to find out. Here's what he found out:

Max,

When you go home are taking you bat and ball with you, or just some of your toys!

Exec, have you noticed when you watch/listen to a video from the USA there is always a woman in the background constantly saying " Oh -my - Gard "! :-)

Exec - Just say it how it is...... She's one ugly bitch!!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2889442/Labour-left-just-three-MPs-Scotland-Miliband-faces-humiliation-SNP-looks-set-secure-50-seats-May.html

Labour 'could be left with just three MPs in Scotland': Miliband faces humiliation as SNP looks set to secure more than 50 seats in May

Labour could be left with just three MPs in Scotland after 2015 Election

SNP could win 50 seats, destroying Ed Miliband's hopes of becoming PM

The prediction of a Scottish wipeout is yet more bad news for Miliband

It was revealed that he was barred from speaking at key referendum event
Miliband was stopped from taking part as he 'was not winning any votes'

Ed Miliband faces humiliation in Scotland after a poll revealed Labour could be left with just three Scottish MPs after next year’s general election.

The Scottish National Party is now on course to secure more than 50 seats in May, meaning Alex Salmond could hold the balance of power at Westminster.

Such a dramatic collapse in Labour’s support in Scotland could easily offset any gains made in England and Wales and destroy Mr Miliband’s hopes of getting into Downing Street.

Haze,

In your dreams.

The Mail isn't even a comic.

But keep reading it.

Yep LOL Hays, who cares anyway Labour and the SNP will be far more left wing and will get some much needed socialist policies back into Britain.

Itl be Milly as PM and Salmond as Deputy PM, a fine line up and we arent half going to be taxing the Tories.

We'l show you what austerity is, selective austerity for Tory rich twits.

And most of all we'l clobber the 'Pale Ale Tories' (opposite of champagne socialists) and really put them in there place you know the type I mean........Carson and co.

WATCH OUT TORY BOYS.

Labour top rate of tax was 40% for most of their time in government, they cynically raised it to 50% just before the Tories took over, to give the electorate the impression that any cuts to this rate was Tory looking after toffs.
2517

And the Tories put it back down to 45%(edit) just before the Local Elections and at a time when millions are in poverty and need the help of food banks.

Osbourne sits on a £30 billion pound National Insurance Surplus but hospitals are at breaking point, benefits are hitting the poor very hard.

Shame on the Tories........ shame.

The 11 most senseless benefit sanction decisions known to man.......

Benefit sanctions, where a job centre can suspend or dock a claimant’s welfare payments, are becoming increasingly controversial.

The impact of the sanctions vary: in the most extreme cases a person can lose their benefits for three years. Reasons for withdrawing benefits can range to being late for a meeting, failing to turn up on time, or leaving several jobs voluntarily.

In the wake of a diabetic ex-soldier dying after his benefits were sanctioned and three disgruntled ex-DWP civil servants going rogue to help welfare claimants who believe their payments have been wrongly docked, we look at the most ridiculous reasons for sanctioning benefits yet.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A man with heart problems who was on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) had a heart attack during a work capability assessment. He was then sanctioned for failing to complete the assessment.

Via Debbie Abrahams MP.

A man who had gotten a job that was scheduled to begin in two weeks’ time was sanctioned for not looking for work as he waited for the role to start.

Via the Guardian.

Army veteran Stephen Taylor, 60, whose Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) was stopped after he sold poppies in memory of fallen soldiers.

Via the Daily Mirror.

A man had to miss his regular appointment at the job centre to attend his father’s funeral. He was sanctioned even though he told DWP staff in advance.

Via Political Scrapbook.

Ceri Padley, 26, had her benefits sanctioned after she missed an appointment at the jobcentre - because she was at a job interview.

Via the Daily Mail.

A man got sanctioned for missing his slot to sign on - as he was attending a work programme interview. He was then sanctioned as he could not afford to travel for his job search.

Via Citizen’s Advice.

Sean Halkyward, 24, said his benefits were sanctioned because he looked for too many jobs in one week.

Via Pontefract and Castleford Express

Mother-of-three Angie Godwin, 27, said her benefits were sanctioned after she applied for a role job centre staff said was beyond her.

Via Get Reading.

Sofya Harrison was sanctioned for attending a job interview and moving her signing-on to another day.

Via the Guardian.

Michael, 54, had his benefits sanctioned for four months for failing to undertake a week’s work experience at a charity shop. The charity shop had told him they didn’t want him there.

Via the Guardian.

Terry Eaton, 58, was sanctioned because he didn’t have the bus fare he needed to attend an appointment with the job centre.

Via the Guardian.

Top rate of tax is 45% gf
2517

other than perhaps psychologically a thoughtless move, i see no link between the tax cut and the need for food banks

also, whether or not there is a cash pile, it is not remotely the solution to the undoubted probs there are in NHS
as already written, those probs have been building for well over decade and have a myriad of causes
throwing money does not miraculously create nurses nor properly qualified and experienced doctors
i suspect there are technically plenty of physical beds available, but more a distinct lack of qualified personnel to operate them

OK 45% whats 5% to the wealthiest in this country.

Most didnt even know the tax change had gone ahead.

Instead of spending it like the poor it just builds up in Bank Accounts .......what good is that to the economy.