Thursday October 15th 2015

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 1:16 pm

citizenJA wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote:
Robert Hutton ‏@RobDotHutton 18m18 minutes ago
Just found @mdawheatcroft's little book summarising UK govt finances. Looks really useful. http://amzn.to/1MrKKRD" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Yes it does.
The past few weeks, ahead of a ‘supplementary’ Budget, have been remarkably exciting

Interestingly, most of this debate is not about the Government’s financial budget for the current year, the main subject of a Budget announcement. Rather it is focused on the Chancellor’s four-year plan to cut expenditure until there is a surplus in cash terms and about how we can improve the tax and welfare system to make it more effective.

This shifting of the debate is welcome.

Perhaps even more welcome is the realisation that our public finances need to be managed much better than they have been in the past. Not only does our Government owe £1.5 trillion in debt, but it has £1.3 trillion in unfunded public sector pension obligations on its whole-of-government accounting balance sheet that will need to be paid for by increased taxes or through further cuts in welfare or public services. And that is even before considering how we find the money to pay for the costs of an increasingly long-lived population, with the future cost of the state pension alone estimated to be more than £4 trillion in a recent report by the Centre for Policy Studies.

Hence what would be most welcome in this Budget would be an announcement of a comprehensive financial review, as called for by the ICAEW*. Considering income, expenditure, cash flow and the balance sheet over the long-term, it would lead to the development of a coherent long-term financial strategy setting out how we can achieve sustainable public finances over the next quarter of a century and beyond.

It is time for a coherent long-term strategy. A plan that not only sets out how we can fund our nation in the future, but that also establishes a path to replacing a failed system of tax and welfare.

Martin Wheatcroft is managing director of Pendan

http://pendan.uk/
*The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)

Edited to make clear I think the above is frightening.
The text distances Tory government from the debt racked up under their bad leadership.
The text makes social security provision successfully managed for decades in the UK the reason for current debt.
'Long-term strategy', a close relative of 'longtermeconomicplan'

The bit in red makes it slightly more balanced than Osbornomics. You can balance the current budget by raising more tax so the piece is making the point that Osborne tries to deny, that cuts/austerity are just an option, not a necessity. By cutting taxes the Tories are making it harder to pay for the services people want. If a future government wants to improve services, it's starting from a lower tax base than before the Tories came along. Instead of simply leaving taxes where they are to pay for things, they are faced with having to put taxes up, just to get back to where we were, and it's difficult to get elected on a platform of tax rises.

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 1:22 pm

It's been noticed that the provisional GCSE results are out for 2015 by school...and I would imagine that the DfE, given their radio silence so far, are working out how to spin this one.

Pupils at sponsored academies open for 5 years achieving 5 GCSEs....46.1%
Pupils at LA schools achieving 5 GCSEs.........................................55.1%

Converter were more likely to be Good or Outstanding in the first place which is why they were let convert and which is why the "open for 5 years or more" is higher.

If you can't get up to 50% or more after 5 years then you're not likely to.

Hardly the evidence that says that sponsored academies is the only way to go as the current thinking seems to be.

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 1:30 pm

Wait.

I spoke too soon...here's the spin.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/acad ... -programme

Alongside this, figures show recently-opened sponsored academies are matching or bettering their performance year-on-year, in spite of the significant challenges of transforming underperforming schools.

Increases over the first few years of performance for sponsored academies demonstrate the rapid improvement which can be achieved when underperforming schools are taken over by strong sponsors.

What?

That's simply a lie - if you look at the year on year results, they're hardly moving. Notice that there are no %ages given for sponsored schools unlike the converters.

I thought Gibb said they weren't favouring academies over LA schools?

Liar.

TheGrimSqueaker · Post by **TheGrimSqueaker** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 1:43 pm

ephemerid wrote:
ohsocynical wrote:
ephemerid wrote:
Yes - have two slices. There's a Dundee cake too, but without the almonds on the top (Co-op's closed at o3.30)

There are also some little filo borek pastries with feta and spinach; very peppery sausage rolls; and some apple and blackberry turnovers.

Extended bouts of insomnia are grim, but you get a lot done.

I've re-decorated the living room, made new curtains and cushion covers, sorted out all our stuuuuufffff and made up 6 binbags of usable things for the charity shops, and finished a very big abstract canvas.

Tonight I intend to feed the world and achieve world peace. That's if I don't get a bit of kip, obvs.
How does Show react to your insomnia? Can he sleep through your working? Mr Ohso doesn't/can't.

Show is a man who can sleep on a washing line in a gale. With the London Community Gospel Choir going for broke in the background.

Poor old Mr.OhSo. I know how he feels - I don't sleep a lot at the best of times, but when I'm like this the slightest thing disturbs me.

Show's an owl and I'm a lark - he has to creep about quietly and turn the telly/music down if I'm in bed, but I can crash about like Nelly the Elephant and he snores through it all.

Not fair, really, is it?

A lark and an elephant? Could lead to confusion.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 1:50 pm

Andrew Woodcock ‏@AndyWoodcock 5m5 minutes ago
.@David_Cameron promises to quicken pace of EU renegotiation with details of demands at start of Nov #EURef

Quicken? I thought Dave has been claiming he's already been out there smarming and charming as though his political life depended on it ... whistlestop tours round the EU leaders?

I'm waiting with bated (baited?) breath for the details of demands though. Expect limp fish rather than anything significant or actually reforming.

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 1:51 pm

RogerOThornhill wrote: Converter were more likely to be Good or Outstanding in the first place which is why they were let convert and which is why the "open for 5 years or more" is higher.

Just on this, on all applications for conversion to academy status...83% were Good or Outstanding on application.

Ofsted currently shows Good / Outstanding for all secondaries as being 73%.

Spin, spin and more spin...I could see that coming 5 years ago - let the Good and Outstanding schools convert and then tell everyone that their success is because of academy status.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 1:51 pm

Willow904 wrote:
citizenJA wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote: Yes it does.
The past few weeks, ahead of a ‘supplementary’ Budget, have been remarkably exciting

Interestingly, most of this debate is not about the Government’s financial budget for the current year, the main subject of a Budget announcement. Rather it is focused on the Chancellor’s four-year plan to cut expenditure until there is a surplus in cash terms and about how we can improve the tax and welfare system to make it more effective.

This shifting of the debate is welcome.

Perhaps even more welcome is the realisation that our public finances need to be managed much better than they have been in the past. Not only does our Government owe £1.5 trillion in debt, but it has £1.3 trillion in unfunded public sector pension obligations on its whole-of-government accounting balance sheet that will need to be paid for by increased taxes or through further cuts in welfare or public services. And that is even before considering how we find the money to pay for the costs of an increasingly long-lived population, with the future cost of the state pension alone estimated to be more than £4 trillion in a recent report by the Centre for Policy Studies.

Hence what would be most welcome in this Budget would be an announcement of a comprehensive financial review, as called for by the ICAEW*. Considering income, expenditure, cash flow and the balance sheet over the long-term, it would lead to the development of a coherent long-term financial strategy setting out how we can achieve sustainable public finances over the next quarter of a century and beyond.

It is time for a coherent long-term strategy. A plan that not only sets out how we can fund our nation in the future, but that also establishes a path to replacing a failed system of tax and welfare.

Martin Wheatcroft is managing director of Pendan

http://pendan.uk/
*The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)

Edited to make clear I think the above is frightening.
The text distances Tory government from the debt racked up under their bad leadership.
The text makes social security provision successfully managed for decades in the UK the reason for current debt.
'Long-term strategy', a close relative of 'longtermeconomicplan'
The bit in red makes it slightly more balanced than Osbornomics. You can balance the current budget by raising more tax so the piece is making the point that Osborne tries to deny, that cuts/austerity are just an option, not a necessity. By cutting taxes the Tories are making it harder to pay for the services people want. If a future government wants to improve services, it's starting from a lower tax base than before the Tories came along. Instead of simply leaving taxes where they are to pay for things, they are faced with having to put taxes up, just to get back to where we were, and it's difficult to get elected on a platform of tax rises.

Agreed.
Having looked through more information about Wheatcroft, I think his position may be less nefarious than I originally thought.
Thank you for responding.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 1:55 pm

TheGrimSqueaker wrote:
ephemerid wrote:
ohsocynical wrote: How does Show react to your insomnia? Can he sleep through your working? Mr Ohso doesn't/can't.

Show is a man who can sleep on a washing line in a gale. With the London Community Gospel Choir going for broke in the background.

Poor old Mr.OhSo. I know how he feels - I don't sleep a lot at the best of times, but when I'm like this the slightest thing disturbs me.

Show's an owl and I'm a lark - he has to creep about quietly and turn the telly/music down if I'm in bed, but I can crash about like Nelly the Elephant and he snores through it all.

Not fair, really, is it?
A lark and an elephant? Could lead to confusion.

Horton!

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 2:16 pm

Wasn't there supposed to be a Commons vote on Syria this week?

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 2:26 pm

Labour Press Team Retweeted

Mirror Politics ‏@MirrorPolitics 2 mins2 minutes ago

Tories axe plans to kick 30,000 nurses out of Britain in screeching U-turn

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/to ... ar_twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

55DegreesNorth · Post by **55DegreesNorth** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 2:28 pm

RogerOThornhill wrote:Wait.

I spoke too soon...here's the spin.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/acad ... -programme

Alongside this, figures show recently-opened sponsored academies are matching or bettering their performance year-on-year, in spite of the significant challenges of transforming underperforming schools.

Increases over the first few years of performance for sponsored academies demonstrate the rapid improvement which can be achieved when underperforming schools are taken over by strong sponsors.
What?

That's simply a lie - if you look at the year on year results, they're hardly moving. Notice that there are no %ages given for sponsored schools unlike the converters.

I thought Gibb said they weren't favouring academies over LA schools?

Liar.

Sponsored academies have 'improved' by -5.1 over the last 2 years. That's me convinced.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 2:34 pm

Down is up;3=2.I blame the education system.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 2:37 pm

I think we should encourage Hugo back here, have spotted his second Cif identity today.
It must be exhausting for him.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 2:39 pm

Mid Staffordshire NHS trust to face criminal charges over deaths
Trust to appear before Stafford magistrates court after HSE brings charges over deaths of four patients between 2005 and 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015 ... al-charges" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 2:45 pm

yahyah wrote:I think we should encourage Hugo back here, have spotted his second Cif identity today.
It must be exhausting for him.

Please don't - that was embarrassing to watch. His anti-Corbynism has plumbed new depths in sneering and sarcasm.

Post by **PaulfromYorkshire** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 2:49 pm

I think Cameron's honeymoon is nearly over with this EU renegotiation shambles. I almost feel sorry for him

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 2:56 pm

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Wasn't there supposed to be a Commons vote on Syria this week?

UK policy on Syria
Oral evidence
Thursday 8 October 2015

http://data.parliament.uk/writteneviden ... /22586.pdf

This was all I found.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 3:00 pm

HindleA wrote:Down is up;3=2.I blame the education system.

It's all the fault of that book,1984.
I received an e-mail from government letting me know.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 3:07 pm

citizenJA wrote:
AnatolyKasparov wrote:Wasn't there supposed to be a Commons vote on Syria this week?

UK policy on Syria
Oral evidence
Thursday 8 October 2015

http://data.parliament.uk/writteneviden ... /22586.pdf
This was all I found.

Ta.

Its just last week's Absurder had been hyperventilating over "50-100 MPs set to defy Jez" (its actually a free vote on the Labour side, but never mind) as if something was imminent.

Seemingly not.

TheGrimSqueaker · Post by **TheGrimSqueaker** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 3:11 pm

yahyah wrote:Mid Staffordshire NHS trust to face criminal charges over deaths
Trust to appear before Stafford magistrates court after HSE brings charges over deaths of four patients between 2005 and 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015 ... al-charges" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

To 2014? That should give Rhyming Slang pause for thought, as it means it allegedly happened on his watch too.

TheGrimSqueaker · Post by **TheGrimSqueaker** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 3:35 pm

RobertSnozers wrote:
TheGrimSqueaker wrote:
yahyah wrote:Mid Staffordshire NHS trust to face criminal charges over deaths
Trust to appear before Stafford magistrates court after HSE brings charges over deaths of four patients between 2005 and 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015 ... al-charges" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
To 2014? That should give Rhyming Slang pause for thought, as it means it allegedly happened on his watch too.
Two took place after the Health and Social Care Act came into force.

None while Burnham was SofS, or in any ministerial position at the Department of Health.

Bet the sainted Julie hasn't been banging out tweets about those deaths!!

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 3:56 pm

http://www.itv.com/news/central/update/ ... s-charges/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

She did re-tweet this too:
Julie Bailey Retweeted
Jane Ball ‏@JaneEBall Oct 13
Jane Ball Retweeted Eileen Shepherd
Sickened rather than surprised. @Jeremy_Hunt & @DHgovuk commitment to #safestaffing post-Francis in tatters.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 3:59 pm

Feel for the families.
Having it all picked over in court won't be easy for them, even if they want to see the cases dealt with in court for some sort of closure and judgement on what may or may not have happened.

tinybgoat · Post by **tinybgoat** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 4:20 pm

UK government waters down financial regulation regime

http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... until-2018

senior managers are to be subject to a “duty of responsibility” clause. This requires them to take appropriate steps to prevent a regulatory breach, rather than the previous plan to “reverse the burden of proof” which would have forced managers to prove they had done the right thing.

Rob Moulton, regulatory partner at lawyers Ashurst, said: “This is a great step forward, and signals a pivotal moment in the relationship between the government and the regulators. There is no doubt who is the boss now.” The accountancy body the ICAEW said senior managers would be “breathing a huge sigh of relief”.

Really not sure if I'm misreading this.

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 4:38 pm

yahyah wrote:http://www.itv.com/news/central/update/ ... s-charges/

She did re-tweet this too:
Julie Bailey Retweeted
Jane Ball ‏@JaneEBall Oct 13
Jane Ball Retweeted Eileen Shepherd
Sickened rather than surprised. @Jeremy_Hunt & @DHgovuk commitment to #safestaffing post-Francis in tatters.

Finally seeing that Hunt isn't the saviour that she thought he was?

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 4:41 pm

Latest SNP broadcast is pretty dire.

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 4:44 pm

RogerOThornhill wrote:
yahyah wrote:http://www.itv.com/news/central/update/ ... s-charges/

She did re-tweet this too:
Julie Bailey Retweeted
Jane Ball ‏@JaneEBall Oct 13
Jane Ball Retweeted Eileen Shepherd
Sickened rather than surprised. @Jeremy_Hunt & @DHgovuk commitment to #safestaffing post-Francis in tatters.
Finally seeing that Hunt isn't the saviour that she thought he was?

Wonder if the right wing media will give the trial much of a splash if it can't be used solely against Burnham/Labour ?

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 4:50 pm

& forgot to say well done Yvette Cooper for her vote last night.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 4:54 pm

tinybgoat wrote:
UK government waters down financial regulation regime
http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... until-2018
senior managers are to be subject to a “duty of responsibility” clause. This requires them to take appropriate steps to prevent a regulatory breach, rather than the previous plan to “reverse the burden of proof” which would have forced managers to prove they had done the right thing.

Rob Moulton, regulatory partner at lawyers Ashurst, said: “This is a great step forward, and signals a pivotal moment in the relationship between the government and the regulators. There is no doubt who is the boss now.” The accountancy body the ICAEW said senior managers would be “breathing a huge sigh of relief”.
Really not sure if I'm misreading this.

I was wondering if I were the only one who can't make sense of the article and its title.
It's good to know I'm not alone.

howsillyofme1 · Post by **howsillyofme1** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:04 pm

yahyah wrote:& forgot to say well done Yvette Cooper for her vote last night.

Not surprised, she is a good politician and she will be watching and learning. She is still a contender

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:06 pm

Not sure how old Bailey is, her Wiki page seems shy of telling us.

But she may not really remember or have experienced how bad things were in the NHS under the Tories during the Thatcher & Major years.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:09 pm

yahyah wrote:& forgot to say well done Yvette Cooper for her vote last night.

Chuka is another one who pleasantly surprised, ditto Wes Streeting. Maybe there is hope yet for some........

Post by **refitman** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:10 pm

yahyah wrote:Not sure how old Bailey is, her Wiki page seems shy of telling us.

But she may not really remember or have experienced how bad things were in the NHS under the Tories during the Thatcher & Major years.

I'm sure she's older than me and I remember.

TobyLatimer · Post by **TobyLatimer** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:17 pm

She was 50 as of June 2013 in this Mail article. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -home.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:18 pm

Lucy Powell getting stuck into her brief I see.

Lucy Powell demands publication of government grammar school advice

http://schoolsweek.co.uk/lucy-powell-de ... ol-advice/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Shadow education secretary Lucy Powell has demanded the publication of advice received by Nicky Morgan ahead of her decision to approve plans for a grammar school in Kent.

Following the announcement that an application by the Weald of Kent grammar school to expand onto a new site seven miles away from its current base, Ms Powell has called for official advice the education secretary received on the matter to be published.

In a letter to Ms Morgan, Ms Powell said the approval of what is being described by government as an “annex” of the existing school suggested it was now “intent on increasing selection in our schools system by the back door”.

She continued: “The application appears to be a new school in all but name, and I am calling on you to publish immediately the advice that you have received from civil servants on this proposal.”

Excellent.

This will be interesting - they've been dragging their heels over this for ages. As I said early (I think) wonder if it got to the point where they thought "Sod it - just say yes and let the courts decide" - in which case the legal advice might be...minimal.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:20 pm

refitman wrote:
yahyah wrote:Not sure how old Bailey is, her Wiki page seems shy of telling us.

But she may not really remember or have experienced how bad things were in the NHS under the Tories during the Thatcher & Major years.
I'm sure she's older than me and I remember.

Being 20 years older than her I remember it well, but in those days we didn't hear as much about what was happenning as we do now.

I often wonder what changes Social Media might have forced on Maggie if we'd had it then.

Edited to add...Not that it makes much difference to this thick skinned lot, but she did seem to worry about what people would think, so maybe, just maybe she might have been swayed a little.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:22 pm

ohsocynical wrote:Labour Press Team Retweeted

Mirror Politics ‏@MirrorPolitics 2 mins2 minutes ago

Tories axe plans to kick 30,000 nurses out of Britain in screeching U-turn

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/to ... ar_twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

Well that was pretty inevitable wasn't it. And helps with the hanging Teresa May out to dry plan no doubt.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:26 pm

Hi OhSo.

I've got another thing for our list of products that mask a real rise in the inflation rate.

Paper hankies, have been using loads today, the same type my husband has bought for the last three years are thinner and smaller, despite the box seeming the same size.

tinybgoat · Post by **tinybgoat** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:29 pm

AnatolyKasparov wrote:
yahyah wrote:& forgot to say well done Yvette Cooper for her vote last night.
Chuka is another one who pleasantly surprised, ditto Wes Streeting. Maybe there is hope yet for some........

Chuka was very good on Radio4, yesterday lunchtime, argued well against.
(also, slight tangent, think i caught tail end of George Galloway, radio 2, arguing against, not sure what else he said though)

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:29 pm

Faisal Islam ‏@faisalislam 1m1 minute ago
The expensive piece of clothing gifted by now Lady @MichelleMone to the PM last August ... was a tartan pullover.

I feel a bit sick.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:32 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:
Faisal Islam ‏@faisalislam 1m1 minute ago
The expensive piece of clothing gifted by now Lady @MichelleMone to the PM last August ... was a tartan pullover.
I feel a bit sick.

Could be worse, might have been a tartan bra for his moobs.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:32 pm

Government accused of covering up negative impact of tax credit cuts
Treasury select committee member describes official analysis, which fails to show how poorer families will be hit, as ‘obvious sleight of hand’
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/o ... redit-cuts" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No, surely not. They would never do that, would they?

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:34 pm

Stuart Forbes ‏@StuartForbes1 2h2 hours ago
@faisalislam @MichelleMone I didn't know they made lingerie for pig heads.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:38 pm

liane gomersall ‏@ligomersall 6m6 minutes ago
Bra firm set up by Tory business guru Michelle Mone plunges nearly £400,000 into the red http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/business/b ... ar_twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

Oops..she'll be asking for the pullover back for a refund.

ephemerid · Post by **ephemerid** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:41 pm

The Blessed Julie of Hounded Out is as thick as a brick.

Anyone who read the transcripts of the HoL committee or has heard her speaking knows this - she is really not very bright, and her fame and its accompanying pained saint routine is a tissue of lies and exaggerations. This has been proved more than once.
There remain all manner of unanswered questions about being hounded out of her cafe, her mothers' grave being desecrated, any number of alleged-but-never-reported-to-the-police "incidents" of bullying and intimidation. Plus the small matter of her "charity" and its' finances.

This woman is a self-publicising fool; she has allowed Hunt to use her for party political point-scoring; and now that she and her merry band have found out the hard (and foolish) way that you can never trust a Tory it's all terribly disappointing. Meh.

Burnham, to his eternal credit, never rose to her baiting. He was calm and factual, and refused to engage in her nonsense.

The pity of it all is that many of her fellow-travellers - maybe even La Bailey herself - are failing to move on through their individual grief and are stuck in anger mode. She has done them, and her cause, and most of all a perfectly good NHS hospital, immeasurable harm.

Mid Staffs hospital failed in some areas due to acute on chronic under-resourcing. No wonder some wards were not safe places to be. Bailey's dramatic shenanigans led to an otherwise good local hospital to lose services - thus putting local people at risk. 50,000 people marched to save it from the changes Hunt insisted upon based on her jiggery-pokery. She deserves all the opprobrium I can heap on her. Silly, silly woman.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:41 pm

Is she really Lady Mone of Mayfair ?

Sounds like one of the women Tory MPs use when their wives are out of town.

Osborne looks as if he approves.

Post by **PaulfromYorkshire** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:46 pm

@Ephemerid great précis of Bailey

@Roger yes I rate Lucy Powell very highly - we talked in the past about "fire in the belly" - my word she has it!

Post by **PaulfromYorkshire** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:47 pm

Was that affected to put an accent in précis?

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:49 pm

ephemerid wrote: Mid Staffs hospital failed in some areas due to acute on chronic under-resourcing. No wonder some wards were not safe places to be.

Wonder whether that's the case for the deaths in 2013 and 2014?

Given the spotlight put on them after both Francis reports, it comes as a bit of a shock to see that 2 out of the 4 deaths on that charge were afterwards.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Thu 15 Oct, 2015 5:59 pm

yahyah wrote:liane gomersall ‏@ligomersall 6m6 minutes ago
Bra firm set up by Tory business guru Michelle Mone plunges nearly £400,000 into the red http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/business/b ... ar_twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

Oops..she'll be asking for the pullover back for a refund.

Bra firm plunges? Oh, that's very good! My cup(s) runneth over . . .