GRIMLY FIENDISH

So, I'd be fine to this in Morrisons then.... :lol:

Now it's illegal to write down prices in a Tesco supermarket http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/blog/2011/...P=FBCNETTXT9038 I am nearly arrested for the 'crime' of doing a price check on some bottles of water I was almost arrested in Tesco this week. My crime? Comparing prices. Evidently, this is such a security issue for Tesco that it wants you booted out of the store. The deputy manager rushed up to me within minutes of my arriving at one of its London supermarkets. The security cameras had spotted me with a pen and paper in hand, noting the prices of goods on the shelves. "Excuse me, what are you doing?" he said. I told him I was, well, writing down prices. "You're not allowed to do that. It's illegal. Where are you from? Are you from the media?" I don't feel Tesco has any right to demand my employment status, so I just said: "I'm a private individual, I'm buying some stuff here, and I'm comparing prices." It obviously didn't satisfy him. "It's illegal to write things down and you can't take any photographs, either. If you want to check the prices, take the item to the till and pay for it there. The price will be on the receipt," he said, pointing me to the exit. A store manager turned up, while another Tesco employee in a suit hovered in the background. "He's writing down prices," the deputy said to his superior, identifying a practice that evidently brings the bosses out in force. I asked the manager if there had been a law passed which made it illegal to write down Tesco prices. "Look, it's company policy, you're not allowed to do it," he said, perhaps accepting that Tesco doesn't actually write the laws of the United Kingdom – well, not yet at any rate. I showed him my notebook. Scribbled down were prices for Highland Spring sparkling water on the shelves right in front of me. Three 1.5 litre bottles were £2 (66p a bottle). On the shelf below, a pack of four identical bottles were £3.08 (77p a bottle). In other words, buying in bulk was a worse deal. Can you explain that? I asked. "It's an offer, innit? There's lots of offers in the store. Why do you want to know?" At this point I volunteered that I was doing "market research". I said I would continue to look around the store at prices, using my eyes only. Would Tesco object to me using my eyes? At this point they left me alone, but, before buying my goods and leaving, I felt I was being followed. Goodness knows what would have happened if I had tried to take a photograph. Perhaps Tesco would have pushed for a custodial sentence. But there's a serious point here. Consumer journalists should be able to scrutinise prices without being harassed. How else can we be sure of the veracity of "half price" offers? And should it be the case that security staff can throw me out for taking a photograph of a bottle of Highland Spring? If we on Guardian Money bought every item available in Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons or Asda every day, we would be able to check prices, and see if that bottle of wine, or those washing powder tablets, really are half price. But we can't, and trading standards officers don't have the resources to, either. Spot checks are about the best we can do. But even that, it appears, is unacceptable to the likes of Tesco. Next time I'll wander round the store speaking the prices into my mobile phone. It's got a record function. Note to Tesco company policy writer: ban customers from speaking into their phones. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, here we have it.. Pretty outrageous stuff if you ask me.. And an example of just how out of control big Corporations are becoming surely, that certain individuals within them who are management seem to blur the lines between what is "company policy" and what is the law of the land. Now, call me old fashioned, but I dont think that company policy should trump what's a perfectly legal activity. We've already had this sort of crap going on in a shopping centre in Glasgow where a parent was arrested for the "crime" of taking a photo of their own child eating an ice-cream. They can ask us to refrain from certain activities, but it should never, EVER be made out that it carries the full weight of the law, and they certainly shouldn't be able to call upon the Police to stop people from doing what is perfectly legal activities. God forbid that consumers actually want to get the best deals, I know plenty of people who compare prices between the "big 4", and no, they're not journalists. But even supposing they were, then that shouldn't matter anyway. If it wasn't for consumer journalists actually identifying where the big stores are doing "special offers" which aren't really special at all, then they have a public duty to expose that. Perhaps Tesco and the others shouldn't be trying to pull a bloody "Del Boy Trotter" and make out like "every little helps", when in fact, it quite often isn't any help at all... Screw you Tesco, and the jumped up Little Hitlers you have working for you.... Mind you if you think this is bad, just look online as to what happened when Citibank customers in New York tried to close down their bank accounts, they were subjected to false imprisonment by bank employees and arrest under utterly spurious charges..... Like I say, Corporations are just out of control and our duly elected officials need to do something about it.... -_-

Child Support Agency changes divide parents http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-15581540 The Child Support Agency says absent parents in the East Midlands alone owe a staggering £211m in maintenance payments. The coalition wants to ditch the CSA and replace it with a service that parents would have to pay towards. But I've been finding out for BBC TV's Politics Show the scale of deep mistrust and anger at the heart of this whole issue. Maintenance battle Sally Marshall is a mother of two teenage children from Nottinghamshire and works part-time. She has battled to get her ex-husband to pay maintenance. "The real problems start in trying to retrieve any money when your ex-partner is self-employed," she told me. "Normally, money can be taken at source through their employer and PAYE, but when they are self-employed that isn't the case." Hers is one of the 88,000 cases in the East Midlands being handled by the CSA. She is not convinced the proposed CSA changes will make it any easier, especially with the prospect of fees to use the new service. 'Radical reform' It was back in 1993 that John Major's government introduced the Child Support Agency to pursue parents, mainly fathers, who failed to support their children financially. But almost from the start, it was accused of hounding dads who were already paying up. It was also criticised for failing to help mothers. Now the coalition government is planning what it calls "the most radical reform of child maintenance yet". Soon, only parents who are victims of domestic violence will be given free access to the CSA. For everyone else, there'll be charges. There's also a new approach. Parents will be actively encouraged to agree the maintenance payments without recourse to the CSA. Better access The Department for Work and Pensions says it will be based on a new IT system and should be simpler, faster and fairer than the CSA. There'll be better access to personal tax information which, it says, will also speed up the application process. Clients will have self-service web access, enabling them to make payments online and to keep up-to-date with their cases. If that fails, professional CSA help will be on hand, but at a cost. That alarms Fiona Weir of Gingerbread, a charity that supports single parents. "It'll really hit parents in the pocket. There'll be an upfront application charge of £100," she said. "Then the parent, who's caring for the children, could be paying an additional charge of between 7-12% of the agreed payments. "It'll be taking money from children who desperately need it." That particularly worries 26-year-old Natalie Johnson, from Kirkby in Ashfield. The university graduate has been out of work since the father of her two young children walked out of the home. Her attempt to agree maintenance payments with her ex-partner - as encouraged under the government's new thinking - collapsed when he became a father again by another relationship. She's appalled at the coalition's plans to introduce fees. "That money should go to the children," she told me. "It's needed for the children's food, to pay for their school lunch, the bus to go to school, and for their school uniforms or their coat for the winter months. "There's so much money that parents need to look after their children." Sally Marshall also says the new fees won't help. "Passing the cost on to the users is going to take money away from the children. It's just not fair," she added. An improved and more efficient service - that's the government's hope in replacing the CSA over the next few years. It may need early successes to avoid its new service becoming just as discredited. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, not only a hundred quid "down payment", but an ongoing charge of 7-12% of the payments... Basically, at de-facto TAX on being a divorced or single parent..... So, the Tories, quite LITERALLY taking food out the mouths of the poorest kids in the land... What utter and complete b'astards, at least Thatcher only snatched the milk...... :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

When you put it together with the proposed electoral boundary changes though, I think you probably can call it gerrymandering... It's certainly dodgy as hell even on its own. And I think it comes from an arrogant Tory presumption that they and their class are the ones who are "born to rule"... the Tories have NEVER liked the thought of the "proles" having a vote, they resisted it for hundreds of years and were really forced to accept the working classes and women voting.... They can re-brand themselves as "Conservative" or even call themselves "Bob" to appear innocuous, those of us who know history, know where the sympathies of the Tories ultimately lie.... And that has never changed...

Voter registration reforms could see 10m fall off electoral roll, MPs warn Cross-party committee says democratic institutions could be put at risk by proposals to relax rules http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/no...P=FBCNETTXT9038 Britain faces a "real risk" that its democratic institutions will be damaged by government plans to relax the registration of voters, a cross-party committee of MPs has warned. Amid claims that up to 10 million voters could fall off the electoral roll, mainly from disadvantaged groups, the committee says new parliamentary boundaries might be drawn up on an unfair basis as a result. The concerns are raised in a report published on Friday by the political and constitutional reform select committee, which examines government plans to introduce individual, instead of household, electoral registration. The committee raises particular concerns about a government proposal to end the requirement to co-operate with electoral registration officers. The Electoral Commission told the committee that 10% of voters could fall off the register. John Stewart, chairman of the electoral registration officers, warned that this was likely to be closer to 30% in inner-city areas. Labour fears this could lead to a smaller number of inner-city seats, where the party is strong, because the Boundary Commission is obliged in this parliament to equalise the size of constituencies. As many as three million people already fail to register to vote under the current system, even when it is compulsory. The report echoes some of Labour's fears. It says: "Under the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011, the boundary commissions are required to use the number of names on electoral registers as a basis for drawing constituency boundaries, with a narrow margin for manoeuvre. If levels of completeness come to vary significantly between different parts of the country, constituency boundaries will be redrawn on a basis that may be perceived as unfairly disadvantaging one party." Graham Allen, Labour chairman of the committee, said: "Getting individuals to take responsibility for their own votes is the right thing to do, but it needs to be done in the right way. There are real risks in moving to a new system, not least that people with the right to vote could fall off the electoral roll in large numbers. "This would be damaging to democracy, to public engagement in politics, and to the fairness of the basis on which MPs are elected. The transition to individual registration will only be a true success if the electoral rolls become not only more accurate but also more complete. The amendments which we propose - especially on the 2014 canvass and on not opting out - are essential if individual electoral registration (IER) is to command public confidence and not to be seen as unfair and politically partisan." Peter Wardle, chief executive of the Electoral Commission, said: "We're glad to see they have recognised the strength of our concerns about the proposed registration opt-out. We want the government to give this cross-party report serious consideration and make improvements to the legislation before it is introduced to parliament." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't really like the idea of compulsion, but perhaps in the area of voting, our Antipodean friends have actually got this one right when they legally sanction people who dont vote...? I dunno, it's a tricky one, but somethinig like that certainly makes manipulating the whole representative democracy system a lot less likely to happen in Australia.... I mean, I could be wrong, but wasn't this the whole problem with the November 2000 election in Florida, that people who would have been likely to vote for Al Gore had "mysteriously" vanished off the voting register...? Far be it from me to cry "conspiracy" here, but this along with the boundary changes really leads me to suspect that the Tories are hell-bent on manipulating our entire system of elective democracy to suit themselves. That is not only morally reprehensible, it's also downright criminal... Shame we cant impeach David Sca-Moron....

It's actually one of these things that got better as it went on.. I have to say, I quite enjoyed it all in all...

The article also doesn't even bother to mention the billions in benefit payments that are actually unclaimed, which would surely off-set the amount of fraud....

Considering both Tory and Nu Labour are in it up to their necks with the banks, I'm not sure that's true... Gordon Brown created the terminally crap Financial Services Authority who were about as much use as a fish-net condom when it came to "safe-guarding" the integrity of the financial system. And now Tony Blair works as a mouthpiece for J P Morgan.... So, seems to me there's enough plague on both of their houses to make it not biased in favour of one or the other...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/nov/04/a...P=FBCNETTXT9038 Adam Werritty backer to hand police evidence of being duped Venture capitalist Jon Moulton has said he will provide documents showing how Liam Fox's friend misled him One of Adam Werritty's financial backers is preparing to hand the police new evidence that he claims proves Liam Fox's best friend and self-styled adviser duped him into handing over money. Jon Moulton, a multimillionaire venture capitalist who donated £35,000 to the "slush fund" set up to support Werritty's jetset lifestyle, has told the Guardian he will provide the police with documents proving he was misled by Werritty. Moulton said he would hand over "written assurances" that detail how his donation to Pargav, the company that helped fund Werritty's first-class flights to meet Fox overseas, would be spent. He said Werritty "wasted" the money and spent it in a way that "bore absolutely no resemblance" to the assurances. He told the Guardian he would "of course … provide whatever the police would like". It comes as the police are considering whether to launch a full-scale investigation into allegations that Werritty may have acted fraudulently by handing out business cards that described him as an "adviser to the Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP". The Guardian understands that detectives at the City of London police's economic crime unit have interviewed at least five people in connection with Werritty's actions. One of those is John Mann, the Labour MP who first raised questions about Fox and Werritty's working relationship. Another is Harvey Boulter, a Dubai businessman who says he was led to believe Werritty was Fox's official adviser. Werritty has also been questioned. The City of London police declined to comment on the progress of their inquiries, but it is understood that in cases involving politicians, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service work together to ensure they have sufficient evidence before opening a full-scale investigation. Jim Murphy, the shadow defence secretary, said: "If a formal case were to open this would be very serious indeed. The prime minister has refused to reveal the facts and it may be left to the police to do so. The prime minister would be much better advised just clearing this up once and for all rather than allowing it to drift." The Guardian has been told that Mick "the miner" Davis, the chief executive of the mining giant Xstrata, who also donated funds to Pargav, has also been interviewed as a witness by the police. Davis declined to comment. The other donors to Pargav are Stephen Crouch, a defence lobbyist; G3 (Good Governance Group), an international investigation company staffed by former MI6 employees; Tamares, an investment company owned by the defence and retail industry tycoon Poju Zabludowicz; and the financier Michael Lewis. Moulton told BBC Newsnight this week that Fox had solicited the donation from him after he gave funds to the former defence secretary's "back office" while Fox was in opposition. "Liam [Fox] asked me to put some money in the same general direction. I was at great pains to get written assurances as to what it was used for, which bore absolutely no resemblance to what it was used for. I can definitely say that I was mugged. In fact, if you look at the dictionary, the definition of 'foxed' is discoloured with yellowish-brown staining, and I fear it might be reasonably appropriate." The prime minister has been called on to investigate the role of Gerald Howarth, the arms sales minister, who met Crouch and Werritty inside the House of Commons in September. Crouch, who reportedly paid £20,000 to Pargav, said he paid a "flat fee" in the hope of introductions to British energy companies. Howarth said he was unaware that Werritty had received money from Crouch before the meeting on 27 September. It has also emerged Oliver Hylton, who had been suspended by the hedge fund CQS, is no longer employed by the company. The company is run by Michael Hintze a major Tory party donor. Hylton, Hintze's former right-hand man, allowed Werritty to work out of CQS's offices and served as the sole director of Pargav. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Looks like more potential embarrassment for the "Not-So-Fantastic" Mr Fox..... :rolleyes:

Two documentaries in the space of a week though, mate... Suggests something a bit iffy to me.... -_-

Benefit claimants with Bentleys, second homes, yachts http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_pa...000/9630233.stm Bentleys, 42ft yachts and restored farmhouses in France are not generally considered to be the hallmarks of life on benefits in Britain today. Yet BBC Panorama has tracked down claimants leading double lives. One man claims benefits for his rent on a council flat in Croydon yet was discovered living in Devon and running a village pub - commuting between the two in a Bentley. Another man, claiming incapacity benefit for a bad back, told an undercover reporter about his trans-Atlantic sailing trip from South Carolina to the Azores on his yacht and his work in restoring a farmhouse in Normandy. Experts estimate that £4bn of taxpayers' money is being lost to benefit fraud, tax credit fraud and social housing scams in the UK each year. Overall, government is losing an estimated £22bn to fraud and error across all departments. 'Yacht for sale' The man with the yacht and the French farmhouse is Graham Axford, 57, who has been on incapacity benefit since 1996 after he injured his back in a motorcycle accident. I think that you are sending out a message that if you engage in fraud the chances of getting caught are low Mark Button, Fraud Researcher, University of Portsmouth Because of that he has also been getting benefits that cover most of his rent and council tax on his council flat. Investigators from Croydon Council suspect that he misled them in order to get his flat and that he is getting incapacity benefit that he is not entitled to receive. When Mr Axford met with an undercover reporter posing as a potential buyer for his yacht, he arrived on a bicycle and said he would not sell the boat for less than £25,000. Mr Axford's solicitors have stated on his behalf that he has never fraudulently misrepresented the nature or extent of his back injury and that his eligibility for incapacity benefit has been assessed and verified by medical professionals. He has also said that he has separated from his wife, who lives in the farmhouse in France while he lives in his council flat in London. Forged passports Research carried out by the Centre for Counter Fraud Studies at the University of Portsmouth suggests that fraud has risen by as much as 30% over the past three years. As a result, some councils have increased their investigative teams to try to catch more of the cheats. Jim Gee is the former head of counter fraud for the NHS and is now a government adviser on welfare policy. He said cash is disappearing at record levels at a time when every pound counts. "It undermines the quality of public services that people pay their taxes to get. And each time fraud takes place it means that public expenditure cuts have to be more painful. More jobs have to go." Council fraud investigators told the BBC that they are seeing more examples of fake identities - including forged passports - being used to apply for benefits. 'Low risk' Mark Button, director of the Centre for Counter Fraud Studies, said cash-strapped councils have limited resources to put into following up suspicious claimants, making it easier than ever for benefit cheats to get away with it. He added that those cheating the system do so without sensing that there is a risk of getting caught - or punished. "I think that you are sending out a message that if you engage in fraud the chances of getting caught are low. Your chances of ending up with a stiff criminal penalty are even lower." Croydon Council is also investigating the benefit claims of Stephen Sussams. Mr Sussams, 58, had his incapacity benefit stopped two years ago, but did not tell the council, which continued to cover most of the rent and council tax on his council flat as a result. Investigators found that Mr Sussams appears to be leading a double life - one in a council flat in London and the other as a pub landlord in the village of Kingswear in Devon. When Panorama found him he was driving a Bentley and told an undercover reporter that he had been living in the village for two and a half years. When asked by the BBC about his council flat and benefit claim Mr Sussams said he could not discuss it because of Croydon Council's ongoing investigation. "I have no intention of being involved with trial by television," he added. Mr Sussams is still the subject of a council investigation and his housing benefit was recently suspended. Mr Axford also continues to be investigated by the council. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the first place, these are not "benefits claimants", they're hard-core fraudsters, and by labeling them as "claimants", the BBC is basically tarring every single genuine claimant with the same brush. So, taking this Panorama investigation and John Humphrey's documentary from last week, I take it we can expect to see a 2 or 3-part series into the dodgy dealings of the Corporation and City of London, which George Monbiot of The Guardian exposed in his excellent article earlier this week, the massive scale of Corporate Tax fraud and avoidance, the off-shoring, the Non-Doms, and this is before we even get onto what the "Too Big To Fail" zombie banks have been getting up to and the frightening amounts of public money and QE printed money that are continually being pumped into those technically insolvent institutions, and just why it is that not a single bankster has been charged with an arrestable offence (and this is despite the fact that "Wachovia Bank" were actually CAUGHT RED HANDED laundering money for Mexican Drugs cartels who were using the money to buy weapons and commit acts of murder in Mexico's drug wars, and also, why is it that banks are getting away with paying fines for committing vast frauds, but not actually copping to the fact that they've done anything wrong. If they're paying a fine, then they committed a criminal act, surely..?)... Or do they think that this wouldn't be in "the public interest" to investigate, despite the fact that off-shoring, tax avoidance, money laundering and fiddling is costing the country about 10-15 times more than benefit fraud does.. As for this part "Overall, government is losing an estimated £22bn to fraud and error across all departments" Since when was "error" the same thing as "fraud"..? Why is it being included in an article which purports to be about benefits fraud...? I think I would like to see a separation of the figures here, and not just have the "error" figure lumped in with the "fraud" figure because £22 bn looks a lot worse than what the actual amount for "fraud" is... People will naturally focus on the £22bn figure by virtue of the fact that it's bigger..... Shame on you BBC, I expect this sort of chicanery and mis-direction from the Tabloids..... <_<

As far as I can see ALL these bail-outs are is just a bit like re-arranging the deck-chairs on the Titanic... The "Too Big To Fail" Banks are all insolvent.... They are basically zombies, and we're feeding them our "flesh" in the form of public money in order to keep them going when the life has really gone out of them long ago... The BBC with that ridiculously biased anti-benefits programming they've been doing recently has implied that all of society's ills are because of the Welfare State... WRONG. Our problems are really with not allowing an orderly failure/break-up of these banks and we just continue to pump money into them at these current alarming rates and even going so far as to print money that doesn't really have any value...

Just out of interest, who covered The Fly...?

In an interesting post-script to this, the likes of the Daily Fail and The Scum who have been consistently screaming their lungs out for a UK referendum on our membership of the EU have been screaming their lungs out against the Greeks having a referendum on the bail-out deal... Funny, eh...?

If it meant that bankers and corporations cant buy influence, I wouldn't be opposed to state funding of election campaigns.... Obviously, all monies would have to be accounted for though, and there would have to be complete transparency.... Although, I'd be interested to see what would happen if we took the other option too.. Companies who donate to political parties then being barred from bidding on lucrative Govt contracts (as clearly it would be a conflict of interests, would it not..?), then we'd really get an idea of just who it is that's genuinely donating and who it is that's just doing it to see what they could get out of it... After all, if it's a genuine donation, then surely they shouldn't expect anything in return... -_-

Really liking this album... "Lungs" was good, but this, to me, is just on a different level entirely... I dunno why people are complaining about the production.. I've played it on my PC's 5.1 surround system and frankly, it sounds absolutely great... I can hear everything with clarity no problem... I hear the Siouxsie and Kate comparisons, but, so what..? Nothing these days is original anyway, and she does it with style as opposed to just being merely derivitive, so I have no particular issues... I only have issues when an artist is being lazy with their influences and just Xeroxes them, but Florence isn't doing that, so, like I say, no problems here....

I didn't say Nu Lie-bore were any better... But, tbh, I dont regard that lot as being a true "Labour" government anyway (that would be people like Clement Attlee and Harold Wilson)... Tony B-Liar was nothing more than a Tory in disguise as far as I'm concerned... ;)

GOOD GRIEF.... :o Greek crisis: Papandreou 'to offer to resign' http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-15575198 Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is expected to offer his resignation within the next half-hour, sources in Athens have told the BBC. Mr Papandreou will meet Greek President Karolos Papoulias immediately after an emergency cabinet meeting has finished. He is expected to offer a coalition government, with former Greek central banker Lucas Papademos at the helm. Mr Papandreou himself would stand down, the BBC understands. The Greek government was on the verge of collapse after several ministers said they did not support Mr Papandreou's plan for a referendum on the EU bailout. The bailout would give the heavily indebted Greek government 130bn euros (£111bn; $178bn) and a 50% write-off of its debts, in return for deeply unpopular austerity measures. On Thursday, main opposition leader Antonis Samaras of the centre-right New Democracy party called for a caretaker government to safeguard the EU deal. Shadow over G20 Mr Papandreou had called a vote of confidence for Friday. His Pasok party holds a slim majority, 152 out of 300 seats. However, he was faced with a parliamentary revolt after several of his MPs withheld their backing. Some called for early elections or a government of national unity instead. One Pasok rebel MP, Eva Kaili, told the BBC: ''I think now the only solution is to have a new government of national rescue and co-operation led by a person that is recognised by the majority [as] prime minister and tries to uphold the agreement [on the EU bailout] of 26 October." The row threatens to overshadow a meeting of the G20 in Cannes, where leading industrialised nations are to discuss the eurozone debt crisis. Mr Papandreou told reporters in Cannes his referendum would in effect be a vote on whether Greece should remain in the euro. But the European Commission said if Greece left the European single currency, it would have to leave the European Union as well. Greek parliament graphic "The treaty doesn't foresee an exit from the eurozone without exiting the EU," spokeswoman Karolina Kottova told a briefing in Brussels. Earlier, the chairman of the group of eurozone countries, Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg, said plans were in place for a Greek exit from the euro. "We are absolutely prepared for the situation that I have described and do not want to see come about," Mr Juncker told German ZDF television. Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos launched the parliamentary revolt in the early hours of Thursday with a statement saying Greece's membership of the euro could not be put in doubt. "If we want to protect the country we must, under conditions of national unity and political seriousness and consensus, implement without any delay the decision of 26 October. Now, as soon as possible," Mr Venizelos said. Mr Venizelos is a former challenger for the Pasok leadership. In 2004, he was defeated by Mr Papandreou by 56% to 38% in a party vote. Greece was due to receive the next tranche of funds from its first bailout later this month. However, the EU has said it will not transfer the 8bn euros until after the referendum ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So, two days after he announces a Referendum (probably the most democratic thing that he did in his entire Premiership...), Papandreou announces his intention to resign... Question is, did he jump, or was he pushed...?

Yeah, "rural land", ie, The Green Belt... And, hey, didn't we just chuck a bunch of "pikeys" off their property for that very reason, that they were supposedly "developing on the Green Belt".... And, that was a TORY council in Essex, I believe.... We may run out of oil or silver or tin, but one "commodity" that seems limitless is Tory hypocrisy..... -_-

Eurozone crisis: 'Right' to boost IMF funds - Cameron http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15567919 Prime Minister David Cameron has told the BBC it is "right" to consider boosting funds to the International Monetary Fund at a time of crisis. Mr Cameron, in Cannes for a meeting of the G20 countries, said there was "no risk" to British taxpayers. The BBC's Nick Robinson says it could mean eurozone nations like Greece are indirectly helped by British taxpayers. The government says it is ready to give more money to the IMF - but not if it is reserved for eurozone nations. In Cannes, the UK prime minister told the BBC: "I'm here to support the British economy. When the world is in crisis it is right to consider boosting the IMF." He added: "No government lost money by lending money to the IMF. There is no risk to British taxpayers of seeing the IMF perform its proper role that's what we have always supported." His spokeswoman said the UK would not contribute "directly or indirectly" to the eurozone bail-out fund. The UK currently provides £29bn ($46bn) of the IMF's £600bn ($950bn) lending capacity. About £4.9bn of UK money is held in the IMF's fund but it could draw down up to £29.4bn from the Treasury in certain circumstances. Continue reading the main story But Nick Robinson said those struggling countries around the world helped by the IMF "might of course just include a few in the eurozone getting money in effect from the British taxpayer". He said the government now believed there were only three ways out of the eurozone crisis - that the deal agreed last week gets back on track, despite the surprise announcement about a Greek referendum, that Greece leaves the euro or that IMF funding be boosted for struggling eurozone countries. In a statement to MPs - sparked by an urgent question from Eurosceptic Conservative backbencher Peter Bone - Treasury Minister Mark Hoban told MPs that "at no point have we committed any British taxpayers money... to Greece or the bail-out fund". But he said there "may well be a case for further increasing the resources of the IMF" to "keep pace" with the size of the global economy. "We are prepared to see an increase in the resources the IMF makes available to all members." But he said they were "not prepared" to see IMF resources reserved for use by the eurozone. Meanwhile, French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel have warned that the next 8bn euro (£7bn) of rescue loans for Greece will be withheld until after a bailout referendum, expected in early December. The two leaders held talks on Wednesday evening with Greek prime minister George Papandreou to press him to end uncertainty about his country's future in the single currency. Last week Mr Papandreou announced a surprise referendum on the rescue package drawn up for Greece, indicating its referendum question would focus on whether or not to stay in the eurozone. Mr Sarkozy hopes to use the summit in Cannes to persuade cash-rich exporter nations like China to contribute to a one trillion euro (£870bn) European stability fund. On Wednesday, Mr Cameron told MPs that securing a eurozone deal was "urgent" for the global economy. "It has become even more urgent to put meat on the bones of this plan to show that we're removing one of the key obstacles to global growth, which is the failure to agree a proper plan to deal with problems in the eurozone," he said. Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "As we saw in 2008, a global economic crisis can only be addressed by global economic leadership. There has been precious little of that in evidence in the past 18 months. "Now is the time to turn the corner. To set out a plan that addresses the reality of faltering growth and rising unemployment - a plan that faces up to the G20 leaders' first responsibility: the responsibility to lead." ------------------------------------------------------------------- Cameron Double-speak at it's worst/best depending on how you look at it... Basically, what he means is "Shit, I'll never get my lot to sign off on the Eurozone Bail-out Fund to bail out the Eurozone, so I'll propose giving more money to the IMF... To Bail out the Eurozone..." AND THE DIFFERENCE IS....? -_- It's still a case of British tax-payers bailing out the banks again (but this time European ones like Societe Generale, BNP and Deutsche Bank, who basically are technically insolvent and need this bail out cash or they're as f***ed as Lehmans..) for the bad bets and bad loans they made to countries like Greece, Spain, Portugal, etc.... We're not "helping" those countries, we're helping the banks... This is not "charity", this is not "aid" and dont let anyone kid you that it is, or that we're doing anyone any favours, the IMF has never been a charity and has never "helped" anyone without imposing pretty harsh conditions.... Oh, and while we're doing all this, in our own country public services are being cut, supposedly because we have no money...

And this is pretty dodgy too.... The Princess Royal is roped into Tory hunt for black gold in Africa http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/the...-in-Africa.html On an official visit to Africa, the Princess Royal visits Tullow Oil, a British company which has benefited from Conservative support. While the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s every move on the international stage attracts huge interest, the travels of less glamorous members of the Royal family often go overlooked. The Princess Royal’s trip to Africa last week included, however, an eye-catching engagement. Mandrake can disclose that Princess Anne visited a Tullow Oil facility off the coast of Ghana. Earlier this year, The Daily Telegraph reported that William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, had intervened personally on behalf of the British company in a dispute over a £175 million unpaid tax bill in its African operations. A spokesman for the Princess makes clear that the event was organised by the Government, rather than at her own behest. “The Princess Royal’s visit to Ghana was on the advice of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and, as such, undertaken on behalf of the Government. The visit to the oil facility was part of this official visit.” Last month, I reported that Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, whose private office has excited interest, had accepted a £12,500 donation from Aidan Heavey, a founding director of Tullow, who is now the company’s chief executive. The Buckingham Palace website explained that the Queen’s daughter saw “how the Tullow Oil-led operation is supporting the development of Ghana’s off-shore oil industry, a key contribution to the rapid development of Ghana’s economy, and a pillar upon which Ghana’s remarkable dynamic growth is being built”. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, I suppose she must be doing Andy's job now that he disgraced himself by hanging out with billionaire Paedophiles who paid underage girls for sex..... -_-

Isn't that the principle that the Comic Strip team applied when they were taking the piss out Hollywood actors being cast in totally innappropriate roles... So, you'd get their spoof on the Miner's strike called "Strike", with Pete Richardson playing Al Pacino playing Arthur Scargill and Jennifer Saunders playing Meryl Streep playing Mrs Scargill or in "GLC", when you had Robbie Coltrane playing Charles Bronson playing Ken Livingstone and Jennifer Saunders playing Bridgette Nielson playing Maggie..... :lol: :lol:

Seems like a good deal actually.. Bung the Tories some cash, you end up getting 10 times your original stake back (of course, you have to be a multi-billionaire, a CEO or otherwise a member of the 1% to take advantage of this offer)... Maybe Dodgy Dave should go on Dragon's Den and do a pitch.... Or howabout, a BOGOFF deal.. Bribe One, Get One For Free.... Bribe Dave, get Nick free.... Sweet... I laugh about it, but really, this is serious corruption... Funny how the law doesn't seem to spring into action quite so quickly though, isn't it...?

City firm Deloitte picks up Government contracts worth nearly £7m after bankrolling the Tories http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/2011...15875-23531315/ A CITY firm which bankrolled the Tories has landed Government contracts worth almost £7million. Management consultants Deloitte have given the party nearly £675,000 since David Cameron became leader. And, according to Whitehall departments, the company and its spin-offs have since scooped Government deals totalling £6.75million during Mr Cameron’s first year in Downing Street. It also emerged that a drugs firm partly owned by Tory donor Jon Moulton received taxpayers’ cash from the Government’s £1.4billion Regional Growth Fund, despite Mr Moulton sitting on the board that made the awards. The venture capitalist, who has given the Tories £400,000, owns a 26% stake in Liverpool-based Redx Pharma, which was offered £5.9million by the RGF. Construction firm JCB, whose boss Sir Anthony Bamford and his family have given the Tories more than £4.5million, was also among the winners but refused to say how much it received. Labour MP John Robertson said the awards made Mr Cameron and his party look like “stooges of big multinational corporations”. But a Cabinet Office spokeswoman insisted: “Contracts are awarded based on the best value for money for taxpayers.” A spokesman for Deloitte – where Treasury minister Chloe Smith worked before she became a Tory MP – said it was also willing to help the Lib Dems and Labour. Mr Moulton said last night he declared his conflict of interest and played no role in the decision-making. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This lot aren't even bothering to hide their corruption anymore, are they...?

I thought you'd find it funny.... ^_^