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.

JIM Murphy has stepped up Labour’s pitch to Yes voters, as he compared the SNP to the Conservatives and stated his backing for universal benefits, calling for “a something-for-something society”.



The new Scottish Labour leader has already said the party is as open to supporters of independence as it is to No voters, in an attempt to move on from last year’s referendum.

However, Mr Murphy yesterday attempted to outflank the SNP on the left as he suggested the party’s approach to government was similar to that of the Conservatives at Westminster in some areas.

Mr Murphy called for the Scottish Government to apologise to NHS patients, claiming ministers had broken their own waiting-time law more than 12,000 times.

He said the administration at Holyrood was not on top of a developing “crisis” around NHS waiting times and that SNP ministers were “starting to sound like Tory ministers” at Westminster and should say sorry to every patient not treated within the legal waiting time limit of 12 weeks.

Mr Murphy, speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Politics, went on to state that Yes voters who wanted to defeat the Conservatives in May’s General Election had more in common with Labour than the SNP.

He said: “We have so much in common in the sense of social justice. The referendum is one disagreement, yet there is so much that unites us. A vote for the SNP is a vote that could lead to a Conservative victory.”

SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson said: “Jim Murphy was all over the place talking about Yes voters - Scottish Labour having joined with the Tories for over two years to ridicule and attack those voting for independence just a few months ago.

“Scottish Labour are clearly in panic mode.” and willing to say anything to win Yes voters - confirming that they simply can’t be trusted.”



LABOUR ARE HISTORY IN SCOTLAND!!!! LOL.

Bedlam or hunky dory, leaders trade blows as election battle heats up.



mikesettle

Wednesday 21 January 2015



THE words "wazzock" or "gimp" didn't cross the lips of either Blue Dave or Red Ed but in another round of bitter Commons exchanges that's exactly what they were thinking of each other; assuming they knew what the urban terms meant, of course.


















We have popstar James Blunt to thank for airing the derogatory nouns, born from his spat with Labour MP Chris Bryant, who bemoaned how Britain could not have its culture dominated by the likes of the old Harrovian, ex-Sandhurst warbler.


Robert Jenrick, the Tory backbencher, decried Labour's economic illiteracy and insisted only the Tories could prevent the UK from returning "back to Bedlam" - a reference, apparently, to Mr Blunt's debut studio offering.

Flashman replied: "I caught some of that, though I may need to buy the album to get the rest of it. The point is a good one."

The point being: thanks to the Coalition, Britain is on the up.

Now, of course, Mr Miliband could not accept such a contention for a second; otherwise the General Election campaign would be over before it had started.

But on the day of yet more encouraging job figures, the chief comrade was increasingly beginning to look like Sisyphus, hauling the electoral boulder uphill, only to see it fall back down again.

Red Ed's contention was that, despite the jobs figures and the PM believing everything was "hunky dory", there was another relevant statistic: working families were still £1600 a year worse off because of tax rises and benefit cuts.

Declaring Dave had failed on the deficit, the Labour chief barked: "You don't notice what's going on because life is good for those at the top. Can you confirm while everyday people are worse off, executive earnings have gone up 21 per cent in the last year alone?"

The PM's response got his Tory chums rolling in the aisles: "You criticise me on the deficit; you're the man who couldn't even remember the deficit!"

But Flashman's defence on economic policy had been pre-penned, courtesy of Christine Lagarde in Washington DC.

Declaring the Labour chief had been "wrong about everything" on the UK economy, Dave quoted the IMF chief's glowing tribute to it, saying: "'Growth is improving, the deficit has been reduced, unemployment is going down; certainly from a global perspective this is exactly the sort of result we would like to see...'"

Expect to see Mme Lagarde's words in the Tory election manifesto.

After two recent wins, today's PMQs was not one that Ed Miliband will want to remember. Aided by positive employment and wage figures, praise from Barack Obama and Labour's splits over the mansion tax, David Cameron got the better of him at every turn.

Miliband began by stating that, like the PM, he wanted to see the delayed Iraq inquiry published "as soon as possible", later adding: "My views on the Iraq war are well-known [a reference to his opposition] and I want this inquiry published". But Cameron had a riposte ready: if Miliband and his Labour colleagues had voted for an inquiry when it was first proposed "it would have been published years ago". Miliband might have responded that Cameron, of course, had made the error of voting for the war itself. But the opportunity never quite came. 

He then turned to the economy, deploying Labour's stat of choice: that for the first time since the 1920s, living standards will be lower at the end of the parliament than they were at the start. But while this remains a potent charge, Cameron is now at least able to say that things are moving in the right direction. Inflation of just 0.5 per cent means that real wages rose by 1.3 per cent in the year to November. To most voters, it won't feel as if the "cost-of-living crisis" is over (as Cameron wrongly claimed) but the improved figures will make these encounters far easier for the PM. 

When Miliband later referred to Cameron as "the person who has failed on the deficit", he riposted: "He criticises me on the deficit. He's the man who couldn't even remember the deficit." Tory MPs relished it all. Visibly enjoying himself, Cameron went on to deploy Obama's praise for the British economy ("I would note that Great Britain and the United States are two economies that are standing out at a time when a lot of other countries are having problems. So we must be doing something right"), declaring that: "They can't talk about the economy because the IMF, the President of the United States all say the British economy is performing well." On Labour's internicine warfare over the mansion tax, he quipped: "They've got a homes tax that has done the impossible and united the Hon. Member for Hackney [Diane Abbott] with Peter Mandelson." It was as cheering for the Tories as it was grim for Labour. 

 
Miliband sought to end on a high note by crowbarring in Cameron's avoidance of the TV debates ("If he's so confident about leadership, why is he chickening out of the TV election debate?"). But it couldn't help feeling rather desperate. With the Greens enjoying a Tory-induced surge in the polls, today's session added to the sense that, this week at least, the wind is blowing in the Conservatives' favour. 

Thousands of soldiers could lose their jobs to pay for Trident renewal, former minister warns






Kate Devlin

UK Political Correspondent
.
Wednesday 21 January 2015



Another 20,000 soldiers could face the sack to help pay for the multi-billion pound Trident renewal, a former defence minister has warned.


















Lib Dem MP Nick Harvey said officials were already drawing up proposals to slash the Army from 80,000 to 60,000 personnel.

Speaking in a debate in the Commons, Tory Defence Secretary Michael Fallon also accused Labour of preparing to trade the UK's security for power by entering government with the SNP.


The SNP has said scrapping Trident would be one of its key demands if there is a hung parliament in May.

The debate against renewing the ageing nuclear weapons system on the Clyde was organised by the SNP, Plaid, and the Greens.

Mr Harvey said the Ministry of Defence faced a "financial crunch" and "already paper exercises (are)... looking at what an army of just 60,000 would look like".

He questioned why, under such severe pressures, Trident "gets an automatic bye".

That sentiment was echoed by former Labour shadow minister Diane Abbott who warned her constituents would "not understand" spending billions on a new generation of nuclear weapons at a time of austerity.

But Defence Secretary Michael Fallon defended Trident and accused Labour of being "prepared to trade our security if that was the price of power" and a coalition with the SNP.

In response Labour's shadow defence secretary Vernon Coaker told MPs his party remained committed to a continuous at sea nuclear deterrent.

However, most Labour MPs abstained on the vote, pointing to their party's policy to consider Trident as part of a defence review if it wins the election.

A new poll, timed to coincide with the debate, suggests that most Labour voters oppose Trident renewal.

Prof John Curtice, the polling expert, warned Trident and independence have become so intertwined it could make it more difficult for Labour to win back many Scots voters.

"(Labour) have to think if they are to get back ex-Labour voters who votes Yes, what they say about Trident could actually matter," he said.

But one Labour MP said that the party would be wrong to concentrate too heavily on the issue because polling also suggested that many voters who saw Trident as a top priority "are already voting SNP ".

The survey, carried out by pollsters Survation and commissioned by the SNP, also showed that most of those who expressed a view opposed Trident renewal.

Opening the debate the SNP's Angus Robertson said the case was "stronger than ever" to scrap Trident.

Getting rid of the nuclear deterrent on the Clyde would offer "serious strategic and economic benefits", he said.

And he warned that militarily replacing Trident was the "wrong priority", when money could be invested in other parts of the Armed Forces.

The UK, he argued, would be lauded internationally if it scrapped its nuclear weapons system.

Mr Fallon accused the SNP of wanting to "gamble" with the UK's security by proposing unilateral disarmament.

The Tory MP also compared Trident's Scottish home to Greenham Common, saying its deterrent effect mean Faslane was "truly... Britain's peace camp".

But he admitted that he could not say how much renewing Trident would cost until the so-called "maingate" decision next year, although he rejected the SNP's £100bn estimate.

Mr Fallon also announced that a ,target to cut the number of available nuclear warheads to 120 had been met.

And he hit out at Mr Harvey's Lib Demos, who support a scaled-back nuclear deterrent, accusing the party of wanting a "part-time" weapons system that involved the "pointless" unarmed patrols.

Two thirds of Ukip supporters think party will form part of government after May elections

TWO thirds of UK Independence Party supporters think it will form part of the government after May's general election, a poll found today.

TWO thirds of UK Independence Party supporters think it will form part of the government after May's general election, a poll found today.

Overall, a majority of voters - 54 per cent - expect the Conservatives to be in charge, said ICM research in a report by the British Future thinktank.

But it also found each party's supporters were even more confident about their own movement's chances.

Nearly a quarter, 24 per cent, of Ukip supporters, and 35 per cent of those who say they will definitely back the party, expect leader Nigel Farage to become Prime Minister on May 7.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg yesterday SUNDAY ruled out serving in a Cabinet alongside Mr Farage and said it was hard to imagine being in government with Scottish National Party (SNP) MPs.

The Deputy Prime Minister told BBC1's Andrew Marr show he believed the most likely election outcome was a Lib Dem coalition with either Labour or the Conservatives.

He dismissed "silly" predictions that his party would lose more than half its 57 MPs in May, insisting people continued to support the Lib Dems when they heard their policies.

A ComRes poll found yesterday SUNDAY that while Labour retained a one-point lead, by 34 to 33 over the Tories, with Ukip third on 18 and the Lib Dems languishing on seven, voters regarded the Conservatives "more favourably" than Labour.

Separate polling by Panelbase suggested Labour could lose half its 40 Scottish MPs in May while the SNP may increase its Westminster presence from six to 35 seats.

The SNP is arguing that its popularity and the prospect that it could form part of the next UK government qualifies it for a place in televised election leaders' debates.

Haze,

If you huff and puff you enough you will blow your own house down.

Get use to being a loser!

Let’s be proud of wealth creation, not ashamed

Telegraph View: Britain can do better than Labour's crude politics of envy




Peter Mandelson once declared himself “intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich”. As one of the architects of New Labour, he understood that without wealth creation all promises of better health care, improved education and higher benefits were worthless. This is especially true in a society where an ever higher proportion of state income is drawn from a dwindling band of taxpayers. New Labour broke with the party’s traditionalist “bash the rich” rhetoric and ushered in a new relationship with the City, whose top earners supplied much of the cash for Gordon Brown’s spending splurge as Chancellor.


Under Ed Miliband, the pendulum has started to swing back to the days when Denis Healey wanted to squeeze the rich until the pips squeaked. The mansion tax, to be levied on a small group of people living in London and the South East, is a classic old Labour device ostensibly designed to raise money for the NHS but in reality intended to encourage envy and sow division. As Lord Mandelson observed on BBC’s Newsnight on Monday, the policy is “crude and short-termist”.


But Mr Miliband does not fuss about that. To him, its crudeness is its strength in that it appeals to base political instincts and is deliberately aimed at Tory voting areas. Indeed, a new analysis shows that were this tax applied proportionately across the country then properties valued at £340,000 would be hit in the North East and at £415,000 in Yorkshire, where Mr Miliband is an MP. These are hardly the homes of the plutocracy.


It seems to be open season once again on the rich as they gather for their annual bash in the Swiss resort of Davos. Oxfam has turned its guns on the 1 per cent of the world’s population that the charity alleges will soon own 50 per cent of its wealth. Notwithstanding the flaws in the research, it fails to acknowledge that global poverty has fallen. In other words, ending inequality rather than relieving poverty now seems to be Oxfam’s principal task. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has also released a report on inequality, as did the Church of England last week.


Yet none celebrate the fact that more wealth is being generated than at any time in world history, drawing hundreds of millions out of poverty and hunger. The lazy and tendentious thinking of Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens needs to be robustly challenged by the Conservatives and business leaders. The value of wealth creation should be extolled, not treated like some guilty unmentionable with an election in the offing. We should not have to rely on Lord Mandelson to remind us of its importance, welcome though his interventions always are.

James Blunt was trying to make a similar point to the shadow culture secretary earlier this week I think!

Hey DB have you ever thought of moving back home and helping the one and only "Con" Party MP retain his seat for the next GE? -):

Yes, everything is going gang busters!

More people in work than ever before!

More soup kitchens than ever before!

National debt bigger than ever before!



Where are the negatives?

Here......... 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!


so thats 4.5 million unemployed.

Fat Dave as lied to us again.

Not being denied benefits. Maybe not following benefits rules!

Oh fuck off Haystack, you know the figs are bollox!

Yes I think he probably does Max -):

... Night all.

The figures are reported by the ONS, which is independent of the government.

It is also particularly interesting that Miliband and his gang did not query the figures. It there was anything wrong with the figures they would have on the attack. In reality they just sat there and accepted all the good news looking miserable. No one from Labour ever queries the data.

cynic we will be very close to a gold field site that's all I know . its for research

cynic we will be very close to a gold field site that's all I know . its for research

Haze,

I suggest you look at the ONS figures more closely and ask your tutor to help you!

the further delay on releasing the chilcot report is an absolute disgrace, though i have no idea who is to blame
even the guardian writes, "Chilcot: we know Blair was to blame for Iraq"

blair makes "the teflon don" look like fly paper