Monday 24th August 2015

TobyLatimer · Post by **TobyLatimer** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 6:13 pm

Former Labour Strategist Dan Hodges will be voting for Lib Dems

http://www.libdems.org.uk/former_labour ... r_lib_dems

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 6:13 pm

ephemerid wrote:Show is back. He seems to be OK.

It has taken him more than 5 hours.

We are going to the surgery later. I will be watching him like a hawk.

Thank you for the best wishes. I deserve them and he doesn't. In my humble and very relieved opinion.

(I will scream at him on another occasion)

20 lashes with a wet noodle will teach him a lesson.

TobyLatimer · Post by **TobyLatimer** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 6:13 pm

: CM_QYb2U8AAampK.jpg (60.36 KiB) Viewed 5847 times

TobyLatimer · Post by **TobyLatimer** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 6:20 pm

This is in the rejection email some people are receiving,

“We have reason to believe that you do not support the aims and values of the Labour Party or you are a supporter of an organisation opposed to the Labour Party.”

: ScreenShot00688.jpg (154.12 KiB) Viewed 5840 times

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 6:23 pm

Gordon Brown is backing Cooper, not exactly a surprise endorsement.

utopiandreams · Post by **utopiandreams** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 6:27 pm

citizenJA wrote:... In the speech - which media were not allowed to attend - Mr Duncan Smith said...

I've not followed your link, JA, maybe later, but don't you find my emboldened bit more than a little troubling. Who was he addressing? As I say with one thing and another I've not seen or read any news today other than what I've picked up here.

LadyCentauria · Post by **LadyCentauria** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 6:33 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:How does McBride think we're all going to get our 'hard cash' out and keep it safe? Where? Under the mattress?

And, if we all go and get our 'hard cash' out (or at least the daily cash-point limit) the ATMs and banks (and even supermarkets issuing up to their cash-back limits) will swiftly run out of cash, which causes its own seriously problematic knock-on effects, as did the run on Northern Rock. The UK Government, in concert with the Bank of England, guarantees each individual account-holder that £85,000 (or less, if you have less!) of your money is safe in each individual UK Bank. Santander is a UK Bank for these purposes as is at least one of the Greek Banks with branches here. Only a very small proportion of the population has anywhere near that much money in the bank (most have less than £200 in savings) meaning the vast majority of people are more than well enough protected.
McBride can be a right arse!

utopiandreams · Post by **utopiandreams** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 6:40 pm

@RobertSnozers

Thanks for your informed insight regarding those fake testimonials, Rob, as you suggest it likely came from high or very high up, which is why I feel the government is to blame. Not only have we had a past party chairman who has himself indulged is such questionable behaviour on his own websites but we have had Osborne responsible for misleading 'welfare' information to be circulated by HMRC.

Let us not forget that unless behind closed doors, Shapps was not chastised for the letter to Racquel Rolnik (hope I've spelled her name correctly 'cause I haven't looked it up) and Cameron has since said how much he values him. 'And now I shall calm myself rather than subscribe to just anger.

'And yes, ephe, opprobrium was an excellent choice of word, even if not expressive enough of our disgust.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 6:44 pm

Half-hour ago:

Worst day for European markets since 2008
Market watchers have also been counting the cost of losses across Europe.
The pan-European FTSE Eurofirst 300 has lost €450bn (£286bn) today, its worst performance since November 2008, as it ended the day 5.4% lower.
This brings total losses since the start of the month to €1 trillion.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/liv ... 7d700e696b" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

TobyLatimer · Post by **TobyLatimer** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 6:45 pm

The government should scrap the Work Capability Assessment ....

Responding to the speech today by Iain Duncan Smith to which he barred journalists from attending, Labour leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn, who opposed the introduction of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) under the last Labour government, said:

: 11949436_1487600284867379_3826302575774828371_n.jpg (105.38 KiB) Viewed 5808 times

http://www.jeremyforlabour.com/scrap_th ... assessment

utopiandreams · Post by **utopiandreams** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 6:46 pm

yahyah wrote:We keep being told socialism doesn't work.
Capitalism seems to be a bit creaky, yet we are just supposed to accept these panics and market madness.

& did anyone hear the Tory on Any Question's response to the milk price problem ?
She, and presumably the Tories, wants to introduce a futures market for milk.
Another way of people making money from what is surely a form of gambling.

Quite, yahyah, an example of money or finance facilitating human exchange and/or endeavour whereas markets allow speculators to steal their cut as opposed to being paid their due. Sod people's safety or even their livelihoods. They make me sick!

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 6:52 pm

TobyLatimer wrote:Sick Tosser Duncan Smith's full speech here ;

http://www.reform.uk/publication/rt-hon ... isability/

Now, where is my golden ship

There was a young girl, whose heart was a frown,
Because she was crippled for life, and couldn't speak a sound
And she wished and prayed she would stop living, so she decided to die.
She drew her wheel chair to the edge of the shore, and to her legs she smiled

"You won't hurt me no more."
But then a sight she'd never seen made her jump and say
"Look, a golden winged ship is passing my way"
And it really didn't have to stop...it just kept on going.
And so castles made of sand slips into the sea,
Eventually

No wonder he didn't want the media there - there's some soundbites that could get picked apart very easily. Like:

We had a welfare system where a life on benefits paid more than having a job.

Any job? CEO of a bank? Premiership footballer? MP?

We lived in a country where….

nearly one in five households had no one working;
the number of households where no one had ever worked had nearly doubled;
1.4 million people had been on benefits for most of the previous decade.
And where close to half of all households in the social rented sector had no one in work.

How many of those were households were people had retired? Or on disability where they simply couldn't work?

Under Labour, welfare spending went up 60%

How much down to increases in retired population? How much down to the fact that we had just come out of recession? What part of it was simply down to annual up-rating?

Dismal.

Maybe if I'd simply told my boss that profit was up 10% and not bothered to analyse it I could have had an easier life...

tinyclanger2 · Post by **tinyclanger2** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 6:55 pm

yahyah wrote:I suppose if we really want to fall out, a discussion on whether cleavage is acceptable in politics would be the way to do it.

http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/l ... kbEtHEUbBl" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I can hear the decorum levels diminishing again

utopiandreams · Post by **utopiandreams** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 6:56 pm

RogerOThornhill wrote:There's a paradox that never gets explained...

1. "GPs can't be trusted as they sign off people all the time so we need to get a company involved in assessing patients"
2. "GPs can be trusted which is why we've handed over commissioning of patient care to them to the tune of £80bn"

Mmm I sort of agree, Roger, a paradox it may be however I call the whole thing lies. Forgive because I forget, no doubt RobertSnozers will know, who was behind and advised Lansley's reforms. I don't think doctors were ultimately meant to be those responsible for commissioning no matter the patient choice both Lansley and Cameron spoke of at the dispatch box. CSSs were always intended to take over most of it, services largely provided by corporates. Perhaps Robert can advise, my being only a layman.

tinyclanger2 · Post by **tinyclanger2** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 6:56 pm

tinyclanger2 wrote:
yahyah wrote:I suppose if we really want to fall out, a discussion on whether cleavage is acceptable in politics would be the way to do it.

http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/l ... kbEtHEUbBl" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I can hear the decorum levels diminishing again

And then the Eric Pickles comment.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 6:57 pm

A flight of confidence in the markets saw a collective $182 billion vanish from the wealth of the world's billionaires.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/busin ... 67787.html

What amazes me is all those supposedly canny financiers and rich people getting caught out.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:00 pm

DWP seeks 2,800 short-term staff weeks after shedding thousands of full-timers
Union says adverts are for roles similar to those done by 3,824 workers who left two months ago and shows ‘further casualisation’ of department

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... ull-timers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In case we missed this on Sunday!
What you think, y'all?
Shall we apply?

TobyLatimer · Post by **TobyLatimer** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:01 pm

"Welfare" spending, peaked in the early 80s under Margaret Hilda, the early 90s under John "nice peas dear, i'm off for a Currie" & early 2010 under this shower ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11443372

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TechnicalEphemera · Post by **TechnicalEphemera** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:01 pm

TobyLatimer wrote:The government should scrap the Work Capability Assessment ....

Responding to the speech today by Iain Duncan Smith to which he barred journalists from attending, Labour leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn, who opposed the introduction of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) under the last Labour government, said:

11949436_1487600284867379_3826302575774828371_n.jpg
http://www.jeremyforlabour.com/scrap_th ... assessment

The problem is we do need some sort of WCA, although certainly not the IDS version of it. What exactly is Corbyn suggesting.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:02 pm

ohsocynical wrote:
A flight of confidence in the markets saw a collective $182 billion vanish from the wealth of the world's billionaires.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/busin ... 67787.html
What amazes me is all those supposedly canny financiers and rich people getting caught out.

Losers! Losers! Losers! Losers!

That's from the IDS Essentials Handbook.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:03 pm

Just rung the hospital. Mr Ohso is still in recovery, they got to him very late in the day, so it'll mean an overnight stay. He won't be happy about it...

Oh well !

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:07 pm

ohsocynical wrote:Just rung the hospital. Mr Ohso is still in recovery, they got to him very late in the day, so it'll mean an overnight stay. He won't be happy about it...

Oh well !

I'm sorry, Ohso.
Please accept my love and give love to Mr. Ohso.
It's twilight as I post this.
The light fading slowly.
Time to find our way indoors to be together around the hearth.
xx
cJA

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:09 pm

Gordon Brown's ex-adviser says panic-buy BOTTLED WATER and TINNED GOODS over China crisis

A FORMER adviser to ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged Britons to begin stocking up on a month's worth of "bottled water and tinned goods" - because China's financial woe will cause worldwide economic carnage.

http://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/6 ... day-crisis

Crap. I needed to buy Mr Ohso some packs of bottled water. Forgot to get it yesterday. He has to drink large amounts after his treatment. Now it'll look as if I'm panic buying.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:10 pm

Really excellent humour makes life so much more bearable during hard times.
It's got to come from a compassionate heart and mind.
Of course, those hard times need to stop at a time in the not-to-distant future, no joke about that.

tinyclanger2 · Post by **tinyclanger2** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:10 pm

I hope Mr Ohso is wearing one of his famed outfits while in recovery.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:13 pm

ohsocynical wrote:
Gordon Brown's ex-adviser says panic-buy BOTTLED WATER and TINNED GOODS over China crisis

A FORMER adviser to ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged Britons to begin stocking up on a month's worth of "bottled water and tinned goods" - because China's financial woe will cause worldwide economic carnage.

http://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/6 ... day-crisis
Crap. I needed to buy Mr Ohso some packs of bottled water. Forgot to get it yesterday. He has to drink large amounts after his treatment. Now it'll look as if I'm panic buying.

Do it with spirited conviction, be proud about it, face down any piffling sniggering with resolute Ohso eye contact.
What.
Say it just like that.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:14 pm

Five charts that show why Australia is facing financial MELTDOWN

UNEMPLOYMENT in Australia is rising and economic growth is slowing with experts fearing the country is about to go through a significant downturn.

http://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/5 ... al-trouble

They came through 2008 quite well...Voted in a Conservative government and now look at them.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:16 pm

tinyclanger2 wrote:I hope Mr Ohso is wearing one of his famed outfits while in recovery.

He's growing his beard for his Father Christmas stint again this year. I wouldn't let him wear the outfit...

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:19 pm

Paul Massara has left npower after German parent group RWE confirmed profits at UK arm fell by almost two-thirds, to £38m, in first six months of 2015.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... g-problems" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He'd been there two years.
According to the article, he had to take his chief financial officer with him.
The company refused to tell reporters what kind of severance pay they'd give them.
Complaints galore over the billing system.
My husband and I switched from npower over two and a half years ago.
We've been happy having left them.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:24 pm

ohsocynical wrote:
Five charts that show why Australia is facing financial MELTDOWN

UNEMPLOYMENT in Australia is rising and economic growth is slowing with experts fearing the country is about to go through a significant downturn.

http://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/5 ... al-trouble
They came through 2008 quite well...Voted in a Conservative government and now look at them.

(my bold)

Trade mark the bold bit, Ohso.
We can post it repeatedly until it's embossed into the psyche of the nations.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:25 pm

Genuine question.

Is Osborne in overall control in tackling this latest crisis? God help us if he is.

I hope Labour are making very careful notes about what he does, and says...

Wouldn't it be nice if they had something to sling at the Tories in 2020.

TechnicalEphemera · Post by **TechnicalEphemera** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:26 pm

For those struggling with China, the following document gives an excellent insight into the likely impact of a recession on UK&EU industries.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... future.pdf

A little old but I think you can safely extrapolate.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:29 pm

Petition To debate a vote of no confidence in DWP secretary Ian Duncan Smith

For denying the existence of, and refusing to publish data on the deaths of claimants of incapacity benefit and employment and support allowance between November 2011 and May 2014. This is despite the rulings of the Information Commissioner and public pressure resulting in a 200,000 strong petition.

27,816 signatures

At 100,000 signatures, this petition will be considered for debate in Parliament

Deadline 21 January 2016

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/104436" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:34 pm

Jim Pickard ‏@PickardJE 42 secs42 seconds ago

Prescott at Burnham rally: "Chuka and, what his name is, Tristan Hunt? A right academic. Maybe he should have stayed at the university."

Ouch!

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:38 pm

TechnicalEphemera wrote:For those struggling with China, the following document gives an excellent insight into the likely impact of a recession on UK&EU industries.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... future.pdf

A little old but I think you can safely extrapolate.

Yep - Chancellor Jeff is a clueless fellow.
From the report:

GETTING PERSPECTIVE
Looking ahead -China’s potential as an export market
- The IMF’s latest forecasts suggest China’s import market will be worth over £3tn by 2020.
- If the UK maintains its market share, UK exports to China will be worth just over £30bn by 2020.
- But if the UK closes the gap on the EU-3, exports could rise from £12.5bn in 2011 to almost £60bn by 2020 -equivalent to around 10% of the total increase in UK exports needed to meet the Chancellor’s £1tn export aspiration.

TechnicalEphemera · Post by **TechnicalEphemera** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:40 pm

ohsocynical wrote:Genuine question.

Is Osborne in overall control in tackling this latest crisis? God help us if he is.

I hope Labour are making very careful notes about what he does, and says...

Wouldn't it be nice if they had something to sling at the Tories in 2020.

There is nothing much Osborne can do with an equities crash (the fact the Chinese think they can is entertaining). He has to keep the UK economy growing and safeguard the retail banks.

Is he up to the job - errr No.

Best hope it fizzles out then.

Tonibel · Post by **Tonibel** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:40 pm

ohsocynical wrote:Genuine question.

Is Osborne in overall control in tackling this latest crisis? God help us if he is.

I hope Labour are making very careful notes about what he does, and says...

Wouldn't it be nice if they had something to sling at the Tories in 2020.

I'd be much happier if it was Gordon (and Alistair) than Gideon and Hamface in charge.

Glad Show got back safely.

Edited for full stop not comma as I know that is TM.

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:42 pm

the number of households where no one had ever worked had nearly doubled

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lmac/work ... -2014.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That number apparently didn't change in 2013/4- ie hadn't changed since IDS' welfare act kicked in.

Given that so many are in London, I think quite a lot are former refugees.

ephemerid · Post by **ephemerid** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:46 pm

TechnicalEphemera wrote:
TobyLatimer wrote:The government should scrap the Work Capability Assessment ....

Responding to the speech today by Iain Duncan Smith to which he barred journalists from attending, Labour leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn, who opposed the introduction of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) under the last Labour government, said:

11949436_1487600284867379_3826302575774828371_n.jpg
http://www.jeremyforlabour.com/scrap_th ... assessment
The problem is we do need some sort of WCA, although certainly not the IDS version of it. What exactly is Corbyn suggesting.

In 2013, Corbyn backed the calls for a full cumulative impact assessment on the WCA and assessment/benefit changes related to it.
It was formalised in the House by John McDonnell and the debate was held in February 2014.

A group of backbenchers (including the above) called for the CIA to be done, with a pause on further re-assessments while it was considered (new claims would have to be assessed at 13 weeks as laid down in the legislation, although at that point it had not been made public how far behind the first assessments were).
What happened, as we know now, was that rapid and repeated re-assessments and the migration of IB claimants to ESA or JSA carried on while the new claimants were ignored, leading to a 700,000 backlog of people kept artificially on the lowest possible rate of benefits; as yet we have no figures on how Maximus is now dealing with that.

Among the ideas suggested in the debate were - assessments brought back in-house, as with the old Personal Capability Assessment; reform of the current descriptors with particular emphasis on mental health; implementation, in full, of the Harrington guidelines; a completely new system with much more reliance on GP, consultant, physio/OT, MH nurses, etc. to provide evidence.

I do not know what Corbyn would put in its' place, as he hasn't said; I would expect him to pause in the way described above, then ask his shadow cabinet to consult then put forward ideas. I certainly think he will be amenable to listening to campaign groups.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:48 pm

Extract from Andy Burnham speech: 24 August.

The Labour party I lead will be the most hard working opposition anyone has ever seen.
We will run the government ragged every day. And we will be an opposition not fighting for its own causes, but one that is fighting for power.

Hard to explain. I know what he means but it doesn't sound right. Shouldn't he be telling people he will be fighting for their cause as well as for power?

Where do they get their speech writers from!

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:53 pm

ephemerid wrote:
TechnicalEphemera wrote:
TobyLatimer wrote:The government should scrap the Work Capability Assessment ....

Responding to the speech today by Iain Duncan Smith to which he barred journalists from attending, Labour leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn, who opposed the introduction of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) under the last Labour government, said:

11949436_1487600284867379_3826302575774828371_n.jpg
http://www.jeremyforlabour.com/scrap_th ... assessment
The problem is we do need some sort of WCA, although certainly not the IDS version of it. What exactly is Corbyn suggesting.

In 2013, Corbyn backed the calls for a full cumulative impact assessment on the WCA and assessment/benefit changes related to it.
It was formalised in the House by John McDonnell and the debate was held in February 2014.

A group of backbenchers (including the above) called for the CIA to be done, with a pause on further re-assessments while it was considered (new claims would have to be assessed at 13 weeks as laid down in the legislation, although at that point it had not been made public how far behind the first assessments were).
What happened, as we know now, was that rapid and repeated re-assessments and the migration of IB claimants to ESA or JSA carried on while the new claimants were ignored, leading to a 700,000 backlog of people kept artificially on the lowest possible rate of benefits; as yet we have no figures on how Maximus is now dealing with that.

Among the ideas suggested in the debate were - assessments brought back in-house, as with the old Personal Capability Assessment; reform of the current descriptors with particular emphasis on mental health; implementation, in full, of the Harrington guidelines; a completely new system with much more reliance on GP, consultant, physio/OT, MH nurses, etc. to provide evidence.

I do not know what Corbyn would put in its' place, as he hasn't said; I would expect him to pause in the way described above, then ask his shadow cabinet to consult then put forward ideas. I certainly think he will be amenable to listening to campaign groups.

He said the other day that if he did become leader, he wanted to include as many as possible in decision making. I sincerely hope he manages to do that and knows how to take good advice from those more knowledgeable than himself.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:56 pm

Deleted because I didn't even understand it myself.

utopiandreams · Post by **utopiandreams** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 7:56 pm

TechnicalEphemera wrote:... The problem is we do need some sort of WCA, although certainly not the IDS version of it. What exactly is Corbyn suggesting.

Perhaps I may be of some help here, TE, albeit I don't know the answer to Corbyn's suggestion plus ephe and others are for more qualified than I, nevertheless I do have experience of DLA claims for both my wife and daughter before it was introduced in its current form.

At that time after completing an exhaustive claim form describing the condition with supportive evidence, the DWP or DHSS as it may have been would send an appointed doctor unknown to the claimant to thoroughly examine them in their home with whatever information had been provided. Should they require further info rather than pester claimants they would notify the reason for delay whilst seeking further details directly from doctors, consultants or other significant parties. The whole thing took approximately three months.

So call it a WCA if you like, but the primary concern was the claimant's needs and not their ability to work. Obviously appeals were available for those turned down of which I have no knowledge, but my daughter did have a WCA within the last year as have the other two that live with her. All of them were correctly identified as unfit for work regardless of the fact that strictly speaking their allowances have nothing to do with capability to work.

Things may of course have been been different for ESA, something I myself was advised to claim when suffering from depression but never did.

Postscript: perhaps I should have refreshed or looked ahead, I see ephe has indeed provided more detail.

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 8:00 pm

HindleA wrote:NB beware the misuse of statistics households change all the time.It doesn't literally mean no individual has never worked of a particular household at a point in time.It also ignores occasional/seasonal work.

Yep.

They managed to have it both ways.

1) Lots of people unemployed because Labour crashed the economy.
2) Lots of people unemployed because Labour had a crap welfare system.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 8:07 pm

Apple CEO Tim Cook took the unusual step of commenting on the help of Apple’s business halfway through a financial quarter, via CNBC.

"I get updates on our performance in China every day, including this morning, and I can tell you that we have continued to experience strong growth for our business in China through July and August. Growth in iPhone activations has actually accelerated over the past few weeks, and we have had the best performance of the year for the App Store in China during the last 2 weeks.

Obviously I can’t predict the future, but our performance so far this quarter is reassuring. Additionally, I continue to believe that China represents an unprecedented opportunity over the long term."

Apple shares are now 0.7% down on market opening, while the Dow Jones has slipped 3.4%.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/liv ... a0c2408e30" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 8:11 pm

Tubby Isaacs wrote:
HindleA wrote:NB beware the misuse of statistics households change all the time.It doesn't literally mean no individual has never worked of a particular household at a point in time.It also ignores occasional/seasonal work.
Yep.

They managed to have it both ways.

1) Lots of people unemployed because Labour crashed the economy.
2) Lots of people unemployed because Labour had a crap welfare system.

Paradoxical manipulation from Tory government devoid of honour or truth

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 8:23 pm

Tory MP Nadhim Zahawi lands job with oil firm Gulf Keystone
Iraqi-born MP takes part-time role as chief strategy officer and will advise the British oil exploration company on its operations in Kurdistan
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... f-keystone" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Since being elected to the solid Conservative seat of Stratford-on-Avon, Zahawi has retained his business interests, partly via his company Zahawi & Zahawi, which he co-owns with his wife, Lana. In the past year Zahawi & Zahawi has advised YouGov as well as oil and gas explorer Afren. Zahawi also owns shares in a recruitment company, SThree, and takes home £3,333 a month for seven hours’ work as a non-executive director for the firm.

I can't even bear to work out what that makes his hourly rate. And to think Osborne and the likes of Zahawi are crowing about raising the minimum wage to £7.20 ... but not for young people of course.

LadyCentauria · Post by **LadyCentauria** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 8:28 pm

gilsey wrote:
The employee goes to their doctor, and after a short assessment, their doctor signs them off work.

Too often, even early on, no one at work maintains regular contact with them.

And after successive sick notes, their original condition then gets worse.

An opportunity to keep the prospect of a return to work within sight is lost.

Instead, they move onto sick pay, and then at some point are left to cascade onto sickness benefit.
This is beyond parody.

The people whose condition deteriorates get successive sick notes. Only in IDS' head could the process be inverted.
He's seriously out of control.

And, note the use of the word 'condition'. Much of the population will think 'illness' and associate it with whatever they regard as an illness, eg., a severe cold, 'flu (a bloody horrible illness when it is 'flu!) bronchitis, childhood ailments (mostly horrible for adults,) but fairly easily curable and from which people get better after a week or a couple of months at most. They don't think about serious, long-term, debilitating conditions which might be difficult to cure, or impossible; let alone of ones with symptoms that cannot be alleviated. Those sorts of things don't happen to people like them - and, if they do, "look at how so-and-so soldiers on" – or how they went back to work once their broken bone had been set and plastered-up...

IDS' every word is designed to deceive and sow division.

LadyCentauria · Post by **LadyCentauria** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 8:30 pm

@ephe: I haven't read through all of the posts, yet, but am very relieved that Show finally made it home and that the appointment with the doctor went ok. Sit on him. Show, not the doc

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 24 Aug, 2015 8:36 pm

CAROLINE LUCAS
Monday 24 August 2015
My message to Jeremy Corbyn: I can help you build a progressive majority
Through potential electoral pacts, we have a chance of beating the Tories in 2020
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/com ... 69934.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

John Rentoul ‏@JohnRentoul 35m35 minutes ago
Laugh? I almost cried. Caroline Lucas to Corbyn: "I can help you build a progressive majority." @IndyVoices http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/com ... 69934.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …