PaulMcgrathsknees

Twitchys team for the sole reason:

It's Twitchys current squeeze.

How much do you want it?

How much do they want to sell?

No A-team and Knight Rider? Cheers? Happy Days?

Columbo is the best for me! But voted Airwolf for the 80's music!

The two great myths about rising house prices are that they are good, and they are fuelled by supply and demand.What they do is create and illusion of wealth leading to debt fuelled excess and cause divisions within society

Not a truer word spoken!

PMK, What a load of old crap, mate.

If someone is illegal then they do not avail themselves of benefits, housing, etc.

There might well be a big problem with illegal immigration but it is not in the arena of welfare but most likely the black economy.

Disagree.

PM coming! :wink:

Can you tell me how 'illegal' immigration impacts negatively on education, benefits, etc.?

They don't get deported. They end up staying. They get it for free. They don't work. They bring other family members over. They have these cases highlighted and more do it. Perpetual problem.

In really simplified forms:

Do illegal immigrants get hospital treatment? Do they pay?

Do they get housed? Do they pay?

Do their children get educated? Do they pay?

If they commit crime - who pays for criminal justice/ losses? Who pays for incarceration/ drug treatment orders/ probation/ re-settlement. How many are actually deported?

If these aren't detrimental?

Off topic again though!

but if it stops people coming into this country and working when they are not entitled, amongst other things, I am quite happy. Furthermore, it will stop some fraud, me thinks.

If it makes it harder surely it stops some fraud, if only for a while.

Illegal immigrants impact hugely on the infrastructure to this country. Over immigration also impacts on services. (Health/ benefits/ ejewcayshon etc)

Immigrants who work and positively contribute are an obvious help. "They" don't steal our jobs. "They" are just less work shy than our our benefit state underclass.

Money talks. A true free person need not prove anything. A true free person will not pay taxes and be totally self sufficient. No law enforcement requirement. No refuse collection. No electricity requirement. No Euro/ WHO trade dependency.

We rely on the Gov't to help us. They control us.

Very submissive

But true.......

Anyway, slightly off topic!

My take on this is very simple

I am a free citizen in a democracy.

therefore, the State is employed by me, as is the Police Force, the Army and indeed all the other various bits and bobs that go along with it

Therefore, the police, army and other paraphanelia of government may be required, should I, or indeed any citizen so request, to prove who they are . However, I am under no obligation to prove to anyone that I am anyone, as I am a free citizen, until such time as it can be proven, beyond reasonable doubt, that i am a criminal.

therefore, should I be required to carry an ID card then, in all seriousness, I would set fire to the thing. it runs directly contrary to my basic right to privacy. Who I am matters not, I am a private free citizen, who is not convicted of any crime - that is all you need to know. If you wish to prove I am other than that, then go ahead, prove it.

Very righteous.

Very very naive. Money talks. A true free person need not prove anything. A true free person will not pay taxes and be totally self sufficient. No law enforcement requirement. No refuse collection. No electricity requirement. No Euro/ WHO trade dependency.

We rely on the Gov't to help us. They control us.

UAVs?

How are these going to spy on anyone? Surely there's too much cloud cover?!

Recital by the owner of the gaffe

For those that didn't know!

Time for me to add my support and respect for coming back time after time General.

Please battle on whilst the loud minority chip away!

Or Verichip! Or mad scientist Professor Warwick at Reading!

UK article - Chip a prisoner

IBM have the patent though!

Aluminium hat time!

If IBM did ID cards????????!!!!!!!!

Fast forward to 2 mins 36 to get to the really bizarre stuff!

First bit is IBM historical conspiracy blah!

I'm all for ID cards rather than that madness!

i put in an offer of 200k on a new build house in cheltenham 12 months ago, this was rejected and i couldnt afford to go higher. I had a call from an estate agent today saying they are now accepting offers of around 160k for the same properties. Shocking.

Why not just chance your arm for a £145,000 bid.

May settle at £150,000. Sounds like a more than 25% reduction to me?

Just make sure the empty houses aren't being filled up as "social" housing? May only be worth £100,000!

LSD -- can be great, can be very paranoia inducing

Cannabis - a scream, great fun

E - ecstacy - walk on air with a smile on your face

Speed - working class 'E' and a bloody nightmare comedown if you get the unglucosed variety!

Heroin/ cocaine/ crack - wouldn't touch with the proverbial bargepole

That was a looooooooong time ago though!!!!!!!!!! Haven't touched for the last 15years!

Has this thread lost it's momentum?

BOF, are you out there?

BOF, are you being double teamed?

Oh how the worm turns! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Is this a statement or a question?

If you were Randy Lerner, which would make you the most proud? And why?

or

Ouch!

Hypothetical here:

I want a house worth £165,000.

(In above article) Halifax 2yr fix at 7.29% with 10% deposit!

£150,000 to borrow at 5% is £887. Say a few months ago this would have been the rate banks could offer.

Then came the credit crunch and banks take a bigger hammering than we realise.

So today:

£150,000 to borrow at 7.29% is £1,101 per month! Monster rise - never mind food/ petrol etc

To get to £887 per month you could only borrow £121,000. This puts house value at £133,000 with no real term reduction, i.e. saying it was not over valued in the first place!

Does that alone not suggest the crash is yet to come?

Article

Councils warned over spying laws

In general councils were not abusing their powers, Sir Simon Milton said

Councils in England have been urged to review the way they use surveillance powers to investigate suspected crime.

Under laws brought in to help fight terrorism, councils can access phone and e-mail records and use surveillance to detect or stop a criminal offence.

But Local Government Association chairman Sir Simon Milton has written to councils warning overzealous use of the powers could alienate the public.

They should not be used for "trivial offences" such as dog fouling, he adds.

Concerns have been raised about the way some councils have used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.

Recent examples include a family in Dorset followed for several weeks to see if they really did live in a school catchment area.

Other uses have included examining rubbish to monitor household waste.

In his letter, Sir Simon said: "Parliament clearly intended that councils should use the new powers, and generally they are being used to respond to residents' complaints about fly tippers, rogue traders and those defrauding the council tax or housing benefit system."

Sir Simon identifies dog fouling and littering as examples of two offences in which the act's powers were not "necessary and proportionate".

'Public concern'

Wyre Council in Lancashire has used hidden cameras to catch people who let their dogs foul public places - an action the chief executive Jim Corey said had drawn praise from local people.

"Dog fouling is at the top of their list in terms of issues they want the council to be tackling on the ground, so I know the public are only too pleased to see us catching people," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

But Sir Simon urged councils to use the powers only for complaints about more serious matters.

He told BBC Breakfast: "I don't think councils are abusing their powers, but there have been one or two instances... where it could be said that perhaps some of the offences being investigated were too trivial to be using surveillance techniques."

He said councils could lose the right to employ surveillance if the act was misused, and suggested that every authority should carry out an annual review to gauge public opinion on the issue.

'Change the law'

Figures released by councils under the Freedom of Information Act show that thousands of people have had their telephone and e-mail records accessed.

Spy law 'used to fight dog fouling'

It is estimated that about 3,000 people have been targeted in the last year, for alleged offences that included dog smuggling, storing petrol without permission and keeping unburied animal carcasses.

A survey of fewer than 10% of councils, carried out by the Press Association, showed that spying techniques were used 1,343 times.

Civil rights group Liberty welcomed the new advice but said it wanted the government to reform the law, so that only a judge - not a town hall official - could authorise use of the most intrusive powers.

Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti said: "This is about using quite serious powers that are meant for crime, not minor matters."

Conservative local government secretary Eric Pickles said: "We need stronger checks and balances against the potential abuse of such powers to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens from Labour's growing surveillance state."

Dr David Mukarami Wood, from Newcastle University, said surveillance was becoming "normalised" in everyday life.

"I think this is quite dangerous," he said. "We've gone from a situation where surveillance was exceptional a few years ago to a situation where it's now considered to be a normal part of what any public authority, or even private organisations, are doing."

I think e-mail and phone records should not be available to Councils. More collateral intrusion.

Normal surveillance - I ain't got a problem if used right. And if you read the above normal surveillance isn't the overall gripe.

The bold above details why Sir Simon is wrong. He says not necessary or proportionate. Yet the council are saying it's the MOST important thing for residents. Sir Simon is out for a sound bite and you are all feeding!

Never thought I'd say this mind, Shami Chakrabarti has got straight to the crux of the matter in respect to mobile phone and e-mail stuff, and she's right!

If George is a hippo and Bungle is a bear, what the f&*k is Zippy?