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.

On account of how the kids' snow park is just a park now, Haystack, I'm back in the UK now till early June. Then I'll be off to the summer house for the, erm, summer (Wimbledon and Lords Ashes excepting).

The Hill is cosying up with Tanker!

Perhaps you would prefer the Green manifesto

Here is a sample

“a complete ban on cages for hens and rabbits”
“end the use of the whip in horse racing and conduct a full review of the sport”
“end the practice of grouse shooting”
“ensure UK taxpayers’ money is not used for bullfighting”
“ban the import of fur products”
“ensure that all schools, hospitals and other public buildings have solar panels by 2020″
“closure of all coal-fired power stations”
“make equality and diversity lessons mandatory in all schools”
“progressively introduce anonymised CVs”
“strengthen Travellers’ rights”
“cancelling student debt”
“revive the role of trade unions”
“phase in a 35 hours week”
“work for the abolition of the City of London Corporation”
“introduce a wealth tax of 2% on the top 1%”
“raise the additional top rate of income tax to 60%”
“increase corporation tax from 20% to 30%”
“introduce new taxes on the use of water”
“ensure that no company owns more than 20% of a media market”
“state funding of political parties”
“pursue a policy of defensive defence, which threatens no one”
“a ban on the production and sale of fois gras”

strengthen Travellers’ rights

Could be popular with Tanker. He is a pikey, isn't he.

Tanker is off to Spain again

Nice picture of Ed picking his nose on a train yesterday.

You can't call a Pikey a Pikey now , it's racist . You will have Fred to deal with .

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/mar/17/top-gear-bbc-trust-pikey-jeremy-clarkson

Tuesday 17 March 2015 11.36 GMT

Top Gear cleared by BBC Trust over use of the word 'pikey'

Jeremy Clarkson faces fresh row as Traveller charity says trust’s decision ‘legitimises the use of a racist word’

Jeremy Clarkson has become embroiled in a fresh row, as it emerged that the BBC is set to clear the use of the word “pikey” in an episode of Top Gear.

The BBC has come under fire from the Traveller Movement charity, which criticised the corporation’s decision to clear the use of “pikey” as “legitimising the use of a racist word”.

The BBC Trust’s editorial standards committee published the findings of its internal investigation on Tuesday, ruling that the use of the word in the show was not racially motivated.

You can never find an armadillo when you want one

http://news.sky.com/story/1464707/mother-in-law-hit-by-bullet-fired-at-armadillo

A woman has been accidentally shot by her son-in-law after he was apparently aiming at an armadillo, according to reports.

Larry McElroy, 54, was outside his mother-in-law's mobile home in Lee County, Georgia, on Sunday night when he took aim at the armadillo.

The man was believed to be about 100 yards from the home when he fired his 9mm pistol at the animal.

The victim, identified in local reports as 74-year-old Carol Johnson, was taken to hospital and is expected to recover as her injuries are not serious.

Local TV station WALB said the bullet bounced off the armadillo, hit a fence, went through the back door of the mobile home and struck Ms Johnson.

Officials acknowledged the bizarre case defied belief.

Bill Smith, an investigator with the Lee County Sheriff's Office, told the TV station: "Just the circumstances - just all the way around - the whole situation was unusual."

No charges have been filed so far

As tall a story as ever came down the road.

Just a question!

How many £2,000,000 houses, properties in London and S.E. are rented out to others not occupied by owners?

question not understood and i'm not even sure of its purpose, though perhaps i have missed something during the day

Labour's high tax manifesto is driven by misdirected anger

Facing a choice between providing sound answers and expressing populist fury, Ed Miliband has gone for the latter. But the public will remember that Labour had its chance to address their problems - and wasted it.

In 2013, Tony Blair wrote that the guiding principle of the Labour Party “should be that we are the seekers after answers, not the repository for people’s anger”. In 2015, Ed Miliband has replied to that challenge with an election manifesto that is entirely about anger.

Labour knows that its economic credibility is low. It was in government when Britain entered recession and its profligate spending made getting out so very difficult. Thrown into opposition, it warned that the Coalition’s austerity agenda would lead to another recession: it did not. Then Labour claimed that the UK would see a crisis in living standards: it did not. With its analysis in ruins, the party decided it might be able to eke out an election victory by playing the policies of envy. This meant loudly condemning inequality. Never mind that, for instance, the number of non-dom tax payers actually soared under New Labour – when it was so “intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich”. Never mind, either, that the Coalition has actually raised more money by cutting the highest rate of income tax. And never mind that employment is now at an all-time high or that the much demonised zero-hours contracts are few in number and liked by many of their users. Never mind any of the facts at all, because Labour calculated it stood a better chance of getting into office with anger rather than answers.

In his righteous fury, what does Mr Miliband offer the country? Underwhelming yet uncosted pledges. He says that the economy is safe in his hands, that he can both reduce the deficit and spend more on public services through increasing taxes on the rich. But it is pure speculation as to how much money will be raised through a mansion tax, by raising the highest rate and by abolishing non-dom status. In any case, these things will surely discourage aspiration and ambition. What would be the point of striving to expand a business in Mr Miliband’s Britain? Labour costs would be higher. A cut in the main rate of corporation tax will be reversed. Anyone who has the audacity to buy a larger house or the misfortune to live in one that accrues value will be hit with the mansion tax.

Elsewhere there is a return to pre-Blair policies that will please various special interests. The Health and Social Care Act will be repealed, while Labour sets about discouraging private investment in the NHS. The free schools experiment will end, and the manifesto suggests that Labour has less interest in discipline than in promoting “creativity, self-awareness and emotional skills”. There is no commitment to preserving current troop levels. There is plenty of government intervention in the private economy through price fixing. And there is also a return to the idea of regulating the press by statute – an assault upon the free press that nicely encapsulates the aggrandisement of state power that would occur under Labour.

Of course there are deep social problems in modern Britain. But it is the Conservatives who have the better answers. The answer to inequality is to aggressively raise standards in schools and take more low-paid people out of tax. The answer to poor service in the NHS is greater consumer power, insisting that hospitals observe best practice, and trying to get GPs to provide better out-of-hours care.

The answer to standard-of-living issues is to cut taxes for everyone so that people have more money in their pockets. And the answer to boom and bust and financial instability is, we would suggest, to think twice before voting Labour. After all, their historic record is a bad one. If Mr Miliband wishes to run for election insisting that the public should trust him, he will have to wipe clean memories of the note that was left behind by the party’s former chief secretary to the Treasury apologising for the absence of money.

People’s memories are probably longer than Labour expects. And the demand for answers will, hopefully, triumph over misdirected anger.

Ho! Ho! HO!

Off to the bank we go!

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I like Cameron's and tories record over the last five years

U-turn after U-turn, lie after lie.

What a record.

With his past record Dodgy Dave should be behind bars!

Q. Why do people want to invest in London property, Fred?

A. "I don't know," says Fred. "They must be mad."

Q. Has employment risen under the Tories, Fred?

A. "I don't know," says Fred. "And if it has, the employers must be cheats, anyway. Stands to reason."

Q. Have you heard of a thing called the 'feel good factor', Fred?

A. "Bah! Humbug! It's all lies! Tory lies as well! And you can believe me because I'm not just a hateful lefty, I'm objectively biased towards Socialism."

I think your last comment has answered you own question.

But a simple question for you is all the "massive" increase in hours worked has productivity and GDP hardly moved since 2008-2009.

Surely if Cameron was the Messiah he could have worked a miracle by now rather than confidence trick.

Haze,

Post 58609

I think he might have smelt you!