bridge too far

Time will tell. My concern is for the future for my grandchildren - indeed for all children. Health, education and welfare will suffer greatly and this will hit people who cannot (or will not) pay for private health and education. Already these services are suffering - it will be even more the case now that Cameron has this huge majority. I think when the power of the rabid right (who may well control Cameron) becomes apparent there will be great unrest in our country. But hey Dave - thanks for the promise of another £200 on my pension. That'll help.

I'm Mrs Profoundly Depressed of Buckinghamshire. However, there are 3 results I'm overjoyed about: 1. Esther McVey lost her seat 2. Nigel Farage didn't win 3. That chinless wonder, Danny Alexander, lost his seat At the time of the last election, I said I thought the Tories would never get a majority again. I was so, so wrong and I'll admit it. But I genuinely fear for the future of this country now.

Whilst I obviously profoundly disagree with all that UKIP stands for, I think Woolfe is a sophisticated operator and I would suggest a strong candidate to replace Farage.

Here's a true story for you. Mr TF is currently out of work. He straight away went to the JobCentre to 'sign on' and was told he would be sent an appointment by text message to see his 'work coach'. He received the text that said 10:20 a.m. on 20 April. He turned up at the appointed time and was told he'd been sanctioned for non-attendance. He said 'but I'm here and on time'. 'Oh no' they said, 'your appointment was for 2 April'. 'No' he said 'look here's the text you sent me'. 'Oh' they said 'there's been an administrative error - but the sanction stands' So he kicked up stink and in the end they said they weren't allowed to remove the sanction but they would append a note to his file. It did the trick and he's just heard he's got JSA. But just supposing he hadn't kept the text or wasn't confident enough to defend himself. That, my dears, is how it works in reality. Bastards

Imposter alert!!!!!! No way did Neil Factless Allen pen that article. There's a paragraph in there WITH TWO SENTENCES!

And I think some London marginals will go to Labour too

I heard yesterday that Tory supporters in Clegg's constituency (Sheffield Hallam?) are being urged to vote Labour to get him out!

You think all of the above only applies to Muslim society? Did you not read the link I posted earlier about Jewish people? And our own culture isn't exactly beyond reproach now, is it? (* thinks some golf clubs, some Rotary clubs, the Masons probably)

You would apply your disapproval to Jewish people in this country too? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_separation_in_Judaism

There's one hell of a difference between the NHS using the spare capacity that the private healthcare sector usually has, probably at an equitable cost, to cope with demand, and farming out clinical services permanently to private providers who then 'give up' when they realise they cannot deliver a service to the public AND a profit for their shareholders.

Here's a good read http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breadline-britain-20million-now-living-5123323

But it's worse than the NHS - and this from the Daily Fail! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-3053452/Private-healthcare-worse-GPs.html

But men shouldn't? Dinosaur! If you're looking for a disgusting excuse of a human being, try Iain Duncan Smith for starters.

And now a young rugby player! http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/32575741

A lot of recent stuff seems to be missing from this thread! :suspicious:

From the Telegraph: "Shuttleworth, the chief executive and founder of advertising and marketing company Savvy Marketing, told the Telegraph that she had applied to join the Question Time audience as an undecided voter but now was likely to vote Conservative." But, if you read the HuffPost link, you'll see that she was one of the small businesses who signed a letter a week or so ago supporting the Conservatives and she's also set up her company with a Tory MP.

No - those that applied to be in the audience were supposedly undecided voters and were selected on that basis.

I have to say, Special K, that the two hospital PFI schemes I worked on were judged by the Treasury's own PFI unit to have robust business cases (under both governments). Perhaps the naivete was the inability of the Treasury to recognise just how unscrupulous (as you say) the SPVs were. When Labour had settled in, the rules were changed so that the SPVs' renegotiations with their own funders that resulted in cheaper funding was shared with the NHS Trusts. In the main PFI delivered on time and on budget - something that rarely happened with D & B contracts. The main problem was that those specifying from the NHS side were hit with unreasonable RfIs for example. The highly experienced NHS Estates staff that used to deal with contractors had all been made redundant when services were market tested in 1991 and onwards. Ironically, they were snapped up by the developers to lead the private sector bidding!

This woman http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/05/01/labour-ed-miliband-question-catherine-shuttleworth_n_7188552.html?1430491967

But she blatantly lied. Oh hang on - she's a Tory

Indeed - people conveniently forget the dreadful state of hospitals and schools in the period leading up to 1997. Hospital buildings not fit for purpose and costing a fortune in backlog maintenance and staffing. Schools with leaking roofs and pre-war portakabins. PFI was first introduced by the Tory government led by John Major.

Moving away from QT, I've recently read this blog about unemployment numbers and sanctions http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2014/08/13/fall-in-unemployment-number-of-people-on-sanctions/

But in all probability the rent would be significantly higher than any mortgage payment. My very real concern is this. If property prices become so unaffordable in London and the SE whether buying or renting, where on earth are the people who service those areas going to live? I'm talking catering staff, transport staff, even nurses and police. If these folk can't afford to live in those areas, then those who can will surely see a significant drop in the services they use.

I think my point was that the audience appeared not to have been selected on the grounds of being undecided. Naughty old leftie Aunty BBC