Friday 20th February 2015

Post by **refitman** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 7:22 am

Morning all.

LadyCentauria · Post by **LadyCentauria** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 8:01 am

Mornin' all

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... re-straits

This article was shared, yesterday, by HindleA (I think?) linking to an excellent comment; but I think the article is worth another look – or for anyone who missed it. It is written from the point of view of a 'decision maker' judging whether or not IDS has kept to his 'commitments' on reforming 'Welfare', or, as we know it, Social Security. The report is not favourable. Try this quote from it for size:

The next action point promised was Mr Duncan Smith’s personal passion – the universal credit. His faith-based claims that he could iron out every perversity of social security were never believed by the experts, who cautioned that he would achieve a modest rationalisation at best, and even that only if he could overcome the thorny technical problems involved in processing the 1.6 million relevant changes in family circumstances that take place every month. These problems haven’t been mastered, and the department has all but conceded to the National Audit Office that this week’s so-called accelerated roll-out would not help with getting on top of them. The programme continues to duck all but the most straightforward cases, and the election day caseload will be 95% down on what had been hoped for.

My bold and italics. This ties in with the discussions we've been having about the competence of Mr. Duncan Smith and his department to handle the commissioning of a new benefit with new rules, new computer systems and the programmes/applications necessary to run on them, and the competence of GDS itself (Government Digital Services, I think.) Although there might be an 'I' missing from that acronym and it's really just George Iain Duncan Smith wreaking havoc on the entire .gov.uk website. Wouldn't surprise me.

But what does surprise me is that, in the course of a normal month, there are one-million-six-hundred-thousand changes in family circumstances affecting people who are in receipt of the various Social Security benefits that UC is intended to roll into one simple benefit. One-point-six-million. Every month! Of course, they're not all different things, more 'variations on themes' which I've tried to count up on my fingers (by thinking about all the things I've ever experienced, read about, or advised others that they should notify DWP about in regard to their own claim) but I lost track somewhere around thirty variables, which often happen more than one at a time. But, of course, IDS seems to have imagined that the back of an envelope waved in the general direction of his minions would just magically create a 'digital' thing that people could press – and what he's got, after all these years and all that money – can barely cope with variable number one: boy meets girl and they start living together.

What doesn't surprise me is that he'll only have achieved a UC enrolment of 5% of what he'd promised by the time of the election. Actually, he'll be lucky to have achieved that – given that enrolment onto UC has, reportedly, been slowing down. Anyway, well worth a read (or re-read) for the rest of the article, stark as it is; and there are many excellent comments beneath it – 'though I'd have thought it would have attracted more than 100 by now...

LadyCentauria · Post by **LadyCentauria** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 8:44 am

On BBC Parliament today at 5pm, for those with the stomach for it - or who, otherwise, might have missed it as I don't think it was shown on this channel at the time:

"Benefit Sanctions Committee: Recorded coverage of the Work and Pensions Select Committee session on benefits sanctions with evidence from the Work Minister, Esther McVey, from Wednesday 4th February."

ErnstRemarx · Post by **ErnstRemarx** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 9:07 am

Read it.

https://imajsaclaimant.wordpress.com/20 ... sanctions/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 9:23 am

Morning all. Here's my nicked extract from a UK Polling report post yesterday. I went to bed with a smile after reading a little bit of Kinnock - seems a good way to wake up too.

MRNAMELESS
I went to see Neil Kinnock in Sheffield tonight (he insists nobody ever brought up the rally until eight days after the election). I would never have thought a 73 year old man could retain such a level of energy while doing public speaking.
Probably his best line of the night was “We’re in the last two minutes of the football match, with no extra time, and we’re ahead. We’re just ahead despite the referee and most of the linesmen being crooked, and a couple of team members who’ve forgotten what jersey they’re wearing”.
He also opened with quite a bit on the Green Party (the event being in Sheffield Central), which was surprisingly not as combative as the rest of the speech, and more on the lines of a plea for unity. He spoke of the way that both Labour and Green hearts go out to the same degree and in the same way for the very poor in Britain, that they both feel the same about climate change, and drew a comparison with the 2002 French election where a badly split left led to the runoff between Chirac and Le Pen.
Interesting speech whatever your view, and he can still get them laughing and crying in the space of two minutes. Packed house, and I won a book in the raffle too.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 9:27 am

And for my second post of the day - we have a bit of Heseltine from QT last night. Relevant to people sharing their thoughts on the bedroom tax and its impact on housing shortage / inoccupancy rates.

One of the questions was why the Tories weren't way ahead given the unemployment figures, the 'economic recovery' and low inflation .... Heseltine cited the bedroom tax as one of the reasons ... which in his view was a policy mistake.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 9:39 am

john spellar ‏@spellar 3m3 minutes ago
Orgy Lib Dem Cllr to be Deputy Mayor,what is it with Portsmouth Lib Dems http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... Mayor.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

We have asked PF that many times.

LadyCentauria · Post by **LadyCentauria** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 9:45 am

For the Welsh contingent: if you're by Newgale in Pembrokeshire or Tintern in Monmouthshire, the A487 and A466 will be closed as 'supertides' are approaching on the annual spring tides – it's the peak of an 18-and-a-half-year cycle over the weekend. Check for flood warnings and alerts, chaps and chapesses...

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 9:50 am

Morning

Latest ONS stats: Jan 2015, public sector net debt: £1,464bn (79.6% of GDP); an increase of £86bn compared with Jan 2014.

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 9:52 am

HindleA wrote:Morning

Latest ONS stats: Jan 2015, public sector net debt: £1,464bn (79.6% of GDP); an increase of £86bn compared with Jan 2014.

Got to love that LTEP. What's another 10-20bn in pre election budget bribes.

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 9:59 am

NHS privatisation: Why the fuss? - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31435842" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Privatisation is good puff piece from the BBC.

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 10:12 am

Morning all.

The net debt figures look good for Osborne at first glance but haven't had a chance to look thoroughly but this...

Output per hour in the UK was 17 percentage points below the average for the rest of the major G7 industrialised economies in 2013, the widest productivity gap since 1992.

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/icp/inter ... index.html

So much for those employment figures...

Post by **PaulfromYorkshire** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 10:28 am

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/mai ... -1-7116413" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

exclusive-sheffield-schools-denied-clegg-s-lunch-money

THE COST of implementing Nick Clegg’s flagship universal free meals policy has resulted in Sheffield Council being forced to find nearly half-a-million pounds from its budget.

The Yorkshire Post can reveal that four schools in the Deputy Prime Minister’s constituency city which applied for £330,000 in the second round of additional funding announced by the Department of Education earlier this year were all rejected.

pk1 · Post by **pk1** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 10:28 am

Morning, all

Super stressed today because I have my eldest dog at the vets for removal of what might be cancerous lump but won't know until they open him up & son's car that he needs to get to work is having it's MOT done - yikes !

I must thank Stephen Bush however for bringing some cheer into my day. His final Morning Briefing for the Telegraph highlighted this little beauty:

http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_ ... g=1&order=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Enjoy

LadyCentauria · Post by **LadyCentauria** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 10:45 am

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for your eldest dog, pk1, and for your son's car. As for the link – I need to scrub some of the comments there from my memory and I only read one page of them!

pk1 · Post by **pk1** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 11:00 am

Patients with life-long conditions are being fined up to £100 for collecting their free prescriptions, the BBC has discovered.

They say they were not told of a rule change that meant their exemption certificates had to be updated.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31537381" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm sure we spoke about this weeks ago. National media behind the times...

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 11:04 am

This is awful.

Ex-Guildhall School of Music teacher jailed for raping two pupils

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... upils.html

A former teacher at the renowned Guildhall School of Music has been jailed for raping two pupils more that 30 years after the mother of one victim first reported him.

Philip Pickett, a prominent figure in London's early music scene, used his fame and influence to attack three victims in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Not only was he an early music specialist he also played on one of my all time favourites - the Albion Band's Rise Up Like The Sun.

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 11:23 am

The Economist is the latest paper to report that Universal Credit is in trouble. The message seems to be well and truly out there now, despite the BBC's recent desperate attempt to suggest all is well.

http://www.economist.com/news/britain/2 ... re-its-due
This week’s limited rollout will mean that 250 job centres—roughly one in three—will offer UC. But these numbers refer to a system used for single recipients with no dependents. The bigger “digital” system, covering complex claimants with children, has not yet been tested. “The reason this week’s announcement means nothing is that we still don’t know if the system works for most people,” says Jonathan Portes of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. “They’re rolling out a system they are not going to use.” The government hoped that 1m people would be using UC by April 2014, but only 64,000 have used it so far.

The real question is why didn't Cameron move IDS from DWP in 2012 and dump it before it became an albatross around his neck. We all know he wanted to do. What stopped him, what is IDS holding over him?

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 11:33 am

Wasn't just the BBC saying that - ironically enough Peter Oborne's last significant contribution to the Torygraph was a piece extolling the "genius" of IBS

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 11:35 am

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Wasn't just the BBC saying that - ironically enough Peter Oborne's last significant contribution to the Torygraph was a piece extolling the "genius" of IBS

Fraser Nelson is a huge IDS fan too. How can they not see his obvious faults?

TheGrimSqueaker · Post by **TheGrimSqueaker** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 11:43 am

Tim Fenton making the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines look a trifle foolish.

http://zelo-street.blogspot.co.uk/2015/ ... crite.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

mikems · Post by **mikems** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 11:44 am

I simply don't understand Oborne's thinking. If he can see the corruption and hypocrisy of the Telegraph, why can he not latch on to the evasions and silence from Osborne and Cameron? Why can he not draw links between the party's actions and the desires of its funders?

It's wilful blindness as far as I can see. These tories all have dividend incomes to protect and that makes thinking clearly and logically quite hard for them, I suspect, since it would involve recognising their own complicity in it all.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 11:46 am

Good morning (I've checked on the morning element of that greeting).

George Osborne has broken his silence over HSBC Switzerland, reports Rowena Mason.

George Osborne has washed his hands of responsibility for prosecutions against people who evaded tax through HSBC Switzerland after more than a week of silence on the issue. (Politics blog, Guardian).

@ rebeccariots2

Portsmouth and the LibDems, eh? I gather that the decision to appoint that Deputy Mayor was unanimous, which would indicate that Labour went along with it for some reason. Perhaps saving their time and energy for the General Election? That's the only half-decent reason I can think of, anyway.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 12:05 pm

Oborne does have a blind spot about Cameron yes, continuing to insist that he is a "good and decent" man. Maybe its a class solidarity thing?

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 12:09 pm

And easilly taken in by a snake oil salesman hiding behind a veneer of religiosity.That and the atrocious level of understanding about the social security system and created mythology,contributed to by all parties.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 1:05 pm

StephenDolan wrote:
AnatolyKasparov wrote:Wasn't just the BBC saying that - ironically enough Peter Oborne's last significant contribution to the Torygraph was a piece extolling the "genius" of IBS
Fraser Nelson is a huge IDS fan too. How can they not see his obvious faults?

IDS's faults are actually his greatest strengths for getting the job done. Don't forget that Epiphany. Strong stuff.

WelshIan · Post by **WelshIan** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 1:12 pm

It's not a blindness to do with funding, they always make the link between union backing and Labour policies. I don't know why the link is not made between the Tory party and their backers, as they seem to have more influence than the unions do with Labour.

TheGrimSqueaker · Post by **TheGrimSqueaker** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 1:50 pm

The Daily Mash take on the Telegraph shenanigans.

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/busi ... 5022095559" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 1:50 pm

RobertSnozers wrote:
WelshIan wrote:It's not a blindness to do with funding, they always make the link between union backing and Labour policies. I don't know why the link is not made between the Tory party and their backers, as they seem to have more influence than the unions do with Labour.
Moreover, why is it not seen as legitimate that bodies representing the interests of thousands of working people might have some influence on policy?

Because it's thick plebs blindly giving money to Red McCluskey so he decide the Labour leader and policies that suit him personally. Or something.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 2:30 pm

Losing the British sense of fair play

THERE is a sense of genuine mystification in the heart of the Establishment of this country. The puzzle is: why are we [Tories] so utterly discredited in the eyes of the people? The answer is staring them in the face. Apart from the very small proportion who spend their whole lives whingeing and complaining about the slightest thing that goes wrong, the British actually ask for very little.
But there is one word that is dye-stamped into the British mass psyche. That word is “fair,” or its larger cousin “fair play”. Now there’s an oddity here. That single phrase is understood by the British with total and immediate clarity.

http://www.express.co.uk/comment/column ... SBC-search

Hit. Nail. Head.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 2:37 pm

Bit quiet here today

My usual review is up now - there are no by-elections next week so it will be back in a fortnight

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 2:42 pm

ohsocynical wrote:
Losing the British sense of fair play

THERE is a sense of genuine mystification in the heart of the Establishment of this country. The puzzle is: why are we [Tories] so utterly discredited in the eyes of the people? The answer is staring them in the face. Apart from the very small proportion who spend their whole lives whingeing and complaining about the slightest thing that goes wrong, the British actually ask for very little.
But there is one word that is dye-stamped into the British mass psyche. That word is “fair,” or its larger cousin “fair play”. Now there’s an oddity here. That single phrase is understood by the British with total and immediate clarity.

http://www.express.co.uk/comment/column ... SBC-search
Hit. Nail. Head.

So why is there no public outcry about Iain Smith and all that comes with him? Ill-informed "fairplay"?

mikems · Post by **mikems** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 3:09 pm

More cognitive dissonance on the (far)right. That hack works for a rag that promotes intolerance and unfairness in many areas of life. It supports a party that wants to institutionalise injustice on the basis of nationality, race and religion.

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 3:17 pm

http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnists/p ... should-be/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

" Few things sum up the Liberal Democrats’ problems better than the proposed TV debates. In 2010, these gave the party the biggest polling boost in its history. This time the Lib Dems are shut out of the main debate. Instead, they have been confined to the two proposed seven-way debates, at which Clegg risks being the whipping boy. The other leaders will relish saying, ‘I disagree with Nick.’ "

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 3:22 pm

PorFavor wrote:
ohsocynical wrote:
Losing the British sense of fair play

THERE is a sense of genuine mystification in the heart of the Establishment of this country. The puzzle is: why are we [Tories] so utterly discredited in the eyes of the people? The answer is staring them in the face. Apart from the very small proportion who spend their whole lives whingeing and complaining about the slightest thing that goes wrong, the British actually ask for very little.
But there is one word that is dye-stamped into the British mass psyche. That word is “fair,” or its larger cousin “fair play”. Now there’s an oddity here. That single phrase is understood by the British with total and immediate clarity.

http://www.express.co.uk/comment/column ... SBC-search
Hit. Nail. Head.
So why is there no public outcry about Iain Smith and all that comes with him? Ill-informed "fairplay"?

I've been struggling with why I suddenly hate them so much. I don't envy them their money or their life style. In seventy years I never have and I always understood that their idea of fair play and ours was always unequal, but it was the status quo and we all seemed to bumble along fairly well. Now I would stand by and cheerfully watch them being hurt. It would make me very happy.

It's because they've 'overstepped the mark', which I believe is another very English term and means the same as fair play.
In five years they've twisted society out of all recognisable shape and have no intention of stopping. I posted the other day that their greed has thrown centuries of who we are as a people to the wolves. Turned us inside out and brought out the very worst in us.

IDS is in a class of his own. He has gone way beyond normal human behaviour. I'm not going to compare him to Hitler but he has that same unbalanced mind set.
I believe Dave deliberately put him in office then kept him there purely because he's so ruthless in pursuing his 'vision'. Most men or women would have buckled long before now under the barrage of loathing that is directed at him daily.
He just brushes it off.

And please excuse the term, but there's no reasoning with a mad man.

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 3:29 pm

http://may2015.com/ideas/ukippers-and-g ... same-time/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

'These results show that the ‘left behind’ analysis of Ukip – Ukippers are natural Labour voters abandoned by the party – has perhaps been overplayed. The set of policy attitudes Ukippers express would be just at home in the “new working class” identified by Ivor Crewe in Thatcher’s heyday.'

LadyCentauria · Post by **LadyCentauria** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 3:30 pm

mikems wrote:More cognitive dissonance on the (far)right. That hack works for a rag that promotes intolerance and unfairness in many areas of life. It supports a party that wants to institutionalise injustice on the basis of nationality, race and religion.

And the French (or Germans) don't have a sense of fair play because a literal translation doesn't mean exactly the same thing in French or German? So they wo'n't understand bullshit, either...

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 3:31 pm

Yanis Varoufakis ‏@yanisvaroufakis 15h15 hours ago
Two nights ago I saw S, Beckett's Happy Days (Greek National Theatre). Splendid performance(s). Such a relief from you know what...

You've got to admire his style.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 3:38 pm

LadyCentauria wrote:For the Welsh contingent: if you're by Newgale in Pembrokeshire or Tintern in Monmouthshire, the A487 and A466 will be closed as 'supertides' are approaching on the annual spring tides – it's the peak of an 18-and-a-half-year cycle over the weekend. Check for flood warnings and alerts, chaps and chapesses...

Thank you for that LadyC. We used to be right by Newgale but are now up the coast a fair bit. Yes, we've had the spring tides this week but they haven't been nearly as high / fierce as people thought they might be. Was out canvassing with someone whose house in lower Fishguard floods every year ... but they've been OK so far. Touch wood, cross fingers and all that.

gilsey · Post by **gilsey** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 3:43 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:
Yanis Varoufakis ‏@yanisvaroufakis 15h15 hours ago
Two nights ago I saw S, Beckett's Happy Days (Greek National Theatre). Splendid performance(s). Such a relief from you know what...
You've got to admire his style.

I greatly admire his style, and I'm embarrassed and ashamed that the best we can put up to talk to him is Gidiot.

LadyCentauria · Post by **LadyCentauria** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 3:52 pm

Oh dearie me. I switched over to watch the Scottish Conservatives Conference and discovered that I'd missed OGRF(P)L giving a 'speech.' Ach well. That Crace bloke (I think that's the BBC's stand-by psephologist, names are failing me today) wasn't impressed.

WelshIan · Post by **WelshIan** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 4:46 pm

Willow from last night:

Thanks for the info, although I have to confess I'm more confused than ever. If participation in education or training for 16 and 17 year olds was 93.9% in 2010 and is now 92.8%, the policy to have all young people in education until 18 introduced in 2013 seems to have had the opposite effect than the one intended. Can that be right or am I reading it wrong?

Yes, you are reading it correctly, participation has decreased since it was made compulsory.
Although reading the below from Citizens Advice (my bold), it doesn't sound as if it actually is compulsory!
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/e ... cation.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In England a young person must continue in education or training until:

from summer 2013, the end of the academic year in which they turn 17, and from summer 2015, until their 18th birthday.
This does not necessarily mean a young person will have to stay on at school after Year 11. The compulsory school leaving age is not being raised, so the young person cannot be forced to stay in school or college, nor participate in post-16 education or training. A young person will be given a choice about how they want to participate post-16, which could be through:

full-time education, such as school or college
work-based learning, such as an apprenticeship
part-time education or training if they're employed, self employed or volunteering for 20 hours or more a week.
The local authority is responsible for making sure that a young person has a suitable offer of a place in post 16-education or training.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 4:57 pm

Semi-rhetorical question -

Why is the threat of deflation now being turned into a good news story for the government? Or is there at least some logic\justification for it? (I'm asking for help here from the more economics-savvy among you, please.)

Edited to add -

I'm not suggesting that I've heard anyone say, "Deflation would be great!" but the general story is that things are going swimmingly, prices have dropped, etc etc, and possible deflation isn't being factored in as a problem.

Edited (again) to remove a rogue "j"

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 5:04 pm

WelshIan wrote:Willow from last night:

Thanks for the info, although I have to confess I'm more confused than ever. If participation in education or training for 16 and 17 year olds was 93.9% in 2010 and is now 92.8%, the policy to have all young people in education until 18 introduced in 2013 seems to have had the opposite effect than the one intended. Can that be right or am I reading it wrong?
Yes, you are reading it correctly, participation has decreased since it was made compulsory.
Although reading the below from Citizens Advice (my bold), it doesn't sound as if it actually is compulsory!
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/e ... cation.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In England a young person must continue in education or training until:

from summer 2013, the end of the academic year in which they turn 17, and from summer 2015, until their 18th birthday.
This does not necessarily mean a young person will have to stay on at school after Year 11. The compulsory school leaving age is not being raised, so the young person cannot be forced to stay in school or college, nor participate in post-16 education or training. A young person will be given a choice about how they want to participate post-16, which could be through:

full-time education, such as school or college
work-based learning, such as an apprenticeship
part-time education or training if they're employed, self employed or volunteering for 20 hours or more a week.
The local authority is responsible for making sure that a young person has a suitable offer of a place in post 16-education or training.

Does the local authority's responsibility extend to pupils of Free Schools, please?

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 5:04 pm

RobertSnozers wrote:
ohsocynical wrote:
Losing the British sense of fair play

THERE is a sense of genuine mystification in the heart of the Establishment of this country. The puzzle is: why are we [Tories] so utterly discredited in the eyes of the people? The answer is staring them in the face. Apart from the very small proportion who spend their whole lives whingeing and complaining about the slightest thing that goes wrong, the British actually ask for very little.
But there is one word that is dye-stamped into the British mass psyche. That word is “fair,” or its larger cousin “fair play”. Now there’s an oddity here. That single phrase is understood by the British with total and immediate clarity.

http://www.express.co.uk/comment/column ... SBC-search
Hit. Nail. Head.
Even a stopped clock shows the right time twice a day. I found this offensive in all kinds of ways and Forsyth is clearly both delusional and rather a nasty piece of work. The fact that he happened to light on a point I would agree with seems bizarre, and I suppose goes to show the extent to which the tax avoiding elite is beyond the pale. Forsyth's chief concern seemed to be that the Tories had allowed themselves to be seen celebrating obscene wealth rather than the fact that they had done it at all.

'Fair play'? Christ. Smacks of 'the Gatling's jammed and the Colonel dead/ but the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks/ Play up! Play up! and play the game'

But in all fairness - there it is again - playing fair has played a huge part in our make up. You're doing the public schoolboy bit. I'm on about being concerned that those at the bottom of the ladder got a bite of the apple. And if the NHS wasn't about fairness I don't know what is.

GetYou · Post by **GetYou** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 5:13 pm

Times are hard, austere even. I know, let's give away some money to perpetuate the house price bubble!

http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/tenancie ... esuccess=1 (Signup access only (but it is free))

George Osborne has announced an £84m pot to offer social tenants up to £30,000 to buy a new home on the open market.

The policy, announced in a major speech on housing this morning, will allow tenants who would have qualified for the Right to Buy to leave their social home and buy a new property.

Dubbed the Social Mobility Fund, it will be offered to tenants across England from April.

Local authorities will bid for a share of the cash, which they can then offer to tenants. The deadline for bids is 18 March.

The maximum discount available will be £20,000 across England and £30,000 in London, which is substantially lower than the £70,000 and £100,000 respectively offered under the Right to Buy.

A Treasury spokesperson said this was because the tenant gets a ‘substantial additional benefit’ of being able to select their home.

What the fuckedy fuck???????????????

GetYou · Post by **GetYou** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 5:19 pm

Meanwhile, in persecutionville...

https://speye.wordpress.com/2015/02/19/ ... se-victim/

Domestic Violence sanctuary rooms are now counted as bedrooms for the purposes of the bedroom tax (following a judicial review). Yeah, have that, spongers!

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 5:19 pm

Just a thought - does anyone hear, or see, anything of JackPranker?

LadyCentauria · Post by **LadyCentauria** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 5:32 pm

I wonder whether the delegates to the Scottish Conservatives Conference have considered adapting an old Scottish rallying cry to modern times? Viz; So long as but one hundred of us remain we really shouldn't have booked the main hall of Edinburgh Conference Centre.

Whatever the reason for it being a bit quiet here at the Haven so far today, it probably wasn't because half our members had decamped up there or the audience for Ruth Davison's speech would have been a fair bit larger. Not that the speech itself would likely have been better received than the polite smatterings of muted applause it actually got. Perhaps she was building up to a big finish but, as the conference was running late, and due to the BBC's scheduling commitments, I'd have had to shift on the BBC Scotland website to continue watching. Ho hum.

GetYou · Post by **GetYou** » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 5:36 pm

A good blog from Shelter regarding the slashing of Legal Aid:

http://blog.shelter.org.uk/2015/02/lega ... cy-making/

Contrary to its assurances to Parliament, the Ministry does not know whether people who are eligible for legal aid are able to get it. The Ministry said in its 2012 impact assessment that it would establish a robust mechanism to identify and address any shortfalls in the provision of legal aid, but it has not done so.

Can't have the plebs having access to justice eh? Where will it all end?

edit: edited quote