spyguy

TAX CREDITS. Most parents (60%+) have left low to middle paying jobs to work 16h and get there money topped up by Gordon Brown's vote-for-me scheme.

For the number of employees, and the various mistakes I've witnesses, not really. Like the state schools. Again, from personal experience, a goodthrid of my teachers at O level should not have been there. Its fine having a system that has a wide acceptance for potentail recruits - a the UK teaching hardly sets the barrier high - but you must get rid of people who are not up to it. It relies of the teacher deciding they are not good and leaving.

Again, this is a standard public sector binary response: NHS or American system. What about SIngapore or Scandanavian health system? The American system is very good but very expensive. End of the day, once you get beyond primary care - vaccines + child birth + A+E - the rest of the health system does not add much value for the average person. You're better off having a healthy lifestyle - food and exercise. Having drinkable water from the taps and a good system has done more the nations health than the NHS.

Yes and no. You have choice. And there is accountability and transparency. Places without these go out of business quick. I can shop at Lidl's or Waitrose. I had to take some food back toWaitrose receently. The manger spoke to me, then I got a follow up letter a week later concluding their investigation. This was for pot of Pesto. When I pointed out the the 'Attention' and 'Emergy' button were wired up wrong: attentio wired to emergency, so emergency was probably to attention - a pretty big c0ck up youll agreed. I was first accused of lying until i convinced the fat useless nurse to press then button. Then she stropped off because she was wrong. I only pressed the button because I could not find anyone on the ward. A Doctor asked the time andsaid they all disppear off and eat the food off the delivery truck.

Tease! I find M+S cloth range confusing. I've stopped buying my T shirts and sweatshirts from MS+ 10++ years ago - I get Fruit of the Loom and Haines stuff of the internet now. I hate patterns and prints; plain colours always for me. I've come close to ditching M+S for boxers and socks, I've alwys bought the closets to 100% cotton - I think merino wool socks or silk boxers are a daft idea. Sometime the finish on the garment has been total sh1t - misstiches, poor cutting.

Hmm, I'd differ with this. Me + my family have foun the NHS a total fcking joke. My brother, who now lives in Germany, scares his German friends with stories about it. First - GPs - there are no quality control or checks, You get the job and you'll need to kill off loads to be questioned. Growing up, our local GP was an incompetent drunk. My mum know has a reasonably good GP but suffered the old one for 30 years. The new GP is relatively competent but that just shows up the large part of the NHS for a bunch of inefficient, lazy time wasters. Our local hospital - Scarborough - is a death trap. 1/3 of the nurses have got into the culture of taking their full 20 days sick pay as meaning 20 days holiday when you just ring in sick. A nurse at my GP defends the NHS with one breath, and then goes on about how she has to keep repeating blood tests as the results are lost, the wrong test is performed. etc etc. Its not all due to management, who tend to be pet buffoons kept by the hospital doctors and consultants.

Nope. I disagree. Strongly. MY mum and Dad are 10 years into there retirement. My Dad made Andy Cap look like a salary man - out of his 50 possible years of work, he only worked 20, most of those grudengly. MY Mum did the odd part-time job. At the moment, with their pensions, updated recently, tax credits to make up for my Dad not working, free TV, free bus passes, winter fuel allowance etc they are whooping up it up. Show me a little old lady living in penury and Ill show you a stupid bint who's direct debitted her income to a donkey sanctuary or dog home.

Whatever spare capicty the recession created its been more than eaten away by the droves on 16h tax credits. Seriously, my home town is/was an unemployment blackspot. But try and recruiting anyone - at above min wage - and what answer do you get - Can I only work 16h. Its fcking nuts.

No the BoE are not planning up tightening monetary policy, they need to normalise it - 2%-3% base rates.

Yep, torygraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/10955673/Halifax-UK-house-prices-show-little-sign-of-slowing-down.html A lot of posters have spotted the gap between the figures + trend and what the article claims.

I think the public sector are suffering from the fall out from that idiot Brown's big client state funded by big finance. Apparently Gordy-the-morons light touch regulation - and heavy tax take - did not pan out. What could possibly go wrong with RBS and the like massively expanding? After all, Gordon and Ballsup created a nuvo-nirvana. All those made up jobs - Teacher assistants, NVQ assessors, legions of health workers, etc etc etc. All those 'hard working' fmailies slaving away for 16 - count them! - hours and pulling in 25K. Where do I vote to get all this back in place?????

This news shows how poor financial journalism is - if it was ever that good. Only the FT has pointed out their main lended was that shining beacon of solvency, B+B. Nobody has pointed out that the sale is probably being forced by UKAR. Nobody has tried to to take is bs figures and work out the profit. How big is Ashford, or the area in Ashford where he's by buying. If its like the area I've been following, then there have been sod all sales in the last 10 years, so the munter pair will have been THE market. Couple that with a very thin layer of equity - he was claiming 10% down at one point, with leverage from previous purchaes FFS! - a lot of voids - Ashford is not London; its bot even nice.

Three Eastern European whores in each room. A line of six-fingered locals queuing up every night. Kerching$$$$$$$$$

Santander are not an investment, purely retail. Just a dumb, retail bank, stuffed full of tweed wearing Spaniards who run around saying 'Que' as all the cr.ppy processes and technology they have created fails to work.

Seriously? OK, can we have a prize fund for whoever on here does her?

He bangs on about about selling up all the time. I would guess he does not own the property. UKAR (B+B as was) probably have a massive charge on the houses. If he is selling, it'll UKAR forcing his hand - see various posts about BoI, UKAR and those idiots from Property Tribes.

Have they had kids? Have they ever had sex? Imagine it. She peels off her shapeles, plaid skirt. (Cant write anymore)

Nope. None of the above. UK holidays are just too expensive, the service too crap and the sun too unreliable. Thats it. The cost of UK real estate makes any business involving property too expensive. Like the previous poster, I cannot remember anyone being taken out of school for a cheap holiday in the 80s. In fact, few popel went away abroad then - it was the North. Maybe taking you kids out of school for holiday is one ofthese new fangled things people have started to do, like those god awful school proms.

Yes. you'll get a Soviet type percentage if you extend the definition to 'households that derive 50% or more of their income from the state'

You mean an NVQ assessor from the local council?

I'm not sure about that. Maybe 1 in 5 of the working age population. As far as people in full-time work i.e not unemployed or tax credits, I would guess somewhere between 30% and 60%, depending on the location.

Yep. A large percentage of the great city fails to earn more than their cost of capital. Shut them down.

Yes, I do too. Cap housing benefit at 30% of the mean take home. Have a UK cap of £800/month. If you want people on benefits in one of the world's most expensive city then build more social housing, otherwise put them somewhere cheaper.

What fck is 'social responsibility' You want to go and cut the grass for pensioners - fine. You want me to sub him, at great expense (and keeping someone on benefits if fcking expensive), whilst he does that job!?!?!?!?!