Lord Duckhunter

Well Labour have had 13 years to renationalise, but haven't.

Labour have continued to sell off Playing fields and you seriously can't believe we should own BT and British Gas? Can you remember how long it used to take to get a phone installed?

I have people who work for me that turn down Overtime on the basis that it will affect their WFTC's. I have also had the situation where a guy turned down a promotion and a pay rise, because he would lose the same amount from his WFTC's. How can that be right? As an employer we were prepared to give him more money, but he was happier to collect the same amount from our taxes, rather than from a private company. As for the minimum wage, it was set at such a low level (delebrately so) that it didn't make much difference at all. It was an Elephant trap for the Tory's and a symbolic gesture rather than a meaningful attempt to increase peoples wealth. Had it been set at the rate the unions were calling for, it would have indeed cost jobs.

I dont think that anyone would argue against helping people in genuine need. However, nobody can deny that there are thousends of toerags, that can work but choose not to, that do work and still claim benefit, and that say they have no partner, but do have one. The welfare system in this Country needs a complete and utter overhaul. How can it be right that rich people are entittled to Child Benefit, and have you seen the upper limits for earnings on Working Family Tax Credits.The burden for paying for all this seems to fall more heavily on the normal working man. As for funding Cancer drugs, again the whole NHS system is broken. It should be there to fund your mother's drugs, but why should my taxes pay for sex change operations and the like. Welfare should be a safety net for those in trouble and in need, it shouldn't be a way of life, as it is for some.

Great in prinicple, but it doesn't work. If income Tax went up to 1979 levels society wouldn't be any fairer, it's just that more of our money would get wasted.

What a load of rubbish. UKIP have a legitimate agenda and should no way be compared to the BNP. They want withdrawal from Europe for every white, black, Asian, Chinese, lesbian, gay ect ect person in the UK. To compare them to the BNP is a disgraceful slur. They are the same as the Greens (only more popular) and yet the left wing biased media in this Country try and portray them as some sort of right wing loons. It wasn't so long ago that the Labour party, including Brown, campaigned on the back of leaving the EEC.

Why have UKIP and the BNP been lumped together on this thread. Nobody would lump The Greens in with the BNP, so why UKIP? Due to our First Past the Post system the BNP will not gain a seat at this election, neither will the Greens. UKIP may in the Speakers seat, but that's pretty doubtful (unfortunatly because he's a complete fool).However like the referundum Party, UKIP could do damage to the Tory vote, although they've said they wont stand against Tory's that share their view on Europe.

That's what Labour Govt's do, put tax up. They seem incapable of understanding that it's tax take that matters. The last Labour Govt taxed people at 33%, yet when Thatcher reduced the basic rate, the revenue from income tax increased. If you follow Brown's flawed logic, Thatcher would have been taking X amount of billions out of the economy. Take the NI increase.Business has said it will affect job creation, the Lib/Dems have said it is wrong, but wont change it yet,and even Darling has said it will cost jobs, but they are "managable". Those jobs will go to people who will have to pay income tax, if those jobs dont exist, then the income tax from those jobs wont exist.The people filling those jobs will remain on benefits, who pays for the benefits? Labour Govts seem to think that taxing people more, is the answer to everything.

The point was about PR, so the forthcoming elections will not tell us anything about PR. The last PR elections that were held show the level of Lib/Dem support under PR. Take away tactical voting and they fell to 13% and 4th.

UKIP came second, so they did better than "relatively well". You wont be able to tell about UKIP's level of support this time, because it's first past the post. Labour voters will vote Lib/Dem in Tory areas and visa versa. Take away tactical voting, and their share will fall, as it did it the last PR elections. The European PR Election results are fact, everything else is opinion.

On the subject of OWTS, I hate it being sung too slowly. I've heard Spurs on the telly singing it slowly and it sounds pretty good, but it seems to peter out at SMS. I prefer it sung faster.

Their vote in the PR European elections was pathetic, coming 4th behind a "pressure group". They got 13.7% of the PR vote as opposed to 22.1% in the last First past the post election. This is solely down to Torys in Labour areas and Labour voters in Tory areas.When every vote counts, people dont vote for them in the numbers they do in thye present system. They are political chancers, they change their views depending on which seast they are fighting. In Labour areas they are left wing and in Tory areas right wing.The facts are there to see, when there is a PR system, their share of the votes went down

We should have an English Parliament.Why should the English be treated differently than the rest of the UK?

Whilst there is first past the post, this will continue to be the case. It also allows them to play the victim with their 30% share of the vote. when PR is used, their share of the vote goes down. First past the post suits their agenda, PR would put them alongside the Greens and a long way behind UKIP. Their supporters will never admit it though.

The point I was making was that the Lib/Dems keep bringing up this PR and how it's unfair on them, yet in the European Elections they came below UKIP. This is because a high % of their vote is a protest against the incumbent MP. If you were a Tory living in a Labour area the only way to get rid of the Labour MP would be to vote Lib/Dem and visa versa in Tory areas. People who think PR will bring about a great Lib/Dem surge are wrong, as the European PR elections have shown.

Brown changed the regulation from the BoE to the tripartite system, it was his decision and was opposed by the Torys. It was also his decision to sell the gold at rock bottom prices, against the judgement of the Torys and now it appears advise from the BoE. This cost the country £7 billion which is twice as much as "Black Wednesday" cost us.

The only parties who want to change the voting system, are ones with no chance of winning an outright majority. Labour didn't talk much about PR in the past 2 elections, now all of a sudden they're interested. The Tory's had no chance in 2001 & 05 but never resorted to desperate talk of changing the system. Funny how the Lib/Dems came below UKIP when this system was used for the European elections. This suggests to me that they pick up many anti Tory votes in Tory areas and anti Labour votes in Labour areas. When every vote counts, they failed misreably. Perhaps a couple more PR results like that, and they'll be calling for a return to first past the post.

From Bernie Eccleston to Browns lies , this has been the most corrupt Govt in living memory. Cash for honours, Michael Martin, Mandleson's 2 resignations,Dr David Kelly, The sexed up dossier,Blair's Bristol flats, right through to Gordon Brown's lieing to the Chilcott enquiry they have been a mixture of corrupt and incompetant. They deserve to be thrown out of office once and for all. They were given a massive mandate in 97 along with a great ecomony and they wasted them both. It was under this Labour Govt that we went to war in Iraq, that the City was so badly regulated that the banks were given a free reign,sold our gold at rock bottom prices, that the poorest got poorer and social mobility at it's lowest level for 50 years, it was this Labour Govt and Brown in particular that smashed up the World's best private pension provisions . In the good times people turn to Labour under the mistaken belief that they'll make society fairer,but they never do. All Labour Govts ever do is put up tax and run out of money, and this one was no different. Yet again it will be left to the Torys to clean up their mess, and once the Country is returned to good health it will proberly turn to Labour again, and the cycle will continue. A part of me hopes that Gordon Brown wins this election, so that he can face up to what he did, and has to deal with the fallout of his policies. He wins it so that the Country can see that he has no answers and is an incompetant idiot, but then I look at my 9 & 10 year olds and think, why should they have to suffer more of this fool's mistakes. Why should their generation pay for the mistakes of my generation?

Blair promised during the last election that he would "serve a full term". Apart from the safe Labour seat he represents Brown has bottled every major decision he's ever had to make regrding facing elections. He pulled out of the original Labour leadership election following the death of John Smith (leading to a decade of bitterness aimed at Blair and Mandy). He then spent a decade briefing against and knocking down any other candidates in the race to follow Blair. This meant he didn't have to face a proper election for the Leadership this time round. He then bottled calling an election and has left this corrupt and lame duck parliament limp towards a full term, because he's too scared to face the voters.

I would pay £7,000 if it meant I didn't have to sell my home.People would have a choice to make, pay the £7,000 or dont pay it and hope they dont need the care. At the end of the day, if they dont take the option, they can hardly complain when they have to sell their house. Even under a Labour Govt you wont get your care funded by the state, without additional contribution.

My little lad's just turned 10, and all his known is rubbish. No Keegan, Le Tiss, Channon ect for him (even his older brother got to go to Cardiff). Before Sunday his favourite game was the Sheff Utd one with Nigel Pearson and his best away moment the Forset game becuaes of the fantastic support that day. He's at school with Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal supporters and yet on Monday he went in proud of Saints with stories to tell of the fantastic day he had. He said all the teachers were asking him about it, and he's watched it on TV about 5 times since. I've told him that day out, and that win means more to him than any Champions League, Premiership that all his glory hunting mates could win. By winning that one trophy, a trophy that we'd have laughed at for the past 35 years, my lad and countless other kids now know what highs football can bring and that you dont need to support the best to fall in love with the game.

But not everybody will need it, so the money collected off the people who dont require care will be used for the people that do. The £7,000 is just a premium to enter the scheme. Do you think that the money you pay into the National Health Service is used just for you and you alone, and when you use it up it's gone?

They are very pricey. Try Canvas they're the best value we've used although they're not on many sites. Haven are pretty good value on other people's sites, they're own sites tend to be a bit like Blackpool. If you're going to use the main people, use Key Camp, they're owned by the same people as Eurocamp but cheaper. I would recommend Med coast as you'll get the weather. Our favourites were Club Farret in vias sur mer, and one just over the Spainish border, El Delphin Verde. I have 4 children and when we went the ranged from 8 to 15 and everyone of them had a fantastic time. El Delphin Verde had the better Sports events, if that's what they're interested in.

I was lucky enough to see the great man at the Albert Hall about 16 years ago. I heard his shows could be a bit patchy, but he was on top form that night. Same line up as on this Jools Holland clip, with the upright bass and the outlaw looking guiter player. Fantastic

Durham's a bit like Scooby or 19C, he does it just to wind people up. Ray Houghton seems to get really wound up by him. On the whole I find it better than 5dead. Sunday afternoons are great and H & J good. Dont agree with his politics but Galloway is entertaining.Mike Dickin RIP was great as well.I used to like Rodney Marsh on there, his interview with George Best shortly before he died was one of the best bits of radio I've ever heard. At the end of the day, dont take it too seriously and it's a good station.