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.

Stan, the outcome looks to be either a coalition with Tories, or coalition with Labour and the SNP. The SNP have stated their intentions to block Labour to suit themselves and also remove our nuclear deterrent. The English/Welsh/NI cannot vote for the SNP because they are not represented anywhere except Scotland, I have difficulty accepting to be governed by an entity that I cannot vote for.

Out for an hour so can't reply.
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Fred1new Send an email to Fred1new View Fred1new's profile - 23 Apr 2015 09:12 - 59008 of 59014

Victim,

It is not the subjects one chooses to discuss, but perhaps, the manner, or language one chooses when discussing them.

Also, whether it is a statement of fact or opinion one is making.

Pompous twat

Amid Libya's chaos, business booms for migrant smugglers
By Maggie Michael and Lee Keath
The Associated Press
POSTED: 23/04/2015 12:01:00 AM MDT

An illegal migrant from Nigeria is caged at a detention camp near Tripoli in 2013. With no central authority in Libya, the migrant smuggling business is booming. Smugglers are charging more, buying bigger boats and more guns, and creating a vicious circle that causes more tragedies in the Mediterranean Sea. (Associated Press file)
CAIRO — Libya's chaos has turned it into a lucrative magnet, attracting migrants desperate to make the dangerous sea voyage to Europe.

With no central authority to stop it, business is booming. Smugglers charge ever more as demand goes up, then use the profits to buy larger boats and heavier weapons to ensure no one dare touch them.

It's a vicious cycle that translates into more tragedies at sea.

With each rickety boat that sets off from Libya's coast, traffickers rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars. So assured are they of their impunity that they operate openly. Many use Facebook to advertise their services to migrants desperate to flee war, repression and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.

And they are armed to the teeth, often working with powerful militias in Libya that control territory and hold political power.

One coast guard officer in Sabratha, a Libyan coastal city that is a main launch point for smugglers' boats headed to Europe, said his small force can do little to stop them. Recently, he heard about a vessel about to leave but refused to send his men to halt it.

"This would be suicidal," he said on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from the traffickers. "When you see smugglers with anti-aircraft guns mounted on pickup trucks on the beach, and you have an automatic rifle, what are you going to do?"

If any one factor explains the jump in illegal crossings into Europe, it's Libya's turmoil since the 2011 civil war that ousted dictator Moammar Khadafy.

As boat traffic increases, so do disasters. Over the weekend, a ship packed with migrants capsized off Libya, leaving at least 800 dead, the deadliest shipwreck ever in the Mediterranean. At least 1,300 people have died in the past three weeks alone, putting 2015 on track to be the deadliest year ever.

During his rule, Khadafy struck deals with Europe to police the traffic, helping to keep the numbers down. In 2010, about 4,500 migrants made the perilous crossing from North Africa to Italy, the vast majority departing from Libya, according to the EU border agency Frontex.

In 2014, that number spiraled to more than 170,000.



European authorities have scrambled to deal with the crisis. One proposal is to fund camps in countries bordering Libya to house migrants before they reach its coast.

Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti said Wednesday there are contingency plans for military intervention against smugglers in Libya and that Italy is willing to lead an operation if it gets U.N. backing.

In the past year, Libya's crumbling into anarchy has accelerated. There are two rival governments, neither with any real authority, each fighting the other on the ground. Militias hold sway around the country.


In the chaos, smuggling has "become an organized crime, with cross-border mafias in possession of weapons, information and technology," said the head of an independent agency that studies human trafficking and tries to help migrants in Sabratha.

Extensive cross-border smuggling networks organize different legs of the journey: First from the migrants' home country to the Libyan border, then from the border to a jumping-off point on the coast, then onto boats for the Mediterranean crossing.

Migrants pay for each leg of the journey. It costs about $1,000 to get to Libya from Senegal and about $2,500 from Ethiopia, according to migration experts in those countries.

A place on an inflatable boat across the Mediterranean can run $500, while relatively sturdier wooden or steel boats run from $1,000 to $2,000, said one smuggler, Luqman, in the city of Zwara, a main launching point.

2.5,

It sounds more like a "coalition" of the fascist right wing of the tory party and its "wets" and right winged Faragists and DUP against, with Farage's hands on the whip.

I doubt Lib/dems would dare to form a coalition with the tories again. Their membership would walk away from the majority of tory right wing austerity policies.

My guess is an alliance of Labour with SNP, remnants of Lib/Dem and minor left leaning minor parties.

Policies mainly centre left with ease of austerity policies.

Also, ongoing agreements with labour on an ongoing introduction of such.

Have a guess there will be an attempt to bring in proportional representation.

Sunday's disaster was the worst in a series of migrant shipwrecks that have claimed more than 1,750 lives this year -- 30 times higher than the same period in 2014 -- and nearly 5,000 since the start of last year.

If current trends continue, there could be 30,000 deaths at sea this year and Italy will have to process 200,000 migrants landing on its soil, according to projections by aid groups.

Italian officials believe there could be up to one million refugees from Syria, Eritrea and sub-Saharan Africa already in Libya hoping to board boats.

Largish boats for sale

Derf, how democratic is it to be dictated to by a political party that you cannot vote for, or against.
2517

Thanks George, so you are voting Tory again?

All sensible people will be voting Tory.

The alternative is a return to tax and spend followed by borrow and spend.

Borrowing figures boost for Osborne

George Osborne received a pre-election boost today as official figures showed he beat his target for reducing annual public sector borrowing for the latest financial year by nearly £3 billion.


It means that annual borrowing (GDP) has fallen by more than £60 billion from £153.5 billion in 2009/10 just before the Coalition came to power.

Stan, yes I will be, the alternative looks fraught with danger and Labour have a great record for ruining the economy, without which all the promises in the world will amount to zilch.
2517

Latest 'Best PM' results 22nd April –

David Cameron 40% (-),
Ed Miliband 26% (+2),
Nick Clegg 6% (-1)

Thanks George, I'm sure they will need every vote that can get.

Ed: By the way... Happy St.Georges day -):

Yes they will need every vote.

Thanks, although I reckon you are not bowing low enough. Ha! Ha!
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Possible outcomes:


Lies

Damn Lies

Promises



Note: Only the first two can be relied upon.

Are you right wingers permanently angry/negative/depressed/accusing... or what? -):

.

I see Cameron is putting his own political hopes and desires before moral values at Brussels.

He appears for me to be a moral coward once again!

=-=-=-===