Lord Ashcroft @LordAshcroft 20m Isn't the current @ukip immigration posters reminiscent of the Michael Howard/Lynton Crosby 2005 posters on the same subject? #glasshouses
It would be if the Tories were throwing stones - but it's Labour who've been yelling "racist" isn't it?
Mr. Briskin, depends. Vettel had the best car in 2011 and 2013. In 2010 it was more evenly matched, and in 2012 the McLaren was the fastest, generally, but had very bad reliability.
The car matters more than the driver.
To which the answer is Valentino Rossi, which is why MotoGP is so exciting and F1 so boring (not that there is a particular reason to compare F1 & MotoGP).
Lord Ashcroft @LordAshcroft 20m Isn't the current @ukip immigration posters reminiscent of the Michael Howard/Lynton Crosby 2005 posters on the same subject? #glasshouses
It would be if the Tories were throwing stones - but it's Labour who've been yelling "racist" isn't it?
No, not only Labour. Soames put his bulk into the fray this morning and called the posters "deeply offensive and divisive".
The only political party officially opposed to HS2 is UKIP.
Up and down the HS2 route in the shires, traditional Conservative supporters will be voting UKIP and funding UKIP.
Northerners are not going to switch to Conservative because of HS2.
What hs happened to the Conservative's political nouse?
One of the (admittedly many) things annoying me at the moment is the way that support for HS2 is somehow seen as 'left-wing' and opposition to it is seen as the soundly right-wing thing to do.
For many on the right, it's been bracketed with windfarms and greenery. I see a modern high-speed rail network as a crucial piece of 21st century infrastructure for the UK. I support it wholeheartedly. We need more rail, road and air capacity - not less. Our Victorian network is creaking at the seams.
Mindless knee-jerk opposition to it is more likely to drive me back into the Conservative camp, rather than vote UKIP.
The only political party officially opposed to HS2 is UKIP.
Up and down the HS2 route in the shires, traditional Conservative supporters will be voting UKIP and funding UKIP.
Northerners are not going to switch to Conservative because of HS2.
What hs happened to the Conservative's political nouse?
One of the (admittedly many) things annoying me at the moment is the way that support for HS2 is somehow seen as 'left-wing' and opposition to it is seen as the soundly right-wing thing to do.
For many on the right, it's been bracketed with windfarms and greenery. I see a modern high-speed rail network as a crucial piece of 21st century infrastructure for the UK. I support it wholeheartedly. We need more rail, road and air capacity - not less. Our Victorian network is creaking at the seams.
Mindless knee-jerk opposition to it is more likely to drive me back into the Conservative camp, rather than vote UKIP.
Ukip dont want to spend money on technological advance but want to reinstate the spare room subsidy - they are to the left of Labour - Luddites.
Barnesian A Liberal Party without 'social justice' would actually be a UK FDP. Its pro immigration, pro EU, tolerant approach on issues of sexuality and drugs would clearly differentiate it from the Tories let alone UKIP, just as its free market, laissez-faire economics distinguished it from Labour, though I agree it would struggle to attract more than 10% of voters (mainly wealthy young urbanites working in the City or for big corporations)
Labour made a huge mistake in their estimate of the number of Eastern Europeans coming to work in Britain from 2004. That is unarguable
Michael Howards party seemed to agree with what UKIP are saying now
People believed Labours estimate, and in their wildest dreams couldnt have imagined the real numbers...had someone predicted the actuality in 2004 they would have hammered as a scaremonger / "racist"
People who do that always are, even when proven correct #enoch
The effect of the mass immigration and Cameron's cast iron guarantee prob got Cons a lot of ex Lab votes in 2010, when the effect was clear... voters also remembered Howards line
Cam turned out to be Blair II, a metropolitan pro EU luvvie... the guarantee was worthless...
If Cameron had actually done everything at 1:56, that would be impressive.
Not that anyone cares, but my euros vote is currently leaning around 60:40 in favour of the Conservatives. There's a few things that UKIP do that put me off (Putin support, economic nationalism, HS2 opposition and concerns I have about Farage) and there are plenty that the Conservatives do that tend to move me across to UKIP (chief of which is to be extremely rude and insulting about UKIP) but actually the renegotiation in 2017 deserves a chance and there's an outside *chance* of *some* referendum with the Conservatives, rather than none.
Sorry Barnesian - I'm literally getting too excited by the football (I'm a bit of a saddo) to properly reply (I'll do it after or tomorrow morning.) I'll just say, for now, that that wasn't my quote it was DrSpyn's (I was being lazy with formatting) and that I studied "positive" liberty and "negative" liberty in my philosophy OU course and I found it very confusing.
It's a sort of penny drop moment where it sounds strange and then it clicks and it makes sense (or was for me).
I can try and run through it if you're interested.
HS2 is a willy waving exercise, Billions to shave a bit of time on the journey to London for those who can afford it. Build railways yes, but cheaper better ones for freight. I don't care if foreign leaders shove their respective lengths in our prime ministers face. I want to see industry served, not speculators
TGOHF UKip want to slash public spending with no ringfencing, merge incapacity benefit and JSA and restrict maternity leave and employee protections, and cut the top tax rate to 40% now with a flat tax of 29% a long term goal
Interestingly (and I don't claim any validity for doing this) if you take out the Did Not Votes from Holyrood 2011 the weighted result is 50.1% Yes (excluding DK). So the self-confessed DNV'ers are responsible for the entirety of the No lead.
And these DNV'ers are weighted up from 181 to 309 (people lying to pollsters about their sense of civic duty? Who'd have thunk it.)
That was all explained in ICM's Martin Boon's excellent article on methodology on Sunday.
If the polls say 'Yes' but Scotland votes 'No' - we probably know why already:
Secondly, we do “weight” our data to ensure it reflects a representative sample of Scots, both in terms of demographic profile, and political balance. In the case of the latter, we tie the data to the 2011 Holyrood election result. But the net effect of both these procedures has been to lift the power of SNP voter voices in the poll – and hence it follows, as you might expect, the power of the Yes voters themselves.
So as the polls have constantly said NO , how do you explain that
The only political party officially opposed to HS2 is UKIP.
Up and down the HS2 route in the shires, traditional Conservative supporters will be voting UKIP and funding UKIP.
Northerners are not going to switch to Conservative because of HS2.
What hs happened to the Conservative's political nouse?
One of the (admittedly many) things annoying me at the moment is the way that support for HS2 is somehow seen as 'left-wing' and opposition to it is seen as the soundly right-wing thing to do.
For many on the right, it's been bracketed with windfarms and greenery. I see a modern high-speed rail network as a crucial piece of 21st century infrastructure for the UK. I support it wholeheartedly. We need more rail, road and air capacity - not less. Our Victorian network is creaking at the seams.
Mindless knee-jerk opposition to it is more likely to drive me back into the Conservative camp, rather than vote UKIP.
Ukip dont want to spend money on technological advance but want to reinstate the spare room subsidy - they are to the left of Labour - Luddites.
UKIP seem to be moving towards patriotism, economic nationalism and social conservatism. The Conservatives pay lip service to patriotism, are a little bit socially liberal, fiscally conservative and economic pragmatists. The Liberal Democrats are unpatriotic, socially liberal, fiscally pragmatic and economically confused. Labour are unpatriotic, authoritarian, socially liberal, fiscally incontinent and economically ignorant.
I would vote (enthusiastically) for a party that had a strong leader and was patriotic, libertarian, actively economically liberal and had a sensible balance between social liberalism/conservatism. No such party exists, so (for me) it's a tough choice.
Interestingly (and I don't claim any validity for doing this) if you take out the Did Not Votes from Holyrood 2011 the weighted result is 50.1% Yes (excluding DK). So the self-confessed DNV'ers are responsible for the entirety of the No lead.
And these DNV'ers are weighted up from 181 to 309 (people lying to pollsters about their sense of civic duty? Who'd have thunk it.)
That was all explained in ICM's Martin Boon's excellent article on methodology on Sunday.
If the polls say 'Yes' but Scotland votes 'No' - we probably know why already:
Secondly, we do “weight” our data to ensure it reflects a representative sample of Scots, both in terms of demographic profile, and political balance. In the case of the latter, we tie the data to the 2011 Holyrood election result. But the net effect of both these procedures has been to lift the power of SNP voter voices in the poll – and hence it follows, as you might expect, the power of the Yes voters themselves.
Bet you it's 'bluddy English cheated' that you hear afterwards though...
What a big jessie you are , not happy with being born with a golden spoon you are still insecure about your country.
The only political party officially opposed to HS2 is UKIP.
Up and down the HS2 route in the shires, traditional Conservative supporters will be voting UKIP and funding UKIP.
Northerners are not going to switch to Conservative because of HS2.
What hs happened to the Conservative's political nouse?
One of the (admittedly many) things annoying me at the moment is the way that support for HS2 is somehow seen as 'left-wing' and opposition to it is seen as the soundly right-wing thing to do.
For many on the right, it's been bracketed with windfarms and greenery. I see a modern high-speed rail network as a crucial piece of 21st century infrastructure for the UK. I support it wholeheartedly. We need more rail, road and air capacity - not less. Our Victorian network is creaking at the seams.
Mindless knee-jerk opposition to it is more likely to drive me back into the Conservative camp, rather than vote UKIP.
Ukip dont want to spend money on technological advance but want to reinstate the spare room subsidy - they are to the left of Labour - Luddites.
UKIP seem to be moving towards patriotism, economic nationalism and social conservatism. The Conservatives pay lip service to patriotism, are a little bit socially liberal, fiscally conservative and economic pragmatists. The Liberal Democrats are unpatriotic, socially liberal, fiscally pragmatic and economically confused. Labour are unpatriotic, authoritarian, socially liberal, fiscally incontinent and economically ignorant.
I would vote (enthusiastically) for a party that had a strong leader and was patriotic, libertarian, actively economically liberal and had a sensible balance between social liberalism/conservatism. No such party exists, so (for me) it's a tough choice.
In what sense are the Conservative Party fiscal conservatives?
Interestingly (and I don't claim any validity for doing this) if you take out the Did Not Votes from Holyrood 2011 the weighted result is 50.1% Yes (excluding DK). So the self-confessed DNV'ers are responsible for the entirety of the No lead.
And these DNV'ers are weighted up from 181 to 309 (people lying to pollsters about their sense of civic duty? Who'd have thunk it.)
That was all explained in ICM's Martin Boon's excellent article on methodology on Sunday.
If the polls say 'Yes' but Scotland votes 'No' - we probably know why already:
Secondly, we do “weight” our data to ensure it reflects a representative sample of Scots, both in terms of demographic profile, and political balance. In the case of the latter, we tie the data to the 2011 Holyrood election result. But the net effect of both these procedures has been to lift the power of SNP voter voices in the poll – and hence it follows, as you might expect, the power of the Yes voters themselves.
So as the polls have constantly said NO , how do you explain that
The "yes" position is overstated? We'll find out on September 19.
"Twitter seems to almost entirely exist of people which think they are both funnier, and morally superior to the great uneducated masses."
Indeed. There's an odd sort of pomposity exhibited by a group of (predominantly but not always) left wing luvvie people that always grates.
Am I the only one to think that Stephen Fry, Russell Brand and Eddie Izzard are not the greatest people that have ever lived? Or am I just a bad person?
You sound very educated and sensible to me, I could add a good few from on here to your list , pampered fannies who still whinge about the poor getting a pittance whilst they could not ever spend the money they have ( inherited and stolen from the poor mostly ).
Scotland has 'five big positives' to staying in UK, Gordon Brown says Former prime minister claims no vote would secure state pensions and NHS funding and 600,000 jobs reliant on UK trade
What's interesting about the UKIP posters is that they have avoided topics that might have garnered them more support than the ones they chose namely;- 1. pressure on housing 2. pressure on the NHS 3. pressure on schools
Do they have a solution though? Or even a coherent policy?
They should announce a target of reducing net immigration to below 100,000.
Oh.
Nah, to announce a target where you don't have control over one half of the equation takes a special kind of muppet...
If only Cameron could control even half of the equation!
Charles would have the bounders horsewhipped for questioning the Tories
HS2 is a willy waving exercise, Billions to shave a bit of time on the journey to London for those who can afford it. Build railways yes, but cheaper better ones for freight. I don't care if foreign leaders shove their respective lengths in our prime ministers face. I want to see industry served, not speculators
HS2 is a strategic UK project that will help shape the economic geography of the UK for the first half of the 21st century, and hopefully beyond. It's about improving interconnectivity between our major cities and the capital, increasing modal shift from air, liberating a huge amount of capacity (for freight and normal commuter services) on our domestic network, and making substantial savings in time for travelling. There will be over an hour shaved off the journey time from Manchester to London, which is very substantial, and economic benefits will be on a ratio of over 2:1. You can read more here:
People who vehemently opposed to HS2 now are either NIMBYs or the sort of luddites who opposed the M25 and M4, which virtually no-one now objects to. This is typical British feet-dragging and explains why our transport infrastructure is so antiquated and new build takes so so long to approve.
The only political party officially opposed to HS2 is UKIP.
Up and down the HS2 route in the shires, traditional Conservative supporters will be voting UKIP and funding UKIP.
Northerners are not going to switch to Conservative because of HS2.
What hs happened to the Conservative's political nouse?
One of the (admittedly many) things annoying me at the moment is the way that support for HS2 is somehow seen as 'left-wing' and opposition to it is seen as the soundly right-wing thing to do.
For many on the right, it's been bracketed with windfarms and greenery. I see a modern high-speed rail network as a crucial piece of 21st century infrastructure for the UK. I support it wholeheartedly. We need more rail, road and air capacity - not less. Our Victorian network is creaking at the seams.
Mindless knee-jerk opposition to it is more likely to drive me back into the Conservative camp, rather than vote UKIP.
Ukip dont want to spend money on technological advance but want to reinstate the spare room subsidy - they are to the left of Labour - Luddites.
UKIP seem to be moving towards patriotism, economic nationalism and social conservatism. The Conservatives pay lip service to patriotism, are a little bit socially liberal, fiscally conservative and economic pragmatists. The Liberal Democrats are unpatriotic, socially liberal, fiscally pragmatic and economically confused. Labour are unpatriotic, authoritarian, socially liberal, fiscally incontinent and economically ignorant.
I would vote (enthusiastically) for a party that had a strong leader and was patriotic, libertarian, actively economically liberal and had a sensible balance between social liberalism/conservatism. No such party exists, so (for me) it's a tough choice.
In what sense are the Conservative Party fiscal conservatives?
They have a declared policy of running a surplus on the UK budget by 2020.
Broon is on his feet - Better Together tweet: GB: what we have created over the last century is... a union based on pooling and sharing resources
Just a century......I could swear the Union was older then that.....
He could not have lied any more if he had talked all night. What an absolute dummy , his numbers did not add up , absolute mince from a failed has been. Even tried to claim devolution was bigger than independence , what a donkey.
The only political party officially opposed to HS2 is UKIP.
Up and down the HS2 route in the shires, traditional Conservative supporters will be voting UKIP and funding UKIP.
Northerners are not going to switch to Conservative because of HS2.
What hs happened to the Conservative's political nouse?
One of the (admittedly many) things annoying me at the moment is the way that support for HS2 is somehow seen as 'left-wing' and opposition to it is seen as the soundly right-wing thing to do.
For many on the right, it's been bracketed with windfarms and greenery. I see a modern high-speed rail network as a crucial piece of 21st century infrastructure for the UK. I support it wholeheartedly. We need more rail, road and air capacity - not less. Our Victorian network is creaking at the seams.
Mindless knee-jerk opposition to it is more likely to drive me back into the Conservative camp, rather than vote UKIP.
Ukip dont want to spend money on technological advance but want to reinstate the spare room subsidy - they are to the left of Labour - Luddites.
UKIP seem to be moving towards patriotism, economic nationalism and social conservatism. The Conservatives pay lip service to patriotism, are a little bit socially liberal, fiscally conservative and economic pragmatists. The Liberal Democrats are unpatriotic, socially liberal, fiscally pragmatic and economically confused. Labour are unpatriotic, authoritarian, socially liberal, fiscally incontinent and economically ignorant.
I would vote (enthusiastically) for a party that had a strong leader and was patriotic, libertarian, actively economically liberal and had a sensible balance between social liberalism/conservatism. No such party exists, so (for me) it's a tough choice.
In what sense are the Conservative Party fiscal conservatives?
They have a declared policy of running a surplus on the UK budget by 2020.
Yes, but what have they actually done while in government?
Interestingly (and I don't claim any validity for doing this) if you take out the Did Not Votes from Holyrood 2011 the weighted result is 50.1% Yes (excluding DK). So the self-confessed DNV'ers are responsible for the entirety of the No lead.
And these DNV'ers are weighted up from 181 to 309 (people lying to pollsters about their sense of civic duty? Who'd have thunk it.)
That was all explained in ICM's Martin Boon's excellent article on methodology on Sunday.
If the polls say 'Yes' but Scotland votes 'No' - we probably know why already:
Secondly, we do “weight” our data to ensure it reflects a representative sample of Scots, both in terms of demographic profile, and political balance. In the case of the latter, we tie the data to the 2011 Holyrood election result. But the net effect of both these procedures has been to lift the power of SNP voter voices in the poll – and hence it follows, as you might expect, the power of the Yes voters themselves.
So as the polls have constantly said NO , how do you explain that
The "yes" position is overstated? We'll find out on September 19.
Interestingly (and I don't claim any validity for doing this) if you take out the Did Not Votes from Holyrood 2011 the weighted result is 50.1% Yes (excluding DK). So the self-confessed DNV'ers are responsible for the entirety of the No lead.
And these DNV'ers are weighted up from 181 to 309 (people lying to pollsters about their sense of civic duty? Who'd have thunk it.)
That was all explained in ICM's Martin Boon's excellent article on methodology on Sunday.
If the polls say 'Yes' but Scotland votes 'No' - we probably know why already:
Secondly, we do “weight” our data to ensure it reflects a representative sample of Scots, both in terms of demographic profile, and political balance. In the case of the latter, we tie the data to the 2011 Holyrood election result. But the net effect of both these procedures has been to lift the power of SNP voter voices in the poll – and hence it follows, as you might expect, the power of the Yes voters themselves.
So as the polls have constantly said NO , how do you explain that
The "yes" position is overstated? We'll find out on September 19.
we certainly shall
So you guys are actually going ahead with this referendum thing? I thought it was a gag!
What is Ukip train strategy - a return to good old fashioned steam run on british coal shovelled by a british poor person ?
with a british porter to carry Nige's trunk to the steamer en route to Rangoon ?
It seems UKIP's strategy is to save £50bn that will otherwise be spent on a prestige project with a business case so poor that if it were a £1bn project it would not be accepted.
For a lot less you could improve the links between northern cities, With better links between them, they would be better able to compete with the South East, This would benefit our idle poor, and ease land pressure down there? (Second attempt, the first got lost on the interthingy)
HS2 is a willy waving exercise, Billions to shave a bit of time on the journey to London for those who can afford it. Build railways yes, but cheaper better ones for freight. I don't care if foreign leaders shove their respective lengths in our prime ministers face. I want to see industry served, not speculators
HS2 will provide (from memory) three extra paths an hour on the existing routes for freight.
For a lot less you could improve the links between northern cities, With better links between them, they would be better able to compete with the South East, This would benefit our idle poor, and ease land pressure down there? (Second attempt, the first got lost on the interthingy)
These comprise some (relatively) cheap alterations to increase capacity and speeds on the network in the north (or as a Scottish colleague puts it, the north of south). It should be noted that (say) Liverpool to Manchester to Leeds is inefficient for high speed rail.
It's much harder to do such improvements on London to Birmingham/Manchester, as the easy and cheap improvements have already been done, witness the £9-10bn spent on the ludicrous WCML upgrade.
For a lot less you could improve the links between northern cities, With better links between them, they would be better able to compete with the South East, This would benefit our idle poor, and ease land pressure down there? (Second attempt, the first got lost on the interthingy)
No, you couldn't. This is how-about and what-if-ism. No firm alternative proposals have been put forward that are any better than what hasn't been examined before. The key benefit is linking in the major northern cities into London on a very quick, high-capacity train service, altering many business investment decisions. When coupled with high-speed broadband and tax-breaks, there is every chance of the north becoming economically self-sufficient and a net contributor to the exchequer.
The West Coast Main Line upgrade cost £9bn (to which there was very little opposition) and took well over 10 years to deliver. It is already nearing capacity. The Olympics cost £9bn (excluding LOCOG costs) and Crossrail is costing £15bn.
Yes, HS2 is around £42bn (around 4 x times as much as WCML) but is by no means an unaffordable prohibitively expensive project, for what is and will be a one-off capital investment with a bankable return. It's similar, in fact, to other levels on ongoing rail investment nationwide over the next 5 years. Given the potential long-term benefits to the UK, I actually think it's a bargain.
1. Nigel Farage could, perhaps, be criticised for employing a close relative with EU allowances (strange, I thought Germany bankrolled the EU), but not the fact she is German. What do people expect her to do, change race?
2. I don't remember the MSM criticising a German being a British Labour MP.
3. Advertising the fact that Nigel Farage is married to a German just burnishes his anti-racist credentials, a singly stupid thing for MSM to do. What are they trying to do? Racists will vote for the BNP and that's that.
4. How many non-UK EU citizens does the BBC employ? I haven't noticed many on screen. It seems the BBC is a case of do as I say and not as I do.
@Casino_Royale Link to London, London is all important, Trans Pennines? Improve links to the east coast ports from the west?....Nahh You need to be connected to the CITY! mate.
@Casino_Royale Link to London, London is all important, Trans Pennines? Improve links to the east coast ports from the west?....Nahh You need to be connected to the CITY! mate.
For a lot less you could improve the links between northern cities, With better links between them, they would be better able to compete with the South East, This would benefit our idle poor, and ease land pressure down there? (Second attempt, the first got lost on the interthingy)
No, you couldn't. This is how-about and what-if-ism. No firm alternative proposals have been put forward that are any better than what hasn't been examined before. The key benefit is linking in the major northern cities into London on a very quick, high-capacity train service, altering many business investment decisions. When coupled with high-speed broadband and tax-breaks, there is every chance of the north becoming economically self-sufficient and a net contributor to the exchequer.
The West Coast Main Line upgrade cost £9bn (to which there was very little opposition) and took well over 10 years to deliver. It is already nearing capacity. The Olympics cost £9bn (excluding LOCOG costs) and Crossrail is costing £15bn.
Yes, HS2 is around £42bn (around 4 x times as much as WCML) but is by no means an unaffordable prohibitively expensive project, for what is and will be a one-off capital investment with a bankable return. It's similar, in fact, to other levels on ongoing rail investment nationwide over the next 5 years. Given the potential long-term benefits to the UK, I actually think it's a bargain.
The WCML was much worse than that. The project was launched in 1996 (yes , it was a Conservative mess at heart), and:
It was due to cost £2bn. It cost £9-10bn. It was due to be ready in 2005. It was completed in 2008. It was due to allow trains to run at 140MPH (an increase from the previous 110). It only increased it to 125 MPH. It was due to introduce a brand-new and untried signalling scheme. It did not, after hundreds of millions were spent.
The reasons? Upgrading an existing line is expensive, difficult and disruptive. Trying to do this on a line that was massively busy, and had already been well upgraded, and introduce a new signalling system, was very optimistic.
@anotherDave 2 is actively damaging. Bright immigrants improve our economy. The interesting ethical question is whether it is fair to accept Europe's brightest and best.
Mr. Antifrank, it's important to reinforce success in London, but also to try and build success elsewhere. If Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds were stronger that would be good for them and the country as a whole.
I don't see any evidence that HS2 doesn't help freight. Where did you mean?
Although (aside from parcels) there will be no freight on HS2, the fast services moved onto it increases capacity for more local and freight services on the legacy routes. Running high-speed and slow services on the same tracks with different stopping patterns leads to all sorts of operational problems. Moving many of the high-speed services onto HS2 allows not just more train paths, but allows them to be used more efficiently.
I shudder to think what the BCR on new trans-Pennine routes would be.
(Although I would personally be overjoyed if the Matlock to Chinley and Woodhead routes were to reopen, that isn't going to happen in the next twenty years).
Mr. Antifrank, it's important to reinforce success in London, but also to try and build success elsewhere. If Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds were stronger that would be good for them and the country as a whole.
I'm not a fan of HS2 but improved connections to London are useful in the way improved connections to New York would be useful. In a way that connections to Keighley would not be useful.
Mr. Antifrank, it's important to reinforce success in London, but also to try and build success elsewhere. If Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds were stronger that would be good for them and the country as a whole.
I'm not a fan of HS2 but improved connections to London are useful in the way improved connections to New York would be useful. In a way that connections to Keighley would not be useful.
Connections to Kirby Overblow or Spofforth woud be useful too.
@anotherDave 2 is actively damaging. Bright immigrants improve our economy. The interesting ethical question is whether it is fair to accept Europe's brightest and best.
If we only admitted the brightest and best, but we don't. There is no quality control over which EU citizens can enter the UK. Skilled, unskilled, they can all come.
"Recent EEA migrants are much more likely to receive tax credits than the UK-born population, and more likely to receive housing benefit. Furthermore, these are likely to be paid at higher rates in view of their lower incomes. "
No Josias, it won't, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't. Instead of shipping stuff south, ship it East, there are excellent ports with good European Connections, while the West has the same for our American friends. London mostly makes bets at a fixed odds table so sh*t could be done by wire, We up here would like to make stuff and ship it conveniently quickly and cheaply to market.
@anotherDave 2 is actively damaging. Bright immigrants improve our economy. The interesting ethical question is whether it is fair to accept Europe's brightest and best.
If we only admitted the brightest and best, but we don't. There is no quality control over which EU citizens can enter the UK. Skilled, unskilled, they can all come.
"Recent EEA migrants are much more likely to receive tax credits than the UK-born population, and more likely to receive housing benefit. Furthermore, these are likely to be paid at higher rates in view of their lower incomes. "
Railways in this country are poor. Travelling on South West Trains reminds me of a few train trips I undertook when I was working in West Africa. Sad to see that the one franchise that operates well is to put back into the private sector / run by foreign governments.
Ed milliband should stop faffing around and categorically state that the next government will nationalise the train operators - will be popular of course.
A couple of interesting soccer stories juxtaposing today. The firing of the Man U manager made the crawler on ESPN.
The other concerns Luis Suarez, #7 for Liverpool. The clip of him grabbing his leg below the knee, falling and rolling in agony, only to get up and get the ball less than 10 seconds later has been used on almost every sports talk radio and TV program as one of the reasons soccer will not be taken seriously here until they stop this nonsense.
From what I've read in the UK press, Man U is the Glazer family cash cow to fund their sports 'empire' which looks decidedly shaky to me.
No Josias, it won't, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't. Instead of shipping stuff south, ship it East, there are excellent ports with good European Connections, while the West has the same for our American friends. London mostly makes bets at a fixed odds table so sh*t could be done by wire, We up here would like to make stuff and ship it conveniently quickly and cheaply to market.
(edited and compass duly slapped)
It's a shame for you that Britain's biggest port - and the one capable of taking the biggest ships - is being built on the Thames.
And that the east-west rail is (slowly) being rebuilt. And that Hull electrification is being considered. And that the electric spine - electrifying lines from Southampton to the north, including the Midland Main Line - is going ahead. Connecting the ports to the rest of the country - courtesy of a Conservative government!
Railways in this country are poor. Travelling on South West Trains reminds me of a few train trips I undertook when I was working in West Africa. Sad to see that the one franchise that operates well is to put back into the private sector / run by foreign governments.
Ed milliband should stop faffing around and categorically state that the next government will nationalise the train operators - will be popular of course.
Really, which line in West Africa?
What problems do you think renationalisation will solve, and what problems might it cause?
Broon is on his feet - Better Together tweet: GB: what we have created over the last century is... a union based on pooling and sharing resources
Just a century......I could swear the Union was older then that.....
He could not have lied any more if he had talked all night. What an absolute dummy , his numbers did not add up , absolute mince from a failed has been. Even tried to claim devolution was bigger than independence , what a donkey.
I'm still imagining the meeting where some whiz kid brainstormed this tactic.
"Right, we need someone credible on pensions. lads" "Erm...Gordon Brown??"
Comments
"but it's Labour who've been yelling "racist" isn't it?"
If they yelled the same at the original......they are at least consistent?
For many on the right, it's been bracketed with windfarms and greenery. I see a modern high-speed rail network as a crucial piece of 21st century infrastructure for the UK. I support it wholeheartedly. We need more rail, road and air capacity - not less. Our Victorian network is creaking at the seams.
Mindless knee-jerk opposition to it is more likely to drive me back into the Conservative camp, rather than vote UKIP.
http://youtu.be/FtsU6tSPoyQ
Labour made a huge mistake in their estimate of the number of Eastern Europeans coming to work in Britain from 2004. That is unarguable
Michael Howards party seemed to agree with what UKIP are saying now
People believed Labours estimate, and in their wildest dreams couldnt have imagined the real numbers...had someone predicted the actuality in 2004 they would have hammered as a scaremonger / "racist"
People who do that always are, even when proven correct #enoch
The effect of the mass immigration and Cameron's cast iron guarantee prob got Cons a lot of ex Lab votes in 2010, when the effect was clear... voters also remembered Howards line
Cam turned out to be Blair II, a metropolitan pro EU luvvie... the guarantee was worthless...
2010 Lab-Con are 2015 Con-UKIP
Not that anyone cares, but my euros vote is currently leaning around 60:40 in favour of the Conservatives. There's a few things that UKIP do that put me off (Putin support, economic nationalism, HS2 opposition and concerns I have about Farage) and there are plenty that the Conservatives do that tend to move me across to UKIP (chief of which is to be extremely rude and insulting about UKIP) but actually the renegotiation in 2017 deserves a chance and there's an outside *chance* of *some* referendum with the Conservatives, rather than none.
But as I say, I'm not holding my breath.
I can try and run through it if you're interested.
I don't care if foreign leaders shove their respective lengths in our prime ministers face.
I want to see industry served, not speculators
HMG intends to pass Justice and Home Affairs powers to the EU. The vote is scheduled for July 22nd.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/benedictbrogan/100260182/the-next-tory-plot-to-embarrass-david-cameron-on-europe-is-already-taking-shape/
I would vote (enthusiastically) for a party that had a strong leader and was patriotic, libertarian, actively economically liberal and had a sensible balance between social liberalism/conservatism. No such party exists, so (for me) it's a tough choice.
Former prime minister claims no vote would secure state pensions and NHS funding and 600,000 jobs reliant on UK trade
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/apr/22/scotland-independence-positives-uk-gordon-brown
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/260525/strategic-case.pdf
People who vehemently opposed to HS2 now are either NIMBYs or the sort of luddites who opposed the M25 and M4, which virtually no-one now objects to. This is typical British feet-dragging and explains why our transport infrastructure is so antiquated and new build takes so so long to approve.
It seems UKIP's strategy is to save £50bn that will otherwise be spent on a prestige project with a business case so poor that if it were a £1bn project it would not be accepted.
For a lot less you could improve the links between northern cities, With better links between them, they would be better able to compete with the South East, This would benefit our idle poor, and ease land pressure down there?
(Second attempt, the first got lost on the interthingy)
Plus.....German ladies are all buxom blondes ...(.I watched "ello ello")
Therefore it does exactly what you require. ;-)
I thought she was minging when I was 12... watched it the other day at 39 and thought " cor she's alright!"
Mr. Palmer, it is excellent but the choice between Inquisition and Clegg is not a difficult one.
Also, the release date may be slightly different. Not sure if 7 October is universal or just North America (often the UK gets them a few days later).
No it doesn't....see lower down
http://www.networkrail.co.uk/improvements/northern-hub/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Hub
These comprise some (relatively) cheap alterations to increase capacity and speeds on the network in the north (or as a Scottish colleague puts it, the north of south). It should be noted that (say) Liverpool to Manchester to Leeds is inefficient for high speed rail.
It's much harder to do such improvements on London to Birmingham/Manchester, as the easy and cheap improvements have already been done, witness the £9-10bn spent on the ludicrous WCML upgrade.
Remember, this government's committing £37.5 bn to non-HS2 improvements during CP5 (from 2014 to 2019).
http://www.railwaymagazine.co.uk/news/network-rail-outlines-37-5billion-investment-plans
The West Coast Main Line upgrade cost £9bn (to which there was very little opposition) and took well over 10 years to deliver. It is already nearing capacity. The Olympics cost £9bn (excluding LOCOG costs) and Crossrail is costing £15bn.
Yes, HS2 is around £42bn (around 4 x times as much as WCML) but is by no means an unaffordable prohibitively expensive project, for what is and will be a one-off capital investment with a bankable return. It's similar, in fact, to other levels on ongoing rail investment nationwide over the next 5 years. Given the potential long-term benefits to the UK, I actually think it's a bargain.
1. Nigel Farage could, perhaps, be criticised for employing a close relative with EU allowances (strange, I thought Germany bankrolled the EU), but not the fact she is German. What do people expect her to do, change race?
2. I don't remember the MSM criticising a German being a British Labour MP.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gisela_Stuart
3. Advertising the fact that Nigel Farage is married to a German just burnishes his anti-racist credentials, a singly stupid thing for MSM to do. What are they trying to do? Racists will vote for the BNP and that's that.
4. How many non-UK EU citizens does the BBC employ? I haven't noticed many on screen. It seems the BBC is a case of do as I say and not as I do.
Link to London, London is all important, Trans Pennines? Improve links to the east coast ports from the west?....Nahh
You need to be connected to the CITY! mate.
They opted out, but intend to opt back in after the EU elections.
youtu.be/c3JnIw50zL8?t=8m46s
2. Keeping control of our borders and cracking down on benefit tourism.
This is nonsense. Free movement of people within the EU is one the basic laws.
3. Getting a better deal for british taxpayers.
Britain's contribution to the EU budget is increasing.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/budget/10499092/Britains-EU-contribution-to-jump-by-10bn-as-taxpayers-carry-burden-of-ailing-eurozone.html
4. Securing more trade but stopping ever closer union.
? Is this the veto? It fizzled out.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100133507/the-veto-has-been-abandoned-the-only-option-now-is-an-inout-referendum/
5. Giving the british people an in/out referendum in 2017.
I think this is a lie, others disagree.
It was due to cost £2bn. It cost £9-10bn.
It was due to be ready in 2005. It was completed in 2008.
It was due to allow trains to run at 140MPH (an increase from the previous 110). It only increased it to 125 MPH.
It was due to introduce a brand-new and untried signalling scheme. It did not, after hundreds of millions were spent.
The reasons? Upgrading an existing line is expensive, difficult and disruptive. Trying to do this on a line that was massively busy, and had already been well upgraded, and introduce a new signalling system, was very optimistic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Coast_Main_Line#Modernisation_by_Network_Rail
People who talk about continual upgrades should take this to heart.
(other content available according to taste)
Although (aside from parcels) there will be no freight on HS2, the fast services moved onto it increases capacity for more local and freight services on the legacy routes. Running high-speed and slow services on the same tracks with different stopping patterns leads to all sorts of operational problems. Moving many of the high-speed services onto HS2 allows not just more train paths, but allows them to be used more efficiently.
"Upgrading an existing line is expensive"
Yes, so build a couple of new Trans Pennines?
I am scared of what the word Tr*ns will throw up on OGH's adverts
http://www.networkrail.co.uk/improvements/northern-hub/
I shudder to think what the BCR on new trans-Pennine routes would be.
(Although I would personally be overjoyed if the Matlock to Chinley and Woodhead routes were to reopen, that isn't going to happen in the next twenty years).
"Recent EEA migrants are much more likely to receive tax credits than the UK-born population, and more likely to receive housing benefit. Furthermore, these are likely to be paid at higher rates in view of their lower incomes. "
http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/briefing-paper/1.37
Instead of shipping stuff south, ship it East, there are excellent ports with good European Connections, while the West has the same for our American friends.
London mostly makes bets at a fixed odds table so sh*t could be done by wire, We up here would like to make stuff and ship it conveniently quickly and cheaply to market.
(edited and compass duly slapped)
Ed milliband should stop faffing around and categorically state that the next government will nationalise the train operators - will be popular of course.
Oh suit yourselves
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-camerons-constituency-office-calls-police-on-food-bank-campaigners-bishop-of-oxford-and-reverend-keith-hebden-9274303.html
Not so much "doing god" as having god "done"?
The other concerns Luis Suarez, #7 for Liverpool. The clip of him grabbing his leg below the knee, falling and rolling in agony, only to get up and get the ball less than 10 seconds later has been used on almost every sports talk radio and TV program as one of the reasons soccer will not be taken seriously here until they stop this nonsense.
From what I've read in the UK press, Man U is the Glazer family cash cow to fund their sports 'empire' which looks decidedly shaky to me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Gateway
And that the east-west rail is (slowly) being rebuilt. And that Hull electrification is being considered. And that the electric spine - electrifying lines from Southampton to the north, including the Midland Main Line - is going ahead. Connecting the ports to the rest of the country - courtesy of a Conservative government!
What problems do you think renationalisation will solve, and what problems might it cause?
"Right, we need someone credible on pensions. lads"
"Erm...Gordon Brown??"