Sandro Raniere

I would not say wholeheartedly but I do see where he is coming from Wealth creators and people who took a risk setting up a business etc should be admired and revered but instead they are sneered at and treated with contempt by large section of society, profit and making money is considered a dirty word This needs to change Instead of worshipping the cast of TOWIE or Big Brother contestants people should worship the likes of Branson, Lord Sugar, Mike Ashley, Philip Green, the CEO of Ryan Air etc The tax system needs to change too to reward success and to encourage enterprise and hard work, I would bring in a flat rate tax, the dustman paying the same level of tax as Lord Sugar might not be popular but nothing is stopping the dustman having an idea and making something of it like Lord Sugar did when he was selling car radios on a market stall.

Figure of speech :) Someone paying into the system by way of tax is subsidising the benefits of those who are paying nothing in the way of direct taxation into the system hence the term 'living off my money' although of course it is not literal

The retail sales increase is a lot to do with the increase in property sales, with huge numbers of first time buyers they will need to buy sofas, fridges, beds, cookers, tv's etc (this fits with the recent report from Dixons the owner of Currys of robust trade and similar reports from John Lewis which if i remember correctly reported sales in July 19% up on last year) They were not THAT dismal last year, sure the weather had an effect but that was balanced out by the royal shit and the olympics. It doesn't matter if estate agents are trusted or not, what matters is the new hires are making money as opposed to living off mine

Wages for the tax year 2013/14 are decided typically in Jan/Feb of and take place in April, in Jan the economy was still very stagnant and wages reflected that but I suspect next April wages will go up much higher due to the stronger economy.

If it was just an isolated piece of encouraging news i would totally agree but there are many atm such as retail sales going through the roof, exports their highest in a generation, house builds/construction at a new high, massive recruitment drive by estate agents, record tax receipts etc, all the key indicators are moving in the right direction

I thought Blair didn't do a bad job, had the economy ticking over at a nice pace, if he had not behaved the way he did with Iraq he might have gone down in history as one of the UK's better PM's as opposed to being remembered as a blood thirsty lying warmonger

The key indicator to me is the number of people claiming JSA, that was spectacularly down, 54000 or something, some of that could be people getting benefits stopped or simply stopped claiming but a significant number will have got jobs out of those

The DWP said that people would not lose their benefits through sanction if they turned down zero hours contract jobs so if any of these jobs in the unemployment fall are zero hours the claimant has applied for them under own free will

Governments don't create jobs, employers do But no I would welcome a fall in unemployment from government of any party, less money spent on benefits should eventually lead to me paying less tax so getting people off welfare is great

The left need to stop putting a negative spin on good news Even if unemployment had fallen by 1 over the 3 months that is still 1 person paying tax who wasn't before, 1 person with a sense of purpose again, 1 person who in a single phone call has seen their life change for the better, 1 person who the Daily Mail can't call a feckless workshy scrounger any more Good news should be embraced by people of all political persuasions, we are after all all British and should be proud of Britain

I don't think he will flop, much as i would love him to do that But he had the advantage of having the best player in the world to bury his assists, at scum he won't do that, scum fans i know don't rate Giroud at all

Ozil is a great player, world class but at Madrid he had Ronaldo and Benzema to put away his stellar passes, at Arsenal he will have Giroud and Podolski (when he is fit) so as Ozil is not a natural goalscorer he will only be as good as the strikers he passes to Really am shocked that Arsenal didn't go for Benteke when they had the chance, if they had they would been title contenders

Surprised you put Arsenal so high Yes Ozil is a quality player but there is no certainty he will make it in Prem, I remember Liverpool fans creaming themselves over Sahin last year and Utd fans when they got Veron and Chelsea fans when they got Shevchenko They bought one player all summer and are an injury to Giroud away from being screwed, they still have weaknesses at the back and in goal too

Of course things could be different now than under the Samaranch era but Samaranch made Sepp Blatter seem a beacon of morality

Guess with Spain economy as it is Madrid paid the lowest amount of bribes Can't see it being anything but Tokyo now

Having flown both journeys Istanbul is nearer London than Tokyo is Beijing

I would disagree that i am far right Economically I am way to the right but on social issues (gay rights/gay marriage/opposition to wars/deep reservations on the cuts to disability benefits etc) I am anything but far right I describe myself as a libertarian - fiscal conservative/social centrist

From a purely selfish point of view I hope it is not Tokyo, I have no great desire to watch events at 3-4am our time Madrid please

I haven't folllowed the election closely or know much about Abbott's policies, but i have seen him described as 'centre right' which pretty much sums up where i am politically so I welcome his victory

This and the recent incident of heart eating by rebels shows we need to be very careful what we wish for. It is no use getting rid of Assad and having someone else even worse take over, which given the behaviour and comments of some of the rebels is a very strong possibility.

She is not a singles artist, yes she sells a lot of singles but she is an albums and concerts artist, she is not about radio play and chart hits Gaga will still be doing great at 50 like Madge is

But what simpleton made the decision to close the Northern Line the weekend Gaga was playing, unreal Camden and Chalk Farm both closed on the weekend the worlds biggest star is in town, pathetic

I went on Sunday as a +1 Camped out all night Saturday night outside the Roundhouse, got drunk round the back with the rest of the fanbase while she was inside rehearsing, had a really nice Dominos, survived a cold night out on the streets with dozens of other fans God was it all worth it, apart from a jobsworth security guard refusing to let me back in my place in the line after i went to go get some food (he relented after other campers backed me up) it was a f***ing AMAZING event Swine is simply the best song Gaga has ever done by a country mile and has to be in the Top 3 of any performances i have ever seen in 100 odd gigs of various artists. The raw power in Gaga's voice and the beat and her majestic drumming was worth going to #swinefest all on its own £4.50 for a pint of Becks and charging to use the ATM were a rip off but great event Roll on Artpop ball

If MOS name/trademark is splashed over playlists then the public are likely to think that MOS had licenced Spotify to use MOS material when MOS have not done so so I think if something is available on Spotify that is likely to confuse the public into thinking it is sanctioned by MOS then I think Spotify should pay MOS royalties Will be interesting to see the end result of this case

I am against many businesses Ryanair, PC World, Royal Mail, energy companies, HMV, train operators etc frequently incur my wrath online and offline with their behaviour and business practices I am in a slightly difficult position with this one as have never used Spotify and have no plans to become a Spotify user now or in the future so am in the dark as to how it all works, with this playlist thing if someone clicks on a song on someones playlist on Spotify will the song start playing? if so then I think MOS should be paid, if it is purely an information thing and the song doesn't play then the case is insane