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.

New research by Oxford University and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has shown that only around one-fifth (20 per cent) of people who have been sanctioned off of Jobseekers’ Allowance have actually found work, leaving 1.6 million in limbo; they’re off the benefits system but researchers can only surmise that they are relying on food banks.

If 1.6 million people are being denied benefits, that doesn’t stop them being unemployed.

Therefore the true unemployment figure should be almost twice as high as stated, at a massive 3.51 million.

That’s before other elements, such as the Work Programme, have been taken into account!

Im afraid thats the truth HAYS, not the mickey mouse figures you have been show and believe in.

Wat a set of silly posts. You don't get sanctioned for not having a job, but for breaking the terms of your benefit. That may be for not turning up often enough, not applying for or accepting jobs. If you follow the rules then you get the benefits. If you are determined to just live on benefits then they will be cut off if you make no attempt to find employment. You may not like it, but it is a very popular policy.

GF>


I agree with you, the figures seem to point out the lies of Cameron and Osborne.

Haze is cloud 9 as usual.

What he ingests other than handouts from Tory central office I don't know, perhaps he just uses the mantras as roll ups.

Hay's,

Why don't you try dossing out for a month and turn up at "job" centre looking for a job with

"You don't get sanctioned for not having a job, but for breaking the terms of your benefit."

written on a piece of paper.

Try living on the payments!

I would think you are unemployable.

Also, guess you haven't the guts to attempt the above.

By Steven Swinford, Senior Political Correspondent
1:03PM GMT 21 Jan 2015
The National Audit Office, Britain's public spending watchdog, issues a damning report on the cost of the BBC's new headquarters

The BBC's new £1 billion headquarters cost £13,000 for every member of staff to run, three times more than similar commercial buildings.

A damning report by the National Audit Office found that the corporation's new headquarters cost £89 million a year to run, equivalent to a third of the corporation's running costs.

Margaret Hodge, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, said that the figure appeared to be "ridiculously" high and called on the BBC to explain itself.

The National Audit Office said that the BBC needs to make "better use of space to achieve value for money" after it found that building's running costs dwarf those of the rest of the corporation.

It found that Broadcasting House cost three times more than similar UK properties to run and 49 per cent more than similar properties in London.

It also said that the corporation is failing to meet its target of capping the cost of running its portfolio of properties at 6 per cent of licence fee income. It is currently 7.3 per cent.

Amyas Morse, the head of the National Audit Office, said: “The BBC has made good progress in upgrading its estate but it will need to press ahead with its plans to make better use of space to achieve value for money.

“The BBC will also need to maintain enough flexibility in its leasehold and freehold portfolio to allow its estate to adapt quickly to the changing needs of an organisation operating in a fast-changing sector.”

Nick Prettejohn, chairman of the BBC Trust's value for money committee, said: “The BBC has reduced the size of the estate by almost a third while at the same time adding new TV channels and radio stations, and modernising its buildings. These are significant achievements and I am pleased that the NAO have recognised the good progress made.

“Today’s report also gives a clear steer on where further improvements can be made and the Trust will continue to track progress to make sure the NAO’s recommendations are implemented in full.”

A BBC spokesman said: "Broadcasting House is not comparable to other buildings. It makes around half of all BBC output, houses the biggest newsroom in Europe and broadcasts globally 24 hours a day every day of the week, which requires unique levels of technology and security.

"Construction cost £31m less than the 2006 budget stated even taking account of the preservation of the Grade 2 listed Art Deco architecture."

Despite its high running costs, Broadcasting House has been beset by problems from broken lifts to overflowing lavatories.

Staff at New Broadcasting House in London's West End have said that the corporation's headquarters are a "total mess", with loos often boarded up with 'out of order' signs attached.

They say that since the building was opened in 2012 it has suffered a string of "loo-related problems".

In December last year it was revealed that BBC bosses had to put up notices asking staff to stop pinching loo roll – with even the sign being ripped off and stolen from the lavatory door.

And this week, BBC worker Andrew Wiggins – a broadcast media specialist – revealed how the lavatories at the BBC are becoming a major problem for the 6,000 staff who work at New Broadcasting House.

Mr Wiggins said various BBC workers had complained about numerous problems at the HQ and that bosses were ignoring the fact that money should have been spent on the 'basics'.

Writing in the BBC's internal magazine Ariel on Tuesday, Mr Wiggins said: "I could mention broken taps, the constantly out of order lifts, or automated doors that no longer open.

"But the single most annoying and embarrassing issue has got to be the lavatories.

"Is there a single lavatory anywhere in NBH that hasn't been out of order for an extended period during the last 12 months?

"I don't often manage to find an available lavatory on my own floor and spend increasingly urgent minutes trying to find one on other floors.

"In a building of so many people the provision for lavatory facilities is woefully short, and ever shorter when they're out of service so regularly.

"It seems so much of the £1bn was spent on making the building look a certain way, without much care taken to spec all of its facilities (from technology to lavatories) to be hard-wearing and actually usable on a daily basis."

Mr Wiggins also referred to a recently penned note complaining about a host of failings by respected BBC worker Paul Moss, who works for The World Tonight on Radio 4, saying he recognised all the problems he referred to.

Mr Moss said he was left fuming after a string of breakdowns left staff with no Internet or telephone connections – as well as out-of-order lifts and broken dishwashers.

Mr Moss wrote: "I had to deal with our telephone system not working, the Internet connection breaking down on my computer ('You've got a profile problem, mate')..and the archive having an ongoing issue.

"Fed up with trying to work like this, I set off for the canteen but the lift was broken, and the non-automatic automatic door still had its sign apologising for the inconvenience of its continued breakdown.

"Many of us were unsettled to find that, for the first time in weeks, the dishwasher at our kitchen station was working, but normal service was soon resumed when it broke down again."

Tony Blair's biographer on Channel 4 news tonight trying to defend his man when questioned about the delay to the Chilcot Enquiry. He looked like a man suffering from a few sleepless nights.

Db4,

Suggest to Andrew Wiggins that he takes a length of string with him to work.

Might save the poor devil an embarrassment.

The report Fred backs up what Andrew Neal said this lunchtime, 4.5 million people unemployed not the sleazy figures the Tories have endorsed today.

The Tory party used to be a decent party, but it is now a sleazy party and so are a lot of its members.

all parties manipulate or interpret statistics to suit their own agenda

The number of people out of work in the UK fell by 58,000 to 1.91 million, its lowest level for more than six years, in the three months to November, official figures indicate.

The unemployment rate now stands at 5.8% of the adult working population, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

In total, there are now 30.8 million people in work.

The ONS said wage growth had also continued to outpace inflation.

In the September to November period, average earnings excluding bonuses were up 1.8% from a year earlier. Including bonuses, earnings rose by 1.7%.

It is the second consecutive month that both measures of earnings growth have been above the inflation rate.

Inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, stood at 1% in November and then fell to 0.5% in December as global oil prices tumbled further.


The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in December fell by 29,700 to 867,000, the 26th consecutive monthly reduction, said the ONS.

BULLSHIT.

Notice how he uses CPI instead of RPI aswel.

Ohhhh dear desperate Tory tactics.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in December fell by 29,700 to 867,000, the 26th consecutive monthly reduction, said the ONS.

Cynic this tory party do it more than any party in history.

Stupid really because its just losing life long fans.

The unemployment figures and Miliband being a bufoon will win the GE for Cameron!

The ONS figures are dictated by Osbourne he rang the changes.

The figure is 4.5 million unemployed and the Tories are copying the time when Thatcher was in power.

Same OLD TORIES.................. SLEAZY.

Poll shows SNP could win all but four Scottish seats in general election

Labour MPs in Scotland would be reduced from 41 to four while Lib Dems and Tories projected to lose all their seats



Libby Brooks, Scotland reporter


The Guardian, Wednesday 21 January 2015 17.01 GMT



Wee-Eck MkII


A new poll suggests the SNP will almost completely wipe out Labour in Scotland in May’s general election.

The poll for Ipsos Mori gives the Scottish National party a 28-point lead over Labour in Westminster voting intention, projecting 55 seats in Scotland for the nationalists and four for Labour. The Liberal Democrats would lose all their seats and the Tories would lose their one seat, held by the Scotland minister David Mundell.

Following the no vote in last September’s independence referendum, the SNP has seen a surge of support under its new leader, Nicola Sturgeon. A Survation poll for the Daily Record earlier in the week suggested signs of a recovery for Scottish Labour under Jim Murphy with the gap narrowing to 20 points, but it too indicated that the SNP would be in a powerful position in Westminster after May.

Sturgeon has ruled out any form of coalition with the Tories but has previously indicated her willingness to enter into talks with Labour. She told the BBC on Wednesday that she was “instinctively not too enthusiastic” about a formal coalition but tended towards a vote-by-vote deal.



More: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jan/21/poll-snp-labour-scottish-seats-election