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.

Top Gear reboot 'boosted by canned laughter' as viewers brand it the worst show on TV

The new series of Chris Evans’s new-look Top Gear has been caught up in more controversy amid claims “canned laughter” was inserted to cover up “awkward silences”.

Recordings of hysterical laughter are said to have been inserted into the first episode by producers when the audience failed to laugh at jokes by new presenters Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc.

The first episode of the BBC’s motoring series was critically panned and drew in 4.4million viewers– the lowest figures for a series debut in more than a decade.

It's a sad thing that nowadays the actual build up to the bout lasts about ten times longer than the actual boxing match .

Chris Evans never ever got it with him i'm nonplussed , LeBlanc just has no presence or character .

Behind those allegations the Tories ‘bought the general election’


The Conservatives' 2015 Battle Bus is at the centre of allegations (Photo: Getty)
Nigel Morris 16:43; Friday June 3rd 2016

It started with a £14,000 hotel bill and has escalated into a nationwide police investigation that could theoretically result in several general election results being overturned.

Nigel Farage thought he had lost his best chance of becoming an MP when he failed to capture South Thanet for Ukip at last year’s general election.

But now he faces the possibility – and for now it is no more than that – of a court ordering a rerun of the contest in the Kent constituency where he lost to the Tories by 2,800 votes.

Moreover, other constituencies up and down the country could face the same issue with investigations already underway by 11 police forces.

The Ukip leader told LBC News he hopes and prays “justice is done” and said the country had to “get to grips” with what he views as the major parties bending the spending rules during elections.

The growing focus on the Tories’ spending last year is down to the persistence of Channel 4’s dogged political correspondent, Michael Crick.

He uncovered a £14,000 bill run up by the Tories ahead of polling day at the Royal Harbour Hotel in Ramsgate in the marginal constituency, followed by a receipt for £4,240 from the Premier Inn in Margate.

Strict rules apply

Why the paperwork matters is because of the rules governing the declaration of spending during general election, with a demarcation between expenditure which is judged to be local and national.

Once a campaign is underway, strict limits apply to how much cash a party can throw at an individual contest in an attempt to “buy” victory.

Channel 4 suggested the bills run up in Ramsgate and Margate should have been included in the returns for Thanet South.

It went on to uncover receipts showing more than £38,000 was spent accommodating activists at hotels as they toured the UK in their BattleBus2015 campaign.

The spending was never declared to the Electoral Commission by the Tories, which the party blamed on an “administrative error”.

It played down the significance of the blunder, denying that the receipts would have counted towards local spending limits of around £15,000 per constituency.

Some of the alleged breaches took place in Nigel Farage’s constituency of Thanet South


Nigel Farage speaks to UKIP supporters encouraging them to vote to leave the EU

The BattleBus

Channel 4 claimed that the BattleBus visited 29 seats – and that legal limits would have been breached in 24 of them if the bills had been counted as constituency spending. Twenty-two of the seats on the bus’s itinerary were won by the Conservatives on 7 May.

The claims over South Thanet are now being investigated by Kent police and ten other forces have said they are also examining the party’s spending returns.

They are Cheshire, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester police, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Mercia (on behalf of Devon and Cornwall), and West Yorkshire.

The Electoral Commission, which is investigating spending in several seats as well as three parliamentary by-elections in 2014, went to High Court to force the Tory party to release relevant documents.
Results could be declared void

This week the victorious Conservative candidate, Craig Mackinlay, mounted an unsuccessful legal attempt to prevent Kent Police having more time to examine his spending returns.

But Timothy Straker, representing the force, told the hearing: “It is exceptional – we have allegations of national funds being used, as it may be put by some, effectively to buy an election.”

District Judge Justin Barron turned down the application and gave detectives another 12 months to investigate.

He ruled that the claims surrounding the Tories’ expenses were on an “unprecedented scale” and could result in “election results being declared void”.

The Tory party, which still insists the spending being investigated amounted to national expenditure, faces a nervous few months.

The chance remains faint of any election results being nullified and by-elections called, but cannot be entirely ruled out until police are no longer pursuing their inquiries.

The constituencies in question

All nine seats visited by the Tory battlebus in the South-West of England were won by the Conservatives as they wiped out Liberal Democrats from their former strongholds in the region.

According to Channel 4 News, legal spending limits could have been breached in eight of them if costs linked to the battle bus had been declared locally. They are North Cornwall, Stroud, Cheltenham, Torbay, Yeovil, Wells, Thornbury and Yate and Camborne & Redruth.

In the Midlands, home to a string of marginal seats, the limit could have been exceeded in seven constituencies. They are Lincoln, Northampton North, Dudley South, Cannock Chase, Broxtowe, Amber Valley and Nuneaton.

Successful contests in nine Northern constituencies visited by the battlebus also potentially breached the spending limit, Channel 4 News reported. They are Rossendale and Darwen, Halifax, Morecambe and Lunesdale, Pudsey, City of Chester, Hazel Grove, Carlisle, Cheadle and Weaver Vale.

In addition, the Electoral Commission is investigating Conservative election spending in three by-elections in 2014 as the party tried to stem a flood of votes to Ukip. They are Clacton and Rochester and Strood – both won by Nigel Farage’s party – and Newark, which was retained by the Tories.

surprised MrT has laid into MA for being a pretty devout muslim

Post 71464.

If the Tory are found guilty of fiddling the elections in those constituencies describe, does that mean there have to be bye-elections in those areas and if so what happens to the tory party majority in the meanwhile and the validity of "bills" etc, passed during the last sessions?

Thanks, Dave.

I think this seeming skulduggery must have had the nod from the tory party Central Office and if so then a prison term for electoral abusers would be appropriate for some of them.

But corruption is the name of the game for the present tory party.

We are just waiting for the witness for the defence to give his summing up and tell us it was nothing really , enter stage left Hays .

What a great picture that captures the moment. Murray turned his head away. Djokovitc hand on shoulder but looking at trophy.

Did we believe it was only VW who fiddled car performance figures? Do we believe it is only the Conservatives who fiddle election expenses?

Cheers,
KidA

I might believe anything against the Cons and Haze.

The Libs and Labour have done exactly the same thing over national vs local expenses with battle buses etc. It is a lot of fuss about nothing.

thoroughly agree
opposition parties and apparatchik always jump up and down - cheers up a dull day i guess - but it really always is a load of huff and puff

Its more then "Its a lot of fuss about nothing"

If they are found to have fiddled the expenses then someones got to be jailed,
And there could be a number of By-elections..

Its a serious offence and should be dealt with as such, otherwise it
will just carry on and will be the death knell for the voting system in
this country..

Manuel and Hazyone,

Evidence, please.

If you got any information on any of the parties, print it.

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Are your financial dealings and expenses similar?

It seems that if one can get away with such, it is OK for "some".

-=-==

But I forgot they are privileged or something like that.

-=-=-=-==

As I have posted many times, the UK is becoming a "banana republic" run from the Cayman Isles and Panama since Cameron and cronies have been in "power".

-=-===-=-=

What an exhibition for one oldest democracies.

It will be put down to mistakes. The sums per constituency are tiny. If you take Conservatives to court then you will have to do the same with Labour and Libs. They have just done what all parties have done in the past. It is trivia and only of interest to the Westminster bubble and some portions of the media.

Freda is having a great day, problem is when he get's excited he tends to spout even more shite than the norm and that is seriously saying something. Go Jezza! eh Fred. Come on, wake up and smell the roses. Mickey Mouse is dead and would still make a better Prime Minister.

In Eva Carneiro's constructive dismissal case against Chelsea and Jose Mourinho, her legal team has said Mourinho called her a “filha da puta” (daughter of a whore) when she ran on to the pitch to treat Eden Hazard against Swansea City on the opening day of the season “because she was the only female pitch side”.
The common Portuguese term is "filho da puta" which translates literally as son of a whore, but in fact is closer to the English "sonofabitch".
As we all know "sonofabitch" can be used in many ways, personal or non personal, such as an exclamation of something unexpected or surprising. When used personally, don't be surprised if you get a Glasgow kiss in reply.
In any case, if I said "filho da puta" in front of my wife she would tell me to go wash my mouth out. I believe Mourinho's wife would say the same, so using it in front of a woman doctor was sufficient for an employer, in this case Chelsea, to give Mourinho a formal warning and insist that he apologise to Carneiro.
If, as her legal team claim, he said "filha da puta" (they say there is audio to prove it) it raises the stakes considerably since it is focused at the doctor and deeply personal and in any normal public company would be sufficient for summary dismissal.
Either way, it shows Mourinho up as a foul mouthed bully and psychologically weak. Little wonder he lost the Chelsea dressing room.

And with that Man Utd go clamouring for him , and after the last two managers , you'd think they would avoid Mourinho like the plague .We'll see i suppose .

Mourinho is a spoilt arrogant brat, where public adoration has gone to his head..

The media also because his antics sells newspapers..

Any similarities?