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.

Debate phobia shows Cameron is reluctant even to talk the talk


Prime minister’s gamble that being called a coward is better than actually facing Ed Miliband may be a gross miscalculation




http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/05/debate-phobia-shows-cameron-reluctant-miliband


British leaders are now protected, sanitised and risk-averse, which is why figures like Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and Kenneth Clark have followings that transcend their parties.

It would be interesting to view Clegg representing the failed Tory Coalition in debate with Miliband, Farage in place of an empty or vacuous chair.

Might even record it

I see the NHS has sacked 79 bureaucrats after a government probe into tax dodging.
2517

I must have missed Fred's post on this subject ---- Migration Watch UK's 33 page report states the mess ''wasn't conspiracy or cock-up, it was both. It is the most in-depth and damning verdict yet on Labour's mishandling of immigration.
2517

Lord Green Migration Watch chairman said, ''a small but determined group appear to have manipulated immigration policy while deterring any opponents with false allegations of racism''
2517

perhaps fred was an adviser to them

perhaps fred was an adviser to them, for he's a great advocate of "open-door"

His silence on any (not just immigration) Labour cock-ups is deafening.
2517

PM faces being 'empty-chaired' as TV debates are expected to go ahead


Broadcasters say they won’t let one party dictate the terms, adding they may have legal grounds to show empty pulpit where David Cameron should be


David Cameron is facing headwinds over his refusal to take part in a head-to-head debate with Ed Miliband. Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA


Patrick Wintour, Tara Conlan and Frances Perraudin

Thursday 5 March 2015 16.50 GMT Last modified on Thursday 5 March 2015 17.20 GMT




Broadcasters are expected to press ahead with the TV election debates and believe they have legal grounds to “empty-chair” the Tories on the basis that they turned down a reasonable invitation to attend.

Channel 4, ITV, Sky and the BBC were discussing “a final offer” from No 10 on Thursday, under which David Cameron would attend one debate with the leaders of six other parties held the week before parliament’s dissolution. Cameron, criticised by other political parties for his reluctance, said he was only seeking to break the logjam created by the broadcasters’ handling of the debates.

Broadcasting industry insiders said they were bound by impartiality rules but are determined that no single party will dictate the terms of the debates.

One source said the thinking among the broadcasters was that they will hold the debates and if specific people did not want to turn up that would be their decision.


More: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/05/pm-empty-chaired-broadcasters-set-to-go-ahead-debates

2517GEORGE Send an email to 2517GEORGE View 2517GEORGE's profile - 05 Mar 2015 16:46 - 57281 of 57287

Isee the NHS has sacked 79 bureaucrats after a government probe into tax dodging.
2517

The Con Party isn't turning on its own.

Seems like the bunkers mentality of Berlin turning in on itself.

tut tut

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Manuel,

I suggest you read my references to "immigration" more carefully and not read inferences into the posting which are not there.

But I do not like seeing any groups stigmatised or having yellow stars pinned on them.

Much of the rhetoric and assertions made against "immigrants" are false and aimed at stimulating hatred of other groups.

A stinking way to lead debate and appeal for some voters and practiced by some in the current stinking tory party and other groups.

This man is on your side.

Is this what Cameron fright of:

A man with more side steps and reverses than an English Fly Half.

The opinion seems universal.



Long live the Dunkirk Spirit.

I think the tories need to disinter Maggie!

ONE FOR FRED !!!!

Even by the abysmal standards of today’s politics, Ed Miliband’s hypocrisy in attacking the Tories for their failure to curb immigration is truly jaw-dropping.
This is the man whose party presided over the most momentous demographic upheaval in our history, changing Britain beyond recognition as a deliberate act to expand Labour’s voter base.
Indeed, just how radical that revolution was emerges today, as a devastating audit by the Migration Watch think-tank finds an astonishing 7.23million migrants were allowed into the UK under Labour.
That’s one every minute of the party’s 13 years in power. Discounting those who left, net foreign immigration was 3.6million, or the combined populations of the five largest cities outside London

Anyone worried that Ed Miliband, who even stitched his brother up to get the power of the Labour Party leadership, might easily do a deal with the SNP to get in power once again, by agreeing to facilitate Scottish Devolution?

That deal will almost certainly include scrapping our nuclear deterrent, if that happens God help us.
2517

If Ed Miliband can stitch his own brother up what thought do you think he has for the rest of us?
2517

We'll be well fooked if these two team up..



Nicola Sturgeon says Trident conflict would not stop SNP backing other Labour policies


Scottish first minister says party’s support for minority Labour government would not be conditional on Ed Miliband scrapping nuclear missile system

Severin Carrell and Phoebe Greenwood

Friday 6 March 2015 08.08 GMT


Nicola Sturgeon has dropped demands that a minority Labour government must cancel a new Trident nuclear weapon in return for the Scottish National party’s backing at Westminster.

The SNP leader said that her party could comfortably vote for Labour policies on a case-by-case basis without a deal on Trident, after implying repeatedly in recent months that cancelling its £100bn replacement would be a critical issue for the party.

In a wide-ranging video interview with the Guardian, Sturgeon again played down the prospects of the SNP forging a formal coalition deal with Labour if, as the polls strongly suggest, her party overtakes Labour as Scotland’s largest party at Westminster by winning dozens of extra seats in May.

“It’s more likely to be an arrangement where we would support Labour on an issue-by-issue basis,” she said, in the first of a filmed series of leader’s interviews by the Guardian. “On that basis, there are many issues we could agree on which we would support but we would not vote for Trident.”



We will never vote for the renewal of Trident; that’s a decision which will be made in the next Westminster parliament

Nicola Sturgeon

Asked explicitly if that meant the SNP could still back Labour policies without Ed Miliband promising to scrap Trident, she did not disagree, replying: “But we would not in any vote support the renewal of Trident and I can’t make that any clearer than I have already made it.”


More: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/06/nicola-sturgeon-trident-snp-general-election-labour

meanwhile, this may have interesting repercussions .....

Le Pen lays out vision to govern France
National Front leader is the biggest political force ahead of a presidential election in 2017