FlyTheNest

ohsocynical wrote:And today went into Waitrose for some of their sausage meat [ Home made sausage rolls for this weekend] and they have a bin for food donations for our local food bank...Never, ever thought I'd see the day.

pk1 wrote:Sky news presenter has said he is with Osborne at Britvic factory in Pudsey, Leeds.

Osborne was introduced by the non-exec chairman Joel Corbett who is apparently another of the signatories to that letter.

utopiandreams wrote:Sometimes I must really piss people off, perhaps I need company. I think it was Willow904 who mentioned business rates, which somewhat reminded me of something else. Many moons ago I had business premises in an adjacent county. The rent wasn't too bad considering but the rates... Bloody Hell!

One day one of my staff badly cut his finger and needed a suture. There was a nearby clinic so I took him there. Talk about hassle, he only needed stitches but because neither of us were residents of the county were told to go to A&E at Burton Hospital. Neither were we residents of Staffordshire btw, not that that mattered. They did sort him out once I'd told them I paid business rates locally, but I was still displeased with our reception.

yahyah wrote:... You don't piss me off UD.

I like the social aspect of FTN. It is as important as the sharing of news and views.
A week can go by and it is only my husband, a neighbour or a sheep that I get to speak to.
So share away.

utopiandreams wrote:A final thought before some system maintenance; I was notified earlier that both my firewalls were turned off and then Firefox hung, stopping me from posting. I suppose I should turn off scripts for most sites but you do need them on some, especially where you log in. I get particularly annoyed by all the scripts that run on even msm pages... and no I do not wish to debug. Web developers apparently spend less time handling errors than application ones for example. There again without wishing to stereotype, they don't seem to have the same in depth knowledge. Maybe I shouldn't be too critical as they're usually under a lot of pressure given their time constraints.

Anyway less of the ramble, I wanted to follow on from ohsocynical's days of yore meme and others' comments on business-friendly Tories and anti-business Labour. We should not expect Cameron to bear the sins of his father vis-à-vis Blairmore Holdings but Tories are not what I'd call business-friendly more the friends of spivs, tax-evaders and corporations. 'And still being overly particular, I'm particularly pleased by Labour's intention to lower business rates by not reducing corporation tax.

Days of yore: what I'm referring to is that I remember fatherly bank managers that would get off their butt and visit you in your business premises. They were a font of knowledge and good advice... then there was bank deregulation, something the younger generations have always lived with. Banks rushed to pull their money away from small enterprise unless secured on residential property so that they could speculate on get rich quick schemes. 'And please remind me which government this was? (Rhetorical question of course). Now look at banks and the rip-off merchants they've become. Remember it was George that spent tax-payers money fighting their corner in Europe.

yahyah wrote:

ohsocynical wrote:And today went into Waitrose for some of their sausage meat [ Home made sausage rolls for this weekend] and they have a bin for food donations for our local food bank...Never, ever thought I'd see the day.

The John Lewis Partnership have a big charitable giving budget out of their profits, always have done.
The staff [partners in the business & profit share] can nominate charities they want to benefit.
But good to see them encouraging customers to donate as well.
That it should be necessary is shocking, obviously.

minch wrote:

utopiandreams wrote:A final thought before some system maintenance; I was notified earlier that both my firewalls were turned off and then Firefox hung, stopping me from posting. I suppose I should turn off scripts for most sites but you do need them on some, especially where you log in. I get particularly annoyed by all the scripts that run on even msm pages... and no I do not wish to debug. Web developers apparently spend less time handling errors than application ones for example. There again without wishing to stereotype, they don't seem to have the same in depth knowledge. Maybe I shouldn't be too critical as they're usually under a lot of pressure given their time constraints.

Anyway less of the ramble, I wanted to follow on from ohsocynical's days of yore meme and others' comments on business-friendly Tories and anti-business Labour. We should not expect Cameron to bear the sins of his father vis-à-vis Blairmore Holdings but Tories are not what I'd call business-friendly more the friends of spivs, tax-evaders and corporations. 'And still being overly particular, I'm particularly pleased by Labour's intention to lower business rates by not reducing corporation tax.

Days of yore: what I'm referring to is that I remember fatherly bank managers that would get off their butt and visit you in your business premises. They were a font of knowledge and good advice... then there was bank deregulation, something the younger generations have always lived with. Banks rushed to pull their money away from small enterprise unless secured on residential property so that they could speculate on get rich quick schemes. 'And please remind me which government this was? (Rhetorical question of course). Now look at banks and the rip-off merchants they've become. Remember it was George that spent tax-payers money fighting their corner in Europe.

Does anyone know how 'project Merlin' is doing?

is that you don't seen men on bikes with their trousers tucked into their socks anymore. Not that I miss that particular thing.....

Issues the Conservatives once counted on to attract votes for them have lost some of their magnetism. To talk about immigration means skirting around the broken pledge to bring numbers down. Boasting about benefit cuts exudes indifference to poverty as much as budget discipline. Promising to “finish the job” of eliminating the deficit contains a reminder that the job was due to be finished already.

Miliband, however, has been written off many times and he keeps writing himself back on again. He is nothing if not resilient, which suggests that a prolonged stare at Labour may not achieve everything the Tories need. The Miliband that people see may not tally with the monstrous caricature of Conservative creation. Then those who currently say they will vote Labour – and there are enough of them, on some measures, to unseat Cameron – could carry that intention all the way to the polling booth and not blink when they get there.

PorFavor wrote:@ minch

Project Merlin -

I'd forgotten all about that. As has everybody supposedly involved in it, I think. Bank of Big Society?

gilsey wrote:Did you have this yesterday? Apologies if so, I was on a day trip to bonny Scotland so off line.

The stuff of Tory nightmares: what if Ed Miliband connects?
Rafael Behr

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... n-campaign" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Issues the Conservatives once counted on to attract votes for them have lost some of their magnetism. To talk about immigration means skirting around the broken pledge to bring numbers down. Boasting about benefit cuts exudes indifference to poverty as much as budget discipline. Promising to “finish the job” of eliminating the deficit contains a reminder that the job was due to be finished already.

Miliband, however, has been written off many times and he keeps writing himself back on again. He is nothing if not resilient, which suggests that a prolonged stare at Labour may not achieve everything the Tories need. The Miliband that people see may not tally with the monstrous caricature of Conservative creation. Then those who currently say they will vote Labour – and there are enough of them, on some measures, to unseat Cameron – could carry that intention all the way to the polling booth and not blink when they get there.

George Osborne has admitted he would find it “very difficult” to live on a zero-hour contract, even though the Conservatives do not think they should be banned or further restricted.

The chancellor also acknowledged that the contracts are a sign of job insecurity for workers, but said they were not as bad having no work at all. (Guardian)

ohsocynical wrote: I'm going to say LibDem and spit as I go into the Polling station... And I'm sure there are many more like me

PaulfromYorkshire wrote:Nobody has yet picked up on my #SignaTories thing - maybe not that funny?

pk1 wrote:

PaulfromYorkshire wrote:Nobody has yet picked up on my #SignaTories thing - maybe not that funny?

I saw it, nodded my approval & meant to comment but forgot

PaulfromYorkshire wrote:Nobody has yet picked up on my #SignaTories thing - maybe not that funny?

utopiandreams wrote:I didn't expect to start a conversation about customer or personal service from small operations, but having read ohsocynical's and Rebecca's posts am pleased that I did. Anyway I asked my son about tomorrow's rate of pay, to which he replied 60p per hour. Of course I knew he was joking and he is in fact getting the full rate. He'd also realised why I asked, knowing me, but did explain that this was still connected to the agency, though he did add that he wondered whether they gained additional funds for these training days. Should they, let's hope Boots are footing the bill and that it isn't some government scheme that's being taken advantage of. You never know with such terminology; an 'apprenticeship' day?

Edit: sorry it was yahyah that brought up local independents... and a mention for Willow904.

Mirror letter signed by 100 "working people" backs Labour

Labour have released their own 100 signatory letter about economic policy. Published in The Mirror, the letter is signed “by shelf stackers, firefighters and retired farm hands”, as well as by business owners and public figures such as Wayne Hemingway, Trevor Beattie and Peter Duncan, the paper’s political editor Jason Beattie reveals.(Guardian Election Blog)

4.58am 18:58
Nick Clegg has refused to rule out cutting the 40p tax threshold, one day after shadow chancellor Ed Balls came under pressure to do the same. While the Lib Dems have ruled out increasing VAT, national insurance and income tax, Clegg declined three times to rule out lowering the 40p tax threshold. As my colleague Frances Perraudin reports:

ohso
I'm going to say LibDem and spit as I go into the Polling station... And I'm sure there are many more like me

Chesham&AmershamUKIP ‏@UKIPCANDA 36 mins36 minutes ago
How does the obnoxious, incompetent, champagne socialist @mrjamesob get a tv show? Private school socialist media network @LBC

James O'Brien ‏@mrjamesob 27 mins27 minutes ago
@UKIPCANDA I've completely forgotten the 'private school socialist media network' secret handshake! Can you give us a clue?

Al Murray FUKP ‏@almurray 24 mins24 minutes ago
@mrjamesob @UKIPCANDA typical EUSSR BBC PC brigade answer.

PorFavor wrote:

PaulfromYorkshire wrote:Nobody has yet picked up on my #SignaTories thing - maybe not that funny?

Oh - and I still smile when I think of the mug production! That really tickled me.

RobertSnozers wrote:

PaulfromYorkshire wrote:Nobody has yet picked up on my #SignaTories thing - maybe not that funny?

By thanking for that post I was indicating that I did find it funny and apposite, but it occurred to me that it might be taken as agreement that it was not funny, which is not the case. The latter, not the former. Er...

TechnicalEphemera wrote:Am I the only one suffering Guardian Live blog time warp.

4.58am 18:58
Nick Clegg has refused to rule out cutting the 40p tax threshold, one day after shadow chancellor Ed Balls came under pressure to do the same. While the Lib Dems have ruled out increasing VAT, national insurance and income tax, Clegg declined three times to rule out lowering the 40p tax threshold. As my colleague Frances Perraudin reports:

First off why 4.58am and I am sure the Balls row was today.

Spooky.

yahyah wrote:Have we had this ?

Generous welfare benefits don't discourage people from working, latest scientific evidence shows
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 49732.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I hope IDS is asked what he thinks about it.

@JBeattieMirror: Letter to Mirror signed by 100 people backing Labour. Includes cafe workers, business leaders and celebrities #GE2015 http://t.co/88lJqGJV2H" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

gilsey wrote:Did you have this yesterday? Apologies if so, I was on a day trip to bonny Scotland so off line.

The stuff of Tory nightmares: what if Ed Miliband connects?
Rafael Behr

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... n-campaign" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Issues the Conservatives once counted on to attract votes for them have lost some of their magnetism. To talk about immigration means skirting around the broken pledge to bring numbers down. Boasting about benefit cuts exudes indifference to poverty as much as budget discipline. Promising to “finish the job” of eliminating the deficit contains a reminder that the job was due to be finished already.

Miliband, however, has been written off many times and he keeps writing himself back on again. He is nothing if not resilient, which suggests that a prolonged stare at Labour may not achieve everything the Tories need. The Miliband that people see may not tally with the monstrous caricature of Conservative creation. Then those who currently say they will vote Labour – and there are enough of them, on some measures, to unseat Cameron – could carry that intention all the way to the polling booth and not blink when they get there.

pk1 wrote:Jason Beattie from the Mirror has a 100-sig letter of people from all walks of life, endorsing Labours plans.

@JBeattieMirror: Letter to Mirror signed by 100 people backing Labour. Includes cafe workers, business leaders and celebrities #GE2015 http://t.co/88lJqGJV2H" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It includes people like Dale Vince, Ecotricity; Wayne Hemingway; Peter Duncan (I'm assuming it's the ex Blue Peter fella) as well as loads of workers on ZHCs and ex-ZHC workers.

I can't replicate the list because it's too big to display but the smart folks in the Mod dept will probably be able to do it

PorFavor wrote:

George Osborne has admitted he would find it “very difficult” to live on a zero-hour contract, even though the Conservatives do not think they should be banned or further restricted.

The chancellor also acknowledged that the contracts are a sign of job insecurity for workers, but said they were not as bad having no work at all. (Guardian)

For some people it's probably worse than having no job at all.

letsskiptotheleft wrote:Before I go to work, a little constituency quiz for you, I had a measly 7/10.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32086606" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PaulfromYorkshire wrote:Nobody has yet picked up on my #SignaTories thing - maybe not that funny?

Dear Sir,

We all care about Britain’s economy and we all have a stake in the future.
We are all working people. Some of us run businesses, large and small. Some of us used to work on zero hours contracts, some of us still do.
We come from all walks of life; this is what Britain looks like.
We believe that the fundamental choice at this election is: who does this country work for? Does it work only for those at the very top or does it work for working people – those trying to make ends meet, working in British businesses across the country to create wealth and support their families?
A symbol of the failure of this Government’s economic plan is the proliferation of zero hours contracts which has helped fuel the low wage, low skill economy that is letting down working people and letting down Britain.
Britain only succeeds when working people succeed. We need a better plan for prosperity. We need a better plan and a better future. We need a Labour Government to put working people first.

Yours faithfully,

[many people signed their name to this letter here]

APRIL 1, 2015 (7:02 PM)

LadyCentauria wrote:

PorFavor wrote:

George Osborne has admitted he would find it “very difficult” to live on a zero-hour contract, even though the Conservatives do not think they should be banned or further restricted.

The chancellor also acknowledged that the contracts are a sign of job insecurity for workers, but said they were not as bad having no work at all. (Guardian)

For some people it's probably worse than having no job at all.

Cable said, earlier, that Zero-Hours Contracts only affected about 700,000 people (and quoted whatever small proportion of all workers that is) so intimating that ZHCs are really not a problem. Well, it has a major effect on those 700,000 people and their families! And, regarding Osborne's comments, for some people they are exactly the same as having no work at all – and are likely to be treated that way under UC – and where there's an exclusivity clause, some people don't feel free to go and find another job.