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.

What surprises me is how much the Labour party got in donations £7,163,988 in the last quarter.

Interesting although a large lump of it came from the UNIONS, a lot more came from the small donors.

It would suggest that there is a much larger overall support of labour than was considered.

UMUMUMUM

Place your bets!

By Peter Dominiczak, Political Editor11:50AM GMT 19 Feb 2015
Labour’s biggest non-union donor has been accused by one of the party’s most senior MPs of being engaged in “tax avoidance” on an industrial scale.
The latest figures from the Electoral Commission show that Labour was given £386,605 by accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in the last quarter of 2014.
Margaret Hodge, a Labour MP and chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, has previously said that it is “inappropriate” for Ed Miliband’s party to accept donations from the firm.
A report by her committee said that PwC take part in “nothing short of the promotion of tax avoidance on an industrial scale”.
The firm said it disagreed with the Public Accounts Committee report and denied claims by Mrs Hodge that the firm had misled her committee when its executives gave evidence in January 2013.
The Electoral Commission found that Labour raised £7,163,988 in the last quarter of 2014. More than £3.5million of that sum was from union donations.
The Conservatives raised a total of £8,345,687, the commission report found.

Pots and kettles...



Biggest non-union donor to Ed Miliband's party guilty of 'tax avoidance', says Labour MP

Margaret Hodge says PricewaterhouseCoopers takes part in 'tax avoidance on industrial scale' as figures show it was Labour’s biggest non-union donor




Labour was given more than £386,000 by accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in the last quarter of 2014 Photo: PwC



By Peter Dominiczak, Political Editor

11:50AM GMT 19 Feb 2015

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/11422472/PricewaterhouseCoopers-accused-of-tax-avoidance-on-industrial-scale-by-Labour-MP.html



Labour’s biggest non-union donor has been accused by one of the party’s most senior MPs of being engaged in “tax avoidance” on an industrial scale.


The latest figures from the Electoral Commission show that Labour was given £386,605 by accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in the last quarter of 2014.


Margaret Hodge, a Labour MP and chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, has previously said that it is “inappropriate” for Ed Miliband’s party to accept donations from the firm.


A report by her committee said that PwC take part in “nothing short of the promotion of tax avoidance on an industrial scale”.


The firm said it disagreed with the Public Accounts Committee report and denied claims by Mrs Hodge that the firm had misled her committee when its executives gave evidence in January 2013.



The Electoral Commission found that Labour raised £7,163,988 in the last quarter of 2014. More than £3.5million of that sum was from union donations.

The Conservatives raised a total of £8,345,687, the commission report found.

Great minds think alike Max :0)

I know Chris, but I took too long to post it :-(

Margaret Curran: Cameron pleased with SNP support
DAVID Cameron is “secretly pleased” by the prospect of Scots opting for the SNP at the general election because it remains his “best chance” of staying in power, according to shadow Scottish secretary Margaret Curran.

The Labour politician has predicted that the Prime Minister will “talk up” the nationalists and “talk down” her party when he addresses the Scottish Conservative conference later this week.

Recent polling suggests the SNP will almost completely wipe out Labour in Scotland in May’s vote.
Ms Curran admitted voters have told the party it has “not been good enough” and must “fight its corner better”, but she insisted its message is “beginning to resonate on doorsteps”.

Labour has refused to be drawn on the prospect of a coalition or “confidence and supply” arrangement with the SNP in the event of a hung parliament.

The party has been keen to focus on the consequences of the loss of Labour support north of the border.

Speaking ahead of the Tories’ Scottish conference, Ms Curran said: “The choice is absolutely clear. A choice between a Tory government that will carry on looking after their friends with Swiss bank accounts, or a Labour government that is going to clamp down on tax avoidance from day one.

•Curran: Scots face most vital election since 1945

“We now have a Tory Party with spending plans from the Great Depression and welfare policies from the Victorian workhouse. Scotland absolutely cannot go on like this.

“That is why David Cameron is going to get a very cold reception when he comes to Scotland in the next couple of days.

“Scotland does not want five more years of the Tories.”

Ms Curran said an appearance by the Prime Minister at the conference would be “an important moment in the campaign”.

“He’ll actually try to talk down Labour and he’ll try to talk up the SNP,” she said.

“We know that David Cameron is actually secretly pleased at the prospect of Scottish people voting SNP because he knows that is his best chance of staying in power.

“We know for sure that every vote for the SNP is a boost for David Cameron and makes it more likely that he will end up in Downing Street for another five years.”

But addressing the issue of the SNP’s potential gains in May, Mr Cameron reportedly said the idea with the nationalists linked up with Labour would be “very worrying”.

•Jim Murphy cancels leave after SNP wipeout poll

He told the BBC: “In Scotland, a lot of people vote SNP, they will definitely ally with Labour, and I think it is very worrying that you could have a Labour government propped up by a party that actually want to abolish our country.”

SNP work and pensions spokeswoman Dr Eilidh Whiteford said: “Labour are in full-scale panic mode in Scotland, having been joined at the hip with the Tories in the referendum for two and a half years, and recently voted with the Tories for £30 billion more austerity cuts and wasting £100 billion on a new generation of a Trident nuclear weapons to be dumped on the Clyde.

“The reality is that the general election gives the people of Scotland the opportunity to have real power at Westminster by electing a strong team of SNP MPs to achieve change - including an alternative to austerity, as outlined by Nicola Sturgeon last week, and new powers in Scotland to promote jobs and social justice.”




141 comments
Unfortunately, Ms Curran is only saying what's blindingly obvious. While the SNP hope that manufactured resentment over another Conservative government will help them in their quest for Separation, until they come up with credible answers on the economy and the EU there is now way that Scotland will vote for it. As shown in the Referendum, many people want the SNP to provide good governance for Scotland as part of the Union but will not follow them off the cliff of Independence/Separation.

Those who crow about the SNP keeping Milliband out should remember that the SNP want independence. Cons should be aware that the Scots will not tolerate any hindrance to independence by one conservative politician in Scotland. The Cons majority in England will be treated as irrelevant. Anyone looking for a precedence should look at the UK's efforts to deny various Colony's their independence. Westminster wants a peaceful transfer and will require that political hotheads be marginalized. If the SNP have the overwhelming number of Scottish MP's at Westminster, then the game is over.

Ohh My , Labours Scottish cult followers trying desperately to put a positive spin on another load of rubbish spouted buy one of their leaders

Side splittingly funny you couldnae make it up .

If every MP returned from Scotland is SNP it would not help Cameron a jot to be PM .

The SNP have ruled out ever supporting the tories at westminster .

Other than tory or lib MPs being returned from Scotland the only other way Scottish MPs can help Cameron to be PM is if labour MPs get elected because the labour party have refused to rule out a tory/labour coal;ition .

Vote SNP to keep Labour out!

The thought of Wee Ed as Prime Minister is terrifying. This never seems to be the topic of these stories.

Poor Margaret. She can't do sums. Or maybe she just thinks her Labour voting fodder are just thick?

If Labour wants to be elected it needs to get English seats.

There are 650 seats in the English parliament that we are allowed to attend (providing we have no actual influence). Thus it takes 325+ for a party to form a bare majority. Last time Tories got 305 and Labour got 217 in England, plus 40-odd Labour MPs from Scotland. Even if all 59 Scottish seats had been Labour, Labour still could not have won.

UK governments are decided by English voters Margaret. Stop blaming the Scots!

I don't think, that new Labour, or any of the other pro-unionists get it. I, and indeed my whole family, voted only Labour throughout our adult life's. None of us do so anymore. We are among those converts to independence. We do not give a sh#t about the machinations of Westminster. We will vote SNP until independence. Every journey begins with a single step. SNP governments in Scotland, The referendum, The vow, the coming General, and Scottish elections. All are steps in this journey.

(Reuters) - British opposition leader Ed Miliband has so alarmed business executives with his talk of 'asset strippers' and 'tax dodgers' that many want a Conservative win at the election, even if it carries the risk of an exit from Europe.

Representatives of some of Britain's biggest firms accuse the Labour party leader of demonising big business as a way to align himself with ordinary voters before the May 7 election.

Pledges from the 45-year-old to set energy prices, reform banks and lift the minimum wage have been followed by several uncomfortable meetings with the heads of companies.

As a result, executives are backing David Cameron's Conservatives, even though that entails a referendum on Europe before the end of 2017, potentially deterring companies from investing in Britain and, if there is a vote to leave, disrupting trade with the 500 million-strong EU.

In return, they would like the in/out vote brought forward.

"On the one hand we have Labour ... that seems to believe that bashing business will be good business at the ballot box, but you don't have a referendum," Martin Sorrell, CEO of the world's largest advertising agency WPP (WPP.L) and an employer of 179,000 people, told Reuters.

"On the other you have the Conservatives who tend to be more attuned to business but have a commitment to a referendum."

British business has long aligned itself with the centre-right Conservatives, but that changed under Tony Blair, Labour's most successful leader, who embarked on a "prawn cocktail offensive" to build relations with Britain's boardrooms before winning three elections starting in 1997.

One Blair aide declared that Labour was "intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich".

But 18 years on and with the Conservatives still blaming Labour for the economic crash, Miliband has sought a different tone.

Elected to lead Labour largely with the backing of unions, he set out his stall towards business in 2011 when he described some firms as predators and asset strippers.

His pledge in 2013 to cap household energy prices tapped into the frustration of voters tired of constant increases. And he has since painted himself as the man to take on the vested interests of business and the London-centric elite.

"A lot of the meetings between my clients and Ed Miliband have been very unsatisfactory," said Charles Lewington, managing director of lobbyists Hanover, who counts 25 global firms among his 75 clients.

"For five minutes he says tell me what your concerns are, and then for 55 minutes he says this is how I think business should operate in a world of austerity where ordinary people are not earning enough."

Nearly all Hanover clients back the Conservatives, he said. A recent poll of executives said the same.

Apart from covering up for Slavery in this country, now this sad inditement of a despicable Government have mens increased suicide rates on there hands... not that they care about that in private I bet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31533551

Max.

I would love to have your idol Nige's accounts and peruse them for while with a few friends.

What happened to the EU claim for expenses?

Ps.

Surely GF is due for a period of remission by now?


His help on a few figures would be useful.


Can I post him a cake with some files in!

He's on 3i Oldjoe1.

stan - that really is stretching a point, even for you

it's only the truth, you only say that because you can't defend them.

ok - it's the truth as you choose to perceive it .... i think it's crap :-)

Stop arguing and get home for your nosh -):

The truth sometimes is!

When two people view and incident there are three truths.

One as each one perceived it and on as it actually was.




8-)

you can multiply that several times over

and yes, off home very soon for some fresh hake fillet with a tomato and pepper sauce + swiss chard

I like hake.

But seem to be going for simpler cooking with just a knob of butter and salt and pepper.

Although, do like Fish Soup with tomato and fennel etc..

I first tasted Fish Soup in Cassis Marseille 57 years ago, sitting on a bench table on the quay outside a restaurant, with other hitch hikers from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Holland, UK and of course an Australian.

Strange mixture, all seemed to be interested in the International Union of Students and wanted to have and unified and integrated Europe. (Students were more interested in politics then.)

First time a kissed a pretty German girl and pretty French girl in one night.

Must go back, but returning is rarely as good as the first time one visits a place.

off to malta for a few days

You sure Tanks? lots of foreigners and potential immigrants out there you know -):