@olafcramme Shocking #SPD result won't cheer UK #Labour: German version of living standard crisis flopped vs message of economic stability & continuity.
Mrs Merkel has a much better record than Team Cameron.
Mrs Merkel didn't have to inherit the near bankrupt economy left by Mr Brown.
But if you are talking current economic performance and short term expectations, which are the measures of most concern to electors, then Team Cameron are demonstrably outperforming the Germans.
On the upside, Germany has a larger economy, a relatively sound fiscal position, a strong manufacturing and export base and a good track record of economic performance. On the downside is its role as guarantor of the Euro and its longer term demographic problems.
The UK, on the upside, has a dominance in European financial services, (albeit depleting) energy resources, a reasonable manufacturing and export base, its own currency and relative detachment from Euro risk, a flexible labour market and better long term demographics.
If independent awards were given annually for economic performance, there is no doubt Team Cameron would beat Team Merkel for the 2013 prize.
Alternatively, Ed could mean that if you employed an Indian engineer, you'd have to create a non-job for a NEET. I suspect you'd be better off with the Bulgarians and Rumanians, They'd be happy to come for any job. It would certainly encourage them to come in the first place.
I do not understand why a single penny of my taxes goes to religious schools - whether Christian, Muslim or Jewish. If parents want their children educated outside the regular school system, they should pay for it out of their own pockets.
I'm an atheist and totally disagree. Both this and the last government have tried to move power away from central government and back towards parents. I would support a completely "voucher" style system (like in Sweden) where the parents can choose which school they want to send their kids too. If parents choose a Christian or Muslim or Jewish school why should that be no more valid than a unionised socialist state run school?
IIRC one of the major means of discrimination in N Ireland was by asking job applicants where they went to school. The answer "St Whatever's" mean that they were Catholic; Antrim (or whatever) County High meant they were Protestant, and an employer could discriminate on the basis of their prejudices. Are we creating a situation where an employer can ask the same question on the mainland, and discriminate as a result?
Are we anticipating the vast majority of people to attend such schools and exclusively because of religion? And if that is where most parents want to send their kids (and not seeing any evidence it is) why shouldn't they?
Not all people who at present attend Anglican schools do so because they are Christian let alone protestant. Many do so because they believe it is a well run school.
Philip, I accept your last two sentences. However, I ask, do we run the risk of creating that division, even if it's the second or third criterion? How does one differentiate, given two or three equal candidates at school-leaver level?
"Large firms would have to train local apprentices if they recruited workers from outside the EU."
How do you define apprentice? The chance of would-be Chinese plumbers coming to the UK are tiny. Bulgarians and Rumanians wouldn't trigger that clause anyway.
So isn't it meaningless tosh?
Just curious.
Apprentice – A term so corrupted from the original that today it is almost meaningless.
Local – Equally meaningless as it would encompass all 27 EU countries.
Ah another one turns up.
So could you help where Floater and ScottP are struggling
Prime Minister announces 100,000 new engineering apprentices
How many of those apprenticeships do you expect to go to foreigners? Although it seems like you regard them as meaningless do you?
One is where positive action is being encouraged voluntarily. One is where meaningless talk of compulsion is being done to sound tough.
Spot the difference? 100k useful and voluntary apprentices > meaningless box-ticking exercise to sound tough.
I do not understand why a single penny of my taxes goes to religious schools - whether Christian, Muslim or Jewish. If parents want their children educated outside the regular school system, they should pay for it out of their own pockets.
I'm an atheist and totally disagree. Both this and the last government have tried to move power away from central government and back towards parents. I would support a completely "voucher" style system (like in Sweden) where the parents can choose which school they want to send their kids too. If parents choose a Christian or Muslim or Jewish school why should that be no more valid than a unionised socialist state run school?
Agree with this and your subsequent comments upstream. This should be the direction of travel for the education system with maximum mobility and freedom for child and parent at the expense of the dead controlling hand of the State.
I am completely in favour of freeing education from the dead hand of the state. However, if tax pennies are being spent, they should not be used in promoting religion.
Philip, I accept your last two sentences. However, I ask, do we run the risk of creating that division, even if it's the second or third criterion? How does one differentiate, given two or three equal candidates at school-leaver level
No I don't believe we run the risk of creating that division of it requires the simultaneous division both that parents will choose to act on such divisions at selecting the school level and that employers will choose to act on such divisions at employment level. I don't see either ringing true today.
As for differentiating between two school leavers there are a variety of mechanisms. A school-leaver level may go on to college or university level.
Even if they don't then there is a variety of mechanisms. Extra-curricula activities whether sports, drama, music, Duke of Ed or many others are a good way for a school leaver to flesh out a CV.
A CV is also better fleshed out by being professional and with good grammar and without spelling mistakes etc which is far from guaranteed nowadays where so many school leavers can't spell (or even use a spell checker) correctly.
I am completely in favour of freeing education from the dead hand of the state. However, if tax pennies are being spent, they should not be used in promoting religion.
Promoting the absence of religion is just as much of a position. It is not neutral. Parents should have the choice of any flavour of school they like (which reaches certain defined and verified educational standards).
This "apprentice" saga is developing into a bidding war.
Anyway, I went on a Wirral pub crawl last month.
Getting off at Hamilton Square, we walked on until we came to a place that could be tim’s local. A pleasant looking place called “The Milliband Arms”.
When I asked for a pint, the barman shook his head. “Not allowed,” he said. “We only serve beer in halves. Don’t you know that pints are responsible for domestic violence? You wouldn’t want to encourage that, would you?”
“I suppose not,” I said.
As the barman grabbed a Euro glass, he looked up with a frown. “Heard about the problem with the immigrants.”
“Oh, what is it now?”
“There aren’t any.” He finished filling the glass. “And there weren’t any here last year either.”
“Oh?”
“Pity. They would keep us on our toes. Without them, we get lazy and over-confident about our jobs.”
“I suppose so. Is the pub quiz on tonight?”
“No,” he said. “We had to knock it on the head.”
“Oh, why?”
“Couldn’t get the gender balance correct.”
“Well, is the football on later?”
“No, but there is a fascinating discussion on dialectical materialism and pre-distribution.”
“Hmmm ... “ I looked around. “You don’t seem to be very busy.”
“Well, we had Viscount Stansgate and Lady Harman in last week. And only last night, we had Shaun Woodward and his butler – salt of the earth they are.”
I took the offered glass. “Thank you, landlord.”
He frowned again. “Land-person,” he said. “But I’m only temporary, they’re advertising for a permanent replacement.”
“Many people interested?”
He looked up. “Not many, it’s the surgery, you see.”
The current totals on www.ard.de and www.zdf.de are actual votes cast, not sure if they're weighted for where they're coming from. The latest (21.00 German time) is the ZDF: they have the CDU 0.1% short of a majority of votes over the other parties in the Bundestag. At present they're predicting a tie, 303-303.
If independent awards were given annually for economic performance, there is no doubt Team Cameron would beat Team Merkel for the 2013 prize.
German unemployment (5.3%) at a 20 year low, vs UK at 7.7%. German current account surplus, vs UK deficit German primary budget surplus vs against UK deficit German private sector debt is less than half the level of the UK German trade account surplus, vs UK deficit German GDP above 2008 levels vs UK below
Now, the UK has been performing better than most of its European peers. But, by and large, Germany has performed better than us.
“There are two pieces of good news from this election for Greece. The first is that it looks very likely that the alliance with the FDP won’t continue. The other is that the SDP, which has the best views regarding policies of austerity and has even talked of a Marshall plan
The Marshall Plan was American aid given for the purposes of rebuilding European infrastructure and industry.
Greece has been having a Marshall Plan via the EU for the last 30 years and pi55ed the money away on having a good time.
What Greece needs isn't a 'Marshall Plan' but a boot up the arse followed by some proper graft and living within its means.
And if living within its means results in Greece having the same living standards as Turkey or Bulgaria then that will be nothing it didn't deserve.
I am completely in favour of freeing education from the dead hand of the state. However, if tax pennies are being spent, they should not be used in promoting religion.
Promoting the absence of religion is just as much of a position. It is not neutral. Parents should have the choice of any flavour of school they like (which reaches certain defined and verified educational standards).
Why do you believe that a school that does not teach religion is claiming the non-existance of God?
You don't believe that schools are promoting the belief that there is not a giant teapot orbiting the earth, by not explicitly promoting it.
If parents want to send their children to Sunday school they can.
But tax pennies should not be spent on promoting any particular religion.
A long post for someone who's going to be supporting Dave's attempted gender balancing in a junior minister reshuffle soon. Merely a consolation prize for Sam as she didn't get that lovely pair of missiles she wanted but a nice present nonetheless.
There's a familiar Draperiness/McBridiness to the way you like to smear Conservative politicians' wives. Well done.
The current totals on www.ard.de and www.zdf.de are actual votes cast, not sure if they're weighted for where they're coming from. The latest (21.00 German time) is the ZDF: they have the CDU 0.1% short of a majority of votes over the other parties in the Bundestag. At present they're predicting a tie, 303-303.
If it were actual votes cast wouldn't the CDU be much further ahead given that the bulk of currently declared seats are in Bavaria?
Will Merkel be forced to have a coalition even if she's only a couple of seats short of a majority?
No, but Germans like stable government. I think she'll be keen to bring the SPD in, so the position is not quite as suspenseful as it seems - though if she had a majority she'd have a stronger negotiating hand.
As others have said, there is no chance of an SPD-Green-Left government - the SPD and Greens don't regard the Left as ready for national government yet, and probably won't until they move on to the next generation of leaders, free of both SED history and Lafontaine defection. Bringing down a Merkel government with Left votes would be problematic too given that she's just won big, so she COULD probably go it alone for a year or so until some big crisis came along.
As I've said all along, a Grand Coalition is the only plausible outcome - not least because Mrs Merkel will want plenty of cover for her plans to sort out Europe.
If independent awards were given annually for economic performance, there is no doubt Team Cameron would beat Team Merkel for the 2013 prize.
German unemployment (5.3%) at a 20 year low, vs UK at 7.7%. German current account surplus, vs UK deficit German primary budget surplus vs against UK deficit German private sector debt is less than half the level of the UK German trade account surplus, vs UK deficit German GDP above 2008 levels vs UK below
Now, the UK has been performing better than most of its European peers. But, by and large, Germany has performed better than us.
Impossible! How could Germany be doing better than us when they don't have The City ?
If independent awards were given annually for economic performance, there is no doubt Team Cameron would beat Team Merkel for the 2013 prize.
German unemployment (5.3%) at a 20 year low, vs UK at 7.7%. German current account surplus, vs UK deficit German primary budget surplus vs against UK deficit German private sector debt is less than half the level of the UK German trade account surplus, vs UK deficit German GDP above 2008 levels vs UK below
Now, the UK has been performing better than most of its European peers. But, by and large, Germany has performed better than us.
Impossible! How could Germany be doing better than us when they don't have The City ?
Finance in the UK has, by and large, forgotten that its role is helping savers save, and helping businesses grow by providing capital.
That should be its job, acting as an intermediary between those who wish to defer consumption (i.e. savers), and those who need funds for investment now (i.e. businesses.)
I do not understand why a single penny of my taxes goes to religious schools - whether Christian, Muslim or Jewish. If parents want their children educated outside the regular school system, they should pay for it out of their own pockets.
I'm an atheist and totally disagree. Both this and the last government have tried to move power away from central government and back towards parents. I would support a completely "voucher" style system (like in Sweden) where the parents can choose which school they want to send their kids too. If parents choose a Christian or Muslim or Jewish school why should that be no more valid than a unionised socialist state run school?
But why should the criterion that decides what school a child goes to be the religion of its parent(s)?
Although I'm an atheist I'm somewhat of a small-c conservative: I went to a CE primary school and the ethos of my grammar school wasn't much different. I enjoyed the hymn-singing etc and believe that modern children (including my own daughter) could do worse than having the same experience.
But, having gone into several faith schools in the last few years, I'm beginning to change my mind. First of all, I find the ethos in a lot of CE and RC schools quite creepy. In theory I don't think the indoctrination matters much, but in practice it seems wrong that in the 21st century we're telling lies to kids in order to get them to behave.
Secondly, the supposed correlation between faith schools and standards and exam results is ridiculous. Surely most of the difference comes from the fact that the proportion of kids from better-off families is higher in faith schools. There can be nothing intrinsically "better" about a faith school. In other words, we're bring conned.
If independent awards were given annually for economic performance, there is no doubt Team Cameron would beat Team Merkel for the 2013 prize.
German unemployment (5.3%) at a 20 year low, vs UK at 7.7%. German current account surplus, vs UK deficit German primary budget surplus vs against UK deficit German private sector debt is less than half the level of the UK German trade account surplus, vs UK deficit German GDP above 2008 levels vs UK below
Now, the UK has been performing better than most of its European peers. But, by and large, Germany has performed better than us.
But an annual performance award would look at movements within a year rather than absolute levels.
So the questions would be:
Which of the two countries have:
Reduced unemployment most? Increase employment most? Reduced/increased its current account defict/surplus most? ...etc.
You are not investing in Spain, Robert, because of the absolute strength of its economy, but because of its prospects for disproportional improvement. It is the vectors which count.
And 2013 is the year of Jaguar LandRover not Mercedes Benz! Why even the French are refusing to buy Mercs.
Your selective reading comes to the fore again; from the second article:-
"The wife of Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, also could not contain her fury. “I am SO angry about today’s vote,” wrote Sarah Vine, a journalist. “No military action would have come out of it. It was simply about sending a signal. Cowardice.”"
There's no quote from that article about missiles, and none from Samantha Cameron about military action; do you know she didn't feel the same as Sarah Vine?
If you don't then what you said is a, typical for you, McBride style smear. Get some proper evidence before making them or stfu.
If independent awards were given annually for economic performance, there is no doubt Team Cameron would beat Team Merkel for the 2013 prize.
German unemployment (5.3%) at a 20 year low, vs UK at 7.7%. German current account surplus, vs UK deficit German primary budget surplus vs against UK deficit German private sector debt is less than half the level of the UK German trade account surplus, vs UK deficit German GDP above 2008 levels vs UK below
Now, the UK has been performing better than most of its European peers. But, by and large, Germany has performed better than us.
Impossible! How could Germany be doing better than us when they don't have The City ?
Finance in the UK has, by and large, forgotten that its role is helping savers save, and helping businesses grow by providing capital.
That should be its job, acting as an intermediary between those who wish to defer consumption (i.e. savers), and those who need funds for investment now (i.e. businesses.)
Regrettably RCS that's where we are and until UK plc puts it banks in order we won't make real progress.
I am completely in favour of freeing education from the dead hand of the state. However, if tax pennies are being spent, they should not be used in promoting religion.
Promoting the absence of religion is just as much of a position. It is not neutral. Parents should have the choice of any flavour of school they like (which reaches certain defined and verified educational standards).
Why do you believe that a school that does not teach religion is claiming the non-existance of God?
You don't believe that schools are promoting the belief that there is not a giant teapot orbiting the earth, by not explicitly promoting it.
If parents want to send their children to Sunday school they can.
But tax pennies should not be spent on promoting any particular religion.
I didn't say anything of the sort. I'm saying that a non-religious school isn't some wonderfully neutral ideal school, it is merely a different form of educational environment. It also has shortcomings. Look closely enough and the foundations of such a school are also made of clay, so to speak.
Parents should have the ability to choose the education of their child with the widest possible scope. The State (and the shackles you wish to place on my choice because of your personal views) should play no part in limiting my freedom.
"Large firms would have to train local apprentices if they recruited workers from outside the EU."
How do you define apprentice? The chance of would-be Chinese plumbers coming to the UK are tiny. Bulgarians and Rumanians wouldn't trigger that clause anyway.
So isn't it meaningless tosh?
Just curious.
Apprentice – A term so corrupted from the original that today it is almost meaningless.
Local – Equally meaningless as it would encompass all 27 EU countries.
Ah another one turns up.
So could you help where Floater and ScottP are struggling
Prime Minister announces 100,000 new engineering apprentices
How many of those apprenticeships do you expect to go to foreigners? Although it seems like you regard them as meaningless do you?
That's not the point,labour tried the wink,wink policy on *LOCAL* apprentices meaning british,like I pointed out before,if this had been a tory policy,you would have had a tim spasm on pb about it but you kept Quiet when labour were trying they wink wink policy.
If independent awards were given annually for economic performance, there is no doubt Team Cameron would beat Team Merkel for the 2013 prize.
German unemployment (5.3%) at a 20 year low, vs UK at 7.7%. German current account surplus, vs UK deficit German primary budget surplus vs against UK deficit German private sector debt is less than half the level of the UK German trade account surplus, vs UK deficit German GDP above 2008 levels vs UK below
Now, the UK has been performing better than most of its European peers. But, by and large, Germany has performed better than us.
But an annual performance award would look at movements within a year rather than absolute levels.
So the questions would be:
Which of the two countries have:
Reduced unemployment most? Increase employment most? Reduced/increased its current account defict/surplus most? ...etc.
You are not investing in Spain, Robert, because of the absolute strength of its economy, but because of its prospects for disproportional improvement. It is the vectors which count.
And 2013 is the year of Jaguar LandRover not Mercedes Benz! Why even the French are refusing to buy Mercs.
ROFL - that's just pure Osbornian desperation Avery. Give me a forecast when we overtake Germany on exports, public finances and GDP ?
"Large firms would have to train local apprentices if they recruited workers from outside the EU."
How do you define apprentice? The chance of would-be Chinese plumbers coming to the UK are tiny. Bulgarians and Rumanians wouldn't trigger that clause anyway.
So isn't it meaningless tosh?
Just curious.
Apprentice – A term so corrupted from the original that today it is almost meaningless.
Local – Equally meaningless as it would encompass all 27 EU countries.
Ah another one turns up.
So could you help where Floater and ScottP are struggling
Prime Minister announces 100,000 new engineering apprentices
How many of those apprenticeships do you expect to go to foreigners? Although it seems like you regard them as meaningless do you?
That's not the point,labour tried the wink,wink policy on *LOCAL* apprentices meaning british,like I pointed out before,if this had been a tory policy,you would have had a tim spasm on pb about it but you kept Quiet when labour were trying they wink wink policy.
It's Ed's new spinner's latest idea - sheepwhistling.
If independent awards were given annually for economic performance, there is no doubt Team Cameron would beat Team Merkel for the 2013 prize.
German unemployment (5.3%) at a 20 year low, vs UK at 7.7%. German current account surplus, vs UK deficit German primary budget surplus vs against UK deficit German private sector debt is less than half the level of the UK German trade account surplus, vs UK deficit German GDP above 2008 levels vs UK below
Now, the UK has been performing better than most of its European peers. But, by and large, Germany has performed better than us.
But an annual performance award would look at movements within a year rather than absolute levels.
So the questions would be:
Which of the two countries have:
Reduced unemployment most? Increase employment most? Reduced/increased its current account defict/surplus most? ...etc.
You are not investing in Spain, Robert, because of the absolute strength of its economy, but because of its prospects for disproportional improvement. It is the vectors which count.
And 2013 is the year of Jaguar LandRover not Mercedes Benz! Why even the French are refusing to buy Mercs.
ROFL - that's just pure Osbornian desperation Avery. Give me a forecast when we overtake Germany on exports, public finances and GDP ?
During 2013?
I don't even need to look up the figures. UK wins on all measures.
We are not talking about absolute levels but movements within a year.
But if you are set on disregarding trends and just want to concentrate on absolutes, get your bubbles in. It won't be long before Osborne calls on you to celebrate the UK overtaking France and becoming the EU's second largest economy.
Indeed, it is so near that the bottles are being chilled as I speak.
CDU now 4 away from a majority, according to the ARD. AfD also slipping back slightly as postal votes now being counted, which were sent before the late surge. A poll suggests that 40% of CDU voters say it was a personal vote of confidence in Merkel.
If independent awards were given annually for economic performance, there is no doubt Team Cameron would beat Team Merkel for the 2013 prize.
German unemployment (5.3%) at a 20 year low, vs UK at 7.7%. German current account surplus, vs UK deficit German primary budget surplus vs against UK deficit German private sector debt is less than half the level of the UK German trade account surplus, vs UK deficit German GDP above 2008 levels vs UK below
Now, the UK has been performing better than most of its European peers. But, by and large, Germany has performed better than us.
But an annual performance award would look at movements within a year rather than absolute levels.
So the questions would be:
Which of the two countries have:
Reduced unemployment most? Increase employment most? Reduced/increased its current account defict/surplus most? ...etc.
You are not investing in Spain, Robert, because of the absolute strength of its economy, but because of its prospects for disproportional improvement. It is the vectors which count.
And 2013 is the year of Jaguar LandRover not Mercedes Benz! Why even the French are refusing to buy Mercs.
ROFL - that's just pure Osbornian desperation Avery. Give me a forecast when we overtake Germany on exports, public finances and GDP ?
During 2013?
I don't even need to look up the figures. UK wins on all measures.
So we will export more than Germany this year, our public finances will be in better shape and our GDP will be bigger than Germany's ? I don't really go in for bets on PB, but if all three stack up at the end of the year I'll send you a selection of Warwickshire's finest.
If independent awards were given annually for economic performance, there is no doubt Team Cameron would beat Team Merkel for the 2013 prize.
German unemployment (5.3%) at a 20 year low, vs UK at 7.7%. German current account surplus, vs UK deficit German primary budget surplus vs against UK deficit German private sector debt is less than half the level of the UK German trade account surplus, vs UK deficit German GDP above 2008 levels vs UK below
Now, the UK has been performing better than most of its European peers. But, by and large, Germany has performed better than us.
But an annual performance award would look at movements within a year rather than absolute levels.
So the questions would be:
Which of the two countries have:
Reduced unemployment most? Increase employment most? Reduced/increased its current account defict/surplus most? ...etc.
You are not investing in Spain, Robert, because of the absolute strength of its economy, but because of its prospects for disproportional improvement. It is the vectors which count.
And 2013 is the year of Jaguar LandRover not Mercedes Benz! Why even the French are refusing to buy Mercs.
ROFL - that's just pure Osbornian desperation Avery. Give me a forecast when we overtake Germany on exports, public finances and GDP ?
During 2013?
I don't even need to look up the figures. UK wins on all measures.
So we will export more than Germany this year, our public finances will be in better shape and our GDP will be bigger than Germany's ? I don't really go in for bets on PB, but if all three stack up at the end of the year I'll send you a selection of Warwickshire's finest.
Schleswig-Holstein 1 CDU Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 2 CDU Sachsen 4 CDU Thüringen 1 CDU Rheinland-Pfalz 2 CDU Bayern 3 CSU Baden-Württemberg 10 CDU Saarland 1 CDU
If independent awards were given annually for economic performance, there is no doubt Team Cameron would beat Team Merkel for the 2013 prize.
German unemployment (5.3%) at a 20 year low, vs UK at 7.7%. German current account surplus, vs UK deficit German primary budget surplus vs against UK deficit German private sector debt is less than half the level of the UK German trade account surplus, vs UK deficit German GDP above 2008 levels vs UK below
Now, the UK has been performing better than most of its European peers. But, by and large, Germany has performed better than us.
.
And 2013 is the year of Jaguar LandRover not Mercedes Benz! Why even the French are refusing to buy Mercs.
ROFL - that's just pure Osbornian desperation Avery. Give me a forecast when we overtake Germany on exports, public finances and GDP ?
During 2013?
I don't even need to look up the figures. UK wins on all measures.
So we will export more th if all three stack up at the end of the year I'll send you a selection of Warwickshire's finest.
@JuliaHB1: If you put the worst of tonight's #xfactor offerings in a room for 24hrs, I bet they'd come up with more coherent policies than Labour have.
One of Germany's biggest problems coming is that it still has not "rehabilitated" the old East Germany: young people still leave, incomes are depressed, and the population disproportionately old and getting more so. This comes despite considerable support from the Federal government which is causing increasing anger among some in the old West Germany.
About 37 minutes into Marr, Miliband says that the apprentice scheme will be "about training up our people".
Who are "our people"?
He meant British people, until it was pointed at that would be illegal. The new line is "he meant anyone in the EU, but that's OK cos they won't come"
It's desperate stuff
The fact they, quite clearly hadn't thought this through, defies belief. I suspect this week will see a great deal of populist nonsense that will fall a part quickly. The reality is unless you have money to through at a problem Labour have nothing to offer.
I can't help thinking that Labour's apprenticeship scheme is a sort of cut and shut, targetting one part disingenuously (reducing skilled non-EU immigration) and the other part otherwise fine (more apprenticeships) but utilised a really strange way. It's clearly about headlines.
I can't help thinking that Labour's apprenticeship scheme is a sort of cut and shut, targetting one part disingenuously (reducing skilled non-EU immigration) and the other part otherwise fine (more apprenticeships) but utilised a really strange way. It's clearly about headlines.
It was a dog-whistle. Sadly Ed didn't realise it could be heard in Romania.
One of Germany's biggest problems coming is that it still has not "rehabilitated" the old East Germany: young people still leave, incomes are depressed, and the population disproportionately old and getting more so. This comes despite considerable support from the Federal government which is causing increasing anger among some in the old West Germany.
Careful, Grandiose - surely the, ahem, "old" east Germany was Pomerania, Silesia and East Prussia (and Posen too, if you like)!
One of Germany's biggest problems coming is that it still has not "rehabilitated" the old East Germany: young people still leave, incomes are depressed, and the population disproportionately old and getting more so. This comes despite considerable support from the Federal government which is causing increasing anger among some in the old West Germany.
This reminds me of feeling extremely old (only 32) when discussing the first World Cup we could remember with some of the new trainees at work.
One of Germany's biggest problems coming is that it still has not "rehabilitated" the old East Germany: young people still leave, incomes are depressed, and the population disproportionately old and getting more so. This comes despite considerable support from the Federal government which is causing increasing anger among some in the old West Germany.
Careful, Grandiose - surely the, ahem, "old" east Germany was Pomerania, Silesia and East Prussia (and Posen too, if you like)!
"Those parts of Germany formerly part of the German Democratic Republic", then , with the possible exception of that part of the DDR which was East Berlin (for which I haven't seen the figures).
One of Germany's biggest problems coming is that it still has not "rehabilitated" the old East Germany: young people still leave, incomes are depressed, and the population disproportionately old and getting more so.
If it wasn't Germany, I'd say what the old East Germany needs is a party like the SNP. What they don't need is anything resembling 'Scottish' Labour.
'The demography won’t change: an aging, and ailing, population coupled with a declining birth rate. Nor will the geography: peripheral to the United Kingdom, never mind Europe, never mind the world. Or the economics: that we will be, forever, in the shadow of our much larger neighbour. Or even the reality that our major natural resource, oil, is declining both in quantity and fashion. '
About 37 minutes into Marr, Miliband says that the apprentice scheme will be "about training up our people".
Who are "our people"?
He meant British people, until it was pointed at that would be illegal. The new line is "he meant anyone in the EU, but that's OK cos they won't come"
It's desperate stuff
To be honest, I don't think he necessarily did. He never mentions Britain or British at all, and does mention (of course) "hard working families". By this I assume he means people paying taxes (and their children) which, given the EU law, could include any familes that chose to come here from another EU country. So long as the parents have jobs (else they wouldn't be hard working).
What I object to is EU nationals coming here without jobs in order to, and being able to, claim from our benefit system. Trouble is, we're not allowed to discriminate, once they're here, against them. We are though allowed to discriminate against them at the border if they don't have sufficient wealth to be able to survive without a job, and I can't work out why the hell we don't do that.
"Those parts of Germany formerly part of the German Democratic Republic", then , with the possible exception of that part of the DDR which was East Berlin (for which I haven't seen the figures).
That would be remarkably imprecise language then, as East Berlin was never formally part of the DDR. Berlin was occupied territory until unification.
One of Germany's biggest problems coming is that it still has not "rehabilitated" the old East Germany: young people still leave, incomes are depressed, and the population disproportionately old and getting more so.
If it wasn't Germany, I'd say what the old East Germany needs is a party like the SNP. What they don't need is anything resembling 'Scottish' Labour.
'The demography won’t change: an aging, and ailing, population coupled with a declining birth rate. Nor will the geography: peripheral to the United Kingdom, never mind Europe, never mind the world. Or the economics: that we will be, forever, in the shadow of our much larger neighbour. Or even the reality that our major natural resource, oil, is declining both in quantity and fashion. '
"Those parts of Germany formerly part of the German Democratic Republic", then , with the possible exception of that part of the DDR which was East Berlin (for which I haven't seen the figures).
That would be remarkably imprecise language then, as East Berlin was never formally part of the DDR. Berlin was occupied territory until unification.
"East Germany and the Eastern Bloc diplomatically recognised East Berlin as the capital city of the German Democratic Republic, but the Western Allies disputed said recognition, considering the entire city of Berlin an occupied territory governed by the martial law of the Allied Control Council. According to Margarete Feinstein, East Berlin's status as the capital was largely unrecognized by the West and most Third World countries. In practice, the ACC’s authority was rendered moot by the Cold War, and the East German government ignored the legal restrictions on integration of East Berlin into the GDR."
Comments
Kinnock 30.8%
Brown 27%
Spot the difference?
Do you know what's not different between Cameron, Thatcher and Major? Following an election he ended up being PM.
Di Canio = top man
Holloway = (term not now used on pb.com)
But if you are talking current economic performance and short term expectations, which are the measures of most concern to electors, then Team Cameron are demonstrably outperforming the Germans.
On the upside, Germany has a larger economy, a relatively sound fiscal position, a strong manufacturing and export base and a good track record of economic performance. On the downside is its role as guarantor of the Euro and its longer term demographic problems.
The UK, on the upside, has a dominance in European financial services, (albeit depleting) energy resources, a reasonable manufacturing and export base, its own currency and relative detachment from Euro risk, a flexible labour market and better long term demographics.
If independent awards were given annually for economic performance, there is no doubt Team Cameron would beat Team Merkel for the 2013 prize.
http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/bundestagswahlen/BTW_BUND_13/ergebnisse/status/status_b_99.html
8-0 to the CDU!
Alternatively, Ed could mean that if you employed an Indian engineer, you'd have to create a non-job for a NEET. I suspect you'd be better off with the Bulgarians and Rumanians, They'd be happy to come for any job. It would certainly encourage them to come in the first place.
Still, at least he's trying.
How does one differentiate, given two or three equal candidates at school-leaver level?
One is where meaningless talk of compulsion is being done to sound tough.
Spot the difference? 100k useful and voluntary apprentices > meaningless box-ticking exercise to sound tough.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/22/germany-election-results-merkel-live-updates
Not a lot silverware in the Cameroon cabinet.
As for differentiating between two school leavers there are a variety of mechanisms. A school-leaver level may go on to college or university level.
Even if they don't then there is a variety of mechanisms. Extra-curricula activities whether sports, drama, music, Duke of Ed or many others are a good way for a school leaver to flesh out a CV.
A CV is also better fleshed out by being professional and with good grammar and without spelling mistakes etc which is far from guaranteed nowadays where so many school leavers can't spell (or even use a spell checker) correctly.
http://www.faz.net/op900/event/bundestagswahl/live/#/live-source02
Anyway, I went on a Wirral pub crawl last month.
Getting off at Hamilton Square, we walked on until we came to a place that could be tim’s local. A pleasant looking place called “The Milliband Arms”.
When I asked for a pint, the barman shook his head. “Not allowed,” he said. “We only serve beer in halves. Don’t you know that pints are responsible for domestic violence? You wouldn’t want to encourage that, would you?”
“I suppose not,” I said.
As the barman grabbed a Euro glass, he looked up with a frown. “Heard about the problem with the immigrants.”
“Oh, what is it now?”
“There aren’t any.” He finished filling the glass. “And there weren’t any here last year either.”
“Oh?”
“Pity. They would keep us on our toes. Without them, we get lazy and over-confident about our jobs.”
“I suppose so. Is the pub quiz on tonight?”
“No,” he said. “We had to knock it on the head.”
“Oh, why?”
“Couldn’t get the gender balance correct.”
“Well, is the football on later?”
“No, but there is a fascinating discussion on dialectical materialism and pre-distribution.”
“Hmmm ... “ I looked around. “You don’t seem to be very busy.”
“Well, we had Viscount Stansgate and Lady Harman in last week. And only last night, we had Shaun Woodward and his butler – salt of the earth they are.”
I took the offered glass. “Thank you, landlord.”
He frowned again. “Land-person,” he said. “But I’m only temporary, they’re advertising for a permanent replacement.”
“Many people interested?”
He looked up. “Not many, it’s the surgery, you see.”
“The surgery?”
“Yes, it’s a transgender short list.”
Sorry, tim, couldn't resist it.
http://on.wsj.com/18OT3Cs
German current account surplus, vs UK deficit
German primary budget surplus vs against UK deficit
German private sector debt is less than half the level of the UK
German trade account surplus, vs UK deficit
German GDP above 2008 levels vs UK below
Now, the UK has been performing better than most of its European peers. But, by and large, Germany has performed better than us.
Greece has been having a Marshall Plan via the EU for the last 30 years and pi55ed the money away on having a good time.
What Greece needs isn't a 'Marshall Plan' but a boot up the arse followed by some proper graft and living within its means.
And if living within its means results in Greece having the same living standards as Turkey or Bulgaria then that will be nothing it didn't deserve.
http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/de/bundestagswahlen/BTW_BUND_13/ergebnisse/status/
Basildon Deutschland!
You don't believe that schools are promoting the belief that there is not a giant teapot orbiting the earth, by not explicitly promoting it.
If parents want to send their children to Sunday school they can.
But tax pennies should not be spent on promoting any particular religion.
As others have said, there is no chance of an SPD-Green-Left government - the SPD and Greens don't regard the Left as ready for national government yet, and probably won't until they move on to the next generation of leaders, free of both SED history and Lafontaine defection. Bringing down a Merkel government with Left votes would be problematic too given that she's just won big, so she COULD probably go it alone for a year or so until some big crisis came along.
Well worth looking at @DPMcBride's latest tweets - he can't hold back any longer. Be careful Damian, think of your Mail money!
It's all gesture politics anyway. Trying to defend it must be as frustrating as trying to criticise it.
That should be its job, acting as an intermediary between those who wish to defer consumption (i.e. savers), and those who need funds for investment now (i.e. businesses.)
Although I'm an atheist I'm somewhat of a small-c conservative: I went to a CE primary school and the ethos of my grammar school wasn't much different. I enjoyed the hymn-singing etc and believe that modern children (including my own daughter) could do worse than having the same experience.
But, having gone into several faith schools in the last few years, I'm beginning to change my mind. First of all, I find the ethos in a lot of CE and RC schools quite creepy. In theory I don't think the indoctrination matters much, but in practice it seems wrong that in the 21st century we're telling lies to kids in order to get them to behave.
Secondly, the supposed correlation between faith schools and standards and exam results is ridiculous. Surely most of the difference comes from the fact that the proportion of kids from better-off families is higher in faith schools. There can be nothing intrinsically "better" about a faith school. In other words, we're bring conned.
So the questions would be:
Which of the two countries have:
Reduced unemployment most?
Increase employment most?
Reduced/increased its current account defict/surplus most?
...etc.
You are not investing in Spain, Robert, because of the absolute strength of its economy, but because of its prospects for disproportional improvement. It is the vectors which count.
And 2013 is the year of Jaguar LandRover not Mercedes Benz! Why even the French are refusing to buy Mercs.
"The wife of Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, also could not contain her fury. “I am SO angry about today’s vote,” wrote Sarah Vine, a journalist. “No military action would have come out of it. It was simply about sending a signal. Cowardice.”"
There's no quote from that article about missiles, and none from Samantha Cameron about military action; do you know she didn't feel the same as Sarah Vine?
If you don't then what you said is a, typical for you, McBride style smear. Get some proper evidence before making them or stfu.
Parents should have the ability to choose the education of their child with the widest possible scope. The State (and the shackles you wish to place on my choice because of your personal views) should play no part in limiting my freedom.
Disappointing near miss in Kaiserslautern - swing only 0.15%
But both just short of 5% overall.
I don't even need to look up the figures. UK wins on all measures.
We are not talking about absolute levels but movements within a year.
But if you are set on disregarding trends and just want to concentrate on absolutes, get your bubbles in. It won't be long before Osborne calls on you to celebrate the UK overtaking France and becoming the EU's second largest economy.
Indeed, it is so near that the bottles are being chilled as I speak.
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/bundestagswahl-2013-wahlergebnis-grafik-bundestag-wahlkreis-a-923496.html
http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/bundestagswahlen/BTW_BUND_13/ergebnisse/landesergebnisse/l07/index.html
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2429071/Fury-Cameron-favourites-tweet-mocking-Kenya-terror-attack-sick-account-claiming-bomb-survivor-Norman-Tebbit-looked-like-enjoying-SEX.html
Oh how we will chortle when the papers run their corresponding headlines in May 2015.
Bayern (24/45 constituencies):
FDP: 4.5%
AfD: 4.2%
Rheinland-Pfalz (10/15 constituencies):
FDP: 5.7%
AfD: 4.9%
http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/bundestagswahlen/BTW_BUND_13/ergebnisse/status/status_b_99.html
http://www.puritybrewing.com/
http://www.hoganscider.co.uk/where-to-buy
Who are "our people"?
We are not talking absolute levels but rates of improvement during the year.
And that is where the UK has outperformed Germany this year.
As for absolute performance. Keep the cider. When we pass France in size of GDP we will be drinking Hollande's finest.
Schleswig-Holstein 1 CDU
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 2 CDU
Sachsen 4 CDU
Thüringen 1 CDU
Rheinland-Pfalz 2 CDU
Bayern 3 CSU
Baden-Württemberg 10 CDU
Saarland 1 CDU
Just noted you replied to my earlier comment before I edited it to add a couple of paragraphs.
My apologies.
As as for champagne a quisling's quaff (I expected nothing more from you Pole ) if we pass them I shall be drinking
http://nyetimber.com/
It's desperate stuff
I wonder what the UK equivalent would be? The Tories winning the whole of the South East, Labour winning all of Scotland?
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2013/09/labour-conference-douglas-alexander-urged-brown-to-sack-mcbride/
Me: Italia '90.
Trainee: Who won it?
Me: West Germany:
Trainee: What's West Germany?!
Me: It's a long story.
Merkel pulls one back...
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0At91c3wX1Wu5dGhKQzRRMEwzNUdqQjlyUjVWcHlNTEE#gid=0
Merkel would be well-short in that case...
According to ZDF, 302/606
'The demography won’t change: an aging, and ailing, population coupled with a declining birth rate. Nor will the geography: peripheral to the United Kingdom, never mind Europe, never mind the world. Or the economics: that we will be, forever, in the shadow of our much larger neighbour. Or even the reality that our major natural resource, oil, is declining both in quantity and fashion. '
http://tinyurl.com/nsgg96m
What I object to is EU nationals coming here without jobs in order to, and being able to, claim from our benefit system. Trouble is, we're not allowed to discriminate, once they're here, against them. We are though allowed to discriminate against them at the border if they don't have sufficient wealth to be able to survive without a job, and I can't work out why the hell we don't do that.
Do you really think he was describing Romanians as local?
"The Labour leader said his Government would introduce an Immigration Bill in its first year to get employers to hire local workers "