I've never managed to understand how PR^2 accommodates independents, and though some of the independents in Ireland are a blight on their politics I dislike an electoral system that a priori makes it so difficult for independents to make an impact, thus making the party too powerful within the political system.
The reason that I have come to like STV is that it appears to be the representative elective system that gives most power to individual electors to determine the result without forcing them into a party system.
PR^2 accommodates independents easily. They just have to win a Droop quota in their constituency!
[table note: The Tories would have won 302 seats in 2010, if the two UCUNF winners from NI under PR^2 are included]
Bit of an own goal by Labour's new communication seal team member:
October 10 2013
"Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his Department and its associated public bodies spent on (a) external public relations consultants and (b) public affairs consultants, in each of the past three years; and for what purposes such consultants were engaged.
Brandon Lewis: The information is as follows:
External public relations:
The core department has spent nothing on external public relations from 2010-11 to 2012-13. This compares with the last Administration which spent nearly £1.1 million in 2009-10, on top of employing over 100 in-house communications staff......
My Department has spent nothing since 2010-11 on public affairs consultancy. Ministers in this Government in May to July 2010 instructed all our arm’s length bodies to cancel all such contracts, and there should have been no further expenditure other than the termination of those contracts during 2010-11, as outlined in the answer to my question of 14 December 2010, Official Report, column 676-77W.
To place this in context, taxpayers' money in the last Administration was being spent on the likes of:
LLM Communications by DCLG to run a “sock puppet” campaign in favour of Regional Spatial Strategies;
Chelgate by West Northamptonshire Development Corporation with a remit including the goal of securing “additional funding” from DCLG;
Mandate by Ordnance Survey, which included lobbying the Conservative Party in Opposition behind Labour Ministers' backs;"
I thought the best bit was:
"Connect Public Affairs by the Audit Commission to "combat the activities of Eric Pickles" (arguably, one of the least successful lobbying campaigns in history)."
I earned over £200k from just DWP as an external PR person - they were awash with people like me. I had a colleague who'd been there for almost 2yrs on £2500 a day.
Bit of an own goal by Labour's new communication seal team member:
October 10 2013
"Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his Department and its associated public bodies spent on (a) external public relations consultants and (b) public affairs consultants, in each of the past three years; and for what purposes such consultants were engaged.
Brandon Lewis: The information is as follows:
External public relations:
The core department has spent nothing on external public relations from 2010-11 to 2012-13. This compares with the last Administration which spent nearly £1.1 million in 2009-10, on top of employing over 100 in-house communications staff......
My Department has spent nothing since 2010-11 on public affairs consultancy. Ministers in this Government in May to July 2010 instructed all our arm’s length bodies to cancel all such contracts, and there should have been no further expenditure other than the termination of those contracts during 2010-11, as outlined in the answer to my question of 14 December 2010, Official Report, column 676-77W.
To place this in context, taxpayers' money in the last Administration was being spent on the likes of:
LLM Communications by DCLG to run a “sock puppet” campaign in favour of Regional Spatial Strategies;
Chelgate by West Northamptonshire Development Corporation with a remit including the goal of securing “additional funding” from DCLG;
Mandate by Ordnance Survey, which included lobbying the Conservative Party in Opposition behind Labour Ministers' backs;"
@HSJEditor: Surprising? Net satisfaction with 'the running of the NHS' apparently on the rise http://t.co/Qp48c5YDsF Lots of interesting data here
The notion that the NHS or any public service is better with endlessly more money is as misplaced as it is in the private sector - when you have money sloshing about - you stop focussing on what you're meant to do and start hobby projects, paying over the odds and mission creeping.
Necessity is the mother of invention is a truism for a reason.
Perhaps another blog on having lots of money. If there were an endless supply of the stuff, would life be paradise, or would it be hell?
Well done on your success. I hope you earn a fortune.
You're a fab writer and funny too. And you might be a **** to lefties, but that makes it even funnier.
I introduced my brother to the stuff you write. He's a teacher; an alcoholic, manic-depressive English lecturer who wears shit clothes and drinks vodka. He constantly bangs on about how intellectual and fascinating his fellow lefty lecturers are. They all hate Tories, hate Britain and read Plath's poetry in the staff room to cheer eachother up. I told him to show your Telegraph pieces to them, so they can be choke on their tofu.
After reading your stuff he ended up drinking even more vodka.
Congrats anyway. As arse-lickey as it is to say it I wish I could write as well as you. And I bet everyone else does too.
As I've said passim, Sean's 'Bible of the Dead' left me a little cold (literally, I read it in a tent), but it was undoubtedly well written - it just didn't capture me. His Telegraph articles are also well planned and written - and seem to get results. If he breaks into a different genre of books and does well, then he will move up a step from the workaday writers to the genuinely good writers.
Good luck to him.
Oh, and if you want a different genre, both of Morris Dancer's books are good fun as well.
"In another sign of the tough times in Washington these days, the White House Gift Shop, long run by a nonprofit group that helps uniformed Secret Service officers and their families, has gone broke."
To be honest HTB has helped me get on the housing ladder. Without it I would not be able to afford the flat I am about to purchase, I just don't have the savings, but I can easily meet the mortgage payments (which are lower than my rent costs right now) even if interest rates go up from 0.5% to 4%.
If the intended result of HTB is to win votes then I don't think it will be very successful, the number of people who gain directly from such a scheme is quite small, but if it is to help people like me get on the property ladder then I think it is going to be very successful. It also has the added bonus of bringing in a few billion in fees to the Treasury.
If anything the biggest losers are traditional Tory voters who own buy-to-let properties who will all see their rental yields decrease as younger people now have a prop to get on the housing ladder, the only other intervention that would be as successful in lowering rents would be rent controls. As for the bastard landlords, **** em. Earning money doing sweet FA is not something the government should encourage.
Max
You are not alone or in a small minority. This extract from an ACE (Association for Consulting and Engineering) report on the housing gap states clearly the core problem being addressed by the HTB:
The pressures [of the housing gap] on the ability of those seeking to enter the housing market, in terms of ability to pay deposits and to access a mortgage, will also increase drastically in the future.
For example, [taking] median wages and house prices, and based on a simple rolling average calculates that if an individual saves 10% of their income (which is significantly above the current savings ratio of around 7%), and wishes to secure a mortgage with a 25% deposit (significantly below the 2010 level of 35%) they still would not have managed to save a sufficient deposit by 2050.
If the same assumptions are used for a couple, it is revealed that they would need to have been in a stable 22 year relationship, saving 10% of their combined disposable income every year to accrue a 25% deposit.
"Hard-left union leader Len McCluskey has praised Ed Miliband as Labour’s best leader since Michael Foot.
The Unite chief used a speech to hail him as the most radical leader since 1983, the year of Labour’s ‘longest suicide note in history’ manifesto and worst election result since the War.
And he gloated over the fact that under Mr Miliband, New Labour and the centre-left policies pioneered by triple election-winning Tony Blair had been abandoned."
"In another sign of the tough times in Washington these days, the White House Gift Shop, long run by a nonprofit group that helps uniformed Secret Service officers and their families, has gone broke."
How on Earth can the WH gift shop go broke? It's surely one of the top places to run a retail franchise - its not like there's another one of them or any competition.
"It is clear that the Tories are not prepared to give such a platform to Mr Farage. Labour and the Liberal Democrats are more open-minded, perhaps mischievously rather than out of principle. They know Mr Farage would give Mr Cameron the biggest headache, and so are content to let the Prime Minister wield the veto."
Farage will milk Dave running away from him for all its worth.
Not very much - as the choice for UKIP voters - Cameron or Miliband - will be unchanged....and Farage may only get into the debates via the High Court....blowing the whole thing out of the water.....
George Freeman MP @Freeman_George New patient power in NHS: 3,000 more clinicians, 23,000 fewer administrators, £5.5bn in savings, 400,000 more operations every year. #NHS
You have to give the photo editor 10/10 in that Miliband story. That's how it's going to be with the Mail from now until the election but I dont think they're as influential as they think they are.
"But happiness is also deeply personal. Campbell, who suffers from depression, looks in the mirror and finds a bittersweet reflection, a life divided between the bad and not-so-bad days, where the highest achievements in his professional life could leave him numb, and he can somehow look back on a catastrophic breakdown twenty-five years ago as the best thing that happened to him. He writes too of what he has learned from the recent death of his best friend, further informing his view that the pursuit of happiness is a long game."
To be honest HTB has helped me get on the housing ladder. Without it I would not be able to afford the flat I am about to purchase, I just don't have the savings, but I can easily meet the mortgage payments (which are lower than my rent costs right now) even if interest rates go up from 0.5% to 4%.
If the intended result of HTB is to win votes then I don't think it will be very successful, the number of people who gain directly from such a scheme is quite small, but if it is to help people like me get on the property ladder then I think it is going to be very successful. It also has the added bonus of bringing in a few billion in fees to the Treasury.
If anything the biggest losers are traditional Tory voters who own buy-to-let properties who will all see their rental yields decrease as younger people now have a prop to get on the housing ladder, the only other intervention that would be as successful in lowering rents would be rent controls. As for the bastard landlords, **** em. Earning money doing sweet FA is not something the government should encourage.
Max
And pumping up house prices will just make that worse.
How does the govt get off the roundabout when prices are even more out of kilter with pay and the market has been fed a generation of people dependent on the state to provide their deposits.
Bubble watch from the BoE (LPQB46A) - anyone spot a trend ??
Under which govt were people paying off their housing debt and under which govt were they not ? Some months at random below...
"Quarterly changes of total sterling housing equity withdrawal (previously called mortgage equity withdrawal) by individuals (in sterling millions) not seasonally adjusted :
30 Jun 97 -1365 30 Jun 01 3705 30 Jun 02 10083 30 Jun 04 14229 31 Mar 08 40 31 Dec 10 -12351 30 Jun 13 -14187"
@Neil - yes - they added the second set after I initially posted it. But you're right - 18 year olds in 1983 are now 48, so the comparison has limited salience - and even though Labour banged on about Thatcher decades after she left office, she had a much greater impact than a LotO from 30 years ago.....
Are there any other things you think are overpriced that you'd like the taxpayer to help you buy and therefore pump the price up even further? A pony? Tulip bulbs?
Some tulip bulbs would be good, thanks, I'm off to my second home for half term and getting planting for spring would be ideal. A few daffs wouldn't go amiss either.
Patrick Wintour tweets: Hear Ye hear Ye - a deal has been struck between the parties on the Royal Charter on the future of press regulation.
Crick said it was due at lunch time, so something held it up.....
That sounds ominous. Never a good outcome when politicans get together to control something.
"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public." Adam Smith.
Are there any other things you think are overpriced that you'd like the taxpayer to help you buy and therefore pump the price up even further? A pony? Tulip bulbs?
It's a pity that Labour over-inflated prices and left no easy answers.
Help to Buy is a reasonable option in a difficult world.
Apols if posted before (it dates from over a month ago) but YouGov appear to have just put up the results of a Migration Matters survey.
Con (25) trusted more than Labour (13), but neither(46) trusted much more, overwhelming (78:13) agreement that last Labour govt let in too many and scepticism that an Ed government would be better (30) or worse (11) because they had 'bad policies before which would stay bad (31).
Very high estimates of illegal entrants/over stayers as % of immigrants: 5% (22) 10% (25) 25% (24), with the issue seen as poor enforcement of the rules (60) rather than the rules themselves (26).
You have to give the photo editor 10/10 in that Miliband story. That's how it's going to be with the Mail from now until the election but I dont think they're as influential as they think they are.
I think the Mail will be influential on potential UKIP voters (and the wives of UKIP voters).
Anyway, so much for Ed taking on the unions. That was last month's fad, right?
Are there any other things you think are overpriced that you'd like the taxpayer to help you buy and therefore pump the price up even further? A pony? Tulip bulbs?
And pumping up house prices will just make that worse.
How does the govt get off the roundabout when prices are even more out of kilter with pay and the market has been fed a generation of people dependent on the state to provide their deposits.
Simple.
Control the supply of mortgage credit through BoE regulatory and monetary policy so that house price increases over a cycle trend below increases in real households's disposable income. This, in the medium to long term, will see house price to median income ratios fall. The UK is currently around the upper quartile mark on this ratio when compared internationally. It needs to move closer, say over a decade, to the median ratio.
Ensure that private sector housing construction meets, over an economic cycle, an average of 240,000 dwellings per year. Output will need to be matched to fluctuating demand. At present the output rate is about 50% of the target but sales volume is only around 30% of peak, so supply is currently leading demand. Achieving the target is feasible and should not require major interventions in the markets.
Reform the social housing sector so that it can raise funds for expansion independently of government borrowing. This means creating conditions under which multiple unit stock as well as individual dwellings become tradeable at fair market prices and rental yields and tenure conditions are matched to such values (remembering that as capital values rise rents will fall). This will mean taking some proverbial "difficult decisions" on levels of housing benefit payments.
I've always said George was too incompetent to cut spending haven't I?
He certainly wasnt up for slashing the benefits of disabled, single mothers like you called for.
Osborne chose to slash at housebuilding and spend £20 billion more than Labour on housing benefit, his choice
Osborne reduced expenditure on social housebuilding by about the same proportion as Labour planned to cut all capital spending (while cutting overall capital spending by less than Labour planned).
Osborne halted the disastrous increase in average rents paid to private sector landlords through HB that Labour presided over.
Are there any other things you think are overpriced that you'd like the taxpayer to help you buy and therefore pump the price up even further? A pony? Tulip bulbs?
I've always said George was too incompetent to cut spending haven't I?
He certainly wasnt up for slashing the benefits of disabled, single mothers like you called for.
Osborne chose to slash at housebuilding and spend £20 billion more than Labour on housing benefit, his choice
Osborne reduced expenditure on social housebuilding by about the same proportion as Labour planned to cut all capital spending (while cutting overall capital spending by less than Labour planned).
Osborne halted the disastrous increase in average rents paid to private sector landlords through HB that Labour presided over.
Damn you and your facts. Still it won't make the slightest bit of difference. He will continue to troll and people will continue to snap up his bait. But to be fair he isn't the only one.
Well done on your success. I hope you earn a fortune.
You're a fab writer and funny too. And you might be a **** to lefties, but that makes it even funnier.
I introduced my brother to the stuff you write. He's a teacher; an alcoholic, manic-depressive English lecturer who wears shit clothes and drinks vodka. He constantly bangs on about how intellectual and fascinating his fellow lefty lecturers are. They all hate Tories, hate Britain and read Plath's poetry in the staff room to cheer eachother up. I told him to show your Telegraph pieces to them, so they can be choke on their tofu.
After reading your stuff he ended up drinking even more vodka.
Congrats anyway. As arse-lickey as it is to say it I wish I could write as well as you. And I bet everyone else does too.
As I've said passim, Sean's 'Bible of the Dead' left me a little cold (literally, I read it in a tent), but it was undoubtedly well written - it just didn't capture me. His Telegraph articles are also well planned and written - and seem to get results. If he breaks into a different genre of books and does well, then he will move up a step from the workaday writers to the genuinely good writers.
Good luck to him.
Oh, and if you want a different genre, both of Morris Dancer's books are good fun as well.
My favourite book of mine, if that doesn't sound too ridiculously self obsessed (OK it does) was actually my lovelife memoir, Millions of Women are Waiting to Meet You.
Are there any other things you think are overpriced that you'd like the taxpayer to help you buy and therefore pump the price up even further? A pony? Tulip bulbs?
Help to Bitcoin?
Can't afford to buy a private jet but can afford the petrol, here comes Osborne with Help To Sky
I've always said George was too incompetent to cut spending haven't I?
He certainly wasnt up for slashing the benefits of disabled, single mothers like you called for.
Osborne chose to slash at housebuilding and spend £20 billion more than Labour on housing benefit, his choice
Osborne reduced expenditure on social housebuilding by about the same proportion as Labour planned to cut all capital spending (while cutting overall capital spending by less than Labour planned).
Osborne halted the disastrous increase in average rents paid to private sector landlords through HB that Labour presided over.
Have you forgotten that your investment cuts less than Labour got debunked earlier in the year, there were some factchecks remember?
Why did people have to drain huge sums of equity from their property just to sustain the zero growth Labour years tim ? ?
"In another sign of the tough times in Washington these days, the White House Gift Shop, long run by a nonprofit group that helps uniformed Secret Service officers and their families, has gone broke."
How on Earth can the WH gift shop go broke? It's surely one of the top places to run a retail franchise - its not like there's another one of them or any competition.
It all went wrong when it started to sell socialism.
I've always said George was too incompetent to cut spending haven't I?
He certainly wasnt up for slashing the benefits of disabled, single mothers like you called for.
Osborne chose to slash at housebuilding and spend £20 billion more than Labour on housing benefit, his choice
Osborne reduced expenditure on social housebuilding by about the same proportion as Labour planned to cut all capital spending (while cutting overall capital spending by less than Labour planned).
Osborne halted the disastrous increase in average rents paid to private sector landlords through HB that Labour presided over.
Have you forgotten that your investment cuts less than Labour got debunked earlier in the year, there were some factchecks remember?
I acknowledge that Neil is an OUTRAGEOUSLY left wing pbTory (unlike you he doesn't want to slash benefits for the disabled) but I'd trust his analysis over yours any day of the week.
Well done on your success. I hope you earn a fortune.
You're a fab writer and funny too. And you might be a **** to lefties, but that makes it even funnier.
I introduced my brother to the stuff you write. He's a teacher; an alcoholic, manic-depressive English lecturer who wears shit clothes and drinks vodka. He constantly bangs on about how intellectual and fascinating his fellow lefty lecturers are. They all hate Tories, hate Britain and read Plath's poetry in the staff room to cheer eachother up. I told him to show your Telegraph pieces to them, so they can be choke on their tofu.
After reading your stuff he ended up drinking even more vodka.
Congrats anyway. As arse-lickey as it is to say it I wish I could write as well as you. And I bet everyone else does too.
As I've said passim, Sean's 'Bible of the Dead' left me a little cold (literally, I read it in a tent), but it was undoubtedly well written - it just didn't capture me. His Telegraph articles are also well planned and written - and seem to get results. If he breaks into a different genre of books and does well, then he will move up a step from the workaday writers to the genuinely good writers.
Good luck to him.
Oh, and if you want a different genre, both of Morris Dancer's books are good fun as well.
My favourite book of mine, if that doesn't sound too ridiculously self obsessed (OK it does) was actually my lovelife memoir, Millions of Women are Waiting to Meet You.
Britannica eliminated: 3 to UKIP, 3 to No Bedroom Tax, 1 to Christians, 1 to Green, 1 to Solidarity, 1 to LD, 1 to Lab, 1 to Con, 1 to SNP 6 Non Transferable
Solidarity eliminated: 6 to No Bedroom Tax, 5 to SNP, 3 to Green, 2 to Lab, 2 to Communists, 2 to Ind L, 1 to Christians, 1 to LD 7 Non transferable
Communist eliminated: 11 to No Bedroom Tax, 9 to Greens,4 to Lab, 4 to SNP, 3 to Christians, 1 to LD, 1 to Ind R 4 No transferable
Ind Rannachan eliminated: 14 to SNP, 13 to No Bedroom Tax, 13 to Lab, 4 to Greens,2 to Con 1 to Ind L 6 Non transferable
Christians eliminated: 11 to Con, 8 to Ind L, 7 to SNP, 7 to Lab, 4 No Bedroom Tax, 3 to LD, 3 to UKIP, 2 to Greens 20 Non transferable
LD eliminated: 26 to Lab, 11 to Greens, 10 to SNP, 8 to Con, 4 to No Bedroom Tax, 4 to Ind L, 1 to UKIP 15 non transferable
Ind Laird eliminated: 29 to Lab, 19 to SNP, 16 to No Bedroom Tax, 8 to Greens, 6 to Con, 6 to UKIP. 34 non transferables
UKIP eliminated: 26 to Con, 14 to No Bedroom Tax, 12 to Lab, 12 to SNP, 8 to Greens 54 non transferable
Greens eliminated: 44 to SNP, 31 to Lab, 24 to No Bedroom Tax, 6 to Con 53 non transferable
Con eliminated: 36 to Lab, 34 to SNP, 23 to No Bedroom Tax 182 non transferable
No Bedroom Tax eliminated: 201 to Lab 103 to SNP 260 non transferable
Wonder if they meant to include the track changes? Looks like minor tinkering - and a snafu on interaction with Scotland/Scots law on the first draft. They've also dodged defining 'relevant publisher' and refer to a section in the crime & courts act....
RupertNeate @RupertNeate 2m Royal Mail shares closed at 455p - up 38%. The biggest ever 1day rise of a privatised company
Remarkable really, considering that this month's £5.8 bn rights issue by Barclays Bank was sold at a 40% discount to market prices on the day before the offer was announced.,
“relevant publisher” means a person (other than a broadcaster) who publishes in the United Kingdom:
a newspaper or magazine containing news-related material, or a website containing news-related material (whether or not related to a newspaper or magazine);
“broadcaster” means:
the holder of a licence under the Broadcasting Act 1990 or 1996; the British Broadcasting Corporation; or Sianel Pedwar Cymru;
a person “publishes in the United Kingdom” if the publication takes place in the United Kingdom or is targeted primarily at an audience in the United Kingdom;
“news-related material” means: news or information about current affairs; opinion about matters relating to the news or current affairs; or gossip about celebrities, other public figures or other persons in the news.
Have you forgotten that your investment cuts less than Labour got debunked earlier in the year, there were some factchecks remember?
You pays your money you take and you takes your chances.
One source says Osborne cut by slightly more than Labour planned, others by slightly less. Have fun deciding whether you want to take gross or net figures and how to allow for Royal Mail pension fund assets etc.
The big picture, which you always try to ignore, is that Labour were hooked on capital spending cuts of the same magnitude. Osborne's original sin is Labour's too.
Well done on your success. I hope you earn a fortune.
As I've said passim, Sean's 'Bible of the Dead' left me a little cold (literally, I read it in a tent), but it was undoubtedly well written - it just didn't capture me. His Telegraph articles are also well planned and written - and seem to get results. If he breaks into a different genre of books and does well, then he will move up a step from the workaday writers to the genuinely good writers.
Good luck to him.
Oh, and if you want a different genre, both of Morris Dancer's books are good fun as well.
My favourite book of mine, if that doesn't sound too ridiculously self obsessed (OK it does) was actually my lovelife memoir, Millions of Women are Waiting to Meet You.
Jack of Kent @JackofKent Not a single witness before #Leveson suggested press regulation by Royal Prerogative; it is nowhere in the report; but that is what we have.
Nick Cohen @NickCohen4 It seems we really are Her Majesty's Press now
Wonder if they meant to include the track changes? Looks like minor tinkering - and a snafu on interaction with Scotland/Scots law on the first draft. They've also dodged defining 'relevant publisher' and refer to a section in the crime & courts act....
Carlotta
Do you think the newspaper proprietors and editors will buy into the revised Royal Charter?
My feeling is that this will require the government to offer more than a 38% discount.
On the Royal Mail, I wonder whether the price was inflated today because, amongst retail investors, only those who bought via brokers could sell?
It was certainly quite volatile, peaking at 450p just after 8am, dropping to around 431p at midday, rising slightly after that, with a very sharp rise right at the end of the day to close at 451.88p.
I would not be surprised if the price drops when many retail investors who bought via the government website sell out next week. Even if that doesn't happen, it's far too early to say what the market price will settle at.
Are you in line to inherit a mortgage free house from your mother? If so is that clouding your understanding of why some others are so happy with the scheme?
Louisa Compton (BBC) @louisa_compton What do you think of @vicderbyshire prog/how can we make it better? Pls spend 5 mins filling in this form +helping us surveymonkey.com/s/RRK7K65
@FraserNelson: What part of 'no' don't they understand? My thoughts on the latest politicians' proposal for licensing the press: http://t.co/YIL0m2dkZU
"Ministers have been urged to abandon "failing" cities and towns across the north of England such as Hull, Hartlepool and Burnley and concentrate instead on helping the locals to get jobs elsewhere."
"The Economist magazine said that despite years of Government money and "heroic" efforts the towns were decaying and it was time for a change in policy.
The globally-respected publication, in an editorial entitled 'City Sicker', said the fate of the once confident places was "sad".
But it urged ministers to forget about using tax breaks or spending money to encourage people to go the cities and towns as it diverted them from areas where "they would be more successful"."
@tim - lets see who whinges first when the share price falls below 330p - bet its Chuka 'Govt rips off small shareholders' and Ed 'Need a judge led enquiry'.
In any case, tomorrow's lead story is the Royal Charter for the Press
"There is no evidence from international comparisons that the UK is currently in an unsustainable house price boom, nor from the domestic market in most locations. It is true that in central London in expensive areas there is substantial buying from abroad, usually for cash, which has been bidding up prices strongly for some years. The competitive jurisdictions like Hong Kong and Singapore have experienced something similar."
and ah..
"All those who have written in to condemn subsidies to the house buying market will be pleased to know that the scheme charges the lending institution a fee for the guarantee priced to avoid any state subsidy – which would be illegal under EU state aid rules anyway. This fee can and will be adjusted in future in the light of the actual bad debt rate experienced. I would not support a housing subsidy scheme where taxpayers were paying part of the bill for someone buying a property at up to £600,000."
Are you in line to inherit a mortgage free house from your mother? If so is that clouding your understanding of why some others are so happy with the scheme?
Not necessarily. My ire is directed at the fact that this Ponzi Scheme is being paid for through crap interest rates for savers like yours truly.
Are you in line to inherit a mortgage free house from your mother? If so is that clouding your understanding of why some others are so happy with the scheme?
Not necessarily. My ire is directed at the fact that this Ponzi Scheme is being paid for through crap interest rates for savers like yours truly.
So your problem is that someone else is benefiting not you. It's quite a common and understandable feeling. We would all prefer it if the chips fell to suit our personal circumstances.
Are you in line to inherit a mortgage free house from your mother? If so is that clouding your understanding of why some others are so happy with the scheme?
Not necessarily. My ire is directed at the fact that this Ponzi Scheme is being paid for through crap interest rates for savers like yours truly.
Interest rates have been crap for years, that isn't the fault of Help to Buy.
Certain newspapers that have never been mixed up in wrongdoing will be forced to bear the costs of unsuccessful claims made against them (per section 40(3) of the Crime and Courts Act 2013) unless they are members of a regulator recognised by a body established under the Royal Prerogative. That is, to use a word coined by the Prime Minister, bonkers.
Could've been a worse video, at least the fat lad didn't try to launch his missile on Polzeath beach
You need to lose some weight. Last year I advised you to go for a walk. Step away from your keyboard and breathe some fresh air. Perhaps you should take that advice.
It's well known that solitary keyboard warriors, kept alive by Quavers, pizza and Beychevelle, have a short lifespan (not that being constantly on PB constitutes a life). Go for a walk, lose some weight, and talk to real people.
Does anyone have the faintest clue what happens next on press regulation?
In particular, if large parts of the press tell the politicians where they can stuff their charter, does it just peter out, leaving the status quo?
What happens in that scenario is the activists either a) find a paper somewhere in the land amenable to their cause or b) set one up, then set up a regulator that does conform to the Royal Charter, register the paper with the government-backed regulator. That would then mean all other papers would be subject to Leveson's penalties
Does anyone have the faintest clue what happens next on press regulation?
In particular, if large parts of the press tell the politicians where they can stuff their charter, does it just peter out, leaving the status quo?
My wild guess is that Cammo will say that the Press can ignore it but that a future government could make it compulsory (whisper it - watch out for ReD.)
@RichardNabavi As soon as a regulator is recognised by the Recognition Panel established under the draft Royal Charter, sections 34 to 42 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 will enter into force, which will have a punitive effect in damages and costs on non-regulated newspapers.
They're going to strike at the Grangemouth refinery. Whatever. The real reason for the link is to share the lovely picture at the top of the article - I would never have believed an oil refinery could look so beautiful.
It's an unpopularity contest - do people have less trust in politicians or the journos? Politicians know how unpopular they are, but the press seems not to realise how distrusted they are as well. Their spokesman on the 6 o'clock news epitomised smug gitness. I'd guess they'll have more support as they control the way it's reported, but it'll end up with some sort of fudge.
Comments
[table note: The Tories would have won 302 seats in 2010, if the two UCUNF winners from NI under PR^2 are included]
"Connect Public Affairs by the Audit Commission to "combat the activities of Eric Pickles" (arguably, one of the least successful lobbying campaigns in history)."
My first exhibits are Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/comedy/10363116/Tommy-Cooper-25-great-jokes.html
Like this
Alastair Campbell @campbellclaret 2h
...upon their faces, gathering round the Dacre homes ... To find no Dacre traces #dacrefootballsongs
Oh the Mail, you should have seen him running, scampering down the Derry St, the cowardice was stunning, all the lads and lasses, smiles...
.@jon_shaw worry not. Enjoying it. And loving all the people telling me to move on. I don't move on till I've secured my objective
I'm forever printing rubbish, Racist rubbish in the Mail.. I hate the left, I am far right - That's why my paper's full of shite #coward
Show me the way to go home, I'm tired and I wanna go to bed, but @alextomo is at the house again, so I'll run and hide Instead #coward
Are you listening Rothermere? Are you listening Rothermere? #dacrefootballsongs same old Viscount Always Hiding
Who prints all the lies, who prints all the lies, coward Dacre coward Dacre, you print all the lies #dacrefootballsongs
“@GarethHarman: @campbellclaret He's fat, he's round, he's hiding underground ......” #dacrefootballsongs
carries on like this for ...
Good luck to him.
Oh, and if you want a different genre, both of Morris Dancer's books are good fun as well.
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/10/shelves-empty-at-bankrupt-white-house-gift-shop/?page=1#ixzz2hQRoVHsv
You are not alone or in a small minority. This extract from an ACE (Association for Consulting and Engineering) report on the housing gap states clearly the core problem being addressed by the HTB:
The pressures [of the housing gap] on the ability of those seeking to enter the housing market, in terms of ability to pay deposits and to access a mortgage, will also increase drastically in the future.
For example, [taking] median wages and house prices, and based on a simple rolling average calculates that if an individual saves 10% of their income (which is significantly above the current savings ratio of around 7%), and wishes to secure a mortgage with a 25% deposit (significantly below the 2010 level of 35%) they still would not have managed to save a sufficient deposit by 2050.
If the same assumptions are used for a couple, it is revealed that they would need to have been in a stable 22 year relationship, saving 10% of their combined disposable income every year to accrue a 25% deposit.
"Hard-left union leader Len McCluskey has praised Ed Miliband as Labour’s best leader since Michael Foot.
The Unite chief used a speech to hail him as the most radical leader since 1983, the year of Labour’s ‘longest suicide note in history’ manifesto and worst election result since the War.
And he gloated over the fact that under Mr Miliband, New Labour and the centre-left policies pioneered by triple election-winning Tony Blair had been abandoned."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2454561/Len-McCluskey-hails-Ed-Miliband-best-Labour-leader-Michael-Foot.html#ixzz2hQSdJClN
New patient power in NHS: 3,000 more clinicians, 23,000 fewer administrators, £5.5bn in savings, 400,000 more operations every year. #NHS
You have to give the photo editor 10/10 in that Miliband story. That's how it's going to be with the Mail from now until the election but I dont think they're as influential as they think they are.
Crick said it was due at lunch time, so something held it up.....
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Happy-Depressive-Political-Happiness/dp/0099579820/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381504268&sr=8-1&keywords=happy+depressive
Haven't yet read, but am intrigued enough to wonder what is going on with AC's judgement.
Under which govt were people paying off their housing debt and under which govt were they not ? Some months at random below...
"Quarterly changes of total sterling housing equity withdrawal (previously called mortgage equity withdrawal) by individuals (in sterling millions) not seasonally adjusted :
30 Jun 97 -1365
30 Jun 01 3705
30 Jun 02 10083
30 Jun 04 14229
31 Mar 08 40
31 Dec 10 -12351
30 Jun 13 -14187"
Poor thing, you seem deflated since you posted statistical proof that Osborne's fiscal policies didnt kill off economic growth.
Did you mean to do that?
Must be a cost of living crisis.
Help to Buy is a reasonable option in a difficult world.
Of course, all you can do is sit there and sneer.
Con (25) trusted more than Labour (13), but neither(46) trusted much more, overwhelming (78:13) agreement that last Labour govt let in too many and scepticism that an Ed government would be better (30) or worse (11) because they had 'bad policies before which would stay bad (31).
Very high estimates of illegal entrants/over stayers as % of immigrants: 5% (22) 10% (25) 25% (24), with the issue seen as poor enforcement of the rules (60) rather than the rules themselves (26).
http://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/77htn95wyh/YouGov-Survey-Migration-Matters-130904.pdf
Anyway, so much for Ed taking on the unions. That was last month's fad, right?
Control the supply of mortgage credit through BoE regulatory and monetary policy so that house price increases over a cycle trend below increases in real households's disposable income. This, in the medium to long term, will see house price to median income ratios fall. The UK is currently around the upper quartile mark on this ratio when compared internationally. It needs to move closer, say over a decade, to the median ratio.
Ensure that private sector housing construction meets, over an economic cycle, an average of 240,000 dwellings per year. Output will need to be matched to fluctuating demand. At present the output rate is about 50% of the target but sales volume is only around 30% of peak, so supply is currently leading demand. Achieving the target is feasible and should not require major interventions in the markets.
Reform the social housing sector so that it can raise funds for expansion independently of government borrowing. This means creating conditions under which multiple unit stock as well as individual dwellings become tradeable at fair market prices and rental yields and tenure conditions are matched to such values (remembering that as capital values rise rents will fall). This will mean taking some proverbial "difficult decisions" on levels of housing benefit payments.
Osborne halted the disastrous increase in average rents paid to private sector landlords through HB that Labour presided over.
How soon can we expect Labour to deny agreeing to it?
Jets run on aviation fuel, not petrol.
Not all righties are trustworthy you know.
SDA eliminated:
1 to SNP
Britannica eliminated:
3 to UKIP, 3 to No Bedroom Tax, 1 to Christians, 1 to Green, 1 to Solidarity, 1 to LD, 1 to Lab, 1 to Con, 1 to SNP
6 Non Transferable
Solidarity eliminated:
6 to No Bedroom Tax, 5 to SNP, 3 to Green, 2 to Lab, 2 to Communists, 2 to Ind L, 1 to Christians, 1 to LD
7 Non transferable
Communist eliminated:
11 to No Bedroom Tax, 9 to Greens,4 to Lab, 4 to SNP, 3 to Christians, 1 to LD, 1 to Ind R
4 No transferable
Ind Rannachan eliminated:
14 to SNP, 13 to No Bedroom Tax, 13 to Lab, 4 to Greens,2 to Con 1 to Ind L
6 Non transferable
Christians eliminated:
11 to Con, 8 to Ind L, 7 to SNP, 7 to Lab, 4 No Bedroom Tax, 3 to LD, 3 to UKIP, 2 to Greens
20 Non transferable
LD eliminated:
26 to Lab, 11 to Greens, 10 to SNP, 8 to Con, 4 to No Bedroom Tax, 4 to Ind L, 1 to UKIP
15 non transferable
Ind Laird eliminated:
29 to Lab, 19 to SNP, 16 to No Bedroom Tax, 8 to Greens, 6 to Con, 6 to UKIP.
34 non transferables
UKIP eliminated:
26 to Con, 14 to No Bedroom Tax, 12 to Lab, 12 to SNP, 8 to Greens
54 non transferable
Greens eliminated:
44 to SNP, 31 to Lab, 24 to No Bedroom Tax, 6 to Con
53 non transferable
Con eliminated:
36 to Lab, 34 to SNP, 23 to No Bedroom Tax
182 non transferable
No Bedroom Tax eliminated:
201 to Lab 103 to SNP
260 non transferable
http://www.buzzfeed.com/tomphillips/the-29-stages-of-a-twitterstorm
The boy's Vince Cable has done well.
“relevant publisher” means a person (other than a broadcaster) who publishes in the United Kingdom:
a newspaper or magazine
containing news-related material, or a website containing news-related material (whether or not related to a newspaper or magazine);
“broadcaster” means:
the holder of a licence under the Broadcasting Act 1990 or 1996;
the British Broadcasting Corporation; or
Sianel Pedwar Cymru;
a person “publishes in the United Kingdom” if the publication takes place in the United Kingdom or is targeted primarily at an audience in the United Kingdom;
“news-related material” means:
news or information about current affairs;
opinion about matters relating to the news or current affairs; or gossip about celebrities, other public figures or other persons in the news.
What they've put in its place:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2013/22/section/41
Perhaps some legal bod can explain the impact?
One source says Osborne cut by slightly more than Labour planned, others by slightly less. Have fun deciding whether you want to take gross or net figures and how to allow for Royal Mail pension fund assets etc.
The big picture, which you always try to ignore, is that Labour were hooked on capital spending cuts of the same magnitude. Osborne's original sin is Labour's too.
Mr Cable suggested Mr Umunna may have misled people about the worth of individual shares after he suggested they were being sold too cheaply."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24491445
Not a single witness before #Leveson suggested press regulation by Royal Prerogative; it is nowhere in the report; but that is what we have.
Nick Cohen @NickCohen4
It seems we really are Her Majesty's Press now
Do you think the newspaper proprietors and editors will buy into the revised Royal Charter?
My feeling is that this will require the government to offer more than a 38% discount.
It was certainly quite volatile, peaking at 450p just after 8am, dropping to around 431p at midday, rising slightly after that, with a very sharp rise right at the end of the day to close at 451.88p.
I would not be surprised if the price drops when many retail investors who bought via the government website sell out next week. Even if that doesn't happen, it's far too early to say what the market price will settle at.
Make your mind up.......
I knew economics wasn't your strong suit....but really.....
Louisa Compton (BBC) @louisa_compton
What do you think of @vicderbyshire prog/how can we make it better? Pls spend 5 mins filling in this form +helping us surveymonkey.com/s/RRK7K65
Cable's a daft sod.
Surely a deal with the press can be struck? They can agree to be nice, and in return the politicians could throw Leveson into a Rancor pit.
"Carlyle bought a third of the business for £42m which grew in value to £372m in less than four years"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10373105/Ministers-urged-to-forget-about-saving-failing-cities-and-towns-such-as-Hull-Hartlepool-and-Burnley.html
"Ministers have been urged to abandon "failing" cities and towns across the north of England such as Hull, Hartlepool and Burnley and concentrate instead on helping the locals to get jobs elsewhere."
"The Economist magazine said that despite years of Government money and "heroic" efforts the towns were decaying and it was time for a change in policy.
The globally-respected publication, in an editorial entitled 'City Sicker', said the fate of the once confident places was "sad".
But it urged ministers to forget about using tax breaks or spending money to encourage people to go the cities and towns as it diverted them from areas where "they would be more successful"."
Disappointing that some in the media have no deeper a grasp of how these things work than you. But, hey, that's politics.
In any case, tomorrow's lead story is the Royal Charter for the Press
I can see what he means. Sort of.
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2013/10/11/who-has-a-housing-bubble/
"There is no evidence from international comparisons that the UK is currently in an unsustainable house price boom, nor from the domestic market in most locations. It is true that in central London in expensive areas there is substantial buying from abroad, usually for cash, which has been bidding up prices strongly for some years. The competitive jurisdictions like Hong Kong and Singapore have experienced something similar."
and ah..
"All those who have written in to condemn subsidies to the house buying market will be pleased to know that the scheme charges the lending institution a fee for the guarantee priced to avoid any state subsidy – which would be illegal under EU state aid rules anyway. This fee can and will be adjusted in future in the light of the actual bad debt rate experienced. I would not support a housing subsidy scheme where taxpayers were paying part of the bill for someone buying a property at up to £600,000."
Needs an ipad touch and an exercise bike - esp if he wants to catch Mrs Salmond's eye...
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/government-publishes-final-version-press-regulation-scheme-compromises-arbitration-and-editors-code
And tweeted: "Newspapers describe Charter plan as written by politicians, imposed by politicians and controlled by politicians"
"News of the politicians, by the politicians, for the politicians"
With a £50 tab behind the bar JohnO might make it all the way to France this time.
It's well known that solitary keyboard warriors, kept alive by Quavers, pizza and Beychevelle, have a short lifespan (not that being constantly on PB constitutes a life). Go for a walk, lose some weight, and talk to real people.
You may learn something. ;-)
In particular, if large parts of the press tell the politicians where they can stuff their charter, does it just peter out, leaving the status quo?
then set up a regulator that does conform to the Royal Charter,
register the paper with the government-backed regulator.
That would then mean all other papers would be subject to Leveson's penalties
You'll see soon enough.
As soon as a regulator is recognised by the Recognition Panel established under the draft Royal Charter, sections 34 to 42 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 will enter into force, which will have a punitive effect in damages and costs on non-regulated newspapers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-24495570