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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Osborne’s new job: Rewarding failure

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    TheWhiteRabbitTheWhiteRabbit Posts: 12,388
    chestnut said:

    7m unemployed????

    Official rate twice the UK, just dipped under 9.9%.

    I don't know how economic inactivity rates compare as unemployment only half the story.
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    FF43FF43 Posts: 15,726
    IanB2 said:


    I don't think she is likeable; indeed I foresee a potential that she could become quite disliked. But people do recognise she has a very difficult job not of her own making; deep down most people understand we could so easily have done a lot worse, and so long as she appears to be more or less in charge, and buckles to any issue where there is significant discontent, most people are prepared to give her a go, in the absence of any obviously credible alternatives, Tory or otherwise.

    Nevertheless I think things could quickly change if things do take a turn for the worse. Most people aren't paying attention and are happy so long as the world continues to spin. If it starts to go dark, she'll get the blame, sure enough.

    Indeed. Every time you denounce May for being the mediocrity she really is, just breathe the words "Leadsom", "Johnson" or "Gove" and you will give thanks to the Supreme Being of your choice for his or her mercies.

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    TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 40,130
    Sean_F said:

    "Lord King: Scotland 'could be independent'

    Scotland "could be an independent country" but would risk taking a hit to its public finances, the ex-governor of the Bank of England has said.

    Lord King told BBC Newsnight that while questions had been raised over which currency an independent Scotland would use, he did not see "major problems".

    But he said it could be a challenge to borrow on the international markets.''

    http://tinyurl.com/mq82kr6

    My own view is that an independent Scotland would face a tough decade or so, but it would certainly be economically viable in the long run. Scotch whisky on it's own generates £4bn a year in exports.
    We've faced tough decades before, and we're coping at the moment despite losing what would be the equivalent of 1 million jobs in in the UK market. Better having enough control to deal with it ourselves rather than trusting to the wisdom and capricious goodwill of others.
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    kyf_100kyf_100 Posts: 3,956
    edited March 2017
    chestnut said:



    I'm with you, not against.

    I hope Brexit triggers a fall in the London property market. I hope BTL landlords exploiting housing benefit are screwed. I hope that subsidised immigration is ended.

    I was on the verge of voting UKIP in 2014 having walked out of a home in east London having seen a Lithuanian woman pulling in £40k in welfare to get a three bed house in return for 16 hours work. I pulled back in the booth because I loathe Farage.

    I don't blame the woman. Why look a gift horse in the mouth? I blame the fools that designed the free movement system and the non-prejudicial rules on welfare.

    They are idiots . They are the architects of Brexit.

    Heh, sorry, not you specifically - more the comments further up thread!

    Totally agree. I don't blame immigrants at all for wanting a better life. I'm not sure living six to a mould ridden one bed flat counts as a better life, but then again I couldn't ask them what life was like before. Not one of them spoke English...

    The politicians were the archtects of their own downfall - movement is not a right, it's a privilege to be exercised by the host country.

    Certain cities in the US are the only place outside London I could make a decent wage but nobody seriously belives I have an inalienable right to just show up there and start looking for work.

    I'm sure I'm to the right of right wing but I could never see myself voting UKIP. The Election debates where Farage talked about Aids victims was just awful, made you ashamed to be British. I'd vote Corbyn before I'd vote Farage - at least he'd make sure everybody got a seat on the trains! :D

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    chestnutchestnut Posts: 7,341
    If the five French candidates were put before the UK electorate, without hearing a word of what they say or believe in, Le Pen and Fillon are the only ones who would be considered as realistic prospective leaders.

    The remainder would be written off as infants or strange, or both.
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    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285

    Sky News in full on anti brexit mode tonight. Faisal Islam can't talk down the UK or talk up the EU enough.

    You mean a standard days reporting from ScottP Faisal Islam.
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    malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,995

    Sean_F said:

    "Lord King: Scotland 'could be independent'

    Scotland "could be an independent country" but would risk taking a hit to its public finances, the ex-governor of the Bank of England has said.

    Lord King told BBC Newsnight that while questions had been raised over which currency an independent Scotland would use, he did not see "major problems".

    But he said it could be a challenge to borrow on the international markets.''

    http://tinyurl.com/mq82kr6

    My own view is that an independent Scotland would face a tough decade or so, but it would certainly be economically viable in the long run. Scotch whisky on it's own generates £4bn a year in exports.
    We've faced tough decades before, and we're coping at the moment despite losing what would be the equivalent of 1 million jobs in in the UK market. Better having enough control to deal with it ourselves rather than trusting to the wisdom and capricious goodwill of others.
    Not even goodwill TUD, just an afterthought.
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    edited March 2017
    SeanT said:

    Fillon agreeing that the UK economy is "very well run"

    lol. The gift to see ourselves as others see us.

    The French candidates can't even agree to raise the retirement age to 65.

    I predict Macron will win - and no serious reform will happen

    Macron speaks a lot of flowery language but with virtually no policy of substance behind it, even the French though talking about health insurance, unlike the UK
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    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285
    edited March 2017
    SeanT said:

    Fillon agreeing that the UK economy is "very well run"

    lol. The gift to see ourselves as others see us.

    The French candidates can't even agree to raise the retirement age to 65.

    I predict Macron will win - and no serious reform will happen

    The fact Hollande couldn't even get through the most minor of minor labour reforms through without all out rioting, doesn't bode well for anybody who wants to remain popular.
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    ChaosOdinChaosOdin Posts: 67
    I don't know why people think May is relatively unlikable.

    On a personal level she seems much more likeable than any PM since at least John Major.

    Cameron was smarmy and posh, Brown was a miserable twat and Blair was smarmy and shifty.
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    DixieDixie Posts: 1,221
    kyf_100 said:

    chestnut said:
    Where do people get the money for the deposit from though? Let's assume 10% which is circa 45k. It's perfectly possible for me to save a grand more a month on my salary but it certainly wasn't possible for me to save more than a hundred quid a month five or six years ago and most of the time that got eaten up by landlords not paying back deposits et cetera.

    I have a colleague buying his first place on help to buy (5% deposit), it's a one bed, practically a studio, zone 4 I think, 350k. I know how much he earns - around 45-50k - and I know how eye-watering the fees on the govt top up (of 40% of the home's value) are once the 5 year grace period is up - on top of the mortgage. I can't see it ending well.

    The property market must be nearing its peak - my flat has barely budged this year compared to gains of 10-15% in years past and I fear a lot of people, many of them families with young kids, will be the worst affected when it goes pop.

    Ironically help to buy did nothing but accelerate the property boom as far as I can tell, pushing house prices even further out of ordinary people's reach.

    While this is a bit tangential to Brexit you have to feel that the huge numbers of people flocking to the UK and in particular London has done more harm than good. I used to rent a truly grim one bedroom flat in my twenties (at just shy of a grand a month) and the flat above was occupied by six, count 'em, six immigrants - all in a space that was barely fit for one.

    Those people can always go home but this is and always has been my home and I'm not bloody going anywhere. To borrow the slogan, I and many like me voted to "take back control".

    Hate us if you like but there were 52% of us, and we won.

    I was the last Englishman to move into my road 20 years ago. House prices are ridiculous and rents even worse, mainly because London has a fast growing population. I would be glad to see prices drop as some europeans leave London. The people in my road are earning £100k. Let the Brits earn that. None of these Europeans are superstars.
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    MonksfieldMonksfield Posts: 2,203
    OllyT said:

    They say that you learn more from defeat than victory. But, there is no inkling of greater knowledge in the thoughts of Don Brind, and other Remainers.

    I did well out of the EU. I received substantial grants from them. Others did well out if the EU, mainly middle-class professionals.

    But, we were heavily outnumbered by the people who did badly out of the EU, faced increased competition for housing, increased competition for jobs and so on. By and large, these were poor people.

    The claim is that Wales did well out of the EU, and so it did in one sense. Funding for an Arts Centre here and there, Swansea University's Bay campus, restoration of heritage sites, and so on. But, there was precious little to improve the life of someone without a job living in a damp terrace in a decaying Valley town. In fact, they saw their factories relocate to Eastern Europe from the Valleys.

    Bertolt Brecht could have told Don Brind why Remain lost: "You've forgotten what an immense number of poor people there are".

    "You've forgotten what an immense number of poor people there are".

    Every Remainer should repeat it until they have learnt it.

    I assume that you therefore believe there will be a lot less poor people once we leave the EU. I watch with interest.
    I've yet to hear any leaver cogently describe how this will come about. Entirely by the force of wishful thinking as far as I can see.
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    malcolmg said:

    Scots poll approval - Nicola 42 - Theresa 48 and Ruth 53%

    Early signs Nicola may have made a big misjudged of the mood.

    I cannot remember when a UK PM was more popular than any Scots leader

    Voodoo poll G
    Of course Malc
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    ChaosOdin said:

    I don't know why people think May is relatively unlikable.

    On a personal level she seems much more likeable than any PM since at least John Major.

    Cameron was smarmy and posh, Brown was a miserable twat and Blair was smarmy and shifty.

    On a personal level I think Major was best, then Blair, then May, then Cameron, then Brown
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    fitalassfitalass Posts: 4,279

    fitalass said:

    SeanT said:

    OUT said:

    Scots poll approval - Nicola 42 - Theresa 48 and Ruth 53%

    Early signs Nicola may have made a big misjudged of the mood.

    I cannot remember when a UK PM was more popular than any Scots leader

    Tony Blair v Jack McConnell
    The Sky reports that Sturgeon was very reluctant to call for a referendum, but was pushed into it by Salmond, et al, seem ever more perceptive.

    Sturgeon is smart. She's seen the polls. She knows that most Scots do not want a vote now. Only a hardcore 30% want a vote pre-Brexit (i.e. before 2019). 50% or more don't want a vote for many years.

    Calling for a vote was a massive risk, and bound to provoke people, including some of her own supporters - softer Nats who think the time is not right. It was also against her correct instinct to only go for indy, again, when the polls have been consistently and solidly pro-indy for a year. The most recent polls show 10 point advantages for NO.

    But Salmond is a vain, arrogant, late middle aged man in a hurry, who sees the only chance of indy happening while he is politically active, fast disappearing.

    He has pushed Sturgeon into a significant error. They misjudged the Scottish mood, they misjudged TMay.
    And then remember it was actually Sturgeon who ran the SNP Yes campaign, only to be rewarded with the SNP Leadership and post of FM without so much as a contest when it was lost.
    Fascinating.

    'On 19 November 2014, Salmond formally resigned as First Minister of Scotland and the election for the new First Minister took place the following day. Sturgeon and Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, stood for election. Sturgeon received 66 votes, Davidson received 15 and there were 39 abstentions.'
    Really?! Are you really trying to tell us that anyone other than Nicola Sturgeon was going to be crowned FM during that bit of theatre at Holyrood?!
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    Sky News in full on anti brexit mode tonight. Faisal Islam can't talk down the UK or talk up the EU enough.

    He has always been anti Brexit along with many of his colleagues
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    chestnut said:

    If the five French candidates were put before the UK electorate, without hearing a word of what they say or believe in, Le Pen and Fillon are the only ones who would be considered as realistic prospective leaders.

    The remainder would be written off as infants or strange, or both.

    We elected Clegg, Cameron and Blair fine enough
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    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285
    edited March 2017
    isam said:

    twitter.com/amolrajanbbc/status/843949252841787393

    And the response...we have conducted an audit of this and think we got it just about right.

    And then remainers will say the BBC is biased about remain...

    And then SO will say look both side are critical, therefore they are doing a good job and are impartial.
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    steve_garnersteve_garner Posts: 1,019

    Sky News in full on anti brexit mode tonight. Faisal Islam can't talk down the UK or talk up the EU enough.

    He has always been anti Brexit along with many of his colleagues
    He has indeed. Now it seems MPs have written to the BBC complaining about their anti Brexit bias.


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    MyBurningEarsMyBurningEars Posts: 3,651
    isam said:


    Harold Wood properties... the new ones in the hospital site look good

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^11937&index=24

    Yes, they're nice. I reckon @kyf_100 should have a think about them.

    On the subject of house prices round the Essex/London borders, Chigwell is very similar to Emerson Park.. Not everyone is moving out of London into Essex for the low house prices! (I think in the case of Chigwell, Loughton, Epping, Buckhurst Hill etc, the extra space in the houses, the high-end private schools and the ease of doing horsey things is a big driving force...)

    I'm still tempted by Gidea Park, mostly because I can't afford Emerson Park...

    Makes a big difference if you want a Proper House (even a terraced one) rather than an apartment, subdivided flat or maisonette. I run my own small business from home (one-man band affair, not worth looking for commercial premises at the moment) and I could do with somewhere which is "client-friendly".
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    YorkcityYorkcity Posts: 4,382
    isam said:

    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Cyclefree said:

    Roger said:

    The only one I heard Was lord Hesseltine on Any Questions and the power of his argument was impressive. The hypocrisy and stupidity of Villiers Stuartis a rare joy in these black days leading up to Brexit

    Heseltine caension and lofty indifference to your concerns.

    Heseltine is an incoherent, doddery old twat, as well as a traitor who brought down Thatcher. People like him should have shut the F up years ago, and maybe Remain *might* have won.


    He seems to be saying, like Ken Clarke, that he isn't prepared to change views on the key importance of EU membership to the UK which he's held for over 40 years.

    He's old enough to have seen the absurd UK antics of

    refusing to join the early EU, so France wrote most of the rules, with the Low Countries mostly saying OK and Germany and Italy having no real choice (I don't remember this as I was probably 4-5)
    forming EFTA, attracting six other members
    then saying 'sod EFTA'
    joining the EU
    dragging Denmark and Ireland with it into the EU as they didn't want to lose their historic trade links
    leaving EFTA with very few members
    most of which then applied for EU membership (if you can't beat them, join them...)
    I agree with much of your analysis (perhaps to your surprise). We *should* have joined the EEC from the start, as the moral leaders of post war Europe, and the wartime victors, and the strongest economic and military power, facing a ruined continent, we could have shaped it to our wishes, and kept the French down, and allied with Germany. It would have been a very British EEC.

    We made a terrible error. Heseltine is of the generation that rightly saw that. Where he and his ilk went wrong is the idea that joining in 1973, on very bad terms, was the solution, when the EEC was already set on a French-directed course inimical to us, and which we would find increasingly irksome.

    Moreover, the Heseltine generation, and all europhiles, are guilty of the greatest sin: denying us a vote time and again, when we wanted to halt integration.

    If we'd been allowed a vote on anything from Maastricht, the Constitution, to Lisbon (as they lyingly promised, before breaking their promises) we would have voted down integration, Europe would have taken a different course, and Brexit would never have been necessary.

    The guilty men are the anti-democratic europhiles, from Heseltine to Major. This is why they should fuck off now. They are the REASON for Brexit. They are detestable.
    There was one politician who wanted to join at first, then realised that by 73 it was too late and a terrible idea...
    Never new you admired Tony Benn.
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    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285
    FAKE NEWS....

    Mr Trump was ranked at No 544 on the magazine's annual richlist, with a net worth of around $3.5bn.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/20/donald-trumps-fortune-has-fallen-200m-since-took-office-says/
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    TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 40,130
    fitalass said:

    fitalass said:

    SeanT said:

    OUT said:

    Scots poll approval - Nicola 42 - Theresa 48 and Ruth 53%

    Early signs Nicola may have made a big misjudged of the mood.

    I cannot remember when a UK PM was more popular than any Scots leader

    Tony Blair v Jack McConnell
    The Sky reports that Sturgeon was very reluctant to call for a referendum, but was pushed into it by Salmond, et al, seem ever more perceptive.

    Sturgeon is smart. She's seen the polls. She knows that most Scots do not want a vote now. Only a hardcore 30% want a vote pre-Brexit (i.e. before 2019). 50% or more don't want a vote for many years.

    Calling for a vote was a massive risk, and bound to provoke people, including some of her own supporters - softer Nats who think the time is not right. It was also against her correct instinct to only go for indy, again, when the polls have been consistently and solidly pro-indy for a year. The most recent polls show 10 point advantages for NO.

    But Salmond is a vain, arrogant, late middle aged man in a hurry, who sees the only chance of indy happening while he is politically active, fast disappearing.

    He has pushed Sturgeon into a significant error. They misjudged the Scottish mood, they misjudged TMay.
    And then remember it was actually Sturgeon who ran the SNP Yes campaign, only to be rewarded with the SNP Leadership and post of FM without so much as a contest when it was lost.
    Fascinating.

    'On 19 November 2014, Salmond formally resigned as First Minister of Scotland and the election for the new First Minister took place the following day. Sturgeon and Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, stood for election. Sturgeon received 66 votes, Davidson received 15 and there were 39 abstentions.'
    Really?! Are you really trying to tell us that anyone other than Nicola Sturgeon was going to be crowned FM during that bit of theatre at Holyrood?!
    Fair enough, you're right that Ruth Davidson standing against Sturgeon for the post of FM is the equivalent of 'without so much as a contest'.
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    brokenwheelbrokenwheel Posts: 3,352
    edited March 2017
    ***
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    Le Pen adding an element of Obama to her Trumpism by saying you should get insurance without being asked about your record of health
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    scotslassscotslass Posts: 912
    Shouldn't these Brexit MPs go off to the BBC with banners for a peaceful protest. Of course that would be considered "threatening" as opposed to sending this organised shot across the bows!!!r
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    Y0kelY0kel Posts: 2,307
    What is this thing with politicians talking about 'projects' or 'the project'. Based on the translations Macron and Fillon talked of 'projects' once or more.

    Its running a f**king country, not GCSE Geography.

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    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285
    Y0kel said:

    What is this thing with politicians talking about 'projects' or 'the project'. Based on the translations Macron and Fillon talked of 'projects' once or more.

    Its running a f**king country, not GCSE Geography.

    Perhaps if they had to do coursework as part of their campaign, hand it in prior to election day and then the public got to mark it?
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    TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 40,130
    Dixie said:

    kyf_100 said:

    chestnut said:
    Where do people get the money for the deposit from though? Let's assume 10% which is circa 45k. It's perfectly possible for me to save a grand more a month on my salary but it certainly wasn't possible for me to save more than a hundred quid a month five or six years ago and most of the time that got eaten up by landlords not paying back deposits et cetera.

    I have a colleague buying his first place on help to buy (5% deposit), it's a one bed, practically a studio, zone 4 I think, 350k. I know how much he earns - around 45-50k - and I know how eye-watering the fees on the govt top up (of 40% of the home's value) are once the 5 year grace period is up - on top of the mortgage. I can't see it ending well.

    The property market must be nearing its peak - my flat has barely budged this year compared to gains of 10-15% in years past and I fear a lot of people, many of them families with young kids, will be the worst affected when it goes pop.

    Ironically help to buy did nothing but accelerate the property boom as far as I can tell, pushing house prices even further out of ordinary people's reach.

    While this is a bit tangential to Brexit you have to feel that the huge numbers of people flocking to the UK and in particular London has done more harm than good. I used to rent a truly grim one bedroom flat in my twenties (at just shy of a grand a month) and the flat above was occupied by six, count 'em, six immigrants - all in a space that was barely fit for one.

    Those people can always go home but this is and always has been my home and I'm not bloody going anywhere. To borrow the slogan, I and many like me voted to "take back control".

    Hate us if you like but there were 52% of us, and we won.

    I was the last Englishman to move into my road 20 years ago. House prices are ridiculous and rents even worse, mainly because London has a fast growing population. I would be glad to see prices drop as some europeans leave London. The people in my road are earning £100k. Let the Brits earn that. None of these Europeans are superstars.
    Not sure that there's much evidence to suggest that their English neighbour is either.
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    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,214

    kyf_100 said:

    One of the main reasons I - as a relatively well off metropolitan londoner - voted to leave, was the fact that even on 75k aged 31 I felt utterly unable to to start a family. My own living standards - and I say this as someone who's relatively well off (though not compared to some posters on here) - are paltry in comparison to those of my parents at my age.

    With 300,000 new people coming to the country each year the simple fact is the infrastructure cannot cope. The salary I earn which would have bought a family home a generation ago barely buys a one bedroom grime pit in london these days. Move to the provinces? I'd be lucky to find a job and if I did my income would be cut by half, probably more.

    In which other major world capital would 2-3 times average earnings be enough to buy a family home?

    I can empathise with your reasons for being frustrated with the economy and your position in it, but hoping to achieve what would be a brutal financial reset by voting for a geopolitical reset seems naive.
    Come off it! When I bought my home - the home I brought my family up in - the mortgage was two and a half times my salary. I was a young single professional. Now, even with my much larger salary I could not afford to buy the house I'm living in. I entirely understand why kfh_100 voted for change.
    isam said:

    Mortimer said:

    isam said:

    When's the PB leaver drinky poos? We should get @AndyJS along and treat him for his EU ref spreadsheet bonanza

    We really should.

    I think the plan was to coordinate with Article 50 being triggered. I'm around Town next Wednesday. How does that suit others?
    Yes suits me, I'm off next week anyway. It definitely should be the 29th, who's in? Remainers are allowed too right?
    I hope to be around
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    chestnutchestnut Posts: 7,341
    HYUFD said:

    chestnut said:

    If the five French candidates were put before the UK electorate, without hearing a word of what they say or believe in, Le Pen and Fillon are the only ones who would be considered as realistic prospective leaders.

    The remainder would be written off as infants or strange, or both.

    We elected Clegg, Cameron and Blair fine enough
    Where are they now? Salmond, Boris, Farage and Sturgeon have routed them.

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    glwglw Posts: 9,549

    isam said:

    twitter.com/amolrajanbbc/status/843949252841787393

    And the response...we have conducted an audit of this and think we got it just about right
    Yeah if there's one thing we should no longer accept it's the BBC policing itself.

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    nielhnielh Posts: 1,307
    kyf_100 said:

    chestnut said:


    South of the water is usually cheaper, but take a step



    I have a colleague buying his first place on help to buy (5% deposit), it's a one bed, practically a studio, zone 4 I think, 350k. I know how much he earns - around 45-50k - and I know how eye-watering the fees on the govt top up (of 40% of the home's value) are once the 5 year grace period is up - on top of the mortgage. I can't see it ending well.

    The property market must be nearing its peak - my flat has barely budged this year compared to gains of 10-15% in years past and I fear a lot of people, many of them families with young kids, will be the worst affected when it goes pop.

    Ironically help to buy did nothing but accelerate the property boom as far as I can tell, pushing house prices even further out of ordinary people's reach.

    While this is a bit tangential to Brexit you have to feel that the huge numbers of people flocking to the UK and in particular London has done more harm than good. I used to rent a truly grim one bedroom flat in my twenties (at just shy of a grand a month) and the flat above was occupied by six, count 'em, six immigrants - all in a space that was barely fit for one.

    Those people can always go home but this is and always has been my home and I'm not bloody going anywhere. To borrow the slogan, I and many like me voted to "take back control".

    Hate us if you like but there were 52% of us, and we won.

    You haven't explained how Brexit is going to change any of this. You just seem to think that anything is better than the current situation, even a wholesale economic collapse where you lose your job. Many people are familiar with the scenarios you are describing and know that the situation with housing is absurd but it has nothing at all to do with the EU, it is a problem entirely of our own making. Other countries within the EU have affordable housing with none of these issues.

    Maybe you are right and there will be a crash. People with 95% mortgages will get caught out as will people who bought overvalued newbuilds. Maybe prices will go down 50% - not impossible. But if you have positioned yourself correctly and not overstretched yourself you can shield yourself from the fallout, and in fact falling prices can mean opportunities. ie if you want to buy a bigger house.

    I remember reading the forums on housepricecrash.co.uk through the mid 2000's, lots of people renting instead of buying, waiting for the collapse in prices that never really came to the extent they were hoping for.
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    edited March 2017

    isam said:


    Harold Wood properties... the new ones in the hospital site look good

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^11937&index=24

    Yes, they're nice. I reckon @kyf_100 should have a think about them.

    On the subject of house prices round the Essex/London borders, Chigwell is very similar to Emerson Park.. Not everyone is moving out of London into Essex for the low house prices! (I think in the case of Chigwell, Loughton, Epping, Buckhurst Hill etc, the extra space in the houses, the high-end private schools and the ease of doing horsey things is a big driving force...)

    I'm still tempted by Gidea Park, mostly because I can't afford Emerson Park...

    Makes a big difference if you want a Proper House (even a terraced one) rather than an apartment, subdivided flat or maisonette. I run my own small business from home (one-man band affair, not worth looking for commercial premises at the moment) and I could do with somewhere which is "client-friendly".
    I live in Epping at the moment and while it is certainly cheaper than central London that does not mean it is cheap. Chigwell is full of footballers and reality TV and soap stars and Lord Sugar
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    TheWhiteRabbitTheWhiteRabbit Posts: 12,388
    Y0kel said:

    What is this thing with politicians talking about 'projects' or 'the project'. Based on the translations Macron and Fillon talked of 'projects' once or more.

    Its running a f**king country, not GCSE Geography.

    Think "plan" not "project"
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    TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 40,130
    malcolmg said:

    Sean_F said:

    "Lord King: Scotland 'could be independent'

    Scotland "could be an independent country" but would risk taking a hit to its public finances, the ex-governor of the Bank of England has said.

    Lord King told BBC Newsnight that while questions had been raised over which currency an independent Scotland would use, he did not see "major problems".

    But he said it could be a challenge to borrow on the international markets.''

    http://tinyurl.com/mq82kr6

    My own view is that an independent Scotland would face a tough decade or so, but it would certainly be economically viable in the long run. Scotch whisky on it's own generates £4bn a year in exports.
    We've faced tough decades before, and we're coping at the moment despite losing what would be the equivalent of 1 million jobs in in the UK market. Better having enough control to deal with it ourselves rather than trusting to the wisdom and capricious goodwill of others.
    Not even goodwill TUD, just an afterthought.
    I was trying to be generous.
  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285
    Passengers travelling from about a dozen countries will be barred from carrying most electronic devices on US-bound flights, officials tell US media.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39333424
  • Options
    perdixperdix Posts: 1,806
    It's not correct to say that Osborne wrecked the economy. He steered a good course after Labour's wreck. Getting the total debt down over time is important. We could do a lot with the 50 bn interest charges.
  • Options
    YorkcityYorkcity Posts: 4,382
    ChaosOdin said:

    I don't know why people think May is relatively unlikable.

    On a personal level she seems much more likeable than any PM since at least John Major.

    Cameron was smarmy and posh, Brown was a miserable twat and Blair was smarmy and shifty.

    Foreigner You are as cold as ice. You are willing to sacrifice our love.You never take advice.Someday you will pay the price.I know.
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    isamisam Posts: 40,931
    edited March 2017

    isam said:


    Harold Wood properties... the new ones in the hospital site look good

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^11937&index=24

    Yes, they're nice. I reckon @kyf_100 should have a think about them.

    On the subject of house prices round the Essex/London borders, Chigwell is very similar to Emerson Park.. Not everyone is moving out of London into Essex for the low house prices! (I think in the case of Chigwell, Loughton, Epping, Buckhurst Hill etc, the extra space in the houses, the high-end private schools and the ease of doing horsey things is a big driving force...)

    I'm still tempted by Gidea Park, mostly because I can't afford Emerson Park...

    Makes a big difference if you want a Proper House (even a terraced one) rather than an apartment, subdivided flat or maisonette. I run my own small business from home (one-man band affair, not worth looking for commercial premises at the moment) and I could do with somewhere which is "client-friendly".
    First one is nice, v near Station 800k

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^10650&maxPrice=800000&propertyTypes=detached,semi-detached,terraced&primaryDisplayPropertyType=houses

    Chigwell is lovely, no fast train in though
  • Options
    nunununu Posts: 6,024
    edited March 2017
    HYUFD said:

    Le Pen adding an element of Obama to her Trumpism by saying you should get insurance without being asked about your record of health

    Yes ofcourse, she mixes far right anti immigration nationalism with big state left wing economics, very potent.
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    Le Pen promises to spend £9 billion on the military and national security with savings from the EU
  • Options
    Y0kelY0kel Posts: 2,307

    Y0kel said:

    What is this thing with politicians talking about 'projects' or 'the project'. Based on the translations Macron and Fillon talked of 'projects' once or more.

    Its running a f**king country, not GCSE Geography.

    Think "plan" not "project"
    The translator must be taken out and shot with only the most brief of trials beforehand.
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    nunu said:

    HYUFD said:

    Le Pen adding an element of Obama to her Trumpism by saying you should get insurance without being asked about your record of health

    Yes ofcourse, she mixes far right anti immigration nationalism with big state left wing economics, very potent.
    Yes, it is Trumpism with a distinctly French flavour
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,931
    Cyclefree said:

    kyf_100 said:

    One of the main reasons I - as a relatively well off metropolitan londoner - voted to leave, was the fact that even on 75k aged 31 I felt utterly unable to to start a family. My own living standards - and I say this as someone who's relatively well off (though not compared to some posters on here) - are paltry in comparison to those of my parents at my age.

    With 300,000 new people coming to the country each year the simple fact is the infrastructure cannot cope. The salary I earn which would have bought a family home a generation ago barely buys a one bedroom grime pit in london these days. Move to the provinces? I'd be lucky to find a job and if I did my income would be cut by half, probably more.

    In which other major world capital would 2-3 times average earnings be enough to buy a family home?

    I can empathise with your reasons for being frustrated with the economy and your position in it, but hoping to achieve what would be a brutal financial reset by voting for a geopolitical reset seems naive.
    Come off it! When I bought my home - the home I brought my family up in - the mortgage was two and a half times my salary. I was a young single professional. Now, even with my much larger salary I could not afford to buy the house I'm living in. I entirely understand why kfh_100 voted for change.
    isam said:

    Mortimer said:

    isam said:

    When's the PB leaver drinky poos? We should get @AndyJS along and treat him for his EU ref spreadsheet bonanza

    We really should.

    I think the plan was to coordinate with Article 50 being triggered. I'm around Town next Wednesday. How does that suit others?
    Yes suits me, I'm off next week anyway. It definitely should be the 29th, who's in? Remainers are allowed too right?
    I hope to be around
    Great! Your attendance will attract the more highbrow posters appalled by my Farage-Powell posts!
  • Options
    williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 48,079
    I think we'll have polls showing Le Pen beating Fillon in round 2...

    Macron looks like he's craving a fix.

    Having Melenchon and Hamon there just gives Le Pen a foil.
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    TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 40,130
    SeanT said:

    Sean_F said:

    "Lord King: Scotland 'could be independent'

    Scotland "could be an independent country" but would risk taking a hit to its public finances, the ex-governor of the Bank of England has said.

    Lord King told BBC Newsnight that while questions had been raised over which currency an independent Scotland would use, he did not see "major problems".

    But he said it could be a challenge to borrow on the international markets.''

    http://tinyurl.com/mq82kr6

    My own view is that an independent Scotland would face a tough decade or so, but it would certainly be economically viable in the long run. Scotch whisky on it's own generates £4bn a year in exports.
    We've faced tough decades before, and we're coping at the moment despite losing what would be the equivalent of 1 million jobs in in the UK market. Better having enough control to deal with it ourselves rather than trusting to the wisdom and capricious goodwill of others.
    I do not think you will vote indy in my lifetime.
    Can we have some actuarial input here?
  • Options
    chestnutchestnut Posts: 7,341
    edited March 2017
    It's very difficult to watch this through French eyes. If it was Britain, there would only be two candidates in it as potential winners.

    Brave of them to have a Vulcan candidate.
  • Options
    glwglw Posts: 9,549

    Passengers travelling from about a dozen countries will be barred from carrying most electronic devices on US-bound flights, officials tell US media.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39333424

    Hmmm maybe the skilled AQAP bomber again.
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028

    I think we'll have polls showing Le Pen beating Fillon in round 2...

    Macron looks like he's craving a fix.

    Having Melenchon and Hamon there just gives Le Pen a foil.

    Yes, at the moment it looks like Le Pen's night but we will see
  • Options
    AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 2,869
    Y0kel said:

    What is this thing with politicians talking about 'projects' or 'the project'. Based on the translations Macron and Fillon talked of 'projects' once or more.

    Its running a f**king country, not GCSE Geography.

    Isn't that the term they use for the development of the EU - ever closer union and all that?
  • Options
    IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,289
    SeanT said:

    Sean_F said:

    "Lord King: Scotland 'could be independent'

    Scotland "could be an independent country" but would risk taking a hit to its public finances, the ex-governor of the Bank of England has said.

    Lord King told BBC Newsnight that while questions had been raised over which currency an independent Scotland would use, he did not see "major problems".

    But he said it could be a challenge to borrow on the international markets.''

    http://tinyurl.com/mq82kr6

    My own view is that an independent Scotland would face a tough decade or so, but it would certainly be economically viable in the long run. Scotch whisky on it's own generates £4bn a year in exports.
    We've faced tough decades before, and we're coping at the moment despite losing what would be the equivalent of 1 million jobs in in the UK market. Better having enough control to deal with it ourselves rather than trusting to the wisdom and capricious goodwill of others.
    I agree. I suspect an independent Scotland could be as prosperous as Iceland, Sweden, or Denmark - about 20-30 years after indy. That is to say, after intense reform, and a massive swing to reality.

    But the intervening years would be incredibly painful. Greece with midges.

    I just don't see it happening. I do not think you will vote indy in my lifetime. Partly out of sheer emotion. Too many Scots feel British.

    There is also the possibility that Britain, after EU-indy, will likewise flourish. We have traditionally been the richest country in Europe (alongside Switzerland) per capita. There is no reason why the UK should not return to this position.
    That assertion isn't based on much of an understanding of history. We were a relative backwater until a storm saw off the Spanish Armada and at the same time we started to live off the resources of our expanding colonies. That did us well for a few centuries but two world wars and their aftermath brought that to an end. Whatever our future source of prosperity, or otherwise, won't have that much to do with any historical precedent. Human capital is our strongest card, but our education system leaves a lot to be desired and many of our institutions are overdue for reform.
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,929
    edited March 2017
    isam said:

    isam said:


    Harold Wood properties... the new ones in the hospital site look good

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^11937&index=24

    Yes, they're nice. I reckon @kyf_100 should have a think about them.

    On the subject of house prices round the Essex/London borders, Chigwell is very similar to Emerson Park.. Not everyone is moving out of London into Essex for the low house prices! (I think in the case of Chigwell, Loughton, Epping, Buckhurst Hill etc, the extra space in the houses, the high-end private schools and the ease of doing horsey things is a big driving force...)

    I'm still tempted by Gidea Park, mostly because I can't afford Emerson Park...

    Makes a big difference if you want a Proper House (even a terraced one) rather than an apartment, subdivided flat or maisonette. I run my own small business from home (one-man band affair, not worth looking for commercial premises at the moment) and I could do with somewhere which is "client-friendly".
    First one is nice, v near Station 800k

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^10650&maxPrice=800000&propertyTypes=detached,semi-detached,terraced&primaryDisplayPropertyType=houses

    Chigwell is lovely, no fast train in though
    Get 6 bedrooms, and a pool near me for that sort of money :D

    https://www.onthemarket.com/details/3269367/
  • Options
    TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 40,130
    The ITV report on the far right, anti semitic, racist National Action is a bit of an eye opener. These chaps seem pretty sure that the murderer of Jo Cox was of sound mind.
  • Options
    chestnutchestnut Posts: 7,341
    Fillon paraphrase - Germans stick to their trade surplus, while French soldiers die....
  • Options

    The ITV report on the far right, anti semitic, racist National Action is a bit of an eye opener. These chaps seem pretty sure that the murderer of Jo Cox was of sound mind.

    Something we both agree on - they are unacceptable and need to be dealt with in the firmest manner. There is no place for them in our society
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    edited March 2017
    Macron promises more Europe but to defend the independence of France and its security, Le Pen says 'completely empty', Melenchon shrugs, Fillon laughs
  • Options
    TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 40,130
    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Sean_F said:

    "Lord King: Scotland 'could be independent'

    Scotland "could be an independent country" but would risk taking a hit to its public finances, the ex-governor of the Bank of England has said.

    Lord King told BBC Newsnight that while questions had been raised over which currency an independent Scotland would use, he did not see "major problems".

    But he said it could be a challenge to borrow on the international markets.''

    http://tinyurl.com/mq82kr6

    My own view is that an independent Scotland would face a tough decade or so, but it would certainly be economically viable in the long run. Scotch whisky on it's own generates £4bn a year in exports.
    We've faced tough decades before, and we're coping at the moment despite losing what would be the equivalent of 1 million jobs in in the UK market. Better having enough control to deal with it ourselves rather than trusting to the wisdom and capricious goodwill of others.
    I do not think you will vote indy in my lifetime.
    Can we have some actuarial input here?
    I expect to die age 63, given my huge intake of alcohol and my history of much younger girlfriends, who demand the kind of kinky sex that gives an older gent an aneurysm.

    So it's only a decade.
    A veritable Methuselah by Shettleston standards.
  • Options
    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,214

    The ITV report on the far right, anti semitic, racist National Action is a bit of an eye opener. These chaps seem pretty sure that the murderer of Jo Cox was of sound mind.

    Something we both agree on - they are unacceptable and need to be dealt with in the firmest manner. There is no place for them in our society
    Well said!
  • Options
    MyBurningEarsMyBurningEars Posts: 3,651
    isam said:

    isam said:


    Harold Wood properties... the new ones in the hospital site look good

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^11937&index=24

    Yes, they're nice. I reckon @kyf_100 should have a think about them.

    On the subject of house prices round the Essex/London borders, Chigwell is very similar to Emerson Park.. Not everyone is moving out of London into Essex for the low house prices! (I think in the case of Chigwell, Loughton, Epping, Buckhurst Hill etc, the extra space in the houses, the high-end private schools and the ease of doing horsey things is a big driving force...)

    I'm still tempted by Gidea Park, mostly because I can't afford Emerson Park...

    Makes a big difference if you want a Proper House (even a terraced one) rather than an apartment, subdivided flat or maisonette. I run my own small business from home (one-man band affair, not worth looking for commercial premises at the moment) and I could do with somewhere which is "client-friendly".
    First one is nice, v near Station 800k

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^10650&maxPrice=800000&propertyTypes=detached,semi-detached,terraced&primaryDisplayPropertyType=houses

    Chigwell is lovely, no fast train in though
    And more to kyf's taste, there are decent 3 and 4 bed properties for 400k, +/- a bit.
    HYUFD said:

    I live in Epping at the moment and while it is certainly cheaper than central London that does not mean it is cheap. Chigwell is full of footballers and reality TV and soap stars and Lord Sugar

    Didn't have you down as an Essex chap, thought you were a Midlander!

    Epping and Loughton are nice. High Streets are a bit w**ky (but that seems to be the only alternative to "generic" except "shuttered", these days) and as @isam says, I've never understood the attraction of the Essex Golden Triangle region to commuters, bearing in mind it's a long slow old ride on the Central line. On a travel time basis to Liverpool St it's almost exactly the same as Chelmsford or Wickford, which are much further out, and only a few minutes shorter than from Bishop's Stortford! (I hadn't realised this before, but even Luton to King's X could beat it...)
  • Options
    nunununu Posts: 6,024
    HYUFD said:

    Macron promises more Europe but to defend the independence of France and its security, Le Pen says 'completely empty', Melenchon shrugs, Fillon laughs

    oh my god, Le Pen is making fun of him now. lol so empty.
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    nunununu Posts: 6,024
    french corbyn sayinf isis terror due to oil wars.......
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    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,325
    isam said:

    isam said:


    Harold Wood properties... the new ones in the hospital site look good

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^11937&index=24

    Yes, they're nice. I reckon @kyf_100 should have a think about them.

    On the subject of house prices round the Essex/London borders, Chigwell is very similar to Emerson Park.. Not everyone is moving out of London into Essex for the low house prices! (I think in the case of Chigwell, Loughton, Epping, Buckhurst Hill etc, the extra space in the houses, the high-end private schools and the ease of doing horsey things is a big driving force...)

    I'm still tempted by Gidea Park, mostly because I can't afford Emerson Park...

    Makes a big difference if you want a Proper House (even a terraced one) rather than an apartment, subdivided flat or maisonette. I run my own small business from home (one-man band affair, not worth looking for commercial premises at the moment) and I could do with somewhere which is "client-friendly".
    First one is nice, v near Station 800k

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^10650&maxPrice=800000&propertyTypes=detached,semi-detached,terraced&primaryDisplayPropertyType=houses

    Chigwell is lovely, no fast train in though
    Change at Hainault or Woodford :)
  • Options
    ParistondaParistonda Posts: 1,819
    HYUFD said:

    I think we'll have polls showing Le Pen beating Fillon in round 2...

    Macron looks like he's craving a fix.

    Having Melenchon and Hamon there just gives Le Pen a foil.

    Yes, at the moment it looks like Le Pen's night but we will see
    In terms of the debate, definitely Le Pen and Melenchon stealing the show. Poor night for Macron. Hamon and Fillon a bit 'unnecessary'.

    I think we may see a slight rise for Melenchon at the expense of Hamon. Macron may fall back slightly but not sure where his supporters will go, as Fillon hasn't done anything to redeem himself either.
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    nunu said:

    HYUFD said:

    Macron promises more Europe but to defend the independence of France and its security, Le Pen says 'completely empty', Melenchon shrugs, Fillon laughs

    oh my god, Le Pen is making fun of him now. lol so empty.
    Macron had some passion behind it but Le Pen's phrase hit home
  • Options
    TykejohnnoTykejohnno Posts: 7,362
    HYUFD said:

    nunu said:

    HYUFD said:

    Macron promises more Europe but to defend the independence of France and its security, Le Pen says 'completely empty', Melenchon shrugs, Fillon laughs

    oh my god, Le Pen is making fun of him now. lol so empty.
    Macron had some passion behind it but Le Pen's phrase hit home
    The stalin bit hit home.
  • Options
    Danny565Danny565 Posts: 8,091
    Could we possibly have a Le Pen vs Melenchon run-off?

    Just throwing it out there.
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    edited March 2017

    isam said:

    isam said:


    Harold Wood properties... the new ones in the hospital site look good

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^11937&index=24

    Yes, they're nice. I reckon @kyf_100 should have a think about them.

    On the subject of house prices round the Essex/London borders, Chigwell is very similar to Emerson Park.. Not everyone is moving out of London into Essex for the low house prices! (I think in the case of Chigwell, Loughton, Epping, Buckhurst Hill etc, the extra space in the houses, the high-end private schools and the ease of doing horsey things is a big driving force...)

    I'm still tempted by Gidea Park, mostly because I can't afford Emerson Park...

    Makes a big difference if you want a Proper House (even a terraced one) rather than an apartment, subdivided flat or maisonette. I run my own small business from home (one-man band affair, not worth looking for commercial premises at the moment) and I could do with somewhere which is "client-friendly".
    First one is nice, v near Station 800k

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^10650&maxPrice=800000&propertyTypes=detached,semi-detached,terraced&primaryDisplayPropertyType=houses

    Chigwell is lovely, no fast train in though
    And more to kyf's taste, there are decent 3 and 4 bed properties for 400k, +/- a bit.
    HYUFD said:

    I livemean it is cheap. Chigwell is full of footballers and reality TV and soap stars and Lord Sugar

    Didn't have you down as an Essex chap, thought you were a Midlander!

    Epping and Loughton are nice. High Streets are a bit w**ky (but that seems to be the only alternative to "generic" except "shuttered", these days) and as @isam says, I've never understood the attraction of the Essex Golden Triangle region to commuters, bearing in mind it's a long slow old ride on the Central line. On a travel time basis to Liverpool St it's almost exactly the same as Chelmsford or Wickford, which are much further out, and only a few minutes shorter than from Bishop's Stortford! (I hadn't realised this before, but even Luton to King's X could beat it...)
    Was brought up in Kent, studied in the Midlands and Wales, worked in Hereford for a few years and now based in Essex and yes Epping still has traditional butchers which is good. If I had a family Chelmsford or Colchester or Saffron Walden or one of the villages around them would be ideal with excellent schools, including grammars but for now Epping works fine even if travel wise as you say being at the end of the tube line makes little difference time wise
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028

    HYUFD said:

    I think we'll have polls showing Le Pen beating Fillon in round 2...

    Macron looks like he's craving a fix.

    Having Melenchon and Hamon there just gives Le Pen a foil.

    Yes, at the moment it looks like Le Pen's night but we will see
    In terms of the debate, definitely Le Pen and Melenchon stealing the show. Poor night for Macron. Hamon and Fillon a bit 'unnecessary'.

    I think we may see a slight rise for Melenchon at the expense of Hamon. Macron may fall back slightly but not sure where his supporters will go, as Fillon hasn't done anything to redeem himself either.
    Sounds about right but I think Macron at least survived
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    edited March 2017
    It is now gone midnight in France and this debate is still going having started at 9pm
  • Options
    ParistondaParistonda Posts: 1,819
    Danny565 said:

    Could we possibly have a Le Pen vs Melenchon run-off?

    Just throwing it out there.

    Melenchon has been the surprise of the night, but the two will have a certain overlap of voters that probably prevents both of them making the run-off.
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028

    Danny565 said:

    Could we possibly have a Le Pen vs Melenchon run-off?

    Just throwing it out there.

    Melenchon has been the surprise of the night, but the two will have a certain overlap of voters that probably prevents both of them making the run-off.
    Though Le Pen will clearly make a bid for his voters in the run-off
  • Options
    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    edited March 2017
    SeanT said:

    IanB2 said:

    SeanT said:

    Sean_F said:

    "Lord King: Scotland 'could be independent'

    Scotland "could be an independent country" but would risk taking a hit to its public finances, the ex-governor of the Bank of England has said.

    Lord King told BBC Newsnight that while questions had been raised over which currency an independent Scotland would use, he did not see "major problems".

    But he said it could be a challenge to borrow on the international markets.''

    http://tinyurl.com/mq82kr6

    My own view is that an independent Scotland would face a tough decade or so, but it would certainly be economically viable in the long run. Scotch whisky on it's own generates £4bn a year in exports.
    We've faced tough decades before, and we're coping at the moment despite losing what would be the equivalent of 1 million jobs in in the UK market. Better having enough control to deal with it ourselves rather than trusting to the wisdom and capricious goodwill of others.
    I agree. I suspect an independent Scotland could be as prosperous as Iceland, Sweden, or Denmark - about 20-30 years after indy. That is to say, after intense reform, and a massive swing to reality.

    But the intervening years would be incredibly painful. Greece with midges.

    I just don't see it happening. I do not think you will vote indy in my lifetime. Partly out of sheer emotion. Too many Scots feel British.

    There is also the possibility that Britain, after EU-indy, will likewise flourish. We have traditionally been the richest country in Europe (alongside Switzerland) per capita. There is no reason why the UK should not return to this position.
    This is provable bollocks.

    I'm not talking global influence, just per capita wealth. From about the 9th century (IIRC) England was one of the wealthier European countries per capita (admittedly not hard in the Dark Ages).

    From about the late medieval period the average English peasant enjoyed a life considerably more comfortable, in almost all ways, than the average continental European. Or indeed the modern day African.

    https://www.theguardian.com/money/2010/dec/06/medieval-britons-richer-than-modern-poor
    One of the things that surprised me was finding out that a lot French peasants apparently went to bed for the entire winter because there wasn't anything else to do.
  • Options
    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,325

    isam said:

    isam said:


    Harold Wood properties... the new ones in the hospital site look good

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^11937&index=24

    Yes, they're nice. I reckon @kyf_100 should have a think about them.

    On the subject of house prices round the Essex/London borders, Chigwell is very similar to Emerson Park.. Not everyone is moving out of London into Essex for the low house prices! (I think in the case of Chigwell, Loughton, Epping, Buckhurst Hill etc, the extra space in the houses, the high-end private schools and the ease of doing horsey things is a big driving force...)

    I'm still tempted by Gidea Park, mostly because I can't afford Emerson Park...

    Makes a big difference if you want a Proper House (even a terraced one) rather than an apartment, subdivided flat or maisonette. I run my own small business from home (one-man band affair, not worth looking for commercial premises at the moment) and I could do with somewhere which is "client-friendly".
    First one is nice, v near Station 800k

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^10650&maxPrice=800000&propertyTypes=detached,semi-detached,terraced&primaryDisplayPropertyType=houses

    Chigwell is lovely, no fast train in though
    And more to kyf's taste, there are decent 3 and 4 bed properties for 400k, +/- a bit.
    HYUFD said:

    I live in Epping at the moment and while it is certainly cheaper than central London that does not mean it is cheap. Chigwell is full of footballers and reality TV and soap stars and Lord Sugar

    Didn't have you down as an Essex chap, thought you were a Midlander!

    Epping and Loughton are nice. High Streets are a bit w**ky (but that seems to be the only alternative to "generic" except "shuttered", these days) and as @isam says, I've never understood the attraction of the Essex Golden Triangle region to commuters, bearing in mind it's a long slow old ride on the Central line. On a travel time basis to Liverpool St it's almost exactly the same as Chelmsford or Wickford, which are much further out, and only a few minutes shorter than from Bishop's Stortford! (I hadn't realised this before, but even Luton to King's X could beat it...)
    Gants Hill to Liverpool Street takes only 25 minutes :)
  • Options
    Danny565Danny565 Posts: 8,091
    No matter what the polls say, I really just can't remotely see Macron winning.

    He is the Remain campaign / Hillary Clinton 2016 writ large. I just can't see that triumphing in France of all places, right now.
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    wasdwasd Posts: 276
    HYUFD said:

    It is now gone midnight in France and this debate is still going having started at 9pm

    For those who understand french - is it better or worse than our debates?
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    edited March 2017
    Danny565 said:

    No matter what the polls say, I really just can't remotely see Macron winning.

    He is the Remain campaign / Hillary Clinton 2016 writ large. I just can't see that triumphing in France of all places, right now.

    Indeed, if I were the French/EU establishment tonight I would be seriously worried, Le Pen was certainly the most charismatic and hard hitting of the 5, that said I still think Macron is favourite
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    NeilVWNeilVW Posts: 708
    Following discussion of Scottish subsamples earlier, I've updated my graph showing all such subsamples in polls so far this year:
    image
    The two full Scottish polls we've had this year - both from Panelbase - are marked by large circles. A trend line is also shown.

    Number Cruncher Politics‏ points out that 28% in the latest Panelbase is the highest Westminster score for the Tories in any Scotland poll since May 1983, while Labour's 14% is the lowest on record.
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    kyf_100kyf_100 Posts: 3,956
    nielh said:



    You haven't explained how Brexit is going to change any of this. You just seem to think that anything is better than the current situation, even a wholesale economic collapse where you lose your job. Many people are familiar with the scenarios you are describing and know that the situation with housing is absurd but it has nothing at all to do with the EU, it is a problem entirely of our own making. Other countries within the EU have affordable housing with none of these issues.

    Maybe you are right and there will be a crash. People with 95% mortgages will get caught out as will people who bought overvalued newbuilds. Maybe prices will go down 50% - not impossible. But if you have positioned yourself correctly and not overstretched yourself you can shield yourself from the fallout, and in fact falling prices can mean opportunities. ie if you want to buy a bigger house.

    I believe the housing shortage as well as other problems including NHS and education are directly linked to the fact we are importing 300,000 new people into the UK - a lot of them into London - each year.

    Common sense says it isn't sustainable. And common sense it tells me it's neither good for my new neighbours - the non english speaking folks six to a flat - nor the piss-poor buggers with whom they're directly competing for jobs.

    Funnily enough I looked into an H1B visa with my old company for the US, they were only prepared to offer me a considerably lower wage than I earned in London for doing the same job. I can only imagine what it would be like if there was no control at all.

    I believe uncontrolled immigration lowers wages and living standards as well as contributes to rapidly declining social cohesion. I can't exactly be neighbourly when none of my flippin' neighbours speaks English, can I?

    And I would be downright furious if I were a poor working class lad just wanting to work hard, earn enough to raise a couple of kids and settle down, when my direct competition is prepared to live in utter squalor to undercut me for the same job.

    As I said earlier in the thread, there were two levers available in the ballot booth. "Everything is fine, carry on" or "everything is not fine, do something, anything" - because as far as I can see nobody is listening and nothing is changing, except getting worse.

    As I've said repeatedly, I do not know for certain whether things will change for the better or the worse with Brexit. I only know that things will change and there is a chance they will get better. With staying in the EU it felt like there was no chance of things getting better. I made what I considered a rational choice and picked the least worst option.

    It's sacrelige to say it in trendy metropolitan London but privately, quietly, and usually after a couple of drinks, quite a few of my friends and colleagues have expressed the same view.
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    Le Pen concludes saying the EU 'is locking up France and preventing its citizens getting their independence and protecting themselves from open borders'
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    wasd said:

    HYUFD said:

    It is now gone midnight in France and this debate is still going having started at 9pm

    For those who understand french - is it better or worse than our debates?
    Am watching the English translation but certainly more long winded even though it has covered more ground
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    isamisam Posts: 40,931
    @Theuniondivvie

    You wouldn't want to win like this would you??! ☺

    https://twitter.com/murdo_fraser/status/843962812603011072
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    MyBurningEarsMyBurningEars Posts: 3,651
    AndyJS said:

    From about the late medieval period the average English peasant enjoyed a life considerably more comfortable, in almost all ways, than the average continental European. Or indeed the modern day African.

    https://www.theguardian.com/money/2010/dec/06/medieval-britons-richer-than-modern-poor

    That article's a bit out of date for the Indian per capita figures, nevertheless, here's something a little worrying for all of us involved in the Knowledge Economy: look at the rates going for (experienced and well-qualified) Indians working in Big Data analytics, machine learning, predictive modeling etc. About 80 rupees to the pound, so the high-end jobs at "1200K" actually mean £15K, and the lower-level jobs - nevertheless requiring up to six years of experience - at "300K" or "400k" are £4k to £5k...

    https://www.analyticsvidhya.com/jobs/

    Also note just how many of those are given in dollars, or have locations split between India and the US. Lots of US tech workers are upset about Indian guys coming over on visas and rotating between the places. At these rates you can see why - no way to compete on price with that lot.

    (I'm also told that rates for skilled techies in Eastern Europe, even in pretty poor places like Romania or Bulgaria, are pretty good now, particularly because of the rise in remote working. Quite a lot are very comfortable living over there on near-US wages facing well-below-US costs of living. Perhaps Indian high-skill workers will get there in a decade or two. But doesn't look like it's happening just yet!)
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    nunununu Posts: 6,024
    Le Pen preformed the best and Fillon spoke the most sense. Macron was an empty vessel.
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    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395

    AndyJS said:

    From about the late medieval period the average English peasant enjoyed a life considerably more comfortable, in almost all ways, than the average continental European. Or indeed the modern day African.

    https://www.theguardian.com/money/2010/dec/06/medieval-britons-richer-than-modern-poor

    That article's a bit out of date for the Indian per capita figures, nevertheless, here's something a little worrying for all of us involved in the Knowledge Economy: look at the rates going for (experienced and well-qualified) Indians working in Big Data analytics, machine learning, predictive modeling etc. About 80 rupees to the pound, so the high-end jobs at "1200K" actually mean £15K, and the lower-level jobs - nevertheless requiring up to six years of experience - at "300K" or "400k" are £4k to £5k...

    https://www.analyticsvidhya.com/jobs/

    Also note just how many of those are given in dollars, or have locations split between India and the US. Lots of US tech workers are upset about Indian guys coming over on visas and rotating between the places. At these rates you can see why - no way to compete on price with that lot.

    (I'm also told that rates for skilled techies in Eastern Europe, even in pretty poor places like Romania or Bulgaria, are pretty good now, particularly because of the rise in remote working. Quite a lot are very comfortable living over there on near-US wages facing well-below-US costs of living. Perhaps Indian high-skill workers will get there in a decade or two. But doesn't look like it's happening just yet!)
    That was SeanT's quote not mine.
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    Debate finally concluded
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    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    O/T

    You know the 2020s must be beckoning when you read something like this:

    "'Smart-vibrator' firm tracked users' sexual activity without their knowledge"

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/03/14/smart-vibrator-firm-tracked-users-sexual-activity-without-knowledge/
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    williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 48,079
    SeanT said:

    Macron is like a gay, 20 year old Blair without the sombre gravitas and lifelong philosophical coherence.

    If the French choose him, then good luck, and God Speed.

    Fillon's probably the value bet now as the non-scary grown-up.
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    wasdwasd Posts: 276
    HYUFD said:

    wasd said:

    HYUFD said:

    It is now gone midnight in France and this debate is still going having started at 9pm

    For those who understand french - is it better or worse than our debates?
    Am watching the English translation but certainly more long winded even though it has covered more ground
    Ok; I just wondered if there was going to be a Nixon/Kennedy thing where one came out better in the original french than in translation.
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    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285
    SeanT said:

    Macron is like a gay, 20 year old Blair without the sombre gravitas and lifelong philosophical coherence.

    If the French choose him, then good luck, and God Speed.

    Sounds like just the man to reform the labour market in France...
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    Y0kelY0kel Posts: 2,307
    edited March 2017
    isam said:

    @Theuniondivvie

    You wouldn't want to win like this would you??! ☺

    https://twitter.com/murdo_fraser/status/843962812603011072

    Well well well, Mr Dowson has form in my neck of the woods. I'd not worry about him too much.

    Millionaire..really?
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    TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 40,130
    isam said:

    @Theuniondivvie

    You wouldn't want to win like this would you??! ☺

    https://twitter.com/murdo_fraser/status/843962812603011072

    I accept that you'd have been happy to accept his support, but you'll just have to accept we're not the same. If he's thick enough to turn up to campaign in Scotland, he'll be told forcibly to jog on, probably by large groups of Indy supporting protestors.
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    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,798
    Dixie said:

    kle4 said:

    The Leave campaign was, of course, built on lies and false promises by the sad fact is that my side, Remain, was led people who were damaged goods so far as most voters were concerned

    That is rather avoiding confronting that Remain was unable to convince people, and you're choosing to blame the deliverers rather than the message. That's very comforting, but not very helpful.

    I also think blaming Osborne's stewardship of the economy as the reason is overly simplistic. Immigration was a far bigger concern. And while I lambasted the man for not dealing with the deficit, I have yet to see it explained how people who think austerity, cutting, is wrong, as you seem to say, think him not cutting enough is a bad thing. It's a failure of his, but one those who didn't want austerity should be thankful for.

    On Osborne generally, speaking roles and adviser jobs are one thing, but he's clearly got no plans to get back in government again, and probably not long to stay as an MP.

    Georgie said "an immediate recession will occur on 24th June if we vote for Brexit." clearly a lie.
    Well first that isn't a lie if he believed it, though at best it was very wrong if that's what he said. Second, I didn't say anything about people not lying. Lies were told on both sides, and even if one side was worse, if the arguments are so clear and so great, they should be able to be overcome.
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    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,798
    It occurs that being White House Press Secretary under even the best of presidents must be soul destroying work.
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    wasd said:

    HYUFD said:

    wasd said:

    HYUFD said:

    It is now gone midnight in France and this debate is still going having started at 9pm

    For those who understand french - is it better or worse than our debates?
    Am watching the English translation but certainly more long winded even though it has covered more ground
    Ok; I just wondered if there was going to be a Nixon/Kennedy thing where one came out better in the original french than in translation.
    The post debate polls should soon tell us
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    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,798
    nielh said:

    nielh said:

    Jon Craig - Sky - said that the journalist had been in the corridor where the labour party were holding their meeting. Everyone in the corridor could hear them shouting at each other, Mr Watson apparently had a face like thunder, at one point the MPs rounded on Corbyn, Ian Austin told him to look in the mirror, Wes Streeting said he was leading the party off a cliff, Emily Thornberry shouted at Sweeting to calm down, Pat McFadden told the leader he was useless, Lord Watson told Seamus Milne he was a disgrace and one official said the mood in the meeting was brutal and not prettty.

    Mandleson came out and said the atmosphere was like 1985 when militant tendency where attempting a takeover, Neil Kinnock came out and said it was worse than that.

    Complete breakup of labour must be coming

    This is not even news. They will all just fight each other to the death to get control of the labour party. For the Corbynites a party with 50 MP's is preferable to being expelled and having no parliamentary platform. The moderates and right wing element of the party have too much tribal loyalty to the labour party brand to split or create a new party. It is just a battle of mutually assured destruction.
    Here's a Brighton and Hove Councillor who seems to be lacking in tribal loyalty:

    http://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2017/03/20/brighton-and-hove-councillor-resigns-from-labour-party/
    You get these councillor resignations all the time, its not really news. There have been no co-ordinated resignations of councillors in the labour party, which is very suprising given that in many cases their local parties have been overtaken by Momentum and they are under threat of deselection.
    I thought deselection efforts were being overhyped?

    Either way, I would think most cllrs out in the locals would bed down for the long haul - even within a single county there can be cllrs kicking around for decades who fall in and out with local and national leadership, and they wait for the party to come back around to them.
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    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285
    edited March 2017
    Question...is there any evidence that debates in France shift the result?

    Uncle Lynton was very much of the opinion no they didn't and actually the campaign as a whole didn't. You had to do all the hard yards before.
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    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,798

    I like that the French have "le serial killer"... surely there is some proper French for that?

    Still catching up on the thread, was that used in the debate? I would hope presidential candidates would not sully themselves with english loanwords.
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    MyBurningEarsMyBurningEars Posts: 3,651
    kyf_100 said:


    And common sense it tells me it's neither good for my new neighbours - the non english speaking folks six to a flat - nor the piss-poor buggers with whom they're directly competing for jobs.

    Dunno, if it wasn't good for them, at least for a while as they try to establish themselves, why would they come? I think they think they're up on the deal, but once up with it they will no longer put, new folk will take their places. I had a lot of Polish friends who came over post-accession (I was working in The Fens at the time, and the social effect it had in previously quite sleepy little villages and market towns was absolutely extraordinary), working minimum wage jobs - when I visited them, they were living in conditions that I would never have been prepared to take on (sleeping several to a room, doing all their non-food shopping at charity shops etc) and yet they felt better off than they were in Poland.

    Did it really make economic sense for a university lecturer with a PhD in biochemistry, or an educator with a Masters from the most prestigious degree in Poland, to be slaving away long hours in rural England in crappy minimum wage work where they were frequently violently assaulted? (Not by racists I hasten to add, but because they were working as carers for people with various mental health issues.) Or their friends who had come over to work stacking warehouse shelves, or in the food factories, or in the naff end of retail?

    Didn't seem a very efficient deployment of human capital. Would those shelves have gone unstacked if business owners had been prepared to pay the kind of wage that doesn't leave you, in your mid-30s, renting a run-down house where you're crammed several people to a bedroom? Or if they'd invested in some technology to improve the productivity?

    And of course, I only got to know the folk who spoke English, who were very middle-class Poles who had managed to secure what were (in terms of the spheres of work they were targetting) the "prime" jobs. There were shedloads of Lithuanians and Poles from rougher backgrounds doing rougher jobs, who I never got to know because they didn't speak English (and rarely got even to see, given their working hours). Yet even they wanted to be here, at least for a while.
    kyf_100 said:


    Funnily enough I looked into an H1B visa with my old company for the US, they were only prepared to offer me a considerably lower wage than I earned in London for doing the same job. I can only imagine what it would be like if there was no control at all.

    See my post about the Indian/US jobshares for Big Data folk, and weep (or give out a small prayer that it's not your field they're competing in).
This discussion has been closed.