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.

Skinny,

Very none PC, but aren't most jokes that are very funny.
Nice see good humor is still about, as most of it appears to have been scared off.

Greek

I hear Dodgy Dave thinks James Murdoch should provide more information.

BBC

"David Cameron says James Murdoch "clearly" needs to answer questions from MPs after his evidence on phone hacking was challenged. "

Perhaps he should consider his own positions and reveal his dealings with his friends Rupert Murdoch and Brooks.

Could be very revealing

Perhaps, he wishes to seen as a representative for a Banana Republic .

================

AE Pritchard from above -

"As a quid pro quo, Germany has dropped its vehement opposition to debt sharing and crossed the line in the sand towards fiscal federalism. It has agreed to turn the eurozone's 440bn bail-out fund (EFSF) into what amounts to a European Monetary Fund, and arguably into an EU Treasury in embryo."


As the man was saying - posted last week -


Some Want To Use the Greek Crisis as a Pretext for Installing an EU Empire


"The crisis, that could be their calculation, could be used to force a leap forward in integration, leaping into a European economic regime ... a leap that would be done simply because at the very end, if things have been drawn deeply enough into the crisis, no other way out of the crisis seems to exist." It would be "detrimental," Kielmannsegg warns, if "the self-righteous elites assign to themselves the historic mission of imposing the European super-state over the heads of the peoples in a kind of coup."

You have got to laugh, they get worse.

http://youtu.be/6pM44YCCSoA

http://youtu.be/jwhHmDy-t1Y

http://youtu.be/Vg9eZxpV3VA

Terrible news from Norway.

"At least 80 people died when a gunman opened fire at an island youth camp in Norway, hours after a bomb attack on the capital, Oslo, police say."

and

"At least seven people died in the earlier bombing, which seriously damaged a number of government buildings in the heart of Oslo."

....By Phil Scullion

Harbottle & Lewis are to face investigation over their role in the events surrounding the phone-hacking scandal.

The formal investigation was announced today by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and will focus on the actions of all solicitors connected with the crisis.

Tom Watson, the Labour MP and leading phone-hacking parliamentarian, had reported the law firm Harbottle & Lewis to the SRA over their conduct.

Harbottle & Lewis were initially called in by News International in 2007 following the imprisonment of then News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman over phone-hacking.

The firm was the subject of thinly-veiled criticism from James and Rupert Murdoch at Tuesday's media, culture and sport select committee hearing.

Paul Farrelly, one of the MPs on the committee, told the Guardian: "Harbottle & Lewis stand right up there with all the other people who have come to us and maintained there was only one rogue reporter.

"As events have unfolded that letter [from Harbottle & Lewis] provided by News International to us is clearly not showing an accurate picture.

"That letter has been allowed to lie on the record for four years when Harbottle & Lewis had other evidence from emails of wrongdoing that have now been finally provided to the police, so Harbottle & Lewis have a lot of questions to answer."

However Anthony Townsend, SRA chief executive, stressed that their investigation remained "at an early stage".

He added: "No conclusions have been reached about whether there may have been any impropriety by any solicitor."
...

http://youtu.be/Ucm2fSGGJ3M>

Amy Winehouse found dead, aged 27

Singer Amy Winehouse, 27, has been found dead at her north London home.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed that a 27-year-old woman had died in Camden and that the cause of death was as yet unexplained.

London Ambulance Service said it had been called to the flat at 1554 BST and sent two vehicles but the woman died.

The Greeks, the Greek Economy, and the Greek Bailout...


Even on a stiflingly hot summer's day, the Athens underground is a pleasure. It is air-conditioned, with plasma screens to entertain passengers relaxing in cool, cavernous departure halls - and the trains even run on time.

There is another bonus for users of this state-of-the-art rapid transport system: it is, in effect, free for the five million people of the Greek capital.

With no barriers to prevent free entry or exit to this impressive tube network, the good citizens of Athens are instead asked to 'validate' their tickets at honesty machines before boarding. Few bother.

This is not surprising: fiddling on a Herculean scale from the owner of the smallest shop to the most powerful figures in business and politics has become as much a part of Greek life as ouzo and olives.

Indeed, as well as not paying for their metro tickets, the people of Greece barely paid a penny of the undergrounds 1.5 billion cost a sweetener from Brussels (and, therefore, the UK taxpayer) to help the country put on an impressive 2004 Olympics free of the citys notorious traffic jams.

The transport perks are not confined to the customers. Incredibly, the average salary on Greeces railways is 60,000, which includes cleaners and track workers - treble the earnings of the average private sector employee here.

The overground rail network is as big a racket as the EU-funded underground. While its annual income is only 80 million from ticket sales, the wage bill is more than 500m a year prompting one Greek politician to famously remark that it would be cheaper to put all the commuters into private taxis.

We have a railroad company which is bankrupt beyond comprehension, says Stefans Manos, a former Greek finance minister. And yet, there isnt a single private company in Greece with that kind of average pay.

Significantly, since entering Europe as part of an ill-fated dream by politicians of creating a European super-state, the wage bill of the Greek public sector has doubled in a decade. At the same time, perks and fiddles reminiscent of Britain in the union-controlled 1970s have flourished.

Ridiculously, Greek pastry chefs, radio announcers, hairdressers and masseurs in steam baths are among more than 600 professions allowed to retire at 50 (with a state pension of 95 per cent of their last working years earnings) on account of the arduous and perilous nature of their work.

This week, it was reported that every family in Britain could face a 14,000 bill to pay for Greeces self-inflicted financial crisis. Such fears were denied yesterday after Brussels voted a massive new 100bn rescue package which, it insisted, would not need a contribution from Britain.

Even if this is true and many British MPs have their doubts we will still have to stump up 1billion to the bailout through the International Monetary Fund.

In return for this loan, European leaders want the Greeks free-spending ways to end immediately if the country is to be prevented from infecting the worlds financial system. Naturally, the Greek people are not happy about this.

In Constitution Square this week, opposite the parliament, I witnessed thousands gathering to campaign against government cuts designed to save the country from bankruptcy.

After running battles with riot police, who used tear gas to disperse protesters, thousands are still camped out in the square ahead of a vote by Greek politicians next week on whether to accept Europe-imposed austerity measures.

Yet these protesters should direct their anger closer to home to those Greeks who have for many years done their damndest to deny their country the dues they owe it.

Take a short trip on the metro to the citys cooler northern suburbs, and you will find an enclave of staggering opulence.

Here, in the suburb of Kifissia, amid clean, tree-lined streets full of designer boutiques and car showrooms selling luxury marques such as Porsche and Ferrari, live some of the richest men and women in the world.

With its streets paved with marble, and dotted with charming parks and cafes, this suburb is home to shipping tycoons such as Spiros Latsis, a billionaire and friend of Prince Charles, as well as countless other wealthy industrialists and politicians.

One of the reasons they are so rich is that rather than paying millions in tax to the Greek state, as they rightfully should, many of these residents are living entirely tax-free.

Along street after street of opulent mansions and villas, surrounded by high walls and with their own pools, most of the millionaires living here are, officially, virtually paupers.

How so? Simple: they are allowed to state their own earnings for tax purposes, figures which are rarely challenged. And rich Greeks take full advantage.

Astonishingly, only 5,000 people in a country of 12 million admit to earning more than 90,000 a year a salary that would not be enough to buy a garden shed in Kifissia.

Yet studies have shown that more than 60,000 Greek homes each have investments worth more than 1m, let alone unknown quantities in overseas banks, prompting one economist to describe Greece as a poor country full of rich people.

Manipulating a corrupt tax system, many of the residents simply say that they earn below the basic tax threshold of around 10,000 a year, even though they own boats, second homes on Greek islands and properties overseas.

And, should the taxman rumble this common ruse, it can be dealt with using a fakelaki an envelope stuffed with cash. There is even a semi-official rate for bribes: passing a false tax return requires a payment of up to 10,000 euros (the average Greek family is reckoned to pay out 2,000 a year in fakelaki.)

Even more incredibly, Greek shipping magnates the king of kings among the wealthy of Kifissia are automatically exempt from tax, supposedly on account of the great benefits they bring the country.

Yet the shipyards are empty; once employing 15,000, they now have less than 500 to service the once-mighty Greek shipping lines which, like the rest of the country, are in terminal decline.

With Greek President George Papandreou calling for a crackdown on these tax dodgers who are believed to cost the economy as much as 40bn a year he is now resorting to bizarre means to identify the cheats. After issuing warnings last year, government officials say he is set to deploy helicopter snoopers, along with scrutiny of Google Earth satellite pictures, to show who has a swimming pool in the northern suburbs an indicator, officials say, of the owners wealth.

Officially, just over 300 Kifissia residents admitted to having a pool. The true figure is believed to be 20,000. There is even a boom in sales of tarpaulins to cover pools and make them invisible to the aerial tax inspectors.

The most popular and effective measure used by owners is to camouflage their pool with a khaki military mesh to make it look like natural undergrowth, says Vasilis Logothetis, director of a major swimming pool construction company. That way, neither helicopters nor Google Earth can spot them.

But faced with the threat of a crackdown, money is now pouring out of the country into overseas tax havens such as Liechtenstein, the Bahamas and Cyprus.

Other popular alternatives include setting up offshore companies in Cyprus or the British Virgin Islands, or the purchase of real estate abroad, says one doctor, who declares an income of less than 90,000 yet earns five times that amount.

There has also been a boom in London property purchases by Athens-based Greeks in an attempt to hide their true worth from their domestic tax authorities.

These anti-tax evasion measures by the government force us to resort to even more detailed tax evasion ploys, admits Petros Iliopoulos, a civil engineer.

Hotlines have been set up offering rewards for people who inform on tax dodgers. Last month, to show the government is serious, it named and shamed 68 high-earning doctors found guilty of tax evasion.

We will spare no effort to collect what is due to the state, said Evangelos Venizelos, the new Greek finance minister of the socialist ruling party. We promise to draft and apply a new and honest tax system, one that has been needed for decades, so that taxes are duly paid by those who should pay.

Yet, already, it is too late. Greece is effectively bust relying on EU cash from richer northern European countries, but this has been the case ever since the country finally joined the euro in 2001.

Two years earlier, the country was barred from entering because it did not meet the financial criteria.

No matter: the Greeks simply cooked the books. Two years later, having falsely claimed to have met standards relating to manufacturing and industrial production and low inflation, the Greeks were allowed in.

Funds poured into the country from across Europe and the Greeks started spending like there was no tomorrow.

Money flowed into all areas of public life. As a result, for example, the Greek school system is now an over-staffed shambles, employing four times more teachers per pupil than Finland, the country with the highest-rated education system in Europe. But we still have to pay for tutors for our two children, says Helena, an Athens mother. The teachers are hopeless they seem to spend their time off sick.

Although Brussels has now agreed to provide the next stage of its debt payment programme to safeguard the countrys immediate economic future, the Greek media still carries ominous warnings that the military may be forced to step in should the countrys foray into Europe end in ignominy, bankruptcy and rising violence.

For now, the crisis has simply been delayed. With European taxpayers facing the prospect of saving Greece from bankruptcy for the second year in a row, some say even the 100bn on offer will pay off only the interest on the countrys debts meaning it will be broke again within two years.

Meanwhile, there are doom-laden warnings that the collapse of the Greek economy could be the catalyst for another global recession.

Perhaps if the Greeks themselves had shown more willingness to tighten their belts and pay taxes due to the state, voters across Europe might not now be feeling such anger towards them.

But having strolled the streets of Kifissia, and watched the Greek hordes stream past the honesty boxes on the underground, it does not take a degree in European economics to know when somebody is taking advantage at Europe's expense.

.....Singer Amy Winehouse found dead aged 27


Reuters - 1 hour 36 minutes ago
....Troubled singer Amy Winehouse, whose struggle with drink and drugs overshadowed her sultry musical talents, has been found dead at her flat in north London, emergency services said. She was 27.

The Grammy award-winning soul singer with her trademark beehive battled with well-documented addictions that she documented in her hit single "Rehab". Her death is being treated as unexplained, police said.

"We were called at 3:54 pm (1454 GMT) to an address in Camden Square," a London Ambulance Service (LAS) spokeswoman told AFP.

"We sent two ambulance crews, a cycle responder and a duty manager to the scene. Sadly the patient had died. Both ambulances had arrived within five minutes."

A section of the road outside Winehouse's home has been cordoned off and police officers are on duty at the scene where reporters, localresidents and fans had begun gathering.

Forensic officers were seen going in and out of the building.

A police statement said: "Police were called by LAS to an address in Camden Square shortly before 4:05 pm (1505 GMT) today, Saturday 23 July, following reports of a woman found deceased.

"On arrival officers found the body of a 27-year-old female who was pronounced dead at the scene.

"Enquiries continue into the circumstances of the death. At this early stage it is being treated as unexplained."

There was no immediate comment from her agents.

Winehouse rocketed to fame after winning five Grammy awards off the back of her 2006 second album "Back to Black" and the hit single "Rehab".

The singer had a European comeback tour schedule but pulled out following a disastrous opening performance in Serbia on June 18.

In the run-up to her live return, Winehouse spent a week at an addiction treatment clinic in London, reportedly at the suggestion of her father, Mitch, over concerns that she was drinking too much.

But she was booed at the opening performance in Belgrade, apparently too drunk to sing.

Some 20,000 people gathered for the highly-promoted concert at the sixth-century Kalemegdan fortress, but many soon left.

During the 90-minute concert, Winehouse could only mumble some of the lyrics, failing to follow her band.

She left the stage twice, with many fans showing their displeasure despite her band's attempts to calm the crowd.

"Amy Winehouse is withdrawing from all scheduled performances," a statement from her representatives said.

"Everyone involved wishes to do everything they can to help her return to her best and she will be given as long as it takes for this to happen."

She had also been scheduled to perform in Istanbul, Athens, Bilbao in Spain, Locarno in Switzerland, Italy's Lucca festival, Switzerland's Paleo Festival in Nyon, Nova Jazz and Blues Night in Wiesen, Austria, and Poland's Bydgoszcz Artpop Festival.

She made her final public appearance at The Roundhouse venue in Camden on Wednesday, joining her goddaughter Dionne Bromfield on stage.

She danced with Bromfield and ecouraged the audience to buy the youngster's album before leaving.

Known for her distinctive voice and beehive hairstyle, Winehouse's debut album "Frank" was released in 2003 and brought her wide acclaim. It went triple platinum in Britain.

The follow-up, "Back to Black", was a worldwide smash hit, reaching number one in Britain and number two in the US charts. It went six times platinum in Britain and double platinum in the United States.

She married Blake Fielder-Civil in Miami in May 2007 but they had a tempestuous relationship. He spent part of their marriage behind bars for a vicious attack on a pub landlord and a subsequent attempt to cover it up.

They divorced in July 2009.

Fielder-Civil, 29, was jailed again for 32 months in June for carrying out a domestic burglary with an accomplice "while in the grip of heroin addiction".
..

Very sad news to hear Amy winehouse found dead.

She was young , had talent , and earned million's ....... much more then a lot of unemployed young people have and wasted it all .

She is now a member of the 'Forever 27 Club' with members including
Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) and lots of others, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (Grateful Dead).

Amy Winehouse at her best.

http://youtu.be/KUmZp8pR1uc

Were are the weekend share tip's , moneyam a bit late posting them

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/investing/article-2018189/Sunday-newspaper-magazine-share-tips.html

Very sad news from Norway......I'm surprised that a policeman did not shoot the bastard....poor Amy Winehouse...this is what drugs does to you, ...it wrecks your health....

I guess being dead counts as having your health wrecked!