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.

if scotland wants to go it alone, then fine, but they should not then interfere in laws and the like that are not their concern

i confess it's the baleful influence of mccluskey and his hard-left militant buddies who should give every bit as much concern

Stan a nerd , as they still shout

Drop dead low life.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3049576/Union-s-sinister-hold-Miliband-Mail-investigation-reveals-half-Labour-candidates-key-seats-sponsored-Unite-militants.html

Union's sinister hold over Miliband: Mail investigation reveals over half of Labour candidates in key seats are sponsored by Unite militants

More than half of Labour candidates in winnable seats sponsored by Unite
Analysis conducted by the Mail lays bare the union's grip on Ed Miliband
Its £14.3million contribution makes it the biggest donor to the Labour party
Many of Unite leader Len McCluskey's demands have become party policy

More than half of Labour candidates in winnable seats are sponsored by just one hard-left trade union.

Fifty-four of the party's contenders for 106 target constituencies are either members of Unite, or are endorsed or partially bankrolled by it.

The analysis by the Mail lays bare the extraordinary stranglehold the union's firebrand leader 'Red' Len McCluskey has on Ed Miliband.

Tories say the general secretary's degree of influence is payback for the huge sums Unite has given to Labour since 2010.

Its £14.3million contribution makes it the biggest donor to the party. Together, the unions have handed £40million to Mr Miliband – two thirds of the Labour leader's funding. The avalanche of cash is reflected in the party's candidate list. Of 410 new faces for the General Election on May 7, one in three – 133 – have links with Unite.

Labour's close ties with the union will be on display on Friday evening when Mr McCluskey will be the special guest at a major rally in Glasgow.

Party leaders hope the intervention of the former supporter of the Trotskyist Militant Tendency will help fend off the threat of the SNP.

Many of the Unite leader's demands have become party policy under Mr Miliband, including the abolition of the spare-room subsidy or bedroom tax.

Labour is also pledging to adopt other Unite-inspired policies such as a ban on zero-hours contracts, a large increase in the minimum wage, scrapping fees for employment tribunals and rent controls.

Mr Miliband has announced plans to part-renationalise the rail network – another policy pushed by Mr McCluskey – and Labour has repeatedly refused to rule out increasing corporation tax, a change the Unite leader has argued for.

Two years ago, Unite was mired in scandal for trying to 'manipulate' Labour's selection of a candidate in Falkirk by stuffing the local membership with its supporters.

Henry Smith, Tory candidate for Crawley, said: 'Labour is nothing more than the political wing of the trade unions, with Ed Miliband an appointed puppet who squeaks whatever Red Len tells him to. The consequences could not be dire: more wasteful spending, more unaffordable borrowing and higher taxes for hardworking families.'

Mr Miliband was elected Labour leader in 2010 thanks to the support of the unions. The frontrunner, his brother David, won more support among Labour MPs and party members. But Ed won more support among the unions, pushing him over the winning line. Trade unions gave £148,000 toward his leadership campaign – including £115,000 from Unite. Mr Miliband was endorsed by Unite, with the then two co-general secretaries, Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley, urging members to vote for him.

After the result was announced, the new Labour leader was observed putting an arm round them and saying: 'Thank you.' Fifty-three of Unite members had voted for him. Since Mr Miliband became leader, the unions have donated £40.4million to the Labour Party, according to the Electoral Commission. Unison has handed over £8.1million while the GMB has donated £6.9million and Usdaw £6.1million.

Another £2.6million has come from the CWU, £730,000 from UCATT and £690,000 from the union Community.

In target seats, 84 per cent of Labour candidates have union links.

Harriet Harman, Andy Burnham and Chuka Umunna are all Unite members.

A spokesman for Labour said: 'We are proud to have selected a wide range of candidates with varying backgrounds including carers, military personnel and business people.

'Trade unions have no undue influence over Labour's candidate selection process, and unlike the Tories who stand up only for a privileged few, Labour is on the side of millions of hardworking people.'

A spokesman for Unite said: 'There is no such thing as a Unite MP or candidate, there are only Labour candidates. We fully support all Labour candidates.'

Scar-mongering alert... Again!

i saw a copy the Mail over breakfast, and no wonder it's held in little esteem
it makes the Telegraph look almost left wing!

nevertheless, i certainly agree with its sentiment re mccluskey and his scary acolytes

i saw a copy the Mail over breakfast, and no wonder it's held in little esteem
it makes the Telegraph look almost left wing!

nevertheless, i certainly agree with its sentiment re mccluskey and his scary acolytes

meanwhile, the market has (at last) caught fright, though that may have something to do with greece
whereas it opened some 20 points to the good, it is now down 40
annoyingly, IG is having problems with its server(s), but at least i already hold a FTSE short

cynic

What did IG say about it , i called them but long wait also you can't get onto the help page

Alf as you and your "Con" Party mates continually quote the propaganda spewed out by the likes of the DM. Etc it's no wonder your all paranoid about alternatives to Right Wing rhetoric.

IG is now up and working again

===========

stan - today was mere happenstance; DM does not normally cross my eye-line
anyway, whatever the election brings, it brings - something fairly shambolic is my guess - and as always and in the past, i'll just adapt to it

Manuel,

You are becoming more and more detached.

If Scotland is part of the whole UK, in a "democracy" its elected MPs have a right to vote on any decision making on the whole of the UK.

They have the right to abstain, or otherwise, if they consider policies do not immediately effect Scotland.

But if part of the total changes, it is bound to have effect on all other parts of the total.

Even, moving a finger alters your balance. (In your case it might cause you to topple over.)

-=-=-=-=-=-==-=

McCluskey.

Would you disown your parents?

That is what the unions and their connections represent to Labour.

That is why they have achieved the improvement in social conditions in the UK over the last 100 years.

The labour party are not a party made up political bastards like the membership of the present tory party, and while having disagreements their parents are still prepared to respect them for what they have a achieved for them in the past.

Also, recognising the values which many in the unions as a "whole" body had and still have.

Their measurement of success is not the size of their wallets or flash car on the drive.

SNP does indeed have the right to vote in westminster, at least currently

i have no objection to trades unions per se, though i'm very glad indeed i never had to deal with them
however, i class mccluskey in the same family as scargill and therefore have very sceptical views as to his aims and motives ..... not overly much to do with the welfare of unite's members i dare say and a racing certainty with no concern whatsoever for the companies for whom unite's members work (you know; the entities who pay the salaries and other benefits)

Let no stone go unturned some would say and the lies and the lying liars turn on each other................

I just found out this by accident and I had to say I had a good ......... LOL
I suspect you know " mike740" is aka "Goldfinger"


POLITICS AND OTHER TOPICAL DEBATE THREAD

mike740 - 20 Apr'15 - 11:09 - 587 of 600

Strange Cynic aka Goldilocks says hes going to Dubai and will not be posting for a while here but on my weekly MAM check hes posting THERE like theres no tomorrow.

Is it because he as just Fred to take on with all his cloud tory support. ??????

Not that Fred cant whup them all by himself.

cynic

IG still the same when i logged in , page came up saying sever was down

aldo - certainly the L2 dealer site is working ...perhaps try logging out of the IG site and start again .... i've just tried the www.igmarkets.com and that also works as well as getting into my a/c from there

yes i am indeed in dubai, and damn hot it is today too
fortunately i am able to do all my e-mails and catch up with clients from a site which has its fair share of pulchritude

=======

i haven't posted on advfn since being here, as i've seen no prompts suggesting there was something to which i should respond

Mentor.

Are you stirring?

Manuel, was taught how to stir his own pot noodles.

8-)

i'm afraid mentor's even pretty ineffectual at that

Conservatives lead at 1

Latest YouGov / The Sun results 21st April -

Con 35%, Lab 34%, LD 7%, UKIP 13%, GRN 5%;