kevinjohnsonmbe

That’s understandable, the lesser of 2 weevils an that.... There’s not much to enthuse the “middle ground” stuck between the super rich of the Tory elite and the (similarly) super rich of the Socialist elite.

You can't tell me off after you 'd the post! Mr Eggs, I believe, is an exception that disproves the rule.

Just highlighting the illogical basis of your apparent "Tory scum" opinion if, as appears to be the case, you're justifying it by using the PFI example.

Busy? Or....

Introduced it, undeniably. But who do you the think it was that took it to the extreme? "...The even uglier reality for Miliband is that the New Labour era was a golden age for the PFI. The modern PFI is the child of John Major’s Conservative government, but it was adopted and thrived under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Between 1997 and 2008, 90 per cent of all hospital construction funding was under PFI agreements, which paid for 75 per cent of all hospitals built..." https://www.newstatesman.com/staggers/2014/07/save-nhs-labour-must-face-ugly-truth-pfi

A man of few words....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/25/cage-director-refused-hand-mobile-pin-number-heathrow-convicted/ This is an interesting one [emoji121]️ I’m not sure I’d willingly hand over my phone / laptop access codes either. But then I don’t have any dodgy Qatari contact details on it nor do I tend to unilaterally attract the attention of the forces of law and order. Either way, Rabbani must be as thick as mince going through LHR with ‘sensitive’ files [emoji23]

Listened to his conference speech and his later interview on LBC. I thought he made Dianne Abbot sound capable! Nationalisation - Seemed like he was making it up as he went along and any question that was too hard, like how are you going to pay the shareholders or on PFIs (predominantly introduced under Blair / Brown coincidentally!) how are you going to ever attract any future investors if they can’t trust you, or his apparent outrage at the level of household debt - whilst planning to borrow to fund his ludicrous give-away schemes... A complete and utter head-the-ball.

Ah! Seen!! Comedy...!!

Confused.... What sort of language....? The suggestion of a breathalyser or that other offensive drivel?? To follow Ti's lead, on a lighter note, making the news today:

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm saying I disagree with you. I disagree that expressing legitimate concern over uncontrolled immigration and the overt islamification of Europe should be labelled as racist by those that can't see it for what it is and, because they don't see it, they seek to demonise those that do with distasteful labels. The German election is underway today (https://ig.ft.com/germany-poll-tracker/?&segmentId=9ce01cde-b50a-e27b-c45a-1af2175e42ce&gclid=Cj0KCQjwr53OBRCDARIsAL0vKrPCiFbOHiDCZ7VVB1Cdl-kbAeld63t6x9H8XeL8gY9-pWCc30nr_WoaAl3QEALw_wcB) Despite having made what will probably be viewed as the single biggest miscalculation by any Western political leader in this century, Merkel will, almost inevitably be returned for a fourth term. Maybe that proves that the majority of Germans are not concerned about the immigration issue? Conversely, maybe Merkel's reversal of her atrocious open doors policy and the significant stiffening of immigration regulations in Germany demonstrates that she has (although falling well short of publicly acknowledging and apologising for it) decided that her political survival is more important than her political ideology? Maybe the weight of influence of the AfD (in a similar way that UKIP's influence led to Cameron delivering the Brexit referendum) has brought a dose of reality to Merkel which has caused her to veer away from her previous path. I agree with the statement (in a peculiar sense) that "...whoever wins the vote in Germany has nothing to do with the rise in the racist community in the UK..." But I'd ask, what do you base the presumption of a rise in the racist community in the UK on? What happens in the UK has a fairly limited ability to effect domestic politics in Germany (Brexit aside) I expect there will be racists within the AfD (similarly in the UK, the anti-Semitic members of the Labour party, the fruit cakes of UKIP and the old landed gentry of the Tory party.... Racists all of 'em. Dam, they're everywhere!) But expressing views on immigration is not (of itself) a qualifying criteria for that club. My counter point to your declaration that "...you people and your way of thinking will never come to power as thankfully you are in the minority..." is that there are clear, obvious and measurable contradictions to your assumption which can been seen and drawn from consideration of the bigger picture issues associated with a raft of recent political events such as the rise in popular support for the National Front in France, AfD in Germany, UKIP in the UK, Trump in the US, the Freedom Party of Austria etc. With the exception of Trump, the others didn't break through the glass ceiling to become fully established as 'in power' political parties. What they did do however, was deliver significant political effect by giving the mainstream parties a 'loud & clear' message that people - the masses - were becoming increasingly intolerant of their policies which resulted in notable deviations from preferred courses. In that respect, I disagree with you that "...you people and your way of thinking will never come to power as thankfully you are in the minority..." because, although not in what might be the traditional sense of "power" i.e. the majority ruling party, it is perfectly clear that the "power" to directly influence the mainstream is already well established. The digging a hole thing - well, that was my attempt at a humorous reflection on what I'd interpreted as a switch from the half-baked, failed attempt to bandy around the racist label, to your similarly half baked and poorly thought through religious argument. Where are we going next? Vivisection? Legalisation of drugs? The ethics of combining human and animal DNA?

The article declares itself wholly invalid and irrelevant (in all respects other than maintaining the Bremoantard momentum) in the 3rd paragraph: "... However, the figures do not take into account new staff arriving from the EU..." How difficult would it be to present the net figures? Why wouldn't the author take a moment to do that and present a true picture??

That's not what I meant.... All I meant was, given the unprecedented popular rise in support for AfD (could read, Le Pen, Trump, Brexit etc...) your statement seems tenuous at best... The best cake! You can't be wrong because it's your opinion. I can, and do, disagree though. The popular support for AfD in Germany is very closely associated (almost exclusively) with an anti - immigration protest vote - how does that have anything to do with UK? I'd suggest it kind of mirrors the UK protest vote which was reflected in the UK EU referendum.

? Ummmmm... Not sure where to go with that without being characteristically direct....

Much as I'm loathe to break up you love birds.... I think you're right to question this. But, I'd enter into the debate with, I'm not sure country or culture is the causal influence on systemic corruption... I'd propose that it might actually be an effect of poverty - those with little (or nothing) have a different perspective on "right and wrong" where the outcome of a so-called moral decision might be the difference between life and death - often the key element of the decision making process in the 3rd world. I genuinely think anyone would struggle to condemn a thief for stealing bread to feed their child. If we can take that as a starting point, that would be a start. Where it falls over however, is (a) where a country has either organic or imported 'wealth' ('aid') and the ruling classes retain it at the expense of the population - why would they do that? or (b) having achieved a level of national wealth, it isn't distributed effectively by the ruling classes so the majority remain in poverty - probably because of the inherent, systemic corruption and greed that is ingrained from generation to generation... The ruling classes are doing OK (but they've gone from generation to generation experiencing the different type of morality before they got to the stage of being OK.) The general population are still in the moral dilemma of life and death decisions trying to get to the 'we're doing alright' situation.....' If you don't think the cultural norm in Africa, Asia, S America is corruption, nepotism and self interest then, frankly, (a) you're delusional (b) you've never been there! "...Please don't think that more and more people are thinking the way you do they don't..." Howabout we wait until tomorrow and review the AfD polling then come back and review that?

You started the ball rolling Tom! Mr Eggs was first out of the stocks with his characteristic satirical wit and real world humour, closely followed by Dave with his mock disbelief! What I actually said was "...seeing' a job that needs doing whilst out and about and making an introduction and describing the requirement to the tree / land owner then letting them decide if the logic makes sense..." I can see how it's happened, but my original statement doesn't translate directly to 'door knocking!' Examples - (1) Last week at the nipper's swimming lesson (me wearing tax efficient branded jacket!) nice lady with daughter in swimming class says "...Oh, do you do trees..?" Me - "...No, why do you ask...?" She - "...but your jacket...?" Me - "only joking, what's the situation...?" Result - Had a couple of hours with her walking around the holiday park estate, had another couple of hours doing the same with her husband today - net result = QTRA survey, management plan, quote for works (he's already told me what the local clown quoted (and he is a clown, and I hope he's reading this because this will be the second time I've encountered his dodgy dealings) (2) Nipper started school last September. Big ugly Euc in woodland school area, I took some pictures, wrote some words, gave it to the Head. The 'need' was obvious, but not urgent. I recommended factoring it into the 1-3 year budget. After a little while they got round to thinking about it and decided to get some quotes. 1 came from the other side of Exeter (50 or so miles away), another was the clown mentioned above who did the classic disappearing screwdriver trick which resulted in a panic and cordoning off of the entire playground area (until I got there to pick the nipper up and told the Head she'd been duped by a con artist) We did that take down at the next half term break. (3) I'll talk about 3 after the end of this week but it's a beauty! (4) Having a mate who's a busy architect generates a fair amount of work too. So, it's not quite "door knocking" in the do-as-you-likey fashion that has caused Dave such mock horror... It actually is 'seeing' a job that needs doing whilst out and about and making an introduction and describing the requirement to the tree / land owner then letting them decide if the logic makes sense..." and it fits well with the 'choose the customer' ideology that I've found works for me. I can understand and recognise that this sort of laid back approach wouldn't work for an outfit with FT staff, overheads and costs to service but it kind of works for my part-time, low intensity scenario.

Yertiz:

There was a long and detailed discussion and exchange of experiences on interface with NR a while back - can't for the life of me remember the topic title though. From my own experience, they are a total nightmare to engage with and will attempt the 'strong-arm', bullyboy, corporate power wielding at the earliest opportunity. If it goes via their process, or if they are in any way involved in discussion, it will result in adding 000£s to the bill and if the landowner decides not to take any action they will threaten the potential (real potential) of 000,000£s if any incident (or a train driver's perception of the potential for an incident (which leads to a stoppage or delay) occurs.) In my example, it was a TPO'd tree (amongst a group of 20 or so similarly TPO'd) at the top of a railway embankment. The age class and condition of the trees had resulted in the TPO approval to fell x4 (later superseded by a FC FL due to total qty) Monterey pine. x4 were reduced / felled, this one was not one of them. It had a significant lean towards the railway, showed notable growth features and characteristics of concern and would reach the railway if (a) the whole tree fell or (b) the top broke out - examples of which had been illustrated within the row of trees. The TO would not support felling of this tree (and I'm not wholly in disagreement) but the landowner was exceptionally worried about the (very real) potential for failure (given the age class and group history) and the huge moral and financial implications of such an event. I've got a good idea methinks! I'll get the NR track safety bod to join me and the TO onsite for an assessment... What a mistake that was! For simply highlighting the element of concern he was off and running! Now it was entirely MY liability if any incident occurred and in order to fell the tree I'd need him (at £500/day) and track monitors and this, and that and it all had to done straight away and under their complete control and direction. He was a total corporate mental case! I honestly believe he had no concept of real world process outside of NR. Try as I might, I simply could not get into his thick skull that I, personally, had no liability whatsoever for anything the tree did, or didn't do (unless I was involved in the felling operation) - that liability rests with the landowner, and if a TPO application was submitted and refused, potentially with the LA. No. Not having it! I was the named person on the contact form therefore it was me that was liable... No use telling him it wasn't my tree, just couldn't get through to him. No use telling him I may 'advise' the landowner but I can't 'force' them to do what I advise. Not even interested in the fact that the landowner was not at liberty to take any action without LA approval... Nothing, nada, just couldn't get through! It's probably time for a review on that site so this may all come up again soon But to answer the questions: (1) they will survey their own, and adjacent areas of land for hazards to their operation - however, the liability for any damage / incident that might occur remains absolutely with the tree owner. You can't outsource that responsibility because you think someone else might survey it. (2) You might get lucky, but I'd say it would be lucky rather than rely upon any expectation of rationale behaviour, expect to be bent over and royally vaselined! Best of luck!!

Just for info, a piece from the local vet’s webpage: It is now against the law to travel in a vehicle with your pet unrestrained. Fines of up to £2,500 are being given along with penalty points on your licence. It has been advised that dogs should travel on the back seat of the car secured by a harness attached to the seat belt or alternatively, they can travel in the boot as long as the parcel shelf has been removed. A dog cage secured in the boot is also a suitable way for your dog to travel. Cat carriers should either be placed on the floor behind the passenger seat or on the back seat of the car secured by the seat belt. Insurance companies are now warning their policy holders that their car insurance may be invalid if they are involved in an accident whilst travelling with an unrestrained pet in the car. Please ensure you and your pet are safe and secure before your travels.

I'm almost tempted to enlighten you.... But not

Cat amongst pigeons alert! Google 'racial profile of Grenfell Tower fraud.' I'm guessing it wasn't 100% occupied by "not British" residents and accept that it's not an exact science since the actual figures are be subdued - note the number of Googe hits that come up "sorry, that page has been removed / is not available", or, (if you're an apologist) it's probably because of the racial mix of the building. I'm not making any assumptions, just presenting the (limited) headlines from the Google search: (1) A 46-year-old woman has been charged with six counts of fraud in relation to the Grenfell Tower fire, Scotland Yard has said. Joyce Msokeri was arrested in July after allegedly making fraudulent claims for support offered to the survivors of the devastating blaze that killed at least 80 people. (2) Anh Nhu Nguyen, 52, of Beckenham, Kent, is accused of conning charities and Kensington and Chelsea Council out of the money by posing as a victim of the inferno for almost two weeks. Yup, that's right 2! Then it becomes kinda hard to find any details..... What I thought would be an opportunity for the apologists to say "well of course they're all not British born, the building was full of incomers" but what I now think is that the figures are being deliberately withheld from public consumption.... Now why might that be the case?

Spot on Tom!! Can't delay now, but will explain later...