Johnny Bognor

The is an upside to falling wages... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22874889

We used to be god fearing. We're now terrorist fearing. Fear is a useful mechanism for controlling populations.

More good news for British manufacturing: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-22820402

I know, but the underlying sentiment is one shared by the lefties as a whole. I won't talk down any sector of the wealth creating economy. Britain still has the 5th largest manufacturing industry in the world based on total output. Something to be proud of considering we are a little rock off the coast of Europe. I have been an advocate of UK manufacturing as we are one of the key global players in high tech, aerospace, defence and research based manufacturing. In terms of total output, things have actually never been better (don't let the lefties have you believe otherwise). The issue for manufacturing is that employment in manufacturing has plummeted. The lefties like to blame maggie, some may blame the unions, but it is in large due to automation and globalisation as the trend has affected the whole of the westernised world. So I wouldn't put down manufacturing in the same way that the lefties seem to always put down service industries. The future for the UK in this modern world is in design / IP / information / innovation and the UK is well placed to play its part. If a business makes profits, pays its taxes and exports, then for me it is to be championed, irrespective of what sector it operates in.

That's right, because services is all about flipping burgers. Financial Services, Telecoms, Consulting, Media/Publishing, Software, Advertising/Marketing, Retail, Transportation doesn't generate any wealth whatsoever. We could do without the likes of Barclays, HSBC, PWC, Deloitte, Sage, Tesco, Virgin, BA, BT, Vodafone etc etc. They don't really employ anyone, make any profit or export anything at all. I think we should shut them all down. As an observation, it is quite funny how the lefties talk down the economy, it is almost as if they want it to fail, the result of which would be more cuts to the beloved public sector. Funny bunch really.....

That's right, because services is all about flipping burgers. Financial Services, Telecoms, Consulting, Media/Publishing, Software, Advertising/Marketing, Retail, Transportation doesn't generate any wealth whatsoever. We could do without the likes of Barclays, HSBC, PWC, Deloitte, Sage, Tesco, Virgin, BA, BT, Vodafone etc etc. They don't really employ anyone, make any profit or export anything at all. I think we should shut them all down. As an observation, it is quite funny how the lefties talk down the economy, it is almost as if they want it to fail, the result of which would be more cuts to the beloved public sector. Funny bunch really.....

[h=1]UK services sector in fastest growth since March 2012[/h] The UK's services sector, which accounts for around 75% of the economy, grew at its fastest rate since March 2012, new data suggests. The Markit/CIPS Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the UK rose to 54.9 in May from 52.9 in April. Any reading above 50 indicates growth in the sector, and Markit said the UK economy had "all cylinders now firing". http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22781216

Let me help you out here. By definition, a "return to growth" usually follows a period of contraction. If it didn't, then it wouldn't be a "return". At the end of the day, it is better news than a continuing contraction, is it not? Especially as this sector was one of the hardest hit.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22768282 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22764702

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22713290

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to £100... If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this... The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing. The fifth would pay £1. The sixth would pay £3. The seventh would pay £7.. The eighth would pay £12. The ninth would pay £18. The tenth man (the richest) would pay £59. So, that's what they decided to do.. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve ball. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by £20". Drinks for the ten men would now cost just £80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men? The paying customers? How could they divide the £20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share? They realised that £20 divided by six is £3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by a higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle of the tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the amounts he suggested that each should now pay. And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% saving). The sixth now paid £2 instead of £3 (33% saving). The seventh now paid £5 instead of £7 (28% saving). The eighth now paid £9 instead of £12 (25% saving). The ninth now paid £14 instead of £18 (22% saving). The tenth now paid £49 instead of £59 (16% saving). Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got a pound out of the £20 saving," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,"but he got £10!" "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a pound too. It's unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!" "That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get £10 back, when I got only £2? The wealthy get all the breaks!" "Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "we didn't get anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!" The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill! And that, boys and girls, journalists and government ministers, is how our tax system works. The people who already pay the highest taxes will naturally get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier. David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. Professor of Economics.

Classical

Maybe Dune wasn't so silly afterall.

Genealogy is fascinating. My ex Father in Law was one of the world's leading genealogists. He traced his family back to the Norman invasion of 1066. Some of the stories of his ancestors are fascinating, like the one who crashed the titanic and the one who survived the Charge of the Light brigade. Going back over your family always throws up surprises, both good and bad.

Also, we now have the highest number of people in employment since records began in 1971.

We are Southampton, together we stand

Fair enough. So what search engine do you use? I ask this because most of them are crap, so I take it you are prepared to have an inferior web experience in keeping with your principles.

No, just read the Groaniad article.... That's OK each to their own and all that. Hope none of the lefties use Google though, because there are other options available

Out of interest BTF, will you not be buying coffee from Starbucks, not ordering any Christmas presents from Amazon or refusing to use Google as your search engine? Or is it just the water companies?

1 service and a couple of ignition coils, so about £800. Having said that, older BMW's were bullet proof (this goes for Mercs too) back then. My next one lasted me 8 years and I did 160k miles (I bought that at 3 years old with 20k on the clock). My current 5 is a piece of cr@p. Too many electronics. Too much to go wrong. Spent more in the last three years on this car (over 60k miles) than the other two over the previous 12 years (over 340k miles). It seems reliability has been sacrificed for gadgetry. Agree with Stu0x. Very good tokyo!

Back in 1997, I bought a 5 yr old 5 series for £5k, it had 90k on the clock. Two years later I sold it for £3k with 180k on the clock. 90k for £2k represented excellent value for money.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2214531/Former-Portsmouth-FC-player-11-alleged-Islamic-terrorists-targeting-Jews.html

It probably has less to do with Public vs Private. More to do with Monopoly Supply vs Competition. It just happens that with less competition in the Public Sector (by virtue of the services provided), complacency and incompetence creeps in.

Oh but it is accountable to those paying its' bills. If you don't like the product or service you go elsewhere. Simple. The problem with most public services is that you can't go elsewhere and therefore have to put up with sub-standard service / attitudes. If I am not happy with one of the teachers in my kids school, voting for the local Lib Dem or Labour candidate won't make a difference. So the ultimate sanction in the private sector is that customers vote with their feet. Private companies still make mistakes, but they are far more accountable. Offer a cr@p service and someone will come along offering a better service.

I am with you Turkish. The thought of a man with a girl half his age is disgusting.