Park Life

She is just one person and she isnt doing it half as bad as some people you hear about though?! There is a definite need for Govt to inspire and energise these kinds of people, but when things haven't worked out for some they lose confidence in themselves and have low self-worth etc...Voluntary work should be mandatory once you've been out of work for a year imo.

Well it's about 45% in Germany and France. Are their other taxation systems commensurate with ours? Is life better there? Where does the money go? IMO standard of living/quality of life is wildly better in both and healthcare in France is about the best in the world (Chez would have more details). Kindergarten is pretty much free here unless you want a special one or you earn loads. The only thing wrong with Germany is the need for private healthcare, but if you work for a company they pay half of it. Hamburg is a clean, safe city with good food and cheap transport for all, London is a nightmare in comparison.

I know you think I'm taking the piss but it does actually protect the rights of the individual over things like this. Also, what's wrong with recovering assets from people who refuse to pay fines etc.? It's not like they aren't given plenty of opportunity before it gets to that stage. Obviously you'll get the odd mistake but no system is ever going to be perfect. hmmmmmmmm, thats a lovely fantasy you've got going there. but the Human rights act doesnt stop your local council using anti terror laws to look in your bin. this is not a daily mail fantasy, it actually happens. the point i'm making is, no matter what the good intentions are, it wont be long before it'll be corrupted in much the same ways as the aforementioned laws (including the human rights act). How about wiring up dustybin with a nice chunk of c5? sometimes you need to come back from uranus before you post Parky!!

Well it's about 45% in Germany and France.

I know you think I'm taking the piss but it does actually protect the rights of the individual over things like this. Also, what's wrong with recovering assets from people who refuse to pay fines etc.? It's not like they aren't given plenty of opportunity before it gets to that stage. Obviously you'll get the odd mistake but no system is ever going to be perfect. hmmmmmmmm, thats a lovely fantasy you've got going there. but the Human rights act doesnt stop your local council using anti terror laws to look in your bin. this is not a daily mail fantasy, it actually happens. the point i'm making is, no matter what the good intentions are, it wont be long before it'll be corrupted in much the same ways as the aforementioned laws (including the human rights act). How about wiring up dustybin with a nice chunk of c5?

Well if education and training was truly free, people unemployed after a year could retrain. But its financially impossible under uncle capitalism isn't it? You should pay more tax you fucker...what is your basic rate 25%?... Clearly taking too many holidays as well.

Yeah cause she's causing so much damage compared to all the bent city banks...

whatever do you mean? sorry the link doesnt work. is fine for me but the jist of it is Draconian police powers designed to deprive crime barons of luxury lifestyles are being extended to councils, quangos and agencies to use against the public, The Times has learnt. The right to search homes, seize cash, freeze bank accounts and confiscate property will be given to town hall officials and civilian investigators employed by organisations as diverse as Royal Mail, the Rural Payments Agency and Transport for London. The measure, being pushed through by Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, comes into force next week and will deploy some of the most powerful tools available to detectives against fare dodgers, families in arrears with council tax and other minor offenders. The radical extension of the Proceeds of Crime Act, through a Statutory Instrument which is not debated by parliament, has been condemned by the chairman of the Police Federation. Paul McKeever said that he was shocked to learn that the decision to hand over “intrusive powers” to people who were not police was made without consultation or debate. What a complete snooping circus this Govt is.

They're free already every day. Can't wait to get back.

OMG!!11 If it's free it will all fall apart!!!1111111one.. The company I work for has just got work with Metronet here to survey the whole underground in London at the cost of £150m, thats the surveying of it, not the works that could come from it. Yes its a 5 year contract however that a substantial cost and as you are aware a lot of it is victorian engineering. We have also got the contract for the NY Subway and thats a cost of $2b. Its not cheap and like Alex said its you or I (tax payers) that pay for it in the end so its not really free. With all due respect 2 billion dollars in the scheme of things is peanuts. Free to use is perhaps a better term, but it don't make keyboard fingers as twitchy as when I say 'free'. For the record water should be 'free' as well.

Agreed.

If they lose tonight (they will) is it all over for them?

Make the underground free at weekends and make driving into cities with your family impossible or so expensive it makes a grown man cry. Make all art galleries that get public money free on Sundays etc...Let the people live and be happy. It's easy this politics lark.

OMG!!11 If it's free it will all fall apart!!!1111111one..

And who's going to make for the services? Maybe they could get companies to sponsor the stops? See, that's the kind of thinking we should be looking at. To get the public to pay for public transport is silly. Long distance trains fair enough, but in inner cities the green thing to do is make travel free.

It must only be in England that people pay to use the underground...When I lived in Paris most (under 30) would laugh at paying and there are droves here in Hamburg who never pay on the U-Bahn. Just make these services free and remove the ticket barriers....

Like the Treaty of Lisbon itself which was passed by royal assent with no debate? I'm pretty pro-europe as it happens but I think it's the wrong tack to hold up our "democracy" as a perfect model. Like I said that. Our model is pretty rickety these days, but what we're getting into here is a very slippery slope.

Que? Because faceless bureaucrats write the laws in dark rooms, which aren't properly debated or even sometimes not debated and ratified before anoyone outside of about 10 people know what happened. As opposed to people running scared of Mail readers who pass laws by mumbling them in front of an unelected head of state "by the grace of God"? New laws in Parliament normally get one or more sessions of debate and furthermore are often part of the mandate during election times. It's nothing of the kind in Brussels and now with this new law the big 4 will start passing whole heaps of shit now that only a maj is needed.

I don't know c3 where are you going with this?

Que? Because faceless bureaucrats write the laws in dark rooms, which aren't properly debated or even sometimes not debated and ratified before anoyone outside of about 10 people know what happened.

nope, the start of a glorious cultural revolution comrade, which will be implemented through a series of 5 yr plans!!

Czech have given in and signed. The end of democracy as we know it?

Should have kept Canada.

Yep they do - from what I've heard, Standard Charter have swallowed all the debt in return for a share of the club and sticking their name across the shirts for the next 4 years. Liverpool effectively have no transfer budget which is why the Gerrard to Real Madrid rumour won't go away. Good. Even better news that the Torres sale money (only a matter of time once the waiter is out) will go to the bank.

Ah....At last some recognition for the power of the dark side.