UK Amazon Kindle Forum discussion
General Chat - anything Goes
>
The 'Take it Outside' thread This thread will no longer be moderated ***
Yeah, news in English is rather difficult to find here.Proper news, anyway. The English news sites seem to just do puff pieces.
I thought it was only tube drivers and miners that went on strike? Now the doctors are up in arms. Wonder if the Tories will get MI5 to spy on the doctors?
R.M.F wrote: "I thought it was only tube drivers and miners that went on strike? Now the doctors are up in arms. Wonder if the Tories will get MI5 to spy on the doctors?"You mean continue to, don't you?
I've seen a report that some posh school has 150 CCTV cameras spying on its own pupils.
We've got cameras all over our school.
Will wrote: "I've seen a report that some posh school has 150 CCTV cameras spying on its own pupils."I read it was 500. Mind you that was the Telegraph and the mathematics is sub optimal. One of the reporters said that there had been 140mph winds in England last year.
140 mph eh?probably the hot air generated in the Cabinet Office.
Will wrote: "I've seen a report that some posh school has 150 CCTV cameras spying on its own pupils."you sure that's not to spy on the predatory teachers to stop them preying on the kids?
Scotland Bill blocked by the Lords. Lords are more or less saying that the bill is complete and utter bollocks!
were they in on a friday then? Must be important
probably the day they file their expenses claims for the week
Warm comfy seat out of the horrible weather.
For any one who still believed in Osborne's competence at all?http://www.theguardian.com/business/2...
Will wrote: "For any one who still believed in Osborne's competence at all?http://www.theguardian.com/business/2..."
when was there ever a competent Chancellor of The Exchequer who understood the complexities of the modern global economy?
I'd be better satisfied with someone with a modicum of Common Sense and a good dollop of Decent Human Kindness.
Marc wrote: "Will wrote: "For any one who still believed in Osborne's competence at all?http://www.theguardian.com/business/2..."
when was there ever ..."
Gordon Brown? :)
I'm sorry if anybody hurt themselves laughing.
Marc wrote: "yeah good luck with that Rosemary!"ikr
Because Westminster is full of folk with those qualities.
Marc wrote: "Will wrote: "For any one who still believed in Osborne's competence at all?http://www.theguardian.com/business/2..."
when was there ever ..."
Just understood would do.
And I see that yesterday a Conservative MP talked out a measure that would allow schools to offer first aid training to children.I presume he wants them to be very ill so they use private health care (he probably part owns a health company, like the Tory MP who talked out a measure to allow the NHS to buy cheaper pharmaceuticals, or the company part owned by the Home Secretary's husband that wants to bid for work that should be done by the Police Force.)
Philip Davies?Yeah, he's a prick.
"I learned first aid in school but have forgotten it, so it's not worth teaching it to anyone else."
message 2473:
by
Geoff (G. Robbins) (merda constat variat altitudo)
(last edited Nov 21, 2015 02:15AM)
(new)
Michael Cargill wrote: "Philip Davies?Yeah, he's a prick.
"I learned first aid in school but have forgotten it, so it's not worth teaching it to anyone else.""
Nah, pricks serve a purpose.
The problem with teaching first aid, and here I'd obviously bow to Claire, is that it's got to be kept current and half remembered stuff might even be dangerous.Also what exactly are you going to drop so we can fit the first aid training in?
When I was at school things like that were organised in lunch clubs or after school.
I learned it in Brownies. Or Guides. Guides, probably.
Lady wife organised First aid competitions for the guides, and the local Red Cross came in and did the training and then judged the competition.
Lynne (Tigger's Mum) wrote: "When I was at school things like that were organised in lunch clubs or after school."Lady wife had the same experience. But for me, most people went home for lunch and after school I had a school bus to catch to never attended anything like that. I think if something is important, it's got to be included in the time given over to teaching because there might not be any other time
Nasty little item on the BBC Europe news feed. A consignment of nearly 800 pump action shotguns stopped at Trieste by border police, produced in Turkey and the vehicle was loaded there, destined for Belgium. No paperwork, permits licences etc and therefore illegal.
Turkey is behaving disgracefully, not only shooting down the Russian jet fighter, but also more concerned with suppressing the Kurds than defeating ISIS. And yet at the height of the migration crisis, Merkel said she would encourage fast tracking Turkey's membership into the EU if it helped sort out the border with Syria. Completely ignoring Turkey's abject failure to meet human rights conventions with regard to press freedoms and the right to peaceful protest over there.
message 2481:
by
Geoff (G. Robbins) (merda constat variat altitudo)
(last edited Nov 27, 2015 10:45AM)
(new)
I predict that we are going to get a big hike in house prices between now and April next year, as buy to let landlords rush to buy housing without paying the new levels of Stamp Duty.Those who are old enough to remember, Nigel Lawson did a similar thing with double tax relief for people living together that was due to be introduced on August 1 1988. There was a subsequent vast rise in house prices in the months between the budget and the abolition date.
Unfortunately, on August 2, 1988 houses stopped selling and priced dropped like a stone, causing huge numbers of house buyers into negative equity for years afterwards.
Isn't good to see our chancellor has learnt his lessons from history - not. Watch out in April.
Marc wrote: "Turkey is behaving disgracefully, not only shooting down the Russian jet fighter, but also more concerned with suppressing the Kurds than defeating ISIS. And yet at the height of the migration crisis, Merkel said she would encourage fast tracking Turkey's membership into the EU if it helped sort out the border with Syria. Completely ignoring Turkey's abject failure to meet human rights conventions with regard to press freedoms and the right to peaceful protest over there...."Turkey is doing what every other country in the area is doing, looking after its own interests
There was a top level decision when the Ottoman Empire was broken up that the Kurds were not going to be independent and they were divided between three countries (Turkey, Iran and Iraq, there were some in the Soviet Union as well at one time). All three countries have tried to put down insurgencies among 'their' Kurds, and just to confuse the issue the Kurds have fought among themselves with similar enthusiasm.
So the Turks have Kurdish allies and Kurdish enemies. But the boundaries between the two groups keep slipping.
My guess is that they shot the Russian plane down because the Russians were attacking Syrian Turkmens, who are ethnically Turkish, and have been armed by the Turks and have been defending Turkey from attack and infiltration by Daesh and others. Whether the plane crossed into Turkey or not I don't know, but I do know the Turks have a long tradition of looking after their own.
yes I make you right on the reason they shot the plane down
The housing market is screwed and has been for years.Mind you, the panic about negative equity is daft - it's only an issue if you're planning on selling in the near future.
Michael Cargill wrote: "The housing market is screwed and has been for years.Mind you, the panic about negative equity is daft - it's only an issue if you're planning on selling in the near future."
True, unless you are like a lot of couples that split up within a few years. This happened a lot in 1988 and caused a lot of problems.
Well yes, if the price drops directly affect you then naturally it's a concern.But I'm talking about the general attitude towards it, with perfectly settled people sitting there in a mild state of depression because their house isn't worth as much as they thought it would be - the fact that they're safe and sound under their own roof passes them by.
I remember a headline on the front of either the Mail or the Express a couple of years back that was bewildering:
"At last... house prices are on the rise again."
Also, this cartoon made me chuckle:
message 2488:
by
Geoff (G. Robbins) (merda constat variat altitudo)
(last edited Nov 27, 2015 04:07PM)
(new)
Michael Cargill wrote: "Well yes, if the price drops directly affect you then naturally it's a concern.But I'm talking about the general attitude towards it, with perfectly settled people sitting there in a mild state o..."
The other problem with 1988 was that interest rates were on the rise... Steeply. As a result, a lot of people were trapped. They couldn't afford to pay the mortgage, but couldn't sell the homes because they would have to find the difference between what the mortgage was worth and how much the house would sell for. Many left and posted their keys through the building society's or bank's door.
If you remember, the main reason that interest rates were going up was because of the house price boom. Catch 22.
I always suspect that the media's enthusiasm for rising house prices is just down to lazy journalism. They receive a press release from a mortgage lender/estate agency (or anyone else with a vested interest in rising prices) and simply reproduce it without thought.
Yeah, it's a circular thing.The papers make a 'thing' out of house prices because they know it sells, and the public make a 'thing' out of it because it's in the papers.
Everyone's drinking the Kool Aid.
Yes and the banks and building societies gave out bigger mortgages than they should have which encouraged sellers to inflate their prices. Making bubbles which were made to be burst
encouraged by the Conservative ideological drive towards home ownership and cheap money. Two of the few growth industries in the 1980s while heavy industry was being scrapped.Our current borrowing debt is hardly surprising given the mentality of easy credit fostered int hat decade where people went madly consuming on tick.
Sometimes when I watch daytime TV I see a programme Homes Under the Hammer. The number of people interviewed after the auction who are adding to their 'portfolio' is staggering. One week a buyer casually said'"This will be our 42nd BTL." They do them up as cheaply as possible and obviously get as much rent as they can. Can anyone else remember Rachman? I'm not being a little Englander but the number of foreign buyers/landlords at auction is disproportionate. The very few who buy for their main family home are a pleasant change and the quality of the improvements is very different.
I remember Rachman. His name actually passed into our language though it's probably dropped out again now pretty much
We've been thinking of buying a second property for a while now but I doubt we'll buy in the UK.
I remember him, but actually as the wiki points out, he's a far more complex character than the caricature we normally gethttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_R...
He was actually dead before he became properly famous
Worth reading for a picture of the age
message 2497:
by
Geoff (G. Robbins) (merda constat variat altitudo)
(last edited Nov 28, 2015 07:43AM)
(new)
Marc wrote: "encouraged by the Conservative ideological drive towards home ownership and cheap money. Two of the few growth industries in the 1980s while heavy industry was being scrapped.Our current borrowin..."
Why do you always try and blame the Conservatives for things, Marc? It really gets tiresome and is rarely correct.
Mortgage tax relief was brought in by Roy Jenkins in 1969 to encourage home buying. He was a Labour chancellor.
As for heavy industry, it wasn't scrapped by government but by its own lack of competitiveness. There is no point in producing something for a £1 when it can be made elsewhere for 10p and sold for 30p.
Marc wrote: "I remember Rachman. His name actually passed into our language though it's probably dropped out again now pretty much"I thought it would make sense to buy properties in different currency areas when you're not particularly tied to any one country
Jim wrote: "Marc wrote: "I remember Rachman. His name actually passed into our language though it's probably dropped out again now pretty much"I thought it would make sense to buy properties in different cur..."
Yep.
Canada is looking good right now. Gotta look carefully at the tax implications as I'm a citizen, though.
If anyone knows of a reputable international financial consultant, please gimme their number.
Geoff (G. Robbins) (The noisy passionfruit) wrote: "Marc wrote: "encouraged by the Conservative ideological drive towards home ownership and cheap money. Two of the few growth industries in the 1980s while heavy industry was being scrapped.Our cur..."
Geoff I criticise the Left as much, you're being one-eyed here.
The whole basis of Thatcherism's domestic policies were to raise the upper echelons of the working classes through home ownership (selling off council homes at discount) and share ownership into the middle classes. Now while you might argue that is a noble aim, it left a rump of people with large unemployment rates and living in the areas with the worst schools on whose backs effectively the success of the policy was built and funded - the same communities who are still being penalised today by Cameron & Osborne's cuts. And yes, Blair & Brown did little to help this natural Labour constituency despite the huge Parliamentary majorities they held.
And yes the state industries were in a terrible state. maybe it was inevitable that they had to be closed down, but to do so without any buffering from the State in the form of retraining and alternate job creation was unforgivable at best, or just cynical. Mass unemployment keeps wages down.
But yeah, the Conservatives broke Britain and we have been riven by division ever since. Labour have done nothing to heal the divisions which is why they are being abandoned by the voters.
UK Amazon Kindle Forum
Books mentioned in this topic
The Beiderbecke Affair (other topics)The Grain Market in the Roman Empire: A Social, Political and Economic Study (other topics)
The Peasants Are Revolting (other topics)
How to Lie with Statistics (other topics)
That Old Ace in the Hole (other topics)
More...
But the phrase in the article I liked was
"For all of those persons elected to the arrest as a preventive measure."
Not a phrase you see very often