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.

Paul O'Grady says he'll leave Britain for Venice if Tories win the election

That's a bonus!

The Times

Don’t sneak into No 10, Labour MPs warn Miliband

Sam Coates and Laura Pitel

Last updated at 12:05AM, May 4 2015

Ed Miliband will not have the right to govern if he wins 15 fewer seats than the Conservatives in Thursday’s election, senior Labour party figures have warned. In a series of interviews with The Times yesterday, parliamentary candidates rejected claims by allies of Mr Miliband that he could become prime minister even if Labour was not the largest party in the Commons. One frontbencher suggested that Mr Miliband should resign if he finished as few as 12 seats behind David Cameron. Others fear that Labour’s future in key battlegrounds in England would be compromised if he scraped a parliamentary majority only with the help of Scottish Nationalists.

UKIP, BNP and the Party of Confidence Tricksters are getting more and more desperate.

=-=-=-=-=
Haze,

Is it true the blue rinsed and tory party grandees have bought grinders and are sharpening the knives for Dodgy Dave and Osborne?

Georgie boy, IDS and Theresa are very quiet?

Are they weaving and diving, or are they reading books written by Boris on playing the clown?





--------

Vote UKIP or Tory, it doesn't matter, they both belong to the same clubs.

How many so called safe "Con" Party lying toerags will lose their seats on Thursday?

I know at least one that has a very good chance, and one that I have a direct interest in...we shall see.

Nothing compared to the hoards of Labour MPs to be out of work in Scotland. Plus plenty down south. Miliband looking less and less likely to be leader in a week or so.

Irrelevant, the Tories are going to get kicked out... and not before time.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/poll-tracker

If you look at the polls individually you will see that only 2 out of 8 polls make Labour in the lead.

Yet again, thats irrelevant.

Cameron won't budge from number 10. He will run a minority government. Whatever the result, Miliband will not be PM.

How many more times H/S...Stop dreaming your "Con" artistes have got zero chance of winning the election.

Two socialist countries in trouble!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11581349/Warning-lights-flash-over-Greece-and-France-as-manufacturing-stumbles.html

'Warning lights' flash over Greece and France as manufacturing stumbles

France and Greece remain the eurozone's laggards, with the former "locked in reverse gear" as manufacturing remains mired in contraction in April

Warning lights are flashing over the Greek and French economies, analysts said on Monday, after a closely-watched manufacturing survey showed both nations remained "mired in contraction" in April.

Turmoil in Greece, and concerns that the country could default on its debt and be forced out of the eurozone pushed Greek activity to a 22-month low, according to Markit's latest manufacturing barometer.

The figures also suggested that the European Central Bank's €1.1 trillion bond-buying programme, which has helped to weaken the euro, has so far failed to lift France out of its chronic malaise.

French manufacturing activity contracted for the 11th consecutive month in April, with the rate of decline the fastest so far this year. Markit also said employment levels fell for a thirteenth successive month in April.

“The French manufacturing sector remains locked in reverse gear," said Jack Kennedy, senior economist at Markit. "Production levels were cut at an accelerated rate amid a steeper decline in new orders. This was despite a further fall in prices charged and the recent weakening of the euro, underlining the competitive challenge facing firms.”

Markit's French manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to 48 in April, from 48.8 in March. This was lower than a flash estimate of 48.4 and well below the 50 level that divides growth from contraction. Greece's PMI contracted to 46.5, from a previous reading of 48.

Could this be a sighting of Miliband's desperately needed flying pig?

SNP candidate asks Tory voters to help beat Labour


DAVID MADDOX
12:34Monday 04 May 2015
4
HAVE YOUR SAY
THE SNP have been accused of “rank hypocrisy” after it emerged that the party’s East Renfrewshire candidate has written directly to Tory voters asking for their help in keeping Labour out.

The letter entitled “lend me your vote” was sent to Tory voters by SNP candidate Kirsten Oswald who hopes to unseat Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy.

It comes despite First Minister Nicola Sturgeon claiming that she wants an “anti-Tory alliance” and to put Ed Miliband into Downing Street and “lock the Tories out”.

But in her letter Ms Oswald said she “respects the values” of the Tories and pointed out that independent polls showed that the SNP is “the party with the best chance of beating Labour”.

She went on that if the Tories lent her their votes then then they would have an MP “who understands your values, your concerns and your priorities.”

Labour have argued that Ms Sturgeon and the SNP have been encouraging people across the UK to vote “anything but Labour” including the Greens in England and Plaid Cymru in Wales.

And with Mr Miliband saying he would not form a Labour government if it depends on SNP votes, the party has claimed that the SNP’s secret agenda is to have a Tory government in Westminster so they can force a second referendum.

Scottish Deputy leader Kezia Dugdale said that the letter confirmed the “hypocrisy” of the SNP.


She said: “That an SNP candidate should be begging Tory voters to help unseat a Labour MP shows the depths of their desperation.

“After weeks of telling Scots that they’ll do everything to keep the Tories out of power, they’ll tell Tory voters that they now ‘respect their beliefs’ when it helps them try to seat Jim Murphy.

“This is rank hypocrisy from the SNP, whose empty rhetoric on standing up to the Tories is now plain for all to see; they’ll say whatever they need to get a second referendum.

With senior Labour figures already claiming they need to save some of their 41 seats in Scotland for the party to be the biggest in Westminster and able to form a minority government, Ms Dugdale said that if the SNP manage to to win 50 or more seats, as suggested in the polls, it will help David Cameron get back in Downing Street.


She said: “The irony is that David Cameron is rubbing his hands with glee at the thought of Scotland sending more Nationalists to Westminster, because every SNP MP makes it more likely he’ll sneak into Downing St by the back door.

“In just five days time the people of Scotland face a choice, the road to a fairer economy with Scottish Labour or the road to a Tory government and a second referendum with the SNP.”

However, Ms Oswald insisted she was trying to contrast voter values with the current negative Tory tactics focusing on the SNP holding the balance of power.

She said: “The point being made is the contrast between what were shared values across the political spectrum and the appalling Tory Party campaign which Gordon Brown has described as ‘anti-Scottish’. That is what the Tory Party has become.”


Dear [Conservative voter],

When we spoke to you sometime ago you told us that the Conservatives are the party you most identify with.

I respect that. I respect the values of hard work, responsibility and public service which the Conservative party has traditionally stood for.

In our constituency, independent polls show that the party with the best chance of beating Labour is the SNP.

A vote for me is a vote for a committed local candidate who understands your values, your concerns and your priorities.

People who live in our local area deserve to be confident that their MP will stand up for them, and be available and accessible to local people.

If I am elected, I will be a full time local MP, with the interests of East Renfrewshire and all our communities at heart. I will commit to serve the full term of parliament.

On the 7th May, I’m asking for your vote, for everyone in East Renfrewshire, and for a stronger Scotland.

Warm regards,

Kirsten Oswald SNP

comments

Apparently many Lib Dem voters in Inverness are voting tactically with the SNP to kick the Tory Danny Alexander out.

The hypocrisy isn't in asking for voters to vote tactically, it is who is asking whom to vote for them. Sturgeon and the SNP have demonised the tories and are threatening to use their voting block to deny Cameron No 10 even if his party gets the most votes. Do you get it now?


Where's the problem ?
Kezia shouldn't be throwing stones - Labour activists in Perthshire have been campaigning FOR the Tories ! ! ! Kirsten Oswald doesn't pretend to be campaigning for anything other than her own party - honesty in politics - a foreign concept to many of the desperadoes !

Anyway, I think that the Conservatives in East Renfrewshire should vote conservative - all of this 'tactical voting' guff, is just that . . . Guff !


Is this not what they are all up to?

All UK political parties, including the regionals, are venal wastes of space.

I am still unable to vote in my constituency due to lack of respect for any of the balloons on the ballot paper.

Haze,

Its not one your offspring is it?

Poor old H/S, I wonder where he's emigrating to after the election defeat?

Nobody would have him!

Attention terrible twins:

It's not over yet!

Libs signing up to Labour.

Seems sensible.

http://www.oddschecker.com/politics/british-politics/next-uk-general-election/prime-minister-after-general-election

Bookies mainly now offering same odds for Cameron and Miliband to be PM.; 10/11