Friday 6th February
Posted: Fri 06 Feb, 2015 2:56 am
Good way to start the day
Now that is a good way to start the daypk1 wrote:Good way to start the day
http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/upd ... nsion-tax/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;Ed Miliband tells Ian Axton "I will pay the mansion tax"
Labour leader Ed Miliband says he will probably have to pay the new mansion tax.
His party wants to introduce it and use the proceeds to pay for more staff in the NHS.
Recent reports suggest that Mr Miliband's London home is worth £2.6 million.
When asked if could afford the mansion text he responded "I'm a relatively well paid person"
He's obviously realised that it really helps to have him - Miliband - declaring Labour will stop the badger culls very strongly (as it has been Labour policy for some years now and the shadow Environment ministers have already said so publicly many times) especially when Cameron has admitted it's the most unpopular policy he's introduced - and so brought it to the attention of the media and public again. Thank you Cameron - your arrogance is sometimes a gift.pk1 wrote:Good way to start the day
(cheerily waves right back)LadyCentauria wrote:And welcome to Nicky and SallyFran who both joined us yesterday
Sounds like you just invented pop-houmousLadyCentauria wrote:And welcome to Nicky and SallyFran who both joined us yesterday
If you hear odd noises and squeals from the kitchen don't worry. I'm having a little difficulty perfecting my new recipe: battered humous and taramasalata. It's difficult enough getting either of the main ingredients to hold together when I dip them in batter – but, for some unaccountable reason, they sort of explode when I drop them into the deep fat fryer :puzzled:
However, once I get it sussed, I just know that they'll be a welcome addition to the menu.
frightful_oik wrote:Morning all and welcome SallyFran! Do feel free to get stuck in!
This King's Fund stuff: just listened to the bloke on the wireless. He said H&SCA was a massive diversion of resources in the first half of this Parliament and even reminded those who've forgotten that it was something Empty Dave explicitly promised not to do. So far so good. Then he said that the last thing the NHS needs now is another shake-up. He further said that he thought all the party leaders 'get this'. My question is: if Labour repeals H&SCA, as it has pledged to do, will this imply a further large re-organisation or can it be done by simply making small changes here and there? I honestly don't 'get it'.
Had to do more than 'thank' for that ...and re Ashcroft (and all the polling really) - it's all about asking questions that elicit the correct answers (IMHO), so that they (the Condemnation corporate lickspittles) can continue to convince themselves that they are right...and better than everyone else....and know everything...and should never be questioned...and leave them alone, they're trying to count the profit from the upcoming corporate contractsRobertSnozers wrote:UK Polling Report on Sheffield Hallam polling
http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/9200" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Edited highlights:
So the upshot is, both recent polls should have had Labour ahead, even when constituency factors are included and don't knows reallocated (properly). Whatever, it shows that Clegg is very far from safe. Expect the magic 'Labour can't win here' graph. In fact, we've already seen it haven't we?In Survation’s poll the basic figures, weighted by likelihood to vote, were CON 22, LAB 33, LD 23, UKIP 9
In Ashcroft’s poll the basic figures, weighted for likelihood to vote, were CON 23, LAB 33, LD 17, UKIP 14
One difference that people commented on yesteday is that Lord Ashcroft uses political weighting in his constituency polls, but Survation do not. This has the potential to make a sizeable difference in the results, but I don’t think it is the case here – looking at the recalled vote in Survation’s poll it looks fairly close to what actually happened, weighting by past vote would probably have bumped up the Lib Dems a little, but the reason the Lib Dems are so far behind is not because of the weighting, it’s because more than half of the people who voted Lib Dem in 2010 aren’t currently planning on doing so again.
Both had a chunky Labour lead, in fact, Ashcroft’s was slightly bigger than Survation’s. Ashcroft however did two things that Survation did not do. He asked a two stage question, asking people their general voting intention and then their constituency question, and he reallocated don’t knows.
In this particular case the reallocation of don’t knows changed Ashcroft’s final figures to CON 19, LAB 28, LD 31, UKIP 11, pushing the Lib Dems up into a narrow first place. Technically I think there was an error in Ashcroft’s table – they seem to have reallocated all don’t knows, rather than the proportion they normally do. Done correctly the Lib Dems and Labour would probably have been closer together, or Labour a smidgin ahead, but the fact remains that Ashcroft’s method produces a tight race, Survation’s a healthy looking Labour lead.
And is it just me or is this not the first time we've seen an error in the data crunching for Ashcroft's polling that makes things look worse for Labour?
Sorry about that but you must know that it is impossible to just eat one.TheGrimSqueaker wrote:Morning all.
And welcome to SallyFran. As ever, help yourself to biscuits; however there are no Jaffa Cakes, as Maeght ate them all earlier in the week & I haven't had a chance to restock yet.
Morning RobertRobertSnozers wrote:This is the hundred billion pound question. I think everyone now accepts that you can't transform outcomes by changing the architecture of the NHS, and I believe that Labour's plans involve working with the organisations that are there in more or less the shape they are (I mean this in terms of commissioning and 'strategic' bodies, not the front line ones). It's worth noting that when Labour made changes before, even big ones, it did so in a much more evolutionary way than the coalition have done. The NHS Plan took until 2001 in their second parliament to finalise and put in place.frightful_oik wrote:Morning all and welcome SallyFran! Do feel free to get stuck in!
This King's Fund stuff: just listened to the bloke on the wireless. He said H&SCA was a massive diversion of resources in the first half of this Parliament and even reminded those who've forgotten that it was something Empty Dave explicitly promised not to do. So far so good. Then he said that the last thing the NHS needs now is another shake-up. He further said that he thought all the party leaders 'get this'. My question is: if Labour repeals H&SCA, as it has pledged to do, will this imply a further large re-organisation or can it be done by simply making small changes here and there? I honestly don't 'get it'.
The other thing to remember is that the H&SC Act was about much more than the structure. The structural bit was the diversion. Any Willing Provider is about ethos, not organisations, and the legislation that makes commissioners go out to tender on just about everything can be scrapped without changing the architecture. Labour could introduce new legislation that kept the organisations (which, to be honest have rapidly morphed back into something not that different from what we had in 2010) but still made radical changes to the way those organisations worked.
The fly in the ointment is integration of social care. I don't see how you can do that properly without creating new organisations, although you could potentially move over social care staff to existing bodies like community trusts and mental health trusts.
Edit: @Willow, crossed with you! Thanks, and Snap
TheGrimSqueaker wrote:Morning all.
And welcome to SallyFran. As ever, help yourself to biscuits; however there are no Jaffa Cakes, as Maeght ate them all earlier in the week & I haven't had a chance to restock yet.
You correctly identified them as biscuits, not cakes, so I'm cool with that. Off to restock later.Maeght wrote:Sorry about that but you must know that it is impossible to just eat one.TheGrimSqueaker wrote:Morning all.
And welcome to SallyFran. As ever, help yourself to biscuits; however there are no Jaffa Cakes, as Maeght ate them all earlier in the week & I haven't had a chance to restock yet.
Thanks Robert. I had you in mind when I asked the question. So, Andy Burnham won't so much repeal the Act, rather selectively pull its teeth then do you think?RobertSnozers wrote:This is the hundred billion pound question. I think everyone now accepts that you can't transform outcomes by changing the architecture of the NHS, and I believe that Labour's plans involve working with the organisations that are there in more or less the shape they are (I mean this in terms of commissioning and 'strategic' bodies, not the front line ones). It's worth noting that when Labour made changes before, even big ones, it did so in a much more evolutionary way than the coalition have done. The NHS Plan took until 2001 in their second parliament to finalise and put in place.frightful_oik wrote:Morning all and welcome SallyFran! Do feel free to get stuck in!
This King's Fund stuff: just listened to the bloke on the wireless. He said H&SCA was a massive diversion of resources in the first half of this Parliament and even reminded those who've forgotten that it was something Empty Dave explicitly promised not to do. So far so good. Then he said that the last thing the NHS needs now is another shake-up. He further said that he thought all the party leaders 'get this'. My question is: if Labour repeals H&SCA, as it has pledged to do, will this imply a further large re-organisation or can it be done by simply making small changes here and there? I honestly don't 'get it'.
The other thing to remember is that the H&SC Act was about much more than the structure. The structural bit was the diversion. Any Willing Provider is about ethos, not organisations, and the legislation that makes commissioners go out to tender on just about everything can be scrapped without changing the architecture. Labour could introduce new legislation that kept the organisations (which, to be honest have rapidly morphed back into something not that different from what we had in 2010) but still made radical changes to the way those organisations worked.
The fly in the ointment is integration of social care. I don't see how you can do that properly without creating new organisations, although you could potentially move over social care staff to existing bodies like community trusts and mental health trusts.
Edit: @Willow, crossed with you! Thanks, and Snap
frightful_oik wrote:Morning all and welcome SallyFran! Do feel free to get stuck in!
This King's Fund stuff: just listened to the bloke on the wireless. He said H&SCA was a massive diversion of resources in the first half of this Parliament and even reminded those who've forgotten that it was something Empty Dave explicitly promised not to do. So far so good. Then he said that the last thing the NHS needs now is another shake-up. He further said that he thought all the party leaders 'get this'. My question is: if Labour repeals H&SCA, as it has pledged to do, will this imply a further large re-organisation or can it be done by simply making small changes here and there? I honestly don't 'get it'.
They are cakes ! They go hard if left out whereas biscuits go soft.TheGrimSqueaker wrote:You correctly identified them as biscuits, not cakes, so I'm cool with that. Off to restock later.Maeght wrote:Sorry about that but you must know that it is impossible to just eat one.TheGrimSqueaker wrote:Morning all.
And welcome to SallyFran. As ever, help yourself to biscuits; however there are no Jaffa Cakes, as Maeght ate them all earlier in the week & I haven't had a chance to restock yet.
Maeght wrote:Sorry about that but you must know that it is impossible to just eat one.TheGrimSqueaker wrote:Morning all.
And welcome to SallyFran. As ever, help yourself to biscuits; however there are no Jaffa Cakes, as Maeght ate them all earlier in the week & I haven't had a chance to restock yet.
My ex-wife made scones like that, luckily I realised before I took a bite.ephemerid wrote:Maeght wrote:Sorry about that but you must know that it is impossible to just eat one.TheGrimSqueaker wrote:Morning all.
And welcome to SallyFran. As ever, help yourself to biscuits; however there are no Jaffa Cakes, as Maeght ate them all earlier in the week & I haven't had a chance to restock yet.
I've still got some chocolate cake. Have a bit of that.
If we're really good, OhSo might do some baking. Her scones are to die for....
Cakes for VAT purposes.pk1 wrote:They are cakes ! They go hard if left out whereas biscuits go soft.TheGrimSqueaker wrote:You correctly identified them as biscuits, not cakes, so I'm cool with that. Off to restock later.Maeght wrote: Sorry about that but you must know that it is impossible to just eat one.
Don't like jaffa cakes? How is that possible Like many other foodstuffs discussed here, Aldi's are the gold standard.RogerOThornhill wrote:Cakes for VAT purposes.pk1 wrote:They are cakes ! They go hard if left out whereas biscuits go soft.TheGrimSqueaker wrote: You correctly identified them as biscuits, not cakes, so I'm cool with that. Off to restock later.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffa_Cake ... it_for_VAT" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Don't like them myself...
I don't like jaffa cakes, they make my teeth curl - do we have a marmite situation developing?StephenDolan wrote:Don't like jaffa cakes? How is that possible Like many other foodstuffs discussed here, Aldi's are the gold standard.RogerOThornhill wrote:Cakes for VAT purposes.pk1 wrote: They are cakes ! They go hard if left out whereas biscuits go soft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffa_Cake ... it_for_VAT" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Don't like them myself...
Rather partial to an Aldi jaffa cake myself. That shop never ceases to surprise me, I had a more than passable haggis from them earlier this week.StephenDolan wrote:Don't like jaffa cakes? How is that possible Like many other foodstuffs discussed here, Aldi's are the gold standard.RogerOThornhill wrote:Cakes for VAT purposes.pk1 wrote: They are cakes ! They go hard if left out whereas biscuits go soft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffa_Cake ... it_for_VAT" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Don't like them myself...
I posted this from James Doleman on Monday:Lonewolfie wrote:
...money talks, as usual...and then, for me, perhaps the saddest news - much as I hate to say it, it seems Citizen Tommy has also been 'turned'. From a position of trying to clear his name and fight Murkydochia (a certain Mr Coulson was supposed to be facing charges of perjury in January) he seems to have changed his focus - his blog no longer exists and every tweet and public appearance is passionately Nationalist - still uttering socialist words, just not really looking at anything but 'Scotland will be free of the Tories' (and everyone in England is Tory) - so he no longer fights for the common man - just the Scottish common man...alongside Murkydochian favourite and Chief Scottish Obfuscation Enabler Salmond....and what of the perjury trial? Google seems to have been purged with no reference dated after the 21st of November, the date Coulson left prison I really hope I'm wrong, but something smells a bit.
so all is not over for young Mr C@jamesdoleman: Andy Coulson pre-trial hearing in Edinburgh adjourns until next Monday.
Noooo, not marmite. Can't stand even the smell !AngryAsWell wrote:do we have a marmite situation developing?
Can't quote from the article but Frank Field & the Scum giving a hoot about the 'needy' must surely win today's oxymoron prize.DISABLED people are told to call a premium rate government advice line more than a year after a No10 order to end them. The Disability Living Allowance Helpline, overseen by the Department for Work and Pensions, still has an 0845 number at up to 41p a minute. And last year it took 3.6million calls, making its private company operators a fortune. Veteran Labour MP Frank Field helped The Sun expose the Rip-Off Britain scandal of premium rate numbers being forced on the needy. - The Sun (£)
High fibre recipe?TheGrimSqueaker wrote: ... I had a more than passable haggis from them earlier this week.
Sorry, but it's too cold in the kitchen to do more than make a quick cup of tea.ephemerid wrote:Maeght wrote:Sorry about that but you must know that it is impossible to just eat one.TheGrimSqueaker wrote:Morning all.
And welcome to SallyFran. As ever, help yourself to biscuits; however there are no Jaffa Cakes, as Maeght ate them all earlier in the week & I haven't had a chance to restock yet.
I've still got some chocolate cake. Have a bit of that.
If we're really good, OhSo might do some baking. Her scones are to die for....
AngryAsWell wrote:Miliband leads Cameron in PM stakes
New poll model gives Labour leader 67% chance of making No 10
Its in FT so I can't see any more...
http://www.ft.com/home/uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Your logic is impeccable but I will persist in thinking of them as and calling them biscuits.pk1 wrote:They are cakes ! They go hard if left out whereas biscuits go soft.TheGrimSqueaker wrote:You correctly identified them as biscuits, not cakes, so I'm cool with that. Off to restock later.Maeght wrote: Sorry about that but you must know that it is impossible to just eat one.
I love it. And my daughter puts it on buttered crumpetspk1 wrote:Noooo, not marmite. Can't stand even the smell !AngryAsWell wrote:do we have a marmite situation developing?
My youngest is obsessed with marmite.ohsocynical wrote:I love it. And my daughter puts it on buttered crumpetspk1 wrote:Noooo, not marmite. Can't stand even the smell !AngryAsWell wrote:do we have a marmite situation developing?
I thought it was the 2013 regulations they were going to repeal, not the whole thing?frightful_oik wrote:Morning all and welcome SallyFran! Do feel free to get stuck in!
This King's Fund stuff: just listened to the bloke on the wireless. He said H&SCA was a massive diversion of resources in the first half of this Parliament and even reminded those who've forgotten that it was something Empty Dave explicitly promised not to do. So far so good. Then he said that the last thing the NHS needs now is another shake-up. He further said that he thought all the party leaders 'get this'. My question is: if Labour repeals H&SCA, as it has pledged to do, will this imply a further large re-organisation or can it be done by simply making small changes here and there? I honestly don't 'get it'.
Good-afternoon, SallyFran, welcome!SallyFran wrote:(cheerily waves right back)LadyCentauria wrote:And welcome to Nicky and SallyFran who both joined us yesterday
The fondant confection known as the Cadbury Creme Egg clearly separates the world into two kinds of people: Those who love them & those who don't. And both kinds of people are good.Nicky wrote:My youngest is obsessed with marmite.ohsocynical wrote:I love it. And my daughter puts it on buttered crumpetspk1 wrote: Noooo, not marmite. Can't stand even the smell !