Blah Blah

The Labour mayoral candidate is chosen by the membership in a ballot. I think it's the same for the Tory party.

Yep, Zac is a lesson on how to not lead a campaign. Looks like he's been beaten comprehensively.

I half wonder if it's just what happens when you go from a two party state to one that has two other parties that have been really successful in splitting the electorate. On Scotland, I don't think Labour from Westminster can ever fix that. It will be down to Scottish Labour to figure a way back. But Labour have never won enough seats in England alone and in many ways they have to appeal to so many different (now polarised groups) that it's hard to see how that can be done under a left of centre leadership. Having said that, the Tories have exactly the same problem. It's hard to see them ever winning a decent majority as things stand either. They too have too narrow an appeal.

I'm guessing she's a leaseholder? Is the electrical work interior or communal exterior? Leaseholders are liable for work done to the buildings. There are leaseholder organisations though so she should contact one of those for advice, or the CAB.

I always thought vehicle speedos were deliberately 10% out. I'm guessing so that people who think they driving at the limit are actually just below.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3564798/Charges-loom-election-probe-Police-told-election-watchdog-prepared-prosecute-dozens-Tory-candidates-officials-spending-limit-breaches.html Looks like the door is open for prosecutions.

It is true that it is extremely difficult to fire someone in the public sector, but the public sector is not responsible for pay differentials. If anything, it is the unions of the public sector that have fought for better wages for those at the bottom. And that is also why the public sector is no longer the torch bearer for the worst paid jobs. That accolade now belongs to the private sector again. The problem with that of course is that our taxes pay those salaries whereas the private sector can avoid tax on profit and pay the lowest wages. I think it's within the private sector that work needs to be done on this but that is always a fine line between attracting business and driving it away. It's a complex thing, difficult to change or fix and of which (as ???? says) bureaucracy is a major obstacle. I'd also add into that the lobbying powers of those with most to lose.

We have a friend who lives there and those buildings are really cheaply made. They can't put anything on the walls because they are all plasterboard with few joists. I'm not suprised they are falling down.

I agree with all of that ????, which is why I argue that the emphasis should be on finding ways to close the gap, or raise the wages of the 90% rather than increasing the taxes of those at the top. I also think that 50p is about the limit on top tax. As you say, beyond that you actually collect less in receipts. We are always competing with lower tax thresholds elsewhere.

I'm trying to decide who has the better six pack. Daley or Ennis. Apparently the creation od Stella McCartney.

Just to add that ANPR and speed cameras etc, always have twin lens as well.

Tha's how they always do it - cameras on both sides. You find permanent ones on some junctions. They just measure traffic - those are usually TFL ones.

It's just a camera, attached to a battery, recording to a hard disk and very similar to ones used to record traffic data in the past, but if you really want to know for sure, just ring the council.

Uncle is a hoot isn't he? Trying I think to blame Southwark for tenants getting into arrears because of DWP blunders.

Derogatory? Simply making the distinction between policy based on good research and impact assessment, and policy based poorly thought out ideas - of which this government is a master of. Seen how the Lords have ripped apart the Housing and Planning Bill btw? It's a corker that one. There's a huge difference between having an ideal to create something that unquestionably will improve millions of lives and following ideology that has been proven to fail again and again. Why does Osborne keep setting himself targets he can't meet for example? That's my point.

They look like traffic data cameras to me. They used to be a camera up a lampost with a battery at the bottom. They just look like the same thing operating with a smaller battery. They are used for data gathering on traffic flow.

It's a reflection of the gap between those at the top and those at the bottom. Plato argued the the ratio between top salary and bottom salary should be no more than 6-1. JP Morgan argued no more than 20-1. Today the ratio can be in the 1000s-1. What those figures say to me, is just how imbalaced the employment market is, in relation to cost of living etc. The average salary is 27k, but most people in full time work don't earn it - that too reflects how that wage gap skews average figures. We've been here before of course. The entire industrial revolution was enabled by such inequality of earnings, and things like employment, housing and welfare rights are historically a recent thing. But when government tries to do something to address the imbalance (like rising min wages etc) they run into a ton of other problems. We live in a plutocracy (always have) and you can't have true democracy with that. It's not really capitalism that is the problem either, but the form of capitalism that plutocrats foist upon us.

Rye lane is fully covered with CCTV and is full of people day and night. Perfectly safe. Like most stabbings, this was probably between two people who know each other - not a lawless random rampage through bargain basements and pound shops! But you are probably right to not wine there Fox. It's usually fully of drunken students stumbling between Canavans and the Bussey - all a bit too young and exciting for you ;)

I think you are spot on heartblock. Sadly this is yet another ideologically driven pursuit.

LondonMix is correct on this one. The recruitment crisis is real. I know many qualified professionals who have moved abroad, from nurses and midwives to doctors. Australia seems to be a favourite destination. At the same time, the latest recruitment drive is targetting countries like the Phillipines and there is something to be said about taking qualifed staff from countries that need them as much as we do. Personally I think that Hunt is playing chess on this one. He's hoping for public support to drop off etc rather thsn make any real effort to resolve the dispute. And whomever posted the scenario of cancelling docotors contracts and making them reapply is right. That is the only way this new contract can be imposed, but I think that would enrage the BMA if he went down that route (although I wouldn't put anything beyond this government).

So it may open the way for challnges elsewhere. Thanks for that Dave.

Does anyone know what exactly the overcharging equates to in real terms for those affected. I.e how much % was the overcharge?

No they weren't charged to the national expenses at all. They were left off any accounting completely. And the rules are clear on what constitutes national and local spending. The cost of a hotel in a constituency to put up activists is a local expense. Head office are trying to claim that can be included as a national expense. It will be for the electoral commission to decide, but if they decide it is indeed a local expense, then the electoral agent in those 24 constituencies of guilty of both overpsending on limits and not reporting those expenses. It IS a criminal offence to do that with a fine and up to a year in prison as a consequence for both the MP concerned and the electoral agent. It's pretty serious stuff.

I don't understand you point Mac. It's not the fault of senior doctors and consultants that demand has grown while funding of services has not.

Philip Green is just the reincarnate of the equally hideous Goldsmith senior. More interested in milking the profits than running stable business. And he has previous form too. But as usual, he will be able to continue doing what he has always done - hostile takovers followed by asset stripping - and ruining long standing companies.