UK PoliGAF thread of tell me about the rabbits again, Dave.

Karakand said:
So... it's OK then?

I hope you've never been the victim of a Kafkaesque bureaucracy before, but when you're later exonerated by it, you don't get back the time that was wasted feeling depressed, anxious, or exasperated.
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I side with Karakand over Meadows on this one. The bureaucracy is horrible. I remember a few years back when my boy was ill - got all sorts of crap from doctors, nurses, specialists for about six months - but I had told them up front what disease he had (it was pretty bloody obvious since his aunt and hid sister had it before) and they still ignored. Eventually, nine months on and 4 stone lighter, they get the hang of it. And then we tried to transfer treatment to the hospital a mile away from home instead of the one 20 miles away and ended up on a one-way trip to nowhere. Black valley. Took another three months to sort that out.

Now, that's not a temporary problem, that's a year of schooling gone, that's a whole load of self-confidence lost and that's a whole lot of faith in the system lost too.
 
Shitting myself over my mums assessment, she's had one heart attack is at massive risk for another. I'm just hoping they read her GP's notes and looks at the huge cocktail of drugs she needs to not try any bullshit.
 
It'll be quiet for the next week or two. Unless some under the radar bad news comes out whilst the countries attention is focused elsewhere.
 
Nicktendo86 said:
There has to be more to this.. Surely? I mean, that is just too ridiculous. I've heard bad things about ATOS but bleeding hell.
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A woman attempted suicide, twice, because ATOS kept hounding her saying she was fit for work and threatening to cut her benefits even though she can fall unconscious for hours at a time and needs in-home care. They have blood on their hands. There are dozens of cases like this.
 
Jackpot said:
A woman attempted suicide, twice, because ATOS kept hounding her saying she was fit for work and threatening to cut her benefits even though she can fall unconscious for hours at a time and needs in-home care. They have blood on their hands. There are dozens of cases like this.
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We had a local man in bolton recently with one leg, a brain tumor and speech impediment declared fit for work.

I'm sure i saw him hopping up the m6 one morning for an ATOS appeal in scotland.
 
Interesting set of employment data. Headline figures are that unemployment is up 0.1%, but the interesting thing is that we lost 62,000 part time jobs but created 60,000 full time jobs which means the actual number of hours being worked increased by 0.4%. Additionally, a huge chunk of the rise in unemployment (68,000 out of 70,000 increase) is due to people re-entering the working population, which isn't in itself a bad thing.

So hardly bombastic news by any means, but a lot more positive than the headlines would make it appear.

Edit: Last months unemployment figures were also revised down (ie the 'good' direction) too.
 
 
I'm not really a fan of the logic which suggests that people killing themselves means that the governments welfare policy is wrong. 17 people a day in the UK kill themselves for all sorts of reasons. There was a case where a guy killed himself after his housing association raised his rent by £5 in order to pay for necessary repairs around the housing block. Obviously this is a tragedy for the guy's family, but that doesn't mean the housing association was wrong to do it. The same is true for welfare. More support should be given to those affected by changes, but it shouldnt be a case of simply giving people more money so they don't kill themselves. 1/7 men develop depression after being unemployed for more than 6 months, and the generous (relative) benefits system *didn't * cause websites to compile lists of posthumously decreed welfare relayed suicides, but it DID compound that same unemployment for over a decade, building a system where people were trapped in unemployment.

It's emotive politics at its worst, IMO. It has huge personal impacts on families, it doesn't have huge political ones.
 
CyclopsRock said:
Interesting set of employment data. Headline figures are that unemployment is up 0.1%, but the interesting thing is that we lost 62,000 part time jobs but created 60,000 full time jobs which means the actual number of hours being worked increased by 0.4%. Additionally, a huge chunk of the rise in unemployment (68,000 out of 70,000 increase) is due to people re-entering the working population, which isn't in itself a bad thing.

So hardly bombastic news by any means, but a lot more positive than the headlines would make it appear.

Edit: Last months unemployment figures were also revised down (ie the 'good' direction) too.
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I rather curious about this, given the massive recent rise in "zero-hours" contracts - what counts as full-time and what counts as part-time with these contracts?

I'm hoping that the new requirement for real-time PAYE reporting leads to some more reliable figures, even though it is a pest for me as an employer.
 
phisheep said:
I rather curious about this, given the massive recent rise in "zero-hours" contracts - what counts as full-time and what counts as part-time with these contracts?

I'm hoping that the new requirement for real-time PAYE reporting leads to some more reliable figures, even though it is a pest for me as an employer.
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I don't know the specifics, if I'm honest. The rise of 0 hour contracts suggests that the actual number of employees working full time hours is higher than the figures suggest, but ultimately the take home figure is the number of paid hours worked, which has gone up.
 
Tory councillor resigns after racist comments

Cherry, district councillor for Stedham, told the Mail on Sunday he had serious concerns about the effect the London pupils would have on the area. "Ninety-seven per cent of pupils will be black or Asian," he said. "It depends what type of Asian. If they're Chinese, they'll rise to the top. If they're Indian, they'll rise to the top. If they're Pakistani, they won't."
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/21/stedham-ward-councillor-race-comments
 
That is a trend that's pretty well established with data though, isn't it? I think that if one accepts that there are certain cultures that excel academically - and I think you have to be a bit of a goon if you don't - then you also have the acknowledge that there are those that do not.
 
If the guy had any tact, he would've said 'I don't want to appear racist, but there appears to be a great concern with the relative lack of success for pupils of Pakistani origin. We need to address this issue sooner rather than later'. Instead, he was a big fuckwit.
 
Jackpot said:
Tory councillor resigns after racist comments

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/21/stedham-ward-councillor-race-comments
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Stupid thing for any councillor to say, well at lest if he has any ambition.

I think we have a big problem (and "we" here refers to all of us) with the huge decline in membership of local political parties, in that often you're down to a hundred or so people and the most persuasive or the one who has more time wins regardless of what they say. And those are the people who get into councils.

Of course, there is massively more interest in politics than that, but not at a local level - so the local stuff is all oligarchies and chums.
 
Miles Quaritch said:
So...what to make of Osbourne's comments about an independent Scotland and the pound?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/23/currency-union-scotland-uk-osborne
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Scotland as it is doesn't get much of a say in the Bank of England's actions anyway, so I'm not sure if that really counts as a negative. Of course, you also have the possibility to the Tories saying "feck off" to Scotland keeping the pound, and they're well within their rights to do so.
 
Delusibeta said:
Scotland as it is doesn't get a say in the Bank of England's actions anyway, so I'm not sure if that really counts as a negative. Of course, you also have the possibility to the Tories saying "feck off" to Scotland keeping the pound, and they're well within their rights to do so.
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What makes you believe that?
 
Delusibeta said:
Scotland as it is doesn't get much of a say in the Bank of England's actions anyway, so I'm not sure if that really counts as a negative. Of course, you also have the possibility to the Tories saying "feck off" to Scotland keeping the pound, and they're well within their rights to do so.
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England can't stop Scotland using Sterling. They can refuse to allow Scottish members to participate in the BoE, but short of using force there's nothing they can do to prevent Sterling being legal tender in Scotland.

EDIT: And let's face it, it's not like Scotland has had any influence on the "United" Kingdom's monetary policy since... ever.
 
"A sterling zone is also in the overwhelming economic interests of the rest of the UK every bit as much as it is in the interests of Scotland. An independent Scotland using the pound will mean sterling's balance of payments will be massively supported by Scotland's huge assets, including North Sea oil and gas – which alone swelled the UK's balance of payments by £40bn in 2011-12."

I don't understand this comment. It says sterling's balance of payments will be supported by Scotland's assets => an independent Scotland is in the interests of the rest of the UK. Then it appears to go on to say it does that anyway (£40bn in 2011-12). Can someone explain?
 
Had a call today from the BBC Bristol asking if I'd comment tomorrow morning on the economic figures due to come out, from the perspective of a small business.

Said yes of course!

Anyone want to help me out here with what the hell these things are likely to mean? I am way out of my depth on this stuff (though with sufficient briefing I can sound convincing.
 
phisheep said:
Had a call today from the BBC Bristol asking if I'd comment tomorrow morning on the economic figures due to come out, from the perspective of a small business.

Said yes of course!

Anyone want to help me out here with what the hell these things are likely to mean? I am way out of my depth on this stuff (though with sufficient briefing I can sound convincing.
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That's super cool!

It's just the GDP figures tomorrow (not employment) so it'll be the usual old slightly-above-or-slightly-below 0% stuff, I imagine. General consensus appears to be that it'll be above. Imo the "power" of the figures lies almost entirely on how it's spun by the newspapers. A fraction of a percent either way makes little practical difference, but doom and gloom vs jubilation is what makes a different WRT these figures being announced. It's why it's so frustrating that the figures are almost always revised UPWARDS afterwards rather than down, but hey ho.

What's it for, radio, TV, web article etc?
 
phisheep said:
Had a call today from the BBC Bristol asking if I'd comment tomorrow morning on the economic figures due to come out, from the perspective of a small business.

Said yes of course!

Anyone want to help me out here with what the hell these things are likely to mean? I am way out of my depth on this stuff (though with sufficient briefing I can sound convincing.
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Well you won't get asked anything technical, the interviews always ask about how business is doing generally, order numbers, if you do exporting etc.

If the GDP figures are negative the focus will be on the political aspect (i.e. the coalition following plan A has 'let' this happen) rather than the effect on the real economy, since any percentage decrease/increase will be small anyway.
 
phisheep said:
Had a call today from the BBC Bristol asking if I'd comment tomorrow morning on the economic figures due to come out, from the perspective of a small business.

Said yes of course!

Anyone want to help me out here with what the hell these things are likely to mean? I am way out of my depth on this stuff (though with sufficient briefing I can sound convincing.
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To your line of business? GDP figures mean precisely nothing. A technical recession means nothing in and of itself, it's the ridiculous media reaction which damages spending on the high street as people tighten their belts on hearing shit like "triple dip" even though it basically makes no difference to their lives. If anything low growth is helpful in a sense that UK Gilts will remain very low yield and allow for interest rates to stay low on mortgages and loans.

Otherwise, GDP figures mean nothing, especially the preliminary estimates.
 
Arksy said:
There are plenty who don't. At least he's taking the time to visit and learn more. It's a lot better than staying in your ivory tower at home and making proclamations.
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I watched the Channel 4 piece and the thing is he didnt learn anything. He went there with a view that Bulgarians all wanted to come to the UK and almost everyone said that its not true. The students were insulted that someone could be so arrogant to assume that everyone wants to leave Bulgaria and move to the paradise that is the UK. Id be insulted too and embarrassed by his line of questioning. At the end he wanders off into the airport with the same opinion that he had when he arrived.

I do agree that Farage is a masterful politician and is actually quite likable (outside of his politics)
 
defel said:
I do agree that Farage is a masterful politician and is actually quite likable (outside of his politics)
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He's "man I would have pint with down the pub", and keeps up that façade/persona very well. It could be that he is like that in real life, that he went to a strip joint just gives him that Boris type aura of getting away with stuff that would be kryptonite to other politicians.
 
zomgbbqftw said:
He's "man I would have pint with down the pub", and keeps up that façade/persona very well. It could be that he is like that in real life, that he went to a strip joint just gives him that Boris type aura of getting away with stuff that would be kryptonite to other politicians.
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His oratorical and debating skills are pretty damn good. Any lesser person would have been continually humiliated to the point where their position in public life was untenable but Farage handles controversy, insults and people trying to humiliate him very well.
 
He's up there with Salmond and Boris as one of the few politicians that literally any party would want in their ranks. I'm not being partisan, but I honestly can't think of anyone like that from Labour. Tom Watson is a good battler but he gets it wrong too often.
 
zomgbbqftw said:
To your line of business? GDP figures mean precisely nothing. A technical recession means nothing in and of itself, it's the ridiculous media reaction which damages spending on the high street as people tighten their belts on hearing shit like "triple dip" even though it basically makes no difference to their lives. If anything low growth is helpful in a sense that UK Gilts will remain very low yield and allow for interest rates to stay low on mortgages and loans.

Otherwise, GDP figures mean nothing, especially the preliminary estimates.
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My thoughts precisely. Only three things affect my business directly: low interest rates (good), money in my customers pockets (so tax threshold rises are good), lack of serious competition (so low bank lending is good too). Infrastructure spending on anything between London and Manchester might help the economy, but mostly takes people way too far from my shop! Actually I guess there's a general benefit of recession if people are holidaying more here than overseas too.

f0rk said:
Are beads cheap?
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Very. At least mine are. Commonly cheaper than eBay and usually cheaper than UK wholesale prices (so I've supplied a number of shops at my retail prices for example). It's a good business at the moment, as people can make their own fantastic jewellery at a fraction of the price of buying it ready-made, and many of my customers including a precocious and talented 12-year-old make for resale where there's a booming market (and almost always I suggest they crank their prices up)

CyclopsRock said:
That's super cool!

What's it for, radio, TV, web article etc?
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Radio. So I'm doing it by telephone - beats having to travel to Bristol (which I wouldn't do anyway, as I'd have to shut the shop, and that's definitely not good for business!).

It was kind of an embarrassing start to the conversation actually, as they kicked off by saying they were so pleased with my contribution to their Budget programme (which actually they'd forgotten to phone me about so I never did contribute, so they have no idea what I am like).

But they have said they'll come down to the shop later in the month with a view to doing a feature - hey, I'm pretty persuasive to cold callers - and when they do I shall sell them some beads!
 
If you made a papier-mache man out of pages from the Mail and Telegraph and then sprinkled it with sacrificed fox blood to bring it to life you'd get Nigel Farage.
 
Cumpkin Hubris said:
Go back to Russia!
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Fascists belong against a wall
V5vj9hY.gif
 
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