NJS

Thatcher and Clinton?

I haven't had a pay rise since 07 so you can get used to it. On a personal level I'm only really affected by the cider change (sorry ) and I'd like to see what this Bank levy is - it may lead to more pressure on my job.

I'm certainly not averse to any kind of review of spending on its own terms - I just think there will be an idealogical element in there which I will object to - of course I also understand that's inherent in politics.

Has anyone got the direct URL to the stream on ITV.com? - I can't seem to navigate to it from their home page.

CT: some of the measures seem reasonable and I think they've shoved a couple of headline-grabbers in like the tax allowance which I'd call typical poltics no matter who did it. But being quietly ignored..... Until we get details of what that involves we can't be specific but that will affect millions and I'd guess for a lot of them the effect will be worse than the gain of £200 pa.

Don't forget it included cars and added to the scrappage scheme it did make a difference. You may not notice it on individual items but it all adds up and it does affect people on lower incomes more proportionally.

They've rescinded the ridculous rise on cider - all hail the Tory bastards.

Clothes, electricity, gas, phone and water bills, petrol, train/metro fares, beer. You must have a nice life with no essentials in that list.

At the moment we have a triple a rating with credit agencies but if anything else bad happens that may change. Otr it may not. Dont confuse me with a Tory I detest the tories more than most but that has a lot to do with being from a mining family. Labour do have to take a huge share of the blame for where we are in relation to cuts and dont think they would not swing the axe too. I didn't think you were a Tory - and as I consider that a grave insult please accept an apology. The credit rating is pretty much what I was referring to - the way the UK's debt is structured compared with other countries is favourable so using a threat to that rating is particularly wrong imo. I'm also not completely exonerating Labour from blame - they have embraced international financial capitalism so have to accept consequences of that approach even if the effects are global. I also accept that the nonchalant approach to the deficit pre-crisis was a bit daft and some cuts were probably inevitible at some stage - savage cuts right now are still wrong imo for the reasons laid out in this thread.

People think that as VAT doesn't apply to food, it's not too bad but they forget about clothes, household bills, mobile bills, metro/train fares etc, etc. I think £200 would be swallowed up just by the 2.5% and that's before the usual fuel/drink increases.

A staging point on the way to 10k allowance is how I read it - £200 pa more for basic tax rate payers - which I think will be offset elsewhere by other increases.

I caught a Tory bitch on BBC breakfast yesterday blithely stating that people in the public sector who lose their jobs will be okay as the private sector will step up to the plate. The BBC appeaser obviously didn't have the guts to say "so why aren't the private sector creating jobs now you stupid twat?"

The fact that Labour supporters are churning out the "we're not as bad as greece" line tells you all you need to know about this sorry mess. Your lot fucked up, the countrys in the shit. end of really. You (and KCG) keep mentioning Greece. Why not look at the figures for Germany, the US and Japan which I'm sure someone posted somewhere? Did/do all those countries have new Labour governments as well?

Incidentally the drop in prices in this area is phenomenal - my amp cost nearly 2k 9 years ago but one that will do the same now costs about £400.

I used to have some decent Technics separates years ago (in fact I still have them but don't use them) - I bought the Amp with my first month's wages so will keep it for nostalgias sake now. I moved onto a more home cinema style set up - haven't got a turntable, tuner or cassette deck attached any more. My AV setup now is: Yamaha AX-1 AV amp/receiver Jamo front speakers and subwoofer Tannoy surround front and rear speakers Sky HD (just upgraded to a 1TB disk) Divco Tvix media player Hauppaugge HD PVR Home built PC Sony BD-367 Blu-ray player Sony VCR LG 60PK790 Plasma (my latest acquisition)

It's no good just repeating the "we owe billions" mantra unless you compare it with other countries. We don't come off that bad and are a million miles away from Greece. Even mentioning them shows that you are just spouting Cameron's shit.

It's about time these face-clutching cunts were brought to book - either give them a ban after the game on reviewing the evidence or allow the booked/sent off player to twat them properly.

If the debt wa unmanageble the hawks would have attacked it as they have the Greek and Spanish debts. I'm not saying it's okay or shouldnt be addressed - I'm just saying its not armageddon. I'd also rather have the country on its knees after 11 years of of a boom, 2 leading to 4 years of shit looking forward (note the new body said Labour's plan would have worked) than being left for dead in the gutter by the Tories.

Haven't had (past tense) because times were shit - unless Osbourne fucks it, we will have enough.

It's the new Tory catchphrase - what it means is "we now have the chance to do exactly what we've always wanted" knowing that the gullible will swallow this "we're broke" shite. In 5 years time CT how will they be able to answer the question "Is the NHS better or worse?"

Its about balance and currently the balance is far too much to the wrong end of the scale. I don't dispute the fact that there may be too many graduates - the point is that as Matt said the way they want to re-balance that is class warfare driven.

Hate to tell you CT, Brightest <> Richest. Why shouldn't someone as thick as Prince Harry be a binman? You may say the brightest poor kids will get there anyway - that's the usual excuse but the "quite bright but not top notch" poor kid will lose out to the rich kid of similar ability every time and that's what's wrong.

Yes but Robhino and Fabiano did exactly the same minutes before and after.

I'm going to sound like a right lefty, hippy, soft twat here (which I accept) but I feel uneasy about "taking advantage" of repos. A lad at work bought one about 18 months ago and I couldn't help saying it was like taking taxi fare of a mate when he's passed out pissed. I completely understand and accept the notion of being responsible for a mortgage but just feel capitalising on misfortune isn't right.

Aye, from what I have seen/read I thought it was the pipeline rather than natural resources. Does anyone know what type of resources found? Cant read the article from where I'm browsing. oh aye - we'll build a p[iepline through AFGHANISTAN ....... how long would that last............ Was about the possibility of it, pre-9/11. Not about it happening now. Keep up. I can remember talking to a guy from Chevron way back - late 70's - about their plans for such a line. TBF everyone looked at him rather oddly....... then trhe russians launched in and it all went quiet .... on the pipeline front at least I'm sure there was somthing on The Power of Nightmares suggesting there was a planned pipeline and Karzai was chosen as a supposed puppet because of his enthusiasm for said project