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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » And the winner of the PB Rochester and Strood competition i
politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » And the winner of the PB Rochester and Strood competition is…..
The winner will receive a copy of the new book edited by Philip Cowley and Rob Ford “Sex Lies & The Ballot Box” which was launched earlier this month and has attracted a fair bit of publicity.
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http://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2014/nov/25/german-economy-growth-us-gdp-bank-of-england-live#block-54748438e4b08fbd11e1ad1d
Does anyone know of a way of finding out how long a web page has been up unaltered?
I am interested in a certain Aston Martin, which I think the seller has had on their web page at least a month. Is there any way - wayback machine or whatever - to look back and see how long they've been trying to sell it for?
Can I just say I guessed predicted 7.77% and was only out by 0.5%.
*smug mode*
When there's no risk to employers of being stuck with useless costly employees, you take them on that much more readily.
Having with deep sorrow parted with a beautiful but hopelessly unreliable Stag, I have been looking at 4-seater classic convertibles. All there is - when you eliminate second-hand BMWs that wanker BMW owners consider classics because their tiny minds and enormous egos can;t handle the idea that what they are selling is a ratty old second-hand car - is a late-run XJS or a DB7. The latter is more a second hand car than a classic but on the other hand an Aston's an Aston. Of course one doesn't want to pay up a lot if one can avoid....
My "rather privileged view of the world" is the British citizenship is an honour and a privilege, and that all people who have that status should have the same rights. However, with those rights come duties and obligations.
I am comfortable with the idea of people having a safe harbour so that they do not need to undertake positive actions which are against their belief system. But, fundamentally, if you want to be part of our society you need to acknowledge the supremacy of the secular law in the UK - and that it applies equally to all citizens. You can't have a situation whereby you say "I am a Catholic/Muslim/Pastafarian/whatever: this law does not apply to me" - if you want to take advantage of the safe harbour then you need to provide people with an alternative way to exercise their rights under the law.
* steps back and takes tissue from pocket, ready to wipe spittle from face *
4-seater Morgan?
[some were 4-seaters, no?]
Have a look through the catalogue and if there is anything you fancy then register, if not message me and I will give you my brothers contact details, he is a specialist and will be able to help.
Looks like one UKIP branch is proving David Cameron's maxim about twitter.
The Kipper account is complaining about a BBC news report about UKIP/Farage taking place outside a Mosque.
Except the Mosque, is well, Westminster Cathedral
What makes it even funnier is well, it is the Thanet South branch of UKIP that is making themselves look like an idiot.
A lot of people seem to be under this mistaken impression that having a liberal democratic society is a sure thing that we are guaranteed in future. But history has shown that is not the case. Liberal democracy, while a great and wonderful thing, is a historical rarity, and a society can have it and later lose it. For it to be sustained, you need the right institutions, the right culture and people in those institutions respecting that culture. As places like Pakistan and Nigeria have shown, it doesn't matter if you put in British style institutions if the people are of a mindset that doesn't believe in them and don't fight to keep them. The American Founding Fathers, so ahead of their time in so many ways, recognised the danger that immigrants from more autocratic countries could pose, and stressed the important that immigrants should be those of a liberal mentality. We should be listening to their words that have come down through the ages.
Please, you can attack Labour for many things but the idea that they werent anything but incredibly good on LGBT issues is for the birds. Gay marriage is a trifling thing with little real impact on the lives of gay people compared to the measures Labour introduced from 1997 to 2010 (often in the face of fierce opposition from Tories including one D. Cameron).
https://twitter.com/ukip_sththanet/status/537244816850292736
https://twitter.com/reporterboy/status/537245525633146880
https://twitter.com/ukip_sththanet/status/537247257675182080
https://twitter.com/reporterboy/status/537248552914022400
The Lansley reforms continue to bankrupt the Acute Sector.
"Alan you mentioned you wouldn't be voting Tory next time. In a a sense this is a vote against the performance of the coalition. Would not a majority Tory government, albeit an unlikely scenario, be a different beast? Cameron will only have a limited shelf life even if he wins - is that a factor to consider before discarding the Tories? And finally do you really think any alternative gov't - most likely a Lab minority or even majority one will be an improvement on what we now have? "
I really can't see a majority Cameron government being that different. The LDs have been a convenient excuse for DC to ignore the things he doesn't like and let someone else take the blame. I'd argue the LDs want things too and if Cameron can't cut a sensible deal on things he wants then he's not suited to politics.
I've already discounted Cameron as a failure on his own terms let alone mine, but don't see how voting for him on the grounds he will go makes much sense. I'd much rather see what replaces him and then decide, but if it's Boris or Osborne, then I'll still be sitting on my hands.
wrt a Labour govt well I've sort of got one now ; Cameron hasn't really done much to reverse the Blair settlement and Miliband would do some dabbling to keep the troops happy; but really there's no money to do anything significant, so what's to fear ? So it might not be an improvement on what we have now but it won't be noticeably worse either.
Congratulations to Mr. Simms.
In 2010 there was 1 in deficit
I've no idea what they did for LGBT people 1997-2010 and a cursory google got me nowhere - I am genuinely interested. Do tell.
And please, no "initiatives" or "strategies".
Those bloody gays are everywhere.... (jk of course!)
Because I was hoping that would win.
1. I like hearing from Labour people on here. So I hope those who are thinking of leaving don't.
2. I wonder how long it will take for the name of the internet company through which the message about killing a soldier was posted to come out. Whatever the other arguments, that's a reputational minefield for the company.
3. I listened to Tristram Hunt this morning talking about private schools. What struck me most was the defeatism that permeated what he said about state schools. There seemed to be no sense from him that his job - assuming he becomes Education Secretarty - is to ensure that state schools become as good as possible. I would feel a bit depressed were I a state school teacher to feel that the Ed Sec''s view is that I could not teach my class to be good enough to apply for and get into Oxbridge but needed help from teachers in the private sector.
Also - very late in the day, I know - a thank you to Fat Steve for organising the drinks on Friday and to all the various PBers I met who made it a most engaging evening for me.
Many more names there than I recognised. Would be nice to see more lurkers posting, if only occasionally.
Thanks Mark for your efforts. You got the support you deserved.
Zero % pay rises mean people are not prepared to cover shifts at NHS rates.
The biggest single cause of the increase in costs is Agency staff costs that are on target to reach £1.7bn
NHS staff do great work. That doesn't mean money we don't have should be flung their way whenever they decide they should be paid more.
[As a related aside, we really should be doing more to tackle the deficit].
Well under the Lab/Lib/Con disasters, how long before Westminster Cathedral does become a mosque?
Supply and demand i think.
The FTs were planning to spend £13.4bn by q2 in staff costs and £0.4bn on agency staff
They cannot get staff to cover shifts at frozen since 2010 rates (15% down in real terms) so pay a massive £831m on agency shifts to the end of September
I predicted (in the comments thread, not the competition) Tory 34.34% and UKIP 43.43% - a 9.09% lead, so take some consolation from the fact I'd have come in the top 60 or so!
As for @TheScreamingEagles' list, thanks - yes that works.
Subject to the civil partnership/gay marriage huge imbalance....
You want to buy a car made twenty years ago - and that is yet unfashionable.
Mercedes 500/600 SL http://tinyurl.com/ptkb854
Millions of private sector workers would have loved n extra shift at normal rates over the last five years.
Massive conflict of interests GPs commission services. Many of those services can be carried out in an Acute or community environment (OR AT A GP)
An experienced Nurse has had a real cut in pay of circa 15% in the five years of this Govt.
They opt to work only at rates well above the standard rate.
Since demand exceeds supply they succeed.
Abolished Section 28.
Allowed gays to serve openly in the military.
Civil partnerships.
Allowing transgender people to change their gender.
Equal age of consent.
Outlawing discrimination in employment.
Outlawing discrimination in provision of goods and services.
That was some record. Except for decriminalisation no Government can really compare to what Labour achieved for LGBT rights between 1997 and 2010.
The hospital cant get it covered for NHS rates by anyone
FFS when will this Govt learn the 15% cut in wages in real terms is counter productive and is bankrupting the NHS and leading to higher pay costs per hour.
Its not rocket science
http://www.zdnet.com/now-we-know-who-developed-state-sponsored-regin-malware-7000036111/?s_cid=e539&ttag=e539&ftag=TRE17cfd61
I think a lot of people (including very intelligent and educated people) simply don't want it to happen so invent reasons as to why it doesn't have to happen. People pick the facts that support their world-view, and find reasons to dismiss the rest.
Others (far fewer) make an argument on closing big-business tax loopholes, and raising taxation in general, which is at least engaging with the argument although both fiscally inadequate and economically damaging.
Double Carpet runs an Election Game competition with a small elite field of professional pundits and political anoraks. All seventeen entries overestimated the size of UKIPs win, most by a good deal more than me. The wisdom of the PB crowd was much wiser in this case.
Nice to meet up at the drinks bash. Was it your first visit to DD's? I have the feeling we have met before but those evenings are often a hazy blur afterwards.
One rule for the rich, one rule for the poor - 'twas always the Tory way...
Very often people decide their opinion and then look for facts to fit it.
If I follow the line of reasoning on PB, the country is in the crapper because the rich are too poor to bear more taxes, and the poor are too rich to be given help.
The clarity of thought is stunning.
The main thing is that I beat Shadsy. Not often one can say that!
Is capping executive pay your proposed solution to closing our £100bn deficit?
I had met OGH before, who has an astonishing memory and not only remembered meeting me before, but exactly where, when and my name, even though it was over 5 years ago!
Just wait til PP go up 250s!
That said, I wish shareholders would be far more actively engaged in governance - and clamp down on the greed of many executives in public companies
If you pull it off, your winnings from Shadsy will be the least of your celebrations.
The country is full of lazy greedy people, and only the Tories and their friends keep us from utter disaster?
I understand Lads lost a small amount on the nite, but would have won big time had the Tories won. Considering how close they came you have to say that backing them was certainly the value bet. UKIP may have won, but if I back a 1/33 shot, I expect it to win by the length of the home straight, not a hard-pressed few lengths.
FAI chief executive John Delaney has apologised after being recorded performing a song written in tribute to an IRA hunger striker of the 1980s
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/republic-of-ireland/11250106/Ireland-football-chief-sparks-controversy-by-singing-pro-Republican-song.html
A qualified nurse with 5 years experience at 31 March 2015 will earn £24799
£249 extra in 5 years gross
Their pension contribution has risen from 6% TO 7.1% IE £272.79 more
So even in cash terms they are £23 worse off in NHS pay and pension.
Real Terms at least a 15% reduction.
No wonder the opt to rip the NHS off by only agreeing to work at agency rates
Meanwhile CEOs of FTSE 100 companies get significant double digit rises in additional to the 10% tax cut the Tories 'imposed' on them.
One rule for the rich, one rule for the poor - 'twas always the Tory way...
Who can forget the Labour MPs cheering when that policy was announced in the commons.
♫ Saaaaaaaaam missiilees in the♫
Errm Yes quite right.
How much do we owe you for that bit of advice at your current rates?
As far as I can recall, that the link with private sector pay was broken to suit the government of the day who then imposed a contributory element to the pension scheme. So, in effect, the civil servants were then paying something approaching twice over for their pension.
NO NO NO.
You want to buy a car made twenty years ago - and that is yet unfashionable.
Mercedes 500/600 SL http://tinyurl.com/ptkb854
Suffers from the "it's not a classic, it's just a second-hand car" syndrome.
The thing about German convertibles is that really someone else should drive it while I stand up in the back. The only open-top 4-seater German car I'd really consider would be this classic:
https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3135/2895342321_5e1eb1ebea.jpg
For example teaching classical history to PBers is its own reward.