Magpie

Tinkering with Capital Gains tax will not in any way prevent further booms developing - the housing boom was a consequence of low interest rates leading to affordability of monthly interest payments being the benchmark for borrowing/lending rather than salary multiples. Its clear that taxes will need rise, my point is that the 36% of people who voted tory reckon that the priority should be spending cuts, not tax increases - this does not make them evil as Brendan seems to think. Huguenot, you know well what I'm referring to, and actually I would be quite happy for the EHR Act to be torn up, or at least rewritten to suit English Common Law. My understanding is that it was written to align with French Style law which focuses on loosely defined principles open for interpretation as opposed to English Common Law which gives clear guidence. Hence it should be re-written to ensure that common sense would prevail in cases such as this one. The other 8 or so students went home quite happily - but on the word of the two suspects that they may face tortue on their return home they can't be deported - lets forget the human rights of the remaining population not to a) be at risk of terrorism or b) pay for the indefinate monitoring.

I am well aware how the public finances work thank you. Even if you adjust for a recession the structural deficit still acounts around of half of government borrowing - given that government spending as a % of GDP is amongst the highest in Europe then priority should be on spending cuts rather than tax rises - although clearly a mixture of both will be required.

Of course there are plenty of areas of deprivation in London, and 50 years of state intervention has failed to change this - hence in my view alternatives to the assumption that more spending will help the poor need to be explored if the coalition does this, and IDS as an example does have some ideas, then it will be a good thing.

"According to the election results 30 odd% of the people in this country may think that their right to keep 100% of the 50K they made on their second home is more important than a baby getting the treatment it needs to survive but with that sort of attitude they aren?t really people." Oh dear - as if thats really the choice - I see evidence of wasted tax payers money pretty much every day - thats why people who already pay the majority of tax object to further tax increases when it is used to pay for, as an example, monitoring of people who are security risks to this country but can't be deported due to the human rights act.

I am a beginner in the arts of home brewing , but have a long term Dream to start a micro brewery in East Dulwich - got a batch on the go at the moment which should be ready towards the end of this week - the weekend may be a write-off

Silverfox - the point is that on some issues I have a subjective opinion and don't feel the need to qualify - FGM is one.

Did you miss the "Liberal democracy" bit in my post?

Its this kind of intellectual masturbation that results in the left being mocked as "tree huggers" or "Guardian readers" Judge things on outcomes - is FGM a good thing - well it's dangerous (short term and long term), painful, and reduces or removes female sexual pleasure. Any advantages? well it protects women from "sin" apparently. Its simple - FGM is wrong, and it is more patronising to say "Ah but you can't judge people by our standards, you have to think about their culture" than to take a firm stance on this (and other) issue. Are Western liberal democracy's "better" than other methods of structuring society - well in terms of living standards, freedom, quality of life etc then yes they are.

Well if I'm expected to be grown up about the fact that a significant number of Sinn Fein representatives are former PIRA members, some of whom have been inside for terrorist activity, then its only fair that people are grown up about a genuine error on semantics.

Sian - a bit sensitive surely, he's already explained it was a mistake

As a Tory I think its the worst of all results for the party 1) If it had been Lab/Lib government it would probably have collapsed pretty quickly - and both parties would have been punished in the next election. Result - proper Tory majority 2) If it had been minority Tory government it would have collapsed pretty quickly and the other parties would have been punished at the polls for bringing the government down - result proper tory majority As it is we have a coalition that may be able to survive for at least a few years, giving the Labour party time to recover, and for the required (but unpopular) spending cuts to be made, plus there is a risk of right wing tories defecting to UKIP (whose 1m votes cost the tories the election). Whats best for the country is a firm and stable government, so putting party politics aside, its the best of the three outcomes for the country as a whole, but not for the tories. The IRA is (or was) the military wing of Sinn Fein, so I don't see anything particulrly worrying about Mr Barber referring to them as such.

Spoil your ballet paper - your voice is counted at least

Managed to find my old bats - now just need to wait for the wind to die down. Anyone up for round-the-table?

Apparently very good for colds - according to the German father-in law of an ex-colleague

Its in interesting one - historically Labour has tended to do worse than the polls suggest and the tories better, this can be partly explained by a more committed core (ie Tory votes are more likely to vote than Labour), and the shy tory syndrome. However, its complicated by the surge by the Lib Dems, as they tend to perform in line with Polls. I think the outcome will be the Torys as the largest party with some 300 seats but no majority.

Well toxic assets have gone up for the bankers but remember that the UK government now has a paper profit on the stakes it took in RBS and Lloyds. Astute move that by Brown. A big chunk of the deficit is caused by lower tax take (as a result of lower profits from the banks) not the money lent/invested to the banks to stop them collapsing.

I agree with Edcam - a spoilt ballet paper is counted, and hence does count as "none of the above", if you hate the lot of them then at least do that. People who don't vote shouldn't moan.

Tax credits are pretty simple; You earn money, the government takes some as tax, the government employs people to process the tax (and hence accrues admin costs) and then gives it back to you as a credit. Of course it would be simpler and cheaper just to pay less tax, but for some reason that doesn't appeal. Of course its mean tested, so thats more admin cost but does mean that a very small proportion of families (ie those on incomes over c60k which is a lot of money outside the SE) don't get them. Its crazy really but thanks to Gordon there are loads of examples of this kind of thing. The same thing happens with the low paid and unemployed. You start working and/or increase your hours when you work part time, and you get your benefits withdrawn pretty much on a 1-1 basis. The most sensible thing said all night did come from Clegg and it was around increasing the tax allowance, which basically means the low paid keep more of their money, so more incentive to work rather than live on benefits.

Substitute, ?Those who don?t agree with my point of view which is based on a vested interest? Actually - I mean those who buy into the simplistic headlines from the front pages rather than reading the business pages which tend to provide a more nuanced and sophisticated explanation - which I summarised in my post and which I note you didn't respond to. The banks and bankers are an easy scapegoat, cos they're all rich like and its the bank fault that I borrowed 10k on my credit card to pay for a holiday I couldn't afford. "more noble and socially redeeming professions." like all the new nurses, teachers, doctors etc employed in the last 10 years - all of whom were paid for by the huge tax takes from the financial sector.

Bankers are a suitable target for the unsophisticated, the naive, and the stupid. The people responsible for creating the collatrised debt obligations that caused all the problems probably number a few hundred (if that) versus hundreds of thousands working in London alone. Bankers get paid well because they generate a lot of money - most parts of the banking were highly profitable and remain so. Banking is probably one of the few industries where the workers get paid what they're worth (in terms of profit generation). Now some people may see it as gambling, and some of it is, but at its purest banking is about finding a home for the money that people want to save so that others can invest - the difference between the bankers keep - a finders fee if you will. As Peckhamboy said bank lending went up because the cost of debt went down so we all borrowed - this was not evil gambling bankers screwing up, this was all people responding to the message they had in front of them, which was debt is cheap. The banks didn't hold us down and force feed us money, we all signed the mortgages and the credit deals etc As to Gimme's post above - yes there will be real cuts, all parties will do this. And what is so wrong with a pay freeze? It is what virtually everyone in the private sector has faced for the last two years and at least it keeps people in their jobs. Edit note - I do not work for a bank, but am in the private sector. I don't expect sympathy but no one in my firm (other than promotions) has seen their salary change since summer 2008, and its unlikely to change this year either. Seems perfectly logical to apply similar principles to the public sector.

Sounds pretty easy, I will give it a go, Aren't you meant to skim off the scum or something though?

Can't help you I'm afraid - but be intrigued to know how easy it is to make as I love the stuff. I do my own pickled onions, red cabbage, chutneys etc but understand with Sauekraut that you have to kind of leave it to rot?

Yep I will happily play anyone - except Ray

I would imagine that Kemi is probably a rising star, and has been earmarked as one for the future. Hence she will do the standard thing and cut her political teeth in an unwinnable seat, and will go somewhere more favourable next time round.

It would have been a better idea not to have a credit boom - whether we joined the Euro is irrelevent. Joining the Euro wouldn't have made any difference to whether or not a credit boom occured - interest rates in the Eurozone have historically been below those in the UK - hence the trouble the PIGS are in.