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1...Police have described 15 armed robberies in the Strathclyde area in the past eight weeks as "completely unacceptable to us as a force...

the number of known organised crime gangs has double since 1997. is it because they are untouchable?

2. 'the UK has the world's most expensive justice system'

that must mean its 'the best'? or is it just a machine for extracting fees where any justice is accidental?

3. ....Won Jeong Hwa was a model defector. She toured South Korean military bases to lecture on the evils of the homeland she had escaped, the totalitarian communist state of North Korea. But Ms Won had a secret.

According to a confession made to South Korean police, she was a spy who seduced the military officers she met, and plotted assassinations with poisoned needles. Now she faces execution for treason ....

a modern mata hari?

btw how many bbc laptops were 'lost' in china? Any to honey traps?

How about Cern for Susan Watts sometime?
Also The Republican veeps "bridge to nowhere" - perhaps I am out of date on that.

IT'S A BRITISHNESS THING

Sorry to go off message, but did I really see, last night on TV, an overloaded inflatable, pull away from stranded people standing waist-deep in water, WITH A REPORTER ON BOARD BEING FILMED FROM IN THE BOAT? Was it all a Damian Day* put up job? Did the ‘stranded ones’ step out of the water for a Big Mac and fries after that shot? Or is this the New Britishness that Gordon is on the lookout for? Where is Gunga Din for a bit of salutary contrast when you need him? I'd like to be ashamed, but I don't think we do shame any more - probably because you can't, trade in it and it doesn't gain value for no reason.

* 'Drop The Dead Donkey' - dodgy reporter.

IT'S A BRITISHNESS THING

Sorry to go off message, but did I really see, last night on TV, an overloaded inflatable, pull away from stranded people standing waist-deep in water, WITH A REPORTER ON BOARD BEING FILMED FROM IN THE BOAT? Was it all a Damian Day* put up job? Did the 'stranded ones' step out of the water for a Big Mac and fries after that shot? Or is this the New Britishness that Gordon is on the lookout for? Where is Gunga Din for a bit of salutary contrast when you need him? I'd like to be ashamed, but I don't think we do shame any more - probably because you can't, trade in it and it doesn't gain value for no reason.

* 'Drop The Dead Donkey' - dodgy reporter.

Kirsty Allsopp? Assuming you can afford her!

Just for Laughs -

I been watching the Gov on tele today, but non of them seem to acknowledge that there has been a Housing Market Boom ?


So Called Housing Help -

With Councils able or being forced to by defaulter homes (I not sure yet), will this New Government money actually cover 100% of the councils costs ?
Eg.
The full amount to purchase the house ?
The maintenance costs ?
The Health and Safety modifications needed to rent the property ?
The modernization costs ?

Will my council tax have to go up to meet these extra costs ?
Or will the Government New money actually cover it all ?

The Devil is in the detail -

If I already have a property say in Spain,will I be able to come here and get up to a 30% discount on buying a new property here ?
If I was a cad and a bounder I would get my 30% discount here, then rent out the house.
What checks can the Gov really do to stop this from being exploited by the quick and the cunning ?

'Cads and bounders' will of course not get any help at all - a committee headed up
by Ed and Yvette will weed out 'the quick
and the cunning' along with all those who
act 'recklessly and irresponsibly'. Miliband
has not got a cat's chance in Hell of getting
mortgage relief after he is sacked - and as the measures seem only to apply in England
Alasdair will just have to rent out the spare room in his but and ben in Lewis ...............

But seriously: this package seems to be playing catch up with measures the SNP
announced in Scotland a fortnight back?

My guest of choice would be Irwin Stelzer :-)

GROUP STRATEGY (POLITICS)

thegangofone (#2) As an exercise in the critical appreciation of the surreptitious ways of anti-'fascists' (aka anti-'National Socialists'), I recommend , and after the first few parts, read the wikipedia entries on and bearing in mind their remarkable association.

'Anti-Nazi's' don't much like nation states (or 'Big Government') as these tend to keep free-marketeers at bay, and as everyone knows, the free-markert is very good for business/weath (if only for some, i.e not(all))

Some might refer to anti-fascist behaviour as a clever 'group evolutionary strategy' I guess.

Whoever is on tonight's panel should first of all answer the question put to John McCain:

'How many houses do you have, Senator?'
Answer: 'Oh you'll have to ask the wife ...'

Mistress76uk (#8) Would that be Irwin Stelzer the ?

Chris Huhne probably knows the housing market quite well ??!

Life is so much easier if you're a polar bear!

THE PANEL

Isn't Newsnight a little in danger of tipping the balance in one direction (leaving their alleged party sympathies aside as largely just cosmetic these days) in constantly wheeling out Hyman, Grender (LLM communications) and Finkelstein? Whilst they all seem to agree quite a lot I'm never persuaded that a) they know what they're talking about or b) that any of them are ever talking about anything of substance (which probably explains a)).

THE PANEL

Isn't Newsnight a little in danger of tipping the balance in one direction (leaving their alleged party sympathies aside as largely just cosmetic these days) in constantly wheeling out Hyman, Grender (LLM Communications) and Finkelstein? Whilst they all seem amiable (and hence agree quite a lot) I'm never persuaded that a) they know what they're talking about or b) that any of them are ever talking about anything of substance (which probably explains a?)).

These are all spin-doctors are they not?

THE PANEL

Isn't Newsnight a little in danger of tipping the balance in one direction (leaving their alleged party sympathies aside as largely just cosmetic these days) in constantly wheeling out Hyman, Grender (LLM Communications) and Finkelstein? Whilst they all seem amiable and hence agree quite a lot) I'm never persuaded that a) they know what they're talking about or b) that any of them are ever talking about anything of substance (which probably explains a?)).

JadedJean (#11) - does it matter if Irwin is a neocon? He does fantastic articles in The Times and has written books on the economy and I enjoy seeing him on Newsnight. I do like the trio of Hyman/Grender/Finkelstein - perhaps add Ken Clarke and Nigel Lawson to the panel too.

Mistress76uk (#11) Hold on, Freud, Chomsky and the authors of the NT/OT bible read quite well too, that doesn't mean that it isn't largely empty political spin.

Of course it matters if he's a neocon. If that bunch of closet trots (it's statism they don't like) fabricate a large enough tapestry, they're bound to sound interesting as they're all talking within the same theatrical web. People appear to have been bewitched by their rhetoric.

I'd like someone from the Chinese embassy to come on and explain why, given China has the largest population on the planet and seems to be making Marxist-Leninist 'National Socialism' work (whilst exporting it to other developing nations), has the USA finanacially by the short and curlies, and has the higest mean IQ on the planet, that Western 'Liberal-Democratic spin doctors continue to get away with asserting that socialism just because these neocons nobbled the USSR (less than 1/4 the size of China demographically) in the late 1980s.

As to , would they let him join?

Nigel Lawson's OK, he's redeemed himself in my eyes with his work in the Lords on the follies of (anthropogenic) Global Warming spin in the service of nuclear.

"'Liberal-Democratic spin doctors continue to get away with asserting that socialism's a failure" (sorry).

The nobble it (if they can).

KENNETH CLARKE - PROOF IN A PUDDING

Clarke has swanned around for years as sage and statesman while arguing that tobacco income is honourable (there's that word again) and talking in a affected style that speaks loudly of peculiarity. That he is continually named as a man to be called upon to deliver some much-needed service, can only mean: 'never mind the character, feel the girth'. Contrast this with Vince Cable (who still, sadly, stands condemned, by default, as one of them). Cable has no airs and graces and is reportedly cringing now, at the 'Mr Bean' remark, as Brown has emerged a pathetic figure. I just hope Cable has no dodgy income!
Parliament is full of Clarkes but seems to have only one Cable. Even Ming proved himself unworthy when, as 'a leader too far', he began to bluster about such matters as Coronation Street. And there. in a nutshell, is the problem I keep highlighting, to which my answer is: SPOIL PARTY GAMES. .

Perhaps the problem with 'The Panel' is that they are all ex-spin doctors ..... perhaps the debate would be livelier if you got the real pit-bull terriers and set them on each other.

neilrobertson (#21) Ah, but that's risky - more viewers might start thinking off-message. But yes, it would make for a better programme.

Barrie (#20) Yes. If poor old Brown had any dreams of behaving like a respectable Old Labour PM he would have been warned he'd get the same treatment as his (bar 'chosen-one' entryist). The USA never liked Old Labour, it was far too Stalinist with all that Clause Four (NHS, railways etc) 'nonsense'.

BEYOND OUR KEN - BROWN, ANOTHER MARKER

Quite a lot of people know instinctively when a smile is genuine. But then politicians struggle to be people, so fall into the faking trap.
Brown has been 'doing smile' for a long time now, and either thinks he is getting away with it or - or what, beats me. What does Mrs Brown say when he does that? All the wives I have ever known, would sort the blighter out - some in public.
The thing about a REAL smile is that for some seconds, it refuses to go away; it has a mind of its own like - you know.
So anyone with any gumption IS AWARE that Brown struggles with this simple human function. Yet there he is at the top of the heap (I use heap advisedly).
A lot of people voted for this strange person. A lot of people need sending for 'retraining' seemingly, come the revolution.
Ordinary people do not like weirdness. Political parties seem to positively dote on it. This disconnect can hardly be conducive to effective governance. SPOIL PARTY GAMES

SOCIALIST ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ BIG BIAS REVEALED

The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's hatchet job on the Republicans continues. It's appalling.

We have the Socialist State of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ, forced payment from Comrade Citizens, delivering Socialist bias agendas throughout the week. From continuing the climate fraud to hiding Obamas tax-em-to-death policies against tax-cutting Republicans.

The contrast of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's reporters doting on Democrats during their Convention with sugary questions (I'm surprised the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ journos weren't on bended knee) and soft lines for Democrats to deliver easy answers to their smeer campaign against Republicans is stark and an afront to public broadcast.

When will the socialist bias be removed from ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ journalism????

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Barrie (#23) Fair enough, but as I've said before, logically speaking, independent candidates can only be viable in one party states (e.g. the PRC) which today are still referred to here as 'totalitarian' (tuutologous?) or even 'Nazi' (for what should be obvious reasons in our 'liberal democracies' where alternatives are tacitly censured if not censored).

A lot of people think a dictatorship is now inevitable, and, as in Germany in the 1930s, assume that it will be a benign dictatorship. Propaganda aside, was Hitler's Third Reich or Stalin's 'Socialism in One Country' benign? Can such questions be asked? If not, why not?

These are the uestions one has to have the courage to ask (and seriously look into despite the opposition). If one doesn't, one has to put up with what we have (which sadly doesn't appear to be working).

FEELING FOR THE EDGES

Hi JJ. As I have said: we are no good at being human. Hence there is no configuration of large groups that can ever function for long. But a system that yields the least stable individuals at its head (and naturally does not engender competence below, that might challenge) is more annoying than some. So I complain. There is a lot more to my stance than just SPOIL PARTY GAMES. That's my political arm.

OFF THE EDGE

I guess we have a one party state of sorts. Since Labour removed Clause IV from its constitution (really since the end of the and especially since Thatcher's anarchists took control, it seems to me that we've really just been offered a choice between a group of neocon puppets which likes to wear black pants vs one which likes to wear white ones (with another confused group which is unsure as to whether they can really get away with wearing different pairs on different days or boldly going commando (in the safe knowledge that nobody can tell anyway given everyone's wearing trousers or skirts). HoC/Lords debates over bills these days are usually foregone conclusions and comprise little more than quibbles and inconsequential concessions.

Who watches the lingerie vendors (supermarkets) and commodities brokers as make us all go and slot us into the

Having said that, I suspect a centrally planned wouldn't be such a bad thing if it comprised a welfare state, controlled population growth (family planning), a EUHS, rail, energy, education system etc. If that were on the cards though, why haven't we all been shown the blueprints?

It's the absence of that which makes me sceptical/jaded about what is happening domestically, and very wary of the likes of Mr Bukovksy, who may just know what's not good for business (like so many dissidents/anarchists/oligarchs of his ilk).