The first - and largest - cases of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo was by Serbs against Albanians. At that point there is a responsibility of the international community to step in. In Crimea, no ethnic cleansing was carried out against the Russians, so it is entirely an aggressive war for Russia to invade.
Oh, and Kosovo was given independence. It wasn't annexed by the USA in a land grab. In fact, it was even banned from being annexed by Albania.
Many if them probably said they voted Ukip... In my opinion this is more likely to mean they voted for Reckless than DNV
I think that is already covered. 28 out of 254 Reckless supporters said they voted 'Other' (i.e. not Con/Lab/LD). You might be right that some of those actually voted Conservative, but I've included them as 2010 voters anyway, so it doesn't matter from the point of view of the argument I was making.
If someone said they voted Ukip in 2010, does that go down as 'other' or DNV?
I think the Labour party is now so infested with luvvies and champagne socialists that even a no brainer policy like raising some tax from people in £2 million pound houses causes many influential supporters to grumble ( as it may affect them) .
In a way that is a ridiculous state for a working person's party to get itself into.
Ever since TB replaced the late John Smith, it became quite apparent that he and his clique were hi-jacking the Labour party and its wwc for their own benefit by controlling the press and finding safe seats for their friends.
TB was happy to leave when he saw that his route to personal wealth and glory was advanced and open and others have followed in his wake.
Now to those left behind and their surprise, the support of the wwc is unraveling and that same support is looking elsewhere for succour and representation (e.g. UKIP and Green), as slowly some of them come to realise that their support has been used and their representations ignored..
So in the coming GE, whilst Labour may still get loyal support form the economically poor NE and Wales and other parts of the N, there is a big question mark over the destination of their traditional support in the Midlands.
' It is individual voters' economic circumstances that matter, not the headline aggregate figures, so the question is: whose real wages are rising and whose are not?'
So apart from the energy freeze what is Ed offering,a 5% across the board wage increase?
Is he going to continue with the tax freeze on fuel?
Is he going to continue with the council tax freeze?
Is he going to cut VAT?
Is he going to freeze NI contributions?
That is perfectly true . There were several years in the late 1990s when the increase in GDP of the country as a whole was taken by bonuses and increased salaries of bankers and company CEOs . The rest of the population had a loss of GDP per person .
And just to demonstrate that they have a sense of humour they point out that the settlement of the tax avoidance claim made against them by the UK government had the effect of reducing their direct tax bill for the latest year.
I said the other day on here this kind of behaviour is unacceptable and inexcusable. We need to find ways of charging multinationals at least another £10-15bn a year for the privilege of trading in the UK.
Country-by-country reporting is the foundation of a fair tax system that allows local business to compete with multi-nationals.
By forcing companies to declare revenue and profit in every country we force them to declare their global corporate structure. The basics for how the Luxemburg based avoidance scheme works is declaring one corporate structure in Country A whilst declaring a different corporate structure in Country L.
Country-by-country reporting exposes the structure on a cross border basis an removes the ability to lie about their corporate structure.
It would also help if HMRC didn't just nod through blatantly obvious exploitative Transfer Pricing Arrangements but that's a different battle.
' It is individual voters' economic circumstances that matter, not the headline aggregate figures, so the question is: whose real wages are rising and whose are not?'
So apart from the energy freeze what is Ed offering,a 5% across the board wage increase?
Is he going to continue with the tax freeze on fuel?
Is he going to continue with the council tax freeze?
Is he going to cut VAT?
Is he going to freeze NI contributions?
That is perfectly true . There were several years in the late 1990s when the increase in GDP of the country as a whole was taken by bonuses and increased salaries of bankers and company CEOs . The rest of the population had a loss of GDP per person .
Zero rate tax at the top is a massive and blatant lie.
How much tax did Starbucks pay?
Corporation tax?
Have a think about what other revenues they contribute directly or indirectly, through such things as staff salaries, and supply purchase.
The contention by many is that Starbucks (thourgh the financial advantage of their tax structure) force out local coffee shops who would pay staff salaries and supply purchase and would pay corporation tax as well.
The first - and largest - cases of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo was by Serbs against Albanians. At that point there is a responsibility of the international community to step in. In Crimea, no ethnic cleansing was carried out against the Russians, so it is entirely an aggressive war for Russia to invade.
Oh, and Kosovo was given independence. It wasn't annexed by the USA in a land grab. In fact, it was even banned from being annexed by Albania.
Kosovo was invaded by NATO and carved out of Serbia. The non-Albanian % of the population went from 20% to 5%. But I guess that is not ethnic cleansing. Robin Cook told me. And Tony got the avenue named after him so that is ok.
OT I've a technology problem - I think I need an organigram - and I never thought I'd type those words. Does anyone know a way to navigate around a bunch of devices without getting lost? I thought I'd been very big and clever getting all mine talking to each other wirelessly - now I'm totally lost even after renaming them all after my cats.
I'm playing a one-armed techie bandit here and no idea how I stumbled across a random app or set of files - or what's talking with my TV. All suggestions most welcome, I'm not usually phased by this stuff, but I'm flummoxed.
' It is individual voters' economic circumstances that matter, not the headline aggregate figures, so the question is: whose real wages are rising and whose are not?'
So apart from the energy freeze what is Ed offering,a 5% across the board wage increase?
Is he going to continue with the tax freeze on fuel?
Is he going to continue with the council tax freeze?
Is he going to cut VAT?
Is he going to freeze NI contributions?
That is perfectly true . There were several years in the late 1990s when the increase in GDP of the country as a whole was taken by bonuses and increased salaries of bankers and company CEOs . The rest of the population had a loss of GDP per person .
And just to demonstrate that they have a sense of humour they point out that the settlement of the tax avoidance claim made against them by the UK government had the effect of reducing their direct tax bill for the latest year.
I said the other day on here this kind of behaviour is unacceptable and inexcusable. We need to find ways of charging multinationals at least another £10-15bn a year for the privilege of trading in the UK.
Country-by-country reporting is the foundation of a fair tax system that allows local business to compete with multi-nationals.
By forcing companies to declare revenue and profit in every country we force them to declare their global corporate structure. The basics for how the Luxemburg based avoidance scheme works is declaring one corporate structure in Country A whilst declaring a different corporate structure in Country L.
Country-by-country reporting exposes the structure on a cross border basis an removes the ability to lie about their corporate structure.
It would also help if HMRC didn't just nod through blatantly obvious exploitative Transfer Pricing Arrangements but that's a different battle.
I completely agree with this. We must be at the point that the larger countries simply impose it on the smaller ones. I, for one, am sick of the likes of Luxemburg (and Eire) stealing our money.
Many if them probably said they voted Ukip... In my opinion this is more likely to mean they voted for Reckless than DNV
I think that is already covered. 28 out of 254 Reckless supporters said they voted 'Other' (i.e. not Con/Lab/LD). You might be right that some of those actually voted Conservative, but I've included them as 2010 voters anyway, so it doesn't matter from the point of view of the argument I was making.
I also wonder to what extent Kelly Tolhurst is attracting switchers back to the Tories as the campaign progresses and she becomes better known. The Tory candidate in Clacton didn't seem to make any real impact which I'm not sure is true this time. Obviously Kelly's twitter feed will present her in a good light but she does seem to connect well in quite a natural way with the schoolkids and with a whole host of people and businesses she has visited in what looks like quite an energetic campaign. With another week to go that could reasonably chip another couple of percentage points off the lead. One more poll next week without any pre-prompting might be interesting.
Well there speaks a hoper
I canvassed in clacton and actually the conservative candidate was a local man who many people seemed to like
In the posh part , Frinton, many seemed to be on first name terms with him
And just to demonstrate that they have a sense of humour they point out that the settlement of the tax avoidance claim made against them by the UK government had the effect of reducing their direct tax bill for the latest year.
I said the other day on here this kind of behaviour is unacceptable and inexcusable. We need to find ways of charging multinationals at least another £10-15bn a year for the privilege of trading in the UK.
Country-by-country reporting is the foundation of a fair tax system that allows local business to compete with multi-nationals.
By forcing companies to declare revenue and profit in every country we force them to declare their global corporate structure. The basics for how the Luxemburg based avoidance scheme works is declaring one corporate structure in Country A whilst declaring a different corporate structure in Country L.
Country-by-country reporting exposes the structure on a cross border basis an removes the ability to lie about their corporate structure.
It would also help if HMRC didn't just nod through blatantly obvious exploitative Transfer Pricing Arrangements but that's a different battle.
I completely agree with this. We must be at the point that the larger countries simply impose it on the smaller ones. I, for one, am sick of the likes of Luxemburg (and Eire) stealing our money.
The thing that fucks me right off is the apologists going "well it's perfectly legal" when it relies on claiming your company is structured in different ways depending on which tax authority you are talking too. Whilst that might not be technically illegal it's clearly lying and I was told lying was wrong when I was a nipper.
The first - and largest - cases of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo was by Serbs against Albanians. At that point there is a responsibility of the international community to step in. In Crimea, no ethnic cleansing was carried out against the Russians, so it is entirely an aggressive war for Russia to invade.
Oh, and Kosovo was given independence. It wasn't annexed by the USA in a land grab. In fact, it was even banned from being annexed by Albania.
Kosovo was invaded by NATO and carved out of Serbia. The non-Albanian % of the population went from 20% to 5%. But I guess that is not ethnic cleansing. Robin Cook told me. And Tony got the avenue named after him so that is ok.
Yes, it was invaded by NATO and carved out of Serbia because the Serbs were going genocidal on the Albanians. In such circumstances it was the moral thing to do. The fact that Serbs later fled because they didn't want to be ruled by Albanians, is not evidence for ethnic cleansing.
Your last two comments are just stupid because I've never been a fan of Tony Blair.
EdM (from BBC report): A major theme will be the "zero-zero economy", which he said was about "people asking why they are on zero-hours contracts while those at the top get away with zero tax".
Given the context, it's pretty clear he's talking about people, not corporations.
Zero number 1: This government is making it illegal to include an exclusivity clause in such contracts. Most people on zero-hours contracts are very happy with the arrangement because of the flexibility it allows. Most of them are relatively low-paid, and more likely to vote Labour.
Zero number 2: This government has taxed the very wealthy at higher levels than have been seen since the 1980s (one month of the last government aside). Tax avoidance schemes tolerated under Labour have been torn down left, right, and centre.
So, to answer your question, that's what to disagree with. Next.
Erm.... that it is factually incorrect. The top 1% don't pay zero tax, in fact they pay most of the tax.
I'm not sure how the Conservatives should play this. Reminding less well-off voters about the rich, and telling them to be grateful, might not be the vote winner you imagine.
Zero rate tax at the top is a massive and blatant lie.
How much tax did Starbucks pay?
Corporation tax?
Have a think about what other revenues they contribute directly or indirectly, through such things as staff salaries, and supply purchase.
The contention by many is that Starbucks (thourgh the financial advantage of their tax structure) force out local coffee shops who would pay staff salaries and supply purchase and would pay corporation tax as well.
Starbucks, Costa etc are not the cheap option when you want a hot drink.
Ed doing ok IMHO. Why the hell didn't he give this speech at conference?
Because some overpaid and underbrained election guru told him the important thing for a conference speech was not to use notes, presumably on the grounds that David Cameron had done it once.
Many if them probably said they voted Ukip... In my opinion this is more likely to mean they voted for Reckless than DNV
I think that is already covered. 28 out of 254 Reckless supporters said they voted 'Other' (i.e. not Con/Lab/LD). You might be right that some of those actually voted Conservative, but I've included them as 2010 voters anyway, so it doesn't matter from the point of view of the argument I was making.
I also wonder to what extent Kelly Tolhurst is attracting switchers back to the Tories as the campaign progresses and she becomes better known. The Tory candidate in Clacton didn't seem to make any real impact which I'm not sure is true this time. Obviously Kelly's twitter feed will present her in a good light but she does seem to connect well in quite a natural way with the schoolkids and with a whole host of people and businesses she has visited in what looks like quite an energetic campaign. With another week to go that could reasonably chip another couple of percentage points off the lead. One more poll next week without any pre-prompting might be interesting.
The Tory candidate in Clacton was in fact pretty good, Norm.
Nothing wrong with Ms Tolhurst either, except perhaps a little inexperience. As I posted earlier, LA's prompted poll produced a similar result to other pollsters, all within the 10%/15% range.
The Parties will have their own House polls, canvass returns and other feedback. We can have a good guess at what they are saying from the number of visits Dave has made to the area - five in the early days of the campaign, none since. That corresponds to a swift change in tone from Conservative HQ; the kitchen-sink strategy has given way to it's-only-a-by-election (we'll win it back in May.)
The punters have smelt the coffee and Reckless is now 18/1 on. Doesn't look like much of a betting heat to me. The vote percentage market might throw up an odd result though, especially if turnout is low (as I expect it will be.) Might be worth backing the outside ranges, but only to small stakes.
Been a bit of a disappointment, this election. Never mind. Plenty of punting opportunities at Cheltenham this weekend....and I have my Fuel Allowance to spend! :-)
Erm.... that it is factually incorrect. The top 1% don't pay zero tax, in fact they pay most of the tax.
I'm not sure how the Conservatives should play this. Reminding less well-off voters about the rich, and telling them to be grateful, might not be the vote winner you imagine.
Gordon got a sympathy vote over the Sun and the signature, but that was because he was trying to do the right thing and we knew he only had one eye. Ed's problem is that he appears gormless at times, and in a potential PM with his finger (theoretically) on the red button, that's worrying.
After a certain stage, constant harrying will be counter-productive, as Ukip have found to their benefit; especially when it has a definite political edge. But laughing at the clown may well get boring before it becomes a sympathy vote.
Constant harrying is counter-productive when it comes from a privileged elite unfairly using their power against a weaker opponent who deserves a fair hearing. Miliband is Leader of the Opposition and so already has a powerful platform. He is fair game, providing the criticism is seen as legitimate and chimes with a public perception.
Paul Waugh @paulwaugh 2m2 minutes ago Perils of holding press + party Q and A, journalists hissed at (@chrisshipitv) or heckled (@andybell5news) by members. Is that a good look?
Musing on yesterdays BBC parliament broadcast of the close 1964 general election and our own Coalition today it's noteworthy how close the nation came to a near tie.
The actual result was :
Lab 317 .. Con 304 (including Speaker) .. Libs 9.
A few Conservative holds here and there and perhaps a few extra Liberals with a result of :
Lab 309 .. Con 309 .. Lib 12
would have seen interesting times. A Con/Lib Coalition running through to 1968/9 ?? .... who knows but certainly the political landscape would have been considerably different.
If just 42 people had voted differently (in Kemptown, Ealing North and Wellingborough) there would have been a hung parliament and possible Con-Lib coalition...
Quite so and by such fine margins did Harold's pipe and gannex hold sway over Downing Street for six years.
Unlikely. Lab-Lib much more likely then; Libs were seen as the non-socialist left-ish alterntive. After 13 years the Tories were getting tired and a bit scandal-prone..
Possibly so. Much would have depended on how Home and Wilson had reacted to such a result.
We have an insight for Wilson from Feb 74 when he assumed office without offering the Liberals anything. I think Home might well have been more pragmatic and having almost come back from the electoral dead been more generous to Jo Grimond.
The first - and largest - cases of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo was by Serbs against Albanians. At that point there is a responsibility of the international community to step in. In Crimea, no ethnic cleansing was carried out against the Russians, so it is entirely an aggressive war for Russia to invade.
Oh, and Kosovo was given independence. It wasn't annexed by the USA in a land grab. In fact, it was even banned from being annexed by Albania.
Kosovo was invaded by NATO and carved out of Serbia. The non-Albanian % of the population went from 20% to 5%. But I guess that is not ethnic cleansing. Robin Cook told me. And Tony got the avenue named after him so that is ok.
Yes, it was invaded by NATO and carved out of Serbia because the Serbs were going genocidal on the Albanians. In such circumstances it was the moral thing to do. The fact that Serbs later fled because they didn't want to be ruled by Albanians, is not evidence for ethnic cleansing.
Your last two comments are just stupid because I've never been a fan of Tony Blair.
Genocidal on the Albanians? Please. Which afterwards turned out not be true but who cares about that. Serbs left because the KLA started killing them, and harvesting their organs. Under the noses of NATO. Who didn't care. But I guess that was not a "moral" imperative by that point.
I've been to the Lewes bonfire a couple of times and what an experience that is - like an oversold rock concert populated with fancy dress and serious reenactment sorts - plus those pretending to be Genghis Khan.
It was a crush. I wouldn't go again. It's a bucket list item.
Gary Robertson @BBCGaryR · 17m 17 minutes ago Sussex Police investigating a number of complaints about an effigy of Alex Salmond @ Lewes bonfire event say "no criminal offence occurred."
I’ve just been invited to do a Yougov survey. As I ticked through I found this:
"Chris Huhne (posted) 19 minutes ago by Member 380499 The clock is ticking on mr Huhne. Very controversial and hopefully will lose his seat in Parliament next May."
Flash PB poll please: What will be the reaction to Ed's "I'm a credible PM really" fightback speech? A. Clear success, great speech, polls recover. B. Clear flop, doesn't speak human, polling gets even worse. C. Meh. Nothing changes.
I think people feel the media coverage has strayed into trivial bullying - the hissing of the reporter asking the leadership question at the CBI conference was one example of people getting fed up - and we'll see some recovery. not necessarily because of the speech and the strong BBC interview last night, but because he's been oversold by the hostile coverage. An optimistic view is that people have actually been inoculated by the personal attacks going OTT too early: it's going to be hard to keep them up till May.
Sorry Nick what you've just written above is wishful nonsense. Ed Miliband is a dead man walking, nothing you or Labour do before the election will make him live again.
Does anyone know whether Betfair will work in Portugal? I've found a website that says it will, except the same site says it works in Italy and I know from experience that it doesn't.
Many if them probably said they voted Ukip... In my opinion this is more likely to mean they voted for Reckless than DNV
I think that is already covered. 28 out of 254 Reckless supporters said they voted 'Other' (i.e. not Con/Lab/LD). You might be right that some of those actually voted Conservative, but I've included them as 2010 voters anyway, so it doesn't matter from the point of view of the argument I was making.
I also wonder to what extent Kelly Tolhurst is attracting switchers back to the Tories as the campaign progresses and she becomes better known. The Tory candidate in Clacton didn't seem to make any real impact which I'm not sure is true this time. Obviously Kelly's twitter feed will present her in a good light but she does seem to connect well in quite a natural way with the schoolkids and with a whole host of people and businesses she has visited in what looks like quite an energetic campaign. With another week to go that could reasonably chip another couple of percentage points off the lead. One more poll next week without any pre-prompting might be interesting.
The Tory candidate in Clacton was in fact pretty good, Norm.
Nothing wrong with Ms Tolhurst either, except perhaps a little inexperience. As I posted earlier, LA's prompted poll produced a similar result to other pollsters, all within the 10%/15% range.
The Parties will have their own House polls, canvass returns and other feedback. We can have a good guess at what they are saying from the number of visits Dave has made to the area - five in the early days of the campaign, none since. That corresponds to a swift change in tone from Conservative HQ; the kitchen-sink strategy has given way to it's-only-a-by-election (we'll win it back in May.)
The punters have smelt the coffee and Reckless is now 18/1 on. Doesn't look like much of a betting heat to me. The vote percentage market might throw up an odd result though, especially if turnout is low (as I expect it will be.) Might be worth backing the outside ranges, but only to small stakes.
Been a bit of a disappointment, this election. Never mind. Plenty of punting opportunities at Cheltenham this weekend....and I have my Fuel Allowance to spend! :-)
Never mind 1/18, I have already collected part of my Rochester winnings from my local Coral
Does zero/zero refer to the number of people who think Miliband is a good choice for PM / think Labour have any idea what to do in a world where there is no money?
Paternal grandfather died 1966 Paternal grandmother died 1975 Maternal grandmother lived in Israel for a while after the war, date of death unknown Maternal grandfather alleged to have died in Auschwitz, but The Telegraph discovered he died in Czestochowa on May 12, 1945, four days after the end of the war.
So about 5 months after the Red Army reached that area of Poland. Why should anyone believe anything a Labourite says?
Does anyone know whether Betfair will work in Portugal? I've found a website that says it will, except the same site says it works in Italy and I know from experience that it doesn't.
Flash PB poll please: What will be the reaction to Ed's "I'm a credible PM really" fightback speech? A. Clear success, great speech, polls recover. B. Clear flop, doesn't speak human, polling gets even worse. C. Meh. Nothing changes.
I think people feel the media coverage has strayed into trivial bullying - the hissing of the reporter asking the leadership question at the CBI conference was one example of people getting fed up - and we'll see some recovery. not necessarily because of the speech and the strong BBC interview last night, but because he's been oversold by the hostile coverage. An optimistic view is that people have actually been inoculated by the personal attacks going OTT too early: it's going to be hard to keep them up till May.
Sorry Nick what you've just written above is wishful nonsense. Ed Miliband is a dead man walking, nothing you or Labour do before the election will make him live again.
Ed's decency,honesty and integrity will shine through in the end-no secret deals with Murdoch and Dacre either.
A friend of mine knows the guy who designed the poppies - the RBL hasn't paid him for it. Whilst I've enormous respect their mission - that's a very poor show.
PS I met Mr Corbyn a few years ago = he likes corduroy. I can't fault his parsimony, but I prefer his mad professor weather-geek brother.
Labour MPs cheered jokes about killing the Royal Family and lynching a Tory Cabinet minister at a tasteless Remembrance Sunday event, it emerged last night
The ‘anti-war comedy night’ even featured remarks mocking the ceramic poppies at the Tower of London.
Among those attending the event at a club in Covent Garden were former shadow minister Diane Abbott and Left-wing MP Jeremy Corbyn.
They heard another Left-winger, John McDonnell give a speech joking about Employment Minister Esther McVey being lynched.
So another catastrophic memory lapse by Ed. He seems to have forgotten that the top 1% of earners pay for the NHS....
Ed's abondoned the "35% Strategy". He's now on the "Moron Strategy", focussed on retained that section of the electorate which will believe absolutely anything he says as long as it involves bashing the rich or the Tories.
Does anyone know whether Betfair will work in Portugal? I've found a website that says it will, except the same site says it works in Italy and I know from experience that it doesn't.
Does anyone know whether Betfair will work in Portugal? I've found a website that says it will, except the same site says it works in Italy and I know from experience that it doesn't.
Firefox plus Hola! extension should make it work.
The one sure way of getting into Betfair while in France & other counties is to go through your phone data connection. Trouble is that you'll incur roaming charges. Thankfully, due to that wonder institution that the Tories took us into in 1973, now called the EU, there will be no roaming charges from some point next year .
The kipper MEPS couldn't be arsed to be there when this came up in the EP.
'Labour MPs cheered jokes about killing the Royal Family and lynching a Tory Cabinet minister at a tasteless Remembrance Sunday event, it emerged last night'
But Ed's already condemned them and withdrawn the whip,right?
Does anyone know whether Betfair will work in Portugal? I've found a website that says it will, except the same site says it works in Italy and I know from experience that it doesn't.
Firefox plus Hola! extension should make it work.
The one sure way of getting into Betfair while in France & other counties is to go through your phone data connection. Trouble is that you'll incur roaming charges. Thankfully, due to that wonder institution that the Tories took us into in 1973, now called the EU, there will be no roaming charges from some point next year .
The kipper MEPS couldn't be arsed to be there when this came up in the EP.
What do you make of Jim Messina's push polling in Rochester?
He named Reckless too, just like your old mucker LA
'Labour MPs cheered jokes about killing the Royal Family and lynching a Tory Cabinet minister at a tasteless Remembrance Sunday event, it emerged last night'
But Ed's already condemned them and withdrawn the whip,right?
Just imagine. Substitute Tories/UKIP and Nelson Mandela. Cue mass outrage on the BBC and the usual media. Wall to wall coverage. Police investigating... Resignations demanded... Shame on Britain... Dave/Nigel need to have a clearout of members...
Does anyone know whether Betfair will work in Portugal? I've found a website that says it will, except the same site says it works in Italy and I know from experience that it doesn't.
Firefox plus Hola! extension should make it work.
The one sure way of getting into Betfair while in France & other counties is to go through your phone data connection. Trouble is that you'll incur roaming charges. Thankfully, due to that wonder institution that the Tories took us into in 1973, now called the EU, there will be no roaming charges from some point next year .
The kipper MEPS couldn't be arsed to be there when this came up in the EP.
Just one more reason to suppose that UKIP is just a chancer organisation led by a barrow boy shyster only interested in the gravy train.
Trains going through Dawlish are being delayed due to adverse weather conditions. I hope there aren't any problems with the new track/embankment there.
I've just got my pensioners' winter fuel payment which I have deposited in my Betfair account.
I'll raise you.
My best friend's father gets the winter fuel payment.
He lives in the South of Spain.
IF you define the WFP as part of the State Pension then there's no reason why it shouldn't be paid to pensioners living abroad. If it is a benefit, it shouldn't be.
'Labour MPs cheered jokes about killing the Royal Family and lynching a Tory Cabinet minister at a tasteless Remembrance Sunday event, it emerged last night'
But Ed's already condemned them and withdrawn the whip,right?
Just imagine. Substitute Tories/UKIP and Nelson Mandela. Cue mass outrage on the BBC and the usual media. Wall to wall coverage. Police investigating... Resignations demanded... Shame on Britain... Dave/Nigel need to have a clearout of members...
Tories on here love distasteful jokes about dead South Africans, and no one criticises it
Trains going through Dawlish are being delayed due to adverse weather conditions. I hope there aren't any problems with the new track/embankment there.
Hopefully this is simply the sort of delay that is relatively routine in high winds/waves for this line, but you and I are not going to be the only ones thinking nervously of the Dawlish seafront every time there is an Atlantic depression on its way this winter.
I very much enjoy your stories of multi national tax evasion and the egregious behaviour of the profiteers at the NHS and I agree that the blame lies squarely with the mindset of the get rich quick Tories and their lackey coalition partners. Where I struggle is in believing Ed's Labour Party are leading an alternativet. All I hear from him is how he's going to tackle immigration.. No big vote of thanks to the thousands of immigrants who keep our public services running. Why isn't he putting the case for benefit claimants rather than joining the chorus of those who blame them?
Alex Salmond showed that not everyone is a nasty little Scotlander/Englander and if you sell compassion properly the people will follow. (Well at least enough to win the election)
Trains going through Dawlish are being delayed due to adverse weather conditions. I hope there aren't any problems with the new track/embankment there.
Hopefully this is simply the sort of delay that is relatively routine in high winds/waves for this line, but you and I are not going to be the only ones thinking nervously of the Dawlish seafront every time there is an Atlantic depression on its way this winter.
I saw a photo of the revamped sea wall at Dawlish that holds back the ground supporting the replaced rail line. Was somewhat surprised to see it is: A. Made of mortared-together stone blocks; and B. Vertical (ie the rail-bed and wall are square in cross section) It was cracked at the top.
Vertical walls are shite at holding back potentially slipping ground on steep slopes. I have seen pretty much everywhere in Switzerland for example that the down-slope walls beneath chalets and other buildings are: A. Massive B. Sloping inwards C. Made of reinforced concrete
Just saying...
(Have you BTW made yer mind up yet about how ships float?)
I have a couple of hours spare this evening and I have reserved them for going through EdM's new policies he announced today ..so excited..no blank piece of paper anymore...
Comments
Oh, and Kosovo was given independence. It wasn't annexed by the USA in a land grab. In fact, it was even banned from being annexed by Albania.
"Labour has reduced its corporation tax bill from £561,000 to zero by offsetting expenses and previous tax losses. Despite a £2.8 million surplus."
http://order-order.com/2013/07/26/labour-lessons-in-reducing-your-tax-bill-to-zero/
Do you think its OK to pay minus £4m on a 9.5 Bn profit?
TB was happy to leave when he saw that his route to personal wealth and glory was advanced and open and others have followed in his wake.
Now to those left behind and their surprise, the support of the wwc is unraveling and that same support is looking elsewhere for succour and representation (e.g. UKIP and Green), as slowly some of them come to realise that their support has been used and their representations ignored..
So in the coming GE, whilst Labour may still get loyal support form the economically poor NE and Wales and other parts of the N, there is a big question mark over the destination of their traditional support in the Midlands.
Well that's the GE sewn up then.
A truly exceptional innings.
I'm not a geek. I'm normal. Really. Really. I promise. I can almost see him holding back the tears.
He just needs to tell us he feels our pain. And he'll get angry on our behalf.
I'm pretty sure he won't tell us he'll unwind his IHT wheeze and pay back the tax monies due. When is a journalist going to bring him up on this?
Good he mentioned immigration. Some empty words as usual.
False promises? Must be the magic money tree then.
NHS pension scheme was in profit prior to 2010 like the NHS
Now both are fooked.
By forcing companies to declare revenue and profit in every country we force them to declare their global corporate structure. The basics for how the Luxemburg based avoidance scheme works is declaring one corporate structure in Country A whilst declaring a different corporate structure in Country L.
Country-by-country reporting exposes the structure on a cross border basis an removes the ability to lie about their corporate structure.
It would also help if HMRC didn't just nod through blatantly obvious exploitative Transfer Pricing Arrangements but that's a different battle.
Reminds me vaguely of the Captain Planet theme tune: "...gonna take pollution down to zero..."
And, of course, Clegg's 'alarm clock Britain' slogan. Not a fan of slogans generally, but that's especially bad.
Kosovo was invaded by NATO and carved out of Serbia. The non-Albanian % of the population went from 20% to 5%. But I guess that is not ethnic cleansing. Robin Cook told me. And Tony got the avenue named after him so that is ok.
Their contribution to the Uk is more than corp tax. R+D investment is corp tax free - would you rather they closed their labs and paid cash ?
I'm playing a one-armed techie bandit here and no idea how I stumbled across a random app or set of files - or what's talking with my TV. All suggestions most welcome, I'm not usually phased by this stuff, but I'm flummoxed.
I canvassed in clacton and actually the conservative candidate was a local man who many people seemed to like
In the posh part , Frinton, many seemed to be on first name terms with him
Still doesn't answer the question of how Ed's going to fix it.
Your last two comments are just stupid because I've never been a fan of Tony Blair.
EdM (from BBC report): A major theme will be the "zero-zero economy", which he said was about "people asking why they are on zero-hours contracts while those at the top get away with zero tax".
Given the context, it's pretty clear he's talking about people, not corporations.
Zero number 1: This government is making it illegal to include an exclusivity clause in such contracts. Most people on zero-hours contracts are very happy with the arrangement because of the flexibility it allows. Most of them are relatively low-paid, and more likely to vote Labour.
Zero number 2: This government has taxed the very wealthy at higher levels than have been seen since the 1980s (one month of the last government aside). Tax avoidance schemes tolerated under Labour have been torn down left, right, and centre.
So, to answer your question, that's what to disagree with. Next.
But then I'm no Lynton Crosby. As in the famous Frost Report class sketch, I know my place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2k1iRD2f-c
The Tory candidate in Clacton was in fact pretty good, Norm.
Nothing wrong with Ms Tolhurst either, except perhaps a little inexperience. As I posted earlier, LA's prompted poll produced a similar result to other pollsters, all within the 10%/15% range.
The Parties will have their own House polls, canvass returns and other feedback. We can have a good guess at what they are saying from the number of visits Dave has made to the area - five in the early days of the campaign, none since. That corresponds to a swift change in tone from Conservative HQ; the kitchen-sink strategy has given way to it's-only-a-by-election (we'll win it back in May.)
The punters have smelt the coffee and Reckless is now 18/1 on. Doesn't look like much of a betting heat to me. The vote percentage market might throw up an odd result though, especially if turnout is low (as I expect it will be.) Might be worth backing the outside ranges, but only to small stakes.
Been a bit of a disappointment, this election. Never mind. Plenty of punting opportunities at Cheltenham this weekend....and I have my Fuel Allowance to spend! :-)
I mean really? It's laughable lack of self-awareness.
Did Miliband remember to confirm we'd get free owls under a Labour Government?
Perils of holding press + party Q and A, journalists hissed at (@chrisshipitv) or heckled (@andybell5news) by members. Is that a good look?
Zero Zero
One Nation
Two Eds
Three ...
We have an insight for Wilson from Feb 74 when he assumed office without offering the Liberals anything. I think Home might well have been more pragmatic and having almost come back from the electoral dead been more generous to Jo Grimond.
Genocidal on the Albanians? Please. Which afterwards turned out not be true but who cares about that.
Serbs left because the KLA started killing them, and harvesting their organs. Under the noses of NATO. Who didn't care. But I guess that was not a "moral" imperative by that point.
Glad to hear you're not a fan of Tony.
I've been to the Lewes bonfire a couple of times and what an experience that is - like an oversold rock concert populated with fancy dress and serious reenactment sorts - plus those pretending to be Genghis Khan.
It was a crush. I wouldn't go again. It's a bucket list item.
'Much better from Edward Miliband. I rather enjoyed that speech'
Well received by the hand picked audience of Labour supporters.
English democrats got 4.5% last time, I'd have thought they were the majority of 'others' voting for reckless
Look at the green vote... Only 4/23 say they voted 'others'.. That's 17% when it should be around 37%
I’ve just been invited to do a Yougov survey. As I ticked through I found this:
"Chris Huhne
(posted) 19 minutes ago by Member 380499
The clock is ticking on mr Huhne. Very controversial and hopefully will lose his seat in Parliament next May."
Of to Weatherspoons' for a final farewell for the next few weeks. Please keep me informed.
:still-one-point-nine-percent-too-high:
Does anyone know whether Betfair will work in Portugal? I've found a website that says it will, except the same site says it works in Italy and I know from experience that it doesn't.
Dracula was originally going to be a woman. And it's based on the Romanian word for 'evil' (dracul), as devil is based on the English.
So about 5 months after the Red Army reached that area of Poland.
Why should anyone believe anything a Labourite says?
Starry-eyes are self delusion methinks. You've a dud in charge - that non-Labourites are delighted with him says everything.
#ILoveEd
PS I met Mr Corbyn a few years ago = he likes corduroy. I can't fault his parsimony, but I prefer his mad professor weather-geek brother.
Excellent work, Sam - collecting future winnings early to pay immediate expenses. Did you get the idea from George Osborne?
Let me know if you have anything interesting for the Paddy Power meeting. Off now.
He did look a bit knackered.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/nov/12/film-nigel-farage-insurance-based-nhs-private-companies
We will all be paying through the nose in an insurance based system. France pays half as much again as we do under that system and of course Farage forgets that companies pay as well for every worker.
11% of Reckless' vote is from 2010 "others"
In 2010 The English Democrats got 4.5%
Doesn't seem to much of a stretch to me to say that 4.5% fits nicely with 11% of 44
This would indicate to me that those who said they voted UKIP were put in DNV, but it would be great to find out if anyone could
My best friend's father gets the winter fuel payment.
He lives in the South of Spain.
The kipper MEPS couldn't be arsed to be there when this came up in the EP.
'Labour MPs cheered jokes about killing the Royal Family and lynching a Tory Cabinet minister at a tasteless Remembrance Sunday event, it emerged last night'
But Ed's already condemned them and withdrawn the whip,right?
http://civitas.org.uk/newblog/2013/12/new-report-on-healthcare-could-irelands-emerging-healthcare-reforms-hold-lessons-for-the-uk/
He named Reckless too, just like your old mucker LA
Have I missed Ed’s re-launch Mk5 speech – how did it go?
Focus eyes on the prize of changing Britain - that's our task. That's what we're doing #6monthstowin
Has Hunt been re-educated?
I very much enjoy your stories of multi national tax evasion and the egregious behaviour of the profiteers at the NHS and I agree that the blame lies squarely with the mindset of the get rich quick Tories and their lackey coalition partners. Where I struggle is in believing Ed's Labour Party are leading an alternativet. All I hear from him is how he's going to tackle immigration.. No big vote of thanks to the thousands of immigrants who keep our public services running. Why isn't he putting the case for benefit claimants rather than joining the chorus of those who blame them?
Alex Salmond showed that not everyone is a nasty little Scotlander/Englander and if you sell compassion properly the people will follow. (Well at least enough to win the election)
four ...
A. Made of mortared-together stone blocks; and
B. Vertical (ie the rail-bed and wall are square in cross section)
It was cracked at the top.
Vertical walls are shite at holding back potentially slipping ground on steep slopes. I have seen pretty much everywhere in Switzerland for example that the down-slope walls beneath chalets and other buildings are:
A. Massive
B. Sloping inwards
C. Made of reinforced concrete
Just saying...
(Have you BTW made yer mind up yet about how ships float?)