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.

he obviously isn't fluent enough to ask why the country and it's systems are so corrupt
perhaps he's just polishing up so he can escape to argentina with all his tax-free loot

Stan

Info' of any use?

Yes thank you E/L, my dilemma is that I very much like my square all be it old style cathode monitor, also delivery by road can be problematic with carries. You are about 200 miles from me so driving and collecting would solve that worry but a long way.

Can I suggest that if you can get an offer for them then please go ahead and sell, in the meantime I will continue thinking it through.

Does that sound fair?

Ed: Off out for a few hours.

Post 66910.

£7/8 a bottle of beer never mind a pint (and not real Ale) how unacceptable -):

CYNIC WILL NEVER BE A SAD OLD MAN LIKE YOU .AND YOU ARE NOT HONEST LOW LIFE

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL OFF TO AIRPORT HOTEL AT 6 PM

Is Unite going to nuke Jeremy Corbyn's Trident-free utopia?
Emily Thornberry is going to have to charm Len McCluskey into making his members redundant. Let's see how that goes...


By John McTernan12:32PM GMT 08 Jan 2016Comments38 Comments
In the end, Jeremy Corbyn's reshuffle was all about Trident. In traditional political terms he humiliated himself by backing away from the threat to sack Hilary Benn. He compounded his weakness by briefing that Benn has agreed to be "muzzled" – an assertion that was immediately denied by Benn. But nothing about the way Corbyn does politics respects the traditional political frame and its metrics. He was asserting his power to achieve what he wants – a change in Labour Party policy to unilateral nuclear disarmament. The prize was to move Maria Eagle – a known supporter of renewing Trident – and replace her with Emily Thornberry an opponent of Trident. The effect is to stack Labour's defence review – both co-chairs, Ken Livingstone and Thornberry will produce the policy conclusion Corbyn wants.


This reshuffle was shambolic, chaotic, badly executed – but it was also an absolute assertion of the reality of power within the Labour Party. Corbyn's election gave him a mandate and he is using it. For the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) this is the moment they realised that the cavalry aren't coming. In fact, there are no cavalry. The brutal truth of politics is being demonstrated – when you are strong you are strong and you can act, when you are weak you are weak and you do what you are told. Not nice, but not new – the balance of power shifted in September, this is just an after-shock.
So that's it then? The next step on Labour's long march to political irrelevance is now unstoppable? Not so fast. No one leads without constraints. The Labour Party, like any political organisation, is a coalition of factions – each driven by their own incentives. Which is where Len McCluskey comes in. The Unite General Secretary is a major power in the party – a kingmaker. Without his intervention in the 2010 Labour leadership election David Miliband would probably now be both Labour leader and prime minister. Corbyn's election was not a similar triumph for Len – he wanted Andy Burnham, but he got Jeremy instead. Thus far his power has been wielded in support of the new leadership.


But Trident will be a major flashpoint. McCluskey's power comes from his union and Unite are an engineering union – they organise the skilled engineers in the defence industry. And, as a consequence of amalgamations, a lot of the white collar technicians too. Unsurprisingly, it is Unite policy to renew Trident – it is what the members want because they work in Barrow building the submarines and in Faslane maintaining them. Unless Unite policy is changed then Labour Party policy won't change. That was shown at conference last year when – just after Corbyn's leadership – support for Trident was left unchanged.
It is highly unlikely that Unite will decide that it should support a policy change that would put its members out of work. It is even less likely that Len McCluskey will risk his own internal authority in the union – from which he derives his power in the Labour Party – on making his own members redundant. But the least likely thing in UK politics today is that Emily Thornberry could finesse such a deal. There are very many fine boozers in Islington, but there is not a single one in which I could imagine Thornberry and McCluskey settling down for a pint and a chat and agreeing a deal over Trident.


Most able politicians can turn their hands to any portfolio but there are some dissonances or incompatibilities which make effective work nearly impossible. I, for one, would not make John Spellar the Shadow Culture Secretary. This may be a calumny. Perhaps he whiles away his spare time reading Wallace Stevens. But even if he does, he just doesn't look like the part. Nor does Emily Thornberry look or sound like a Shadow Defence Secretary. It is not just the cosy beer with Len that's hard to imagine. There's the first visit to a base to meet our forces. Our people – whether army, navy or Air Force – are respectful of politicians but they are also blunt and direct. Some of them may even adorn their living quarters with the St George's Cross.
Just because Jeremy has got what he wants on defence for the moment, it doesn't mean that he has moved closer to his aim of making Labour unilateralist again. Power comes in all manner of forms.

Quite scary really cc .

stan - that as may be but as tourism is a major source of dubai's income and technically they don't approve of alcohol and the gov't has the distribution monopoly, then they'll screw visitors for all they can get .....

and trust me, if you stay on the jumeirah rip-off stretch, it's plenty
the top end dubai hotels are as expensive as london, though they are very nice indeed ..... as is much of the arm candy :-)

Emily Thornberry: I 'don't know' why Jeremy Corbyn made me shadow defence secretary
Labour MP promoted in reshuffle plays down claims she was given role to help reverse party's support of Trident

By Ben Riley-Smith, Political Correspondent, video source ITV News3:09PM GMT 08 Jan 2016
Emily Thornberry, Labour’s new shadow defence secretary promoted in this week’s reshuffle, has said she does not know why Jeremy Corbyn gave her the role.
Amid speculation her appointment is a precursor to changing the party’s stance on Trident, Ms Thornberry appeared to play down the suggestion during an interview with ITV News.
She also defended her links with Leigh Day, the law firm accused of hounding British soldiers, and said she had “huge respect for the military".


It comes after Ms Thornberry, who has opposed Trident renewal in the past, became the most prominent promotion in Mr Corbyn’s reshuffle this week.
There was speculation the move comes ahead of an attempt by Mr Corbyn, a lifelong opponent of nuclear weapons, to change Labour’s position on Trident.
Ms Thornberry was asked by an ITV News reporter if she had been “given the job so Jeremy Corbyn doesn't have to have a fight over Trident”.
She responded: "I don't know why Jeremy gave me this job but I know that I'm really honoured to be doing it and hugely looking forward to meeting up with people and listening to what people have to say.


“Because you know, I have always said that politicians must listen and learn and that is what I will be doing. But I do come from a position of huge respect for the military.
“As I say, I have family members who are in the military, my father was a peacekeeper he worked across the whole world. He was Irish but do you know what the forces he talked most favourably about were the British.
“And he said how disciplined we are, you know, the humanity of the British forces and how good we are at peacekeeping and how much he always enjoyed working with them. I'm going to really enjoy working with them too."

Ms Thornberry also defended attending the Christmas party of Leigh Day, a legal firm which was criticised for "deliberate and calculated lies" by an inquiry into why claims were brought against troops fighting in Iraq.
She said: “When I was a barrister people used to say to me, how can you represent people who you know are guilty.
“I don't know they're guilty. They tell me they're not guilty. It's up to the court to decide one way or the other whether someone is guilty or not.
“Now if we start saying to solicitors that they should pick and choose their clients on the basis of whether or not they like the cases then that is the end of the rule of law.”

LOL!!! I bet Jeremy has banned her from appearing on Question Time anytime soon.

and jackanory Ha!Ha!
2517

Corbyn wants to negotiate with Isis

A Syrian jihadist has reportedly killed his mother in public after she begged him to leave terror group Islamic State.

The 20-year-old told IS officials "she tried to persuade him to leave IS and flee the city", according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It said he shot his mother on Wednesday "in front of hundreds of people" in a piazza near a post office.

"She was executed under the pretext of 'inciting her son to leave the Islamic State and escaping together to the outside'," it said.

The woman was described as being in her forties. She lived in the neighbouring town of Tabaqa but worked in the city.

If I said every Muslim is a potential ISIS member I'd get stuffed , but after hearing that people must realise what can be done by these scum .

For all Jezzers fans on here.. who's numbers are growing.

Corbyn's numbers are falling amongst Labour voters.

The Labour party members who elected Corbyn as leader amount to 0.5% of the electorate. That is why he is doomed.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/Jeremy_Corbyn/12087246/Labour-voters-are-losing-faith-in-Jeremy-Corbyn.html

Meanwhile.




Cameron has opened up the abscess in the tory party which has been festering since Maggie's and Heath's day.

The split has been open and the pus beginning to be spilt.

Nobody in the right minds trusts Cameron or Osborne any longer.

Ask Lynton.

Is he looking for a job transfer?

PS.


In London an old priest lay dying in the hospital.



For years he had faithfully served the people of the nation's capital.



He motioned for his nurse to come near.

"Yes, Father?" said the nurse.

"I would really like to see the Prime Minister and the Treasurer

before I die", whispered the priest.

"I'll see what I can do, Father", replied the nurse.

The nurse sent the request to Parliament and waited for a response.

Soon the word arrived; Prime Minister David Camoran and Treasurer

George Osbourne would be delighted to visit the priest.

As they went to the hospital, David commented to George, "I don't

know why the old priest wants to see us, but it will certainly will

help our images and might even get me re-elected Prime Minister. After

all, I need a ratings boost



George agreed that it was a good thing.

When they arrived at the priest's room, the priest took David's hand

in his right hand and George's hand in his left.

There was silence and a look of serenity on the old priest's face.

Finally, David Cameron spoke. "Father, of all the people you could have

chosen, why did you choose us to be with you as you near the end?"



The old priest slowly replied, "I have always tried to pattern my life

after that of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

"Amen", said David. "Amen", said George.

The old priest continued, "Jesus died between two lying thieving

b%st*rds; I would like to do the same

How appropriate.