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.

today's Guardian
an excellent article therein by Nigel Dodds (DUP) ....
it really does make a change to read a properly reasoned argument and comment without the usual electioneering claptrap

if the lab carry out all their policies then taxes will have to go up big time
the party of dreams and fairy tales

i fear that much higher taxes are what you can look forward to
this could easily turn out to be a return to the days of the then radical dennis healey of "squeezing the rich until the pips squeak" .....
it was pretty unproductive (though he was a very good chancellor from memory), but of course it made the green-eyed happy

.

BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID!


SNP candidates threaten to deliver 'Westminster's worst nightmare'
The SNP's next generation of prospective MPs launch attacks on the British way of governing as they pledge to avenge 'the way they've treated us for 300 years'


By Steven Swinford, Deputy Political Editor6:00AM BST 27 Apr 2015


Tommy Sheppard, the SNP candidate for Edinburgh East, made a rapturously-received speech to his party's conference in April.
"When it comes to the 7th of May, we shall get rid of the Labour Party in Scotland, and we shall put backbone into the Labour Party in England. What has happened is a political re-alignment of our country.
"It wasn't us that wanted to be in the United Kingdom. They [the right-wing press] have a cheek to suggest to people in Scotland that there is something illegitimate, something to be questioned about the democratic choices they make.
"The next time we consult the Scottish people on a government of their own will we're coming up the front path.
"On the 18th September we sent the British Establishment a message and we gave them a shock. On the 7th of May we can visit upon them their worst nightmare.
"We can send from this country a majority of people to the Palace of Westminster who will not dance to the tune of the British Establishment, but instead who march to the rhythm of the people of Scotland."


Martin Docherty, the SNP candidate for West Dunbartonshire, attacked the "British way of governing" at a candidate hustings in January.
"[It] isn’t just about this Government – it’s about the British way of governing. Don’t think they’ve been treating us like this just because it’s the Tories and the Liberals. It’s them – it’s the way they’ve treated us for 300 years. When their political establishment came together they made the decision that you and I are not the people they are interested in.
"They are interested in them, they are interested in Trident sitting in the Clyde, they are interested in feathering their own nest."
‘If Labour wants to form a government, it will have to put off, postpone or cancel Trident


John Nicolson, a former journalist turned candidate for East Dunbartonshire, speaks at the Bishopbriggs hustings
"The vast majority of countries in Nato do not have nuclear weapons.
"The Labour party's mind is a mystery to me. Once upon a time it was the party of the under-privileged. It is now the party that is voting through £30billion worth of cuts.
"It will impossible for the politicians at Westminster to ignore us. Westminster matters because Westminster controls the Budget. Nobody wants to wake up the day after the election and find that Mr Cameron and Mr Miliband have an overall majority."
'I'm going to hold Westminster's feet to the fire'


Chris Law, SNP candidate for Dundee West, said at his campaign launch that he wanted to hold Westminster's feet to the fire for roasting
"I live off the Perth road and my neighbour’s house was actually burned down by the Suffragettes, so we know how to take some radical action. Now I’m not suggesting that you send me to London…we’ve been there before with Guy Fawkes, I’m sure you know about. But if I’m elected to Westminster I’m going to make sure there’s fire in my belly, a loud voice, and a strong fight to hold their feet to the fire for a roasting.
"The single biggest abomination has to be weapons of mass destruction. We have a real change of removing them from our shores for good."

ANDREW WHITAKER
00:34Monday 27 April 2015
108
HAVE YOUR SAY
NATIONALISTS sent to Westminster would use their election as MPs to agitate for a second referendum, private SNP documents and speeches made by candidates show.

Nicola Sturgeon has said that next week’s General Election is not a re-run of last year’s referendum and that “something fairly substantial would have to change” before a second vote on leaving the UK could take place.

However the speeches and internal documents, meant for SNP members only, include remarks from eight candidates stating plans to use their platforms as MPs to force a second independence vote.

The candidates suggested that major gains for the party on 7 May could act as a catalyst for a new vote, despite Ms Sturgeon stating that she “was not planning another referendum just now” and that “it will only happen if the people in Scotland vote for it”.

Labour’s dossier reported that an SNP Westminster candidate talked about coercing politicians at Westminster to get agreement on a new independence vote.

Mhairi Black, who is standing for the SNP against shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander in Paisley and Renfrewshire North, said that a large bloc of Nationalist MPs at Westminster could “twist the arm” of other parties at Westminster to force a second referendum.

She said: “If we send back that bloc of SNP MPs we will be the rope that that hung parliament hangs on. And that can be our strongest asset. That’s when we twist their arm and get that second referendum.”

In a statement that another referendum would take place “soon”, Paul Monaghan, the SNP’s candidate for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, said he “will never accept anything less than independence”.


Nationalist candidate Owen Thompson, who hopes to become the MP for Midlothian, said of last year’s referendum result that: “It wasn’t a No vote. It was ‘not yet’.”

Another candidate, Patrick Grady in Glasgow North, also stated his plan to use Westminster as a platform for independence if he is elected as an MP.

In a candidate statement, he said: “I’m ready to hit the ground running, and make sure success in 2015 paves the way for success in the Scottish Parliament 2016, city council 2017, and on to independence.”

The SNP’s candidate in West Dunbartonshire, Martin Doherty, said: “By God I’ll fight for an independent sovereign parliament to give us the power.”


Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy warned that the findings showed big gains for the SNP on 7 May could lead to second referendum and called on Ms Sturgeon to “come clean” about her party’s intentions.

He said: “Nicola Sturgeon should stop trying to spin questions about a second independence referendum. Nothing can disguise the truth that the SNP would use election victories to propel Scotland towards a second referendum.”

Labour’s dossier also included a statement from the SNP’s East Lothian candidate George Kerevan, who said that as an MP he would push for full fiscal autonomy for Holyrood and that “independence will follow as the UK economy implodes”.

Newly elected Nationalist MPs would all “have to progress the cause of independence”, the SNP’s Livingston candidate in Hannah Bardell said.

Mr Murphy said: “These SNP candidate statements, which were never meant to be seen by the public, reveal that SNP MPs will spend every day working for a second referendum.”


An SNP spokesman last night did not deny the candidates’ statements highlighted by Labour but accused the party of using “desperate” campaign tactics.

The spokesman said: “Labour are getting more desperate and negative by the day in this campaign.”

The latest row comes after Ms Sturgeon refused to sack the party’s candidate in Edinburgh South, Neil Hay, who used Twitter to post offensive messages likening pro-UK supporters to Nazi collaborators and claimed elderly voters “barely know their own names”.

WHAT THEY SAY

THIS is what SNP candidates have had to say:

Owen Thompson, Midlothian: “It wasn’t a No vote. It was ‘not yet’.”

George Kerevan, East Lothian: “If the SNP gains enough seats, we can ensure the full home rule vow is delivered. After home rule, independence will follow as the UK economy implodes.”

Martin Doherty, West Dunbartonshire: “By God I’ll fight for an independent sovereign parliament to give us the power.”

Patrick Grady, Glasgow North: “I’m ready to hit the ground running, and make sure success in 2015 paves the way for success in the Scottish Parliament 2016, city council 2017, and on to independence.”

Mhairi Black, Paisley and Renfrewshire North: “The only way they will give us another referendum is if there’s someone twisting their arm. That can be 30- plus SNP MPs … If we send back that bloc of SNP MPs we will be the rope that that hung parliament hangs on. And that can be our strongest asset. That’s when we twist their arm and get that second referendum.”

“That’s why May is so important. The only way to beat first past the post is to unite the vote. And if we can send back that many SNP MPs to Westminster...that is the power to twist their arm and get that other referendum.”

Did HSBC sign the "we love Cameron" petition ?

Just wondering.

as i wrote earlier, reality and election rhetoric have almost nothing in common

Miliband has come up with another instant policy. Labour will not charge stamp duty on first time buyers for properties up to £300k. He knows that there won't be many and they will be outside southern England.

Well Alf, no one knows more about election rhetoric more then you do -):

... Oh just a minute, H/S runs you very close.

I see there is now 1 more post to read on here.

No there isn't.

Yes there is.

No there isn't.

Yes there is.

No there isn't.

Etc., etc., etc.

Correct, but don't worry about it E/L.

Zayn Malik is still in One Direction reveals Professor Stephen Hawking albeit in a parallel universe

The 73-year-old physicist was asked about Zayn quitting the group and said it's possible the band remains intact in another universe

Yaaawn.

Just watched Manuel's and Haze's fairy Godfather Wavy Dave and icon of the past!

What a ham actor. Puts you off Porkies Georgie Boy.

I look forward to a Miliband version

It was published on the day of the election April 9 1992.

Miliband could savage our cities faster than any bomb
The proposed return of rent controls would cause havoc in the housing market


By Boris Johnson8:00PM BST 26 Apr 2015 Comments797 Comments
It was in 1989, as communism was imploding across the world, that the Vietnamese foreign minister gave a press conference in which he discussed the most fatuous mistakes of his fellow revolutionary socialists. For sheer bone-headed stupidity, said Nguyen co Thach, there was one policy that stood out. It was more destructive than American bombing, he claimed. It was worse than the B52s and did more long-term economic damage than the napalming of the jungle.
“The Americans couldn’t destroy Hanoi,” he said. “But we have destroyed our city.” Overcrowding was worse than ever; buildings were collapsing or in an advanced state of disrepair – and new ones were no longer being built. What was this policy? It was rent controls – exactly the policy that Ed Miliband announced yesterday in a classic attempt to get a headline while proposing diametrically the wrong thing for the economy.



Telegraph