Someone might like to make The Mail aware that the election isn't just over five months away. It is even worse than that for Ed. It is just over four months away. With the campaign starting in three...
You do know that the Conservatives are polling lower than Labour?
Mr. Root, I simply don't get the limp-wristed wet handshake. Gripping something isn't exactly difficult (unless you've got some sort of muscle problem).
It's terrible when you 'miss' when grabbing the other persons hand. Happened many a time to me.
Earlier this year: Me: Nice to meet you. (Confidently stretch out hand.) Potential investor: Er, no hands.
We should give kids the vote. Everyone from key stage 3+
Allocate ~5 mps in an STV multimember constituency, or however many is equivalent to 1/4 of an adult vote. It would be cheap as chips to administer (voter registration would be based on school enrolment records, polling can be done at secondary schools at lunchtime on 7th May), get all kids into the *habit* of voting and paying attention to politics, force parties to actually consider the impact of policies on kids and give them a proper voice in parliament.
Seriously, why not? It would be great for democracy.
We should give kids the vote. Everyone from key stage 3+
Allocate ~5 mps in an STV multimember constituency, or however many is equivalent to 1/4 of an adult vote. It would be cheap as chips to administer (voter registration would be based on school enrolment records, polling can be done at secondary schools at lunchtime on 7th May), get all kids into the *habit* of voting and paying attention to politics, force parties to actually consider the impact of policies on kids and give them a proper voice in parliament.
Seriously, why not? It would be great for democracy.
Someone might like to make The Mail aware that the election isn't just over five months away. It is even worse than that for Ed. It is just over four months away. With the campaign starting in three...
You do know that the Conservatives are polling lower than Labour?
The campaign will be decisive. I am expecting both the Labour and UKIP campaigns to unravel under even the lightest forensic examination....
Just blooked at the voting registration form. The new bit is that it requires one’s National Insurance number. Being an old fart I can’t recall when I was issued with one of those. It might of been when I had my first official job ..... at 17 when working on the Christmas post during the school holidays ...... or 19 when I started articles. When does one get it? The form says that if the applicant hasn’t got one, the office will contact them about a different form of ID check, but, ominously, that it may take longer to deal with the application.
It's normally issued at age 14, through schools. You should have it on any pay slip or tax return (or pension slip, depending on age and circumstance).
Obviously, I don't know your circumstances, but it would be pretty unusual for you not to have any record of it.
Like a lot of our society, the system basically assumes that people are organised and competent at filling in forms. I'm OK at both but if you asked me my NI number I'd need to think "where did I put that HMRC file?" I never keep my pay slips and can't see the point of them more than once a year - they always say the same thing.
Now that's me - a politically-aware person with two jobs who fills in his own tax return. What chance that the average 18 year old has his NI number to hand and the time and focus to fill out the form? And if we want to restrict the franchise to organised and focused people, a drastic cull of adult voters will result.
Moreover, the law's application varies erratically. A friend in (Labour-run) Ealing has been asked to re-register, even though existing registrants are supposed to be carried over: apparently it's up to the discretion of local council officials whether they do this.
Most feeble handshake I have ever experienced was actor Brian Cox. Titus Andronicus. The original Hannibal Lector. Jeez, the disappointment. Like having a dead mackerel gently plopped into your hand.
Someone might like to make The Mail aware that the election isn't just over five months away. It is even worse than that for Ed. It is just over four months away. With the campaign starting in three...
You do know that the Conservatives are polling lower than Labour?
The campaign will be decisive. I am expecting both the Labour and UKIP campaigns to unravel under even the lightest forensic examination....
Yep, just like the UKIP campaign unravelled during the Euro election campaign.
...Now that's me - a politically-aware person with two jobs who fills in his own tax return. What chance that the average 18 year old has his NI number to hand and the time and focus to fill out the form? And if we want to restrict the franchise to organised and focused people, a drastic cull of adult voters will result....
sven, I suspect it is designed to be a pattern that can easily be remembered (or, at least, outwith the Labour Party). Your cousin will probably have a few more that are embedded in his memory due to his professionalism.
When in The Netherlands I used the UK-NI as a tutorial-example of a "grep" expression. It is not complicated and is easy to parse....
Just blooked at the voting registration form. The new bit is that it requires one’s National Insurance number. Being an old fart I can’t recall when I was issued with one of those. It might of been when I had my first official job ..... at 17 when working on the Christmas post during the school holidays ...... or 19 when I started articles. When does one get it? The form says that if the applicant hasn’t got one, the office will contact them about a different form of ID check, but, ominously, that it may take longer to deal with the application.
It's normally issued at age 14, through schools. You should have it on any pay slip or tax return (or pension slip, depending on age and circumstance).
Obviously, I don't know your circumstances, but it would be pretty unusual for you not to have any record of it.
Like a lot of our society, the system basically assumes that people are organised and competent at filling in forms. I'm OK at both but if you asked me my NI number I'd need to think "where did I put that HMRC file?" I never keep my pay slips and can't see the point of them more than once a year - they always say the same thing.
Now that's me - a politically-aware person with two jobs who fills in his own tax return. What chance that the average 18 year old has his NI number to hand and the time and focus to fill out the form? And if we want to restrict the franchise to organised and focused people, a drastic cull of adult voters will result.
Moreover, the law's application varies erratically. A friend in (Labour-run) Ealing has been asked to re-register, even though existing registrants are supposed to be carried over: apparently it's up to the discretion of local council officials whether they do this.
If Labour get back in they should bring in same-day voter registration, like in a bunch of US states. If you're keying the whole system off pre-existing NI numbers then there shouldn't be any need to register in advance then have the information sit there for a while. Just show up and show NI card and a photo ID and they stick you on the list.
Per Wikipedia:
Voter turnout is much higher in states using Election Day registration than in states that do not. In the 2004 presidential election, voter turnout in same-day voter registration states was 12 percent higher than states that did not;[3] in the 2006 midterm elections, states with same-day voter registration had turnout rates 10-12 percent higher than in other states.[4]
I'll give you an even money bet that the referendum result hasn't been voided by 31 December 2015. I'm all heart.
It's a nice idea! But no thanks - because the odds aren't good enough, and more seriously because this is a different matter from the one on which I was posting.
I don't think I ever had an NI card. If I did I lost it a long time ago. I memorised my NI number when I first started work. It frankly just seemed easier than looking it up.
When my 17 year old daughter started a part time job this year she had to wait about 2 weeks for her NI number to be allocated and her employers were not able to pay her until it arrived. It is a more than slightly chaotic system and not an ideal check for voter registration.
Is the NI Card a new innovation that you old Fogeys missed? The majority of people under the age of 30 will have their NI number in their wallet - quite out of touch and patronising to imagine people won't be able to get hold of it.
Presumably Nick also thinks NI numbers are a terrible encumbrance on the ability of young people to find work - they should all be encouraged to go cash in hand to boost employment for the greater good
I don't think I ever had an NI card. If I did I lost it a long time ago. I memorised my NI number when I first started work. It frankly just seemed easier than looking it up.
When my 17 year old daughter started a part time job this year she had to wait about 2 weeks for her NI number to be allocated and her employers were not able to pay her until it arrived. It is a more than slightly chaotic system and not an ideal check for voter registration.
A victim of child benefit cuts then...
The only people who are automatically registered are those under 16 years old, who live in the UK and for whom Child Benefit is in payment. They are automatically registered and a National Insurance number card sent to them just before their 16th birthday.
''if we want to restrict the franchise to organised and focused people, a drastic cull of adult voters will result.''
Some of whom may not even be bogus or deceased, I take it.
This system may have its faults but it is far preferable to the arrangement where labour politicians left it to 'community leaders' to 'sort' large blocks of postal votes from ethnic communities.
In the worst cases those same politicians turned a blind eye to mass rape and human trafficking as a sort of quid pro quo.
Presumably Nick also thinks NI numbers are a terrible encumbrance on the ability of young people to find work - they should all be encouraged to go cash in hand to boost employment for the greater good
Being able to show one's NI contributions has had a positive upside in terms of a (much, much) later pension. However, if the UK Gmt is moving towards a non-contributory model for pensions, etc., what's the point?
I don't think I ever had an NI card. If I did I lost it a long time ago. I memorised my NI number when I first started work. It frankly just seemed easier than looking it up.
When my 17 year old daughter started a part time job this year she had to wait about 2 weeks for her NI number to be allocated and her employers were not able to pay her until it arrived. It is a more than slightly chaotic system and not an ideal check for voter registration.
I recall having a card long, long ago, and, for a while a National Service Registration Card which I was delighted to be able to tear up when it was announced that NS was discontinued. I think, now my memory has been jogged that one of my “children” had a card when they started work, Otherwise, as posted earlier, like NP I look at my HMRC paperwork.
I don't think I ever had an NI card. If I did I lost it a long time ago. I memorised my NI number when I first started work. It frankly just seemed easier than looking it up.
When my 17 year old daughter started a part time job this year she had to wait about 2 weeks for her NI number to be allocated and her employers were not able to pay her until it arrived. It is a more than slightly chaotic system and not an ideal check for voter registration.
A victim of child benefit cuts then...
The only people who are automatically registered are those under 16 years old, who live in the UK and for whom Child Benefit is in payment. They are automatically registered and a National Insurance number card sent to them just before their 16th birthday.
Well she must have lost it (this doesn't surprise me greatly) because we still get paid the CB for some reason even although I have to pay it back in my tax return. She certainly found it very frustrating to be working and not getting her first paycheque!
Good to see Carswell talking some sense... perhaps UKIP won't be so toxic to so many of us when he replaces Farage (Man of the Year my arse)..... currently I'd rather vote for Ed than them and that's not a happy place.
Is the NI Card a new innovation that you old Fogeys missed? The majority of people under the age of 30 will have their NI number in their wallet - quite out of touch and patronising to imagine people won't be able to get hold of it.
Do you understand the difference between 'reading' and 'comprehension'? Why would a sentient being require a piece of plastic to remember a pattern of alpha-numerics...?
Presumably Nick also thinks NI numbers are a terrible encumbrance on the ability of young people to find work - they should all be encouraged to go cash in hand to boost employment for the greater good
Being able to show one's NI contributions has had a positive upside in terms of a (much, much) later pension. However, if the UK Gmt is moving towards a non-contributory model for pensions, etc., what's the point?
Bigger point but I totally agree. The pension changes have really removed the last vestiges of a reason for NI to exist. Chancellors talk vaguely from time to time into integrating it into IT but somehow never get around to it. Must be something to do with the influence of older voters and the under representation of younger voters in our elections.
I don't think I ever had an NI card. If I did I lost it a long time ago. I memorised my NI number when I first started work. It frankly just seemed easier than looking it up.
When my 17 year old daughter started a part time job this year she had to wait about 2 weeks for her NI number to be allocated and her employers were not able to pay her until it arrived. It is a more than slightly chaotic system and not an ideal check for voter registration.
A victim of child benefit cuts then...
The only people who are automatically registered are those under 16 years old, who live in the UK and for whom Child Benefit is in payment. They are automatically registered and a National Insurance number card sent to them just before their 16th birthday.
I think they stopped issuing the cards a couple of years ago. You should still get a letter telling you your NINO.
Never put your wallet in your trouser back-pockets. I think I still had it until the mid-'Nineties. It was held together due to the data-strip being intact! Maybe that was the stuff of Chobham fame...?
Edited-to-add: The odd fiver on a Friday night offered no protection to the poor buggah!
I don't think I ever had an NI card. If I did I lost it a long time ago. I memorised my NI number when I first started work. It frankly just seemed easier than looking it up.
When my 17 year old daughter started a part time job this year she had to wait about 2 weeks for her NI number to be allocated and her employers were not able to pay her until it arrived. It is a more than slightly chaotic system and not an ideal check for voter registration.
A victim of child benefit cuts then...
The only people who are automatically registered are those under 16 years old, who live in the UK and for whom Child Benefit is in payment. They are automatically registered and a National Insurance number card sent to them just before their 16th birthday.
I think they stopped issuing the cards a couple of years ago. You should still get a letter telling you your NINO.
They should update the website I just copy pasted then.
The Observer article on this poll http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/dec/27/first-time-voters-eu-2015-election-farage-labour states "Opinium research carried out an online survey of 503 Britons aged 17 to 22, from 18 to 22 December 2014, and 2,003 UK adults between 19 and 23 December 2014. Results have been weighted to nationally representative criteria" (my bold). Does that mean there is a new proper opinion poll out there somewhere?
I suspect it is designed to be a pattern that can easily be remembered (or, at least, outwith the Labour Party). Your cousin will probably have a few more that are embedded in his memory due to his professionalism.
When in The Netherlands I used the UK-NI as a tutorial-example of a "grep" expression. It is not complicated and is easy to parse....
Hey, I'm a mathematician, and I see no pattern in my number whatsoever. If there is one, it needs to be explained if it's to be any help.
Is the NI Card a new innovation that you old Fogeys missed? The majority of people under the age of 30 will have their NI number in their wallet - quite out of touch and patronising to imagine people won't be able to get hold of it.
Nah, as others have pointed out, it's out of touch and patronising to think that the NI card still exists, let alone that most young people carry it around (seriously, ask five young people at random and you'll find out). The real world is much more chaotic than we might wish, and people have other priorities than keeping track of official stuff. (And I'm saying that as someone who proposed ID cards!)
Good to see Carswell talking some sense... perhaps UKIP won't be so toxic to so many of us when he replaces Farage (Man of the Year my arse)..... currently I'd rather vote for Ed than them and that's not a happy place.
Farage can set up a breakaway party with Kerry Smith.
Presumably Nick also thinks NI numbers are a terrible encumbrance on the ability of young people to find work - they should all be encouraged to go cash in hand to boost employment for the greater good
Being able to show one's NI contributions has had a positive upside in terms of a (much, much) later pension. However, if the UK Gmt is moving towards a non-contributory model for pensions, etc., what's the point?
Bigger point but I totally agree. The pension changes have really removed the last vestiges of a reason for NI to exist. Chancellors talk vaguely from time to time into integrating it into IT but somehow never get around to it. Must be something to do with the influence of older voters and the under representation of younger voters in our elections.
Good grief, I am on topic.
The other implication is that the NINO is being retained as a rudimentary identity card number or at least a unique identifier of every adult and middle teenager in the UK. Which is of course why we started talking about it this morning!
(Though I wonder why HMRC have also given me, and my aged parent for whom I do the tax for my sins, a unique taxpayer reference number as well ...).
I don't think I ever had an NI card. If I did I lost it a long time ago. I memorised my NI number when I first started work. It frankly just seemed easier than looking it up.
When my 17 year old daughter started a part time job this year she had to wait about 2 weeks for her NI number to be allocated and her employers were not able to pay her until it arrived. It is a more than slightly chaotic system and not an ideal check for voter registration.
I recall having a card long, long ago, and, for a while a National Service Registration Card which I was delighted to be able to tear up when it was announced that NS was discontinued. I think, now my memory has been jogged that one of my “children” had a card when they started work, Otherwise, as posted earlier, like NP I look at my HMRC paperwork.
I can remember my NI number. Anyone else still have their NHS card in a drawer, like I do ?
I don't think I ever had an NI card. If I did I lost it a long time ago. I memorised my NI number when I first started work. It frankly just seemed easier than looking it up.
When my 17 year old daughter started a part time job this year she had to wait about 2 weeks for her NI number to be allocated and her employers were not able to pay her until it arrived. It is a more than slightly chaotic system and not an ideal check for voter registration.
A victim of child benefit cuts then...
The only people who are automatically registered are those under 16 years old, who live in the UK and for whom Child Benefit is in payment. They are automatically registered and a National Insurance number card sent to them just before their 16th birthday.
I think they stopped issuing the cards a couple of years ago. You should still get a letter telling you your NINO.
They should update the website I just copy pasted then.
Indeed. See https://www.gov.uk/lost-national-insurance-number. "You don’t need a National Insurance plastic card. HMRC no longer sends these cards out." This page https://www.gov.uk/apply-national-insurance-number tells you how to get one. I fear that while Gov.uk is a good (if insufficiently detailed) source of information, there's still some old outdated stuff out there on old government websites. As a good citizen I am sure you will click on the appropriate linky to let them know.
Someone might like to make The Mail aware that the election isn't just over five months away. It is even worse than that for Ed. It is just over four months away. With the campaign starting in three...
You do know that the Conservatives are polling lower than Labour?
The campaign will be decisive. I am expecting both the Labour and UKIP campaigns to unravel under even the lightest forensic examination....
What makes you think that the Conservatives campaign effort will be better than Labour/UKIP/LD/Green?
What example of Conservative Party electoral campaign success are you basing your optimism on?
Someone might like to make The Mail aware that the election isn't just over five months away. It is even worse than that for Ed. It is just over four months away. With the campaign starting in three...
You do know that the Conservatives are polling lower than Labour?
The campaign will be decisive. I am expecting both the Labour and UKIP campaigns to unravel under even the lightest forensic examination....
What makes you think that the Conservatives campaign effort will be better than Labour/UKIP/LD/Green?
What example of Conservative Party electoral campaign success are you basing your optimism on?
I think he is referring to their stunning, nay, legendary success in the recent EU elections.
I suspect it is designed to be a pattern that can easily be remembered (or, at least, outwith the Labour Party). Your cousin will probably have a few more that are embedded in his memory due to his professionalism.
When in The Netherlands I used the UK-NI as a tutorial-example of a "grep" expression. It is not complicated and is easy to parse....
Hey, I'm a mathematician, and I see no pattern in my number whatsoever. If there is one, it needs to be explained if it's to be any help.
I suspect it is designed to be a pattern that can easily be remembered (or, at least, outwith the Labour Party). Your cousin will probably have a few more that are embedded in his memory due to his professionalism.
When in The Netherlands I used the UK-NI as a tutorial-example of a "grep" expression. It is not complicated and is easy to parse....
Hey, I'm a mathematician, and I see no pattern in my number whatsoever. If there is one, it needs to be explained if it's to be any help.
The first two numbers are broadly chronological. I'm an NE and everyone I have ever met who is NE has been about the same age as me (49). The exception is the racist ones, some pairs of letters (including SN and SL but I think there are others) mean you are a foreigner who has moved to the UK. The letter at the end originally indicated which week your stamp had to be paid over by the employer - when it was done manually, for weekly-paid employees you paid over the NI on a four-weekly basis. The number in the middle is just a number.
I suspect it is designed to be a pattern that can easily be remembered (or, at least, outwith the Labour Party). Your cousin will probably have a few more that are embedded in his memory due to his professionalism.
When in The Netherlands I used the UK-NI as a tutorial-example of a "grep" expression. It is not complicated and is easy to parse....
Hey, I'm a mathematician, and I see no pattern in my number whatsoever. If there is one, it needs to be explained if it's to be any help.
The first two numbers are broadly chronological. I'm an NE and everyone I have ever met who is NE has been about the same age as me (49). The exception is the racist ones, some pairs of letters (including SN and SL but I think there are others) mean you are a foreigner who has moved to the UK. The letter at the end originally indicated which week your stamp had to be paid over by the employer - when it was done manually, for weekly-paid employees you paid over the NI on a four-weekly basis. The number in the middle is just a number.
Yep. I am also 49 and my number starts NE. I assume everyone born in 1965 has NE.
I suspect it is designed to be a pattern that can easily be remembered (or, at least, outwith the Labour Party). Your cousin will probably have a few more that are embedded in his memory due to his professionalism.
When in The Netherlands I used the UK-NI as a tutorial-example of a "grep" expression. It is not complicated and is easy to parse....
Hey, I'm a mathematician, and I see no pattern in my number whatsoever. If there is one, it needs to be explained if it's to be any help.
The first two numbers are broadly chronological. I'm an NE and everyone I have ever met who is NE has been about the same age as me (49). The exception is the racist ones, some pairs of letters (including SN and SL but I think there are others) mean you are a foreigner who has moved to the UK. The letter at the end originally indicated which week your stamp had to be paid over by the employer - when it was done manually, for weekly-paid employees you paid over the NI on a four-weekly basis. The number in the middle is just a number.
Yep. I am also 49 and my number starts NE. I assume everyone born in 1965 has NE.
Bizarrely HMRC use an exemption to the FoI Act to not tell us how the first two characters are selected http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/nimmanual/nim39110.htm It appears (special numbers accepted) they issue all the numbers with that prefix, before on some secret basis selecting a new prefix.
I suspect it is designed to be a pattern that can easily be remembered (or, at least, outwith the Labour Party). Your cousin will probably have a few more that are embedded in his memory due to his professionalism.
When in The Netherlands I used the UK-NI as a tutorial-example of a "grep" expression. It is not complicated and is easy to parse....
Hey, I'm a mathematician, and I see no pattern in my number whatsoever. If there is one, it needs to be explained if it's to be any help.
The first two numbers are broadly chronological. I'm an NE and everyone I have ever met who is NE has been about the same age as me (49). The exception is the racist ones, some pairs of letters (including SN and SL but I think there are others) mean you are a foreigner who has moved to the UK. The letter at the end originally indicated which week your stamp had to be paid over by the employer - when it was done manually, for weekly-paid employees you paid over the NI on a four-weekly basis. The number in the middle is just a number.
Yep. I am also 49 and my number starts NE. I assume everyone born in 1965 has NE.
I suspect it is designed to be a pattern that can easily be remembered (or, at least, outwith the Labour Party). Your cousin will probably have a few more that are embedded in his memory due to his professionalism.
When in The Netherlands I used the UK-NI as a tutorial-example of a "grep" expression. It is not complicated and is easy to parse....
Hey, I'm a mathematician, and I see no pattern in my number whatsoever. If there is one, it needs to be explained if it's to be any help.
The first two numbers are broadly chronological. I'm an NE and everyone I have ever met who is NE has been about the same age as me (49). The exception is the racist ones, some pairs of letters (including SN and SL but I think there are others) mean you are a foreigner who has moved to the UK. The letter at the end originally indicated which week your stamp had to be paid over by the employer - when it was done manually, for weekly-paid employees you paid over the NI on a four-weekly basis. The number in the middle is just a number.
Actually the Wikipedia article tells me I am wrong about the purpose of the last letter, it was which quarter your NI card ran out, but both could be true (my version was told to me by an older colleague who had actually operated manual NI). The last two numerical digits are used to define what day of the week benefits such as JSA will be paid, but I think that was defined later (to spread out payments) rather than part of the original design.
I still think that flight MH370 is the most amazing news story in decades. Just imagine if they cant find any wreckage of this Air Asia flight
That would increase the likelihood of MH370 having a terrorist/criminal/cover up explanation, certainly.
Still, statistically there has to be a minute chance that 2 aircraft could completely disappear in the same year without there necessarily being foul play involved in either incident.
"Muhammad Shoaib, organiser of the Scots Asians for Independence (SAFI) movement and a former Labour councillor who is now putting himself forward as a prospective SNP candidate for Westminster, said Murphy's appointment would be counterproductive to Scottish Labour's bid to reconnect with its traditional voters."
"THREE-FIFTHS of Scots believe Westminster would have to deliver "substantially more powers" to Holyrood than currently proposed if the SNP held the balance of power after May's General Election, according to a new poll. The Panelbase survey found 60% of people thought the Nationalists could successfully use their clout in a hung parliament to extract more than the recent cross-party deal on tax and welfare thrashed out by the Smith Commission."
Which last is of course based on an obvious "If" assumption, but it suggests that too much focus on asking questions about the Commission is possibly missing the point - voters are to some extent looking beyond it already (and though they need not personally approve, past polling suggests a great majority for indyref + devomax together).
I suspect it is designed to be a pattern that can easily be remembered (or, at least, outwith the Labour Party). Your cousin will probably have a few more that are embedded in his memory due to his professionalism.
When in The Netherlands I used the UK-NI as a tutorial-example of a "grep" expression. It is not complicated and is easy to parse....
Hey, I'm a mathematician, and I see no pattern in my number whatsoever. If there is one, it needs to be explained if it's to be any help.
The first two numbers are broadly chronological. I'm an NE and everyone I have ever met who is NE has been about the same age as me (49). The exception is the racist ones, some pairs of letters (including SN and SL but I think there are others) mean you are a foreigner who has moved to the UK. The letter at the end originally indicated which week your stamp had to be paid over by the employer - when it was done manually, for weekly-paid employees you paid over the NI on a four-weekly basis. The number in the middle is just a number.
Yep. I am also 49 and my number starts NE. I assume everyone born in 1965 has NE.
I'm NE and born in 1964.
Interesting. I wonder if it works on the school year ( as it will be assigned I assume after you finish full time education)
Massive stitch up in Sweden, left-right coalition to keep the Sweden Democrats out of power, I think this is going to go badly for the main centre right party as the SD will hoover up a lot more votes now. Sweden is now set on a path out of the EU in the long term as it now becomes much more likely that SD will become the major party in Parliament.
I suspect it is designed to be a pattern that can easily be remembered (or, at least, outwith the Labour Party). Your cousin will probably have a few more that are embedded in his memory due to his professionalism.
When in The Netherlands I used the UK-NI as a tutorial-example of a "grep" expression. It is not complicated and is easy to parse....
Hey, I'm a mathematician, and I see no pattern in my number whatsoever. If there is one, it needs to be explained if it's to be any help.
The first two numbers are broadly chronological. I'm an NE and everyone I have ever met who is NE has been about the same age as me (49). The exception is the racist ones, some pairs of letters (including SN and SL but I think there are others) mean you are a foreigner who has moved to the UK. The letter at the end originally indicated which week your stamp had to be paid over by the employer - when it was done manually, for weekly-paid employees you paid over the NI on a four-weekly basis. The number in the middle is just a number.
Yep. I am also 49 and my number starts NE. I assume everyone born in 1965 has NE.
I'm NE and born in 1964.
Interesting. I wonder if it works on the school year ( as it will be assigned I assume after you finish full time education)
Are you post September 1st 1964?
I think Indigo is right. They started on NE000000x when the previous prefix ran out and continued until they got to NE999999x, then started on the next prefix. Only they probably didn't use those numbers as I have never seen one with more than three consecutive similar digits.
No, they came third, but I think after this plain stitch up it will agitate their voters and sympathisers a lot more. It would be like the Tories and Labour forming a coalition to keep UKIP out even if Con+UKIP was over 325. In that situation I would expect UKIP to shoot up to 30% overnight and the Tories to fall down to the low 20s. The centre right party will lose their whole right wing to SD now and they will be f***** in the longer term by not making nice and forming a centre right/right wing coalition.
Whatever is said about the Tory party on here, they have an innate survival instinct and the leadership would see it coming a mile off if they decided to partner with Labour. It would drive me to vote UKIP if there was even a hint of a Lab/Con coalition and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
The most convincing explanation I've heard is that it was taken over by terrorists, was believed to be on a suicide mission, and the Chinese therefore shot it down and demanded that this be kept quiet by authorities worldwide - so as to maintain ethnic peace in China.
It sounds crazy, but then all other explanations fall short. And once you have eliminated the impossible....
PPRUNE, which seems to have the most authorititave correspondents, since they’re all pilots of commercial airplanes, ATC’s, or similar is still discussing exactly where in the Southern Ocean the thing might be. Even allowing for the fact that, if the conventional story is right, they’re searching the deep ocean, in an area where no-one goes it seems a bit odd that nothings turned up. Equally, if the Chinese shot it down somewhere around the coast of Vietnam, surely the same applies. However, if it was shot down over China itself then it might be easier to conceal everything.
Update - Apologies, waking up late and misread the article.
Panel base poll
It put support for the Nationalists at 43%, more than double the party's 20% vote share in 2010.
In contrast, support for Labour had nosedived from 42% to 26%, with the LibDems down from 19% to 6%, and the Tories slipping from 17% to 13%.
If those numbers were reflected in a uniform swing, Labour would go from 41 MPs in Scotland to just 10, severely reducing Ed Miliband's chance of replacing David Cameron as Prime Minister.
The SNP, meanwhile, would surge from six MPs to 45, ushering in a new era for Scottish politics.
Presumably Nick also thinks NI numbers are a terrible encumbrance on the ability of young people to find work - they should all be encouraged to go cash in hand to boost employment for the greater good
Being able to show one's NI contributions has had a positive upside in terms of a (much, much) later pension. However, if the UK Gmt is moving towards a non-contributory model for pensions, etc., what's the point?
Bigger point but I totally agree. The pension changes have really removed the last vestiges of a reason for NI to exist. Chancellors talk vaguely from time to time into integrating it into IT but somehow never get around to it. Must be something to do with the influence of older voters and the under representation of younger voters in our elections.
Good grief, I am on topic.
The other implication is that the NINO is being retained as a rudimentary identity card number or at least a unique identifier of every adult and middle teenager in the UK. Which is of course why we started talking about it this morning!
(Though I wonder why HMRC have also given me, and my aged parent for whom I do the tax for my sins, a unique taxpayer reference number as well ...).
One might think that if the NINO is unique then it would be enough as an official identifier across all government departments, but of course it isn't. We have a unique NHS number too, as well as driver numbers, taxpayer reference numbers and Lord knows what else besides (e.g. patient reference numbers issued when attending a NHS hospital - I have three one for each hospital I have to attend for three different conditions). Why should this be when one unique identity number should be sufficient?
The answer as explained to me when I was at the Home Office is the traditional suspicion of government powers over the individual. The modern British state was specifically set up so that government departments could not share information about an individual (except in some very specific circumstances) with another department. To ensure that such an action was as difficult as possible, and this was in the days before computers, there would be no single identifier.
An echo of that policy was part of the argument against ID cards, which were specifically designed to make tracking of an individual by the state not only possible but easy, even routine.
I suspect it is designed to be a pattern that can easily be remembered (or, at least, outwith the Labour Party). Your cousin will probably have a few more that are embedded in his memory due to his professionalism.
When in The Netherlands I used the UK-NI as a tutorial-example of a "grep" expression. It is not complicated and is easy to parse....
Hey, I'm a mathematician, and I see no pattern in my number whatsoever. If there is one, it needs to be explained if it's to be any help.
The first two numbers are broadly chronological. I'm an NE and everyone I have ever met who is NE has been about the same age as me (49). The exception is the racist ones, some pairs of letters (including SN and SL but I think there are others) mean you are a foreigner who has moved to the UK. The letter at the end originally indicated which week your stamp had to be paid over by the employer - when it was done manually, for weekly-paid employees you paid over the NI on a four-weekly basis. The number in the middle is just a number.
Yep. I am also 49 and my number starts NE. I assume everyone born in 1965 has NE.
I'm NE and born in 1964.
Interesting. I wonder if it works on the school year ( as it will be assigned I assume after you finish full time education)
Are you post September 1st 1964?
I think Indigo is right. They started on NE000000x when the previous prefix ran out and continued until they got to NE999999x, then started on the next prefix. Only they probably didn't use those numbers as I have never seen one with more than three consecutive similar digits.
Born 1938, Number starts ZT.Wife, a bit younger, YH. We both would have had ID cards during the War.
It put support for the Nationalists at 43%, more than double the party's 20% vote share in 2010.
In contrast, support for Labour had nosedived from 42% to 26%, with the LibDems down from 19% to 6%, and the Tories slipping from 17% to 13%.
If those numbers were reflected in a uniform swing, Labour would go from 41 MPs in Scotland to just 10, severely reducing Ed Miliband's chance of replacing David Cameron as Prime Minister.
The SNP, meanwhile, would surge from six MPs to 45, ushering in a new era for Scottish politics.
I suspect it is designed to be a pattern that can easily be remembered (or, at least, outwith the Labour Party). Your cousin will probably have a few more that are embedded in his memory due to his professionalism.
When in The Netherlands I used the UK-NI as a tutorial-example of a "grep" expression. It is not complicated and is easy to parse....
Hey, I'm a mathematician, and I see no pattern in my number whatsoever. If there is one, it needs to be explained if it's to be any help.
The first two numbers are broadly chronological. I'm an NE and everyone I have ever met who is NE has been about the same age as me (49). The exception is the racist ones, some pairs of letters (including SN and SL but I think there are others) mean you are a foreigner who has moved to the UK. The letter at the end originally indicated which week your stamp had to be paid over by the employer - when it was done manually, for weekly-paid employees you paid over the NI on a four-weekly basis. The number in the middle is just a number.
Yep. I am also 49 and my number starts NE. I assume everyone born in 1965 has NE.
I'm NE and born in 1964.
Interesting. I wonder if it works on the school year ( as it will be assigned I assume after you finish full time education)
Are you post September 1st 1964?
I think Indigo is right. They started on NE000000x when the previous prefix ran out and continued until they got to NE999999x, then started on the next prefix. Only they probably didn't use those numbers as I have never seen one with more than three consecutive similar digits.
Born 1938, Number starts ZT.Wife, a bit younger, YH. We both would have had ID cards during the War.
The prefixes are not used sequentially, but for some reason HMRC use an exemption from the FOI to avoid having to tell us the basis on which they are allocated. I bet its more "security-by-obscurity" idiocy.
Bigger point but I totally agree. The pension changes have really removed the last vestiges of a reason for NI to exist. Chancellors talk vaguely from time to time into integrating it into IT but somehow never get around to it. Must be something to do with the influence of older voters and the under representation of younger voters in our elections.
Good grief, I am on topic.
The other implication is that the NINO is being retained as a rudimentary identity card number or at least a unique identifier of every adult and middle teenager in the UK. Which is of course why we started talking about it this morning!
(Though I wonder why HMRC have also given me
One might think that if the NINO is unique then it would be enough as an official identifier across all government departments, but of course it isn't. We have a unique NHS number too, as well as driver numbers, taxpayer reference numbers and Lord knows what else besides (e.g. patient reference numbers issued when attending a NHS hospital - I have three one for each hospital I have to attend for three different conditions). Why should this be when one unique identity number should be sufficient?
The answer as explained to me when I was at the Home Office is the traditional suspicion of government powers over the individual. The modern British state was specifically set up so that government departments could not share information about an individual (except in some very specific circumstances) with another department. To ensure that such an action was as difficult as possible, and this was in the days before computers, there would be no single identifier.
An echo of that policy was part of the argument against ID cards, which were specifically designed to make tracking of an individual by the state not only possible but easy, even routine.
In terms of the NHS number, the ideal is to use that as the only patient identifier. However in practice many hospitals still have other patient numbers because either...
a) they still use paper records and therefore still use a legacy filing system based on hospital reference numbers
b) difficulties around NHS numbers for newborns, Scottish people, new immigrants, temporary residents etc
Sorry to harp on, but I find this just plain weird. The identity of the driver of the Glasgow lorry will be concealed, sorry, "protected" indefinitely. It will "never be released".
Damn peculiar. Surely there will have to be an inquest, when all the facts are laid out, or don't they have them in Scotland? Don't people deserve to know exactly what happened to whom and why, and whether the driver was in any way culpable?
How can the authorities just say "look, he probably had a heart attack, that's all we're telling you" and expect victims and relatives to accept that?
Like I say, if I were minded towards conspiracy theories, then this would be a keeper. Luckily, I'm not. Yet.
Isn’t there work roster somewhere for the bin-men? Is EVERYONE who knows going to keep, or be kept schtum?
I know journaists have been done over recently for bribing public officials but I can’t see that someone isn’t going to be able to exchange the info for a price. And someone outside UK jurisdiction is going to be able to pay that price.
I still think that flight MH370 is the most amazing news story in decades. Just imagine if they cant find any wreckage of this Air Asia flight
That would increase the likelihood of MH370 having a terrorist/criminal/cover up explanation, certainly.
Still, statistically there has to be a minute chance that 2 aircraft could completely disappear in the same year without there necessarily being foul play involved in either incident.
I am not sure that the chances are minute. Air travel is safer today than ever before but accidents do happen for the most odd reasons (e.g. the Air France Crash over the Atlantic) and the oceans are no smaller or shallower than they were. How many flights are there per year, how many are over water how many crashes are there per year?
The chances may be very small but they are still bigger than an unleakable conspiracy to cover up let alone two such conspiracies.
Since there is nowhere near a majority for any political party, we ought to start polling people to discover which party they least want in government.
If there was a majority against a particular party that would tell us the will of the people.
Perhaps the voting system could introduce a 'veto vote' (V V) system to show which party we don't want.
Mr. T, the driver's identity being permanently kept secret seems a bit weird and unexpected.
Yep but I can see why. Surely its bad enough to know that you (albeit through illness) caused 6 people to die while you actually recovered. Imagine trying to live with that even without the press hassling you for photos.
Then imagine the same with 5 photographers sat outside your front door and your phone constantly ringing. When I first heard it I thought the driver probably wishes he died alongside the others and I imagine that could well be actually what he wants (which is another reason for keeping his name out of the press).
Since there is nowhere near a majority for any political party, we ought to start polling people to discover which party they least want in government.
If there was a majority against a particular party that would tell us the will of the people.
Perhaps the voting system could introduce a 'veto vote' (V V) system to show which party we don't want.
I like the idea they had briefly in Israel, you vote for a PM candidate as well as your own MP. The person winning the PM vote would be given first crack at forming a coalition.
Since there is nowhere near a majority for any political party, we ought to start polling people to discover which party they least want in government.
If there was a majority against a particular party that would tell us the will of the people.
Perhaps the voting system could introduce a 'veto vote' (V V) system to show which party we don't want.
In sensible voting systems you can put all the parties in order. If you want to you can start with the one you hate most and work up to the one you hate least...
Mr. Eek, sound points, but it does seem a bit of a forlorn hope that his name won't be leaked at some point.
Edited extra bit: Mr. T, the coincidence of the totally unconnected [ahem] attacks in France over the same period probably heighten that sort of suspicion.
Since there is nowhere near a majority for any political party, we ought to start polling people to discover which party they least want in government.
If there was a majority against a particular party that would tell us the will of the people.
Perhaps the voting system could introduce a 'veto vote' (V V) system to show which party we don't want.
In sensible voting systems you can put all the parties in order. If you want to you can start with the one you hate most and work up to the one you hate least...
Surely better not to give even fourth preference to the party you hate most in case it ends up being the deciding vote.
No, they came third, but I think after this plain stitch up it will agitate their voters and sympathisers a lot more. It would be like the Tories and Labour forming a coalition to keep UKIP out even if Con+UKIP was over 325. In that situation I would expect UKIP to shoot up to 30% overnight and the Tories to fall down to the low 20s. The centre right party will lose their whole right wing to SD now and they will be f***** in the longer term by not making nice and forming a centre right/right wing coalition.
Whatever is said about the Tory party on here, they have an innate survival instinct and the leadership would see it coming a mile off if they decided to partner with Labour. It would drive me to vote UKIP if there was even a hint of a Lab/Con coalition and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Think you're seeing this too much with British/FPTP eyes. Broad agreements are normal in Scandinavia, and centre-left or centre-right government is standard. This kind of ultra-broad agreement is unusual and the parties are not notably friendly to each other about it - everyone is claiming that they "won" - but nobody has suggested a centre-right alliance with the Sweden Democrats, who are still living down the fact that they were originally a neo-Nazi party. The centre parties (who would be needed) would walk away in a flash if it was suggested.
I think the SD has a reasonably successful outlook as their past will dwindle away with time if they keep working to dispose of it, but they're a very long way from participation in government.
As Churchill said 'if you are under 35 and not a socialist you have no heart, if you are over 35 and still a socialist you have no head.' However, the Tories will be pleased Cameron has the best approval rating of the leaders
I find it hard to believe someone of your age doesn't know his NINO. I rather suspect you are using it as a stick to beat the Govt in its attempt to eradicate fraudulent voting.
Mr. T, the driver's identity being permanently kept secret seems a bit weird and unexpected.
Yep but I can see why. Surely its bad enough to know that you (albeit through illness) caused 6 people to die while you actually recovered. Imagine trying to live with that even without the press hassling you for photos.
Then imagine the same with 5 photographers sat outside your front door and your phone constantly ringing. When I first heard it I thought the driver probably wishes he died alongside the others and I imagine that could well be actually what he wants (which is another reason for keeping his name out of the press).
It's hideous for the poor guy. However 6 people died, ten were horribly injured, and a greater good is served if all the facts of the matter are revealed, for everyone to know.
Now I can see a reason to protect the driver's ID for a while. But "forever"? "Never to be revealed"? 1. it is impossible, 2 is this even legal?
We have to know why it happened. Did he have a heart attack, why didn’t he do what he’s unquestionably done a thousand times before.
And why couldn’t the others in the cab do something?
Mr. T, the driver's identity being permanently kept secret seems a bit weird and unexpected.
Yep but I can see why. Surely its bad enough to know that you (albeit through illness) caused 6 people to die while you actually recovered. Imagine trying to live with that even without the press hassling you for photos.
Then imagine the same with 5 photographers sat outside your front door and your phone constantly ringing. When I first heard it I thought the driver probably wishes he died alongside the others and I imagine that could well be actually what he wants (which is another reason for keeping his name out of the press).
It's hideous for the poor guy. However 6 people died, ten were horribly injured, and a greater good is served if all the facts of the matter are revealed, for everyone to know.
Now I can see a reason to protect the driver's ID for a while. But "forever"? "Never to be revealed"? 1. it is impossible, 2 is this even legal?
In England there would have to be an inquest, and the driver and his passengers called as witnesses.
'They're a hopeless bunch. I've met Miliband and shook his hand, and from that moment I knew he was a no-hoper. Tall, arrogant, floppy, weak, wet handshake.
The wet limp handshake is the killer, everyone I have ever met who has had one has proved to be a dud.
Mr. Root, I simply don't get the limp-wristed wet handshake. Gripping something isn't exactly difficult (unless you've got some sort of muscle problem).
Certainly a peculiar problem to have without a physical reason, as you say it is not hard to train yourself to have a decent handshake, and Miliband like all political animals has surely had training in public presentation and speaking.
It makes me think of the Terry Pratchett character Moist von Lipwig, a con man, about how much you can fool people with a firm handshake and the clear eye contact of an honest man, as people really do take a lot away from such minute things. Even as a child it was apparent to me that you could lie to a teacher or many adults if you looked them direct in the eyes, as many seemed to believe children are, like dogs, unwilling to look someone in the eye, at least when they are being deceptive.
If only I had been a naughty child, I'm sure I know I could have exploited that odd thinking a lot more than I did.
Since there is nowhere near a majority for any political party, we ought to start polling people to discover which party they least want in government.
If there was a majority against a particular party that would tell us the will of the people.
Perhaps the voting system could introduce a 'veto vote' (V V) system to show which party we don't want.
In sensible voting systems you can put all the parties in order. If you want to you can start with the one you hate most and work up to the one you hate least...
Surely better not to give even fourth preference to the party you hate most in case it ends up being the deciding vote.
In some systems I believe you have to rank every candidate in order for it to be considered a valid vote.
As Churchill said 'if you are under 35 and not a socialist you have no heart, if you are over 35 and still a socialist you have no head.' However, the Tories will be pleased Cameron has the best approval rating of the leaders
It's something, and gives some hope I guess, although ending up as the leader with the best approval rating to lose an election may end up being pretty galling.
I find it hard to believe someone of your age doesn't know his NINO. I rather suspect you are using it as a stick to beat the Govt in its attempt to eradicate fraudulent voting.
Ah, Mr Root, but if you were to propose a system whereby the voter would swipe his/her identity card to verify his/her identity before being issued a ballot paper (all recorded on a central database of course) then I am sure the good Dr. Palmer would be all in favour of it.
We cannot expect the little people to fill in a form (though they manage it for passports easily enough) so we must take the difficult things away from them and give them to the state to manage.
Mr. Eek, sound points, but it does seem a bit of a forlorn hope that his name won't be leaked at some point.
Edited extra bit: Mr. T, the coincidence of the totally unconnected [ahem] attacks in France over the same period probably heighten that sort of suspicion.
Of course more credible conspiracy theories may be that the driver was medically unfit, or the lorry had a fault, and the council wishes to hush this up.
I find it hard to believe someone of your age doesn't know his NINO. I rather suspect you are using it as a stick to beat the Govt in its attempt to eradicate fraudulent voting.
When I got to 16 many decades ago it was a piece of thin cardboard which failed to survive the first year of usage. I do however know important things like that by heart so it is not a problem.
Having said that the on the day registration suggested would disenfranchise me for the same reason I am denied access to legal representation. No photo ID
Mr. T, the driver's identity being permanently kept secret seems a bit weird and unexpected.
Yep but I can see why. Surely its bad enough to know that you (albeit through illness) caused 6 people to die while you actually recovered. Imagine trying to live with that even without the press hassling you for photos.
Then imagine the same with 5 photographers sat outside your front door and your phone constantly ringing. When I first heard it I thought the driver probably wishes he died alongside the others and I imagine that could well be actually what he wants (which is another reason for keeping his name out of the press).
It's hideous for the poor guy. However 6 people died, ten were horribly injured, and a greater good is served if all the facts of the matter are revealed, for everyone to know.
Now I can see a reason to protect the driver's ID for a while. But "forever"? "Never to be revealed"? 1. it is impossible, 2 is this even legal?
We have to know why it happened. Did he have a heart attack, why didn’t he do what he’s unquestionably done a thousand times before.
And why couldn’t the others in the cab do something?
This bureaucratic secrecy is like something from the Soviet Union, when politically awkward accidents were covered up, or obscured. Bizarre.
The public has to know the truth. Would the police forever protect the identity of a man who accidentally caused a pile-up on a motorway, which killed six, and injured ten?
No. So why this guy?
It is obvious isn't it.
The driver was a Muslim who had a medical episode.
Since there is nowhere near a majority for any political party, we ought to start polling people to discover which party they least want in government.
If there was a majority against a particular party that would tell us the will of the people.
Perhaps the voting system could introduce a 'veto vote' (V V) system to show which party we don't want.
In sensible voting systems you can put all the parties in order. If you want to you can start with the one you hate most and work up to the one you hate least...
Surely better not to give even fourth preference to the party you hate most in case it ends up being the deciding vote.
If you number all the parties then putting your last party last is the same as leaving it blank. Whatever party they end up in a run-off against, you've ranked it higher than them.
Mr. T, the driver's identity being permanently kept secret seems a bit weird and unexpected.
Yep but I can see why. Surely its bad enough to know that you (albeit through illness) caused 6 people to die while you actually recovered. Imagine trying to live with that even without the press hassling you for photos.
Then imagine the same with 5 photographers sat outside your front door and your phone constantly ringing. When I first heard it I thought the driver probably wishes he died alongside the others and I imagine that could well be actually what he wants (which is another reason for keeping his name out of the press).
It's hideous for the poor guy. However 6 people died, ten were horribly injured, and a greater good is served if all the facts of the matter are revealed, for everyone to know.
Now I can see a reason to protect the driver's ID for a while. But "forever"? "Never to be revealed"? 1. it is impossible, 2 is this even legal?
We have to know why it happened. Did he have a heart attack, why didn’t he do what he’s unquestionably done a thousand times before.
And why couldn’t the others in the cab do something?
This bureaucratic secrecy is like something from the Soviet Union, when politically awkward accidents were covered up, or obscured. Bizarre.
The public has to know the truth. Would the police forever protect the identity of a man who accidentally caused a pile-up on a motorway, which killed six, and injured ten?
No. So why this guy?
Could he (the driver) and his colleagues belong to a certain religion, who's members have been in the habit lately, of running down and killing, in Europe and the Mid East, all those not muslims?
It may not be so, but the squirming and back tracking from PBers is a sight to to behold, in case that happens to be true, so much for our disappearing freedoms.
I find it hard to believe someone of your age doesn't know his NINO. I rather suspect you are using it as a stick to beat the Govt in its attempt to eradicate fraudulent voting.
When I got to 16 many decades ago it was a piece of thin cardboard which failed to survive the first year of usage. I do however know important things like that by heart so it is not a problem.
Having said that the on the day registration suggested would disenfranchise me for the same reason I am denied access to legal representation. No photo ID
Again, you'd do same day registration in addition to whatever other system you've got, so it can only enfranchise people who had failed to get through the existing hoops, and wouldn't disenfranchise additional people.
I mentioned the NI number and photo ID as a baseline that basically doesn't give you any meaningful loss of security compared to the current thing, but obviously it may be possible to be less restrictive and still have an appropriate level of security for the threat.
Comments
Me: Nice to meet you. (Confidently stretch out hand.)
Potential investor: Er, no hands.
Now that's me - a politically-aware person with two jobs who fills in his own tax return. What chance that the average 18 year old has his NI number to hand and the time and focus to fill out the form? And if we want to restrict the franchise to organised and focused people, a drastic cull of adult voters will result.
Moreover, the law's application varies erratically. A friend in (Labour-run) Ealing has been asked to re-register, even though existing registrants are supposed to be carried over: apparently it's up to the discretion of local council officials whether they do this.
When in The Netherlands I used the UK-NI as a tutorial-example of a "grep" expression. It is not complicated and is easy to parse....
Per Wikipedia:
My NI card snapped when I was still a teenager. How many people have a NI card who are aged over 30? [Ahh! Penny drops....]
When my 17 year old daughter started a part time job this year she had to wait about 2 weeks for her NI number to be allocated and her employers were not able to pay her until it arrived. It is a more than slightly chaotic system and not an ideal check for voter registration.
The only people who are automatically registered are those under 16 years old, who live in the UK and for whom Child Benefit is in payment. They are automatically registered and a National Insurance number card sent to them just before their 16th birthday.
The excuse makers are out in force to exaggerate everything/win an argument though
Some of whom may not even be bogus or deceased, I take it.
This system may have its faults but it is far preferable to the arrangement where labour politicians left it to 'community leaders' to 'sort' large blocks of postal votes from ethnic communities.
In the worst cases those same politicians turned a blind eye to mass rape and human trafficking as a sort of quid pro quo.
Anything's better than that.
Otherwise, as posted earlier, like NP I look at my HMRC paperwork.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V3SqxUomwk
Good grief, I am on topic.
Edited-to-add: The odd fiver on a Friday night offered no protection to the poor buggah!
"Is the NI Card a new innovation that you old Fogeys missed?"
Could you explain to this old fogey what a "new innovation" is?
I know what I'm thinking.
Chiriches at RB and Townsend in....... 'courageous'.....
(Though I wonder why HMRC have also given me, and my aged parent for whom I do the tax for my sins, a unique taxpayer reference number as well ...).
Anyone else still have their NHS card in a drawer, like I do ?
What example of Conservative Party electoral campaign success are you basing your optimism on?
Still, statistically there has to be a minute chance that 2 aircraft could completely disappear in the same year without there necessarily being foul play involved in either incident.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/murphy-will-galvanise-support-from-asians-for-independence.26155597
"Muhammad Shoaib, organiser of the Scots Asians for Independence (SAFI) movement and a former Labour councillor who is now putting himself forward as a prospective SNP candidate for Westminster, said Murphy's appointment would be counterproductive to Scottish Labour's bid to reconnect with its traditional voters."
http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/scottish-politics/more-than-half-of-scots-believe-snp-surge-in-general-election-would-force.26155722
"THREE-FIFTHS of Scots believe Westminster would have to deliver "substantially more powers" to Holyrood than currently proposed if the SNP held the balance of power after May's General Election, according to a new poll. The Panelbase survey found 60% of people thought the Nationalists could successfully use their clout in a hung parliament to extract more than the recent cross-party deal on tax and welfare thrashed out by the Smith Commission."
Which last is of course based on an obvious "If" assumption, but it suggests that too much focus on asking questions about the Commission is possibly missing the point - voters are to some extent looking beyond it already (and though they need not personally approve, past polling suggests a great majority for indyref + devomax together).
Are you post September 1st 1964?
:tumbleweed:
Whatever is said about the Tory party on here, they have an innate survival instinct and the leadership would see it coming a mile off if they decided to partner with Labour. It would drive me to vote UKIP if there was even a hint of a Lab/Con coalition and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Even allowing for the fact that, if the conventional story is right, they’re searching the deep ocean, in an area where no-one goes it seems a bit odd that nothings turned up. Equally, if the Chinese shot it down somewhere around the coast of Vietnam, surely the same applies. However, if it was shot down over China itself then it might be easier to conceal everything.
Panel base poll
It put support for the Nationalists at 43%, more than double the party's 20% vote share in 2010.
In contrast, support for Labour had nosedived from 42% to 26%, with the LibDems down from 19% to 6%, and the Tories slipping from 17% to 13%.
If those numbers were reflected in a uniform swing, Labour would go from 41 MPs in Scotland to just 10, severely reducing Ed Miliband's chance of replacing David Cameron as Prime Minister.
The SNP, meanwhile, would surge from six MPs to 45, ushering in a new era for Scottish politics.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/politics/scottish-politics/more-than-half-of-scots-believe-snp-surge-in-general-election-would-force.26155722
The answer as explained to me when I was at the Home Office is the traditional suspicion of government powers over the individual. The modern British state was specifically set up so that government departments could not share information about an individual (except in some very specific circumstances) with another department. To ensure that such an action was as difficult as possible, and this was in the days before computers, there would be no single identifier.
An echo of that policy was part of the argument against ID cards, which were specifically designed to make tracking of an individual by the state not only possible but easy, even routine.
Social Democratic: 31.0% (113 Seats)
Moderate: 23.3% (84 Seats)
Sweden Democrats 12.9% (49 Seats)
Green 7.3% (25 Seats)
Centre 6.6% (22 Seats)
Left 5.6% (21 Seats)
Mr. Eagles, sounds like business as usual, given recent polling. Whoever would've guessed Labour would be doing far better in England than Scotland?
I shall wake up by drinking a coffee/red bull cocktail and exiling myself to conhome for the rest of today.
Interesting his comments on MH17, which were ignored, claiming it was not an accident. Another investigation shrouded in secrecy.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/12/19/why-the-secrecy-on-the-mh17-investigation/
https://consortiumnews.com/2014/10/20/germans-clear-russia-in-mh-17-case/
I know journaists have been done over recently for bribing public officials but I can’t see that someone isn’t going to be able to exchange the info for a price. And someone outside UK jurisdiction is going to be able to pay that price.
The chances may be very small but they are still bigger than an unleakable conspiracy to cover up let alone two such conspiracies.
If there was a majority against a particular party that would tell us the will of the people.
Perhaps the voting system could introduce a 'veto vote' (V V) system to show which party we don't want.
Then imagine the same with 5 photographers sat outside your front door and your phone constantly ringing. When I first heard it I thought the driver probably wishes he died alongside the others and I imagine that could well be actually what he wants (which is another reason for keeping his name out of the press).
Fact or fiction?
Edited extra bit: Mr. T, the coincidence of the totally unconnected [ahem] attacks in France over the same period probably heighten that sort of suspicion.
I think the SD has a reasonably successful outlook as their past will dwindle away with time if they keep working to dispose of it, but they're a very long way from participation in government.
I just know it , I didn't memorise it deliberately.
I find it hard to believe someone of your age doesn't know his NINO. I rather suspect you are using it as a stick to beat the Govt in its attempt to eradicate fraudulent voting.
And why couldn’t the others in the cab do something?
It makes me think of the Terry Pratchett character Moist von Lipwig, a con man, about how much you can fool people with a firm handshake and the clear eye contact of an honest man, as people really do take a lot away from such minute things. Even as a child it was apparent to me that you could lie to a teacher or many adults if you looked them direct in the eyes, as many seemed to believe children are, like dogs, unwilling to look someone in the eye, at least when they are being deceptive.
If only I had been a naughty child, I'm sure I know I could have exploited that odd thinking a lot more than I did.
We cannot expect the little people to fill in a form (though they manage it for passports easily enough) so we must take the difficult things away from them and give them to the state to manage.
Having said that the on the day registration suggested would disenfranchise me for the same reason I am denied access to legal representation. No photo ID
The driver was a Muslim who had a medical episode.
It may not be so, but the squirming and back tracking from PBers is a sight to to behold, in case that happens to be true, so much for our disappearing freedoms.
I mentioned the NI number and photo ID as a baseline that basically doesn't give you any meaningful loss of security compared to the current thing, but obviously it may be possible to be less restrictive and still have an appropriate level of security for the threat.