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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » CON up 4 in a fortnight in latest Opinium poll for Observer

SystemSystem Posts: 11,690
edited November 2013 in General

politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » CON up 4 in a fortnight in latest Opinium poll for Observer

More details on tonight’s polling will be published here when available.

Read the full story here


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    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,502
    edited November 2013
    Sleazy broken Labour on the slide

    Full observer piece out now

    Labour's lead over the Conservatives has been cut to 6%, according to the latest Opinium/Observer poll.

    Ed Miliband's party is on 37%, down 1% on two weeks ago, while the Tories are up 4% on 31%.

    Ukip remains strong on 16% (-1%) while the Lib Dems are on 7% (-1%).

    David Cameron's net approval rating stays at -18% while Ed Miliband's worsens from -19% to -21%.

    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/02/labour-lead-cut-opinium-observer-poll?CMP=twt_fd
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    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2484832/Maidstone-prison-riots-180-inmates-planned-attack-Kent.html

    Daily Mail [predictably] claiming it was foreign prisoners wot was doing the rioting and linking it to Grayling banning certain movies.

    Union Bod [predictably] on BBC blaming it all on the CUTTTTSSSSSSSSS.
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    I can't believe that the Lib Dems are that low.

    FPT:
    Here's the pre-race piece: http://enormo-haddock.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/abu-dhabi-pre-race.html

    Raikkonen's failed a floor flex test and has been disqualified from, er, qualifying. He'll start last or from the pit lane.

    Ladbrokes haven't noticed yet. If you reckon Webber or Vettel may suffer a car failure than Mercedes to top score at 9 may be tempting.

    However, the two I've gone for are for Hulkenberg (who now starts 5th) to be top 6 at 2.63 and Rosberg to win without Vettel or Webber at 4 (both Ladbrokes).

    The qualifying highlights suggested there was a small chance of Hamilton getting a penalty (something broke at the back of his car, causing the spin). That would be ideal, as it would enhance the chances of both bets coming off.
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    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285
    edited November 2013
    Another poll, more evidence that Labour lead is basically ~4-5% and has been for months.

    Ed's price freeze might poll well and his personal numbers got a bump from that, and for the Tories good numbers on the economy, but it really same old same old in the headline figure.
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    Meh! Must be an outlier, Comrades!
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    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2484832/Maidstone-prison-riots-180-inmates-planned-attack-Kent.html

    Daily Mail [predictably] claiming it was foreign prisoners wot was doing the rioting and linking it to Grayling banning certain movies.

    Union Bod [predictably] on BBC blaming it all on the CUTTTTSSSSSSSSS.

    I did make a comment a few months ago, linking to a piece about how all governments are responsible for these things.

    Would the Mail explode if they found out that Maidstone has a high number of sex offenders imprisoned there?
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    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 32,010

    I can't believe that the Lib Dems are that low.

    .

    I can. Sadly, after all the effort some of us have put in over the years!
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    Also prison overcrowding problem will get worse in January, as it usually does.
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    Mr. Eagles, if the Government adopted my trebuchet system of justice this sort of thing wouldn't happen. Bloody hard to riot when you're in the middle of the North Sea.
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    Mr. Eagles, if the Government adopted my trebuchet system of justice this sort of thing wouldn't happen. Bloody hard to riot when you're in the middle of the North Sea.

    Well that's one way of reducing the re-offending rate.
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    SMukeshSMukesh Posts: 1,650
    Clearly reversion to the mean after the last outlier!

    I also see Cam and Miliband are pretty much and neck on the leaders` ratings.
    So much for a presidential election in 2015.
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    Indeed, Mr. Eagles. The space cannon is even more effective!

    In space, no-one can hear you apply to the European Court of Human Rights.
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    Huzzah to the England rugby team for smashing the vile Aussies.

    Though Owen Farrell's kicking does make me wonder that he might not be able to score in a brothel
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    SMukesh said:

    Clearly reversion to the mean after the last outlier!

    I also see Cam and Miliband are pretty much and neck on the leaders` ratings.
    So much for a presidential election in 2015.

    Yeah, 2015 may well be election where the resistible force meets the moveable object.
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    Cuba has ordered the immediate closure of dozens of privately-run cinemas and video-game salons.

    The government said they were never authorised, and that it needed to bring "order" to the management of independent businesses.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24790569

    Another idea for Red Ed...bloody cinema tickets are far too expensive in this country!
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    Cuba has ordered the immediate closure of dozens of privately-run cinemas and video-game salons.

    The government said they were never authorised, and that it needed to bring "order" to the management of independent businesses.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24790569

    Another idea for Red Ed...bloody cinema tickets are far too expensive in this country!

    Not if you live near a Cineworld cinema
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    Indeed, Mr. Eagles. The space cannon is even more effective!

    In space, no-one can hear you apply to the European Court of Human Rights.

    I know this may not be popular view, here or in the country at large, but the ECHR generally is a force for good.
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    SMukeshSMukesh Posts: 1,650

    SMukesh said:

    Clearly reversion to the mean after the last outlier!

    I also see Cam and Miliband are pretty much and neck on the leaders` ratings.
    So much for a presidential election in 2015.

    Yeah, 2015 may well be election where the resistible force meets the moveable object.
    An election where mediocrity will be the winner!
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    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,502
    edited November 2013
    tim said:

    Indeed, Mr. Eagles. The space cannon is even more effective!

    In space, no-one can hear you apply to the European Court of Human Rights.

    I know this may not be popular view, here or in the country at large, but the ECHR generally is a force for good.
    It represents British values, like the BBC and the NHS do, of course the Tea Party Tories hate it
    If only a Labour Justice Secretary hadn't called it a Villains' charter whilst pandering to the Daily Mail eh?
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    tim said:

    On the pathological liar IDS

    The irony of a Tony Blair fan accusing another politician of being a pathological liar.

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    SMukesh said:


    SMukesh said:

    Clearly reversion to the mean after the last outlier!

    I also see Cam and Miliband are pretty much and neck on the leaders` ratings.
    So much for a presidential election in 2015.

    Yeah, 2015 may well be election where the resistible force meets the moveable object.
    An election where mediocrity will be the winner!
    Well we dodged that bullet in 2005, where in slightly different circumstances the Leaders could have been Gordon Brown, IDS and Ming Campbell.
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    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    @Tim

    "On the pathological liar IDS"

    It's a reputation that has chased him for years. i remember as leader he claimed to be a graduate of Perugia University when it turned out he'd done a couple of weeks on their language course.

    As to this latest porky I heard the Liverpudlian McVey(?) say that they were delighted with the ruling immediately after the presenter had said they had resoundingly lost the case. I assumed I'd misunderstood
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    Indeed the EHCR probably has no jurisdiction in outer space. Possibly the Court of space aliens would be the appropriate appeal route. If they survive the space cannon itself of course.

    Indeed, Mr. Eagles. The space cannon is even more effective!

    In space, no-one can hear you apply to the European Court of Human Rights.

    I know this may not be popular view, here or in the country at large, but the ECHR generally is a force for good.
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    What's happened to Avery? I haven't seen him around for a few days.

    Maybe he sold his Royal Mail shares and has gone to see Cousin Seth with the proceeds.

    Speaking of Royal Mail shares does anyone have views as to how much further they might rise?

    I was thinking of taking my profits now, too bad I didn't get all those I applied for.

    Instead the government gave my shares to some sovereign wealth fund and so cheated me out of thousands of pounds I deserved for spending two minutes on the internet.
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    Indeed the EHCR probably has no jurisdiction in outer space. Possibly the Court of space aliens would be the appropriate appeal route. If they survive the space cannon itself of course.

    Indeed, Mr. Eagles. The space cannon is even more effective!

    In space, no-one can hear you apply to the European Court of Human Rights.

    I know this may not be popular view, here or in the country at large, but the ECHR generally is a force for good.
    I once had a dream about what the courts-martial of the Enterprise crew would have looked liked for their actions in The Search for Spock, and how the ECHR would impact on it.

    When I woke up, I realised then, I needed a girlfriend.
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    CarolaCarola Posts: 1,805
    Living wage cashback:

    'INDEPENDENT: IVF - Survival of the unfittest #tomorrowspapertoday #BBCPapers pic.twitter.com/oPIGoAsYWx'
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    I went into a shop today to buy a Dracula costume.

    The girl tried to sell me a Manchester United shirt.

    I said, "I think you misheard me", I said "I wanted to look like a Count!"
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    another_richardanother_richard Posts: 25,101
    edited November 2013

    tim said:

    Indeed, Mr. Eagles. The space cannon is even more effective!

    In space, no-one can hear you apply to the European Court of Human Rights.

    I know this may not be popular view, here or in the country at large, but the ECHR generally is a force for good.
    It represents British values, like the BBC and the NHS do, of course the Tea Party Tories hate it
    If only a Labour Justice Secretary hadn't called it a Villains' charter whilst pandering to the Daily Mail eh?
    Really ?

    That sounds as likely as a Labour Immigration Minister plotting to make the white vote angry.
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    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    FPT@Carlotta.

    Perhaps I should have said 'statutory'. Whatever it has to be obeyed. If a doctor is struck off by the BMA and they practice again they'll be arrested. The BMA isn't the state but their ruling is absolute. If 'State' is the wrong word apologies.

    MikeK. Interesting example your 100 leaflets. I'm afraid I have no knowledge which authority if any would be involved. I was particularly referring to TV ads.

    Recently I had a VW ad to do for Spain. Set at night the story-told in extreme close up- of a guy and a VW logo which at the end we realize he had been stealing from the front of a car because he thought it so attractive it would make a nice necklace for his girlfriend!

    I told them it wouldn't stand a chance of getting through the advertising standards in the UK. They said in Spain the rules were much more lax. Sure enough it was turned down and they had to re think very fast!
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    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,502
    edited November 2013

    tim said:

    Indeed, Mr. Eagles. The space cannon is even more effective!

    In space, no-one can hear you apply to the European Court of Human Rights.

    I know this may not be popular view, here or in the country at large, but the ECHR generally is a force for good.
    It represents British values, like the BBC and the NHS do, of course the Tea Party Tories hate it
    If only a Labour Justice Secretary hadn't called it a Villains' charter whilst pandering to the Daily Mail eh?
    Really ?

    That sounds as likely as a Labour Immigration Minister plotting to make the white vote angry.
    From 2008

    Well he was talking about the Human Rights Act which enshrined the ECHR into this country's law.

    The justice secretary also said that he could understand why the act was seen as a "villains' charter" by its critics.

    In an interview with the Daily Mail, Straw - who introduced the act 10 years ago when he was home secretary - said he would soon be publishing plans to "rebalance" the legislation with new "responsibilities" to obey the law and to be loyal to the country.

    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/dec/08/human-rights-act-straw
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    another_richardanother_richard Posts: 25,101
    edited November 2013
    tim said:

    @vincentmoss: @Ed_Miliband to give firms tax rebate if they back Living Wage and workers get a rise. In @TheSundayMirror

    So a business which has been paying its employees low wages will get a tax rebate if it increases them.

    What tax rebate will a business which already pays the 'living wage' get ?

    Another idea which falls apart in seconds.
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    tim said:

    On the pathological liar IDS

    "Men lie for many reasons: to boost their ego, to hide their failings and to advance their ambitions. The sole impressive characteristic of Iain Duncan Smith – the winch that lifts him out of his otherwise incurable mediocrity – is his ability to lie for every reason imaginable, even when he knows his audience must find him out. If he told me that two plus two made four, I'd ask for a second opinion."

    @commentisfree: He can't tell the truth, yet the right needs Iain Duncan Smith | Nick Cohen http://t.co/gggv2W8rFU @NickCohen4

    Even the PB Tories have generally stopped posting anything supposedly factual from this man,knowing that it'll fall apart within the hour

    What a load of self-conceited bovine manure.

    IDS was right that the court upheld the government's (as amended) position going forwards. The government wasn't the only one who appealed and the government won the appeal against their policy.

    As for Ms Reilly he's right that she thought she was too good to work for Poundland. We're supposed to care that she was working for a museum for free as that's what she wanted ... well if she wants to do that and not claim Jobseekers Allowance then fair enough. However she was claiming JSA and the government was very entitled to say if she wants JSA she actually has to go to work and not go to a museum. Where's the girl too good for Poundland working now? A Supermarket. The policy worked.

    Nobody should be so conceited to believe they can live off the State, not try and work and have no risk of their "ambitions" being "stopped" by pesky requirements like actually having to work.

    Good on IDS.
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    JonathanJonathan Posts: 20,901
    The Lib Dem ratings are astonishingly bad. 7% Voting Intention. Clegg on -46%.

    You'd have thought they would act. But they're sleepwalking into oblivion with a smile on their faces.
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    Couple of interesting YouGovs:

    What people think various jobs are paid, and what they should be paid (good news for Nurses, not so good for MPs):

    https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/z0tqjdr1cj/YG-Archive-salaries-results-311013.pdf

    Grangemouth Scottish sub-sample - Unite got it wrong:

    http://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/q9z5vq6rk6/YG-Archive-Grangemouth-Plant-results-011113-Scottish-sample.pdf
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    Jonathan said:

    The Lib Dem ratings are astonishingly bad. 7% Voting Intention. Clegg on -46%.

    You'd have thought they would act. But they're sleepwalking into oblivion with a smile on their faces.

    Kamikaze politics?
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    Good on IDS


    IDS never lost a General Election as Tory leader!
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    surbitonsurbiton Posts: 13,549
    Jonathan said:

    The Lib Dem ratings are astonishingly bad. 7% Voting Intention. Clegg on -46%.

    You'd have thought they would act. But they're sleepwalking into oblivion with a smile on their faces.

    It's probably because they have realised that FPTP might deliver them the results which they thought only PR could give them !
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    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    @Jonathan

    "You'd have thought they would act. But they're sleepwalking into oblivion with a smile on their faces."

    I don't think it's a smile I think it's constipation
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    EasterrossEasterross Posts: 1,915
    Evening all. Has Ed started telling people he is an ex-politician yet? Seems to be working well for his old boss Gordon.
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    @Roger - "statutory" is still the wrong word - the ASA is non-statutory- it's self regulatory - and an excellent example of an industry policing itself effectively and keeping politicians out of it.
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    perdixperdix Posts: 1,806

    tim said:

    On the pathological liar IDS

    "Men lie for many reasons: to boost their ego, to hide their failings and to advance their ambitions. The sole impressive characteristic of Iain Duncan Smith – the winch that lifts him out of his otherwise incurable mediocrity – is his ability to lie for every reason imaginable, even when he knows his audience must find him out. If he told me that two plus two made four, I'd ask for a second opinion."

    @commentisfree: He can't tell the truth, yet the right needs Iain Duncan Smith | Nick Cohen http://t.co/gggv2W8rFU @NickCohen4

    Even the PB Tories have generally stopped posting anything supposedly factual from this man,knowing that it'll fall apart within the hour

    What a load of self-conceited bovine manure.

    IDS was right that the court upheld the government's (as amended) position going forwards. The government wasn't the only one who appealed and the government won the appeal against their policy.

    As for Ms Reilly he's right that she thought she was too good to work for Poundland. We're supposed to care that she was working for a museum for free as that's what she wanted ... well if she wants to do that and not claim Jobseekers Allowance then fair enough. However she was claiming JSA and the government was very entitled to say if she wants JSA she actually has to go to work and not go to a museum. Where's the girl too good for Poundland working now? A Supermarket. The policy worked.

    Nobody should be so conceited to believe they can live off the State, not try and work and have no risk of their "ambitions" being "stopped" by pesky requirements like actually having to work.

    Good on IDS.
    I read that she's now working full time on a checkout at Morrison's. So did her work experience get her a full time job?

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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    The BMA is an optional organisation. It is a professional association; similar to a trade union. Only a little over half of British doctors are members.

    The General Medical Council is our licensing body. It is a self regarding self replicating oligarchy that is similtaneously Ineffective in protecting patients and oppressively coercive to doctors. Either that or a fine upstanding body that for altruistic reasons ensures that British doctors practise to the highest standards in yhe world, and is beloved by patients and profession.

    One or the other, of the above statements, may in part be close to my view.

    There have been 96 deaths, many suicides, by doctors under investigation in the last decade. In 2011 about 3% of Doctors investigated were suspended from the register; the rest are in a tormented limbo. I would not use it as an example of successful state regulation myself.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/general-medical-council-to-investigate-culture-of-fear-after-doctor-suicides-8849308.html

    Roger said:

    FPT@Carlotta.

    Perhaps I should have said 'statutory'. Whatever it has to be obeyed. If a doctor is struck off by the BMA and they practice again they'll be arrested. The BMA isn't the state but their ruling is absolute. If 'State' is the wrong word apologies.

    MikeK. Interesting example your 100 leaflets. I'm afraid I have no knowledge which authority if any would be involved. I was particularly referring to TV ads.

    Recently I had a VW ad to do for Spain. Set at night the story-told in extreme close up- of a guy and a VW logo which at the end we realize he had been stealing from the front of a car because he thought it so attractive it would make a nice necklace for his girlfriend!

    I told them it wouldn't stand a chance of getting through the advertising standards in the UK. They said in Spain the rules were much more lax. Sure enough it was turned down and they had to re think very fast!

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    tim said:

    @vincentmoss: @Ed_Miliband to give firms tax rebate if they back Living Wage and workers get a rise. In @TheSundayMirror

    So a business which has been paying its employees low wages will get a tax rebate if it increases them.

    What tax rebate will a business which already pays the 'living wage' get ?

    Another idea which falls apart in seconds.
    Has anyone provided a definition for a living wage?

    e.g. I'm earning about £100K, my wife is paid £8 per hour as a part time carer (10-15 hours per week).

    What would be a 'living wage' for my wife?
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    perdixperdix Posts: 1,806
    Roger said:

    @Tim

    "On the pathological liar IDS"

    It's a reputation that has chased him for years. i remember as leader he claimed to be a graduate of Perugia University when it turned out he'd done a couple of weeks on their language course.

    As to this latest porky I heard the Liverpudlian McVey(?) say that they were delighted with the ruling immediately after the presenter had said they had resoundingly lost the case. I assumed I'd misunderstood

    Are you sure the term used was "graduated" and not "studied at"?

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    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    @Foxy


    "There have been 96 deaths, many suicides, by doctors under investigation in the last decade. In 2011 about 3% of Doctors investigated were suspended from the register; the rest are in a tormented limbo."

    In that case a perfect template for journalists. What wouldn't the public give for a body that would put the likes of Littlejohn in tormented limbo.
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    tim said:

    tim said:

    @vincentmoss: @Ed_Miliband to give firms tax rebate if they back Living Wage and workers get a rise. In @TheSundayMirror

    So a business which has bee paying its employees low wages will get a tax rebate if it increases them.

    What tax rebate will a business which already pays the 'living wage' get ?

    Another idea which falls apart in seconds.
    I realise Tories are addicted to the state using benefits to subsidise low pay.

    If they're given a tax rebate to increase low pay then that's the equivalent of state subsidy.

    You seem to have a belief that business can increase earnings without any effect.

    Let me explain:

    1) Business increases earnings
    2) Business costs increase
    3) Business has to raise prices
    4) Customers have to pay more

    Now tim are you willing to pay more for British produced goods and services so that the low paid can have a pay rise ?

    Are you willing to reduce your standard of living so that the low paid can increase their's ?

    I am and do try to buy British produced goods and services. I can afford to do so and the consequent psychic satisfaction this gives me outweighs the standard of living reduction. This is a voluntary form of wealth redistribution which I find acceptable.

    But if other people don't do likewise then the only effect will be fewer people employed.
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    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    edited November 2013
    @Perdix

    "Are you sure the term used was "graduated" and not "studied at"?"

    Both terminological inexactitudes as it happens

    http://tpuc.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=339953


    or

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2002/12_december/19/newsnight_ids_cv.shtml
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    tim said:

    @vincentmoss: @Ed_Miliband to give firms tax rebate if they back Living Wage and workers get a rise. In @TheSundayMirror

    Does anyone actually believe this nonsense?

    I've told my grand kids not to write a letter to Santa Claus this year, send instead to E Miliband, Primrose Hill


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    tim said:

    It represents British values, like the BBC and the NHS do, of course the Tea Party Tories hate it

    The Convention was certainly intended merely to restate principles which underpinned the common law of England. The issue is not the Convention, but the Strasbourg court's perverse interpretation of it, which courts in this jurisdiction are obliged to have regard to. The irrationality of the Strabourg court's judgments has had the effect of undermining public confidence in the rule of law, and the rights which the Convention was designed to protect.
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    tim said:

    @vincentmoss: @Ed_Miliband to give firms tax rebate if they back Living Wage and workers get a rise. In @TheSundayMirror

    Does anyone actually believe this nonsense?

    I've told my grand kids not to write a letter to Santa Claus this year, send instead to E Miliband, Primrose Hill


    It's so bad an idea, even Ed Balls doesn't!!!! Not another falling out between the 2 of them after HS2 went so well.

    http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2010/08/ed-balls-unconvinced-by-ed-milibands-living-wage-maths/
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    To get genuine increases in earnings we need to increase productivity in this country faster than our competitors do.

    Our problem is that we're a high cost, high tax and high regulation country competing against people who are as intelligent and educated as we are and willing to work harder for less money and under fewer restrictions.

    Effectively we're trying to walk up and endless escalator which is going down.

    The consequence are that most of us are going to get poorer and socioeconomic mobility is going to fall.

    And so we see and endless gimmicks involving prices and taxes as politicians try to give the impression that they care.
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    Tory Treasury‏@ToryTreasury2m
    .@janemerrick23 even Ed Balls thinks this policy doesn't add up. He said it means more borrowing http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2010/08/ed-balls-unconvinced-by-ed-milibands-living-wage-maths/
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    So speaks the caring voice of the left.

    What if it is not Littlejohn staring at the bottle of pills, what if it is a cub reporter being hung out to dry?

    Pharisees are condemned by their own words, which show their true fellings for their fellow humans.


    Roger said:

    @Foxy


    "There have been 96 deaths, many suicides, by doctors under investigation in the last decade. In 2011 about 3% of Doctors investigated were suspended from the register; the rest are in a tormented limbo."

    In that case a perfect template for journalists. What wouldn't the public give for a body that would put the likes of Littlejohn in tormented limbo.

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    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    @Foxy

    A complete lie according to the girl he chose for yesterday's character assassination.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2482111/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-Ah-Pesto-Meet-poverty-poster-girls.html
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    I'm not sure but the Tory Tweet-squad seem to think Ed M's little tax-back wheeze has been holed by his own Shadow Chancellor within minutes of it being floated...
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    BBCSundayMorningLive ✔ @bbcsml

    Our guests tomorrow are Lord Ian Blair, @davidschneider, @OwenJones84, interfaith leader Kiran Bali & academic Phil Scraton #bbcsml
    Retweeted by Owen Jones

    Hard pressed to spot any lefties there in a religious prog....
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    tim said:

    @Anotherarichard

    So you'd perfect to pay benefits and housing costs to Starbucks workers instead, fine, most Tories would.

    So you're not willing to pay more for British produced goods and services.

    Your concern for the low paid stretches only as far as your keyboard.

    Fascinating though that you think nobody earning the 'living wage' should be entitled to any benefits or housing costs.

    You do realise that the London 'living wage' is under £18k before deductions ?

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    I'm not sure but the Tory Tweet-squad seem to think Ed M's little tax-back wheeze has been holed by his own Shadow Chancellor within minutes of it being floated...

    As the kids say, EpicMegaLolz

    Can we guess whom said this about the living wage?

    He also questioned whether Mili-E had done his maths. “It seems to me that there would be a substantial extra cost either to the exchequer or to business,” he pointed out.

    http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2010/08/ed-balls-unconvinced-by-ed-milibands-living-wage-maths
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    BBCSundayMorningLive ✔ @bbcsml

    Our guests tomorrow are Lord Ian Blair, @davidschneider, @OwenJones84, interfaith leader Kiran Bali & academic Phil Scraton #bbcsml
    Retweeted by Owen Jones

    Hard pressed to spot any lefties there in a religious prog....

    Jesus was a Marxist!
    Say it! Say you love Jesus!
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    tim said:

    @Anotherarichard

    So you'd perfect to pay benefits and housing costs to Starbucks workers instead, fine, most Tories would.

    So you're not willing to pay more for British produced goods and services.

    Your concern for the low paid stretches only as far as your keyboard.

    Fascinating though that you think nobody earning the 'living wage' should be entitled to any benefits or housing costs.

    You do realise that the London 'living wage' is under £18k before deductions ?

    tim appears to have disappeared (briefly I'm sure) but for urgent new instructions after Ed Balls breaking his stream of consciousness...
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    BBCSundayMorningLive ✔ @bbcsml

    Our guests tomorrow are Lord Ian Blair, @davidschneider, @OwenJones84, interfaith leader Kiran Bali & academic Phil Scraton #bbcsml
    Retweeted by Owen Jones

    Hard pressed to spot any lefties there in a religious prog....

    Jesus was a Marxist!
    Say it! Say you love Jesus!
    Context is everything.

    "Jesus loves you."

    A nice gesture in church.

    A horrific thing to hear in a Mexican prison.
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    Roger said:

    @Foxy

    A complete lie according to the girl he chose for yesterday's character assassination.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2482111/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-Ah-Pesto-Meet-poverty-poster-girls.html

    Did you expect her to agree with him?
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    I'm not sure but the Tory Tweet-squad seem to think Ed M's little tax-back wheeze has been holed by his own Shadow Chancellor within minutes of it being floated...

    As the kids say, EpicMegaLolz

    Can we guess whom said this about the living wage?

    He also questioned whether Mili-E had done his maths. “It seems to me that there would be a substantial extra cost either to the exchequer or to business,” he pointed out.

    http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2010/08/ed-balls-unconvinced-by-ed-milibands-living-wage-maths
    Silence is golden.....
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    I'm not sure but the Tory Tweet-squad seem to think Ed M's little tax-back wheeze has been holed by his own Shadow Chancellor within minutes of it being floated...

    As the kids say, EpicMegaLolz

    Can we guess whom said this about the living wage?

    He also questioned whether Mili-E had done his maths. “It seems to me that there would be a substantial extra cost either to the exchequer or to business,” he pointed out.

    http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2010/08/ed-balls-unconvinced-by-ed-milibands-living-wage-maths
    Silence is golden.....
    I'll be nice to Ed Balls this evening, the football wasn't good for Norwich fans.

    Look on the bright side Norwich fans, you were able to count all the Man City goals on the fingers of just one hand, it's only embarrassing when you have to use two hands.
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    I do not like Littlejohn, and will not defend him.

    But a GMC like tortured limbo affects the innocent, and unknown, much more severely than the guilty.

    Vexatious complaints designed to inflict misery are a staple of the GMC. Most get thrown out after investigation, but those investigations are a tormented limbo.

    The GMC itself recognises that it is ineffective in supporting those being investigated by a quasi-inquisitorial panel, and that this has led to suicide. Read my link below.

    Yet you think this a suitable model for an investigator.

    I think that we are unlikely to find common ground here.
    Roger said:

    @Foxy

    A complete lie according to the girl he chose for yesterday's character assassination.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2482111/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-Ah-Pesto-Meet-poverty-poster-girls.html

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    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285
    edited November 2013
    "Passive demonstration" by inmates at Rye Hill Prison "peacefully resolved", Prison Service confirms

    Maybe they got their whiff whaff bats back or a new block of chalk for the pool table?
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,851
    tim said:

    Indeed, Mr. Eagles. The space cannon is even more effective!

    In space, no-one can hear you apply to the European Court of Human Rights.

    I know this may not be popular view, here or in the country at large, but the ECHR generally is a force for good.
    It represents British values, like the BBC and the NHS do, of course the Tea Party Tories hate it
    That must be why Strasbourg thinks prisoners should get the vote, despite MP's and voters overwhelmingly believing otherwise.
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    GrandioseGrandiose Posts: 2,323
    I quite like the idea of subsidising wages, up to a point, but there's no way it's cost neutral. It would have to be considered alongside things like raising the PA as, arguably, worth it.
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    perdix said:

    tim said:

    On the pathological liar IDS

    "Men lie for many reasons: to boost their ego, to hide their failings and to advance their ambitions. The sole impressive characteristic of Iain Duncan Smith – the winch that lifts him out of his otherwise incurable mediocrity – is his ability to lie for every reason imaginable, even when he knows his audience must find him out. If he told me that two plus two made four, I'd ask for a second opinion."

    @commentisfree: He can't tell the truth, yet the right needs Iain Duncan Smith | Nick Cohen http://t.co/gggv2W8rFU @NickCohen4

    Even the PB Tories have generally stopped posting anything supposedly factual from this man,knowing that it'll fall apart within the hour

    What a load of self-conceited bovine manure.

    IDS was right that the court upheld the government's (as amended) position going forwards. The government wasn't the only one who appealed and the government won the appeal against their policy.

    As for Ms Reilly he's right that she thought she was too good to work for Poundland. We're supposed to care that she was working for a museum for free as that's what she wanted ... well if she wants to do that and not claim Jobseekers Allowance then fair enough. However she was claiming JSA and the government was very entitled to say if she wants JSA she actually has to go to work and not go to a museum. Where's the girl too good for Poundland working now? A Supermarket. The policy worked.

    Nobody should be so conceited to believe they can live off the State, not try and work and have no risk of their "ambitions" being "stopped" by pesky requirements like actually having to work.

    Good on IDS.
    I read that she's now working full time on a checkout at Morrison's. So did her work experience get her a full time job?

    It quite possibly did. The question is how long she should be able to stay on JSA looking solely for her one preferred role. Especially if she was looking for a "New Graduate" role: they tend to come round once a year, if she misses out one year, should she be able to stay on JSA for year waiting for another job to become available? I don't know how long she was unemployed before being sent to work at Poundland, but surely it makes sense for her to work temporarily in a shop while applying for the academic type job she actually wants?

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    JonnyJimmyJonnyJimmy Posts: 2,548
    @Roger

    Why on earth should Littlejohn be regulated to the same standard as advertising? He writes opinion pieces for a newspaper. He doesn't write news, and he doesn't try to sell anything. He shares his opinions. Are you really saying that published opinions should fall under statutory regulation? If you are, you're a damned fool.
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    BobajobBobajob Posts: 1,536

    tim said:

    tim said:

    @vincentmoss: @Ed_Miliband to give firms tax rebate if they back Living Wage and workers get a rise. In @TheSundayMirror

    So a business which has bee paying its employees low wages will get a tax rebate if it increases them.

    What tax rebate will a business which already pays the 'living wage' get ?

    Another idea which falls apart in seconds.
    I realise Tories are addicted to the state using benefits to subsidise low pay.

    If they're given a tax rebate to increase low pay then that's the equivalent of state subsidy.

    You seem to have a belief that business can increase earnings without any effect.

    Let me explain:

    1) Business increases earnings
    2) Business costs increase
    3) Business has to raise prices
    4) Customers have to pay more

    Now tim are you willing to pay more for British produced goods and services so that the low paid can have a pay rise ?

    Are you willing to reduce your standard of living so that the low paid can increase their's ?

    I am and do try to buy British produced goods and services. I can afford to do so and the consequent psychic satisfaction this gives me outweighs the standard of living reduction. This is a voluntary form of wealth redistribution which I find acceptable.

    But if other people don't do likewise then the only effect will be fewer people employed.
    Of course, you forget to factor in the effect of putting more money in the pockets of the low paid, the group most likely to spend and not save any increase in earnings. If what you said was true in all cases the initial imposition of a minimum wage would have caused mass unemployment. It didn't.
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    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    @Eagle

    "A nice gesture in church.

    A horrific thing to hear in a Mexican prison."

    Made me smile.
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    Got this earlier:

    info@getbritainout.org

    Strong stuff!
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    If a government interfering with a private sector such as the energy big six is described as Marxism.....what is interfering with a private sector such as water?
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    Good evening, everyone.

    Mr. Ajob, it's worth considering the interesting theory that the minimum wage has helped to create a significant problem of high youth unemployment. If you legislate to make everyone have a higher wage then either many people will have no wage at all, or you create more inflation.

    It's in danger of becoming like the donatives the army enjoyed in imperial Rome.
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,851
    tim said:

    @AnotherRichard

    So you'd prefer to pay benefits and housing costs to Starbucks workers instead, fine, most Tories would.

    In an ideal world, wages would be doubled, the Sun would always shine, and we could extract moonbeams from cucumbers.

    In the real world, businesses have to remain competitive and wages are related to levels of productivity.
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    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285
    edited November 2013
    "Of course, you forget to factor in the effect of putting more money in the pockets of the low paid, the group most likely to spend and not save any increase in earnings."

    And the easiest way to do that is simply not taxing them in the first place...rather than a crazy system of taking money, then asking people to apply for "tax credits" to have some of it back.
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    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    @JJ

    "Are you really saying that published opinions should fall under statutory regulation?"

    What's the difference? How can it be acceptable to erroniously say someone is a benefit scrounger in an opinion piece if it isn't in a news article? The effect on the person having their reputation traduced is the same.
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    GrandioseGrandiose Posts: 2,323

    I'm not sure but the Tory Tweet-squad seem to think Ed M's little tax-back wheeze has been holed by his own Shadow Chancellor within minutes of it being floated...

    As the kids say, EpicMegaLolz

    Can we guess whom said this about the living wage?

    He also questioned whether Mili-E had done his maths. “It seems to me that there would be a substantial extra cost either to the exchequer or to business,” he pointed out.

    http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2010/08/ed-balls-unconvinced-by-ed-milibands-living-wage-maths
    Silence is golden.....
    I'll be nice to Ed Balls this evening, the football wasn't good for Norwich fans.

    Look on the bright side Norwich fans, you were able to count all the Man City goals on the fingers of just one hand, it's only embarrassing when you have to use two hands.
    Took me a second TSE.

    I've told you before, that's only parts of Norfolk.
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    Scrapheap_as_wasScrapheap_as_was Posts: 10,059
    edited November 2013
    George Eaton‏@georgeeaton35s
    Miliband makes his big offer on the living wage (via @janemerrick23). Blue collar Tories and Lib Dems will be asking why they weren't first.

    Big offer? He's got to persuade Balls first and get him to eat his words.

    I would have thought Tories and Lib Dems would feel stronger here with the direct benefits of raising the personal allowance already and of course Labour abolishing 10% tax band as their counterpoints....
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    Doubled wages! Frozen utility bills! Free turnips for everyone!
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    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    edited November 2013
    Con + UKIP continues to climb towards the dizzying heights of 50%.

    47% in this poll, one of the highest ever.
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    I'll be nice to Ed Balls this evening, the football wasn't good for Norwich fans.

    Look on the bright side Norwich fans, you were able to count all the Man City goals on the fingers of just one hand, it's only embarrassing when you have to use two hands.

    On the subject or Norwich and suicides, has anyone heard from antifrank since the final whistle?
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    Grandiose said:

    I'm not sure but the Tory Tweet-squad seem to think Ed M's little tax-back wheeze has been holed by his own Shadow Chancellor within minutes of it being floated...

    As the kids say, EpicMegaLolz

    Can we guess whom said this about the living wage?

    He also questioned whether Mili-E had done his maths. “It seems to me that there would be a substantial extra cost either to the exchequer or to business,” he pointed out.

    http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2010/08/ed-balls-unconvinced-by-ed-milibands-living-wage-maths
    Silence is golden.....
    I'll be nice to Ed Balls this evening, the football wasn't good for Norwich fans.

    Look on the bright side Norwich fans, you were able to count all the Man City goals on the fingers of just one hand, it's only embarrassing when you have to use two hands.
    Took me a second TSE.

    I've told you before, that's only parts of Norfolk.
    I've got this against people from Norfolk.

    My then girlfriend left me for a guy from Norfolk. She said he was better at foreplay.

    To be fair, I can't compete, he has 7 fingers on each hand.
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    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2484832/Maidstone-prison-riots-180-inmates-planned-attack-Kent.html

    Daily Mail [predictably] claiming it was foreign prisoners wot was doing the rioting and linking it to Grayling banning certain movies.

    Union Bod [predictably] on BBC blaming it all on the CUTTTTSSSSSSSSS.

    I think most of the public would be taken aback that prisoners are watching movies in the first place.
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    A fight breaks out at a wedding. A man pulls out a gun and shoots his Grandad, Brother, and Uncle but there is only one victim. How is this possible?

    Answer: The wedding was held in Norfolk
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    Roger said:

    @JJ

    "Are you really saying that published opinions should fall under statutory regulation?"

    What's the difference? How can it be acceptable to erroniously say someone is a benefit scrounger in an opinion piece if it isn't in a news article? The effect on the person having their reputation traduced is the same.

    If a statement tends to lower a person's reputation among right thinking members of the community such that it causes serious harm to their reputation, it is defamatory, and the person defamed has recourse to courts of justice to vindicate their reputation. That libels may be published is not a case for statutory regulation of the press.
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    JonnyJimmyJonnyJimmy Posts: 2,548
    Roger said:

    @JJ

    "Are you really saying that published opinions should fall under statutory regulation?"

    What's the difference? How can it be acceptable to erroniously say someone is a benefit scrounger in an opinion piece if it isn't in a news article? The effect on the person having their reputation traduced is the same.

    First of all, he doesn't call her a benefit scrounger. I think you've erroneously attributed that to him; why shouldn't you be subject to statutory regulation under a royal charter? And, if he had, and it wasn't true, she could take action against him under existing laws. If she could prove that what he'd said was a lie, then the newspaper would probably settle with her and publish an apology.
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    NextNext Posts: 826

    Roger said:

    @JJ

    "Are you really saying that published opinions should fall under statutory regulation?"

    What's the difference? How can it be acceptable to erroniously say someone is a benefit scrounger in an opinion piece if it isn't in a news article? The effect on the person having their reputation traduced is the same.

    If a statement tends to lower a person's reputation among right thinking members of the community such that it causes serious harm to their reputation, it is defamatory, and the person defamed has recourse to courts of justice to vindicate their reputation. That libels may be published is not a case for statutory regulation of the press.
    "the person defamed has recourse to courts of justice to vindicate their reputation"

    IF they have lots of money to pay for lawyers.
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    A fight breaks out at a wedding. A man pulls out a gun and shoots his Grandad, Brother, and Uncle but there is only one victim. How is this possible?

    Answer: The wedding was held in Norfolk

    Your sister is your mother
    Your uncle is your brother
    You all shag one another
    The Norwich family

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    Life_ina_market_townLife_ina_market_town Posts: 2,319
    edited November 2013
    tim said:
    If you oppose what you describe as a state subsidy to employers to pay low wages, surely the answer is to remove that subsidy, rather than attempting to introduce a living wage?
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    tim said:

    Sean_F said:

    tim said:

    @AnotherRichard

    So you'd prefer to pay benefits and housing costs to Starbucks workers instead, fine, most Tories would.

    In an ideal world, wages would be doubled, the Sun would always shine, and we could extract moonbeams from cucumbers.

    In the real world, businesses have to remain competitive and wages are related to levels of productivity.
    Productivity hasn't changed much in a London coffee shop, bu the amount the state subsidises Starbucks through paying a chunk of its workforces housing costs has risen hugely
    Source please.
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    Roger said:

    @JJ

    "Are you really saying that published opinions should fall under statutory regulation?"

    What's the difference? How can it be acceptable to erroniously say someone is a benefit scrounger in an opinion piece if it isn't in a news article? The effect on the person having their reputation traduced is the same.

    Well, this may have passed you by, but there is a difference between fact and opinion.

    Say you have a family with 5 children living on benefits, in a big house paid for by Housing Benefit. Say they have had all or most of the children since becoming unemployed. There is no suggestion they are claiming something they shouldn't.

    I can call them benefit scroungers, that is just my opinion.

    However, if I accuse them of claiming something they are not entitled to by law - well that would be libellous if it isn't true.

    Fact and opinion. Different things.
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    BobajobBobajob Posts: 1,536

    Good evening, everyone.

    Mr. Ajob, it's worth considering the interesting theory that the minimum wage has helped to create a significant problem of high youth unemployment. If you legislate to make everyone have a higher wage then either many people will have no wage at all, or you create more inflation.

    It's in danger of becoming like the donatives the army enjoyed in imperial Rome.

    Another oversimplification based on the economist's assumption that wages already reflect profits and productivity, and managers are switched on enough to vary them to make them line up. They often don't and they often aren't. Especially down here. No wonder even Boris supports a London Living Wage.
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    GeoffMGeoffM Posts: 6,071
    Next said:

    Roger said:

    @JJ

    "Are you really saying that published opinions should fall under statutory regulation?"

    What's the difference? How can it be acceptable to erroniously say someone is a benefit scrounger in an opinion piece if it isn't in a news article? The effect on the person having their reputation traduced is the same.

    If a statement tends to lower a person's reputation among right thinking members of the community such that it causes serious harm to their reputation, it is defamatory, and the person defamed has recourse to courts of justice to vindicate their reputation. That libels may be published is not a case for statutory regulation of the press.
    "the person defamed has recourse to courts of justice to vindicate their reputation"

    IF they have lots of money to pay for lawyers.
    You don't even have to whistle loudly to find an ambulance-chaser these days.

    There's a lawyer not five doors from here who specialises in threatening libel actions. Used them a couple of times myself.

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    Mr. Ajob, if the state is to be the arbiter not merely of taxes due but of wages paid, will we be cutting footballers salaries to fund increases to the remuneration offered to heart surgeons?
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    NextNext Posts: 826
    GeoffM said:

    Next said:

    Roger said:

    @JJ

    "Are you really saying that published opinions should fall under statutory regulation?"

    What's the difference? How can it be acceptable to erroniously say someone is a benefit scrounger in an opinion piece if it isn't in a news article? The effect on the person having their reputation traduced is the same.

    If a statement tends to lower a person's reputation among right thinking members of the community such that it causes serious harm to their reputation, it is defamatory, and the person defamed has recourse to courts of justice to vindicate their reputation. That libels may be published is not a case for statutory regulation of the press.
    "the person defamed has recourse to courts of justice to vindicate their reputation"

    IF they have lots of money to pay for lawyers.
    You don't even have to whistle loudly to find an ambulance-chaser these days.

    There's a lawyer not five doors from here who specialises in threatening libel actions. Used them a couple of times myself.

    "threatening libel actions"

    Threatening? Heck, even I can threaten libel actions.

    Good luck finding one that will carry it all the way through on a no-win-no-fee basis.
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    GeoffMGeoffM Posts: 6,071
    Next said:

    GeoffM said:

    Next said:

    Roger said:

    @JJ

    "Are you really saying that published opinions should fall under statutory regulation?"

    What's the difference? How can it be acceptable to erroniously say someone is a benefit scrounger in an opinion piece if it isn't in a news article? The effect on the person having their reputation traduced is the same.

    If a statement tends to lower a person's reputation among right thinking members of the community such that it causes serious harm to their reputation, it is defamatory, and the person defamed has recourse to courts of justice to vindicate their reputation. That libels may be published is not a case for statutory regulation of the press.
    "the person defamed has recourse to courts of justice to vindicate their reputation"

    IF they have lots of money to pay for lawyers.
    You don't even have to whistle loudly to find an ambulance-chaser these days.

    There's a lawyer not five doors from here who specialises in threatening libel actions. Used them a couple of times myself.

    "threatening libel actions"

    Threatening? Heck, even I can threaten libel actions.

    Good luck finding one that will carry it all the way through on a no-win-no-fee basis.
    Already done. We did win, as it happens, but it was no-win-no-fee both times.

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    tim said:
    More to the point, your beloved Shadow Chancellor didn't either - so what changed?
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    tim said:

    Sean_F said:

    tim said:

    @AnotherRichard

    So you'd prefer to pay benefits and housing costs to Starbucks workers instead, fine, most Tories would.

    In an ideal world, wages would be doubled, the Sun would always shine, and we could extract moonbeams from cucumbers.

    In the real world, businesses have to remain competitive and wages are related to levels of productivity.
    Productivity hasn't changed much in a London coffee shop, bu the amount the state subsidises Starbucks through paying a chunk of its workforces housing costs has risen hugely
    So are you suggesting that the Labour's economic policy of ever rising house prices and replacing high paying/productivity factory jobs with low paying/productivity consumer service jobs might have been a little flawed ?

    But if you think that coffee shops should pay their workers more that's fine by me.

    The result will mean fewer customers and many coffee shops closing but I've never seen the attraction to them in any case.

    I dare say it would mean those hand carwashes closing down as well.

    And loads of other low skilled service workers adding to the unemployment total.

    Unless that is people are prepared to pay more for British produced goods and services.

    And that's the point when PB lefties lose their interest in helping the low paid.

This discussion has been closed.