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.

I see that Jeremy Corbyn is running for the Labour leadership. I hope he wins as he would be even more unelectable than Michael Foot, Neil Kinnock and Ed Milband.

Max,

Start counting the u-turns of this U-bend government from now.

At the end of its period in "office", I think it will make FIFA look like a charity!

Tony Blair has denied reports he refused to speak at a world hunger conference because the organizers refused to pay him a £330,000 fee.

The former prime minister’s office said there had been no negotiations over how much he would earn.

Blair’s strong denial comes after an anonymous source told the Mail talks broke down over the speaking engagement because the event’s sponsors refused to pay the fee.

A senior figure at Eat, the British food chain sponsoring the hunger conference, confirmed the deal had fallen through because the fee was too high.

The controversial former Labour leader allegedly demanded £330,000 as a donation to his wife Cherie’s charity when approached by the Kruger Crowne talent agency.

The conference paid former US President Bill Clinton £327,000 to speak last year, but intimated Blair was not worth a similar sum, according to the Mail.

“Blair is just not Clinton, and even his star power is fast diminishing,” a source told the Mail.

“So for his talent reps to think Eat was going to pay massive bucks for him shows they overestimated his worth. My impression of the asking price is it was way beyond what he was worth for Eat. Blair is also controversial. His background and history as prime minister is controversial because of the role he played in Iraq.

“Some people don’t like his past, so when the forum organizers took that and the asking price into account, they decided to make do without him,” the source added.

Eat’s executive producer, Odd Arvid Stromstad, confirmed the fee was too high for the company to pay.

Stromstad told the Mail: “We were in contact but the fee they wanted was quite high, so we didn’t want to go into it.”

Tony Blair’s office strongly denied the allegations.

A spokesperson said in a statement: “We have never had any contact with this talent agency and they were not acting on our behalf.

“They approached the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women out of the blue, representing Eat, and all of their contacts were with the Foundation.

“They asked if Mr Blair would give the keynote speech in exchange for a donation to the Foundation, but Mr Blair was unable to do so because prior commitments meant it would be logistically impossible. This is the reason why he can’t attend,” they added.

Blair has come under scrutiny in recent years for his multimillion pound property portfolio and lucrative consultancy fees.

Some of Blair’s controversial clients include the government of Kazakhstan, which stands accused of human rights abuses.

I really do love you mummy!




UGGGH!

Fred take note .....................................

Talks go on and on ........

Iran And Six World Powers Start New Round Of Nuclear Deal Drafting
Thu, 4th Jun 2015 11:43

Vienna (Alliance News) - Senior diplomats from Iran and six major powers met on Thursday in Vienna to tackle remaining disagreements over the text of a planned nuclear deal that would bring Iran back into the international fold.

They have less than four weeks until their deadline to finalize the deal that would force Iran to curb its nuclear activities and accept intrusive inspections, in return for the lifting of sanctions.

What inspectors will be allowed to see, and how fast sanctions will be lifted, have emerged as two sticking points.

Tehran's negotiators are unhappy about inspections of military sites, which may have been used in the past for developing nuclear weapons parts, according to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) findings.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in Vienna that the issue would be tackled at this round.
"The talks are tough and complicated, but we still have a few weeks to go," he told Iranian state broadcaster IRIB.

While Britain, China, France, Russia, the US and Germany are worried that Iran could use its civilian nuclear facilities to make nuclear weapons material, Tehran says such suspicions are based on flawed Western intelligence.
Ending the long-standing nuclear dispute could also end Iran's diplomatic isolation and would make it easier for other powers to seek Iranian help in easing regional tensions.

not half as worried as israel!
however, realpolitik says that a deal needs to be done with iran for all sorts of reasons, oil of course being one of the more important

Any chance of curbing Israel's nuclear programme. They have had nuclear weapons since 1966.

ah well, those are defensive only :-)
to be fair, israel has been under very real and considerable threat for many decades, though some of that is self-inflicted, but assuredly far from all

Peace be upon you...or else!

fred that is not funny its sick

Is Cameron using hard working tax payers' money for tory party political ends?

This would appear misuse of the public purse.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33017307

TORY POLITICS

PM's EU negotiations of no significance - Lord Lawson

Lord Lawson tells Newsnight's Laura Kuenssberg: "He's looking for more... but what [David Cameron] will secure will be trivial"

David Cameron is unlikely to achieve anything of significance as he seeks to renegotiate the UK's EU membership, former Chancellor Lord Lawson has said.
The Eurosceptic Conservative peer said the prime minister's efforts probably will not deliver "fundamental change".



Lord Lawson told BBC Newsnight the PM promised to hold an in/out referendum "largely" to keep the Tories together.

Speaking on the eve of the anniversary of the 1975 referendum, he feels the UK will vote to stay in and "regret it".

Lord Lawson said: "I think it's likely that the changes that David Cameron will secure will be inconsequential, of no significance at all.... but given the authority he has and the lack of a credible opposition leader I think it will be the same result."
He added there "isn't anybody" he can see who would be an effective leader of the campaign for an EU exit.
'Outside chance'

Last week, the prime minister began meeting European leaders as he tried to gather support for changes he wants before holding the UK's EU membership referendum, a vote which is to take place by the end of 2017.

Tighter rules on migrants' benefits are a priority for the Conservatives, as they want to control immigration from the EU.

Mr Cameron also wants an opt-out from the EU pledge of "ever closer union" and more influence for national parliaments over European laws.
Lord Lawson told Newsnight there was "a very small outside chance that he might achieve something of significance" but it was more likely to be "trivial".
He added that "in the short term, the next few years the PM will have bought peace in the Tory party".

David Cameron and Francois Hollande in Paris on 28 May 2015

Mr Cameron has held a series of meetings with European leaders
On Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was confident conditions can be created for the UK to stay in the EU.
"It's not about losing sleep over this, but about doing our work and creating the necessary preconditions for Britain to remain in the EU," she told the BBC.
Mrs Merkel said: "There are other points where we have a different opinion, but we have always been able also to pursue a Europe at different speeds, to find opt-out solutions for example."

Meanwhile, a survey for think tank British Future suggests most people have still not made up their minds on which way to vote in the referendum.

So which do you prefer?

The official refreshed (ie. revised last month) London Underground Map:



Or the 'unofficial Designer Unknown (but he/she is called "SameBoat") Tube Map as uploaded to Wikipedia back in August 2014.
PS. Notice the lovely curves in it. Also notice CrossRail and also future line extensions:



If you would like to look at more London underground information, go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_map

The official one does have the 'Zones' whereas the unofficial one by SameBoat doesn't have them.

Tanker is going to love this one:

We CAN'T cut migrant benefits: Barmy Euro court risks Cameron's plan to slash handouts

DAVID Cameron's plan to block EU migrants from drawing benefits in Britain has suffered a blow at the hands of European lawyers.

From: http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/.....
By MARTYN BROWN
PUBLISHED: 00:01, Fri, Jun 5, 2015 | UPDATED: 09:13, Fri, Jun 5, 2015

David Cameron's plan to EU migrants from getting benefits may be blocked
The European Court of Justice signalled that jobless migrants should be entitled to state handouts if they can prove they came to the UK to work.

However EU advocate ­general Melchior Wathelet has advised that unemployed migrants should only have to wait three months before they are entitled to social benefits.

This goes against Mr Cameron's promise to refuse benefits to anyone from the EU who has not worked in the UK for four years - the centrepiece of his demand for a return of powers from Brussels.

Last night Ukip warned the renegotiations were "hitting the rocks". Under freedom of movement rules, EU citizens are currently entitled to benefits in the host country.

Ministers say handouts to jobless migrants could cost more than £150million a year unless benefit tourism is restricted.

The PM wants his key reform in place ahead of an in-out referendum on Britain's membership of the EU, which he wants to take place before the end of 2017.

His plans have already received a mixed reaction in Europe, with Germany generally supportive in the face of French and Polish opposition.

The Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice is the highest ­legal body in the EU.

It made the announcement following a case ­involving a Spanish national who was excluded from social benefits in Germany during the first three months of his stay, despite seeking work.

In a legal opinion given to the court, Mr Wathelet said that an EU citizen in another EU country "may not automatically be refused the benefits in question" if they have worked there before.

"People want to know that if a migrant has been here a reasonable period of time, say four years, and paid their share of taxes, they can be entitled to benefits. But not before that." says Tory MP, Nigel Mills. But he added: "Granting entitlement to social assistance to EU citizens who are not required to have sufficient means of subsistence could result in relocation en masse. (This is) liable to create an unreasonable burden on national social security systems. Moreover, while persons arriving in a host member state may have personal links with other EU citizens already residing there, the link with the member state is in all likelihood limited in that initial period."

Alp Mehmet, vice-chairman of the pressure group Migration Watch, said the statement would prove to be another stumbling block in the Prime Minister's renegotiation of powers with Brussels. "This is a very clear indication of what the Prime Minister will be up against in trying to renegotiate the current arrangements," he said. "It does not bode well. This is very much going to be an uphill struggle for him. Let us hope he is able to get enough support for the changes he wants."

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said the ruling was worrying and warned that the only way to totally stop benefits tourism was to quit the EU altogether. He said: "Renegotiation is clearly hitting the rocks. It is outrageous that we are paying out benefits to those who haven't paid into our system. But we can only stop this sort of madness by leaving the European Union."

Tory MP Nigel Mills said: "People want to know that if a migrant has been here a reasonable period of time, say four years, and paid their share of taxes, they can be entitled to benefits. But not before that. The European Court of Justice doesn't appear to share this view and this is where we have to be careful in renegotiations."

Downing Street played down the court's intervention, insisting that it was a "step in the right direction".

A senior Downing Street source said: "At least the court is conceding the principle that migrants cannot simply turn up in Britain and expect to claim benefits. This is a step in the right direction, although we want to see a longer time limit."

The latest legal opinion from Mr Wathelet confirmed a similar ruling by the European Court of Justice in November 2014.

Mr Cameron saw his proposals for a return of powers to Westminster welcomed by some EU leaders but rejected by others in a 48-hour tour of European capitals last week.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed there was a problem with abuse of the benefits system and said it would also be in Germany's interests to make changes.

She said a treaty change to meet British demands was possible, insisting: "Where there's a will, there's a way."

But Polish PM Ewa Kopacz expressed her "strong opposition" to the UK proposals.

She told Mr Cameron she would fight any proposal "that could lead to discrimination against Poles or other EU citizens working legally in Britain".

Here's another one for Tanker:

Now ISIS bans pigeons – because looking at them as they fly away is against Islam.

ISLAMIC State has banned pigeons because they claim that looking at the birds' genitals as they fly away is against the Muslim religion.