Monday 21st December 2015

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 8:13 am

Morning.

Business as usual.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 8:15 am

Peter Jukes Retweeted
James Doleman ‏@jamesdoleman 13h13 hours ago
At this rate Andy Coulson will be chair of IPSO by May.

Not necessarily a joke the way things are going.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 8:26 am

Morning. Surely this makes his negotiations even more ridiculous? He's already decided how he's going to tell us to vote. And more than that - I thought he had had to agree that the govt wouldn't campaign / use funds etc during a certain period of time. So when is he going to release this prepared vote In missive on us? February - the day after coming back from the summit when he will announce a fabulous victory for himself? The day before perhaps?

EU referendum: David Cameron already planning pro-Europe dossier to keep Britain in the Union
Plans for pamphlet to be sent British households outlining why staying in the European Union is the right decision - despite Prime Minister's ongoing renegotiation with Brussels
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... Union.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 8:37 am

UK government too slow to save steel industry, MPs conclude
Cross-party committee says ministers ignored repeated industry warnings and offered wrong solution to save 5,000 skilled jobs and several steel plants
http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... dustry-mps" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 8:37 am

Morning.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015 ... me-say-mps" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(Systematic culture of denial by default and intended)Benefit delays put people at risk of hunger and losing their home, say MPs

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 8:38 am

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-00 ... ne61raLSt8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 8:46 am

Sadly I think his message may fall on some deaf ears. Right on cue we've got John Woodcock bellyaching in public about Corbyn. Apparently he shouldn't have said anything about MPs clapping Benn's speech.

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 10:15 am

Morning all.

So...overnight we've had:

Not enough done to save the steel industry from dumping by the Chinese
Not enough done to tackle delays on benefit payments
Outsourcing of the probation service in a mess
Severe shortages of nurses
Not enough done to investigate unexpected deaths of people with learning difficulties
HO interpreters threatening to walk out.

All going well then?

And there's this...

Telegraph fined £30,000 over email urging readers to vote Tory

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/d ... servatives

The Telegraph has been fined £30,000 for sending hundreds of thousands of emails on the day of the general election urging readers to vote Conservative.

Its plea came in a letter from Daily Telegraph editor Chris Evans attached to the newspaper’s daily email.

Data protection watchdog the Information Commissioner’s Office has fined the newspaper’s parent company, Telegraph Media Group, for breaking rules around direct marketing.

The ICO said that subscribers may have signed up to receive a daily email, but promoting the Tory election campaign “crossed a line”.

Shame they didn't investigate that phony "small business owner" crap that Ms Brady put out.

seeingclearly · Post by **seeingclearly** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 10:36 am

From speye:

Refuges, hostels and sheltered housing to close DWP confirms.
https://speye.wordpress.com/2015/12/20/ ... -confirms/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 10:55 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:Sadly I think his message may fall on some deaf ears. Right on cue we've got John Woodcock bellyaching in public about Corbyn. Apparently he shouldn't have said anything about MPs clapping Benn's speech.

The likes of JW going on about Syria don't do Corbyn much harm IMO. Military action was very unpopular with Labour people.

(voters if recent polls are to be believed, not just members who supposedly "represent nobody")

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 11:57 am

Good morfternoon.

Tory MP forced to shun youth branch party in PM's constituency

Chair of Witney group says Michelle Donelan’s office told him party HQ vetoed her appearance amid bullying scandal

But Liam Walker, chair of Witney CF, told the Guardian the office of MP Michelle Donelan contacted him to say she would no longer attend as guest speaker after being told by Conservative central office not to join the festivities.

Walker, who went ahead with the party without the Chippenham MP, said: “It’s disappointing that at a time of the year when we should be coming together to celebrate Christmas we are instead being told we should cancel our events with no reason given. It’s unacceptable to punish those who have done nothing wrong.” (Guardian - my emphasis)

Ho(llow), ho(llow) ho(llow) laugh . . . .

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... ncy-witney

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 12:10 pm

BENIGN. All clear.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 12:11 pm

Now that's a Christmas present worth having

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 12:13 pm

ohsocynical wrote:BENIGN. All clear.

Great news! Thanks for letting us know.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 12:14 pm

ohsocynical wrote:BENIGN. All clear.

Thank goodness, Ohso

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 12:15 pm

I'll be back later.
I can face the day.
love
cJA

howsillyofme1 · Post by **howsillyofme1** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 12:25 pm

ohsocynical wrote:BENIGN. All clear.

Best news of Christmas so far....

Rebecca · Post by **Rebecca** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 12:31 pm

ohsocynical wrote:BENIGN. All clear.

How lovely.
Now you can all relax and have a peaceful Christmas.
x

frightful_oik · Post by **frightful_oik** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 12:31 pm

Excellent news ohso

TobyLatimer · Post by **TobyLatimer** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 12:51 pm

Wonderful news ohso

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 12:53 pm

Ditto x 100.

ephemerid · Post by **ephemerid** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 12:55 pm

ohsocynical wrote:BENIGN. All clear.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 1:02 pm

He dropped me off, and rushed off to do his Father Christmas. He'll do today, and tomorrow for them, and hopefully get to see some of the children he saw last year. They have three grottos open for all of December, and their very own reindeer, so it's a lot of children!
He grows his beard for it, but shaved when he had to have the big op. The lady at the garden centre said she'd get him a decent artificial one if he was well enough to do it...So he was like a greyhound out of a trap.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 1:18 pm

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/s ... r-10629035" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There's a warning in the Welsh press about fake Aldi discount vouchers being passed round Facebook.

The scam seems to be to get people to enter personal details on a site to get them.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 1:32 pm

I don't follow football, but the Fifa thing transcends my total lack of interest in the game.

This stood out -

Blatter was in defiant mood at a news conference he had called in advance of the punishments being made public.

"I will fight," he said. "I will fight for me and for Fifa."

He said he was "really sorry" that he is still "a punching ball" and that he has become tainted in the eyes of humanity. (BBC News website - my emphasis)

He runs (or ran) a bloody football outfit, for God's sake - and is to all appearances merely a common or garden crook. !

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 1:33 pm

Jingle (bum)boils.

Post by **refitman** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 1:42 pm

PorFavor wrote:Jingle (bum)boils.

FIFY

TobyLatimer · Post by **TobyLatimer** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 1:44 pm

yahyah wrote:http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/s ... r-10629035

There's a warning in the Welsh press about fake Aldi discount vouchers being passed round Facebook.

The scam seems to be to get people to enter personal details on a site to get them.

It's on the Nottingham Post as well. Hardly a week goes by without a similar scam doing the rounds naming other retailers such as Boots or Tesco. Must be a lot of vulnerable people out there for it to be lucrative to the scammers.

I never, ever click on anything that might look suspect, or too good to be true. Same with emails, never open them unless I know who they are from, and of those I do know I never click on links or attachments unless I am expecting something.

: ScreenShot01335.jpg (89.46 KiB) Viewed 8449 times

TobyLatimer · Post by **TobyLatimer** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 1:45 pm

Why is Sepp wearing a sticking plaster on his cheek today ? Was he having a shave when the news came on the radio ?

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 2:15 pm

yahyah wrote:http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/s ... r-10629035

There's a warning in the Welsh press about fake Aldi discount vouchers being passed round Facebook.

The scam seems to be to get people to enter personal details on a site to get them.

They've been warning people on Twitter too.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 2:21 pm

: Santa 2.jpg (39.67 KiB) Viewed 8405 times

Santa last year.

Post by **refitman** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 2:42 pm

ohsocynical wrote:
Santa 2.jpg

Santa last year.

That's a mighty fine beard.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 2:54 pm

refitman wrote:
ohsocynical wrote:
Santa 2.jpg

Santa last year.
That's a mighty fine beard.

He shaves it off when he's done the very last shift, then starts growing it again in May each year...I flipping hate it, but the kids love a real beard. It convinces them it's the 'real' Santa....He lets them tug it just to make sure.

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 3:28 pm

Benn, can you please stop. You've had your 15mins of being the moderate great hope. Turn your guns on the Tories foreign policy instead of internal Labour disagreements.

Bonnylad · Post by **Bonnylad** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 3:41 pm

IDS's Christmas message-
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015 ... -allowance" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 4:09 pm

Lucy Allan can't stop herself it seems. This is today's splurge. Someone needs to keep her away from all access to the internet - and phones of course.

'Bully' storm MP Lucy Allan refutes staffer's claims in online post... which is later deleted
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics ... 42146.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 4:15 pm

norman smith ‏@BBCNormanS 2h2 hours ago
David Cameron wd not want to contiinue as PM if he lost EU referendum says John Redwood

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 4:18 pm

Brilliant news Ohso. Makes the Ohso household and FTN much happier places.

danesclose · Post by **danesclose** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 4:18 pm

TobyLatimer wrote:Why is Sepp wearing a sticking plaster on his cheek today ? Was he having a shave when the news came on the radio ?

Apparently Blatter's ban from all football-related activities means that he can still watch Louis van Gaal's Man United

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 4:23 pm

Exclusive: Stephen Gilbert to step down as deputy chairman of the Conservative party
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2015/12/ex ... ive-party/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He's too close to the campaign to Remain in the EU for the comfort of many Tory eurosceptics.

... In November, he took up a part-time position at Populus, the official polling company for the main campaign to keep Britain in the EU, Britain Stronger in Europe (BSIE). While this position was in accordance with Conservative party rules, the move infuriated plenty of Tory Eurosceptics, who felt it undermined the party’s commitment to remain neutral during the referendum...

Given the stepping up of the campaign that will inevitably happen in 2016, it’s likely that Gilbert’s departure is meant to quell rumbles of discontent within the party. There’s a growing sense that the party leadership is not honouring the spirit of the neutrality pledge, so it’s unsurprising that things are starting to be reordered to help ease Eurosceptic minds...

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 4:54 pm

Bonnylad wrote:IDS's Christmas message-
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015 ... -allowance" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

B*****d !!!!!!!

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 4:57 pm

Afternoon all.

Great news from ohsocynical.

Rather less good news from IDS:

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

Families set to lose hundreds of pounds a year in Tory benefit cuts have been told to “work harder” by Iain Duncan Smith .

From next year anyone claiming the Universal Credit will have their in-work benefits slashed by £1,600 a year on average.

I know I'm being dense here, but if the benefit cuts were sent back to the Commons, doesn't there have to be another vote or something to pass this new version? Or were the UC cuts always dealt with separately? It strikes me that running two separate benefit systems concurrently for such a long length of time already creates enormous problems and costs. To operate a two tier system of benefit levels on top will create all sorts of injustices which are just about teneable in the short term, but in the longer term? Are we all supposed to bury our heads in the sand and pretend that UC will soon be rolled out to everyone instead of just a handful of unlucky guinea pigs? In which case, isn't this a slight delay, rather than a u-turn? I mean, you can't call it a u-turn just because you think UC won't happen. Taken at face value, the cuts are still going ahead. Osborne is still targeting working families, previous criticisms still apply, surely.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 4:58 pm

Socialist parties across Europe have been inspired by the decision of Labour Party members to elect Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader with an unprecedented majority.

http://www.tribunemagazine.org/2015/12/ ... liamson-2/

ephemerid · Post by **ephemerid** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 5:00 pm

Bonnylad wrote:IDS's Christmas message-
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015 ... -allowance" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is getting really silly now.

So if you lose thousands due to tax credit cuts or the cut in the Universal Credit work allowance, all you have to do is work an extra 200 hours a year to make up the difference. An extra 4 hours a week. Or working in your holidays.

The reason why people have to claim tax credits/UC/HB/etc. is because they can't get the hours or can't get paid enough for the hours they do - how the feckety feck will they find more when the reason they're claiming is because they can't?

What about the extra costs of childcare, travel, etc?

Madness.

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 5:10 pm

ephemerid wrote:
Bonnylad wrote:IDS's Christmas message-
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015 ... -allowance" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is getting really silly now.

So if you lose thousands due to tax credit cuts or the cut in the Universal Credit work allowance, all you have to do is work an extra 200 hours a year to make up the difference. An extra 4 hours a week. Or working in your holidays.

The reason why people have to claim tax credits/UC/HB/etc. is because they can't get the hours or can't get paid enough for the hours they do - how the feckety feck will they find more when the reason they're claiming is because they can't?

What about the extra costs of childcare, travel, etc?

Madness.

It's like arguing that someone in "x" circumstances won't be worse off if they're not actually in "x" circumstances anymore but in "y" circumstances instead, whilst ignoring the fact that "y" circumstances aren't anything like as good as they used to be, but have in fact been downgraded to "x" circumstances levels.

It's not like Tory voters don't understand this, they undoubtedly do, it's just they don't understand how little "y" was to start with, let alone "x".

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 5:26 pm

Mike Smithson ‏@MSmithsonPB 4m4 minutes ago
December ICM phone poll for Guardian
Con 39% (N/C)
Lab 34% (+1)
Ukip 10% (-2)
LD 7% (N/C)
GRN 3%

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 5:29 pm

From Ipsos Mori

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 5:31 pm

Bit of a glaring error in this article ... wishful thinking perhaps? Strange no sub ed spotted and corrected it (no, I agree, it's not at all strange these days).

... 3. He’s had decent wins which should be celebrated more

His strategy of asking “people’s questions” at PMQs has had Cameron on the back foot on more than one occasion. He forced a U-turn over the British contract with Saudi Arabian prisons. Labour’s strong opposition to the tax-credit cuts was responsible for Osborne rescinding them in the Autumn Statement. Labour saw an increased share of the votes in the Rochdale by-election. No other leader would achieve this in 100 days and still see his leadership questioned.

4. He and his supporters need to start taking the polarisation in the party seriously

Whether you put the infighting down to Blairites boo-hooing or not, the fact remains that the visible splits within the party are threatening Labour and its chances of future success. As Leader, Corbyn is responsible for and capable of creating and maintaining party harmony and dealing with dissent. The Rochdale by-election was won by activists from Progress to Momentum working together, and both sides need to be made to understand that future wins will only happen in similar circumstances...

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/fiv ... 81736.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 5:46 pm

yahyah wrote:

From Ipsos Mori

I find that order of priorities somewhat depressing.

howsillyofme1 · Post by **howsillyofme1** » Mon 21 Dec, 2015 5:49 pm

yahyah wrote:

From Ipsos Mori

Good evening...

Oh dear the Great British Public are a bit crap aren't they....