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.

Obama's ambassadors continue to refuse to pay 3.5m congestion charge bill

In total, embassies owe more 28 million in fines on top of unpaid congestion charges. Americas fines are the highest, with Russia owing 2.6 million and Japan 2.3 million.

A TfL spokesman said: More than three-quarters of all embassies pay the congestion charge. It is therefore disappointing that the American embassy continues to refuse to pay. TfL and the UK Government are agreed that the congestion charge is a charge for a service and not a tax which means that diplomats are not exempt from payment. All staff at the American Embassy should pay it, in the same way as British officials pay road tolls in the United States. TfL continues to engage directly with those embassies that refuse to pay in order to increase compliance with the scheme by diplomats.

The non-paying embassies are saying that is a tax and not a charge for a service, and therefore that is why they should be exempt from having to pay it.

Meanwhile Boris continues with his holiday....

ExecLine,

Another example to the world that shows yet again what a soft touch we are. But of course we Brits must obey the rules whilst everyone else ignores them.
Johnny foreigner must be laughing their socks off.

This-is-me,

OK as a good British citizen I must obey the rules, so I will claim the required amount (reluctantly and under the strongest protest of course).

It's exam time....

Just a couple of comments from my local paper:

I am an employer who constantly see job applications from these so-called "star pupils' - most of whom are not even capable of stringing together enough words or English grammar to present themselves properly - either orally or in prose. This is nothing to do with "dumbing-down" the examinations per se. It is about what is acceptable in the schools, and it seems that most schools (and parents) find in perfectly acceptable that A-Level students can't even spell properly, let alone carry on an intelligent conversation. There is a very good reason why we have accepted norms of spelling and grammar - it is so we know what each other is talking about.
.................

I wonder how many people, particularly like the above poster, know that the procedure forced on teachers now is that they are NOT allowed - yes, thats right, not allowed, to correct spelling mistakes and grammar errors in a pupil's work.

Its no good making out that kids these days are thick because they havent put the work in. How do they know they've done something wrong if they are simply just never told about it?

When my children have homework, they always do it in rough and I correct it for them. However a large number of parents do not have the knowledge to be able to do this, which means poor English is now being passed down through the generations.

Unless this stupid Government directive is stopped, things will only get worse. Especially when you get people complaining about kids' grammar and spelling, who dont and can't even check that belonging to their own!

Find my 16 year old son correcting my grammar these days. Also he can hold a conversation with my mother about historical fact that I haven't a clue about or can't really remember. Makes me proud and frustrated in the same measure!

Oh dear! But not entirely unexpected....

VAT holiday over as tax revenue collapses

Rate will return to 17.5% from start of next year
Annual deficit likely to exceed 175bn forecast

Larry Elliott, economics editor guardian.co.uk
Thursday 20 August 2009 20.31

The Treasury dashed hopes of an extension to the government's VAT holiday tonight after the latest figures for public borrowing revealed a collapse in tax revenues and prompted City forecasts of a 200bn deficit for the whole financial year.

With the City taken aback by the rapid deterioration in the state's finances, aides to the chancellor, Alistair Darling, stressed that the Treasury could not afford the 12bn cost of the VAT cut for a second year and the tax would return to 17.5% from January 1.

Data from the Office for National Statistics underlined the impact of the recession on the government's coffers today and left Darling with no room for manoeuvre in this autumn's pre-budget report.

Business groups have been pressing for the extension of tax breaks to safeguard the economy from a double-dip recession, but Darling will insist that the government's credibility with the financial markets is more important.

The chancellor deliberately made cautious assumptions for the deficit in the budget, but the 5.6% contraction in the economy has blown an even bigger hole in the public finances than feared in April.

VAT receipts in July were down by a third on the same month last year, corporation tax was down 37.9% and there was a 10% decline in income tax, capital gains tax and national insurance contributions.

Last month, government spending was 7.5% up on July 2008, leaving the Treasury with a deficit of 8bn, compared with a surplus of 5.2bn a year earlier. The City had been expecting July one of the four key months for tax collection to show a small surplus. In the first four months of the current financial year, the UK was in the red by 50bn a bigger shortfall than for the whole of 2007-08.

Stephen Lewis, economist with Monument Securities, described the first July deficit since 1996 as "a shocker" and said the deficit for 2009-10 as a whole was now likely to exceed Darling's 175bn budget forecast by "10bn or so".

Vicky Redwood, of Capital Economics, said the figures underlined the need for "sharp tax rises and/or government spending cuts in the next few years".

She added: "At this rate, borrowing looks set to overshoot vastly the chancellor's full-year forecast. We expect a figure of at least 200bn."

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the deficit for the first four months of the year was a poor guide to the likely total for the whole of 2009-10. It said the end of the VAT holiday would boost revenues in the final three months of the year, although it was likely that the Treasury would be denied the full benefits of the 2.5 percentage point rise by consumers bringing forward spending to late this year.

Opposition parties seized on the figures to accuse the government of losing control of the public finances. The Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, Vince Cable, said: "As the country fights its way through recession we are seeing a collapse in tax revenues. We are now heading for a level of deficit this year even higher than the chancellor's original predictions.

"What is particularly concerning is that the government's hopes for the recovery of the public finances are based on extremely optimistic growth forecasts. Without this growth we will be heading for even higher levels of debt."

The Conservative shadow Treasury minister Mark Hoban said: "These appalling figures are even worse than the already dire expectations. Yet the government persists in the outright deception that there is no debt problem, and that it will increase spending after the next election. By denying the scale of the debt crisis ... Gordon Brown is putting our economic recovery at risk."

But there is hope.....

Just how thick are our so called leaders.

Since the release of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds several including, Gordon Brown, Alan Milburn and Alistair Darling, have been quoted as saying they are surprised and angered by the heroes welcome home he received, by the Libyan people.

As all terrorists are received with such open arm welcome (remember the IRA and Biggs early releases as just a couple of examples) why are they surprised, or are they!

Of course not (surely they can't be that dim, can they!). What they are trying to convince the electorate is that they are as shocked as what they hope us to be.

It matters not if al-Megrahi is innocent or not. He was found proven guilty and until/if such evidence comes to light to prove his innocence he should have remained in prison.

What next, Ian Brady of Moors Murder fame, or perhaps early release of those responsible for the Baby P murder being released due to compassionate grounds.

Once again we show ourselves to be the soft touch of the world. Johnny foreigner must be laughing his socks off.

Here we go again on some more government incompetency...

I loved the following comment at the end of the article, which was sent in by a Mail reader:

When its is public money 'Penalty Clauses' are hardly ever drawn up to secure a firm agreement. This is the same throughout the whole of the UK especially where County councils and Town Councils are concerned, they seem to run away with the money.

Hence when we come to larger areas of public expenditure it is no wonder they say," On average new equipment arrives five years behind schedule and costs 40 per cent more than first estimated". No wonder at all there is an alleged 35bn black hole in the budget,

There is no public accountability by this useless bunch of whinging spineless crooks currently controlling our useless proven 'Dysfunctional Government'. They are just a bunch of legitimized Robbers constantly making new Laws to Tax us all of every penny we have and then waste it.

This proves yet again, just how totally incompetent this Government is, does it not?

From http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/....

Secret report reveals MoD's 'lethal' 35bn defence black hole
By James Chapman
Last updated at 3:58 PM on 23rd August 2009

A devastating official report ministers tried to bury has identified a 35bn black hole in the budget for military equipment and 'lethal' failings in Government programmes.

The secret Ministry of Defence report concluded that soldiers' lives in Afghanistan were being put at risk by 'political fudge' and Whitehall incompetence.

The Tories accused the Government of a giant 'con trick' which involved pretending to have set aside money for new equipment but not actually doing so.

Behind schedule: The leaked report warns that naval ship-building delays are so severe that the UK could not fight a Falklands-style war.

They said governments in other countries had resigned for less and demanded immediate publication of the full report. Leaked details of the 296-page report, by former Labour defence adviser Bernard Gray, warned of failings so serious they 'harm our ability to conduct difficult current operations'.

Mr Gray, who led the strategic defence review of 1998 before becoming a successful businessman, found that:

*'The MoD equipment programme is 35bn over budget and cannot be afforded in the long-term.
*'On average new equipment arrives five years behind schedule and costs 40 per cent more than first estimated.
*'Shipbuilding delays are so severe that the UK could not fight a Falklands-style war.
*'How can it be that it takes 20 years to buy a ship, or aircraft, or tank?' Mr Gray wrote.
*'Why does it always seem to cost at least twice what was thought?
*'Even worse, at the end of the wait, why does it never quite seem to do what it was supposed to? The issue is a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, shrouded in an acronym.
*'The problems, and the sums of money involved, have almost lost their power to shock, so endemic is the issue.

Inexcusable: Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox accused the Government of 'serial incompetence' for allowing defences to 'get to this state'.

It seems as though military equipment acquisition is vying in a technological race with the delivery of civilian software systems for the title of "world's most delayed technical solution". Even British trains cannot compete.'

The report warns that the MoD has a 'substantially overheated equipment programme, with too many types of equipment being ordered for too large a range of tasks at too high a specification'. It warns that enemies such as the Taliban were 'unlikely to wait for our sclerotic acquisition systems to catch up'.

Former Labour defence secretary John Hutton had pledged that the Gray report would be published before MPs left for their summer break last month. But Mr Hutton left the Government in June and was replaced by Bob Ainsworth.

Gordon Brown last month told MPs that the report would not be published, but would be incorporated into a Green Paper on defence next year. Mr Brown and Mr Ainsworth are accused of attempting to keep it under wraps amid acute political embarrassment over the issue of defence procurement. Ministers have been plunged into a damaging row with military chiefs over complaints of a lack of helicopter support and sufficiently armoured vehicles for British troops.

Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox told Sky News: 'It is serial incompetence by the Labour Government and the Ministry of Defence to allow our defences to get to this state. There is a catastrophic black hole, so much so that the defence budget is little more than a con-trick at the present time where the Government pretend that they have procured equipment for the future when they have never actually set aside the money to do so. This is a disastrous state of affairs - governments have resigned for less in other countries.'

Dr Fox said he had told US generals that a Conservative government would be 'much more sympathetic' than Mr Brown to requests for more soldiers, who would be deployed to speed up the training of an Afghan army that could control its own security.

Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Nick Harvey said: 'It beggars belief that the Government tried to keep this report hidden. It is essential to the success of our current and future operations abroad, and to the safety of our troops that Labour faces up to the procurement and spending shambles over which it has presided.

Face up: 'Gordon Brown cannot dodge the serious questions that are mounting about equipment in Afghanistan,' said SNP defence spokesman Angus Robertson
'This report must be published in full immediately, and we need a completely honest, fully informed review of defence spending and MoD projects. Only then can we begin to deal with the gaping black hole in the defence budget, and ensure that money is being spent exactly where it is needed, in pursuing sustainable and realistic projects that guarantee the provision of all necessary equipment and support for our troops on the front line.'

Angus Roberston, the SNP's leader in Westminster and the party's defence spokesman, said: 'Downing Street must immediately publish Bernard Gray's report in full. The suggestion that MoD procurement systems are actually harming operational ability is extremely grave. At a time when ministers faces fundamental questions about whether our forces in Afghanistan are getting the equipment they need it is absolutely unacceptable that this review is still being suppressed. Gordon Brown cannot dodge the serious questions that are mounting about equipment in Afghanistan. He is already exposed for saying there were enough helicopters only to have Bob Ainsworth contradict that claim by saying he was "busting a gut" to get more helicopters into theatre.'

A MoD spokesman said: 'The former Defence Secretary, John Hutton, commissioned a review on acquisition reform from Bernard Gray because we want to ensure that we are buying equipment as efficiently as possible. This report is currently in draft format and we are working hard with him on the issues he has identified. The work will feed into our recently announced Green Paper on defence. We are constantly improving the procurement process which has seen us deliver 10 billion of equipment to the front line over the last three years.

'The Government will be publishing the report in due course.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1208477/Secret-report-reveals-MoDs-lethal-35bn-defence-black-hole.html#ixzz0P1uihcHP

Morning all,

ExecLine,

Like your post re Mandelson (the puppet master). Discussing our leader (Mandelson) with someone the other day. His only printable comment was to the effect, 'Gordon Brown was unelected as PM, but at least he was an MP. Peter Mandleson is just an unelected civil servant'. Of course we are still a democracy aren't we.

Yes. We are, aren't we? Well, at least theoretically.

What a state our country is in. And now Scotland is really going down the tubes even more.

The SNPs do appear to have let colleague Kenny MacAskill bring down upon themselves a great wrath. I wonder if al-Megrahi will die within three months? I fear not. I fear there actually was a trade deal, which included his negotiated release.

If he does not die, we shall maybe see some big changes in Scotland. Maybe, the demise of the Scottish Whisky industry and othe Scottish exports, particularly to the USA, and also the demise of the Scottish National Party (first things first, eh?).

Heard a rumour that al-magrahi, Ronnie Biggs and Ernest Saunders (him of the incurable Alzheimer's disease who was released on compassionate grounds in 1991 having served only 10 months of his sentence and is still living, why wasn't he recalled to prison), are having a get together in Spain at Ronnie's old villa.

The party will be attended by two Russian oligarchs and of course Peter Mandelson.

Now wouldn't that make a good story.

'Critical' teen left ward for pub

From News.BBC.co.uk
25 August 2009

A critically ill teenager being treated for liver failure after binge drinking left his hospital bed and went to the pub for a drink, it has been confirmed.

The father of Gareth Anderson, 19, is fighting to overturn NHS rules which mean his son has to be alcohol free for six months before a liver transplant. But at the same time, a publican confirmed Garath went to her pub last Wednesday looking for a pint. He was still in his slippers and with the needle from a drip in his hand.

Staff in the Old Moat Inn opposite the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald refused his order, alerted hospital staff who took him back.

The teenager from Newtownards, County Down, was transferred to Kings College Hospital in London on Friday and doctors have told his father, Brian, he may have as little as two weeks to live.

Mr Anderson Snr told the Press Association: "I don't know what he was thinking about, I don't think he knows."

He said, "I don't know why I did it, I just walked out and walked across to the pub'."

Mr Anderson Snr said his son first told him he had a coke, but when pressed admitted trying to order alcohol first.

"I said 'What were you thinking about son' and he said ' I don't know, I just don't know'."

Mr Anderson said he was trying to get his son psychiatric help. "I don't know what is going on in his head, he needs mental help as well."

Old Moat Inn manager Lorraine McMillan said : "He walked into the bar on Wednesday and the staff immediately recognised he was from the hospital - he had a needle in his hand, was wearing slippers and was still wearing his hospital name band. He was very young and didn't look very well. He asked for a pint or possibly a vodka. He was refused a drink and he said that was OK he would take a coke. I contacted the hospital and one of the staff walked him over and he was met at the door."

Legal action

The incident last week came before Mr Anderson finally told his son that he could be dead in a couple of weeks unless he got a liver transplant. He has since sworn never to drink again.

Gareth suffered acute liver failure earlier this month after drinking 30 cans of lager on a weekend binge-drinking session and had to be rushed to hospital.

Although it is common medical practice in the UK to insist that liver patients whose conditions are linked to alcohol abuse go without a drink for six months before going on the transplant waiting list, it is only a guideline and not a formal rule.

Mr Anderson insists the policy should apply to older patients with chronic alcoholism, not a teenager who has never before needed medical treatment for a drink related illness. He plans legal action to get the rule overturned. He was expected to launch a judicial review in the High Court in Belfast this week, but may now have to take action in London following his son's transfer to King's College Hospital.

According to Andy Burnham (the Health Secretary), young people will be urged to drink water on nights out in a 100 million campaign funded by the drinks industry.
The campaign will suggest that men will slur their chat up lines and risk pulling 'unattractive women'.
What a load of rubbish. In my youth, my best chat up lines came after a few drinks, and whilst in a state of inebriation I never pulled an unattractive woman. All of them were stunningly beautiful, slim and throughly deserving of my charms.
But for some reasons as yet unexplained, some of them became ugly and fat overnight.
Anyone have any idea why.

Oh the nights i've danced with an oil tanker after a few beers.

Thanks Jimmy,

And I always thought it was my arms getting shorter with each drink.

Ah yes. Nice to get the old beer goggles out and look at the women in stella-vision. They all seem to turn into 'ten beer beauties', don't they?

Funny how your standards drop and drop and drop after each beer, until eventually, you are just glad to go home to the wife.

:-)

PS. Read this quickly. I may have to edit it out before she comes on here and reads it.

Age does it as well i'm afraid , i remember watching bewitched as a kid and thinking that blonde looked like my auntie ,i saw the programe the other day and woo she's a babe...

Standards do not always drop and drop after each beer or age, but we better not go there, (noun....'something that stands or is placed upright').

Ah Bewitched. As a kid she ( Elizabeth Montgomery) must have been the first woman on TV I fell in love with.

It's not your arms that get shorter when you drink Greekman.