sparks

I appreciate what you're saying All1, but it is as you say, not much...

And how much of those winter payments/bus passes/tv licences etc go to people who don't need it? I know my mum doesn't, but it's hers to claim so she does...that amount just for one person would probably build several houses in pakistan!

The 'sparks philosophy' is that for every £1 you use on aid (if correctly administered), you save £10 in the war/peace keeping you end up doing instead! And that is simply because you pay for weapons at western rates, but aid buys so much more at third world levels...

I'm happy to put my £1.20 in...

True but when is enough enough?

 

I'm 44 years of age and all i can remember is always giving even as a kid through blue peter and stuff like that, seriously are you saying we should always give because as you say yourself were in deep sh1t ourselves, and i think this is peoples point, why should we be helping others when we find it hard to help our own people, I'm sure you don't need me to tell you to tune in next month for more info after the spending review comes out :Hmm:

 

 

All1

I was replying to the point about defence spending, and some of the reason's for it...and as for 'when is enough enough', we're doing our best to create more instability in Pakistan right now due to our activities over the border!

But imo it doesn't really come into it whatever the timescale, as almost every country in the world has some form of defence spending...should any country not give aid to another just because it doesn't like their shopping list?

And guess who sells the best part of £50m ayear of weapons to pakistan anyway... :Winky:

But besides, do you think the average pakistani who actually gets to choose what weapons are bought? - because we sure as hell don't here!

And although our lives could be eased somewhat, everyone one in this country has access to basic facilities that they could just dream about even before the floods!

So I'd rather see a paultry amount of aid going there, rather than the billions wasted on our indigenous scroungers!!

(I could go on about why a lot of countries need aid because of the unfair way they are dealt with by the developed world, but that's another topic... :Winky: )

yes thats what concerns me

Does that mean that any country which wishes to defend itself gets no aid?

Pakistan is particularly interesting, since it was the British that caused the pakistan/india conflict in the first place with it's indiscriminate partioning of the country...and who are part of the coalition that has driven the Taliban to be more of a threat within the country ! Plus their military is at the forefront of any disaster relief, as ours is in times of need because they are the only ones to have the expertise.

The UK spends £35billion on 'defence', although a lot of that is being used 'offensively' atm - and yet we are reliant on aid too...

Oh of course it's not called that, but we are £3 trillion in hock to mainly foreign countries who very kindly allow us to continue to borrow whilst we engage in sometimes illegal wars!

It's not always black and white!

pakistan aid money is ok imo, since we all get 'aid' despite our 'outgoings'...What about the benefit claimant who spends his/her dosh on booze/tv's/fags etc?

What we should be doing is making sure that the money gets to the right people, and that is no more relevant there than here in the uk!

But the pope can pay for himself out of the vaticans f*cking pocket money...

after all we're talking 'god's bankers' aren't we?... :Winky:

Link

Unfortunately derren, despite assurances to the contrary, the NHS debacle is continuing...

I have no reason to believe that this idea will not be implemented because it has so many other 'benefits' to the government...

What about that disputed fine - just deduct it...

disputed child maintenance - just deduct it...

etc etc...

And hands up anyone who knows exactly how something like child tax credits are worked out...would you know if you were underpaid £10 each month?

It would be a nice little earner if everyone's payments were a bit over, but not enough to raise suspicion, wouldn't it... :Winky:

Above all, it means the government has even more control over our lives - so much for a less centralised system!

Of course it won't work properly, but the big software companies wield too much influence...despite all their cock-ups, don't be surprised if EADS gets the nod...

That is incredibly dangerous!

Giving the government control over OUR wages and bank accounts is like letting GG loose in a playground!

And it was their 'calculations' that caused the problems in the first place...cynical me thinks that cock-up may well have been engineered with this proposal in mind...

can you post it then...

A bit of perspective needed here...

There are millions of people with absolutely nothing in Pakistan, and we donate £70million...

EVERY day the UK government borrows £480 million, and EVERY day over £200million is handed out in benefits to keep up to 7 million people watching their widescreen TV's...

And funnily enough for £70million, you can just about buy a Eurofighter - without a pilot or running costs of course...!

I know where that paltry amount of money is most needed... :Winky:

 

You cannot post 'Thou Shalt Not Steal', 'Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery' and 'Thou Shall Not Lie' in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians ..... It creates a hostile work environment.

 

lol...

And both planned to introduce treasury dollars in competition with the federal dollars.... :Winky:

How many know that the American financial system (in the form of the federal reserve) is actually in the control of a very few private hands, not the American government?

ASFAIK they don't do them anymore....

Mind you, I found them a false economy myself - never seem to get the shade quite right, and since it's mixing with a cheap emulsion (presumably) you tend to need more coats, especially in darker tints.

Acrylic artists paint would do the same thing though.

Just out of interest, since when was the Full Monty an 'american musical'?

Here we go then...

What we owe..

Government urged to reveal 'true' national debt of £4.8 trillion

 

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has calculated that the national debt is £4.8 trillion once state and public sector pension liabilities are included, or £78,000 for every person in the UK....

 

The IEA raised its concerns after the latest public finances data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) this week, which showed that the total debt, excluding bank bail-outs, is £816bn – itself a record high. However, the figures strip out the state's pension liabilities in a contravention of standard accounting practices.

 

Mark Littlewood, the IEA's director-general, said: "The latest official national debt figure is seriously misleading. Looming in the background are pension liabilities. These should be moved to the forefront.

 

"The ONS should include these liabilities in their calculations. It is shocking enough to see official figures revealing a jump in national debt over the last year from the equivalent of 48pc of GDP to 56pc, but the grave reality is that our real national debt stands at 333pc of GDP."

Why do I take this as the real figure?

Well I happen to know Mark Littlewood, as he was a founding member of No2id - and he has been saying this for years! Only now is he in a position to be heard!

(he also told me a hilarious alcohol related story about charles kennedy before his 'problem' was revealed...ML was lib dem spokesman at the time!)

So, given the debt (which is still rising), does anyone have a clue as to how we will be able to pay it back?

It's only a matter of time before chaos descends, which will be shortly after UK plc is declared bankrupt!

And we only have to look across the pond to see who is orchestrating things...

My link

If anyone is looking for the best response ever to "if you've got nothing to hide......."

Link

"I think that those who think they have nothing to hide aren't living life properly".

:Thumbs_Up1:

Maybe someone should tell obama that...

I gave him a chance, but he's just like all the rest - with his tongue up the arse of multinational business....american multinational business that is :Winky:

And I wonder why he hasn't mentioned the Gulf of Mexico 'dead zone', created by american companies and farmers?

Dead Zone

For the hundreds of thousands of people in the Gulf of Mexico who depend on commercial and sport fishing, directly and indirectly, the assault on sea life from the BP oil disaster has been a serious blow. But it's hardly unfamiliar.

 

That's because even before the spill, up to 8,000 square miles of gulf waters would turn every year into dead zones—vast areas of the coast so depleted of oxygen that shrimp, crabs and other marine animals could no longer live.....

 

 

First noted by scientists in the 1960s, dead zones are formed when huge amounts of nutrients—such as those found in agricultural fertilizers, municipal sewage and other wastes—overload the water, leading to explosive algae growth that ultimately robs oxygen from marine life below.

 

A 2008 study found more than 400 dead zones around the world, and the Gulf of Mexico's is one of the largest. Snaking along the Louisiana and Texas coasts, the expanding Gulf Dead Zone has drastically reduced seafood stocks and pushed fishers further out to sea.

 

The primary culprit? Nitrate-laced runoff from agricultural operations along the Mississippi River, which eventually drain into gulf waters. One study found that 51 percent of the Mississippi's nitrogen load was from commercial fertilizer, with livestock manure, human sewage and runoff from other crops contributing to the mix.

But then it's 'good ole USA pollution', so that's ok...

:Laugh:

Our condolences DJ...

Oh dear Mr Obama....

Most of BP oil spill has gone, says US

Most the the oil that spilled from the giant BP gulf leak has gone, the US government said today.

 

White House energy adviser Carol Browner said a new assessment found that about three quarters has either been captured, burned off, evaporated or broken down chemically.

 

"It was captured. It was skimmed. It was burned. It was contained. Mother Nature did her part," she said.

So will BP get most of their $32bn back?....

And will that committee still want that inquiry?...Winky:

What lousy timing...

I just cleared out my old cable box, and there was one of those in there..!

However I have a male s-video to phono, and you can get female to female s-video adaptors.

Link

So it's yours if you want it.

Metro Bank's overdraft rate will be a standard 15%, personal loans will be charged at 10%, while annual interest paid on instant access savings will be just 0.5%.

 

However analysts said that the mortgage and savings products being launched were not yet competitive enough to enter the best-buy tables.

 

"Although they are offering all these other benefits, such as longer opening hours, one of the main things for people is a competitive interest rate,"

Can't see many going for that !

So after dragging BP (or 'British petroleum' as obama erroneously calls it) through the type of media campaign usually reserved for the members of the 'axis of evil', the US is trying to haul UK citizens (including MP's) in front of a kangaroo Court - or senate hearing as it's otherwise known.

Now why should anyone from the UK be bullied into attending when...

1. Remember how the US refused to let a pilot attend an inquest, or even send over full information, regarding a friendly fire incident.

2. What right has the US to lecture us on 'deals' and 'corruption' given the following revelation - just the latest in a long line of such 'events'.... US unable to account for billions of Iraq oil money

It appears our 'Ally' is being a bit hypocritical again...

The US defence department is unable to account for almost $9bn taken from Iraqi oil revenues for use in reconstruction, according to an official audit released yesterday.

 

The report by the US Special Investigator for Iraq Reconstruction says $8.7bn (£5.6bn) out of $9.1bn withdrawn between 2004 and 2007 from a special account set up by the UN Security Council is unaccounted for.

That's 95% of Iraq's own oil money in a UN account that has 'disappeared'...

We know ALL oil companies are guilty of some form of corruption, and collude with their own governments, so if we have to send someone, personally I'd nominate George Galloway...love him or hate him, he can certainly tell a 'kangaroo court' where to shove it and make them look stupid, so is worth it purely for entertainment value alone !

Another thing....

Cost of one oil spill = 3x 2012 Olympic Games...!

Rather puts things into perspective doesn't it....

Julian Assange that is...for exposing this!

The war logs/crimes

Now sadly departed...

Snooker legend Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins dies at 61

Thanks for some great memories...