Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

Options

politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » There was a similar phone/online polling divide at the last

245

Comments

  • Options

    "Would Norway want Britain in EFTA?", I asked. "After all, Norway is the biggest, most powerful current member of this trading bloc. Wouldn't it lose out if a much bigger, more powerful UK joined?"

    "Of course not", Anne exclaimed, looking at me as if I had uttered something about the Pope not being a Catholic. "It would be in the Norwegian interest to have Britain in EFTA". If one could speak in capitals, she just did.

    Britain would be very welcome on EFTA. In fact, if Britain left the EU and joined EFTA, "that would be fantastic".
    http://eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=84212

    From an interview with a Norwegian Secretary of State. I'm sure "fantastic" is the normal words used for imperialism *rolleyes*. You can find others by Norwegians and Icelanders etc all saying the same thing.
    Let me get this clear.

    There are Norwegian politicians who want us back in EFTA. And in the same article I read that there are other Norwegian politicians who wants us to stay in the EU.

    If that's the best you can do, Philip, I doubt even you, in your heart of hearts, regard it as a ringing endorsement.

    No it says that politicians think we should stay in the EU for our own interests. It doesn't say we wouldn't be welcome into the EFTA if we chose to leave.
    Re-read what I wrote and not what you imagine I wrote.



    The Norwegians have said they would welcome us and it would be fantastic, you claimed we wouldn't be welcome. Please provide any quotes by anyone saying we wouldn't be welcome (as opposed to saying we should stay as we'd "lose influence" otherwise).
  • Options
    Speedy said:

    Another reason why Hillary might lose to Trump:

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/eileenmyles/hillary-clinton-the-leader-you-want-when-the-world-ends#.hjVo140oKq

    "Yet it seems sort of radical now for women who aren’t for Hill to say I’m not voting for someone because they have a vagina. Yeah since 1971 I’ve had the freedom to vote dick, dick, dick. It’s interesting we never put it that way. A man runs. Cock ‘n’ balls. No big deal. We’re not going to mention his genitals. Unless he’s done something illegal. But Hillary has a vagina. Certainly a great misogynistic moment for everyone. She has a vagina. That does not interest me. It interests me. It very much interests me. It especially interests me that she has a killer vagina. "

    "I don’t think Hillary has horns though she does have a vagina and wouldn’t you want it sitting on the chair in the Oval Office (not to get all weird) because things will never be the same.

    It’s why I ran (against her husband) in 1992. I wanted my vagina on that chair. Now I want Hillary’s there. I want to look back on my time."

    That's the entire political platform of Hillary.
    Not education, not healthcare, not the economy, not foreign policy, just a vagina.
    There is zero appeal for those who are not geriatric feminists.

    Hillary being a woman is already priced in.
  • Options

    John_N said:

    "The chart above I’d based on the average NO2AV lead in the final polls years ago. Then the phone pollster trounced the online ones. Maybe that is happening this time as well. Maybe not."
    It isn't happening, because we're nowhere near the final polls. For the past two months, the phone results have been changing much faster than the online ones, though. In the direction of Leave.

    In case anyone hasn't worked it out yet, the reason why Cameron expressed his contempt today for Jeremy Corbyn not wearing a "proper suit", not knotting his tie higher, and showing near-traitorously insufficient love for the royal family, Purdey rifles and the principle of hereditary wealth and power, is not that he felt like it or because the opportunity arose.

    Let's say it. The "round up the single mothers, oiks and scroungers, spread tuberculosis among those we don't want to employ as cleaners or personal servants, and put Romanians back on the boat at Dover, and who cares whether it sinks?" base of the Tory party is set to have a field day over the coming four months of the referendum campaign.

    Marketeers working for Remain don't want to lose all those who have such a mentality to Leave. That simply wouldn't do. It wouldn't do at all.

    Prediction: we'll get more of the same. They're not going to let Leave run off with the obnoxiousness card. Soames, where are you, my man? Job for you!

    You're certainly doing your best to make sure that Leave doesn't monopolise the obnoxiousness card...
    It is not for the PM or LotO to criticise each other's appearance in the Chamber. That is the Speaker's job. I trust Cammo has lobbied Bercow.
  • Options
    AndyJS said:

    "Euroscepticism in Scotland soars to record high

    Survey findings contradict SNP claims that referendum could take Scotland out of EU against its will"

    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/feb/24/euroscepticism-scotland-record-high

    "17% want to leave"
  • Options
    HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098
    Indigo said:


    Those are coming anyway. Our productivity sucks. There is almost no good reason to set up a new manufacturing business in the UK, taxes are lower elsewhere, labour is (much) cheaper elsewhere, productivity is (massively) better elsewhere, workforces complain less, work harder and are better educated else where. We can't keep the country afloat by selling each other insurance forever, as will become painfully apparent in the next financial downturn.

    To use an old cliche, "The world doesn't owe us a living", and most of the rest of it is working harder for their money than we are.

    A very pessimistic view, Mr. Indigo The UK is home to some of the most productive car factories in the world to say nothing world-class manufacturing businesses in the aerospace and defence sectors. If the likes of Nissan in Sunderland can run a very successful business building volume products then there is no reason why others cannot.

    That is not to say that we do not have particular problems in the UK (a massive shortage of engineers being prime among them, along with a very poor management culture) but some of your complaints seem to date back to the seventies (as does the management in too many businesses).
  • Options
    calumcalum Posts: 3,046
    If I were these guys I'd pencil in Tommy Sheridan for a Glasgow seat - 1 less for the Tories !!

    https://twitter.com/Election_UK/status/702483368605257728
  • Options
    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    Nate Silver refuses to rule out a Trump victory in November:

    https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/702524524894539776
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,415

    Speedy said:

    Another reason why Hillary might lose to Trump:

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/eileenmyles/hillary-clinton-the-leader-you-want-when-the-world-ends#.hjVo140oKq

    "Yet it seems sort of radical now for women who aren’t for Hill to say I’m not voting for someone because they have a vagina. Yeah since 1971 I’ve had the freedom to vote dick, dick, dick. It’s interesting we never put it that way. A man runs. Cock ‘n’ balls. No big deal. We’re not going to mention his genitals. Unless he’s done something illegal. But Hillary has a vagina. Certainly a great misogynistic moment for everyone. She has a vagina. That does not interest me. It interests me. It very much interests me. It especially interests me that she has a killer vagina. "

    "I don’t think Hillary has horns though she does have a vagina and wouldn’t you want it sitting on the chair in the Oval Office (not to get all weird) because things will never be the same.

    It’s why I ran (against her husband) in 1992. I wanted my vagina on that chair. Now I want Hillary’s there. I want to look back on my time."

    That's the entire political platform of Hillary.
    Not education, not healthcare, not the economy, not foreign policy, just a vagina.
    There is zero appeal for those who are not geriatric feminists.

    Hillary being a woman is already priced in.
    Is it though? It seems to make no difference whatsoever which is really odd. On one view that in itself is a triumph of feminism: she is being judged purely on her own merits. But it still seems a bit odd.

    All those young women campaigning for Sanders. Not a good sign for her that she cannot inspire the next generation.
  • Options
    Indigo said:

    taffys said:

    There's an extraordinary lack of scrutiny in the press on Eurozone monetary policy, it seems to me.

    Despite just about the easiest monetary conditions there could ever be in the history of the world ever, the eurozone appears to be going precisely nowhere.

    There's absolutely no sense of alarm about this anywhere serious, or questions as to the reasons why there's little growth despite colossal stimulus. Or much speculation as to when and where that growth may re-emerge and what might make it re-emerge.

    Third World wage levels.

    Those are coming anyway. Our productivity sucks. There is almost no good reason to set up a new manufacturing business in the UK, taxes are lower elsewhere, labour is (much) cheaper elsewhere, productivity is (massively) better elsewhere, workforces complain less, work harder and are better educated else where. We can't keep the country afloat by selling each other insurance forever, as will become painfully apparent in the next financial downturn.

    To use an old cliche, "The world doesn't owe us a living", and most of the rest of it is working harder for their money than we are.
    It is a long time since any of that was untrue. But without North Sea Oil we will have a brief civil war followed by a dictatorship (think Spain 1936-1976) - Prince George may yet get to play the part of Juan Carlos Borbón.

  • Options
    AndyJS said:

    "Euroscepticism in Scotland soars to record high

    Survey findings contradict SNP claims that referendum could take Scotland out of EU against its will"

    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/feb/24/euroscepticism-scotland-record-high

    It would be absolutely hilarious to see the SNP's reaction if Scotland votes for Leave along with the UK. Or even more hilarious, Scotland votes for Leave but the rest of the UK doesn't.

    "We demand a new IndyRef as the UK is holding us in the EU against our wishes".
  • Options
    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 36,004

    And from the other happy ship:

    @bbclaurak · 32s32 seconds ago

    Hearing after Gove's interview, No 10 has told officials at Ministry of Justice to stop showing him documents that relate to the EU

    It seems bizarre that a Secretary of State should be denied access to his own department's documents.
  • Options

    AndyJS said:

    "Euroscepticism in Scotland soars to record high

    Survey findings contradict SNP claims that referendum could take Scotland out of EU against its will"

    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/feb/24/euroscepticism-scotland-record-high

    It would be absolutely hilarious to see the SNP's reaction if Scotland votes for Leave along with the UK. Or even more hilarious, Scotland votes for Leave but the rest of the UK doesn't.

    "We demand a new IndyRef as the UK is holding us in the EU against our wishes".
    I'm quite sure that Nicola Sturgeon could deliver that line unblushingly.

    But it's not going to happen.
  • Options
    Mr. F, it sounds utterly unreasonable. If collective responsibility is suspended for the Cabinet over the EU, why can only one side have access to relevant information?
  • Options

    And from the other happy ship:

    @bbclaurak · 32s32 seconds ago

    Hearing after Gove's interview, No 10 has told officials at Ministry of Justice to stop showing him documents that relate to the EU

    Everybody is playing nice I see.
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,415

    And from the other happy ship:

    @bbclaurak · 32s32 seconds ago

    Hearing after Gove's interview, No 10 has told officials at Ministry of Justice to stop showing him documents that relate to the EU

    I really don't get how that is even possible. Is he in Justice to have no involvement with European Single Arrest warrants for example? Is Justice to have no input in the Constitutional Supremacy Bill?

    Is IDS not going to get to see proposed regulations in relation to the deal when he is in charge of Social Security? Does Cameron want them to resign?

    That would not be a good thing and make reunification of the party afterwards incredibly more difficult. Cameron is playing for keeps here but he is also playing with fire.
  • Options
    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,154
    Wanderer said:

    It said I was Nick Clegg. (I'm not actually Nick Clegg, just to clarify.)
    I'm Boris. Another tortured soul, it seems.
  • Options
    Sean_F said:

    And from the other happy ship:

    @bbclaurak · 32s32 seconds ago

    Hearing after Gove's interview, No 10 has told officials at Ministry of Justice to stop showing him documents that relate to the EU

    It seems bizarre that a Secretary of State should be denied access to his own department's documents.
    Day 5 in the Big Brother house and Dave has stopped talking to Mickey...
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,415

    Wanderer said:

    It said I was Nick Clegg. (I'm not actually Nick Clegg, just to clarify.)
    I'm Boris. Another tortured soul, it seems.
    Tempted to do it again and see how absurd your answers have to be to be Farage.
  • Options
    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 36,004
    edited February 2016
    DavidL said:

    And from the other happy ship:

    @bbclaurak · 32s32 seconds ago

    Hearing after Gove's interview, No 10 has told officials at Ministry of Justice to stop showing him documents that relate to the EU

    I really don't get how that is even possible. Is he in Justice to have no involvement with European Single Arrest warrants for example? Is Justice to have no input in the Constitutional Supremacy Bill?

    Is IDS not going to get to see proposed regulations in relation to the deal when he is in charge of Social Security? Does Cameron want them to resign?

    That would not be a good thing and make reunification of the party afterwards incredibly more difficult. Cameron is playing for keeps here but he is also playing with fire.
    If a minister were to ask for the documents, from the staff who report to him, surely they'd be obliged to give them to him, as part of their terms of employment.

    If I were the minister in question, I would view it as being a form of constructive dismissal.
  • Options
    Mr. L, Cameron knows he's going which must make him less restrained, but the risk is he'll throw a hospital pass to his successor.
  • Options
    chestnutchestnut Posts: 7,341
    edited February 2016
    OT

    It's clear that the AV polls in the months prior to the referendum suggested that the result was going to be much closer than it was.

    Similarly, we had Labour winning on seats in the 2015 election.

    Now, we have the Europhile vote ahead.

    Did voters ultimately go with 'no change' in the first two examples, or was the left of centre view always over-represented in polling?

    Labour were supposed to come first in the 2014 Euros. UKIP won.
  • Options
    MP_SEMP_SE Posts: 3,642
    Trump vs Clinton in a one-on-one debate could be interesting. I could see Trump destroying Clinton.
  • Options
    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,231
    Sean_F said:

    And from the other happy ship:

    @bbclaurak · 32s32 seconds ago

    Hearing after Gove's interview, No 10 has told officials at Ministry of Justice to stop showing him documents that relate to the EU

    It seems bizarre that a Secretary of State should be denied access to his own department's documents.
    How is he going to do his job?

  • Options

    Sean_F said:

    And from the other happy ship:

    @bbclaurak · 32s32 seconds ago

    Hearing after Gove's interview, No 10 has told officials at Ministry of Justice to stop showing him documents that relate to the EU

    It seems bizarre that a Secretary of State should be denied access to his own department's documents.
    Day 5 in the Big Brother house and Dave has stopped talking to Mickey...
    I have just spat my coffee out.
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 92,061
    On the issue of the day, unless Corbyn shows up to the Cenotaph in a tracksuit, his manner of dress is not so bad as to be worthy of comment. But when the barracking gets personal, it gets returned in kind (even though he didn't do the barracking himself). People cannot whinge about that afterwards.
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 92,061

    And from the other happy ship:

    @bbclaurak · 32s32 seconds ago

    Hearing after Gove's interview, No 10 has told officials at Ministry of Justice to stop showing him documents that relate to the EU

    Everybody is playing nice I see.
    That any amount of nice play occurred at all is I think remarkable.
  • Options
    RobDRobD Posts: 59,002
    calum said:

    If I were these guys I'd pencil in Tommy Sheridan for a Glasgow seat - 1 less for the Tories !!

    https://twitter.com/Election_UK/status/702483368605257728

    As a certain Zefram Cochrane once said "sweet jesus!"
  • Options
    Former Fifa president Sepp Blatter and suspended Uefa boss Michel Platini have failed in their appeals against bans from all football-related activities but have had the period reduced from eight to six years.
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,415
    Sean_F said:

    DavidL said:

    And from the other happy ship:

    @bbclaurak · 32s32 seconds ago

    Hearing after Gove's interview, No 10 has told officials at Ministry of Justice to stop showing him documents that relate to the EU

    I really don't get how that is even possible. Is he in Justice to have no involvement with European Single Arrest warrants for example? Is Justice to have no input in the Constitutional Supremacy Bill?

    Is IDS not going to get to see proposed regulations in relation to the deal when he is in charge of Social Security? Does Cameron want them to resign?

    That would not be a good thing and make reunification of the party afterwards incredibly more difficult. Cameron is playing for keeps here but he is also playing with fire.
    If a minister were to ask for the documents, from the staff who report to him, surely they'd be obliged to give them to him, as part of their terms of employment.

    If I were the minister in question, I would view it as being a form of constructive dismissal.
    Not if they have directions to the contrary from the PM or Head of the Civil Service I suppose. But it just looks unworkable to me. Gove and IDS will walk if they are pushed and that will be very bad for the party (and possibly even for Remain).
  • Options
    MP_SEMP_SE Posts: 3,642
    edited February 2016
    https://twitter.com/PickardJE/status/702544620018929665
    The local UKIP constituency association are all behind Vote Leave. No word of dire consequences...
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 41,009
    DavidL said:

    Wanderer said:

    It said I was Nick Clegg. (I'm not actually Nick Clegg, just to clarify.)
    I'm Boris. Another tortured soul, it seems.
    Tempted to do it again and see how absurd your answers have to be to be Farage.
    Want mine?!
  • Options
    I see that Irish Labour are on track on Friday for an election result on a par with the Lib Dems' last year.
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,415
    isam said:

    DavidL said:

    Wanderer said:

    It said I was Nick Clegg. (I'm not actually Nick Clegg, just to clarify.)
    I'm Boris. Another tortured soul, it seems.
    Tempted to do it again and see how absurd your answers have to be to be Farage.
    Want mine?!
    Seriously, have you tried it? Was that the result?
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 92,061

    I got David Cameron, Remain (but with little joy)
    As did I. Nice try quiz, but I'm still voting for Leave.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 41,009
    DavidL said:

    isam said:

    DavidL said:

    Wanderer said:

    It said I was Nick Clegg. (I'm not actually Nick Clegg, just to clarify.)
    I'm Boris. Another tortured soul, it seems.
    Tempted to do it again and see how absurd your answers have to be to be Farage.
    Want mine?!
    Seriously, have you tried it? Was that the result?
    I answered honestly and got Farage!
  • Options
    BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 8,008
    Sean_F said:

    Wanderer said:

    It said I was Nick Clegg. (I'm not actually Nick Clegg, just to clarify.)
    It's not a bad quiz, quite nuanced. I'm Boris Johnson, apparently.
    I'm David Cameron!
  • Options
    RogerRoger Posts: 18,906
    edited February 2016

    And from the other happy ship:

    @bbclaurak · 32s32 seconds ago

    Hearing after Gove's interview, No 10 has told officials at Ministry of Justice to stop showing him documents that relate to the EU

    It can only be a matter of hours before he's fired from government for good. It's not a fashionable idea on here but I find Gove and his wife more duplicitous than even Boris. Her article in this mornings Mail was pure Iago.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 41,009
    edited February 2016
    chestnut said:

    OT

    It's clear that the AV polls in the months prior to the referendum suggested that the result was going to be much closer than it was.

    Similarly, we had Labour winning on seats in the 2015 election.

    Now, we have the Europhile vote ahead.

    Did voters ultimately go with 'no change' in the first two examples, or was the left of centre view always over-represented in polling?

    Labour were supposed to come first in the 2014 Euros. UKIP won.

    At this stage of the Euro polling UKIP had only been in the lead once & were in third place, 15% behind Labour, with the "Gold Standard"

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament_election,_2014_(United_Kingdom)

    One of the best bets I never had was UKIP to bt Conservatives at 11/10 in 2013, when UKIP were 2/1 to win outright and Tories were 10s... I suggested it was an absolutely crazy price on here and people told me I didn't understand how betting worked
  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,298
    edited February 2016
    Roger said:

    And from the other happy ship:

    @bbclaurak · 32s32 seconds ago

    Hearing after Gove's interview, No 10 has told officials at Ministry of Justice to stop showing him documents that relate to the EU

    It can only be a matter of hours before he's fired from government for good. It's not a fashionable idea on here but I find Gove and his wife more duplicitous than even Boris. Her article in this mornings Mail was pure Iago.
    Are you admitting to reading a Mail article...crickey....did you have shower in bleach afterwards?

    What I thought was interesting was the Indy owner just sitting there listening in on things.
  • Options
    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    edited February 2016

    AndyJS said:

    "Euroscepticism in Scotland soars to record high

    Survey findings contradict SNP claims that referendum could take Scotland out of EU against its will"

    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/feb/24/euroscepticism-scotland-record-high

    It would be absolutely hilarious to see the SNP's reaction if Scotland votes for Leave along with the UK. Or even more hilarious, Scotland votes for Leave but the rest of the UK doesn't.

    "We demand a new IndyRef as the UK is holding us in the EU against our wishes".
    Even more unexpected would be if Scotland were responsible for the UK leaving the EU with England voting to stay in. Very unlikely.
  • Options
    OmniumOmnium Posts: 9,804
    Sean_F said:

    And from the other happy ship:

    @bbclaurak · 32s32 seconds ago

    Hearing after Gove's interview, No 10 has told officials at Ministry of Justice to stop showing him documents that relate to the EU

    It seems bizarre that a Secretary of State should be denied access to his own department's documents.
    Or possibly, just possibly, untrue.
  • Options
    BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 8,008

    I see that Irish Labour are on track on Friday for an election result on a par with the Lib Dems' last year.

    That's why I'm on a FG minority government. Can't see anyone taking the role of junior partner in a coalition for a long time. I can't get my head round a FG/FF coalition - even though that is the clear favourite. The bad blood between FG and FF goes back nearly 100 years.
  • Options
    Meanwhile, Austria has led a group of nine countries off the EU reservation on the subject of migration:

    http://blogs.ft.com/brusselsblog/2016/02/24/the-vienna-insurrection-the-conclusions/

    The idea of a single European migration policy might now be in intensive care.
  • Options
    Barnesian said:

    I see that Irish Labour are on track on Friday for an election result on a par with the Lib Dems' last year.

    That's why I'm on a FG minority government. Can't see anyone taking the role of junior partner in a coalition for a long time. I can't get my head round a FG/FF coalition - even though that is the clear favourite. The bad blood between FG and FF goes back nearly 100 years.
    My Irish sources tell me that Fine Gael would be totally up for it as the lead party but it would be the bitterest of pills to swallow for Fianna Fail. They also reckon that if it happened, the parties would in due course merge. I'm not sure which bit of that I find most improbable.

    I'm on a Fine Gael minority government also.
  • Options
    Here is another article of government ministers from two EFTA countries (this time Switzerland and Iceland) calling on the UK to join the EFTA: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/politics-blog/11730318/Dear-Britain-there-is-life-outside-the-EU.html

    Some imperialism, to rejoin a club we founded with the existing members consent *rolleyes*
  • Options
    notmenotme Posts: 3,293
    John_N said:

    We still have the power to fire our Trident missiles at France. Is all the power I need.

    I'll break the "don't reply to people who think mass murder of civilians is funny" rule, but are you aware of which country maintains "British" Trident missiles?

    The Trident Commission concluded that were the US to withdraw its "cooperation", British nuclear capability would be non-existent within months. Personally I doubt whether Britain could fire them at all without the OK from the US, but since when has defence policy been public?

    The firing commands for trident are entirely 100% within the British chain of command, they require no consultation.
  • Options
    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966

    Indigo said:


    Those are coming anyway. Our productivity sucks. There is almost no good reason to set up a new manufacturing business in the UK, taxes are lower elsewhere, labour is (much) cheaper elsewhere, productivity is (massively) better elsewhere, workforces complain less, work harder and are better educated else where. We can't keep the country afloat by selling each other insurance forever, as will become painfully apparent in the next financial downturn.

    To use an old cliche, "The world doesn't owe us a living", and most of the rest of it is working harder for their money than we are.

    A very pessimistic view, Mr. Indigo The UK is home to some of the most productive car factories in the world to say nothing world-class manufacturing businesses in the aerospace and defence sectors. If the likes of Nissan in Sunderland can run a very successful business building volume products then there is no reason why others cannot.

    That is not to say that we do not have particular problems in the UK (a massive shortage of engineers being prime among them, along with a very poor management culture) but some of your complaints seem to date back to the seventies (as does the management in too many businesses).
    To some extent, although rather too many businesses are prosperous because they don't have to pay the true cost of their wage bill, with the taxpayer picking up the balance. Osborne has done some rather timid trimming around this area, but we are still spending vastly more than we earn, largely because of the welfare budget. Contrariwise, if we made businesses pay the wages they need to attract the staff they need an embarrassing number of them would either move abroad, or go bust, owing to our lousy productivity. The lack of engineers I would suggest is due partly to the above, partly due to engineering continuing to have a very low status in the UK, and partly as you say due to endemic crap management. Bright young ambitious engineers try and move to Germany or the US.

    If you hold a engineering degree here in the Philippines your are almost always referred to using the title Engineer except amongst friends, as in "Sir Indigo, can I introduce Engineer Juan". As the boss I get the title "Sir" which takes a bit of getting used to!
  • Options
    Louis van Gaal wants his side to be 'horny'

    http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/35654173
  • Options
    Mr. Indigo, if you were knighted, would you be Sir Sir Indigo?
  • Options
    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    Roger said:

    And from the other happy ship:

    @bbclaurak · 32s32 seconds ago

    Hearing after Gove's interview, No 10 has told officials at Ministry of Justice to stop showing him documents that relate to the EU

    It can only be a matter of hours before he's fired from government for good. It's not a fashionable idea on here but I find Gove and his wife more duplicitous than even Boris. Her article in this mornings Mail was pure Iago.
    As opposed to those fine, upstanding tory 'eurosceptics' now backing remain.
  • Options
    Indigo said:

    To some extent, although rather too many businesses are prosperous because they don't have to pay the true cost of their wage bill, with the taxpayer picking up the balance. Osborne has done some rather timid trimming around this area, but we are still spending vastly more than we earn, largely because of the welfare budget. Contrariwise, if we made businesses pay the wages they need to attract the staff they need an embarrassing number of them would either move abroad, or go bust, owing to our lousy productivity. The lack of engineers I would suggest is due partly to the above, partly due to engineering continuing to have a very low status in the UK, and partly as you say due to endemic crap management. Bright young ambitious engineers try and move to Germany or the US.

    If you hold a engineering degree here in the Philippines your are almost always referred to using the title Engineer except amongst friends, as in "Sir Indigo, can I introduce Engineer Juan". As the boss I get the title "Sir" which takes a bit of getting used to!

    Are you kidding? I'm an employer and I not only pay every penny of my employees wages but I have to pay Employers National Insurance to the government on top of that.

    The government doesn't pay for me to hire my staff, I pay the government for the privilege of being able to provide people jobs. With money that I earn from sales the government charges 20% VAT on, in a building I pay thousands of pounds a month Non Domestic Rates (ie Council Tax) on. Owed whether the business is open or closed. And if at the end of the day I manage to make any money after all that then the government wants Corporation Tax on top.

    The government does not pay my wage bill. I do pay a fortune to the government.
  • Options

    Here is another article of government ministers from two EFTA countries (this time Switzerland and Iceland) calling on the UK to join the EFTA: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/politics-blog/11730318/Dear-Britain-there-is-life-outside-the-EU.html

    Some imperialism, to rejoin a club we founded with the existing members consent *rolleyes*

    If you seriously believe that this country can obtain, or that any of its MPs (other than avowed pacifists) want to obtain the same deal on foreign and security policy as Iceland or Switzerland I think I am the one who should be doing the eye-rolling...

  • Options

    Here is another article of government ministers from two EFTA countries (this time Switzerland and Iceland) calling on the UK to join the EFTA: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/politics-blog/11730318/Dear-Britain-there-is-life-outside-the-EU.html

    Some imperialism, to rejoin a club we founded with the existing members consent *rolleyes*

    If you seriously believe that this country can obtain, or that any of its MPs (other than avowed pacifists) want to obtain the same deal on foreign and security policy as Iceland or Switzerland I think I am the one who should be doing the eye-rolling...

    Of course we can obtain the same deal on foreign and security policy as Iceland or Switzerland. Which doesn't mean pacifism it means NATO.
  • Options

    Indigo said:

    To some extent, although rather too many businesses are prosperous because they don't have to pay the true cost of their wage bill, with the taxpayer picking up the balance. Osborne has done some rather timid trimming around this area, but we are still spending vastly more than we earn, largely because of the welfare budget. Contrariwise, if we made businesses pay the wages they need to attract the staff they need an embarrassing number of them would either move abroad, or go bust, owing to our lousy productivity. The lack of engineers I would suggest is due partly to the above, partly due to engineering continuing to have a very low status in the UK, and partly as you say due to endemic crap management. Bright young ambitious engineers try and move to Germany or the US.

    If you hold a engineering degree here in the Philippines your are almost always referred to using the title Engineer except amongst friends, as in "Sir Indigo, can I introduce Engineer Juan". As the boss I get the title "Sir" which takes a bit of getting used to!

    Are you kidding? I'm an employer and I not only pay every penny of my employees wages but I have to pay Employers National Insurance to the government on top of that.

    The government doesn't pay for me to hire my staff, I pay the government for the privilege of being able to provide people jobs. With money that I earn from sales the government charges 20% VAT on, in a building I pay thousands of pounds a month Non Domestic Rates (ie Council Tax) on. Owed whether the business is open or closed. And if at the end of the day I manage to make any money after all that then the government wants Corporation Tax on top.

    The government does not pay my wage bill. I do pay a fortune to the government.
    The sooner every employer with your amount of self-pity goes bust the better for everyone.
  • Options
    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,154

    Meanwhile, Austria has led a group of nine countries off the EU reservation on the subject of migration:

    http://blogs.ft.com/brusselsblog/2016/02/24/the-vienna-insurrection-the-conclusions/

    The idea of a single European migration policy might now be in intensive care.

    Perhaps we should just leave - at least until the EU can get its shit together, eh?
  • Options
    RodCrosbyRodCrosby Posts: 7,737
    MP_SE said:

    Trump vs Clinton in a one-on-one debate could be interesting. I could see Trump destroying Clinton.

    Yeah, she thought she'd be up against another professional politician in her own awful mould, and could get by with "time for a woman, then", against some weedy guy who was so neutered by feminism he couldn't answer back.

    Trump will marmalize her.
  • Options

    Indigo said:

    To some extent, although rather too many businesses are prosperous because they don't have to pay the true cost of their wage bill, with the taxpayer picking up the balance. Osborne has done some rather timid trimming around this area, but we are still spending vastly more than we earn, largely because of the welfare budget. Contrariwise, if we made businesses pay the wages they need to attract the staff they need an embarrassing number of them would either move abroad, or go bust, owing to our lousy productivity. The lack of engineers I would suggest is due partly to the above, partly due to engineering continuing to have a very low status in the UK, and partly as you say due to endemic crap management. Bright young ambitious engineers try and move to Germany or the US.

    If you hold a engineering degree here in the Philippines your are almost always referred to using the title Engineer except amongst friends, as in "Sir Indigo, can I introduce Engineer Juan". As the boss I get the title "Sir" which takes a bit of getting used to!

    Are you kidding? I'm an employer and I not only pay every penny of my employees wages but I have to pay Employers National Insurance to the government on top of that.

    The government doesn't pay for me to hire my staff, I pay the government for the privilege of being able to provide people jobs. With money that I earn from sales the government charges 20% VAT on, in a building I pay thousands of pounds a month Non Domestic Rates (ie Council Tax) on. Owed whether the business is open or closed. And if at the end of the day I manage to make any money after all that then the government wants Corporation Tax on top.

    The government does not pay my wage bill. I do pay a fortune to the government.
    The sooner every employer with your amount of self-pity goes bust the better for everyone.
    I have no self-pity, just realism. But how progressive of you to want all my employees to lose their jobs.
  • Options
    HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098

    Indigo said:

    To some extent, although rather too many businesses are prosperous because they don't have to pay the true cost of their wage bill, with the taxpayer picking up the balance. Osborne has done some rather timid trimming around this area, but we are still spending vastly more than we earn, largely because of the welfare budget. Contrariwise, if we made businesses pay the wages they need to attract the staff they need an embarrassing number of them would either move abroad, or go bust, owing to our lousy productivity. The lack of engineers I would suggest is due partly to the above, partly due to engineering continuing to have a very low status in the UK, and partly as you say due to endemic crap management. Bright young ambitious engineers try and move to Germany or the US.

    If you hold a engineering degree here in the Philippines your are almost always referred to using the title Engineer except amongst friends, as in "Sir Indigo, can I introduce Engineer Juan". As the boss I get the title "Sir" which takes a bit of getting used to!

    Are you kidding? I'm an employer and I not only pay every penny of my employees wages but I have to pay Employers National Insurance to the government on top of that.

    The government doesn't pay for me to hire my staff, I pay the government for the privilege of being able to provide people jobs. With money that I earn from sales the government charges 20% VAT on, in a building I pay thousands of pounds a month Non Domestic Rates (ie Council Tax) on. Owed whether the business is open or closed. And if at the end of the day I manage to make any money after all that then the government wants Corporation Tax on top.

    The government does not pay my wage bill. I do pay a fortune to the government.
    Fair go, Mr. Thompson, but how many of your employees receive in work benefits? Maybe you are running a business at the top end (I believe Mr. Observer does too) and so pay your employees more than enough to exclude them. However, I doubt that is true across the board in the manufacturing sector.
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 76,004
    AndyJS said:
    FACT:

    Most Scottish voters in the general election didn't want the SNP.
  • Options
    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,231
    Roger said:

    And from the other happy ship:

    @bbclaurak · 32s32 seconds ago

    Hearing after Gove's interview, No 10 has told officials at Ministry of Justice to stop showing him documents that relate to the EU

    It can only be a matter of hours before he's fired from government for good. It's not a fashionable idea on here but I find Gove and his wife more duplicitous than even Boris. Her article in this mornings Mail was pure Iago.
    You were calling her Lady Macbeth the other day. Why do you feel the need to blame Gove's wife for Gove's decision?

  • Options
    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    edited February 2016

    The government does not pay my wage bill. I do pay a fortune to the government.

    Yes, I was an employer in the UK as well, I know how it works.

    I mean the 30bn a year we spend on Working Tax Credit as an example.
  • Options

    Indigo said:

    To some extent, although rather too many businesses are prosperous because they don't have to pay the true cost of their wage bill, with the taxpayer picking up the balance. Osborne has done some rather timid trimming around this area, but we are still spending vastly more than we earn, largely because of the welfare budget. Contrariwise, if we made businesses pay the wages they need to attract the staff they need an embarrassing number of them would either move abroad, or go bust, owing to our lousy productivity. The lack of engineers I would suggest is due partly to the above, partly due to engineering continuing to have a very low status in the UK, and partly as you say due to endemic crap management. Bright young ambitious engineers try and move to Germany or the US.

    If you hold a engineering degree here in the Philippines your are almost always referred to using the title Engineer except amongst friends, as in "Sir Indigo, can I introduce Engineer Juan". As the boss I get the title "Sir" which takes a bit of getting used to!

    Are you kidding? I'm an employer and I not only pay every penny of my employees wages but I have to pay Employers National Insurance to the government on top of that.

    The government doesn't pay for me to hire my staff, I pay the government for the privilege of being able to provide people jobs. With money that I earn from sales the government charges 20% VAT on, in a building I pay thousands of pounds a month Non Domestic Rates (ie Council Tax) on. Owed whether the business is open or closed. And if at the end of the day I manage to make any money after all that then the government wants Corporation Tax on top.

    The government does not pay my wage bill. I do pay a fortune to the government.
    Fair go, Mr. Thompson, but how many of your employees receive in work benefits? Maybe you are running a business at the top end (I believe Mr. Observer does too) and so pay your employees more than enough to exclude them. However, I doubt that is true across the board in the manufacturing sector.
    I know a couple of them receive in work benefits but those are not due to the level of wages I pay but due to the fact they are single parents who have children and the government has chosen to give extra welfare to those with children and have a low family income.

    I am not responsible for anyone's relationship status or number of children. The same wages for the same job goes to people who receive not a penny of in-work benefits and are in fact charged NI themselves (as well as the NI that I pay) and Income Tax themselves.
  • Options
    RobDRobD Posts: 59,002

    Here is another article of government ministers from two EFTA countries (this time Switzerland and Iceland) calling on the UK to join the EFTA: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/politics-blog/11730318/Dear-Britain-there-is-life-outside-the-EU.html

    Some imperialism, to rejoin a club we founded with the existing members consent *rolleyes*

    I think that has been posted before. Wasn't it the case that neither of them are government ministers?
  • Options

    Indigo said:

    To some extent, although rather too many businesses are prosperous because they don't have to pay the true cost of their wage bill, with the taxpayer picking up the balance. Osborne has done some rather timid trimming around this area, but we are still spending vastly more than we earn, largely because of the welfare budget. Contrariwise, if we made businesses pay the wages they need to attract the staff they need an embarrassing number of them would either move abroad, or go bust, owing to our lousy productivity. The lack of engineers I would suggest is due partly to the above, partly due to engineering continuing to have a very low status in the UK, and partly as you say due to endemic crap management. Bright young ambitious engineers try and move to Germany or the US.

    If you hold a engineering degree here in the Philippines your are almost always referred to using the title Engineer except amongst friends, as in "Sir Indigo, can I introduce Engineer Juan". As the boss I get the title "Sir" which takes a bit of getting used to!

    Are you kidding? I'm an employer and I not only pay every penny of my employees wages but I have to pay Employers National Insurance to the government on top of that.

    The government doesn't pay for me to hire my staff, I pay the government for the privilege of being able to provide people jobs. With money that I earn from sales the government charges 20% VAT on, in a building I pay thousands of pounds a month Non Domestic Rates (ie Council Tax) on. Owed whether the business is open or closed. And if at the end of the day I manage to make any money after all that then the government wants Corporation Tax on top.

    The government does not pay my wage bill. I do pay a fortune to the government.
    The sooner every employer with your amount of self-pity goes bust the better for everyone.
    I have no self-pity, just realism. But how progressive of you to want all my employees to lose their jobs.
    Yes, so they can find jobs with an employer who values them.

    Every other employer has to deal with the same conditions. If it's so much rosier abroad, why don't you go there?



  • Options

    Indigo said:

    To some extent, although rather too many businesses are prosperous because they don't have to pay the true cost of their wage bill, with the taxpayer picking up the balance. Osborne has done some rather timid trimming around this area, but we are still spending vastly more than we earn, largely because of the welfare budget. Contrariwise, if we made businesses pay the wages they need to attract the staff they need an embarrassing number of them would either move abroad, or go bust, owing to our lousy productivity. The lack of engineers I would suggest is due partly to the above, partly due to engineering continuing to have a very low status in the UK, and partly as you say due to endemic crap management. Bright young ambitious engineers try and move to Germany or the US.

    If you hold a engineering degree here in the Philippines your are almost always referred to using the title Engineer except amongst friends, as in "Sir Indigo, can I introduce Engineer Juan". As the boss I get the title "Sir" which takes a bit of getting used to!

    Are you kidding? I'm an employer and I not only pay every penny of my employees wages but I have to pay Employers National Insurance to the government on top of that.

    The government doesn't pay for me to hire my staff, I pay the government for the privilege of being able to provide people jobs. With money that I earn from sales the government charges 20% VAT on, in a building I pay thousands of pounds a month Non Domestic Rates (ie Council Tax) on. Owed whether the business is open or closed. And if at the end of the day I manage to make any money after all that then the government wants Corporation Tax on top.

    The government does not pay my wage bill. I do pay a fortune to the government.
    The sooner every employer with your amount of self-pity goes bust the better for everyone.
    I have no self-pity, just realism. But how progressive of you to want all my employees to lose their jobs.
    Yes, so they can find jobs with an employer who values them.

    Every other employer has to deal with the same conditions. If it's so much rosier abroad, why don't you go there?



    I never said I want to go abroad, nor did I say I don't value my employees. I said that I pay my taxes and I pay my employees wages.

    How horrific, someone saying they pay their taxes and their bills.
  • Options

    Indigo said:

    To some extent, although rather too many businesses are prosperous because they don't have to pay the true cost of their wage bill, with the taxpayer picking up the balance. Osborne has done some rather timid trimming around this area, but we are still spending vastly more than we earn, largely because of the welfare budget. Contrariwise, if we made businesses pay the wages they need to attract the staff they need an embarrassing number of them would either move abroad, or go bust, owing to our lousy productivity. The lack of engineers I would suggest is due partly to the above, partly due to engineering continuing to have a very low status in the UK, and partly as you say due to endemic crap management. Bright young ambitious engineers try and move to Germany or the US.

    If you hold a engineering degree here in the Philippines your are almost always referred to using the title Engineer except amongst friends, as in "Sir Indigo, can I introduce Engineer Juan". As the boss I get the title "Sir" which takes a bit of getting used to!

    Are you kidding? I'm an employer and I not only pay every penny of my employees wages but I have to pay Employers National Insurance to the government on top of that.

    The government doesn't pay for me to hire my staff, I pay the government for the privilege of being able to provide people jobs. With money that I earn from sales the government charges 20% VAT on, in a building I pay thousands of pounds a month Non Domestic Rates (ie Council Tax) on. Owed whether the business is open or closed. And if at the end of the day I manage to make any money after all that then the government wants Corporation Tax on top.

    The government does not pay my wage bill. I do pay a fortune to the government.
    The sooner every employer with your amount of self-pity goes bust the better for everyone.
    I have no self-pity, just realism. But how progressive of you to want all my employees to lose their jobs.
    Yes, so they can find jobs with an employer who values them.

    Every other employer has to deal with the same conditions. If it's so much rosier abroad, why don't you go there?



    I never said I want to go abroad, nor did I say I don't value my employees. I said that I pay my taxes and I pay my employees wages.

    How horrific, someone saying they pay their taxes and their bills.
    No. What you posted was a person whining about paying their taxes and bills.

  • Options

    Indigo said:

    To some extent, although rather too many businesses are prosperous because they don't have to pay the true cost of their wage bill, with the taxpayer picking up the balance. Osborne has done some rather timid trimming around this area, but we are still spending vastly more than we earn, largely because of the welfare budget. Contrariwise, if we made businesses pay the wages they need to attract the staff they need an embarrassing number of them would either move abroad, or go bust, owing to our lousy productivity. The lack of engineers I would suggest is due partly to the above, partly due to engineering continuing to have a very low status in the UK, and partly as you say due to endemic crap management. Bright young ambitious engineers try and move to Germany or the US.

    If you hold a engineering degree here in the Philippines your are almost always referred to using the title Engineer except amongst friends, as in "Sir Indigo, can I introduce Engineer Juan". As the boss I get the title "Sir" which takes a bit of getting used to!

    Are you kidding? I'm an employer and I not only pay every penny of my employees wages but I have to pay Employers National Insurance to the government on top of that.

    The government doesn't pay for me to hire my staff, I pay the government for the privilege of being able to provide people jobs. With money that I earn from sales the government charges 20% VAT on, in a building I pay thousands of pounds a month Non Domestic Rates (ie Council Tax) on. Owed whether the business is open or closed. And if at the end of the day I manage to make any money after all that then the government wants Corporation Tax on top.

    The government does not pay my wage bill. I do pay a fortune to the government.
    The sooner every employer with your amount of self-pity goes bust the better for everyone.
    You really are a despicable piece of sewer scum.
  • Options

    And from the other happy ship:

    @bbclaurak · 32s32 seconds ago

    Hearing after Gove's interview, No 10 has told officials at Ministry of Justice to stop showing him documents that relate to the EU

    The "new" politics :lol:
  • Options

    Indigo said:

    To some extent, although rather too many businesses are prosperous because they don't have to pay the true cost of their wage bill, with the taxpayer picking up the balance. Osborne has done some rather timid trimming around this area, but we are still spending vastly more than we earn, largely because of the welfare budget. Contrariwise, if we made businesses pay the wages they need to attract the staff they need an embarrassing number of them would either move abroad, or go bust, owing to our lousy productivity. The lack of engineers I would suggest is due partly to the above, partly due to engineering continuing to have a very low status in the UK, and partly as you say due to endemic crap management. Bright young ambitious engineers try and move to Germany or the US.

    If you hold a engineering degree here in the Philippines your are almost always referred to using the title Engineer except amongst friends, as in "Sir Indigo, can I introduce Engineer Juan". As the boss I get the title "Sir" which takes a bit of getting used to!

    Are you kidding? I'm an employer and I not only pay every penny of my employees wages but I have to pay Employers National Insurance to the government on top of that.

    The government doesn't pay for me to hire my staff, I pay the government for the privilege of being able to provide people jobs. With money that I earn from sales the government charges 20% VAT on, in a building I pay thousands of pounds a month Non Domestic Rates (ie Council Tax) on. Owed whether the business is open or closed. And if at the end of the day I manage to make any money after all that then the government wants Corporation Tax on top.

    The government does not pay my wage bill. I do pay a fortune to the government.
    The sooner every employer with your amount of self-pity goes bust the better for everyone.
    You really are a despicable piece of sewer scum.
    You obviously haven't had enough to drink yet.

  • Options
    isam said:

    chestnut said:

    OT

    It's clear that the AV polls in the months prior to the referendum suggested that the result was going to be much closer than it was.

    Similarly, we had Labour winning on seats in the 2015 election.

    Now, we have the Europhile vote ahead.

    Did voters ultimately go with 'no change' in the first two examples, or was the left of centre view always over-represented in polling?

    Labour were supposed to come first in the 2014 Euros. UKIP won.

    At this stage of the Euro polling UKIP had only been in the lead once & were in third place, 15% behind Labour, with the "Gold Standard"

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament_election,_2014_(United_Kingdom)

    One of the best bets I never had was UKIP to bt Conservatives at 11/10 in 2013, when UKIP were 2/1 to win outright and Tories were 10s... I suggested it was an absolutely crazy price on here and people told me I didn't understand how betting worked
    OGH was still going all-in on the Conservatives winning the Euro AFTER the local election results had been declared.

  • Options
    HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098
    Indigo said:



    To some extent, although rather too many businesses are prosperous because they don't have to pay the true cost of their wage bill, with the taxpayer picking up the balance. Osborne has done some rather timid trimming around this area, but we are still spending vastly more than we earn, largely because of the welfare budget. Contrariwise, if we made businesses pay the wages they need to attract the staff they need an embarrassing number of them would either move abroad, or go bust, owing to our lousy productivity. The lack of engineers I would suggest is due partly to the above, partly due to engineering continuing to have a very low status in the UK, and partly as you say due to endemic crap management. Bright young ambitious engineers try and move to Germany or the US.

    If you hold a engineering degree here in the Philippines your are almost always referred to using the title Engineer except amongst friends, as in "Sir Indigo, can I introduce Engineer Juan". As the boss I get the title "Sir" which takes a bit of getting used to!

    All good points, Sir Indigo. However, I repeat if some businesses (e.g. Nissan and Honda) can do it why not others. In the army we were taught early on there is no such thing as a bad soldier, only bad officers.

    We do need to sort out our education system to move it onto a basis suitable for the modern world but that will take decades (we have been trying since 1874 and still the teachers block every reform they don't like). In the meantime something has to be done about corporate management/ownership and the incentives under which senior managers work. Get that right or even make significant progress in the right direction and much of the rest (e.g. status of engineers) will fall into place. It won't be easy and can only be done by HMG.
  • Options
    Indigo said:

    The government does not pay my wage bill. I do pay a fortune to the government.

    Yes, I was an employer in the UK as well, I know how it works.

    I mean the 30bn a year we spend on Working Tax Credit as an example.
    The government makes over £110bn a year from NICs. I'm not sure how this splits between employer and employee NICs but I know that in my business Employer NICs exceed Employee NICs so I think it's safe to say that Employer NICs well exceed £30bn a year. The government makes a profit on employers offering employees jobs.
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 76,004
    Deary me, just watched the PMQs clip. Is the Prime Minister rattled by something ?
  • Options

    Hard on the heels of UKIP's latest instalment of Game Of Thrones:

    @PickardJE · 21s22 seconds ago

    Hearing Ukip members have been warned of dire consequences if they work with Vote Leave campaign rather than Farage-backed Grassroots Out.

    Be Leave - the "out" campaign run by the Sunil on Sunday, exclusively for PBers and with honorary membership for all PB Eurosceptics.
  • Options
    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,154
    More on Austria and the EU:

    “We have to reduce the influx now. This is a question of survival for the EU,” Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said after talks with interior and foreign ministers of nine other countries along the Balkan migration route from Greece to Central Europe.

    The very survival of the EU, Mrs Merkel?

    http://www.english.rfi.fr/europe/20160224-europe-s-countries-won-t-wait-eu-migration-plan-austria-warns
  • Options
    @haveigotnews: Jeremy Corbyn to highlight plight of dementia sufferers after sharp rise in number of people asking who he is.
  • Options
    RodCrosbyRodCrosby Posts: 7,737
  • Options

    I never said I want to go abroad, nor did I say I don't value my employees. I said that I pay my taxes and I pay my employees wages.

    How horrific, someone saying they pay their taxes and their bills.

    No. What you posted was a person whining about paying their taxes and bills.

    I pay my taxes and bills in full, whether I make any money from the business or not. I object to people suggesting that I and other businesses don't, it couldn't be further from the truth.
  • Options

    Indigo said:

    To some extent, although rather too many businesses are prosperous because they don't have to pay the true cost of their wage bill, with the taxpayer picking up the balance. Osborne has done some rather timid trimming around this area, but we are still spending vastly more than we earn, largely because of the welfare budget. Contrariwise, if we made businesses pay the wages they need to attract the staff they need an embarrassing number of them would either move abroad, or go bust, owing to our lousy productivity. The lack of engineers I would suggest is due partly to the above, partly due to engineering continuing to have a very low status in the UK, and partly as you say due to endemic crap management. Bright young ambitious engineers try and move to Germany or the US.

    If you hold a engineering degree here in the Philippines your are almost always referred to using the title Engineer except amongst friends, as in "Sir Indigo, can I introduce Engineer Juan". As the boss I get the title "Sir" which takes a bit of getting used to!

    Are you kidding? I'm an employer and I not only pay every penny of my employees wages but I have to pay Employers National Insurance to the government on top of that.

    The government doesn't pay for me to hire my staff, I pay the government for the privilege of being able to provide people jobs. With money that I earn from sales the government charges 20% VAT on, in a building I pay thousands of pounds a month Non Domestic Rates (ie Council Tax) on. Owed whether the business is open or closed. And if at the end of the day I manage to make any money after all that then the government wants Corporation Tax on top.

    The government does not pay my wage bill. I do pay a fortune to the government.
    The sooner every employer with your amount of self-pity goes bust the better for everyone.
    You really are a despicable piece of sewer scum.
    You obviously haven't had enough to drink yet.

    I'm not the one wishing businesses would go bust and people lose their jobs. I suspect drink is the least of your problems. Some form of mental illness seems more likely.
  • Options
    Re-showing on tv is a party political broadcast for the Lib Dems. Its the one that starts with 3 female ladies standing for council election one of whom talks about the important work she does such as a cat up a tree. Then followed by 1 asian male and 1 male pensioner and then the 4th female and to hit the targets a young male talking about LGBT... Then its tiny Tim with his sales pitch, looking like an outcast from the "Belgravia Centre" hair restoring advert. Why would they want to focus on these types?
    Innocent face.
  • Options

    Indigo said:

    To some extent, although rather too many businesses are prosperous because they don't have to pay the true cost of their wage bill, with the taxpayer picking up the balance. Osborne has done some rather timid trimming around this area, but we are still spending vastly more than we earn, largely because of the welfare budget. Contrariwise, if we made businesses pay the wages they need to attract the staff they need an embarrassing number of them would either move abroad, or go bust, owing to our lousy productivity. The lack of engineers I would suggest is due partly to the above, partly due to engineering continuing to have a very low status in the UK, and partly as you say due to endemic crap management. Bright young ambitious engineers try and move to Germany or the US.

    If you hold a engineering degree here in the Philippines your are almost always referred to using the title Engineer except amongst friends, as in "Sir Indigo, can I introduce Engineer Juan". As the boss I get the title "Sir" which takes a bit of getting used to!

    Are you kidding? I'm an employer and I not only pay every penny of my employees wages but I have to pay Employers National Insurance to the government on top of that.

    The government doesn't pay for me to hire my staff, I pay the government for the privilege of being able to provide people jobs. With money that I earn from sales the government charges 20% VAT on, in a building I pay thousands of pounds a month Non Domestic Rates (ie Council Tax) on. Owed whether the business is open or closed. And if at the end of the day I manage to make any money after all that then the government wants Corporation Tax on top.

    The government does not pay my wage bill. I do pay a fortune to the government.
    The sooner every employer with your amount of self-pity goes bust the better for everyone.
    You really are a despicable piece of sewer scum.
    You obviously haven't had enough to drink yet.

    I'm not the one wishing businesses would go bust and people lose their jobs. I suspect drink is the least of your problems. Some form of mental illness seems more likely.
    Or that I lose everything I've ever worked for, when I've taken a risk and invested my life savings to set up a business and offered people jobs. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.
  • Options
    Sajid Javid winning friends:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/02/24/steel-sector-wont-be-bailed-out-like-the-banks-says-sajid-javid/

    Anyone want to guess what Sajid Javid's career was before he entered politics ?

  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 76,004
    RodCrosby said:
    The Kasich number shows that when push comes to shove, the Donald's lead probably increases.
  • Options

    Indigo said:

    To some extent, although rather too many businesses are prosperous because they don't have to pay the true cost of their wage bill, with the taxpayer picking up the balance. Osborne has done some rather timid trimming around this area, but we are still spending vastly more than we earn, largely because of the welfare budget. Contrariwise, if we made businesses pay the wages they need to attract the staff they need an embarrassing number of them would either move abroad, or go bust, owing to our lousy productivity. The lack of engineers I would suggest is due partly to the above, partly due to engineering continuing to have a very low status in the UK, and partly as you say due to endemic crap management. Bright young ambitious engineers try and move to Germany or the US.

    If you hold a engineering degree here in the Philippines your are almost always referred to using the title Engineer except amongst friends, as in "Sir Indigo, can I introduce Engineer Juan". As the boss I get the title "Sir" which takes a bit of getting used to!

    Are you kidding? I'm an employer and I not only pay every penny of my employees wages but I have to pay Employers National Insurance to the government on top of that.

    The government doesn't pay for me to hire my staff, I pay the government for the privilege of being able to provide people jobs. With money that I earn from sales the government charges 20% VAT on, in a building I pay thousands of pounds a month Non Domestic Rates (ie Council Tax) on. Owed whether the business is open or closed. And if at the end of the day I manage to make any money after all that then the government wants Corporation Tax on top.

    The government does not pay my wage bill. I do pay a fortune to the government.
    The sooner every employer with your amount of self-pity goes bust the better for everyone.
    You really are a despicable piece of sewer scum.
    You obviously haven't had enough to drink yet.

    I'm not the one wishing businesses would go bust and people lose their jobs. I suspect drink is the least of your problems. Some form of mental illness seems more likely.
    I want people to get and keep jobs with people who don't spend their time whining about things they have no influence over. PT isn't fit to employ anyone. The problem with our economy is that he's just one of many. Self-interest in this country to-day isn't enlightened, if it ever was.

  • Options

    Hard on the heels of UKIP's latest instalment of Game Of Thrones:

    @PickardJE · 21s22 seconds ago

    Hearing Ukip members have been warned of dire consequences if they work with Vote Leave campaign rather than Farage-backed Grassroots Out.

    If Farage is Mad Kings Aerys with Galloway as his pyromancer who will be the young Jaime Lannister ?

  • Options
    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,154

    Sajid Javid winning friends:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/02/24/steel-sector-wont-be-bailed-out-like-the-banks-says-sajid-javid/

    Anyone want to guess what Sajid Javid's career was before he entered politics ?

    If we had any sense, our Government would make an offer to Redcar or Port Talbot to say

    "steel is not viable long-term. But we will invest a billion pounds to make you the world leader in graphene experimentation, production and marketing..."
  • Options
    Chris_AChris_A Posts: 1,237
    Just watched PMQs. Cameron an absolute disgrace on the NHS today, when faced with the facts all he does is to continue to repeat untrue statements which he must know are not borne out by the data.

    Jeremy Hunt used to laud Don Berwick's analysis https://twitter.com/jeremy_hunt/status/323796498536095744 but even Prof Berwick now says Hunt is wrong and should acknowledge his mistake and apologise.
  • Options

    Sajid Javid winning friends:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/02/24/steel-sector-wont-be-bailed-out-like-the-banks-says-sajid-javid/

    Anyone want to guess what Sajid Javid's career was before he entered politics ?

    You might like this study in contrast from earlier today:

    @LouiseMensch · 6h6 hours ago

    What @DPMcBride did was indeed disgusting but he has served his time, as it were, as has Andy Coulson. Perpetual punishment is wrong

    But her views were a little different when it comes to a different profession:

    https://t.co/5exqBhqczv

    It appears that perpetual punishment has its place when it doesn't involve the sort of people you mix with.
  • Options
    RobD said:

    Here is another article of government ministers from two EFTA countries (this time Switzerland and Iceland) calling on the UK to join the EFTA: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/politics-blog/11730318/Dear-Britain-there-is-life-outside-the-EU.html

    Some imperialism, to rejoin a club we founded with the existing members consent *rolleyes*

    I think that has been posted before. Wasn't it the case that neither of them are government ministers?
    Given that the Swiss don't gave ministers in the same way we do it was accepted when we previously discussed this that the Swiss politicians were indeed effectively ministers. Even more so given that one if them is one of Switzerland's representatives at EFTA.
  • Options
    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,763

    Sajid Javid winning friends:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/02/24/steel-sector-wont-be-bailed-out-like-the-banks-says-sajid-javid/

    Anyone want to guess what Sajid Javid's career was before he entered politics ?

    Welder ? Machine operative ? banker ?
  • Options
    RobDRobD Posts: 59,002

    RobD said:

    Here is another article of government ministers from two EFTA countries (this time Switzerland and Iceland) calling on the UK to join the EFTA: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/politics-blog/11730318/Dear-Britain-there-is-life-outside-the-EU.html

    Some imperialism, to rejoin a club we founded with the existing members consent *rolleyes*

    I think that has been posted before. Wasn't it the case that neither of them are government ministers?
    Given that the Swiss don't gave ministers in the same way we do it was accepted when we previously discussed this that the Swiss politicians were indeed effectively ministers. Even more so given that one if them is one of Switzerland's representatives at EFTA.
    Yeah, I remember you making that point, and it's a fair one. To describe them both as government ministers is a bit misleading though. I think the EFTA representative is also on a parliamentary committee, not to sure about the other.
  • Options

    You really are a despicable piece of sewer scum.

    You obviously haven't had enough to drink yet.

    I'm not the one wishing businesses would go bust and people lose their jobs. I suspect drink is the least of your problems. Some form of mental illness seems more likely.
    I want people to get and keep jobs with people who don't spend their time whining about things they have no influence over. PT isn't fit to employ anyone. The problem with our economy is that he's just one of many. Self-interest in this country to-day isn't enlightened, if it ever was.

    I didn't whine. Show me a whine. I set the record straight instead, detailing the many taxes that I pay to the Exchequer. As for whether I'm fit to employ anyone or not, you know nothing about my business or how I treat my employees. I'll let you know though that I have never not paid a penny I owe in wages or taxes though.

    As for self-interest, I'm trying to run a small business to provide for myself and my family. As part of that 20 other people have jobs that would not exist otherwise to provide for their families. The government has extra taxes it would not have to provide for what it needs to spend on.

    Good luck finding enough people to set up businesses up and down the country who aren't aware of the many taxes they need to pay and who have no interest in trying to make money. People who aren't aware of taxes tend to go out of business when the government demands them though.
  • Options
    OmniumOmnium Posts: 9,804

    Sajid Javid winning friends:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/02/24/steel-sector-wont-be-bailed-out-like-the-banks-says-sajid-javid/

    Anyone want to guess what Sajid Javid's career was before he entered politics ?

    Welder ? Machine operative ? banker ?
    Trick question - he was in the Muppet Show!
  • Options
    NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,372
    edited February 2016
    I see the quiz says I'm Nick Clegg!
  • Options
    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966

    I know a couple of them receive in work benefits but those are not due to the level of wages I pay but due to the fact they are single parents who have children and the government has chosen to give extra welfare to those with children and have a low family income.

    I dare say your business is employing well skilled people in a moderately high end business. Lower down the food chain things get messy. The problem comes when a person needs £7/hr to live, but is only capable of producing goods or services worth £5 after expenses. At the moment that gap is filled by the government. Education will help in the long term, but for the bottom third of society it's not going to help very much, as they are the people that struggle at school and leave as soon as they can anyway.

    The question for the next 20 years and beyond is how to provide employment and a productive place in society for the sort of people who can only manage basic manufacturing jobs, and are massively undercut by their opposite numbers in Asia.
  • Options
    HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098



    I know a couple of them receive in work benefits but those are not due to the level of wages I pay but due to the fact they are single parents who have children and the government has chosen to give extra welfare to those with children and have a low family income.

    I am not responsible for anyone's relationship status or number of children. The same wages for the same job goes to people who receive not a penny of in-work benefits and are in fact charged NI themselves (as well as the NI that I pay) and Income Tax themselves.

    All fair points again, what about housing benefit and working tax credits and so on and so forth. The entitlement to such things is of course completely outside your remit as an employer. However, for many businesses, though maybe not yours, those benefits act as a top-up to wages. If they did not exist then some, probably lots, of businesses would have to pay more in order to attract sufficient staff and/or invest in technology.

    There is in effect a subsidy being paid by the taxpayer to, at least some, employers. That subsidy is I would suggest perverting incentives and actually holding down the increase of wealth in the UK.
  • Options

    Hard on the heels of UKIP's latest instalment of Game Of Thrones:

    @PickardJE · 21s22 seconds ago

    Hearing Ukip members have been warned of dire consequences if they work with Vote Leave campaign rather than Farage-backed Grassroots Out.

    If Farage is Mad Kings Aerys with Galloway as his pyromancer who will be the young Jaime Lannister ?

    I know everyone goes on about potential splits in the Tory party but I really think it us far more likely that UKIP will effectively disintegrate after the referendum.
  • Options
    FluffyThoughtsFluffyThoughts Posts: 2,420
    edited February 2016
    murali_s said:

    Is there a market up for how much Remain will win by yet?

    Still thinking 15 percentage points looks a like a good starter...

    Every point over 55% [Remain] I will donate to £10 to FATJUGS. * All points under you can make your contribution...? Please be assured that all my bets are completed.

    We can set a maximum liability if you wish. Every lickle 'elps....

    Please confirm via the vanilla response mechanism. I will try to rustle up arbitrators.

    * FATJUGS: Future Accruals towards Junoir's 'Usually' Good Servers
  • Options

    You really are a despicable piece of sewer scum.

    You obviously haven't had enough to drink yet.

    I'm not the one wishing businesses would go bust and people lose their jobs. I suspect drink is the least of your problems. Some form of mental illness seems more likely.
    I want people to get and keep jobs with people who don't spend their time whining about things they have no influence over. PT isn't fit to employ anyone. The problem with our economy is that he's just one of many. Self-interest in this country to-day isn't enlightened, if it ever was.

    I didn't whine. Show me a whine. I set the record straight instead, detailing the many taxes that I pay to the Exchequer. As for whether I'm fit to employ anyone or not, you know nothing about my business or how I treat my employees. I'll let you know though that I have never not paid a penny I owe in wages or taxes though.

    As for self-interest, I'm trying to run a small business to provide for myself and my family. As part of that 20 other people have jobs that would not exist otherwise to provide for their families. The government has extra taxes it would not have to provide for what it needs to spend on.

    Good luck finding enough people to set up businesses up and down the country who aren't aware of the many taxes they need to pay and who have no interest in trying to make money. People who aren't aware of taxes tend to go out of business when the government demands them though.
    "The many taxes I pay to the Exchequer" sounds like a whine to me - either you aren't paying a penny that your competitors aren't paying, or else you need a new accountant.

This discussion has been closed.