FlyTheNest

TheGrimSqueaker wrote:Tatchell talking out of his arse, as usual.

"Peter Tatchell ‏@PeterTatchell · 2h
Gordon Brown claims Labour will defend NHS if Scots vote no. But his Labour govt began NHS privatisation with #PFI, creating huge NHS debts"

Nobody denies that Labour under Blair & Brown overused PFI, but they didn't begin privatisation and they didn't invent PFI. But facts never were one of Peter's strengths.

I like a lot of what he says, but trying to point out that the YES side have played at poaching rUK business, so can't complain if NO side do the same.

Wonder if YES ought just to have said see not much changing in broad tax/regulation terms?

Hobiejoe wrote:

letsskiptotheleft wrote:

Spacedone wrote:All three independence polls tonight have the result of 52% for No and 48% for Yes.

Shit at figures, but if you average all three out does it make it No 52% and Yes 48%?

There's five polls out tomorrow, make sure I get the calculator out for those! Then a sharp intake of breath, fill my lungs with fresh air and exhale! All over!

PaulfromYorkshire wrote:This is an interesting read

http://wakeupscotland.wordpress.com/201 ... ged-to-no/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ewan-morrison-yes-why-i-joined-yes-and-why-i-changed-to-no

I think he gets very close to the fears of some here, including me, though that's not to say he's right of course.

And an ITV political editor isn't very happy either:

http://www.itv.com/news/2014-09-16/i-ha ... eferendum/

Scottish Sun has to coin a twitter phrase ''bottled it'' Rupe and Salmond played footsie under the table, had a little flirt but it seems Alex wouldn't go all the way as Rupe wanted, Rupe pulled out, Alex though wouldn't pull out of anything to do with the EU.. Such a waste..

Right Newsnight, hopefully Kirsty is showing a bit less leg tonight.

No Kirsty, Emily tonight, and they are in Moffat, a lovely town, spent a few night there, walking with my dearly departed Hamish, lovely memories..

Blimey, just looked at the latest Rog & Rusty bustup and the Tory 'turfer has managed to reach a whole new low, comparing the NHS to "death camps". How does he get away with it, never even premodded despite writing the foulest posts? IDS must have given him a copy of the negatives.

YES side- UK Labour sold itself out to corporations.

YES side- It's not fair, corporations are saying they might leave us.

Because of course, UK Labour didn't face any pressures like that.
Oh hang on, maybe they understood that and they didn't just sell out for the sake of it!

Scotland of course did v well out of the financial services boom.

TheGrimSqueaker wrote:Blimey, just looked at the latest Rog & Rusty bustup and the Tory 'turfer has managed to reach a whole new low, comparing the NHS to "death camps". How does he get away with it, never even premodded despite writing the foulest posts? IDS must have given him a copy of the negatives.

I loved the way that he dismissed that HSJ article about the lack of transparency in the private sector as a nothing. Yeah, so that'll be why you avoided discussion of it so many times when it was pointed out to you then?

And the irony that the only reason anyone spotted it was because of his reliance on HSJ stories...

RogerOThornhill wrote:

TheGrimSqueaker wrote:Blimey, just looked at the latest Rog & Rusty bustup and the Tory 'turfer has managed to reach a whole new low, comparing the NHS to "death camps". How does he get away with it, never even premodded despite writing the foulest posts? IDS must have given him a copy of the negatives.

I loved the way that he dismissed that HSJ article about the lack of transparency in the private sector as a nothing. Yeah, so that'll be why you avoided discussion of it so many times when it was pointed out to you then?

And the irony that the only reason anyone spotted it was because of his reliance on HSJ stories...

Not been his day ...... again. Ach well, another day etc.

Night y'all.

rebeccariots2 wrote:Just thanked you for that tour de force, Ernst.

What fuel are you on .... rocket fuel?

A heady brew of sausages and Stella, augmented by chocolate. The Breakfast of Champions.

RobertSnozers wrote:

TheGrimSqueaker wrote:Blimey, just looked at the latest Rog & Rusty bustup and the Tory 'turfer has managed to reach a whole new low, comparing the NHS to "death camps". How does he get away with it, never even premodded despite writing the foulest posts? IDS must have given him a copy of the negatives.

He's probably a mod himself. Remember 'Fripouille'? (I think that was what he called himself).

Actually I don't please enlighten me.

MsChin wrote:

rebeccariots2 wrote:

Birmingham city council leader warns of 'ticking timebomb' of financial cuts
Sir Albert Bore says cuts over next four years will lead to more job losses and leave council unable to provide some services
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014 ... ncial-cuts

He predicted that over the next three years the council would shed 6,000 more jobs on top of the 7,000 lost since the start of the decade – the equivalent, he said, of taking out twice the workforce that lost their jobs at the Rover plant in Longbridge in 2005.

"Far from austerity being over, as some seem to believe, this is the biggest cut in mainstream funding we have seen so far. And the cuts are planned to continue for at least three more years," Bore said on Tuesday

That's a heck of a lot of jobs. There is no way job losses of that magnitude can't affect the front line services ... and then, of course, Birmingham CC will be berated and whipped for being a 'failing' authority.

I can’t describe how grim it is for those who work in local government at the moment. The axe keeps swinging and we know that the worst cuts have yet to come, as they kick in in 2016-17. We veer from hating the councillors for undermining national terms and conditions negotiated by our unions to feeling really sorry for them for having to make budget-driven decisions which are killing off services to those poor desperate people who depend on them. Every last thread of the safety net is being unpicked by the government and for councillors & officers, alike having to consult with the poor buggers whose lives you’re destroying about which is the least worse option is just ... I’m sure some of you know exactly what I mean.

The scale of budget cuts in local government means we’re unsustainable whatever we do.

It's only unsustainable if that choice is made centrally, which is what Pickles has done. These are his choice. Bury was always a lean council - we have to be as we get about the worst settlement in the country. If we received the Rochdale settlement from central government, I'm told we'd receive about £30m more! We could expand our services massively. Well that ain't gonna happen. All you've written is correct, but at least the workforce can be sure that the very, very last option we'd ever look at is privatising services. Just not in our DNA.

Interesting Newsnight segment on how the North might / will be affected by either a YES vote or greater powers devolved to Scotland. After Simon Schama's arm gestures it was the liveliest thing on tonight's programme - the audience seemed comatose. It seems some of the local entrepreneurs and businesses are worried about the implications of Scotland being able to lower corporation tax, offer various subsidies etc - it could make inward investment and keeping the investment and businesses they already have much more difficult.

I find myself increasingly wondering why we didn't have a two stage referendum - like Quebec - where people were first asked for a mandate to discuss and negotiate a possible independence settlement - and then a second vote on whether they supported independence based on the stated terms as negotiated. Seems much fairer for all concerned.

From the FT

Scottish independence: polls put No camp’s lead at four points
By Mure Dickie and George Parker in Edinburgh and Sam Fleming, Elizabeth Rigby and Patrick Jenkins in London

The campaign against Scottish independence from the UK is ahead but its lead is very small and still tightening, three new opinion polls have suggested amid intense and sometimes testy campaigning across the nation ahead of Thursday’s referendum.
The three polls all put support for remaining in the UK at 52 per cent with 48 per cent backing independence, when undecided voters are excluded – and all suggested support for a Yes vote was rising.

An ICM poll for the Scotsman showed the No camp’s lead down to four percentage points from the 10 points the pollster reported last month.
An Opinium poll for the Daily Telegraph and a Survation poll for the Scottish Daily Mail reported a two point-narrowing of the No lead since last week. However, the three polls gave differing estimates for the proportion of voters still undecided, which ranged from ICM’s 14 per cent to Opinium’s 6 per cent.

TechnicalEphemera wrote:

RobertSnozers wrote:

TheGrimSqueaker wrote:Blimey, just looked at the latest Rog & Rusty bustup and the Tory 'turfer has managed to reach a whole new low, comparing the NHS to "death camps". How does he get away with it, never even premodded despite writing the foulest posts? IDS must have given him a copy of the negatives.

He's probably a mod himself. Remember 'Fripouille'? (I think that was what he called himself).

Actually I don't please enlighten me.

Fripouille was (is?) a regular poster on Waddya, could be very dogmatic and has a tendency to think himself 'King of the Internet' (his word is the last one) especially when he has partaken of strong drink.

RS, Frip wasn't a mod, just very irritating. I know people who have met him and he is exactly what he seems to be, an ageing wannabe rocker from Liverpool, now living in central France, who still thinks of himself as a ladies man.