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.

Looking again its Shell v-power diesel

Normal unleaded petrol is £1.079

Sian Boyle 31 Jan 2015

Ed Miliband is an even worse leader of the Labour Party than Neil Kinnock, according to the playwright who shadowed the former leader during his disastrous 1992 election campaign.

Sir David Hare had unparalleled access to Labour and witnessed its campaigning strategy before Lord Kinnock lost heavily on polling day.

He said last night: 'Underlying the decline of Labour is a comprehensive failure, far deeper than in 1992, to provide a competing narrative which speaks to the public.

'The question you most often hear asked of Miliband, in tones of increasing frustration, is: Why, at a time when the public needs it, can Ed not speak in a way that reaches the public? Why can he not shoot at Cameron's open goal?'

The playwright is reviving his seminal 1993 play, The Absence of War, about a Labour leader struggling to take advantage of the open goals provided by a Tory prime minister.

Hare told the Guardian: 'Why can he not, in the words of one veteran Labour MP in the play, 'get up and take the whole rotten thing on?'

'But to ask that question is to misunderstand what rhetoric is. Rhetoric is not an add-on, an extra. It's not a trick, a facility or a gift. The sober truth is that you can only make a great speech if you have a great analysis.'

Hare wrote the play after being provided with behind-the-scenes access to Lord Kinnock and his entourage in the run-up to the election – much to the displeasure of Labour leaders and loyalists.

Approximately 100 days to the GE.

Miliband will let Cameron and Motley Crew inflate themselves and huff and puff, while the effects of some more of their policies backfire on them.

Interesting to see the lib/dems turning more viciously on the coalition and how untrustworthy their found their tory colleagues.

It is going to be a very interesting last 30days leading up to the GE.

Cameron has mistimed the policies and election and the knives are being sharpened to stick in his back.

You can look forward to Berlusconi as you next leader.

The Japanese hostage has been killed. It seemed to me that he was doomed as soon as a swap was suggested between the woman terrorist and the Japanese man and the Jordanian pilot. There was no need to keep the Japanese hostage alive when they could just swap the pilot.

Its a pity we can't swap Haze.

He might make a fitting exchange.

Or you Fred, who would miss you?

Boots Boss: Miliband Would Be A 'Catastrophe'

The Labour leader is hit with more criticism, as Stefano Pessina says the party's plans for the country are "not helpful".

The boss of Boots has said Labour leader Ed Miliband would be a "catastrophe" for Britain if he became prime minister.

Stefano Pessina said Mr Miliband's plans were "not helpful for business, not helpful for the country and in the end it probably won't be helpful for them".

Mr Miliband has also come in for criticism from within the Labour fold, with donor John Mills launching a fresh attack on the party's direction.

Mr Pessina, who is acting chief executive of Boots, told The Sunday Telegraph: "If they acted as they speak, it would be a catastrophe.

"The problem is would they act that way or not?

"One thing is to threaten and to shout but it is completely different to be in charge and to manage the country day to day."

Mr Pessina also warned Britain leaving the European Union would be a "big mistake".

David Cameron has promised an in/out referendum by the end of 2017 if he is returned to power after polling day on 7 May.

Former health secretary Alan Milburn said earlier this week that the party's focus on extra funding for the NHS without plans for reforms could prove to be a "fatal mistake".

Mr Mills, the founder of JML and Labour's biggest individual donor, endorsed the warning and underlined his criticism of Labour's mansion tax plan.

Mr Mills told the Mail on Sunday: "I agree with Milburn - if you look at the Continental model, they have a much greater mix of public and private provision."

He added: "I am not convinced of the case for a tax on expensive properties. And it certainly should not be hypothecated for the NHS.

"It would be much better to introduce extra council tax bands and spend the money on local needs, such as affordable housing."

The editor of the New Statesman, Jason Cowley, also renewed his criticism of Mr Miliband.

He told the Mail that the mood of Labour MPs is "not so much one of despair, it's worse than that resignation".

The party appeared to be "willing itself to defeat", Mr Cowley added.

Chancellor George Osborne seized on Mr Pessina's remarks.

He said: "This is a clear warning from the head of one of Britain's biggest employers about the economic catastrophe the UK would suffer if Ed Miliband's policies were put into effect.

"The price of this catastrophe would be paid by families across the country who would see their jobs and incomes put at risk."

Amid the criticism, the party has said its campaign for the general election will focus on issues, not personalities.

David Cameron would not feature on any of its billboard posters, election strategist Douglas Alexander said.

Mr Alexander, who is also shadow foreign secretary, claimed the Conservatives would "plumb new depths" in the coming weeks and were preparing to spread "falsehood, fear and smear".

Instead, Labour will avoid old fashioned campaigning and take its message directly to voters, Mr Alexander insisted.

Aye, If Fred was beheaded we'd give them a round of applause :0)

56171 - typical ..... completely avoided the issue i raised in 56161+56165

Greece
Tsipras' administration has promised to pull Greece out of a "humanitarian crisis" caused by five years of fiscal cuts with a stimulus programme estimated to be worth around 13.5 billion euros, according to BNP Paribas.
This includes hiring back thousands of civil servants, restoring the minimum wage and raising pensions, mainly among the poor.
The government says it can find the money by closing tax loopholes employed by wealthy Greeks and by cracking down on smuggling and corruption.
Domestic critics note that similar pledges by the socialist administration of George Papandreou in 2009 bore little fruit.


it didn't work in Russia either, and the legacy of that continues

Would like to see this done here.


The government says it can find the money by closing tax loopholes employed by wealthy Greeks and by cracking down on smuggling and corruption.

Labour knives out for 'loser' Red Ed: Election panic grips party as big guns turn on 'haunted' Miliband
Ed Miliband's leadership comes under heavy fire from his own party
Labour leader faces crisis as biggest private donor attacks NHS policies
Millionaire donor John Mills says Labour is wrong to decry privatisation
Miliband looks 'haunted' as he knows his party is set to lose the Election
His aides are already discussing how to keep him as leader if he loses vote




http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2934698/Labour-knives-loser-Red-Ed-Election-panic-grips-party-big-guns-turn-haunted-Miliband.html

The mood of Labour MPs is ‘not so much one of despair, it’s worse than that – resignation,’ says Mr Cowley.

Labour appeared to be ‘willing itself to defeat. The party knows it is losing an Election that it should be winning, and doesn’t know what to do about it.’


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2934698/Labour-knives-loser-Red-Ed-Election-panic-grips-party-big-guns-turn-haunted-Miliband.html#ixzz3QU85LPrh
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

DC,

You are huffing and puffing, wait for the last 30 days of the wind up to the G.E..

It is tories who always stick the their knives in the back.

By the time of the GE. the ripple effect of Greece will be seen in the UK.

Very relaxed really Fred. Your not reading what the British public are. Your leader is going down. A party very much in despair. I suggest you re-read the above .

Good final for the tennis on BBC 1 now.

fred huffs an puffs and rants and raves, telling us all what a bunch of wankers the present incumbents are, that the latest elections in greece should stir the socialists everywhere to do something - but doesn't and won't actually vote himself, using the pathetic excuse that that is his democratic right

if labour ends up holding the most most seats after the election then so be it, but at least i'll have cast a vote - and fred won't

Cynic,

Watch out same problems are in your age group.

Watch out the NHS is being weponised.


Beds crisis hits NHS care for mentally ill children

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jan/31/nhs-crisis-mentally-ill-children-adult-wards

Emails reveal emergency new steps as teenagers aged 16-18 are put on adult wards rather than in specialist adolescent facilities
Hospitals have been advised to adopt emergency procedures
Hospitals have been advised to adopt emergency procedures and admit young mental health patients to adult wards. Photograph: Aurumarcus/Getty Images

Toby Helm and Jamie Doward
Saturday 31 January 2015 19.28 GMT

The NHS crisis intensified this weekend as hospitals were advised to adopt emergency procedures and admit young mental health patients to adult wards because of an acute national shortage of places for children and adolescents.

Instructions sent by NHS England on Friday night to hospital trusts, and leaked to the Observer, state that the shortage of beds for young mental health patients is now so serious that 16- and 17-year-olds – who should be admitted to specialist child adolescent mental health facilities (Camhs) – are likely instead to be admitted to adult wards.

The Mental Health Act 1983 states that 16- and 17-year-olds should only be admitted to adult wards in a “crisis situation” and for a short period, or where a patient is nearly 18 and the adult ward has appropriate specialist services.

Labour’s shadow minister for public health, Luciana Berger, described the situation as “utterly appalling” and blamed the crisis on £50m of cuts to children’s mental health services since 2010.

In the email seen by the Observer, which was sent on Friday on the instruction of national officials working for NHS England, the medical director for East Anglia, says: “I have just been asked to inform you all by the national specialist commissioning team of the current national lack of child and adolescent mental health beds.

“I do hope that you will not have cause to need one for any of your young population over the weekend but just to advise of the likely challenge if you do … Depending on your hospital policy this is likely to mean the 16- 18-year-olds will need admission to the adult wards, which I appreciate causes an even bigger challenge.”

NHS England declined to say whether similar instructions had been issued nationwide, as the memo suggested. But a spokesman said beds were still available for the most serious cases.

“Since August last year we’ve opened an extra 46 beds for children with the most severe mental health needs. Many need this care so, while beds are available we have asked services to ensure they have plans in place for any young person with mental health problems to receive the right care, in the right place at the right time to suit their individual needs.”

Sarah Brennan, chief executive of the mental health charity YoungMinds, said: “It is unacceptable that children and young people are being placed on adult wards which is completely inappropriate for them, and which the Mental Health Act rightly says should not happen. Young people in crisis should also not be transferred hundreds of miles to get a bed, which is going to be the result of this situation and in fact has been for far too long.

“This is not only a question of lack of available beds. It is a question about why so many children and young people are needing in-patient care in the first place. YoungMinds has warned for years that cuts to early intervention services would place great pressure on the in-patient system. We need more investment in services that support and help children and young people when they first start to struggle.”

Pressure on the government over the NHS mounted further as Stephen Dorrell, the former Tory health secretary, says in an Observer interview that reforms of the health system pushed through by Andrew Lansley in 2012 did not address the real problem: the need to keep people out of hospital by improving care services. Dorrell said the reforms were the worst mistake of this government and accused ministers of being more interested in pursuing headlines than a policy which addressed the NHS’s real needs.

A report issued last November by the all-party health select committee, then chaired by Dorrell, expressed serious concern about mental health services for young people. “There are major problems with access to Tier 4 in-patie




And so on.


NHS safe in tory hands. What a laugh.