The Tories IIRC backed the invasion of Iraq along with many others because they believed there was credible evidence. I backed the war and voted Labour at the time.
The lies from Blair/Campbell are IMO the biggest shame any government deserved. It wasn't a mistaken judgement call - it was a LIE. I can't ever forgive them for that. Ever.
Iraq is a special case when it comes to misleading the population. I don't consider those who were in principle against the war any different. Or better in hindsight.
IA Pensioners always vote for the Tories, young people generally Labour and there is always a turnout gap, it is the middle aged who win elections
Neither my wife and I, nor many of our friends, all OAP's, vote Tory. Never have, never will.
One matter which concerns us is what current Conservative policies will do to our children, grandchildren, and even worse, great-grandchildren.
Well OKC. A much better chance than under the warmonger Blair, bonkers Brown who busted Britain and then the unelectable, weird lefty Ed Miliband..
You should be damned grateful.
Jumping to conclusions again SqR!
The Tories enthusiastically supported Blair over Iraq; probably wouldn't even have a vote in the House on the matter! If they'd backed the late lamented Charlie Kennedy, with the Labour rebels, the Iraq War would probably, as far as the UK was concerned, have been someone else's fight!
Secondly the last election, as I've said before wasn't so much won by the Tories but lost by Labour in Scotland. And the SNP was used as a bogeyman by Crosby et al in marginal and LD seats, as Mr Mark has made plain.
Brown's big mistake of course was to trust the criminal banking fraternity.
Have the Tories ever repudiated their support for the Iraq war? I may have missed it, but I don't think so.
IIRC, you have said on here in the past that you voted Labour in 2005, long after the dodgy dossier was exposed and despite the fact that you believed Labour had deliberately developed anti-Semitic posters relating to Michael Howard.
Pensions, tax credits, HB, ESA, DLA, CB, Pension credit.
Cut em all I say.
I agree there's a fiendish amount of waste in the welfare budget. There are so many other government departments more deserving of the funding.
I'd delink pensions from earnings, and link them to inflation only. Bus passes, winter fuel payments and TV licence should all be (at the very least) heavily means tested.
The one that makes me the most nervous is disability and carers allowances but there is a still a problem here in distinguished between the 'can't work, bad back' brigade and those who are genuinely disabled.
2005 - the Tories still didn't have their crap together. I made a very reluctant choice here. It was a HUGE mistake on my part and I've fessed up to it many times on here. I wished I stayed at home.
The Tories IIRC backed the invasion of Iraq along with many others because they believed there was credible evidence. I backed the war and voted Labour at the time.
The lies from Blair/Campbell are IMO the biggest shame any government deserved. It wasn't a mistaken judgement call - it was a LIE. I can't ever forgive them for that. Ever.
Iraq is a special case when it comes to misleading the population. I don't consider those who were in principle against the war any different. Or better in hindsight.
IA Pensioners always vote for the Tories, young people generally Labour and there is always a turnout gap, it is the middle aged who win elections
Neither my wife and I, nor many of our friends, all OAP's, vote Tory. Never have, never will.
One matter which concerns us is what current Conservative policies will do to our children, grandchildren, and even worse, great-grandchildren.
Well OKC. A much better chance than under the warmonger Blair, bonkers Brown who busted Britain and then the unelectable, weird lefty Ed Miliband..
You should be damned grateful.
Jumping to conclusions again SqR!
The Tories enthusiastically supported Blair over Iraq; probably wouldn't even have a vote in the House on the matter! If they'd backed the late lamented Charlie Kennedy, with the Labour rebels, the Iraq War would probably, as far as the UK was concerned, have been someone else's fight!
Secondly the last election, as I've said before wasn't so much won by the Tories but lost by Labour in Scotland. And the SNP was used as a bogeyman by Crosby et al in marginal and LD seats, as Mr Mark has made plain.
Brown's big mistake of course was to trust the criminal banking fraternity.
Have the Tories ever repudiated their support for the Iraq war? I may have missed it, but I don't think so.
IIRC, you have said on here in the past that you voted Labour in 2005, long after the dodgy dossier was exposed and despite the fact that you believed Labour had deliberately developed anti-Semitic posters relating to Michael Howard.
Morning all, could I ask a question that will show once and for all that I'm an idiot with techy matters. How do I upload an excel file from my computer to the web in a way that doesn't destroy the original format? Google drive doesn't seem to work for this purpose.
FYI on the previous thread, Tommy Sheridan posted this on Tissue Price's awesome piece
Solidarity will field a strong list of candidates in each of the 8 regional lists. Their call will be SNP Constituency vote; Solidarity List vote. During the recent General Election Solidarity stood aside and encouraged voters to back the SNP as the biggest anti-austerity party and pro-independence party. Both the Greens and SSP stood candidates. the SSP votes were derisory but the Greens strategy effectively saved Scotland's only Tory, Mundell. If they had stood aside and encouraged an SNP vote Scotland would be Tory free. Will SNP voters forget these factors?
Solidarity are fielding well known candidates like IndyClimber Lindsay Jarrett in the Highlands and Islands and myself, Tommy Sheridan, in Glasgow. The mainstream media will ignore and denigrate Solidarity but many voters now ignore the mainstream media and get their news and ideas from social media. Solidarity will do well.
Morning all, could I ask a question that will show once and for all that I'm an idiot with techy matters. How do I upload an excel file from my computer to the web in a way that doesn't destroy the original format? Google drive doesn't seem to work for this purpose.
Spreadsheets are always a nightmare of compatability, especially as they get more complex and people want to view them on a variety of platforms and devices. If you want others to view (rather than edit online) it then a service like Dropbox is free - but the person on the other end will also need Excel, preferably the same version you used to compile it.
"Kendall scored highly among young voters, with 43% of the 18-24 year olds bracket believing she was Labour’s best electoral asset. Cooper is favoured among more women than men, while Burnham shows strong support in the North West."
'while Burnham shows strong support in the North West.'
Not really where he needs to be strong....
Ah but he is a bit more with it because he is an Evertonian. It is a bit like middle aged business men who choose Audis instead of BMWs to show how radically non conformist they are.
Not really. You choose your football team a long time before you hit middle age and in a place like Liverpool it will be a family thing. Going with Everton in the late 70s/early 80s was rather like going with Spurs now if you live in North London.
Mike Lyons and the 10 dwarfs.
There was Bob Latchford too. Didn't he have one season in the late 70s when he scored a ridiculous number of goals?
Morning all, could I ask a question that will show once and for all that I'm an idiot with techy matters. How do I upload an excel file from my computer to the web in a way that doesn't destroy the original format? Google drive doesn't seem to work for this purpose.
2005 - the Tories still didn't have their crap together. I made a very reluctant choice here. It was a HUGE mistake on my part and I've fessed up to it many times on here. I wished I stayed at home.
The Tories IIRC backed the invasion of Iraq along with many others because they believed there was credible evidence. I backed the war and voted Labour at the time.
The lies from Blair/Campbell are IMO the biggest shame any government deserved. It wasn't a mistaken judgement call - it was a LIE. I can't ever forgive them for that. Ever.
Iraq is a special case when it comes to misleading the population. I don't consider those who were in principle against the war any different. Or better in hindsight.
IA Pensioners always vote for the Tories, young people generally Labour and there is always a turnout gap, it is the middle aged who win elections
Neither my wife and I, nor many of our friends, all OAP's, vote Tory. Never have, never will.
One matter which concerns us is what current Conservative policies will do to our children, grandchildren, and even worse, great-grandchildren.
Well OKC. A much better chance than under the warmonger Blair, bonkers Brown who busted Britain and then the unelectable, weird lefty Ed Miliband..
You should be damned grateful.
Jumping to conclusions again SqR!
The Tories enthusiastically supported Blair over Iraq; probably wouldn't even have a vote in the House on the matter! If they'd backed the late lamented Charlie Kennedy, with the Labour rebels, the Iraq War would probably, as far as the UK was concerned, have been someone else's fight!
Secondly the last election, as I've said before wasn't so much won by the Tories but lost by Labour in Scotland. And the SNP was used as a bogeyman by Crosby et al in marginal and LD seats, as Mr Mark has made plain.
Brown's big mistake of course was to trust the criminal banking fraternity.
Have the Tories ever repudiated their support for the Iraq war? I may have missed it, but I don't think so.
IIRC, you have said on here in the past that you voted Labour in 2005, long after the dodgy dossier was exposed and despite the fact that you believed Labour had deliberately developed anti-Semitic posters relating to Michael Howard.
Fair enough. Your 2005 sounds like me and Labour this year. It's never good for a party to have a bucket load of reluctant voters.
Pensions, tax credits, HB, ESA, DLA, CB, Pension credit.
Cut em all I say.
I agree there's a fiendish amount of waste in the welfare budget. There are so many other government departments more deserving of the funding.
I'd delink pensions from earnings, and link them to inflation only. Bus passes, winter fuel payments and TV licence should all be (at the very least) heavily means tested.
The one that makes me the most nervous is disability and carers allowances but there is a still a problem here in distinguished between the 'can't work, bad back' brigade and those who are genuinely disabled.
No easy answers.
Housing benefit and tax credits have to go. The former is just turning into a buy toblet subsidy for older middle classes and the latter is corporate welfare. I was glad to see Dave take a robust stance on tax credits and now he needs to follow it up with cuts in housing benefits and limiting child benefits to a maximum of 2 children.
"Kendall scored highly among young voters, with 43% of the 18-24 year olds bracket believing she was Labour’s best electoral asset. Cooper is favoured among more women than men, while Burnham shows strong support in the North West."
'while Burnham shows strong support in the North West.'
Not really where he needs to be strong....
Ah but he is a bit more with it because he is an Evertonian. It is a bit like middle aged business men who choose Audis instead of BMWs to show how radically non conformist they are.
Not really. You choose your football team a long time before you hit middle age and in a place like Liverpool it will be a family thing. Going with Everton in the late 70s/early 80s was rather like going with Spurs now if you live in North London.
Mike Lyons and the 10 dwarfs.
There was Bob Latchford too. Didn't he have one season in the late 70s when he scored a ridiculous number of goals?
Pensions, tax credits, HB, ESA, DLA, CB, Pension credit.
Cut em all I say.
I agree there's a fiendish amount of waste in the welfare budget. There are so many other government departments more deserving of the funding.
I'd delink pensions from earnings, and link them to inflation only. Bus passes, winter fuel payments and TV licence should all be (at the very least) heavily means tested.
The one that makes me the most nervous is disability and carers allowances but there is a still a problem here in distinguished between the 'can't work, bad back' brigade and those who are genuinely disabled.
No easy answers.
Your argument instantly falls about (in my eyes) as soon as you introduce means testing. Economically its easier, cheaper and more inclusive to make things available to all (via whatever criteria you want to use) and then increase the tax on those that meet the criteria and can afford it...
The problem with means testing is that until someone knocks on a door and says you could also have x,y,z many people who actually need it, don't claim for it. Whilst those who know the system game things to ensure they maximise what they can get...
FYI on the previous thread, Tommy Sheridan posted this on Tissue Price's awesome piece
Solidarity will field a strong list of candidates in each of the 8 regional lists. Their call will be SNP Constituency vote; Solidarity List vote. During the recent General Election Solidarity stood aside and encouraged voters to back the SNP as the biggest anti-austerity party and pro-independence party. Both the Greens and SSP stood candidates. the SSP votes were derisory but the Greens strategy effectively saved Scotland's only Tory, Mundell. If they had stood aside and encouraged an SNP vote Scotland would be Tory free. Will SNP voters forget these factors?
Solidarity are fielding well known candidates like IndyClimber Lindsay Jarrett in the Highlands and Islands and myself, Tommy Sheridan, in Glasgow. The mainstream media will ignore and denigrate Solidarity but many voters now ignore the mainstream media and get their news and ideas from social media. Solidarity will do well.
Pensions, tax credits, HB, ESA, DLA, CB, Pension credit.
Cut em all I say.
I agree there's a fiendish amount of waste in the welfare budget. There are so many other government departments more deserving of the funding.
I'd delink pensions from earnings, and link them to inflation only. Bus passes, winter fuel payments and TV licence should all be (at the very least) heavily means tested.
The one that makes me the most nervous is disability and carers allowances but there is a still a problem here in distinguished between the 'can't work, bad back' brigade and those who are genuinely disabled.
No easy answers.
Housing benefit and tax credits have to go. The former is just turning into a buy toblet subsidy for older middle classes and the latter is corporate welfare. I was glad to see Dave take a robust stance on tax credits and now he needs to follow it up with cuts in housing benefits and limiting child benefits to a maximum of 2 children.
+1. Housing Benefit is having multiple effects on the housing market:-
1) Its keep rents higher than they would otherwise be 2) keeping house prices higher due to the excessive rents...
Pensions, tax credits, HB, ESA, DLA, CB, Pension credit.
Cut em all I say.
I agree there's a fiendish amount of waste in the welfare budget. There are so many other government departments more deserving of the funding.
I'd delink pensions from earnings, and link them to inflation only. Bus passes, winter fuel payments and TV licence should all be (at the very least) heavily means tested.
The one that makes me the most nervous is disability and carers allowances but there is a still a problem here in distinguished between the 'can't work, bad back' brigade and those who are genuinely disabled.
No easy answers.
Your argument instantly falls about (in my eyes) as soon as you introduce means testing. Economically its easier, cheaper and more inclusive to make things available to all (via whatever criteria you want to use) and then increase the tax on those that meet the criteria and can afford it...
The problem with means testing is that until someone knocks on a door and says you could also have x,y,z many people who actually need it, don't claim for it. Whilst those who know the system game things to ensure they maximise what they can get...
It would at the least seem sensible to tax pensioner fringe benefits. It's cheapish (one assumes) to administer and if you're paying 40% tax you don't exactly need a free TV licence do you?
Pensions, tax credits, HB, ESA, DLA, CB, Pension credit.
Cut em all I say.
I agree there's a fiendish amount of waste in the welfare budget. There are so many other government departments more deserving of the funding.
I'd delink pensions from earnings, and link them to inflation only. Bus passes, winter fuel payments and TV licence should all be (at the very least) heavily means tested.
The one that makes me the most nervous is disability and carers allowances but there is a still a problem here in distinguished between the 'can't work, bad back' brigade and those who are genuinely disabled.
No easy answers.
Your argument instantly falls about (in my eyes) as soon as you introduce means testing. Economically its easier and more inclusive to make things available to all (via whatever criteria you want to use) and then increase the tax on those that meet the criteria and can afford it...
Unless the means test is going to save substantial amounts then all it does is creates its own costly bureaucracy and more paperwork for those affected - which also takes up time of social workers, job centres etc who help these people out.
I also believe that the figure goven for the cost of tax credits is highly misleading, as it only counts those who are net recipients of cash as a result. The real cost is 3 or 4 times as much in forgone income tax revenues from the middle classes at the upper end of the scale. (Runs off to find a source for that assertion)
Pensions, tax credits, HB, ESA, DLA, CB, Pension credit.
Cut em all I say.
I agree there's a fiendish amount of waste in the welfare budget. There are so many other government departments more deserving of the funding.
I'd delink pensions from earnings, and link them to inflation only. Bus passes, winter fuel payments and TV licence should all be (at the very least) heavily means tested.
The one that makes me the most nervous is disability and carers allowances but there is a still a problem here in distinguished between the 'can't work, bad back' brigade and those who are genuinely disabled.
No easy answers.
... limiting child benefits to a maximum of 2 children.
Ladbrokes have taken up the challenge of Tissue Price's thread yesterday and priced up a Most Seats (Without SNP) market for next year's Holyrood election.
Miss Plato, saw the first Formula E and have caught little bits of one or two other races. It's too slow (seriously, when you watch it, the cars look a bit pedestrian). Very good driver lineups, though, lots of ex- and potential future F1 drivers.
I'd consider myself self-reliant to the point where others think my parsimony is c1950. I can't imagine my mindset is that typical nowadays given the reaction my views get on *making do*.
I think taxing benefits is a minefield that needs simplifying massively. I don't like the notion that HMRC and DWP and et al HMG depts collude together to gather a massive amount of data on us - but it does make counting welfare beans a lot easier.
Pensions, tax credits, HB, ESA, DLA, CB, Pension credit.
Cut em all I say.
I agree there's a fiendish amount of waste in the welfare budget. There are so many other government departments more deserving of the funding.
I'd delink pensions from earnings, and link them to inflation only. Bus passes, winter fuel payments and TV licence should all be (at the very least) heavily means tested.
The one that makes me the most nervous is disability and carers allowances but there is a still a problem here in distinguished between the 'can't work, bad back' brigade and those who are genuinely disabled.
No easy answers.
Your argument instantly falls about (in my eyes) as soon as you introduce means testing. Economically its easier, cheaper and more inclusive to make things available to all (via whatever criteria you want to use) and then increase the tax on those that meet the criteria and can afford it...
The problem with means testing is that until someone knocks on a door and says you could also have x,y,z many people who actually need it, don't claim for it. Whilst those who know the system game things to ensure they maximise what they can get...
"Kendall scored highly among young voters, with 43% of the 18-24 year olds bracket believing she was Labour’s best electoral asset. Cooper is favoured among more women than men, while Burnham shows strong support in the North West."
'while Burnham shows strong support in the North West.'
Not really where he needs to be strong....
Ah but he is a bit more with it because he is an Evertonian. It is a bit like middle aged business men who choose Audis instead of BMWs to show how radically non conformist they are.
Not really. You choose your football team a long time before you hit middle age and in a place like Liverpool it will be a family thing. Going with Everton in the late 70s/early 80s was rather like going with Spurs now if you live in North London.
Mike Lyons and the 10 dwarfs.
There was Bob Latchford too. Didn't he have one season in the late 70s when he scored a ridiculous number of goals?
Both of them were good players who played their hearts out. Everton weren't a bad side, but the other lot in red won 2 European Cups and a few other pieces of silver.
Labour are never likely to win your vote; I suspect you'd excoriate any of their potential leaders. I'm trying to see the leadership candidates through the prism of Labour winning back enough votes to exceed 37% in the polls.
For example, I'm not anti-Labour. I didn't like Brown (at all - I don't like scheming, spiteful tribalists) but I had no massive problem with Blair. I opposed the Iraq War but I genuinely think that Blair believed that the path he chose was the correct one. He was in a terribly invidious position post 9/11 and the pressure from the USA, and I admire the way he fought his corner as things turned sour in Iraq. The spin culture wasn't pretty but I can handle that - I suspect it is very difficult to operate without spin doctors in the 24/7 news environment.
But I could see myself voting for Kendall in the future, especially if she impresses me. If she wins she will have a hell of a job transforming the party and dragging it to the centre (a more challenging job than Cameron had - and Cameron was helped by the expenses scandal vis a vis removing many of the old grey suits who opposed reform), but if she manages to do so, that will endow her with huge credibility.
Re Cooper and HIPs. Yes, bad. But, how many frontline politicians have 100% glittering histories. Cameron - another classy, intelligent act - got it woefully wrong over NHS reforms, working closely with his old boss, Andrew Lansley.
I sincerely hope that taxing TVLF is just another step towards making the BBC subscription based - bar their news output which like Sky C4 C5 and ITV should be free.
Pensions, tax credits, HB, ESA, DLA, CB, Pension credit.
Cut em all I say.
I agree there's a fiendish amount of waste in the welfare budget. There are so many other government departments more deserving of the funding.
I'd delink pensions from earnings, and link them to inflation only. Bus passes, winter fuel payments and TV licence should all be (at the very least) heavily means tested.
The one that makes me the most nervous is disability and carers allowances but there is a still a problem here in distinguished between the 'can't work, bad back' brigade and those who are genuinely disabled.
No easy answers.
Your argument instantly falls about (in my eyes) as soon as you introduce means testing. Economically its easier, cheaper and more inclusive to make things available to all (via whatever criteria you want to use) and then increase the tax on those that meet the criteria and can afford it...
The problem with means testing is that until someone knocks on a door and says you could also have x,y,z many people who actually need it, don't claim for it. Whilst those who know the system game things to ensure they maximise what they can get...
It would at the least seem sensible to tax pensioner fringe benefits. It's cheapish (one assumes) to administer and if you're paying 40% tax you don't exactly need a free TV licence do you?
The Tories IIRC backed the invasion of Iraq along with many others because they believed there was credible evidence. I backed the war and voted Labour at the time.
The lies from Blair/Campbell are IMO the biggest shame any government deserved. It wasn't a mistaken judgement call - it was a LIE. I can't ever forgive them for that. Ever.
Iraq is a special case when it comes to misleading the population. I don't consider those who were in principle against the war any different. Or better in hindsight.
IA Pensioners always vote for the Tories, young people generally Labour and there is always a turnout gap, it is the middle aged who win elections
Neither my wife and I, nor many of our friends, all OAP's, vote Tory. Never have, never will.
One matter which concerns us is what current Conservative policies will do to our children, grandchildren, and even worse, great-grandchildren.
Well OKC. A much better chance than under the warmonger Blair, bonkers Brown who busted Britain and then the unelectable, weird lefty Ed Miliband..
You should be damned grateful.
Jumping to conclusions again SqR!
The Tories enthusiastically supported Blair over Iraq; probably wouldn't even have a vote in the House on the matter! If they'd backed the late lamented Charlie Kennedy, with the Labour rebels, the Iraq War would probably, as far as the UK was concerned, have been someone else's fight!
Secondly the last election, as I've said before wasn't so much won by the Tories but lost by Labour in Scotland. And the SNP was used as a bogeyman by Crosby et al in marginal and LD seats, as Mr Mark has made plain.
Brown's big mistake of course was to trust the criminal banking fraternity.
Have the Tories ever repudiated their support for the Iraq war? I may have missed it, but I don't think so.
The Tories got suckered by Blair. Like so many before them.
I'm sure Tory support was factored in. It may well have been the over-riding reason why Blair felt the dodgy dossier needed to be sexed up. The Tory party is hardly renowned for taking risks when the national interest is at stake. Put it down to a bit more cynical manipulation.
That said, there were some of us who were vociferously against the war. Ken Clarke wasn't the only skeptic.
IA Pensioners always vote for the Tories, young people generally Labour and there is always a turnout gap, it is the middle aged who win elections
Neither my wife and I, nor many of our friends, all OAP's, vote Tory. Never have, never will.
One matter which concerns us is what current Conservative policies will do to our children, grandchildren, and even worse, great-grandchildren.
Well OKC. A much better chance than under the warmonger Blair, bonkers Brown who busted Britain and then the unelectable, weird lefty Ed Miliband..
You should be damned grateful.
Jumping to conclusions again SqR!
The Tories enthusiastically supported Blair over Iraq; probably wouldn't even have a vote in the House on the matter! If they'd backed the late lamented Charlie Kennedy, with the Labour rebels, the Iraq War would probably, as far as the UK was concerned, have been someone else's fight!
Secondly the last election, as I've said before wasn't so much won by the Tories but lost by Labour in Scotland. And the SNP was used as a bogeyman by Crosby et al in marginal and LD seats, as Mr Mark has made plain.
Brown's big mistake of course was to trust the criminal banking fraternity.
The war is not what Blair should be criticised for - it was quite legitimate and Saddam was clearly in breach of the ceasefire terms. What Bush and Blair should be criticised for is not being prepared for the peace afterwards. As for 'Browns big mistake' - what hilarity. Brown encouraged reckless lending and was clueless about the bad debts the banks were taking on. If you do not think the election was won by the tories then your judgement is shot to ribbons.
Labour are never likely to win your vote; I suspect you'd excoriate any of their potential leaders. I'm trying to see the leadership candidates through the prism of Labour winning back enough votes to exceed 37% in the polls.
For example, I'm not anti-Labour. I didn't like Brown (at all - I don't like scheming, spiteful tribalists) but I had no massive problem with Blair. I opposed the Iraq War but I genuinely think that Blair believed that the path he chose was the correct one. He was in a terribly invidious position post 9/11 and the pressure from the USA, and I admire the way he fought his corner as things turned sour in Iraq. The spin culture wasn't pretty but I can handle that - I suspect it is very difficult to operate without spin doctors in the 24/7 news environment.
But I could see myself voting for Kendall in the future, especially if she impresses me. If she wins she will have a hell of a job transforming the party and dragging it to the centre (a more challenging job than Cameron had - and Cameron was helped by the expenses scandal vis a vis removing many of the old grey suits who opposed reform), but if she manages to do so, that will endow her with huge credibility.
Re Cooper and HIPs. Yes, bad. But, how many frontline politicians have 100% glittering histories. Cameron - another classy, intelligent act - got it woefully wrong over NHS reforms, working closely with his old boss, Andrew Lansley.
Miss Plato, saw the first Formula E and have caught little bits of one or two other races. It's too slow (seriously, when you watch it, the cars look a bit pedestrian). Very good driver lineups, though, lots of ex- and potential future F1 drivers.
FE might be good in a few years when the technology has improved and the drivers don't need to swap cars half way through the race! The FIA have done a good marketing job on it though, with some good city centre locations - the next round is in London next month - and a field of high class drivers.
Doesn't mean that the cars are anything except dead slow though. The winner of the last race in Moscow did 80km in 43 minutes (c.68mph).
I'd consider myself self-reliant to the point where others think my parsimony is c1950. I can't imagine my mindset is that typical nowadays given the reaction my views get on *making do*.
I think taxing benefits is a minefield that needs simplifying massively. I don't like the notion that HMRC and DWP and et al HMG depts collude together to gather a massive amount of data on us - but it does make counting welfare beans a lot easier.
Pensions, tax credits, HB, ESA, DLA, CB, Pension credit.
Cut em all I say.
I agree there's a fiendish amount of waste in the welfare budget. There are so many other government departments more deserving of the funding.
I'd delink pensions from earnings, and link them to inflation only. Bus passes, winter fuel payments and TV licence should all be (at the very least) heavily means tested.
The one that makes me the most nervous is disability and carers allowances but there is a still a problem here in distinguished between the 'can't work, bad back' brigade and those who are genuinely disabled.
No easy answers.
Your argument instantly falls about (in my eyes) as soon as you introduce means testing. Economically its easier, cheaper and more inclusive to make things available to all (via whatever criteria you want to use) and then increase the tax on those that meet the criteria and can afford it...
The problem with means testing is that until someone knocks on a door and says you could also have x,y,z many people who actually need it, don't claim for it. Whilst those who know the system game things to ensure they maximise what they can get...
When you've watched 3 Age UK advisors argue over whether x is claimable or not, you know the system is still to complex.
Ladbrokes have taken up the challenge of Tissue Price's thread yesterday and priced up a Most Seats (Without SNP) market for next year's Holyrood election.
The Tories IIRC backed the invasion of Iraq along with ver.
Iraq is a special case when it comes to misleading the population. I don't consider those who were in principle against the war any different. Or better in hindsight.
IA Pensioners always vote for the Tories, young people generally Labour and there is always a turnout gap, it is the middle aged who win elections
Neither my wife and I, nor many of our friends, all OAP's, vote Tory. Never have, never will.
One matter which concerns us is what current Conservative policies will do to our children, grandchildren, and even worse, great-grandchildren.
Well OKC. A much better chance than under the warmonger Blair, bonkers Brown who busted Britain and then the unelectable, weird lefty Ed Miliband..
You should be damned grateful.
Jumping to conclusions again SqR!
The Tories enthusiastically supported Blair over Iraq; probably wouldn't even have a vote in the House on the matter! If they'd backed the late lamented Charlie Kennedy, with the Labour rebels, the Iraq War would probably, as far as the UK was concerned, have been someone else's fight!
Secondly the last election, as I've said before wasn't so much won by the Tories but lost by Labour in Scotland. And the SNP was used as a bogeyman by Crosby et al in marginal and LD seats, as Mr Mark has made plain.
Brown's big mistake of course was to trust the criminal banking fraternity.
Have the Tories ever repudiated their support for the Iraq war? I may have missed it, but I don't think so.
IIRC, you have said on here in the past that you voted Labour in 2005, long after the dodgy dossier was exposed and despite the fact that you believed Labour had deliberately developed anti-Semitic posters relating to Michael Howard.
Iraq again? If the PM says, with all the information at his fingertips, that we are in mortal danger, what opposition would dare dissent?
Analagous to the Cons' pledge to match spending and then the no money left note...who knew?
on-topic.
@DavidL is absolutely right about SLAB and Lab having to define itself first and no it wasn't ever thus. What was ever thus was Cons' economic competence and Lab's greater social conscience. Prior to the crash, the public thought that having a heart was enough to compensate for being economically illiterate*. Now they know better. Lab has a huge mountain to climb.
*claiming to have abolished boom & bust = economically illiterate, as every Lab person of influence readily admits today.
I sincerely hope that taxing TVLF is just another step towards making the BBC subscription based - bar their news output which like Sky C4 C5 and ITV should be free.
Pensions, tax credits, HB, ESA, DLA, CB, Pension credit.
Cut em all I say.
I agree there's a fiendish amount of waste in the welfare budget. There are so many other government departments more deserving of the funding.
I'd delink pensions from earnings, and link them to inflation only. Bus passes, winter fuel payments and TV licence should all be (at the very least) heavily means tested.
The one that makes me the most nervous is disability and carers allowances but there is a still a problem here in distinguished between the 'can't work, bad back' brigade and those who are genuinely disabled.
No easy answers.
Your argument instantly falls about (in my eyes) as soon as you introduce means testing. Economically its easier, cheaper and more inclusive to make things available to all (via whatever criteria you want to use) and then increase the tax on those that meet the criteria and can afford it...
The problem with means testing is that until someone knocks on a door and says you could also have x,y,z many people who actually need it, don't claim for it. Whilst those who know the system game things to ensure they maximise what they can get...
It would at the least seem sensible to tax pensioner fringe benefits. It's cheapish (one assumes) to administer and if you're paying 40% tax you don't exactly need a free TV licence do you?
Yeah I could buy into that. The BBC has a place of course but, should do less as a rule. It's a behemoth from another age really. Of course the luvvies were out in force protesting about BBC 3 going online only (well they would wouldn't they? Less state subsidy for a platform for their profession equals less acting gigs going).
Now there's always an argument that "Monty Python" or whatever would never have seen the light of day in a purely commercial world, fair enough, but what pray is the point of BBC radio Essex/Gloucester/Cumbria etc etc? They are just crowding out any local news source and crushing it with overwhelming firepower paid for by taxpayers.
In a challenge to European leaders before a summit that aims to tackle a refugee crisis, Hungary unilaterally suspended an EU asylum programme on Tuesday, saying it was overburdened by illegal migrants.
As Italy said its ships had rescued 3,700 migrants at sea since Monday and Libyans threatened military action against EU moves to curb human trafficking, prime minister Viktor Orban's government demonstrated Budapest's frustration with proposals to spread asylum seekers around the continent by refusing to take any more migrants sent there under EU regulations.
With EU leaders expected to debate a new scheme on Thursday to relocate Mediterranean migrants landing in Italy and Greece, the European Commission demanded an immediate explanation after Hungary stopped accepting foreigners returned there from other EU states for their asylum requests to be handled by Budapest.
Re Pensions. For me the critical factor is the degree to which the recipient has paid contributions. Fully paid up should always receive the fullest and most generous payment. For the rest, it should depend on the reason for missing contributions - if it was down to choice then the benefit should accordingly be less. If you've paid in, in good faith then it would be wrong to reduce the benefit.
First E3 I remember getting excited about,which means I'm setting myself up for a fail no doubt.
The main problem with the FF7 remake will be as it is, surely, fully voiced, we cannot give the characters stupid names, or give RedXIII his real name before the characters learn it. (In all honesty it will probably be awful in some inexplicable way, but I'm so nostalgic I don't care)
Re Kendall, she's been pretty low key since an early spash as far as I can tell, and I do wonder if, like perhaps Burnham in 2010, I'm more well disposed towards her simply as the non silly unknown to me candidate, as Cooper I find competent in appearence but unbelievably bland(and she had been told to smile too much in the first hustings, that was clear, to compensate no doubt), Burnham is not making an impact on me this time and Corbyn seems to bang on about nothing but Iraq if that first hustings is any indication.
I sincerely hope that taxing TVLF is just another step towards making the BBC subscription based - bar their news output which like Sky C4 C5 and ITV should be free.
Pensions, tax credits, HB, ESA, DLA, CB, Pension credit.
Cut em all I say.
I agree there's a fiendish amount of waste in the welfare budget. There are so many other government departments more deserving of the funding.
I'd delink pensions from earnings, and link them to inflation only. Bus passes, winter fuel payments and TV licence should all be (at the very least) heavily means tested.
The one that makes me the most nervous is disability and carers allowances but there is a still a problem here in distinguished between the 'can't work, bad back' brigade and those who are genuinely disabled.
No easy answers.
Your argument instantly falls about (in my eyes) as soon as you introduce means testing. Economically its easier, cheaper and more inclusive to make things available to all (via whatever criteria you want to use) and then increase the tax on those that meet the criteria and can afford it...
The problem with means testing is that until someone knocks on a door and says you could also have x,y,z many people who actually need it, don't claim for it. Whilst those who know the system game things to ensure they maximise what they can get...
It would at the least seem sensible to tax pensioner fringe benefits. It's cheapish (one assumes) to administer and if you're paying 40% tax you don't exactly need a free TV licence do you?
The TV licence fee is about the most regressive tax there is - there are no exemptions for anyone under 75 and it applies at an equal rate to student bedrooms, council flats and large detatched houses.
Also costs a lot to collect and enforce which could be better spent elsewhere, especially the time of magistrates.
BBC local radio also kills local newspapers - re BBC3, the best thing I read was AA Gill.... "BBC3 is for the parents and probation officers of those who appear on it."
Epic. I click through the content and wonder WTF WTF WTF - and I watch a load of pulp TV from the US/C5/C4. The BBC has no place adding to it.
I sincerely hope that taxing TVLF is just another step towards making the BBC subscription based - bar their news output which like Sky C4 C5 and ITV should be free.
Pensions, tax credits, HB, ESA, DLA, CB, Pension credit.
Cut em all I say.
I agree there's a fiendish amount of waste in the welfare budget. There are so many other government departments more deserving of the funding.
I'd delink pensions from earnings, and link them to inflation only. Bus passes, winter fuel payments and TV licence should all be (at the very least) heavily means tested.
The one that makes me the most nervous is disability and carers allowances but there is a still a problem here in distinguished between the 'can't work, bad back' brigade and those who are genuinely disabled.
No easy answers.
Your argument instantly falls about (in my eyes) as soon as you introduce means testing. Economically its easier, cheaper and more inclusive to make things available to all (via whatever criteria you want to use) and then increase the tax on those that meet the criteria and can afford it...
The problem with means testing is that until someone knocks on a door and says you could also have x,y,z many people who actually need it, don't claim for it. Whilst those who know the system game things to ensure they maximise what they can get...
It would at the least seem sensible to tax pensioner fringe benefits. It's cheapish (one assumes) to administer and if you're paying 40% tax you don't exactly need a free TV licence do you?
Yeah I could buy into that. The BBC has a place of course but, should do less as a rule. It's a behemoth from another age really. Of course the luvvies were out in force protesting about BBC 3 going online only (well they would wouldn't they? Less state subsidy for a platform for their profession equals less acting gigs going).
Now there's always an argument that "Monty Python" or whatever would never have seen the light of day in a purely commercial world, fair enough, but what pray is the point of BBC radio Essex/Gloucester/Cumbria etc etc? They are just crowding out any local news source and crushing it with overwhelming firepower paid for by taxpayers.
Ladbrokes have taken up the challenge of Tissue Price's thread yesterday and priced up a Most Seats (Without SNP) market for next year's Holyrood election.
Re Pensions. For me the critical factor is the degree to which the recipient has paid contributions. Fully paid up should always receive the fullest and most generous payment. For the rest, it should depend on the reason for missing contributions - if it was down to choice then the benefit should accordingly be less. If you've paid in, in good faith then it would be wrong to reduce the benefit.
Agreed if you pay in you should get out proportionately (ditto Job Seekers' Allowance, in my view which screws those in their 40/50's big time on that basis) However, a reduction in pension benefit has happened already. I've been contributing since my late teens on the basis I was going to get paid out by the State at 65. I won't be, as it's 67 at present (and may well rise I suspect), so on that basis the goalposts were moved on me retrospectively, so I'm 12/14K down on State pension alone. However, I can also see savings had to be made somewhere as we cannot go on borrowing as we have been, so I can accept it.
Re Pensions. For me the critical factor is the degree to which the recipient has paid contributions. Fully paid up should always receive the fullest and most generous payment. For the rest, it should depend on the reason for missing contributions - if it was down to choice then the benefit should accordingly be less. If you've paid in, in good faith then it would be wrong to reduce the benefit.
Agreed if you pay in you should get out proportionately (ditto Job Seekers' Allowance, in my view which screws those in their 40/50's big time on that basis) However, a reduction in pension benefit has happened already. I've been contributing since my late teens on the basis I was going to get paid out by the State at 65. I won't be, as it's 67 at present (and may well rise I suspect), so on that basis the goalposts were moved on me retrospectively, so I'm 12/14K down on State pension alone. However, I can also see savings had to be made somewhere as we cannot go on borrowing as we have been, so I can accept it.
Is there any way you can quickly check if you've kept up contributions ?
Mr. Sandpit, perhaps, but the cities don't sell me. F1's city circuits tend to be the worst.
Yes but the FE cars are too slow for any F1 circuits, and they really don't want comparative lap times out there. They would hardly set the world on fire going through Eau Rouge at 90mph en route to a 4 minute lap around Spa! Maybe the Silverstone club circuit or an international Kart track!
The locations attract a different crowd from the normal F1 and those who like the environmental side to it and lack of noise, so it's good publicity for motorsport in general. It's a bit like when Porsche launched the Cayenne, everyone wondered why a sports car company were making an SUV - but they now sell loads of them at high margins, and that income pays for the development of the GT specials and race programme. Yes please!
Fenster I don't. vote in UK elections as I tend to live abroad most of the time but I earnestly believe that the Government of the day needs a strong opposition..Labour are not, and seemingly will not, be providing that over the next five years if they choose one of the current contenders as Leader..They have to have a rethink..
You never leave a man behind… Search team picks over melted glacier in hope that the moving ice will reveal the bodies of 35 men missing from ‘Old Shaky’ military plane which crashed in Alaska in 1952
Aircraft crashed into Knik Glacier in southern Alaska killing all 52 men Wreckage rediscovered in 2012 and search for remains has now resumed The C-124 Globemaster was on its way to Anchorage when tragedy struck
Mr. kle4, just imagine the cross-dressing scene with Don Corneo. In HD.
I hope they keep the score the same, but use an orchestra to do it instead.
Edited extra bit: mistook Don Corneo's pad for a brothel, which is entirely understandable.
I like BBC3, but then again I am - unlike the vast majority of PB - actually in the target audience. But there's no reason it can't be online only, since the aforementioned target market are also the ones who make most use of catchup, Netflix, and other more dubious online resources.
FYI on the previous thread, Tommy Sheridan posted this on Tissue Price's awesome piece
Solidarity will field a strong list of candidates in each of the 8 regional lists. Their call will be SNP Constituency vote; Solidarity List vote. During the recent General Election Solidarity stood aside and encouraged voters to back the SNP as the biggest anti-austerity party and pro-independence party. Both the Greens and SSP stood candidates. the SSP votes were derisory but the Greens strategy effectively saved Scotland's only Tory, Mundell. If they had stood aside and encouraged an SNP vote Scotland would be Tory free. Will SNP voters forget these factors?
Solidarity are fielding well known candidates like IndyClimber Lindsay Jarrett in the Highlands and Islands and myself, Tommy Sheridan, in Glasgow. The mainstream media will ignore and denigrate Solidarity but many voters now ignore the mainstream media and get their news and ideas from social media. Solidarity will do well.
Mr. Rabbit, fair enough. To be honest, they could even scrap the excellent BBC4 and just put those great history programmes on BBC2, cutting repeats from that channel.
Mr. kle4, just imagine the cross-dressing scene with Don Corneo. In HD.
I hope they keep the score the same, but use an orchestra to do it instead.
Edited extra bit: mistook Don Corneo's pad for a brothel, which is entirely understandable.
I like BBC3, but then again I am - unlike the vast majority of PB - actually in the target audience. But there's no reason it can't be online only, since the aforementioned target market are also the ones who make most use of catchup, Netflix, and other more dubious online resources.
Liking motorsport's environmental side is like visiting a brothel for the small talk.
I know, I know. That's why FE appeals to those other than you or I, and also provides a diversion to those who protest about F1 not being very 'green'.
Mrs Sandpit thinks it's great, so who am I to disagree?
Mr. Sandpit, they do realise the planes that carry the cars, drivers and engineers to 10 cities across the globe aren't powered by wind turbines, right?
I fear Mrs. Sandpit's taste in motorsport is worse than her taste in chaps.
I've got BBC2 as one of my Favourite channels simply out of a misplaced belief from 20yrs ago, and BTH, it's all crap BBC1 repeat leftovers. There's no reason why BBC4 isn't BBC2 - it used to be.
Mr. Rabbit, fair enough. To be honest, they could even scrap the excellent BBC4 and just put those great history programmes on BBC2, cutting repeats from that channel.
Re Pensions. For me the critical factor is the degree to which the recipient has paid contributions. Fully paid up should always receive the fullest and most generous payment. For the rest, it should depend on the reason for missing contributions - if it was down to choice then the benefit should accordingly be less. If you've paid in, in good faith then it would be wrong to reduce the benefit.
Agreed if you pay in you should get out proportionately (ditto Job Seekers' Allowance, in my view which screws those in their 40/50's big time on that basis) However, a reduction in pension benefit has happened already. I've been contributing since my late teens on the basis I was going to get paid out by the State at 65. I won't be, as it's 67 at present (and may well rise I suspect), so on that basis the goalposts were moved on me retrospectively, so I'm 12/14K down on State pension alone. However, I can also see savings had to be made somewhere as we cannot go on borrowing as we have been, so I can accept it.
Is there any way you can quickly check if you've kept up contributions ?
On pensions? Sure. Go onto the Govt web site www.gov.uk and go into the "calculate State Pension" bit. You need your NI no and all that jazz. It will only do the basic state pension at present as I think they are still trying to work out a way of calculating SERPS, second state pension , and the new post 2016 universal pension and how they all interact. I'm pretty sure from a quote I saw the other week from Ros Altmann, the new Pensions Minister, that the principle is that you won't get less than whatever it is you were due to get under the old system (basic state pension plus SERPS/SSP2 etc) even if you won't have time to qualify for the full rate of the new universal pension.
Mr. Sandpit, they do realise the planes that carry the cars, drivers and engineers to 10 cities across the globe aren't powered by wind turbines, right?
I fear Mrs. Sandpit's taste in motorsport is worse than her taste in chaps.
FE does make some noise (metaphorical of course) about 'ofsetting' the transport cost.
The environmentalists probably see the transport of FE cars (2 per driver, remember?) across the world in the same way they see their own international conferences with all the private jets flying in to attend. Someone with a genuine care about the environment would have the conferences sponsored by Cisco and Skype ;-)
Mrs S can do what she likes as long as she lets me watch the F1 every other weekend!
Mr. kle4, just imagine the cross-dressing scene with Don Corneo. In HD.
I hope they keep the score the same, but use an orchestra to do it instead.
Edited extra bit: mistook Don Corneo's pad for a brothel, which is entirely understandable.
I like BBC3, but then again I am - unlike the vast majority of PB - actually in the target audience. But there's no reason it can't be online only, since the aforementioned target market are also the ones who make most use of catchup, Netflix, and other more dubious online resources.
I like some of their comedy, like Some Girlsand Chris Lilley's stuff, the repeats of Don't Tell the Bride, Top Gear occasionally and American Dad!/Family Guy (which alas they don't put online). None of it would please Lord Raith, but then again it's comparable to the consumer programmes they put on BBC1 during the day - good to have on in the background.
Mr. kle4, just imagine the cross-dressing scene with Don Corneo. In HD.
I hope they keep the score the same, but use an orchestra to do it instead.
Edited extra bit: mistook Don Corneo's pad for a brothel, which is entirely understandable.
I like BBC3, but then again I am - unlike the vast majority of PB - actually in the target audience. But there's no reason it can't be online only, since the aforementioned target market are also the ones who make most use of catchup, Netflix, and other more dubious online resources.
I like some of their comedy, like Some Girlsand Chris Lilley's stuff, the repeats of Don't Tell the Bride, Top Gear occasionally and American Dad!/Family Guy (which alas they don't put online). None of it would please Lord Raith, but then again it's comparable to the consumer programmes they put on BBC1 during the day - good to have on in the background.
No PMQs today? - or just to dull to comment on...?
Just too dull. Labour has no fight in it.
But some of the new MPs do seem unable to even read out a pre-prepared question without stumbling or losing their way completely. Doesn't show the House in a good light.
No PMQs today? - or just to dull to comment on...?
Just too dull. Labour has no fight in it.
But some of the new MPs do seem unable to even read out a pre-prepared question without stumbling or losing their way completely. Doesn't show the House in a good light.
No PMQs today? - or just to dull to comment on...?
Just too dull. Labour has no fight in it.
But some of the new MPs do seem unable to even read out a pre-prepared question without stumbling or losing their way completely. Doesn't show the House in a good light.
I agree about LABs new MPs. The new batch from Labour reach a new low. Good for our future.
Labour are carrying on fighting the same way they lost the election. Someone once wrote on here, once, twice or maybe often that a party's supporters never learn etc etc....
Re: PMQs. Thanks Gents, I guess this will be par for the course until a new LOTO is elected.
Looks that way, I completely forgot too.
I'm a fan of Cameron but any government needs an effective opposition if they are to be properly held to account. It's really not good for democracy that the second largest party are only talking to each other and the third largest are more worried about where to sit in the Chamber.
Re: PMQs. Thanks Gents, I guess this will be par for the course until a new LOTO is elected.
Looks that way, I completely forgot too.
I'm a fan of Cameron but any government needs an effective opposition if they are to be properly held to account. It's really not good for democracy that the second largest party are only talking to each other and the third largest are more worried about where to sit in the Chamber.
Listen, On the poll - it is most likely too good for Labour - heck I'd be out of pocket with my various constituency bets and Labour getting a decent majority (Even with Scotland taken into account) if this was the result that came to pass. .... What we should and must be extremely careful to look out for are pollsters changing methodology, particularly to get results more in line with each other, as this will cause herding towards a false average and the poll of polls average will be a far less accurate guide
If the pollsters get the wrong result then they are putting themselves out of work. Herding would do them no good would it? But do they understand what is going on? Its all this talk of methodologies which makes me suspicious.
No, if one pollster gets the wrong result then they are out of work qv. Angus Reid. If they all do, then it's 1992 all over again, learn lessons and all that, but polls will still be commissioned. Hence the temptation to herd.
FYI on the previous thread, Tommy Sheridan posted this on Tissue Price's awesome piece
Solidarity will field a strong list of candidates in each of the 8 regional lists. Their call will be SNP Constituency vote; Solidarity List vote. During the recent General Election Solidarity stood aside and encouraged voters to back the SNP as the biggest anti-austerity party and pro-independence party. Both the Greens and SSP stood candidates. the SSP votes were derisory but the Greens strategy effectively saved Scotland's only Tory, Mundell. If they had stood aside and encouraged an SNP vote Scotland would be Tory free. Will SNP voters forget these factors?
Solidarity are fielding well known candidates like IndyClimber Lindsay Jarrett in the Highlands and Islands and myself, Tommy Sheridan, in Glasgow. The mainstream media will ignore and denigrate Solidarity but many voters now ignore the mainstream media and get their news and ideas from social media. Solidarity will do well.
Ladbrokes have taken up the challenge of Tissue Price's thread yesterday and priced up a Most Seats (Without SNP) market for next year's Holyrood election.
Comments
IIRC, you have said on here in the past that you voted Labour in 2005, long after the dodgy dossier was exposed and despite the fact that you believed Labour had deliberately developed anti-Semitic posters relating to Michael Howard.
I'd delink pensions from earnings, and link them to inflation only. Bus passes, winter fuel payments and TV licence should all be (at the very least) heavily means tested.
The one that makes me the most nervous is disability and carers allowances but there is a still a problem here in distinguished between the 'can't work, bad back' brigade and those who are genuinely disabled.
No easy answers.
1997 was for a positive reason.
2001 - more of the same.
2005 - the Tories still didn't have their crap together. I made a very reluctant choice here. It was a HUGE mistake on my part and I've fessed up to it many times on here. I wished I stayed at home.
https://www.dropbox.com/
Solidarity will field a strong list of candidates in each of the 8 regional lists. Their call will be SNP Constituency vote; Solidarity List vote. During the recent General Election Solidarity stood aside and encouraged voters to back the SNP as the biggest anti-austerity party and pro-independence party. Both the Greens and SSP stood candidates. the SSP votes were derisory but the Greens strategy effectively saved Scotland's only Tory, Mundell. If they had stood aside and encouraged an SNP vote Scotland would be Tory free. Will SNP voters forget these factors?
Solidarity are fielding well known candidates like IndyClimber Lindsay Jarrett in the Highlands and Islands and myself, Tommy Sheridan, in Glasgow. The mainstream media will ignore and denigrate Solidarity but many voters now ignore the mainstream media and get their news and ideas from social media. Solidarity will do well.
http://bit.ly/1SJjC5Z
If you want others to view (rather than edit online) it then a service like Dropbox is free - but the person on the other end will also need Excel, preferably the same version you used to compile it.
The problem with means testing is that until someone knocks on a door and says you could also have x,y,z many people who actually need it, don't claim for it. Whilst those who know the system game things to ensure they maximise what they can get...
1) Its keep rents higher than they would otherwise be
2) keeping house prices higher due to the excessive rents...
I also believe that the figure goven for the cost of tax credits is highly misleading, as it only counts those who are net recipients of cash as a result. The real cost is 3 or 4 times as much in forgone income tax revenues from the middle classes at the upper end of the scale.
(Runs off to find a source for that assertion)
4/6 Lab
5/2 Cons
7/2 Greens
100/1 Lib Dems
http://ow.ly/OJ0Rj
I'd consider myself self-reliant to the point where others think my parsimony is c1950. I can't imagine my mindset is that typical nowadays given the reaction my views get on *making do*.
I think taxing benefits is a minefield that needs simplifying massively. I don't like the notion that HMRC and DWP and et al HMG depts collude together to gather a massive amount of data on us - but it does make counting welfare beans a lot easier.
Labour are never likely to win your vote; I suspect you'd excoriate any of their potential leaders. I'm trying to see the leadership candidates through the prism of Labour winning back enough votes to exceed 37% in the polls.
For example, I'm not anti-Labour. I didn't like Brown (at all - I don't like scheming, spiteful tribalists) but I had no massive problem with Blair. I opposed the Iraq War but I genuinely think that Blair believed that the path he chose was the correct one. He was in a terribly invidious position post 9/11 and the pressure from the USA, and I admire the way he fought his corner as things turned sour in Iraq. The spin culture wasn't pretty but I can handle that - I suspect it is very difficult to operate without spin doctors in the 24/7 news environment.
But I could see myself voting for Kendall in the future, especially if she impresses me. If she wins she will have a hell of a job transforming the party and dragging it to the centre (a more challenging job than Cameron had - and Cameron was helped by the expenses scandal vis a vis removing many of the old grey suits who opposed reform), but if she manages to do so, that will endow her with huge credibility.
Re Cooper and HIPs. Yes, bad. But, how many frontline politicians have 100% glittering histories. Cameron - another classy, intelligent act - got it woefully wrong over NHS reforms, working closely with his old boss, Andrew Lansley.
I'm sure Tory support was factored in. It may well have been the over-riding reason why Blair felt the dodgy dossier needed to be sexed up. The Tory party is hardly renowned for taking risks when the national interest is at stake. Put it down to a bit more cynical manipulation.
That said, there were some of us who were vociferously against the war. Ken Clarke wasn't the only skeptic.
As for 'Browns big mistake' - what hilarity. Brown encouraged reckless lending and was clueless about the bad debts the banks were taking on. If you do not think the election was won by the tories then your judgement is shot to ribbons.
It's a threadbare record for someone who's been around so long.
Doesn't mean that the cars are anything except dead slow though. The winner of the last race in Moscow did 80km in 43 minutes (c.68mph).
Analagous to the Cons' pledge to match spending and then the no money left note...who knew?
on-topic.
@DavidL is absolutely right about SLAB and Lab having to define itself first and no it wasn't ever thus. What was ever thus was Cons' economic competence and Lab's greater social conscience. Prior to the crash, the public thought that having a heart was enough to compensate for being economically illiterate*. Now they know better. Lab has a huge mountain to climb.
*claiming to have abolished boom & bust = economically illiterate, as every Lab person of influence readily admits today.
Now there's always an argument that "Monty Python" or whatever would never have seen the light of day in a purely commercial world, fair enough, but what pray is the point of BBC radio Essex/Gloucester/Cumbria etc etc? They are just crowding out any local news source and crushing it with overwhelming firepower paid for by taxpayers.
Mr. Sandpit, perhaps, but the cities don't sell me. F1's city circuits tend to be the worst.
The main problem with the FF7 remake will be as it is, surely, fully voiced, we cannot give the characters stupid names, or give RedXIII his real name before the characters learn it. (In all honesty it will probably be awful in some inexplicable way, but I'm so nostalgic I don't care)
Re Kendall, she's been pretty low key since an early spash as far as I can tell, and I do wonder if, like perhaps Burnham in 2010, I'm more well disposed towards her simply as the non silly unknown to me candidate, as Cooper I find competent in appearence but unbelievably bland(and she had been told to smile too much in the first hustings, that was clear, to compensate no doubt), Burnham is not making an impact on me this time and Corbyn seems to bang on about nothing but Iraq if that first hustings is any indication.
Also costs a lot to collect and enforce which could be better spent elsewhere, especially the time of magistrates.
Epic. I click through the content and wonder WTF WTF WTF - and I watch a load of pulp TV from the US/C5/C4. The BBC has no place adding to it.
I see you have been more optimistic on the Tories - or should I say more pessimistic on Labour?
Mr. kle4, just imagine the cross-dressing scene with Don Corneo. In HD.
I hope they keep the score the same, but use an orchestra to do it instead.
Edited extra bit: mistook Don Corneo's pad for a brothel, which is entirely understandable.
20th Jun 2049. !
The locations attract a different crowd from the normal F1 and those who like the environmental side to it and lack of noise, so it's good publicity for motorsport in general. It's a bit like when Porsche launched the Cayenne, everyone wondered why a sports car company were making an SUV - but they now sell loads of them at high margins, and that income pays for the development of the GT specials and race programme. Yes please!
*sighs*
Liking motorsport's environmental side is like visiting a brothel for the small talk.
The only one I liked was Killer Magic for the tricks. I'm a magic nerd, so forgave the rest of the presentation.
Mrs Sandpit thinks it's great, so who am I to disagree?
I fear Mrs. Sandpit's taste in motorsport is worse than her taste in chaps.
Edited extra bit: ah
The environmentalists probably see the transport of FE cars (2 per driver, remember?) across the world in the same way they see their own international conferences with all the private jets flying in to attend. Someone with a genuine care about the environment would have the conferences sponsored by Cisco and Skype ;-)
Mrs S can do what she likes as long as she lets me watch the F1 every other weekend!
Showcase/Heyday are FAB for music docs - Vintage is super for older music.
No PMQs today? - or just to dull to comment on...?
But some of the new MPs do seem unable to even read out a pre-prepared question without stumbling or losing their way completely. Doesn't show the House in a good light.
http://www.sthelensreporter.co.uk/news/local/mp-elect-s-assault-trial-not-til-august-1-7178967
Innocent face.
BBC reporting that disability cuts protestors tried to enter the Chamber - halted by police. Somewhat alarming!
Labour are carrying on fighting the same way they lost the election. Someone once wrote on here, once, twice or maybe often that a party's supporters never learn etc etc....
I'm a fan of Cameron but any government needs an effective opposition if they are to be properly held to account. It's really not good for democracy that the second largest party are only talking to each other and the third largest are more worried about where to sit in the Chamber.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/politics-blog/11695816/Why-did-the-polls-get-it-wrong-at-the-general-election-Because-they-lied.html
New Thread