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.

i see the age old stunt of making a giveaway budget just before an election is making a reappearnce

however, i'm certainly glad to see a clampdown on major companies moving their income/profits offshore to avoid tax
how effective (watertight) that proves to be is very much open to question for it's a age-old truism that the more complex (embracing) the tax system is made, the more loopholes are created

meanwhile, philip green is all set to offload BHS which will give him yet another shipload of tax-free dosh
hmm!

Good God Manuel,

You are improving.

Why wasn't this done under Maggie Thatcher and this government?

On a lighter note have a look at this video from the past Welsh humour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phOjW5KLC9w

Might bring back memories.

fred - it will amaze you but slightly that i have my own brain that i regularly engage :-)

Vote green, you know it makes sense!



Rodents to be given human rights under Green Party plans

Environmentalist party will also propose creating a fleet of hospital ships to serve the developing world, cutting the size of National Lottery prizes and banning the Grand National




Green party members also propose a ban on commercial horse and dog racing Photo: PAUL ELLIS/AFP



Matthew Holehouse
By Matthew Holehouse, Political Correspondent

1:54PM GMT 07 Mar 2015



Animals would be protected under human rights laws and new taxes imposed on nappies under plans to be considered by the Green Party.


The insurgent environmentalist party, which hopes to hold the balance of power after the General Election by winning up to ten seats, will also propose creating a fleet of hospital ships to serve the developing world, cutting the size of National Lottery prizes and banning the Grand National.


The policies, set to become official policy during a series of debates on Saturday, underline the radical ambitions of Britain’s fastest-growing political movement, which now has 55,000 members – more than the Liberal Democrats or Ukip.


Natalie Bennett, the party leader, this weekend heralded a “peaceful political revolution” at the General Election.


Her party plans to form an alliance with the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru to force a minority Labour government to spend billions of pounds a year more on welfare and abandon the Trident nuclear deterrence.


She sought to outflank Ed Miliband from the left with a lengthy denunciation of tax avoidance, foodbanks and low pay.

In a sign of the party’s growing appeal, Lily Cole, the Cambridge graduate and model, will on Sunday night appear alongside Ms Bennett during a panel debate on “Latin American experiments in direct democracy.”

The proposed policies come on top of the party's existing platform of legalising hard drugs and brothels, placing new restrictions on advertising and air travel, imposing taxes on large presents and pop stars and cutting economic growth to zero in order to protect the planet.



More greeny bollox here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/green-party/11456572/Rodents-to-be-given-human-rights-under-Green-Party-plans.html

Try a lower gear when you are having difficulties.

Max,

Have a look at some of the other green policies.

Some make sense.

But remember Dodgy Dave's "HUG a HUSKY"

=-===-=-

Also have a look at the KIPPER party said stance and policies on NHS, IMMIGRATION NUMBERS, etc., which now seems to have crashed .

All parties have they “lunatic” fringe and UKIP attracts more than most.

============
What I am getting fed up with is the persistent question of “would labour form a coalition government with the SNP?”.

Of course they would to get into control of government.

If necessary to govern, would they accept an alliance if not a coalition with SNP and Lib/Dems?

Yes.

Would they use the period to push through reforms of House of Lords, boundaries, representational voting and Political Funding?
Maybe.

Would both parties, if not in power do their best to vote down a now “dysfunctional” tory party?
Yes, of course they would.

Personally, and I may be completely wrong, but I see SNP party and its voters, having very similar core values to Labour supporters, with the exception of the "belief" in "Political Independence for Scotland".
Also, I think that many of their "said" voting support are reacting against tory party’s ideology of "austerity" and the apparent closeness of labour with the torrids during the Referendum.

I haven't been to Scotland for a number of years, but when I did wander around with the Scottish "branch" of the family, I notice the same "social" poverty that I saw in parts of the North of England and South Wales.

That is what I think many maybe voting against, rather than "for" in the G.E..

===-=-=-=-=-

PS.

I doubt that Labour or Lib/Dems would want another election close to the one in May because of the Coffers being empty.

Not sure about SNP's funding, but the tories would mind they would ask for a little the country's tax donations they have already paid to the "backers".

Brain dead! What sort of lunacy would it be to have a coalition with a party intent on their country becoming Independent of GB?

How many reports are being hidden or suppressed by the present government.

The Paedophile files?

-------

The report by Lord Rose and the Lansley reforms of the NHS, which even the Chair of the Health Select Committee Dr Wollaston said be should be published are being suppressed.

I suppose Jeremy Hunt is living up to the standards which one has become use to from Cameron.

Cover up the ineptitudes.

I hope Labour has enough sense to make a "little" list and put them on hoardings in the last few weeks of the elections.
---==-=-

Interesting report "a recent report" by independent think tank the King's Fund said that the Lansley over haul left structures so "complex, confusing and bureaucratic" that the organisation of the service "is not fit for purpose".

How much did the government waste due its mistaken ideology?

Caroline Flint refuses to rule out SNP pact
12:53Sunday 08 March 2015
8
HAVE YOUR SAY
THE SCOTTISH National Party is not the “social conscience” of Labour, shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint has said.

But she refused to rule out a coalition after the election, in which Labour is widely predicted to lose many of its Scottish seats to the SNP.


Ed Miliband and other senior figures within the party have come under increasing pressure to end speculation a pact may be on the cards.
The Prime Minister has said the Labour leader should explicitly rule out a deal with the SNP “if he cares about this country”.

David Cameron’s remarks followed a suggestion by former Tory chairman Lord Baker that a grand coalition between the Conservatives and Labour may be necessary to avoid the SNP holding the balance of power at Westminster.

Today Ms Flint said her party would take no lectures from the SNP about how it could “somehow be more progressive then Labour”.

She told The Andrew Marr Show: “We are focused on winning a Labour majority government. Let me say this. We do not want, we do not need and we do not plan to have any coalition with the SNP.
“There is going to be a choice at this election between who will sit in Number 10. It is a choice between Labour or the Conservatives forming a majority government.

“Every vote that is cast for the SNP makes it more likely that David Cameron will retain the keys to Number 10.

“The SNP is not the social conscience of the Labour party. They might like to see themselves like that but they are not.

“We are the party that will repeal the bedroom tax, we will raise the minimum wage, we will freeze energy prices, a policy the SNP do not support, and we are a party based on our record over 100 years of supporting social justice and success for working people.

“We are the party of the NHS. We are the party of the minimum wage and we are the party of equality. We are not going to take any lectures from the SNP about how they can somehow be more progressive than Labour. That is just not the case.”
Nicola Sturgeon’s party has benefited from a poll surge in recent months which could see them make massive gains in Scotland, potentially casting her as kingmaker following May 7.

The SNP leader has ruled out supporting a Tory government and said it was “unlikely” the SNP would enter a formal coalition with Labour in the event of a hung parliament, but indicated her MPs could work with Mr Miliband’s party on an “issue-by-issue basis”.

Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman said her party did not want to go into coalition with anybody, but she too failed to rule out a deal with the SNP.

She told Sky News’ Murnaghan: “It’s not a sensible question ... The question is put forward by two sides.

“It is put forward by the Tories who want to talk up the SNP because they don’t think they can talk up their own record.

“It is put forward by the SNP because they know people in Scotland hate the Tories quite justifiably. The only way to protect people in Scotland from another Tory Government is not to vote SNP but to vote Labour.

“We are planning and working towards a majority.”
9 comments

Labour must enjoy being in opposition. By refusing to rule out any form of pact with the SNP they are sealing their fate of another 5 years in opposition.


Nation of Drunks. That's not how it works. In a hung parliament the sitting PM gets first chance to form a government. That government can only continue if it wins a Vote of Confidence. If it cannot then Her Maj sends for the Leader of the Opposition to try. If he can then form a government that can pas a Vote of Confidence then his government continues in office. That's what happened in 1974 and in 2010.

Since the SNP will not support the Tories it matters not a jot whether Scotland returns 59 SLAB or 59 SNP MPs to Cameron's chances of remaining PM.

"Every vote that is cast for the SNP makes it more likely that David Cameron will retain the keys to Number 10."
/////
How does that work then?

Party with the most seats win and gets to form a government first.

Even a minority one.

Tory/UKIP/DUP

"Every vote that is cast for the SNP makes it more likely that David Cameron will retain the keys to Number 10."
/////
How does that work then?
In 4 Scottish councils the labour party have joined a coalition with the tories, while the SNP have entered no coalitions with the tories.
The SNP have promised not to enter a coalition with the tories at westminster, the labour party have not, and one of their MP's has openly called for one, along with a tory peer.
Which is the anti-tory party Ms Flint, the one that joins them in coalitions or the one that refuses to ?


Where the unionist parties and the Labour Party in particular have gone wrong is that they are more concerned with the views of people who are not voting for them than they are of the views of people who are voting for them.

Having thought about this, I will be voting Labour in May but as it stands it is purely on the basis that I wish to support my local MP who deserves to retain his seat.

If, after May, Milliband does any sort of deal with the SNP then he has lost my vote for good.

Hey! I know it's not Christmas - but what the hell?

In this game of TV chicken, will David Cameron be first to blink?
Andrew Rawnsley




Here’s a list of things that you wouldn’t want to be called if you were a party leader facing an election in 60 days’ time. Scared. Arrogant. Cynical. Hypocritical. Cowardly. Calculating. High-handed. Feeble. Duplicitous. Undemocratic. Chicken.


Like iron filings flying on to a magnet, these accusations are all sticking to David Cameron over his refusal to appear in any TV debates except the one he has condescended to offer and that no one else wants. The result has been to combine all his opponents into an anti-Cameron coalition of scorn for the prime minister.

Etc......................

There is now a standoff with the Tory leader on one side and everyone else on the other. Will David Cameron blink? Two things we have learned about him during his time as prime minister. He hates exposing himself to attack. And he can be extremely stubborn about changing his mind. We will see which of those strands of his personality prevails. He will hate climbing down. To surrender now would make him look weak. Yet he will no less hate being defined as the no-show prime minister, a man too cowardly to debate Ed Miliband and too cynical about democracy to subject himself to public scrutiny. That could make him look even weaker.

The Tories wanted to make this election turn on the character of the Labour leader. This has made the issue the character of David Cameron.






http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/08/tv-election-debate-will-cameron-hold-firm

IMHO, Cameron is committing political suicide over this tv debating stuff.

Albeit, that he, surely to God, must know what he is doing.

Quite right, Cameron does appear to be a coward in regard to television debates by some.

Tell you what let's vote for:-

A Backstabbing Baxxxxd, who will crawl over anyone including his own brother David in order to gain power. The irony is if David Milliband was leader of the Labour Party they would be miles ahead in the Polls. Shame!

And not the least!

Selling off Britain is not a sign of strength, but profound weakness
Will Hutton


The British are giving up on owning things. For a generation there has been an extraordinary selling-off of public and private assets to all comers. It is not just the privatisation of former public assets, with the government last week congratulating itself on the sale of its stake in Eurostar for £750m – the latest mindless cashing in of a key public asset.

This is matched by the private sale of companies – cumulatively £440bn sold abroad over the last 10 years alone. The average Briton will now work, drink, travel, eat, drive, and use energy from assets and services supplied by foreign owners more than ever before – and in a growing and escalating deficit. Globalisation obviously means increased inflows and outflows of capital. But overseas investors are buying a great many more British companies than we are buying abroad – a ratio of more than two to one. It is not just that the control of our economic destiny moves abroad with nobody turning a hair; the associated flows of income abroad are beginning to be alarming.

It is an ownership crisis – and it should be the subject of huge national debate. But in a forthcoming Channel 4 programme Selling off Britain – to be shown on March 21 – I report that it is one that scarcely surfaces. The great trends of our times – globalisation and growing economic interdependence – cannot be stopped. Indeed, together with the multiplying possibilities of new technologies they present enormous opportunities. The problem is that British structures mean that our companies are losers in this game, when we could so easily be winners.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/08/selling-off-britain-ownership-crisis-debate

Labour plan to make TV debates compulsory in law roundly mocked
SNP’s Alex Salmond asks if Prime Minister would be jailed for refusing to take part

Telegraph.

Labour candidate rejects Tony Blair's £1,000 donation
Lesley Brennan turns down cash from the former prime minister to help her win the election

By Ben Riley-Smith, Political Correspondent11:34AM GMT 08 Mar 2015
A Labour parliamentary candidate has rejected a £1,000 donation from Tony Blair to help with her election campaign.
Lesley Brennan, who is the party's candidate in Dundee East, said she had discussed the gift with her team and decided not to accept it.
The decision contradicts her party's headquarters, which welcomed Mr Blair's decision to donate £1,000 to 106 battleground seats last week with just two months left before the vote.

At the time a Labour spokesman said: "We’re delighted that Tony Blair has given so generously to the local campaigns in the battleground seats our party is targeting at this general election."
But it seems the party's Dundee Seat candidate disagreed, tweeting: "Received donation from Tony Blair. Instinct was to not accept. Discussed with team. Dundee East is not accepting the £1,000."

The news a prospective Labour MP appears to believe Mr Blair's legacy is so toxic that she cannot accept his money is an embarrassment for the former party leader.
The SNP has repeatedly criticised the Mr Blair's controversial decision to invade Iraq and his abandonment of more traditional Left-wing policies while in office.
Polls suggest the SNP could win as many as 50 MPs at the next election as Labour voters abandon the party en masse in favour of the Nationalists.
Mr Blair had written to Ms Brennan and other candidates saying: "I know how hard it can be to raise money to fund a local campaign, but for you, in one of our 106 battleground seats, it is even more vital. This is where the election will be won for Labour and that is why I am making a donation to all 106 campaigns.
"As one of our key seat candidates you know better than most the scale of the challenge we face, but I have every confidence that with your drive, determination and organisational skills, you will deliver a successful local campaign that will also see our party returned to government."


Lesley Brennan @LesleyEastend
Follow
Received donation from Tony Blair. Instinct was to not accept. Discussed with team. Dundee East is not accepting the £1000.
9:27 AM - 8 Mar 2015


Greg Pope @GregoryPope
Follow
You're a Labour PPC and you get offered £1000 by Labour's most successful leader ever. You turn it down. Frankly, you don't deserve to win.
12:06 PM - 8 Mar 2015

I think she is right...Blairhole really is toxic!

i think DC has certainly dug himself a hole and whether he can extarct himself with any dignity remains to be seen