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.

90% of people get this wrong!

What is

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1

1 + 1 X 0 + 1 = ?

onety three

The Crammer's homework for Cameron and George Osborne at No 10.

For those who missed it earlier.

UKIP suspect infects the "Con" party: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30967633

Stan.

I suggest the Bashir would make a suitable leader for the Tory party in opposition!

ohhhhhh dear Tories getting desperate, taking om a man who as links to Pakistan extremists.

A very good article






A Bunch Of Criminals


By Raul Ilargi Meijer

01/24/2015 10:01 -0500



http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-24/bunch-criminals

Max.

Have you ever thought of forming your own branch of the AF?

I think your philosophy would fit in nicely.

Did you read the article Fred?

If so, what was your considered opinion?

Manuel, Hazy,

They are all beginning to jump ship under he command of Wavy Dave and Geogie Boy


Lady Warsi launches bitter assault on coalition strategy towards Muslims
Former Tory chair targets Michael Gove for criticism and says failure to engage with the community ‘has fuelled resentment’

Lady Warsi: Muslims will speak up for British values only when they know they will be heard


http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jan/24/baroness-warsi-coalition-assault-muslims

Ps.

Hays,

Be a good boy and nip down to Tory Party Central Office and see what the new policy or mantra is!

By Simon Johnson, Scottish Political Editor
12:15PM GMT 25 Jan 2015
The First Minister says halting the renewal of Britain's nuclear deterrent would be her "absolute priority" if the SNP holds the balance of power

Nicola Sturgeon has made the scrapping of Trident the “absolute” red line for the SNP propping up a minority Labour government after the general election despite there being a clear Commons majority to keep Britain’s nuclear deterrent.

The First Minister said that her top priority in a hung parliament would be halting the renewal of Trident and argued the £2.9 billion annual savings would mean the UK Government could abandon public spending cuts without increasing taxes.

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, she claimed she could persuade Ed Miliband to bow to her wishes despite there being no prospect of the SNP holding the balance of power in a vote on Trident.

Jim Murphy, the Scottish Labour leader, accused her of “horse-trading” Britain’s national security so she could play “footsie about possible coalitions” with his party.

Even if a Miliband premiership could not rely on a Labour majority in the Commons, Conservative MPs would vote with him to pass the renewal plans.


Ms Sturgeon denied claims on a new Conservative election poster that a deal between her party and the Labour leader would create “chaos” in Britain, saying Nationalist MPs would play a “constructive” role in the Commons.

But she said sending a large number of SNP MPs to Westminster to be a strong voice for Scotland is would merely be an "interim" measure until the next independence referendum.

She argued that Scots want a Labour government informally propped up by the SNP, with opinion polls showing her party is on course to win all but a handful of seats north of the Border.

Despite economists warning the move would punch a £7 billion hole in Scotland’s public spending, thanks to the oil price, she also repeated her demand for “full fiscal autonomy” in return for supporting a Labour government.

Speaking after her appearance on the programme, Ms Sturgeon said: “If we deliver a strong team of SNP MPs at the general election, an absolute priority will be getting Trident renewal halted.

“And the more MPs we get elected, the greater the chances of holding the balance of power and achieving the end of Trident, which will free up enormous resources.”

She said the cost of renewing Trident, which is based at Faslane on the Clyde, is around £3 billion per year rising to £4 billion in the 2020s and argued the savings from scrapping it should be spent on the NHS and childcare.

The SNP would work with “progressive political forces” to “halt Trident renewal in its tracks”, she added, name-checking the Greens and Plaid Cymru.

"If you look at polls in Scotland, as well as showing a substantial SNP lead they show that the most popular outcome in Scotland in the general election is a Labour government dependent on SNP support," she said.

Mr Marr pointed out that a minority Labour government would not have to rely on SNP votes to secure the future of the nuclear deterrent, but she argued that many Scottish Labour party members also oppose it.

Speaking later on the BBC’s Sunday Politics programme, Mr Murphy said a decision about Trident should not be about “playing footsie about possible coalitions with other parties”.

“It’s about negotiations with other nuclear states to ensure the world is nuclear free. The nuclear deterrent is too important to get involved in that sort of horse-trading on the nation’s safety,” he said.

“I want a world free of nuclear weapons. You should negotiate that with other nuclear powers, not negotiate away for party, partisan gain.” He refused to be drawn on Labour’s negotiating stance after the general election, saying it was planning for a Commons majority.

Ms Sturgeon confirmed SNP MPs would start voting on English health and education matters in the Commons where there was a knock-on effect on Scotland’s funding thanks to the Barnett formula.

But she admitted there was a “very strong case” for English votes for English laws where there is no impact on Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon said another condition for her propping up Labour would be to get rid of 12 supposed Westminster “vetoes” included in draft laws unveiled by David Cameron last week transferring a swathe of new powers to Holyrood. The Prime Minister made clear there were no vetoes.

The Unionist parties have argued the package of powers will provide Scottish home rule but she said her definition of this was all tax and spending, or full fiscal autonomy.

She was forced to deny she was secretly relieved at having lost the referendum following the collapse of the oil price to less than $50 per barrel, arguing it would recover.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has estimated independence or fiscal autonomy would create a £7 billion black hole in Scotland’s budget compared to the status quo.

Ms Sturgeon also repeated her argument that the UK as a whole voting to leave the EU in a referendum, with a majority of Scots voting to stay in, could trigger a second referendum.

After Lansley, Cameron, Osborne and Hunt, feel safe in the NHS,

"NHS Safe in Tory Hands."



Crowding ‘raised hospital death toll’


Up to 500 patients died last year as a direct result of harm they suffered when hospitals became dangerously overcrowded, Britain’s A&E doctors have warned.

About 350 of the deaths were among patients who had not been diagnosed or given medical treatment quickly enough. Another 150 were not admitted because of bed shortages, even though their condition meant they would usually have been found a place on a ward. The College of Emergency Medicine’s figures have raised concern that growing turmoil in A&E units, and hospitals generally, is doing real harm.

Dr Clifford Mann, the college’s president, said its estimates were based on international studies which show that patients who arrived when hospitals are overcrowded were at greater risk of dying. “It’s sobering that up to 500 patients a year die because too many of our emergency departments are too often overcrowded,” he said.

A&Es in England were busy about 25% of the time, he added, which meant that 3.5 million patients who turned up at an A&E department each year were at slightly increased risk of death.

Applying the results of studies from Australia and Canada showed that up to 350 A&E patients with a range of serious illnesses who ended up waiting longer for admission than the supposed NHS maximum of 12 hours would die, Mann said. Although the exact reason is not clear, delays in diagnosis and vital treatment, such as surgery or antibiotics, are thought to explain most of the deaths.

NHS England said: “Unprecedented numbers of patients are accessing services, and staff are dealing with the highest-ever number of 111 and ambulance calls, A&E attendances and emergency admissions.

Meanwhile, ministers are being warned that the NHS is facing a “disaster” of ever-increasing bed blocking because social care is “chronically underfunded”. An alliance of local councils, NHS organisations and charities says more beds will be occupied by patients trapped there because the services they need after discharge are falling victim to cuts.

“The … system is chronically underfunded. While this remains the case, care and support for elderly and disabled people will only deteriorate,” they say in a letter in today’s Observer.


The Observer/

There is no chance of the UK giving up Trident, no matter who is in power or coalition. There is no chance of it being moved from Faslane either. Sturgeon can huff and puff, but she will be ignored. Scotland is still part of the UK and will do what it is told.

I would prefer a decent NHS to Trident.

Commit UK to the EU and NATO, and Finance Defence as a European concern.


Population of EU =500 Million, Population of UK = 63 million.

Reduction of cost and increased efficacy.

Now Sturgeon claims it would be better for the WHOLE of Britain if her Scottish Nationalists are sitting in Miliband's Cabinet
SNP leader boasts how most Scots want SNP to share power with Labour
Claims that SNP holding balance of power is better for all of the UK
35% of Scottish voters want to see a Labour-SNP coalition after election 
Collapse in support for Labour scuppers chance of an overall majority 
By MATT CHORLEY, POLITICAL EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 13:47, 25 January 2015 | UPDATED: 14:50, 25 January 2015

By JANE MERRICK
Sunday 25 January 2015
Liz Kendall has emerged as the favourite candidate among Blairite MPs to succeed Ed Miliband if he loses the general election.
The shadow Health minister gave an interview to The House magazine last week in which she said there was a role for the private sector in the NHS and that “what matters is what works”. While the MP for Leicester West would say she is working hard to get Mr Miliband into Downing Street, MPs from all wings of the Labour party saw her remarks as a clear “signal of intent” that she is considering standing in a future leadership contest on a Blairite ticket.
While Tony Blair himself is understood to admire Chuka Umunna, his allies in Parliament and beyond are settling on Ms Kendall, a former special adviser to Patricia Hewitt. They regard her as a true “keeper of the flame” of Mr Blair’s reformist agenda and see her as an impressive TV performer. The development will be disappointing to Mr Umunna, the shadow business secretary, and Tristram Hunt, the shadow education secretary, who are both seen as natural heirs to Blair.

Mr Miliband’s faltering position in the polls has triggered a near-panic in some putative leadership campaign camps in the past month, and now the election is just over 100 days away positions are hardening, says one Labour source. One suggestion being floated among MPs is a Tristram Hunt/Rachel Reeves joint ticket, with Ms Reeves, tipped as a future Chancellor of the Exchequer, agreeing to put aside any leadership ambitions to run alongside the shadow Education Secretary.
At the same time, allies of Andy Burnham, who came fourth in the 2010 contest, were suggesting their man could run with Ms Reeves instead. Yet a party source said Mr Burnham should “take the message” from his previous performance. This would leave Yvette Cooper, the shadow Home Secretary, as the only “establishment” candidate not from the 2010 intake.
A key Blairite said: “Liz is incredibly impressive on TV, has years of experience in government and really believes in the reforming agenda that Tony started.”
Ms Kendall raised eyebrows in Labour circles last week when her interview with The House was published. While Mr Miliband has planned to make the NHS the core of his election fight with the Tories, Ms Kendall’s comments were seen as a challenge to her leader. Ms Kendall said: “There will remain a role for the private and voluntary sectors where they can add extra capacity to the NHS or challenges to the system. I believe what matters is what works. That’s what I’ve always believed in and I continue to believe in.”

DB 3.5,

You get dafter and dafter, or just left the Bullingdon club night.

The most likely scenario after the next election is for the Tory Party to split into two.

One half of the party MPS led by Berlusconi Boris and the other half of camp followers joining UKIP under Nigel.


A few of the party members might even defect to Lib/dems, which will attempt move more to the right of central in an attempt to survive.

LOL !! "The most likely scenario after the next election is for the Tory Party to split into two."