Thursday 31st March 2016

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 1:42 am

Morning

Serious failings in disability benefits assessment system. PAC Report.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/commi ... hed-15-16/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 1:59 am

http://www.parliament.uk/business/commi ... ment-2015/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
State bereavement support "opaque and outdated" report finds

DWP Select Committee.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016 ... ty-say-mps" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Enquiry into Employment Gap
http://www.parliament.uk/business/commi ... nch-15-16/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hobiejoe · Post by **Hobiejoe** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 2:12 am

Damnit all! I'm just going to bed yesterday, yet I'm posting tomorrow. I'm right discombobulated now.

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 7:10 am

Morning all. Link monkey strikes again.

Revealed: how Associated Press cooperated with the Nazis

http://gu.com/p/4tvg9" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 7:48 am

How to lose business.

BTL predictably poor.

Morrisons' casting agent calls for actors to star in advert – just not scousers

http://gu.com/p/4tx5c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 8:08 am

https://medium.com/mosquito-ridge/steel ... .tei710z8b" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Steel crisis: they do not give a shit

Paul Mason
Indeed the ministry that should have an industrial policy is run by a man who, when the space between his ears registers a thought at all, believes there should not be an industrial policy.
Not giving a shit — about industries, jobs or social consequences — is at the heart of the ideology the political elite has learned since they were at private school.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 8:22 am

Morning. Paul Mason is pretty spot on with that.

Just gnashing my teeth listening to Justin whathisname interviewing Len McCluskey on Radio 4. He's arguing the government position of non intervention and needing cheap steel for other industries and saving Tata's capacity will blow lots of hardworking taxpayers' money - and constantly interrupting McCluskey when he tries to state his which is that the government really needs to take a long term view and protect a UK steel industry for a whole host of economic, strategic and societal reasons.

Is anyone from the government itself going to appear - or is Radio 4 standing in for them?

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 8:23 am

Patrick Wintour ‏@patrickwintour 20m20 minutes ago
The 2015 election polling fiasco. The verdict by the official inquiry. http://eprints.ncrm.ac.uk/3789/1/Report ... evised.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

Patrick Wintour ‏@patrickwintour 16m16 minutes ago
Poll inquiry "herding may have contributed to the surprisingly high consensus between pollsters in the final polls of 2015 general election"

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 8:26 am

Tom Boadle
‏@TomBoadle
Cameron flies back for emergency govt talks, but neither the Chancellor nor Business Sec will be there #SaveOurSteel

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 8:30 am

90,438 signatures

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 8:31 am

Good morfternoon.

Speaking of shambles....it appears that business secretary Sajid Javid won’t be back in London until this afternoon (or later) to tackle the crisis despite cutting his trip to Australia short yesterday.

The Times has the details:

The business secretary had boarded a flight to Australia, where he was meeting Malcolm Turnbull, the prime minister, hours before a board meeting at Tata’s headquarters in Mumbai to decide the future of its British steel operation. He touched down during the Tata meeting on Tuesday evening.

Aides claim that they gave “serious consideration” to aborting the trip but he decided to continue because no firm decision had been made. Less than 24 hours later he decided to head home but missed the last flight and spent another night in Sydney. He will be back by mid-afternoon today at the earliest.

It also emerged that ten civil servants from the business department were attending a “resilience” training course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art yesterday.

Edited to add

Sorry - the above quote is from Business Live, Guardian. I'm not fully awake yet!

Making a drama out of a crisis?

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 8:33 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:90,438 signatures

That was quick - I checked a little while ago and it was in the 80s.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 8:35 am

Owen Smith ‏@OwenSmith_MP 7m7 minutes ago
Another day, another report about this Government's poor treatment of disabled people: http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/uk_56fbf ... ef5bffc18b" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

The committee’s report said that while it is encouraged by reductions in backlogs and delays for claimants in receiving decisions, there are “particular concerns” about the quality of assessments.

Unreasonable journey times, double-booked appointments and incomplete understanding of particular conditions, such as fluctuating and mental health conditions were all raised as issues when the committee heard evidence from witnesses representing Citizens Advice, the Disability Benefits Consortium and MIND, as well as the Department for Work & Pensions and contractors.

Local and regional variations in contractor performance were deemed unacceptable and the report said that a lack of transparency meant that claimants “do not have a clear expectation of the service they can expect”.

There is the usual say nothing statement from the DWP spokesperson at the end.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 8:40 am

PorFavor wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote:90,438 signatures
That was quick - I checked a little while ago and it was in the 80s.

I think there's a push to get it to 100,000 by the time Cameron has his 'meeting'. I'm calling it 'meeting' - because it probably bears no resemblance to what I would consider a proper meeting. This one apparently lacks the presence of the two people with the most input / responsibility - the Business Secretary and Chancellor. Feels to me like it's mainly for show.

John McDonnell on Radio 4 now. He's getting the Nick Robinson treatment now ... being challenged about spending 'billions of pounds' at a time of scant resources to prop up steel.

McDonnell arguing the difference in priorities between Labour and the Tories re protecting a strategic industry such as steel and giving tax cuts away in the budget.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 8:43 am

Darren McCaffrey ‏@DMcCaffreySKY 17m17 minutes ago London, England
Ministers arriving at No.10. "Is this the end of Welsh steel industry?" @Anna_Soubry "I hope not". Doesn't exactly fill you with confidence.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 8:48 am

Peter Oborne ‏@OborneTweets 13m13 minutes ago
Peter Oborne Retweeted Jim Pickard
Good point this from the @FT

Jim Pickard
‏@PickardJE
Sajid Javid says that nationalisation is "rarely" the answer: yet the dominant Chinese steel companies are mostly state-owned.

It does seem strange / infuriating how often our government is willing to support the state industries of other countries (whilst usually ignoring that they are state owned).

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 8:52 am

denise roulstone ‏@deniseroulstone 12h12 hours ago
Protest planned outside Stephen Crabb's Haverfordwest office http://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/ ... ref=twtrec" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 8:55 am

Javid did at least attend a black tie dinner, before heading back to the airport. (Business Live, Guardian)

There was a funny cartoon yesterday showing two steel workers one of whom was saying, "Now they're dumping Sajid Javid on us!" Good things come to those who wait, it seems . . . . .

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:05 am

norman smith ‏@BBCNormanS 9m9 minutes ago
So "key" ministers at Downing St mini summit on steel are Welsh Sec, DWP Sec and Biz minister Anna Soubry

Doesn't that just fill you with confidence.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:06 am

helen ward ‏@teshelen 9m9 minutes ago
Primary head takes up Nicky Morgan's call to be positive on @tes 'we are going to fight...in a very positive way' http://ow.ly/107qOO" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:11 am

Robert Peston ‏@Peston 3m3 minutes ago
There are 130,000 members of British Steel pension scheme, sponsored by Tata & with £485m hole. This steel crisis is about more than jobs

Lonewolfie · Post by **Lonewolfie** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:21 am

Morbubble afteralltinoon...

On steel...anyone remember Forgemasters?...from 2010...you'd think a longtermeconomicplan thingy would've catered for long term economic planning and investment...

The coalition government announced today it will be axing £2bn worth of projects, including a loan that would have helped a British engineering firm build steel components for next generation nuclear reactors.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander told parliament that Sheffield Forgemasters would no longer be granted a £80m loan that was promised by the Labour government in March this year to help buy and install a 15,000-tonne forging press for developing large steel components for next generation nuclear reactors.

...and...

Business secretary Vince Cable confirmed that several key programmes supporting innovation and low carbon technology would go ahead.
These programmes include the £2.6m Bristol and Bath Science Park, £12m for the International Space Innovation Centre in Harwell, £75m for the Discovery Research Ship, £11.5m for the National Renewable Energy Centre (NaREC) Offshore Wind Blade Test Site in Blyth, £18.5m for the NaREC Offshore Wind Turbine Test Site, £12.4m for Offshore Wind Demonstration and Development and £30m for Offshore Wind, Mitsubishi Collaborative R&D.

https://www.theengineer.co.uk/governmen ... ress-loan/

...so how are the 'low carbon innovation key programmes' and 'next generation nuclear reactors' going? Hello? Anyone seen SlimyDaveGidiotJavid? No? Perhaps they're buried under all the 'green cr4p'

TBF, personally, I'm not a fan of 'loans' like this (direct investment/grants always seem more efficient to me) - but the advantage of governement investment is clear to the governments of other coutries across the world (Japan, France, Germany, Italy and China for example) and actually has facts and evidence to support the notion that it benefits the wider economy - and, whilst I'm not for nuclear power, perhaps one of our erstwhile hardworking journos could ask why, if 'noocleer' is so important to Gidiot and Clouncy, they cr4pped on a project that might've seen Britain exporting...'cos Exporting is GREAT, dontcha know)

Nice to know Clouncy's having a 'meeting'...will anyone in the meeting actually know....well, anything, really

...and of course, nationalisation isn't the answer - can't have guvmint munny going anywhere but Thatchers little airheads and their sycophants, now can we.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:22 am

95,047 signatures

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:26 am

Lonewolfie wrote:Morbubble afteralltinoon...

On steel...anyone remember Forgemasters?...from 2010...you'd think a longtermeconomicplan thingy would've catered for long term economic planning and investment...

The coalition government announced today it will be axing £2bn worth of projects, including a loan that would have helped a British engineering firm build steel components for next generation nuclear reactors.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander told parliament that Sheffield Forgemasters would no longer be granted a £80m loan that was promised by the Labour government in March this year to help buy and install a 15,000-tonne forging press for developing large steel components for next generation nuclear reactors.

...and...

Business secretary Vince Cable confirmed that several key programmes supporting innovation and low carbon technology would go ahead.
These programmes include the £2.6m Bristol and Bath Science Park, £12m for the International Space Innovation Centre in Harwell, £75m for the Discovery Research Ship, £11.5m for the National Renewable Energy Centre (NaREC) Offshore Wind Blade Test Site in Blyth, £18.5m for the NaREC Offshore Wind Turbine Test Site, £12.4m for Offshore Wind Demonstration and Development and £30m for Offshore Wind, Mitsubishi Collaborative R&D.

https://www.theengineer.co.uk/governmen ... ress-loan/

...so how are the 'low carbon innovation key programmes' and 'next generation nuclear reactors' going? Hello? Anyone seen SlimyDaveGidiotJavid? No? Perhaps they're buried under all the 'green cr4p'

TBF, personally, I'm not a fan of 'loans' like this (direct investment/grants always seem more efficient to me) - but the advantage of governement investment is clear to the governments of other coutries across the world (Japan, France, Germany, Italy and China for example) and actually has facts and evidence to support the notion that it benefits the wider economy - and, whilst I'm not for nuclear power, perhaps one of our erstwhile hardworking journos could ask why, if 'noocleer' is so important to Gidiot and Clouncy, they cr4pped on a project that might've seen Britain exporting...'cos Exporting is GREAT, dontcha know)

Nice to know Clouncy's having a 'meeting'...will anyone in the meeting actually know....well, anything, really ...and of course, nationalisation isn't the answer - can't have guvmint munny going anywhere but Thatchers little airheads and their sycophants, now can we.

Hard to believe that the Tories have had 6 years to get their 'march of the makers' going .... and here's the result of their efforts. Well maybe it's not hard to believe - but sadly much of the country did and voted for them. I am returning to an alternative vision of London and the South East being declared a separate state - allowing the rest of UK to get on and try to make policies that work for us.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:28 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:95,047 signatures

95,609 now.

Your turn . . . .

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:36 am

There seem to be rather a lot of political commentators that aren't tweeting about the steel situation. The silence is deafening. Holidays didn't get in the way of the summer of Get Ed.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:37 am

As Lonewolfie has mentioned - where's George Osborne? I'd have thought his presence at this here meeting was fairly pivotal. I'd like to know if he's not there because he's hiding, wasn't invited, or because David Cameron simply wants to be seen to be doing something and is holding his mate in reserve to put the kibosh on any financial "decisions" that are taken. Playing for time, in other words.

Lonewolfie · Post by **Lonewolfie** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:38 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:
Hard to believe that the Tories have had 6 years to get their 'march of the makers' going .... and here's the result of their efforts. Well maybe it's not hard to believe - but sadly much of the country did and voted for them. I am returning to an alternative vision of London and the South East being declared a separate state - allowing the rest of UK to get on and try to make policies that work for us.

I know this is an unfashionable view, but only 24% of the possible vote went to the Tories - they had a strategy that worked perfectly - use Murdochs lapdogs in Scotland to eat into Labours vote share and in England, eat their little yellow friends in the SW - a majority of 'the people' most certainly did not vote for them...and I'm not convinced they thought the strategy would work as well as it did.

My turn - 96,234

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:43 am

norman smith ‏@BBCNormanS 2m2 minutes ago
Mini steel summit ends in Downing Street . Ministers restate support for steel industry. But what's the plan ???

Plan - you expect us to have a PLAN? Go and ask Labour what their fully costed plans are - that's what the BBC and press are supposed to do.

ephemerid · Post by **ephemerid** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:43 am

In 2007, Tata bought Corus for $10 Billion; at the time the company was making $800 Million PA.
The company was alleged to be over-priced, but Tata apparently wanted to expand.
Tata borrowed that $10 Billion from Indian banks at a higher rate of interest than charged in the UK; they then borrowed a further $7 Billion.
It now has debts of $17BN which must be costing as much to service as Corus makes in a year.

If we bought Tata's UK interests for a penny, we'd be buying the debt too. I think that's why Tata want out.
It would cost us less to service that debt because we could borrow at BOE rates which are much lower.
It would save 40,000 jobs - if all those people claimed JSA alone it would cost £150 Million; add to that all the other support they'd be entitled to and you could easily double that.

We should also procure UK steel for our other manufacturing industries - it is beyond ludicrous that we buy steel from Korea to build a fleet of Royal Navy support ships, and have made a deal with a Swedish company worth £3.8 Billion to supply steel for Ajax armoured vehicles and a further deal worth £350 Million for warships with the same outfit.
There are articles galore online about what excellent quality our steelmakers produce. So why don't w use our own steel to build our navy?

There are many more on the poor quality of much of the steel imported from China. The UK imported 687,000 tonnes of Chinese steel in 2014, more than double what it imported in 2013. There have been reports of various problems (too technical for me to understand).
We also imported 5 Million tonnes from the EU; although the quality is fine, it's not much cheaper than using our own.

This is what I think -
We should buy Tata for pennies, and service the debts more cheaply;
We should procure only UK steel for our defence and infrastructure;
We should introduce a special low tariff for energy costs for the industry;
We should impose import tariffs, which so far the Tories have refused to do;
We should ensure that our steel industry doesn't disappear forever.

Javid will not do any of this. Osborne will allow China to do what it wants.

Steel will go the same way as coal for all the same reasons.
We have learned nothing.

Lonewolfie · Post by **Lonewolfie** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:44 am

Where's George?....where've we heard that before? (Perhaps he's inspecting a bakery...in another of his cunning alter-egos, Pasty McPasteface?)

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:44 am

We might be in a race to declare the 100,000. (Damn it I might have to go out and work before that happens ....).

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:45 am

Oh, alright then, I'll go -

97, 084

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:46 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:
norman smith ‏@BBCNormanS 2m2 minutes ago
Mini steel summit ends in Downing Street . Ministers restate support for steel industry. But what's the plan ???
Plan - you expect us to have a PLAN? Go and ask Labour what their fully costed plans are - that's what the BBC and press are supposed to do.

Blimey - that was a short meeting!

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:47 am

Lonewolfie wrote:Where's George?....where've we heard that before? (Perhaps he's inspecting a bakery...in another of his cunning alter-egos, Pasty McPasteface?)

Osborne? Checking for updates to Natalie Rowe's twitter perhaps.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:48 am

Alleged Chinese Agent Osborne in Paris for a G20 meeting.

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:52 am

UK economy grows faster than expected - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35931968" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hurrah, it's all going to the latest revision of the LTEP.

But wait. What's this buried towards the end?

'The deficit in the three months to Decemberwas £32.7bn, the equivalent of 7% of GDP, said the ONS.

For the whole of 2015, the deficit came to £96.2bn or 5.2% of GDP.

Both figures were the highest since official records began in 1948.'

Lonewolfie · Post by **Lonewolfie** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:53 am

ephemerid wrote:In 2007, Tata bought Corus for $10 Billion; at the time the company was making $800 Million PA.
The company was alleged to be over-priced, but Tata apparently wanted to expand.
Tata borrowed that $10 Billion from Indian banks at a higher rate of interest than charged in the UK; they then borrowed a further $7 Billion.
It now has debts of $17BN which must be costing as much to service as Corus makes in a year.

If we bought Tata's UK interests for a penny, we'd be buying the debt too. I think that's why Tata want out.
It would cost us less to service that debt because we could borrow at BOE rates which are much lower.
It would save 40,000 jobs - if all those people claimed JSA alone it would cost £150 Million; add to that all the other support they'd be entitled to and you could easily double that.

We should also procure UK steel for our other manufacturing industries - it is beyond ludicrous that we buy steel from Korea to build a fleet of Royal Navy support ships, and have made a deal with a Swedish company worth £3.8 Billion to supply steel for Ajax armoured vehicles and a further deal worth £350 Million for warships with the same outfit.
There are articles galore online about what excellent quality our steelmakers produce. So why don't w use our own steel to build our navy?

There are many more on the poor quality of much of the steel imported from China. The UK imported 687,000 tonnes of Chinese steel in 2014, more than double what it imported in 2013. There have been reports of various problems (too technical for me to understand).
We also imported 5 Million tonnes from the EU; although the quality is fine, it's not much cheaper than using our own.

This is what I think -
We should buy Tata for pennies, and service the debts more cheaply;
We should procure only UK steel for our defence and infrastructure;
We should introduce a special low tariff for energy costs for the industry;
We should impose import tariffs, which so far the Tories have refused to do;
We should ensure that our steel industry doesn't disappear forever.

Javid will not do any of this. Osborne will allow China to do what it wants.

Steel will go the same way as coal for all the same reasons.
We have learned nothing.

How about some money from the magic Quantitative Easing money tree?...or convert the debt to 1,000 year bonds?

They have learnt nothing....but then they know everything anyway and are always right - Thatcherism and their friends at the City told them so.

97,859...about 100 a minute...so 100,000 at about 10 past 10?

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:54 am

Rule out nationalisation

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:55 am

Lonewolfie wrote: 97,859...about 100 a minute...so 100,000 at about 10 past 10?

Oh I might be able to hang on for that ...

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:57 am

98,000 topped. Perhaps the meeting was so short in order to avoid a collision with the 100,000 target.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 9:59 am

StephenDolan wrote:There seem to be rather a lot of political commentators that aren't tweeting about the steel situation. The silence is deafening. Holidays didn't get in the way of the summer of Get Ed.

If they can't slag off Labour/Corbyn, they aren't interested. With at least some of them, it really *is* that simple.

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 10:01 am

Can we have examples of what 'everything we can' involves? Does it include changing the government's view on steel tarrifs for eg?

Lonewolfie · Post by **Lonewolfie** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 10:04 am

StephenDolan wrote:UK economy grows faster than expected - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35931968" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hurrah, it's all going to the latest revision of the LTEP.

But wait. What's this buried towards the end?

'The deficit in the three months to Decemberwas £32.7bn, the equivalent of 7% of GDP, said the ONS.

For the whole of 2015, the deficit came to £96.2bn or 5.2% of GDP.

Both figures were the highest since official records began in 1948.'

Um...er....um...what? Highest deficit since records began? Urrm...shirley shum mishtake?

...but but but...um...

Wobbles off into the distance shaking head with very confused face, repeating 'um...er...um' ad infinitum

(98,860 - so 10.15?)

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 10:04 am

Getting a quickie in here.

98,940 signatures

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 10:06 am

StephenDolan wrote:Can we have examples of what 'everything we can' involves? Does it include changing the government's view on steel tarrifs for eg?

So far, it seems to mean David Cameron issuing vacuous "Tweets".

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 10:07 am

99,158

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 10:08 am

Cameron's tweets about what his govt has done to support steel are making me furious - and others.

Why aren't / won't the press challenge him on vetoing the higher tariffs on Chinese steel - and not even sending a minister to the Tata meeting to lobby for the best outcome possible?

Lonewolfie · Post by **Lonewolfie** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 10:09 am

StephenDolan wrote:Can we have examples of what 'everything we can' involves? Does it include changing the government's view on steel tarrifs for eg?

Port Talbot is a port...so near the sea...Slimy could set up some Fish-pointing apprenticeships?

(It's not my turn!...but I predict a starburst of posts around 10.14)

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 31 Mar, 2016 10:11 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:
Peter Oborne ‏@OborneTweets 13m13 minutes ago
Peter Oborne Retweeted Jim Pickard
Good point this from the @FT

Jim Pickard
‏@PickardJE
Sajid Javid says that nationalisation is "rarely" the answer: yet the dominant Chinese steel companies are mostly state-owned.
It does seem strange / infuriating how often our government is willing to support the state industries of other countries (whilst usually ignoring that they are state owned).

(my bold)

Current government are irrational, absolutists living their lives in a state of perpetual cognitive dissonance.

Good-morning, everyone.