FlyTheNest

rebeccariots2 wrote:

yahyah wrote:

ErnstRemarx wrote: The current legal maximum, AFAIK, is 2%, after which you trigger a local ballot of electors (who'll probably say no) and gain Fat Eric's eternal interest in your council, which he will then probably persecute to the best of his abilities, which I suppose means he'll probably royally screw up, as he does with everything else that he touches. Still, not a wise idea to try it - anyone suggesting it to me would get a curt 'get stuffed'.

We had a 4.4% rise here in Ceredigion from April 2014.

Ceredigion seem to be generally expensive. The parking charges in Cardigan are eye watering in comparison to nearby Pembs and Carmarthenshire towns. Cardigan £2.10 for up to 3 hours. Fishguard 70p for equivalent. Carmarthen 40p when we were last there.

Tubby Isaacs wrote:This is like swatting flies.

ErnstRemarx wrote:

ohsocynical wrote:

ErnstRemarx wrote: Ouch.

There have been so many bad choices in this government many of them merge into one big nightmare, but wasn't there warnings that it was the first time ever [?] the post had been given to someone with no legal background and it was risky?
Was it Ken Clarke?

Well, given that they gave the role of Chancellor to someone with a degree in history, no economics experience, and no business experience beyond being a towel folder, I think it's pretty par for the course that they'd appoint a complete idiot with no legal knowledge as Lord Chancellor, in a similar way to having an environment minister who refuses to listen to environmental experts about the badger cull, a health secretary who believes in homeopathy and a minister responsible for the subject of climate change who doesn't believe in it at all.

Tubby Isaacs wrote:Christ, that is one bellend. The other guy you could reason with a bit but didn't admit he'd been caught talking bollocks.

ohsocynical wrote:

ErnstRemarx wrote:

ohsocynical wrote: There have been so many bad choices in this government many of them merge into one big nightmare, but wasn't there warnings that it was the first time ever [?] the post had been given to someone with no legal background and it was risky?
Was it Ken Clarke?

Well, given that they gave the role of Chancellor to someone with a degree in history, no economics experience, and no business experience beyond being a towel folder, I think it's pretty par for the course that they'd appoint a complete idiot with no legal knowledge as Lord Chancellor, in a similar way to having an environment minister who refuses to listen to environmental experts about the badger cull, a health secretary who believes in homeopathy and a minister responsible for the subject of climate change who doesn't believe in it at all.

I wish I could Twitter that in its entirety.

RobertSnozers wrote:

rebeccariots2 wrote: It's not 'a common sense policy' - it's just nasty them and us garbage speak.

That's pretty terrible. Less so but still worrying is the declaration that bicycles would be relegated to the pavement in Ukip Britain. For one thing, this would increase collisions with pedestrians massively. For another thing, what do they mean 'back to the pavement'? Bicycles were using roads before motor vehicles were! Cycles don't hold up traffic, they are traffic! They don't cause congestion, they reduce it. Can you imagine what would happen if every cyclist in London switched to a car? Cycling isn't a 'past time' (sic), it's a way of life for many people, the best or only way to get to work for many others. Ukip pursuing the Top Gear vote evidently.

Chris Mason ‏@ChrisMasonBBC 31m31 minutes ago
Lib Dems email to remind journos to accredit for Spring Conference. If we don't by end of week "you’ll have to stump up £82m I’m afraid."

The Scottish government has been accused of falling into line with Tory tax cuts after the finance minister, John Swinney, announced changes to flagship legislation that he previously described as emblematic of the SNP’s approach to a more progressive taxation system in Scotland.

Described as a new mansion tax to fund a cut in sales duty on affordable homes, the land and building transaction tax (LBTT) was unveiled last October as a replacement for stamp duty, with an incremental scale of rates under which buyers of homes worth £1m, for example, would pay £78,300 in tax, compared with £50,000 under the old system. The scheme comes into force in April.

In December the UK chancellor, George Osborne, announced his own changes to stamp duty, resulting in properties at the higher end of the market attracting a lower rate of tax than under the proposed Scottish system. Industry experts said this would lead to panic-buying before April and a flattening of the upper portion of the Scottish property market afterwards.

The Scottish government then announced plans to review its scheme, which Osborne described as an early example of “tax competition in action” between the countries. The revised scheme announced on Wednesday has a higher starting rate and includes a new band of 5% tax for properties priced between £250,000 and £325,000. The 12% marginal rate will now apply to houses costing more than £750,000, rather than £1m.

RobertSnozers wrote:

Tubby Isaacs wrote:This is like swatting flies.

I particularly enjoyed 'you're making a fool of yourself because...! Oh, I can't post links. Google it!'

RobertSnozers wrote:

Tubby Isaacs wrote:This is like swatting flies.

I particularly enjoyed 'you're making a fool of yourself because...! Oh, I can't post links. Google it!'

TheGrimSqueaker wrote:

RobertSnozers wrote:

Tubby Isaacs wrote:This is like swatting flies.

I particularly enjoyed 'you're making a fool of yourself because...! Oh, I can't post links. Google it!'

Both of them have now blocked everybody and, despite the fact that kicked the whole thing off, are whining about being bullied. I may watch my tongue on here (hence my recent silence) but I have no such compunction with fools like those two.

ErnstRemarx wrote:

yahyah wrote:

ErnstRemarx wrote: The current legal maximum, AFAIK, is 2%, after which you trigger a local ballot of electors (who'll probably say no) and gain Fat Eric's eternal interest in your council, which he will then probably persecute to the best of his abilities, which I suppose means he'll probably royally screw up, as he does with everything else that he touches. Still, not a wise idea to try it - anyone suggesting it to me would get a curt 'get stuffed'.

We had a 4.4% rise here in Ceredigion from April 2014.

That's a biggie - was there a ballot, or was that down to agreements regarding other precepts (from the local umbrella waste authority, for example) that ensured that the measured rise wouldn't hit Jubba's radar?

WelshIan wrote:

ErnstRemarx wrote:

yahyah wrote:
We had a 4.4% rise here in Ceredigion from April 2014.

That's a biggie - was there a ballot, or was that down to agreements regarding other precepts (from the local umbrella waste authority, for example) that ensured that the measured rise wouldn't hit Jubba's radar?

There is no cap on council tax increases in Wales. There is an informal agreement to keep rises below 5%.

ohsocynical wrote:

TheGrimSqueaker wrote:

RobertSnozers wrote: I particularly enjoyed 'you're making a fool of yourself because...! Oh, I can't post links. Google it!'

Both of them have now blocked everybody and, despite the fact that kicked the whole thing off, are whining about being bullied. I may watch my tongue on here (hence my recent silence) but I have no such compunction with fools like those two.

I presume they blocked me too. Good riddance.
I told one he was an embarrassment to decent Greens [like Tizme] then bowed out because you can't argue with idiots like that. At one point one of them made a post that any Kipper would be proud to write.

RobertSnozers wrote:

ohsocynical wrote:Just look at the earth shattering observations my MP makes.

@DrPhillipLeeMP says Energy is fundamentally important to the health of our nation and our futures #bigenergydebate

I hear he also thinks oxygen is good for you

RobertSnozers wrote:

ohsocynical wrote:Just look at the earth shattering observations my MP makes.

@DrPhillipLeeMP says Energy is fundamentally important to the health of our nation and our futures #bigenergydebate

I hear he also thinks oxygen is good for you

ohsocynical wrote:Just look at the earth shattering observations my MP makes.

@DrPhillipLeeMP says Energy is fundamentally important to the health of our nation and our futures #bigenergydebate

RogerOThornhill wrote:

ohsocynical wrote:Just look at the earth shattering observations my MP makes.

@DrPhillipLeeMP says Energy is fundamentally important to the health of our nation and our futures #bigenergydebate

I tend to think that any statement that doesn't pass the "Who would ever disagree with this?" test is utterly pointless.

ohsocynical wrote:Just look at the earth shattering observations my MP makes.

@DrPhillipLeeMP says Energy is fundamentally important to the health of our nation and our futures #bigenergydebate

rebeccariots2 wrote:

Lib Dem Leaflet Bristol West.jpg

Kerry McCarthy MP retweeted
Sam Johnson ‏@thelarker67 8m8 minutes ago Bristol, England
Is this best @LibDems can do in #Bristol West? Five years in govt & no achievements to note. PATHETIC. @KerryMP

That is a corker. Note the careful use of 'Ed Miliband's Labour candidate' - no name, and hoping to maximise the sneer by using Miliband instead. Is this the 'different' politics the Lib Dems were so proud of. Hoping Tizme along later to comment on the jibe at the Green Party too.

ErnstRemarx wrote: Thanks - I didn't know that! You're lucky to not have that fat bastard breathing down your necks and trying to centralise all your functions.

Tubby Isaacs wrote:Durham Free School still digging.

Parents have been invited in to talk to the Daily Mail tmrw.

Honestly!

rebeccariots2 wrote:
Marcus John ‏@MarcusBirding 2h2 hours ago
@OwenJones84 Are Labour 100% committed to PR??

Owen Jones ‏@OwenJones84 2h2 hours ago
@MarcusBirding Not at all. But if they're the biggest party in a hung parliament, the small parties can make referendum condition of support

Marcus John ‏@MarcusBirding 2h2 hours ago
@OwenJones84 fair point. But I will still act and vote on principle not expediency

Tubby Isaacs wrote:Brasseye.

ErnstRemarx wrote:

rebeccariots2 wrote:

brightonhovelabour ‏@bhlabour 3h3 hours ago Hove, England
Labour reaction to Green Party decision to set illegal budget in #Brighton and #Hove
http://www.brightonhovelabour.com/labou ... gal_budget" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

I'm a metropolitan borough councillor (as you are probably tired of hearing!), and if the Greens set an illegal budget, as a Labour party member, I'd be wishing them bon voyage as they will be disqualified from their posts as councillors and surcharged as well. Good riddance to them. The point of power is having to cope with what is thrown at you, rather than pretending that you can alter reality by ignoring it. Pickles' goons will be just waiting for the B&H Greens to submit an illegal budget - which the city's S151 will have to inform the government that he cannot pass, as it is fiscally insecure - then watch the carnage.

Tizme/Tem - if you're reading, use whatever influence you can with your colleagues on the south coast, as they are about to commit political suicide.

The Sydney Morning Herald described it as “a bunch of bed-hopping halfwits saddled with... very, very lousy dialogue”, and went on to call it the worst show in TV history.

TechnicalEphemera wrote:
When did the Scots start reading government propaganda as news?

All the evidence is that Blair isn't behind the delays, there are clearly American sensitivities in play.

TechnicalEphemera wrote:According to the Indy, new US comedy about a fictional British Royal family has been panned by critics. In particular they say.

The Sydney Morning Herald described it as “a bunch of bed-hopping halfwits saddled with... very, very lousy dialogue”, and went on to call it the worst show in TV history.

It may be a hopeless comedy but in portraying the royals as a bunch of bed-hopping halfwits I believe it is likely to be an excellent documentary.