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.

and to keep balance

Labour

Key policies
Scrap student tuition fees
Nationalisation of England's nine water companies.
Re-introduce the 50p rate of tax on the highest earners (above £123,000)
Income tax rate 45p on £80,000 and above
More free childcare, expanding free provisions for two, three and four year olds
Guarantee triple lock for pensioner incomes
End to zero hours contracts
Hire 10,000 new police officers, 3,000 new firefighters
Moves to charge companies a levy on salaries above £330,000
Deliver rail electrification "including in Wales and the South West".
Bring the railways back into public ownership as franchises expire
Regain control of energy supply networks through the alteration of operator license conditions, and transition to a publicly owned, decentralised energy system
Replace water system with a network of regional publicly-owned water companies
Reverse the privatisation of Royal Mail "at the earliest opportunity"
Create at least one publicly-owned energy company in every region of the UK, with public control of the transmission and distribution grids.
The economy
Extra tax take in total £48.6bn
£6.4bn from income tax from the top 5%
Extra £19.4bn from corporation tax
£6.5bn from tax avoidance programme
Income tax rate 45p on earnings of £80,000 and above - and 50p to be reintroduced on earnings above £123,000
Boost wages of 5.7m people earning less than minimum wage to £10 an hour by 2020
Create a National Transformation Fund that will invest £250bn over 10 years in upgrading the economy
Deliver universal superfast broadband availability by 2022
A National Investment Bank as part of a plan to provide £250bn of lending power over the next decade for infrastructure
Reinstate the lower small-business corporation tax rate
Scrap quarterly reporting for businesses with a turnover of under £85,000.
Workers' rights
An end to zero-hours contracts to guarantee workers a "number of hours each week"
Introduce four extra public holidays each year to mark national patron saints' days
Maximum pay ratios of 20:1 to be rolled out in public sector
Raise minimum wage to "at least £10 per hour by 2020"
Ban unpaid internships
"Clamp down on bogus self-employment" and extend rights of employees to all workers - including shared parental pay
Guarantee trade unions a right to access workplaces
End the public sector pay cap
Repeal the Trade Union Act and roll out sectoral collective bargaining, whereby industries can negotiate agreement as a whole
Enforce all workers' rights to trade union representation at work
Abolish employment tribunal fees - so that people have access to justice
Use public spending power to drive up standards, including only awarding public contracts to companies which recognise trade unions
Give all workers equal rights from day one, whether part-time or full-time, temporary or permanent
Shifting the burden of proof, so the law assumes a worker is an employee unless the employer can prove otherwise.
Education
Reintroduce maintenance grants for university students and abolish university tuition fees
A National Education Service for England to incorporate all forms of education
Overhaul existing childcare system and extend 30 hours of free childcare to all two year olds
Promise to reduce class sizes to "less than 30" for five, six, and seven-year-olds
Devolve responsibility for skills to city regions or devolved administrations
Free school meals for all primary school children, paid for by removing the VAT exemption on private school fees.
Health and social care
Deliver safe staffing levels and reduce waiting lists
End hospital car parking charges
One million people will be taken off NHS waiting lists by "guaranteeing access to treatment within 18 weeks"
Scrap NHS pay cap
NHS will receive more than £30bn in extra funding over the next parliament
Mental health budgets will be ring-fenced, and Labour will ensure all children in secondary schools have access to a counselling service.
Social security and pensions
Cuts to bereavement support payment will be scrapped, as will the bedroom tax and the "punitive sanctions regime"
Reinstate housing benefit for under-21s
Guarantee state pension triple lock, as well as the winter fuel allowance and free bus passes
"Rejects" proposal to increase state pension age further
A commitment to "protect the pensions of UK citizens living overseas in the EU or further afield".
Energy
Ensure that 60% of the UK's energy comes from zero-carbon or renewable sources by 2030
A ban on fracking
Nuclear power "will continue to be part of the UK energy supply"
Introduce an immediate emergency energy price cap to ensure the average dual fuel household energy bill remains below £1,000 per year
Maintaining access to the EU's internal energy market and retaining access to nuclear research programme Euratom will be a priority in Brexit negotiations.
Housing
Build over one million more homes, with at least half for social rent
Homeowners willbe offered interest free loans to improve their properties
Guarantee help to buy funding until 2027 and give locals buying their first home "first dibs on new homes built in their area"
Legislate to ban letting agency fees for tenants, and look at giving the Mayor of London power to give London renters "additional security"
Make 4,000 additional homes available for rough sleepers to end homelessness.
Transport
Extend high speed rail link HS2 to Scotland
Build a new Brighton main line for the SouthEast
Build Crossrail 2 - to run north-south through London between Hertfordshire and Surrey - "to ensure our capital continues to prosper"
Recognise the need for additional airport capacity in the South East (but there's no mention of Heathrow).
Families and communities
30 hours free childcare to be extended to two-year-olds and "some" to one-year-olds
An end to the so-called "rape clause" - part of the policy of restricting child tax credits to the first two children in a family. It means mothers who have a third child as a result of rape can be exempted, but would have to provide evidence in order to do so
A review into reforming council tax and business rates, in favour of options such as a land value tax
A national review of local pubs to examine the causes for their large-scale demise, as well as establishing a joint taskforce that will consider future sustainability.
Democracy
Scottish Parliament
Labour opposes a second Scottish independence referendum
Establish a Scottish Investment Bank, with £20bn for local projects and Scotland's small businesses, creating work and stimulating the economy
Build on the Development Bank of Wales using more than £10bn from Labour's new National Investment Bank
Continue to fully support the principles and structures inherent within the Good Friday Agreement
Foreign policy/Defence
Support the renewal of the Trident submarine system
Work with international partners and the UN on multilateral disarmament "to create a nuclear-free world"
Commit to the Nato benchmark of spending at least 2% of GDP on defence
Will have a complete strategic defence and security review
Insulate the homes of disabled veterans for free.
Migration
Labour will not "scapegoat migrants" and will not set a cap on immigration, describing targets as "bogus"
International students will not be included in immigration numbers, but the party will crack down on "fake colleges".
Labour believes in the "reasonable management of migration" but "will not make false promises on immigration numbers".
Brexit
Accept the EU referendum result and "build a close new relationship with the EU" prioritising jobs and workers' rights
Guarantee the rights of EU nationals living in the UK and work to "secure reciprocal rights" for UK citizens elsewhere in the EU
A "meaningful" role for Parliament throughout Brexit negotiations
Scrap Conservatives' Brexit White Paper and replace with "fresh negotiating priorities" with strong emphasis on retaining the benefits of the single market and customs union
Reject no deal as a viable option and if needs be negotiate transitional arrangements "to avoid a cliff-edge for the UK economy"
Keep EU-derived laws on workers' rights, equality, consumer rights and environmental protections
Maintain UK's leading research role by seeking to stay part of Horizon 2020 and its successor programmes
Seek to maintain membership of European organisations which offer benefits to the UK such as Euratom and the European Medicines Agency
Will not allow Brexit to be used as an excuse to undercut UK farmers and flood Britain's food chain with cheap and inferior produce.

goes on a bit doesn't it!

O I forgot the Libdems

Key Policies

Frustrate Brexit.

And Ukip!

Key policies

Work in progress

And the Greens!

Key Policies

Save the planet.

Very short term as the earth will be gobbled up by the sun in Hmmm x Billion years time

I am on a roll here

Woman's Equality Party

1. A caring economy

WE offer a fresh approach that will build a sustainable caring economy that works for everyone.

2. Shared parental leave

WE will implement a fully equal system of nine months shared parental leave on 90% of pay, with a 3-month use-it-or-lose-it provision for each parent.

3. Free universal childcare

WE will implement full-time, high quality, free childcare for all children from the end of shared parental leave.

4. An end to violence against women

WE will repair the broken funding model for specialist services, including services that are for and led by BAME women. WE will put prevention, protection and provision at the heart of all our policies and WE will not rest until all women and girls are free from violence and harassment.

5. Unleashing women’s talent

By reforming our education system and tackling the reductive and often hypersexualised depiction of women in the media, WE will unleash the talent of all.

6. Equality in health and social care

WE will make sure our healthcare system works for women and men alike, putting the furthest from equality first, and ensure that social care is recognised not as an adjunct to economic activity but as its underpinning.

7. Brexit

WE will build an immigration system with gender equality and social justice at its heart. WE will design trade deals that work for everybody. WE will make sure Brexit does not turn back the clock on gender equality through secondary legislation.

8. Invest in what matters

WE will invest in what matters and make sure our social infrastructure works as well as our physical infrastructure. WE will invest in homes, not houses, and restore our education, health care and social care systems. All our policies are costed and will not increase the burden on low and average income households.

Plaid Cymru .... who cares

I suppose we should add in SNP although I can't vote for them

Key Policies

Scottish Independence.

Wish I could vote for that

I would have thought both of you would be voting for the Monster Raving Loony Party.

Aren't you card carrying members?

The new tory Flag.

There you go again . Wet dreams ? .

Fred calling others looneys , i'll say no more.

Vicky,

Tell me about them.

I am supposed to be a good listener.

I thought you were DEAF .

Can't hear you!

Shout louder.

I can't i'm dyslectical .

That doesn't surprise me!

Pardon .

I was just reading about a new(ish) British company called 'Improbable' and one of its products called 'SpacialOS', that allows users to build highly detailed virtual worlds which allow users to create super detailed simulations.

Apparently, SpacialOS is just the job for city planners for real life traffic prediction.

One company using SpacialOS has created complete simulation of the city of Cambridge, including its sewerage and mobile networks, power grids and road traffic. Tons of big investors have been pouring massive amounts of money into Improbable because SpacialOS is going to revolutionise design and construction.

Problem. It's not for the likes of us (yet?) because it isn't (yet) a listed company.

But it does appear to be a budding 'Microsoft', 'Apple' or 'Google'.

Hmmm? Watch this space.....

One of my sons has physics exams today at university. He shares a house with 6 others. Two if them are doing physics as well. They both had breakdowns this week and doctor had to be called. They will redo this year next year. One has gone home already. Luckily, my son thrives on pressure.