AgentAxeman

I see that Gordon Brown, the financial wizard is at it again.......... Government's £16bn sale of assets Gordon Brown is to announce the sale of £16bn worth of assets by the government in a bid to shore up public finances. The prime minister will give details of initial sales which could raise £3bn - including the Tote, the Dartford crossing and the student loan book. He will announce the sale in a speech on Monday as an alternative to immediate cuts proposed by the Tories. The Conservatives said the sale was "probably necessary" but "no substitute for a long-term plan". Mr Brown will say premature cuts risk "snuffing out" the economic recovery when the job of fixing the global economy is only half done. The plan is to sell a "portfolio of non-financial assets" held by Whitehall and local authorities over the next two years. They will include the Tote bookmakers, Dartford crossing, the student loan book, the Channel Tunnel rail link and - having protected national security - the government's stake in Urenco. It is no substitute for a long-term plan to get the country to live within its means Conservative Party spokesman This is a European uranium consortium, in which the government has a 33% stake. It supplies equipment to enrich uranium for the nuclear industry. The government will also sell surplus real estate which is part of the £220bn owned by its departments and agencies. "We need a deficit reduction plan that supports growth and jobs not one that snuffs out recovery before it has started," the prime minister will say. "Restoring public finance sustainability must be done in a way that supports growth not destroys it. The failure to do so is the real risk of a lost decade of austerity." The funds raised will help finance new capital investment and pay down debt, Mr Brown will say. In April, Chancellor Alistair Darling forecast that public borrowing this year would reach a record £175bn over the next two years. A Conservative Party spokesman said: "As any family knows selling off things helps in the short-term and, given the state the country is in, is probably necessary but it is no substitute for a long-term plan to get the country to live within its means." The Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, Vince Cable, said the policy was fundamentally flawed. He said: "Part of the problem here is that a lot of the family silver's already been sold. There isn't very much left, I mean the last government had massive disposal of assets and there's only a little bit, there are a few offerings left. "What worries me about the government proposal is that they're proposing to sell off in very depressed markets, under very depressed markets for land and for shares. "The student loan book is a slightly easier thing because it's government backed, but they're going to get very distressed prices. This is not a good time to sell assets." Number 10 said the sale marks the beginning of a radical assessment of what other non-core government business activities can best be done by, or in partnership with, the private sector. However Downing Street added that although these actions are important, a vital force for debt reduction will be the restoration of strong, sustainable growth within the economy. Didnt they try and sell the Tote a couple of years ago?? I wonder what price they'll get for it now! I'm willing to bet it's for less this time around! Wot a fookin MORON this guy is!!

Opeth - Blackwater Park. fookin gr8 album!!!!

??? He looks a decent player tbh. whats that above your head?? could it be.................... Sarcasm!!!!

Nice

is that how Wesley Ngo Baheng got his shirt then??

tbh i dont think Harper is good enough even with all the shit goalkeepers about atm. i think we're all looking thro black n' white tinted specs here!!

yup, what Tom said

Congratulations to you and your fella!!

Chez, he was in power for a total of 2 weeks before the closing date of nominations. wtf did he achieve in that time?? very thinly vieled attack on Bush imo!! oh, and we wont mention the extra 40000 troops thats about to be deployed, shall we?? That's something I hadn't considered. Ironically he's probably earnt the award for his pre-election rhetoric as opposed to his actions. pre election rhetoric?? thats about as reliable as............. well, something VERY unreliable. in fact, i do believe he's gone back on a few pledges already. Tom had a bit of a laugh earlier about the new world order theory. i reckon i may have to re-study the evidence just in case!!

Chez, he was in power for a total of 2 weeks before the closing date of nominations. wtf did he achieve in that time?? very thinly vieled attack on Bush imo!! oh, and we wont mention the extra 40000 troops thats about to be deployed, shall we??

Not being Dubya presumably. I think its a bit unfair to dismiss his presidency so far as just this. If the Republicans / neo-cons had continued in power, we'd have been at war with Iran by now. Its not as if Obama has just not got aggressive (as per Dubya) with countries like Iran, he has actively sought out new ways of interacting across borders. Fair enough, it was a bit tongue-in-cheek anyway. Seems extremely premature though. When's he gonna walk on water. or turn said water into wine?? as i said before UnFrigginBelievable!!!

seriously tho, Why?? UnFrigginBelievable!!

that'll sting a bit in the bath!!

I know someone who's bang into them I've only heard the one album. The latest one. And I've only been able to get through that a couple of times. They're hilarious though, something that needs to be experienced live given the opportunity. FOOKIN 'ELL!!! what tunings that guitar in??? Zb??

not impressed.

maybe your taking it the wrong way Fish. maybe it was intended to say 'i used to be violent but have now replaced that with Jesus'?? Well she was asked "Is your message 'I'm going to shoot you in the face with Jesus'?" and her response was "yeah, pretty much" here http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-octo...-g20-protesters ah, sorry fish, had'nt seen that. as i said earlier tho, complete loony!!

Fair and balanced Fox News are organising, hosting, promoting and supporting tea party's to protest the government...then reporting on them as a glorious example of grass roots protest and democracy in action. It's not left wing to oppose that. whats wrong with organising, hosting, promoting and supporting tea party's? whats wrong with protesting against a government you disagree with? whats wrong about calling it democratic? it's an opposing p.o.v. which you need in a democracy. glorious grass roots protest. is that a direct quote? is so, then it's a bit o.t.t. not looking for an argument here. just giving the discusion a bit of balance! Which is more than Fox are doing, given their tagline. There's nothing wrong with any motivated group of individuals doing any of that. For a TV news channel to organise those events and report them as news is scandalous. does smack a bit of the ol' 'propaganda' does'nt it. mind you, i can't think of any political movement (left or right) that has'nt used these tactics before. just saying like............ They're meant to be a news channel rather than a political movement though. all good proaganda stations call themselves news channels. any 'state controlled' channel (eg. al jazeera, pravda, bbc) for example has its own political bias. but in this case, i think its probably driven by money. Getting off topic but Al Jazeera isn't state controlled, it's independent. And the BBC isn't, even if it is state-funded. What propoganda does it put forward though? It's pretty critical of the government a lot of the time. Pravda is a bit different because it was a newspaper espousing the views of an autocracy. Not sure how independent it is these days. I think Fox is probably driven by it's owner(s) being right-wing conservatives. sorry, i thought al jazeera was state controlled. i think it was before the war.

But EVERY channel has a right wing (advertisers) bias. - totally agree Which channel organised, promoted and encouraged G20 or anti-war protesters? - I thought G20 was government organized?? are you talking about anti war protests in this country?? if so, no one. but the bbc promoted the hell out of them! Even NPR has banned the use of the word 'torture' in preference to "enhanced interrogation" - there you go then, propaganda in action. led by a government that 'never' lies to it's citizens.

I'm confused, I'm talking about a Christian woman who thought it was appropriate to have a symbol of peaceful martyrdom nestled in a symbol of violent action. Now if it was irony I'd appluad it. That it was intended to say "I'm going to shoot you in the face with Jesus" scares the crap out of me. maybe your taking it the wrong way Fish. maybe it was intended to say 'i used to be violent but have now replaced that with Jesus'??

Fair and balanced Fox News are organising, hosting, promoting and supporting tea party's to protest the government...then reporting on them as a glorious example of grass roots protest and democracy in action. It's not left wing to oppose that. whats wrong with organising, hosting, promoting and supporting tea party's? whats wrong with protesting against a government you disagree with? whats wrong about calling it democratic? it's an opposing p.o.v. which you need in a democracy. glorious grass roots protest. is that a direct quote? is so, then it's a bit o.t.t. not looking for an argument here. just giving the discusion a bit of balance! Which is more than Fox are doing, given their tagline. There's nothing wrong with any motivated group of individuals doing any of that. For a TV news channel to organise those events and report them as news is scandalous. does smack a bit of the ol' 'propaganda' does'nt it. mind you, i can't think of any political movement (left or right) that has'nt used these tactics before. just saying like............ They're meant to be a news channel rather than a political movement though. all good proaganda stations call themselves news channels. any 'state controlled' channel (eg. al jazeera, pravda, bbc) for example has its own political bias. but in this case, i think its probably driven by money.

dogs danglies that like Tom!!

Fair and balanced Fox News are organising, hosting, promoting and supporting tea party's to protest the government...then reporting on them as a glorious example of grass roots protest and democracy in action. It's not left wing to oppose that. whats wrong with organising, hosting, promoting and supporting tea party's? whats wrong with protesting against a government you disagree with? whats wrong about calling it democratic? it's an opposing p.o.v. which you need in a democracy. glorious grass roots protest. is that a direct quote? is so, then it's a bit o.t.t. not looking for an argument here. just giving the discusion a bit of balance! Which is more than Fox are doing, given their tagline. There's nothing wrong with any motivated group of individuals doing any of that. For a TV news channel to organise those events and report them as news is scandalous. does smack a bit of the ol' 'propaganda' does'nt it. mind you, i can't think of any political movement (left or right) that has'nt used these tactics before. just saying like............

I don't mind engaged right-wing folk, it's the willfull ignorance. John Stewart's show is quick to berate both sides of the aisle, but the right don't half make it easy. That woman from the Tea Party protest group with a 45 Magnum gun belt, with a crucifix in the holster... you couldn't write it. yeah, but you get loonies like that from all walks of life!!! does'nt christianity tell the 'believers' to smite their enemies?? in fact does'nt every religon?? funny!!

Fair and balanced Fox News are organising, hosting, promoting and supporting tea party's to protest the government...then reporting on them as a glorious example of grass roots protest and democracy in action. It's not left wing to oppose that. whats wrong with organising, hosting, promoting and supporting tea party's? whats wrong with protesting against a government you disagree with? whats wrong about calling it democratic? it's an opposing p.o.v. which you need in a democracy. glorious grass roots protest. is that a direct quote? is so, then it's a bit o.t.t. not looking for an argument here. just giving the discusion a bit of balance!