I just got an email saying i had got a badge? WTF? this isn't mousebreaker.com is it?
One email and one badge? Pfff. Amateur . I now have three badges and twelve points! A certain poster probably has badges for the most posts and being the biggest a***hole in Christendom, but that is a matter for him/her.
You obviously know your economic onions! As a layman, I just see disaster. Absolute disaster, and disaster which is malignant and will keep working its way through more and more of Europe until we are all poorer.
The fact that Cypriot banks used secrecy and 'unusual' practices and was still allowed to join the single currency smacks of Eurocrat-hubris.
I can well understand the good intentions of creating a currency and keeping the European countries in closer union, but the peace and prosperity we enjoyed for 10 years looks as though it will be thoroughly broken.
How governments will keep their citizens in check over the next few years is anyone's guess. A breakdown in law and order as people get pushed too far must be a concern.
The commission concluded that the current situation was "unsustainable" and changes were needed.
Labour and the lib dems are not going to be best pleased by this but since Clegg will likely have a veto it's doubtful that they have that much to worry about from Cammie. We shall see. Cammie's backbenchers are hardly going to be very happy either once they notice what is transpiring and the chances of any meaningful concrete action being taken. This could, after all, have been their chance for revenge of sorts after labour and the lib dems killed boundary changes. I expect the tories don't mind that now though. All water under the bridge etc.
Those wailing at the fate of Cyprus and Greece are missing the point a little I think. Both those countries could come out of the eurozone and the EU if they so wished. It would be painful but the iceland experience suggests, short lived.
A certain percentage of these people in these countries must still firmly believe in the EU and the euro to continue wearing the hair shirt.
But, on the other hand, hopefully this Kiwi performance puts paid to the arrogant suggestions of making a two-tier Test setup. New Zealand have always deserved their place in the calendar, especially with their home record.
If we had a two tier test setup then who the hell would the saffers play
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Am I reading it correctly that Cameron is proposing to modify the social housing allocation model but not change the obligation-to-house or housing benefit rules? As I read it, the only effect of that would be that in the (unlikely) event that a local authority has unused social housing stock and a stack of "less than 2 year" immigrants, then they would either be housed in the private sector with the increased housing benefit cost that that entails, or in emergency hostel/B&B accommodation which is far more expensive. Sounds like a spending commitment to me...
I can't see what else he's getting at given that it can't apply to those who have no right to housing in the first place, as that wouldn't be a change. Might make people feel better, I suppose, but I'm not sure how many people will like the idea of paying extra tax in order to provide immigrants with more expensive housing.
Whatever else, Dave's immigration speech is a clear sign of how worried the Tories are about UKIP. In the normal scheme of things, these announcements of changes - which are going to make almost no practical difference to anything- would just have been made by the relevant ministry in a press release. But Dave is so desperate for positive headlines he has chosen to make the announcements himself having trailed them over the entire weekend. And all he will end up doing is disappointing people when they see that nothing much at all will change. Talk about playing directly into UKIP's hands.
What about my constituency of Hornchurch and Upminster for UKIP? The siiting MP is a tory with a huge majority, she is very right wing and also quite old...
As I read it, the only effect of that would be that in the (unlikely) event that a local authority has unused social housing stock and a stack of "less than 2 year" immigrants, then they would either be housed in the private sector with the increased housing benefit cost that that entails, or in emergency hostel/B&B accommodation which is far more expensive. Sounds like a spending commitment to me...
A new twist on displacement theory: Indigenous, prospective socail-housing candidates are cheaper to accomodate in private/B&B/hostel accomodation then immigrants are. So, using logical dissonance, immigrants must bring larger families with them (to the UK) than those whom were born here have procreated...?
I'll not follow Grandiose's example and show you how - in terms of logic - your argument is flawed. Let's just post a link to a picture that sums said argument up....
"Downing Street today struggled to produce statistics to back up David Cameron’s claim that Britain was a soft touch for immigrants. As the Prime Minister launched a new crackdown on access to benefits and the NHS for foreigners, No 10 offered few numbers to back up his argument. Those it did produce sparked accusations that it was being misleading."
Nobody saw that coming
Cameron and Co really are a gift that keeps on giving for UKIP.
I assume that I've just been awarded one of those badges everyone's talking about. I'm so honoured.
I thought that it was fairly self-evident that housing someone in private/B&B etc rather than unused social housing stock would create a net cost increase, but I guess I'm missing something which your erudite response failed to spell out clearly enough for me.
Cyprus' last-ditch deal for a €10bn bail-out which inflicts heavy losses on uninsured depositors, including many Russians, amounts to "continued stealing", said Dmitry Medvedev, Russian prime minister.
Look around the newspaper websites to the reaction to what Dave's proposing and its quite depressing reading.
When some people talk about immigration they refer to mosques, burqas, junior school classes with a tiny minority of white pupils, and so on.
The people they are referring to aren't immigrants. In many cases they are British citizens.
I fear some people have a wider agenda. They wish not just to gain independence to seal off the borders to further immigrants, but also to build up the pressure on existing immigrant communities once immigration has effectively been stopped.
Mr. Richard, if the new field is going to come on stream in about 18 months time I am not sure how that will stop the rise in consumer prices that will happen in about six months time. Maybe some of our gas suppliers will forgo their duty to their shareholders out of a sense of solidarity with the ordinary British people. I doubt it though, don't you.
The UK has fixed price gas contracts with Qatar and Norway. This should limit price changes.
"Except its business model is ruined and the bank depositors over 100k get a huge haircut."
Aren't all their state assets getting privatized as well? When this happens on a smaller scale - people suckered into too much debt then getting their legs broke and all their stuff took to pay for it it's called loan-sharking.
"'One key element of the deposit tax, demanded by the IMF, is that it should not require approval by the Cyprus parliament.'"
Agreed to by the post-democratic EU bits of the Troika - although with massive back-tracking since they were caught out.
"Go on, then. What's your preferred solution to the insolvency of Cyprus' banking system? And how much should UK taxpayers contribute towards it?"
Dishonest question. The problem is the insolvency of the euro banking system as a whole and the refusal of the euro political class to admit it let alone do anything about it. The insolvency of the whole system is why it keeps springing leaks.
"They are getting closer to a tipping point than I ever thought they would however I still think that they are capable of imploding overnight"
Those are the key points. The political class have been colluding in ignoring the democratic wish of the British people not to be turned into an ethnic minority. Eventually the pressure of that collusion in subverting democracy was going to build up a lot of pressure but at the same time any insurgent party is ripe for both external hijacking (like the Tea Party in the states) or internal combustion.
"A more plausible explanation would however be that nobody is lying, there are different stories about how the suggestion arose but in the end it was the insistence of the Cypriots that determined the outcome. Reasonable?"
You're asking is it reasonable to believe the BBC isn't pro-EU? I'd suggest the answer to that would be to look at the BBC's past reporting or non-reporting of all the massive corruption scandals inside the EU.
"Is there anybody out there who still thinks it was a good idea to fit together countries such as Greece and Cyprus with the likes of Germany, into a single currency?"
No-one sensible. It could only work in the context of a massive credit bubble where there were (temporarily) no winners and losers.
"What would happen if just one of the tankers failed to arrive, let alone all three that are still on their way? The UK is a maritime nation with no maritime strategy beyond hoping that it will all be OK."
Either the political class are deliberately trying to murder this country or they are collectively not fit for purpose and need replacing.
I love the way the left think that controlling immigration down to reasonable levels and governing your own affairs is "radical", while bringing in millions of people from the developing world and trying to forge currency unions from societies of very different backgrounds is perfectly centrist.
At the moment, I believe there are more Tory MPs whose parents have been in the House though:
James Arbuthnot: dad was MP for Dover 1950-64 Dominic Grieve: dad was MP for Solihull 1964-83 Ben Gummer: dad was MP for Lewisham East 1970-74, then Eye 9-83 and Suffolk Coastal 83-10 Bernard Jenkin: dad was MP for Wanstead and Woodford 64-87 Nick Hurd: dad was MP for Mid Oxfordshire/Witney 74-97 Francis Maude: dad was MP for Ealing North 50-58 and Strafford 63-3 Andrew Mitchell: dad was MP for Basingstoke 64-83 and NW Hampshire 83-97 Mark Pawsey: dad was MP for Rugby 79-97 Laura Sandys: dad was MP for Norwood 35-45 and Streatham 50-74 Robin Walker: dad was MP for Worcester 61-92
+ Charles Walker: stepdad was MP for Lewisham North 56-66 and Chichester 69-764
Hilary Benn: dad for MP for Bristol South East 50-60, 63-83 and Chesterfield 84-01 John Cryer: dad was MP for Keighley 74-83 and Bradford South 87-94. Mum was MP for Keighley 97-10 Lindsay Hoyle: dad was MP for Nelson & Cone 74-79, Warrington 81-83 and Warrington North 83-97 Anas Sarwar: dad was MP for Glasgow Central 97-10
Dog-whistling doesn't work. If they're serious - which i don't think they are - they need to bring into the public domain *specific* negative consequences that have up till now been kept hidden - ideally on issues which torpedo the nomenklatura's claim to the moral high ground e.g. the industrial scale child abuse caused by the explosion in the black economy since New Labour opened the borders.
Less controversially maybe some aspect of that same explosion where huge numbers of people have been imported by certain employers to work illegally and send their money home allowing those employers to make themselves very rich while creating unemployment, housing shortages and massive welfare fraud.
Greece and Cyprus are in for total disaster unless this gets sorted quickly. We are about to book a cheap and cheerful holiday. Way is the chance of selecting Greece/Cyprus? Almost nil.
I've just come back from lunch with a Cypriot hotel owner, apparently the (Greek part of the) island is booked up in July and August anyway. I recommend it in June / September.
I think Tatton and Aylesbury are too wealthy for UKIP to entertain any hopes of winning. They will do well in seats which are lower middle-class and/or retirement areas. Castle Point is a possibility for instance.
If we are to have a responsible debate about immigration in this country, then its to be welcomed if it finally sees myths on both sides of the argument either shot down or found to be held up to scrutiny while peoples genuine concerns are addressed. Anyone who bothered to look at UKIP's back of the fag paper immigration policies recently should be concerned. That it is Cameron talking details, and therefore being challenged on the issue while Miliband talks platitudes instead of any concrete policies to offer shouldn't be surprised. Its about par for the course these days.
Just for a laugh, go to the World Bank and look up indebtedness (corporate plus personal) for various countries around the world.
Cyprus is number one (in the world), with corporate plus personal debt of 300% of GDP.
The UK, the US, Ireland and Spain are all around 200% of GDP.
The big three Eurozone economies of Germany, France and Italy are all around 100%.
All debt is - simply - the first call on future production. Less of future production is pledged in the big three Eurozone economies than in our own country. As an aside, Eurozone banks - outside Spanish regionals (the Caixa) and the Irish - are all much better capitalised than UK banks, and that is reflected in the fact that the market rates them more highly than British banks. If BNP - for example - is insolvent, why is it able to borrow so much more cheaply than RBS? If Santander - to take another example - is insolvent, why does it trade at a premium to tangible book, while our own banks trade at substantial discounts.
Look around the newspaper websites to the reaction to what Dave's proposing and its quite depressing reading.
When some people talk about immigration they refer to mosques, burqas, junior school classes with a tiny minority of white pupils, and so on.
The people they are referring to aren't immigrants. In many cases they are British citizens.
I fear some people have a wider agenda. They wish not just to gain independence to seal off the borders to further immigrants, but also to build up the pressure on existing immigrant communities once immigration has effectively been stopped.
Ah, you mean Tony's Britons? They'll be with us until they start voting for the Muslim Brotherhood-UK Branch instead of Labour.
Greece and Cyprus are in for total disaster unless this gets sorted quickly. We are about to book a cheap and cheerful holiday. Way is the chance of selecting Greece/Cyprus? Almost nil.
I've just come back from lunch with a Cypriot hotel owner, apparently the (Greek part of the) island is booked up in July and August anyway. I recommend it in June / September.
Oh dear, what a shame. Cos travelsupermarket.com have just found a two-week self-catering package deal in Paphos costing £207pp for a fortnight. The last time me and the missus went (a few years ago, boom-time) we got a deal for £180pp/14-days (including in-flight 'meal') staying in Limassol....
Plenty of opportunities will open up in Cyprus. If you can book short-notice between Easter and Whitsun (when families tend to be otherwise occupied)....
Current bargain: Paphiessa Hotel, Star-rating-3, from £227pp. Depart Gatwick 17/04/13, return from Paphos 01/05/13.
Now it appears that Jeremy Hunts £200 million estimate,rather than Number Tens £10-20 million estimate comes from a Richard Littlejohn article from 2003.
You couldn't make it up.
What, no post-graduate thesis. How the heck can we go to war now...?
Air travelers of the future could have quieter, greener and more fuel-efficient airliners because of NASA research efforts that are moving into further development and testing.
The Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project, which is part of the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate's Integrated Systems Research Program, was created in 2009 to explore aircraft concepts and technologies that will reduce the impact of aviation on the environment over the next 30 years.
During the first phase of ERA, engineers assessed dozens of broad areas of environmentally friendly aircraft technologies and then matured the most promising ones to the point that they can be tested together in a real world environment. Those experiments included nonstick coatings for low-drag wing designs, laboratory testing of a new composite manufacturing technique, advanced engine testing, and test flights of a remotely piloted hybrid wing body prototype.
NASA has chosen eight large-scale integrated technology demonstrations to advance ERA research. The demonstrations are designed to further the project's goals of simultaneous reduction in the amount of fuel used, the level of noise and the emissions produced by tomorrow's commercial transport planes.
Researchers will focus on five areas: aircraft drag reduction through innovative flow control concepts; weight reduction from advanced composite materials; fuel and noise reduction from advanced engines; emissions reductions from improved engine combustors; and fuel consumption and community noise reduction through innovative airframe and engine integration designs.
That report showsthat immigration is a concern for British people of all colours and should be quoted whenever someone raising the matter is smeared as racist
I just got an email saying i had got a badge? WTF? this isn't mousebreaker.com is it?
One email and one badge? Pfff. Amateur . I now have three badges and twelve points! A certain poster probably has badges for the most posts and being the biggest a***hole in Christendom, but that is a matter for him/her.
Now ,who could you be thinking of???? hmmmm it's a tough one :-)
Cyprus is number one (in the world), with corporate plus personal debt of 300% of GDP.
The UK, the US, Ireland and Spain are all around 200% of GDP.
The big three Eurozone economies of Germany, France and Italy are all around 100%.
Hmm,
Did not 'The Economist' have a chart (a few months ago) showing that French banks had liabilities equal to 400% of GDP. I suppose you can only measure what proves a point, but really....
MarkEaston @BBCMarkEaston: Number 10 says councils not being 'TOLD' to introduce residency test for immigrants. Just 'EXPECTED TO CONSIDER' one. #localism
Hours between jaw being jutted and chinlessness exposed - 2
I expect the number coming from romania and bulgaria will be high and the tories will be in the same boat as labour on the criticism they will get.
Did not 'The Economist' have a chart (a few months ago) showing that French banks had liabilities equal to 400% of GDP. I suppose you can only measure what proves a point, but really....
Quite possibly: BNP has a huge UK corporate banking operation, for example. My point - simply - was that debt levels in France, Germany and Italy are much more modest than in the UK/US.
Our benefits system is a soft touch. Net migration is too high. We need to reduce net migration while continuing to benefit from it [i.e. this thing we want to reduce is beneficial]
Solutions:
The status that allows EEA nationals who are seeking jobs to claim jobseekers' benefits will be revoked after 6 months if we don't think they have a realistic chance of finding a job. We acknowledge that, at present, they are only entitled to benefits if they are actively looking for work just like British nationals [it's unclear how it is possible to discriminate between EEA nationals and British nationals on this point].
We'll ask councils nicely to impose a long-term residency requirement for the allocation of social housing [but we can't force them to, because we've devolved much of housing policy to ensure we aren't blamed for the impact of cuts. And we don't address the question of how it's possible to draft exceptions to ensure that this doesn't impact British nationals moving from another area of Britain, or back from another EEA country]
Other than this, we will take more steps to enforce laws that are already in place with respect to health tourism, illegal immigration etc.
--
If that's talking details, I'd hate to see the high-level, sketchy version. It looks rather more like making a speech on immigration because it's important to be seen to be making a speech on immigration.
Oh dear, what a shame. Cos travelsupermarket.com have just found a two-week self-catering package deal in Paphos costing £207pp for a fortnight.
I just knew someone would go to the bother of finding a package in that timeframe!
I wouldnt want to repeat half of what she told me (and she's a very sensible, clued-up person who had very little assets in Cypriot banks by the time they folded) but she's relatively confident about Cyprus' medium term prospects after a painful few years. She would like to see gambling liberalised (well if the banks were allowed why not the tourists) and ridiculous restrictions on charter flights ended.
I think they should just get rid of their politicians and elect her President.
Did Iron Dave give his usual cast iron guarantees on immigration? Or just a quintuple lock? One is written on soggy toilet paper, the other must be made of daffodils.
Initial relief at the Cyprus deal has now evaporated as the market has digested what the EZ has done.
Euro plummeting as anyone with any sense tells their bank manager to wire funds to Zurich, London, Hong Kong, anywhere. Just out of here.
The Dutch finance minister has helpfully suggested that Cyprus should be the blueprint for the rest of the Eurozone, so expect your money to be stolen from any account anywhere...
I just knew someone would go to the bother of finding a package in that timeframe!
There's a cracker in early May. From £182pp (so book around May 3rd). The hotel is by the main-drag in Paphos, all the bars and clubs and not far from the Russian quarter!
My - ahem - local is about five minutes away, as is the local supermarket and the beech.
The place is great for the Mr & Mrs Jessop types (though many of the climbs were scared with new-build complexes). I'd love to retire there but, for a holiday, I'd prefer Limassol....
How would you resolve the issue of bankrupt banks?
When you deposit money in a bank, you have just made an unsecured loan to that bank.
If that bank turns out to have lent your money to Nicosia property developers, whose developments turn out to be unprofitable, you will end up in trouble.
Yes, and European bond yields soaring too! Italian 10 year bonds yields now out to 4.7%... that's... that's... oh yes, almost exactly the same level as they've been for four months. And substantially better than the 5+% level there was until last September.
All the stock markets that are open are now going into sudden reverse as they realise that despite promises by the Cypriot political elite, the mess cooked up last night by the EU and it's minions is already crumbling.
I've never been to Paphos, my friend's hotel is in Agia Napa so we stay around that corner of the island with occasional trips to the mountains and Lefkosia. I have strayed across the border once or twice when she wasnt looking.
Does anybody know the breakdown of UKIPs voters in Eastleigh came from politically? I am trying to work out a rough formula of sorts to predict which seats they may have a chance of winning in the future
They got 11571 votes out of 41616 cast in 2013 as opposed to 1933 out of 53650 in 2010...
who did the 9638 extra voters vote for in 2010?
Turnout was down 12034.... Who did the 12034 that didnt vote in 2013 vote for in 2010?
"The EZ is supplying billions of euros not taking billions of euros."
Aren't they supplying a loan? In which case they are supplying money they expect to be paid back while taking actual cash (and all Cyprus' state assets).
@ITVLauraK: You might not have heard of him but what Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem has just said could have a serious impact..blog in a min
@faisalislam EUROGROUP'S DIJSSELBLOEM SAYS CYPRUS BANK RESTRUCTURING PLAN SHOULD BE SEEN AS TEMPLATE FOR REST OF EURO ZONE..
Fair point it's not the Eurozone taking the cash it's the banks that are owed money by the Cypriot banks that are taking the cash (and the proceeds of the privatizations as well i assume). All the Eurozone is enabling core euro-banks to cut their losses by extending a loan of taxpayer's money.
True Neil the EU is supplying some funds, but far fewer than it would in a traditional bailout, where innocent depositors who have done no wrong would be protected.
In this case. money has been arbitrarily confiscated from guilty and innocent alike.
@lindayueh: *sigh* RT @peter_tl: Flashback! 4 days ago: RT @djfxtrader: EU Dijsselbloem: Cyprus Very Special Case, Wouldn't Take Same Approach to Others
Similarly the Number 10 spokesman also admitted that foreigners have taken fewer than one in 10 of council houses in the past four years despite initially telling reporters that “new lettings for migrants were up by 40 per cent”.
But when pressed to explain he admitted that that was a ‘proportion’ and the figures were an increase from 6.2 per cent to 9 per cent between 2007/8 and 2011/12.
i.e the journalist was too thick to understand what "new lettings for migrants were up by 40 per cent" meant, and, when it was patiently explained to him, twisted it into an insult by using loaded wortds such as 'admitted'.
Of course the figure which absolutely leaps out of the page for anyone with half a brain is the staggering revelation that migrants take as many as one in ten of new council house lettings - a horrifyingly large figure, given the shortage of housing here in the UK and the size of the bill for the UK taxpayer.
And that, of course, is on average - there will be some towns where the proportion is very much higher than that. No wonder traditional Labour supporters are incensed about immigration.
they are supplying money they expect to be paid back while taking actual cash (and all Cyprus' state assets).
Sorry, what cash and assets are they taking?
You're right, silly of me, it's much more of a stitch-up than that.
Some core eurobanks had a ton of bad debts in Cyprus so the EU is using a loan of tax-payers money to bail-out those Cypriot banks so they can repay some of that money to the core eurobanks.
How would you resolve the issue of bankrupt banks?
When you deposit money in a bank, you have just made an unsecured loan to that bank.
If that bank turns out to have lent your money to Nicosia property developers, whose developments turn out to be unprofitable, you will end up in trouble.
Or the bank lent it to bailout Greece on the instructions of the EU, then to pay forit all when it came to the sticky end they all knew it would, anyone with over 100,000 Euros has had 30% of it stolen.
Also, you don't give money to a bank as you often have no choice, your salary or other monies is deposited there. In the UK it's only since the payroll robberies of the 70's that salaries have been paid into the bank. That is when our problems started, once the banks had control of our money whether we wanted them to or not.
Apparently if an employee demands his wages in cash rather than paid into the bank,his employer has to comply, won't make him very popular though.
You are obviously a Europhile Robert, how does it feel knowing the EU dream is all but over?
Its really difficult to fathom the incredible stupidity of what the EU is doing.
Imagine you are a chinese investor wanting to open a factory in Southern Europe, You will at some juncture need a local bank to take large amounts of funding as you get up and running.
Under the Eu's new system you run the risk of losing 40% of your investment, arbitrarily and with no recourse to law, if the troika suddenly decides to bail in that country whilst the bank is carrying your money.
Fair point it's not the Eurozone taking the cash it's the banks that are owed money by the Cypriot banks that are taking the cash (and the proceeds of the privatizations as well i assume). All the Eurozone is enabling core euro-banks to cut their losses by extending a loan of taxpayer's money.
The Eurozone banks have next to no exposure to Cypriot banks. The second largest Cypriot bank (Laiki, which has caused all the trouble) had borrowed just €100m in outstanding senior bonds.
However, you are absolutely right that the ECB is owed a very similar (one might almost say suspicously similar) amount to the size of the Euro-bailout. This is effectively moving the debt from Laiki to the ECB to a debt from the Government of Cyprus to the EU/IMF, with an additional element being provided by a haircut on the banks liabilties.
It's worth noting - when one thinks of these poor depositors - that if you'd put €100,000 in Laiki in 2008, you'd have gotten 5%, and have just under €130,000 today (before your haircut). If you'd put your money in HSBC Cyprus, you'd have about €103,000. And no haircut. There was a reason yields were suspiciously high at Laiki,
Comments
You obviously know your economic onions! As a layman, I just see disaster. Absolute disaster, and disaster which is malignant and will keep working its way through more and more of Europe until we are all poorer.
The fact that Cypriot banks used secrecy and 'unusual' practices and was still allowed to join the single currency smacks of Eurocrat-hubris.
I can well understand the good intentions of creating a currency and keeping the European countries in closer union, but the peace and prosperity we enjoyed for 10 years looks as though it will be thoroughly broken.
How governments will keep their citizens in check over the next few years is anyone's guess. A breakdown in law and order as people get pushed too far must be a concern.
The commission concluded that the current situation was "unsustainable" and changes were needed.
Labour and the lib dems are not going to be best pleased by this but since Clegg will likely have a veto it's doubtful that they have that much to worry about from Cammie.
We shall see. Cammie's backbenchers are hardly going to be very happy either once they notice what is transpiring and the chances of any meaningful concrete action being taken. This could, after all, have been their chance for revenge of sorts after labour and the lib dems killed boundary changes. I expect the tories don't mind that now though. All water under the bridge etc.
A certain percentage of these people in these countries must still firmly believe in the EU and the euro to continue wearing the hair shirt.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-21923218
The more we use Vanilla, the more we learn...:
Go to "Edit Profile" and check your notification options. I've all switched-off save "Email me private messages". [Popups may add to the cost of the OGH's service-contract, request-response cycles and what-not....]
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Hopefully this is not a global setting (and if it is summinck needs to be done about it)....
I can't see what else he's getting at given that it can't apply to those who have no right to housing in the first place, as that wouldn't be a change. Might make people feel better, I suppose, but I'm not sure how many people will like the idea of paying extra tax in order to provide immigrants with more expensive housing.
Russian newspaper claiming Roman Abramovich detained by FBI in the United States. No details yet.
ooer
What about my constituency of Hornchurch and Upminster for UKIP? The siiting MP is a tory with a huge majority, she is very right wing and also quite old...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Watkinson
I'll not follow Grandiose's example and show you how - in terms of logic - your argument is flawed. Let's just post a link to a picture that sums said argument up....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Parus_major_2_Luc_Viatour.jpg
http://politicalbetting.vanillaforums.com/discussion/16/politicalbetting-com-blog-archive-ipsos-mori-puts-support-for-scottish-independence-at-39pc#latest
Junior, creating discussions should be limited to moderators. OGH cannot rely upon £800 per-month funding to survive if spam-threads are uncontrolled.
:winks-at-mr-llama:
As an independent blog you can earn 10-points (and a badge) for a photogenic image upload! Just check this link...!
:speechless:
I thought that it was fairly self-evident that housing someone in private/B&B etc rather than unused social housing stock would create a net cost increase, but I guess I'm missing something which your erudite response failed to spell out clearly enough for me.
http://www.andythornton.com/system/product_images/16722/original/ATVMRSDF303.jpg?1334590862
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/debt-crisis-live/9951727/Cyprus-bailout-live.html
No, but can you tell us which seat she's pencilled in for?
When some people talk about immigration they refer to mosques, burqas, junior school classes with a tiny minority of white pupils, and so on.
The people they are referring to aren't immigrants. In many cases they are British citizens.
I fear some people have a wider agenda. They wish not just to gain independence to seal off the borders to further immigrants, but also to build up the pressure on existing immigrant communities once immigration has effectively been stopped.
http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2013/03/mr-slippery-bangs-on-about-immigration-do-i-hear-a-dog-whistle.html
The UK has fixed price gas contracts with Qatar and Norway. This should limit price changes.
If you post first on a thread you get a badge. Slightly better then posting "First" I suppose....
:depressed:
Also
@Polruan
Xxxx. [Should score another badge with that....]
:rediculous:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/18/ukip-labour-british-electorate
Aren't all their state assets getting privatized as well? When this happens on a smaller scale - people suckered into too much debt then getting their legs broke and all their stuff took to pay for it it's called loan-sharking.
"'One key element of the deposit tax, demanded by the IMF, is that it should not require approval by the Cyprus parliament.'"
Agreed to by the post-democratic EU bits of the Troika - although with massive back-tracking since they were caught out.
"Go on, then. What's your preferred solution to the insolvency of Cyprus' banking system? And how much should UK taxpayers contribute towards it?"
Dishonest question. The problem is the insolvency of the euro banking system as a whole and the refusal of the euro political class to admit it let alone do anything about it. The insolvency of the whole system is why it keeps springing leaks.
"They are getting closer to a tipping point than I ever thought they would however I still think that they are capable of imploding overnight"
Those are the key points. The political class have been colluding in ignoring the democratic wish of the British people not to be turned into an ethnic minority. Eventually the pressure of that collusion in subverting democracy was going to build up a lot of pressure but at the same time any insurgent party is ripe for both external hijacking (like the Tea Party in the states) or internal combustion.
"A more plausible explanation would however be that nobody is lying, there are different stories about how the suggestion arose but in the end it was the insistence of the Cypriots that determined the outcome. Reasonable?"
You're asking is it reasonable to believe the BBC isn't pro-EU? I'd suggest the answer to that would be to look at the BBC's past reporting or non-reporting of all the massive corruption scandals inside the EU.
"Is there anybody out there who still thinks it was a good idea to fit together countries such as Greece and Cyprus with the likes of Germany, into a single currency?"
No-one sensible. It could only work in the context of a massive credit bubble where there were (temporarily) no winners and losers.
"What would happen if just one of the tankers failed to arrive, let alone all three that are still on their way? The UK is a maritime nation with no maritime strategy beyond hoping that it will all be OK."
Either the political class are deliberately trying to murder this country or they are collectively not fit for purpose and need replacing.
James Arbuthnot: dad was MP for Dover 1950-64
Dominic Grieve: dad was MP for Solihull 1964-83
Ben Gummer: dad was MP for Lewisham East 1970-74, then Eye 9-83 and Suffolk Coastal 83-10
Bernard Jenkin: dad was MP for Wanstead and Woodford 64-87
Nick Hurd: dad was MP for Mid Oxfordshire/Witney 74-97
Francis Maude: dad was MP for Ealing North 50-58 and Strafford 63-3
Andrew Mitchell: dad was MP for Basingstoke 64-83 and NW Hampshire 83-97
Mark Pawsey: dad was MP for Rugby 79-97
Laura Sandys: dad was MP for Norwood 35-45 and Streatham 50-74
Robin Walker: dad was MP for Worcester 61-92
+ Charles Walker: stepdad was MP for Lewisham North 56-66 and Chichester 69-764
Hilary Benn: dad for MP for Bristol South East 50-60, 63-83 and Chesterfield 84-01
John Cryer: dad was MP for Keighley 74-83 and Bradford South 87-94. Mum was MP for Keighley 97-10
Lindsay Hoyle: dad was MP for Nelson & Cone 74-79, Warrington 81-83 and Warrington North 83-97
Anas Sarwar: dad was MP for Glasgow Central 97-10
Ian Paisley Jr: dad is you know who
Less controversially maybe some aspect of that same explosion where huge numbers of people have been imported by certain employers to work illegally and send their money home allowing those employers to make themselves very rich while creating unemployment, housing shortages and massive welfare fraud.
Daily Mail version from 2011
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2049676/Welcome-Slums-Southall-How-unscrupulous-landlords-illegally-built-squalid-homes-immigrants.html
BBC version from 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21574772
No-one has the faintest idea what the true figure is.
Catherine's leaflet
http://catherinemcdonald.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/going-for-selection-in-lewisham.html?m=1
There's a by-election in Lewisham this week. So everyone interested in the selection will offer their, obivoously, uninterested help
Labour and lib dems in coalition would do ukip just nicely thanks.
Ready, steady, bank run.
Anyone with any kind of large savings in Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal and even France need to start getting their money into the UK or Switzerland.
Just for a laugh, go to the World Bank and look up indebtedness (corporate plus personal) for various countries around the world.
Cyprus is number one (in the world), with corporate plus personal debt of 300% of GDP.
The UK, the US, Ireland and Spain are all around 200% of GDP.
The big three Eurozone economies of Germany, France and Italy are all around 100%.
All debt is - simply - the first call on future production. Less of future production is pledged in the big three Eurozone economies than in our own country. As an aside, Eurozone banks - outside Spanish regionals (the Caixa) and the Irish - are all much better capitalised than UK banks, and that is reflected in the fact that the market rates them more highly than British banks. If BNP - for example - is insolvent, why is it able to borrow so much more cheaply than RBS? If Santander - to take another example - is insolvent, why does it trade at a premium to tangible book, while our own banks trade at substantial discounts.
mark to market = insolvent
Oh dear, what a shame. Cos travelsupermarket.com have just found a two-week self-catering package deal in Paphos costing £207pp for a fortnight. The last time me and the missus went (a few years ago, boom-time) we got a deal for £180pp/14-days (including in-flight 'meal') staying in Limassol....
Plenty of opportunities will open up in Cyprus. If you can book short-notice between Easter and Whitsun (when families tend to be otherwise occupied)....
Current bargain: Paphiessa Hotel, Star-rating-3, from £227pp. Depart Gatwick 17/04/13, return from Paphos 01/05/13.
What's that again tim,labour say only 13,000 will come from the new Eastern EU countries,that certainly fell apart.
Air travelers of the future could have quieter, greener and more fuel-efficient airliners because of NASA research efforts that are moving into further development and testing.
The Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project, which is part of the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate's Integrated Systems Research Program, was created in 2009 to explore aircraft concepts and technologies that will reduce the impact of aviation on the environment over the next 30 years.
During the first phase of ERA, engineers assessed dozens of broad areas of environmentally friendly aircraft technologies and then matured the most promising ones to the point that they can be tested together in a real world environment. Those experiments included nonstick coatings for low-drag wing designs, laboratory testing of a new composite manufacturing technique, advanced engine testing, and test flights of a remotely piloted hybrid wing body prototype.
NASA has chosen eight large-scale integrated technology demonstrations to advance ERA research. The demonstrations are designed to further the project's goals of simultaneous reduction in the amount of fuel used, the level of noise and the emissions produced by tomorrow's commercial transport planes.
Researchers will focus on five areas: aircraft drag reduction through innovative flow control concepts; weight reduction from advanced composite materials; fuel and noise reduction from advanced engines; emissions reductions from improved engine combustors; and fuel consumption and community noise reduction through innovative airframe and engine integration designs.
techbriefs.com
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/feb/27/support-poll-support-far-right
Did not 'The Economist' have a chart (a few months ago) showing that French banks had liabilities equal to 400% of GDP. I suppose you can only measure what proves a point, but really....
I expect the number coming from romania and bulgaria will be high and the tories will be in the same boat as labour on the criticism they will get.
Euro plummeting as anyone with any sense tells their bank manager to wire funds to Zurich, London, Hong Kong, anywhere. Just out of here.
http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/immigration-speech-cameron/
Propositions:
Our benefits system is a soft touch. Net migration is too high. We need to reduce net migration while continuing to benefit from it [i.e. this thing we want to reduce is beneficial]
Solutions:
The status that allows EEA nationals who are seeking jobs to claim jobseekers' benefits will be revoked after 6 months if we don't think they have a realistic chance of finding a job. We acknowledge that, at present, they are only entitled to benefits if they are actively looking for work just like British nationals [it's unclear how it is possible to discriminate between EEA nationals and British nationals on this point].
We'll ask councils nicely to impose a long-term residency requirement for the allocation of social housing [but we can't force them to, because we've devolved much of housing policy to ensure we aren't blamed for the impact of cuts. And we don't address the question of how it's possible to draft exceptions to ensure that this doesn't impact British nationals moving from another area of Britain, or back from another EEA country]
Other than this, we will take more steps to enforce laws that are already in place with respect to health tourism, illegal immigration etc.
--
If that's talking details, I'd hate to see the high-level, sketchy version. It looks rather more like making a speech on immigration because it's important to be seen to be making a speech on immigration.
I wouldnt want to repeat half of what she told me (and she's a very sensible, clued-up person who had very little assets in Cypriot banks by the time they folded) but she's relatively confident about Cyprus' medium term prospects after a painful few years. She would like to see gambling liberalised (well if the banks were allowed why not the tourists) and ridiculous restrictions on charter flights ended.
I think they should just get rid of their politicians and elect her President.
I obviously need to get my head around the messaging system. The first I knew of your message was when I got an email notification of sam's reply.
My - ahem - local is about five minutes away, as is the local supermarket and the beech.
The place is great for the Mr & Mrs Jessop types (though many of the climbs were scared with new-build complexes). I'd love to retire there but, for a holiday, I'd prefer Limassol....
How would you resolve the issue of bankrupt banks?
When you deposit money in a bank, you have just made an unsecured loan to that bank.
If that bank turns out to have lent your money to Nicosia property developers, whose developments turn out to be unprofitable, you will end up in trouble.
"TRADING HALTED FOR FOLLOWING BANKS: BANCO POPULAR, INTESA, UNICREDIT"
Fears of a big bank run in Italy as depositors scramble to get their savings out of Italian banks.
And now there's no trust, and no confidence in Europe...at all.
It really is utterly, utterly astonishing that Europe's policymakers do not see the potential implications of making the Cypriot bailout a template.
Bailouts used to be the measure of last resort. Now, this makes them actually desirable, if the EZ can get their hands on the money of the wealthy.
Yes, and European bond yields soaring too! Italian 10 year bonds yields now out to 4.7%... that's... that's... oh yes, almost exactly the same level as they've been for four months. And substantially better than the 5+% level there was until last September.
All those shares are currently trading; albeit down c. 6%.
I've never been to Paphos, my friend's hotel is in Agia Napa so we stay around that corner of the island with occasional trips to the mountains and Lefkosia. I have strayed across the border once or twice when she wasnt looking.
Domino effect - even the "safe" ones aren't safe because of unknown exposure to the less safe ones.
They got 11571 votes out of 41616 cast in 2013 as opposed to 1933 out of 53650 in 2010...
who did the 9638 extra voters vote for in 2010?
Turnout was down 12034.... Who did the 12034 that didnt vote in 2013 vote for in 2010?
Aren't they supplying a loan? In which case they are supplying money they expect to be paid back while taking actual cash (and all Cyprus' state assets).
What cash is the Eurozone taking?
Or which assets, for that matter?
@faisalislam EUROGROUP'S DIJSSELBLOEM SAYS CYPRUS BANK RESTRUCTURING PLAN SHOULD BE SEEN AS TEMPLATE FOR REST OF EURO ZONE..
In this case. money has been arbitrarily confiscated from guilty and innocent alike.
@faisalislam EUROGROUP'S DIJSSELBLOEM SAYS CYPRUS BANK RESTRUCTURING PLAN SHOULD BE SEEN AS TEMPLATE FOR REST OF EURO ZONE..
Bank run from entire Eurozone incoming in 3....2...
Similarly the Number 10 spokesman also admitted that foreigners have taken fewer than one in 10 of council houses in the past four years despite initially telling reporters that “new lettings for migrants were up by 40 per cent”.
But when pressed to explain he admitted that that was a ‘proportion’ and the figures were an increase from 6.2 per cent to 9 per cent between 2007/8 and 2011/12.
i.e the journalist was too thick to understand what "new lettings for migrants were up by 40 per cent" meant, and, when it was patiently explained to him, twisted it into an insult by using loaded wortds such as 'admitted'.
Of course the figure which absolutely leaps out of the page for anyone with half a brain is the staggering revelation that migrants take as many as one in ten of new council house lettings - a horrifyingly large figure, given the shortage of housing here in the UK and the size of the bill for the UK taxpayer.
And that, of course, is on average - there will be some towns where the proportion is very much higher than that. No wonder traditional Labour supporters are incensed about immigration.
Some core eurobanks had a ton of bad debts in Cyprus so the EU is using a loan of tax-payers money to bail-out those Cypriot banks so they can repay some of that money to the core eurobanks.
Also, you don't give money to a bank as you often have no choice, your salary or other monies is deposited there. In the UK it's only since the payroll robberies of the 70's that salaries have been paid into the bank. That is when our problems started, once the banks had control of our money whether we wanted them to or not.
Apparently if an employee demands his wages in cash rather than paid into the bank,his employer has to comply, won't make him very popular though.
You are obviously a Europhile Robert, how does it feel knowing the EU dream is all but over?
So they havent taken any cash or assets like you claimed?
It the loan is so poisonous to the Cypriots presumably they will refuse to take it. Oh.
Imagine you are a chinese investor wanting to open a factory in Southern Europe, You will at some juncture need a local bank to take large amounts of funding as you get up and running.
Under the Eu's new system you run the risk of losing 40% of your investment, arbitrarily and with no recourse to law, if the troika suddenly decides to bail in that country whilst the bank is carrying your money.
Still want to set up that factory?
I'd be surprised if there was anything close to a 'scene' anywhere in Cyprus!
However, you are absolutely right that the ECB is owed a very similar (one might almost say suspicously similar) amount to the size of the Euro-bailout. This is effectively moving the debt from Laiki to the ECB to a debt from the Government of Cyprus to the EU/IMF, with an additional element being provided by a haircut on the banks liabilties.
It's worth noting - when one thinks of these poor depositors - that if you'd put €100,000 in Laiki in 2008, you'd have gotten 5%, and have just under €130,000 today (before your haircut). If you'd put your money in HSBC Cyprus, you'd have about €103,000. And no haircut. There was a reason yields were suspiciously high at Laiki,