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.

"not a great deal in the grand scheme of things" can be an awfully large amount :-)

Pop over to la belle france hilly, trot down to the benefits office...see how far you get.

That also goes for healthcare of the non emergency kind.

I do pop over to la belle France regularly as it happens, Max, on account of how we own a few properties (mostly converted town houses, and some viagers) in Herault and Gard, and I spend my summers there. So yeah, I do know exactly how the French healthcare system works, and that's what you have insurance for.

But what has that got to do with anything that the UK does exactly?

i should imagine, along the lines that uk's magnanimity and generosity to eu and non-eu immigrants alike is unnecessary and unsupportable
btw, i don't think a change in law would be required, but solely to internal regulation and application

I thought it was Fred who was posting , not Hilary.

It's a major problem to Daily Mail readers and bigoted UKIP voters
Here we go again, talk about foreigners abusing the NHS , and the problems of mass uncontrolled immigration you are called a bigoted UKIP voter


on account of how we own a few properties (mostly converted town houses, and some viagers)

You want to get back and live like the normal working class have to live in overcrowded innner city's

What will he do for a vote?


He is a ??????

Classic :-)


hilary - 18 Apr 2015 14:24 - 58787 of 58790


I do know exactly how the French healthcare system works, and that's what you have insurance for.

perhaps the box should be showing a picture of Sturgeon, for EM would assuredly have his strings operated by her

not convinced Max, but whoever gets into Number 10 is going to have a very difficult time
i think another GE within 6/9 months is short odds indeed

even shorter odds is a highly volatile market which in itself gives opportunity to make (or lose) a lot of money ...... our marxist friend should have problems with his conscience for certainly he doesn't give any profits to charity

I suspect it wont the winner of the keys to number 10 who will suffer the most c.

I suspect us tax paying mug punters will be on the wrong end of that shit stick.


However, I will be voting ukip, not in any real expectation of a win, but if enough vote that way, we might send a message to the complacent ones.

The tories got a nasty shock down here in Hampshire with the €uro elections, but little has changed, they still think it is theirs by right.

I suggest you read the below and consider its probabilities and implications.

“From Wicki

Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011

Section 3(1) of the Act originally stated that Parliament should be automatically dissolved 17 working days before a polling day of a general election. This was subsequently amended by the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 to 25 working days. Section 1 of the Act provides for such polling days to occur on the first Thursday in May of the fifth year after the previous general election, starting with 7 May 2015. The Prime Minister has the power, by order made by Statutory Instrument under section 1(5), to provide that the polling day is to be held up to two months later than that date. Such a Statutory Instrument must be approved by each House of Parliament.

Section 2 of the Act also provides for two ways in which a general election can be held before the end of this five-year period:

• If the House of Commons resolves "That this House has no confidence in Her Majesty's Government", an early general election is held, unless the House of Commons subsequently resolves "That this House has confidence in Her Majesty's Government". This second resolution must be made within fourteen days of the first.

• If the House of Commons, with the support of two-thirds of its total membership (including vacant seats), resolves "That there shall be an early parliamentary general election".

In either of these two cases, the monarch (on the recommendation of the prime minister) appoints the date of the new election by proclamation. Parliament is then dissolved 25 working days before that date.

Apart from the automatic dissolution in anticipation of a general election (whether held early or not), section 3(2) provides that "Parliament cannot otherwise be dissolved".

The act thus removes the traditional royal prerogative to dissolve Parliament.

The Act repealed the Septennial Act 1715 as well as references in other Acts to the royal prerogative of dissolving parliament.”

=-=-=-=-=-

I doubt that it would be in the interest of Labour party, SNP or minor parties to have and election before 2020.

Also, using the above the only major differences between these parties is Trident and Devolution can be easily dealt with, by “Free vote” with a subsequent vote of confidence, if necessary.

It would still remain a centre left leaning government wishing to remain members of the EU.

Never mind all this guff, I will bet my house that the threads PLASTIC SOCIALIST RED FRED when Cameron walks back into Downing Street will do what?


Answer :-


Be first in the queue to buy LLOYD'S shares LOL!!!!!


WHY? Because he is a hypocrite!!

Election 2015: Tories pledge 'Tell Sid' sale of Lloyds Bank shares
David Cameron and George Osborne promise to sell billions of pounds of Lloyds shares to the public within a year, at a discount of at least 5 per cent, if the Tories win the election on May 7


By Tim Ross, Senior Political Correspondent10:30PM BST 18 Apr 2015
Millions of people will be able to buy shares in Lloyds Bank, under a dramatic Conservative plan to launch a “Tell Sid”-style mass privatisation of the bailed-out banking firm.
David Cameron is promising to order the sale of billions of pounds of Lloyds shares to the public within a year, at a discount of at least 5 per cent, if the Tories win the election on May 7.
A government publicity drive will be launched in the months before the “retail” sale begins, similar to the British Gas sell-off that produced the “Tell Sid” advertising campaign in 1986, to drum up interest in the deal.


The sale is expected to result in at least 200,000 people – and potentially several million – owning shares in Lloyds, and to raise between £2 billion and £3 billion.
• Rewind to 1979: What other Thatcher pledges are in Cameron's manifesto?
Writing for The Telegraph, George Osborne says the sell-off will give more people a stake in our economy" while making sure the £20 billion of taxpayers money that Labour spent to bail out the bank is paid back.
“The share offer will raise billions of pounds, helping taxpayers to get back the money that the last Labour government put in, and reducing the national debt,” Mr Osborne says.
The announcement marks the latest consumer-focused policy from the Tories aimed at convincing voters to give the party another five years in power, as polls shows they remain neck and neck with Labour.
In other developments this weekend, with two and a half weeks left until polling day:
• Nicky Morgan, the Education Secretary, announced a government inquiry into the impact of mass immigration on state schools, telling The Telegraph that primary teachers are under “pressure” as they try to cope with children who do not speak English.
• Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, gives his personal backing to the “outstanding” leadership of Mr Cameron and warns that Labour’s “hostile” tax plans will force businesses to withdraw from Britain.
• A new “poll of polls” for The Telegraph puts the two main parties equal on 34 per cent of the vote. But Labour would win 294 seats to the Conservatives’ 269, according to the analysis from Professor John Curtice, of the University of Strathclyde.
• A separate forecast from ICM for the Telegraph also put Labour and the Tories tied on 32 per cent each. However, it found that Labour supporters are more optimistic than people who backed the Conservatives in 2010 about their party’s prospects next month.
• Alex Salmond, the former Scottish first minister, said there would be “no disgrace” in Ed Miliband making a deal with the SNP to give the Scottish nationalists a say over the “vast majority” of English laws.
• The Tories stepped up their attack on Mr Miliband, releasing a new poster showing the Labour leader as a puppet with the SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, pulling the strings.


The last Labour government bailed out Lloyds at the height of the financial crisis, taking a 43 per cent stake and spending £20 billion of taxpayers’ money propping up the stricken institution.
Under the Coalition, £9billion has been raised so far through selling shares in Lloyds Banking Group, but only institutional investors such as pension funds and insurance firms have been able to take part.
• Six charts summing up the agony and the ecstasy of Britain's recovery
Mr Osborne announced last month that he would release a further £9 billion in Lloyd shares by April 2016.
Under the Tory promise of a retail sell-off, individual consumers will be able to buy up to £10,000 each of Lloyds shares, with a minimum investment of £250.
On Friday night, shares in the bank were worth £78.75 each, more than the £73.60 which the Labour government paid during the bail-out.
The Tories said retail customers – who would pay by debit card – would be sold the shares at a discount on the market price of at least 5 per cent.
In an attempt to spread the sale to as many people as possible, priority will be given to those buying less than £1,000 worth of the shares.
Confirming the Lloyds plan, Mr Cameron will say: “The £20 billion bail-out of Lloyds bank by the last Labour government became a symbol of the crisis that engulfed the British economy under Labour. After the public bailed it out, people feared they wouldn't see their money returned. Today they are.”


In his Telegraph article, Mr Osborne says he wants to encourage a culture of longer-term share ownership and will introduce a “loyalty bonus” worth up to £200 for anyone who still owns their Lloyds shares one year after buying them.
“Not only are we getting taxpayers their money back, we are going to do it in a way that gives many more people a stake in our economy and encourages a culture of long term share ownership at the same time,” Mr Osborne says.
“There is no doubt the election is close. But the outcomes could not be further apart.
“The Conservatives are only 23 seats away from a majority government that offers security and stability. A vote for any other party opens the door to an Ed Miliband-Scottish Nationalist Government.
“It is an unholy cabal of those who want to bankrupt our country and those who want to break up our country.”


The announcement came as the Conservatives made a fresh appeal to the party’s core supporters who have switched to the UK Independence Party because they are concerned about rising levels of immigration.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Mrs Morgan disclosed details of a new government inquiry into the impact of immigration on schools.
She said immigration was “a big issue” for voters on the doorstep and pledged action to help schools deal with the demands of teaching children who do not speak English.
The Department for Education has started “mapping” the effects of migration on the shortage of school places across England, as well as the resources that schools need to cope with five year-olds who require intensive language support.
In the interview, Mrs Morgan also said she expected that many undecided voters would not make up their minds until they were inside the polling booths.
ICM’s latest Wisdom Index, which asks 2,000 adults online to predict the share of the vote that each party will receive, continued to forecast a dead heat, with Labour and the Tories on 32 per cent each. Ukip was forecast to win 12 per cent and the Liberal Democrats 14 per cent. Meanwhile, a poll by Opinium Research for the Observer gave the Conservatives a four point lead, on 36 per cent to Labour's 32 per cent.

and ST gave labour a 3% lead

i confess i'm amazed how muted all you guys have been today - not that i'ld have actually bothered to read much if any of the standard and repetitive polemics from the usual sources .....

perhaps even fred's wife has had enough of his nonsenses and beaten him over the head with a frying pan (preferably well heated) and he is even now, after some 8 hours still waiting in A&E ..... such things are dreams made of :-)

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/18/conservatives-four-point-lead-labour-opinium-observer-poll-challengers

Conservatives take four-point lead over Labour in Opinium/Observer poll

Tories unchanged on 36%, Labour fall two points to 32% and Ukip up two points on 13% in poll conducted after Thursday’s ‘challengers’ TV debate

The Conservatives have opened up a four-point lead over Labour with just two and a half weeks to go until the general election, according to the latest Opinium/Observer poll.

The Tories are unchanged on 36% compared with last weekend, while Labour is down two points on 32%. Ukip is up two points on 13% while the Liberal Democrats are up one point on 8%. The Greens are down one point on 5% and and the SNP is unchanged on 4%.

it depends on how selective you want to be as to which opinion poll results you wish to quote