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.

Ukip's angry, left-behind voters are not going away

Nigel Farage draws his support from financially struggling white people who have completely lost faith in the political system. They're anxious about the future, angry about inequality, and they will still be here after May 7






By Matthew Goodwin

12:13PM GMT 26 Mar 2015





Ukip has achieved remarkable things. Last year, at the European Parliament elections, Nigel Farage and his party became the first new movement to win a nationwide election for almost one hundred years, taking more than twenty seats in the European Parliament. It has more than three hundred local councillors and for much of the past year has been averaging around 15 per cent in the opinion polls — ahead of the Liberal Democrats.


Now, Farage and his party face the ultimate test — trying to win a handful of seats in the House of Commons. The results, and their broader impact, will tell us a lot about the power of this revolt but even if Ukip fail to live up to expectations there are good reasons to expect that its underlying support will remain firmly in place.



Ukip is not benefitting simply from things that have happened since 2010; its rise is a symptom of deep social and value divides in Britain. At a recent debate in Westminster the columnist Matthew Parris said that he had never before seen such a consensus in British politics — that when you boil down the arguments of the main parties there is actually little disagreement about the big questions. There is in modern Britain, he said, no big clash.


But what Parris and others overlook is that there is a big clash in our society, and it is over values. This is reflected in new research released today by the British Social Attitudes survey which tells a story consistent with that presented by myself and Rob Ford in Revolt on the Right. It paints a picture of a group of voters who feel economically left behind, politically cut adrift from Westminster, and intensely anxious about the direction of Britain.



More with graphs etc: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/politics-blog/11496607/Ukips-angry-left-behind-voters-are-not-going-away.html

Stan,

Some seem like BNP rejects!

http://news.sky.com/story/1453534/belongings-seized-as-cops-search-co-pilots-home

German media has also reported that Lubitz received treatment for a "serious depressive episode" six years ago during his training to become a pilot.

Der Spiegel reported that investigators searching the apartment in Dusseldorf had found evidence that Lubitz was mentally ill. It was unclear what that evidence was.

Not me Fred my best friend is black ,i despise the BNP and everything they stand for .

WE CAN'T TAKE 300 000 NEW IMMIGRANTS EVERY YEAR !!!!!!!

WHAT MAKES YOU THINK WE CAN ?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32081681

Earlier, another media report quoted a police spokesman as saying "a very significant clue as to what has happened" had been found, without specifying what.

That's very sad ,the fact that he took all those people with him .

Saudis may develop nuclear arms if Iran gets them.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ed-miliband/11413940/Ed-Balls-refuses-to-back-Ed-Miliband-tax-loophole.html

Ed Balls refuses to back Ed Miliband tax loophole

Shadow Chancellor says he will look at 'systematic tax evasion' and refuses to rule out banning 'deed of variation'

Ed Balls has said that he might close a tax loophole used by Ed Miliband, after insisting he would crack down on "aggressive tax avoidance".

The Shadow Chancellor failed to back the Labour leader’s over his family’s use of a “deed of variation”, which changed his father’s will posthumously to minimise the amount paid in inheritance tax.

i don't disagree, and EM completely and utterly refused even to address the issue
however, if you severely restrict the right to benefits and a few other things that were proposed by DC, the numbers might drop quite significantly

quite how you prevent EU citizens coming to the country as a principle, is another matter entirely, and this could become an important issue should we have a referendum

of course, if labour are allowed in, then the issue of a referendum is totally irrelevant, and probably restriction of immigration will be too

if labour are allowed in,s

Which school did you go to?

I thought you said you went to Borstal!

a thought for you .....

the tories win the most seats, as is probable, and cobble together some sort of minority gov't

will labour quickly ditch EM - he really is a complete liability for them - and install DM ahead of an almost inevitable quick second GE?

quite how you prevent EU citizens coming to the country as a principle, is another matter entirely, and this could become an important issue should we have a referendum
cynic we brits can not get free services in the eu I travel a lot and see it first hand
the local hospital if you have no private insurance will only treat minor problems
and if no insurance your credit card or no treatment .
so why do we allow those coming here free services housing benefits no one from the uk would get any help in any eu country this is fact . in france brits being forced to move out

I doubt it.

Ed is maturing well unlike Cameron who is past his sell by date.

But you are dreaming.

If Lib/Dem formed an alliance with tories then it would be a minority of the Lib.dems and the rest of them would vote with SNP, Greens and Labour to bring the tories down!

What you are not recognising is that the majority of the voters of this country and Scotland and Wales are voting against another dose of tories ideology and corruption.

to be honest MrT, i have had no experience of hospitals and similar in EU
i know i have an EHIC card, which i think entitles me to be reimbursed when i get back to UK, but i really do not know the system

Beloved developed something in France which we thought might be quite dangerous and we went to a doctor
i don't recollect being charged, but i could be wrong ..... it turned out to be related to being dehydrated or somesuch

equally, i have no idea of the rules regarding benefits for foreigners coming to UK, EU citizens or otherwise
as i understand it, the hospitals quite often charge these people, but surprise surprise, many never pay up
under the hippocratic oath, doctors may have a moral, professional or even legal dilemma in refusing to treat a patient unless they have received pre-payment

Here's a story , a few years back an american friend of mine was staying with me and developed a breathing problem (they also forgot their spray for asthma )

We went to A&E and he was seen straight away and given a prescription for some tablets and an inhaler ,he thought the treatment was excellent and asked me how much it would cost at the chemist (it was about £7)

He told me that in his eyes while he was grateful for the attention it was wrong that he didn't pay to see the Doctor and a reasonable amount for the chemist ,he thought 2 or 3 hundred would have been fine.

I had had strep throat in Florida a couple of years before and it cost me $300 with the Doc and the antibiotics .

He thought it wrong that a foreigner could just turn up and get free health care..

to be honest MrT, i have had no experience of hospitals and similar in EU
i know i have an EHIC card, which i think entitles me to be reimbursed when i get back to UK, but i really do not know the system
cynic no you do not get reimbursed for USE OF EHIC THE COUNTRY YOU USE IT AS TO CLAIM IT BACK FROM THE UK GOV
that is why most of the doctors will not see you with the use of the card they want the cash or insurance cover hospitals will treat you under the card but only for minor things I am correct

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/EHIC/Pages/about-the-ehic.aspx
The EHIC card entitles you to free treatment at the time in the EU.

There is a link on the above to what is available in each county.

MrT - thanks for the clarification ..... for more serious things, i have medical cover when i travel anyway via the company

Hays - to what one might be entitled and what one receives in reality are often a long way apart

Yes Spain is notorious in refusing the card.

hay the only eu country that will take the card is malta france is w
orse than spain I go to Europe 10 to 12 times a year and have for years
france will tell you to get back to the uk they take you in to a room and say you would be better off back home have had it said twice to friends and I have been their when we say no we stopping here they say have cover or cash