New planning rules

[skier-hughes]

excellent news for all that hard work he is putting in to young people today, thanks for the link Biff!

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Now now Graham, clearly the Bamfords are unfit and probably eat babies or something. :roll:

 

[Flyfisher]

JCB chief and Tory donor 'is next in line for a peerage' - Evening Standard:

Dreadful business. I wonder where they got the idea?
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/lord-levy-arrested-over-cash-for-honours-scandal-7276017.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4812822.stm

A political problem certainly, but hardly a party political one.

 

[skier-hughes]

Now now Graham, clearly the Bamfords are unfit and probably eat babies or something. :roll:

No wonder they retained 100% of those apprentices!!!!!!!

 

[Feltwell]

I had to smile at Cameron being interviewed on the BBC on sunday morning, angrily denying that money buys access to him and his senior team. As someone helpfully pointed out on the BBC website shortly afterwards, the Conservative's own website says that for a mere £50k a year you can join the "Leader's Group" and be "invited to join David Cameron and other senior figures from the Conservative Party at dinners, post-PMQ lunches, drinks receptions, election result events and important campaign launches". So if that's not money buying access, what is?

http://www.conservatives.com/Donate/Donor_Clubs.aspx

The whole issue of funding is very murky across all parties, not just the Tories. The prospect of legislating so that party funding comes out of public money is however even more unappetising.

Anyway, my principles don't run very deep. Give me £50k a year and I'll go for dinner with Dave :wink:

 

[Penners]

Give me £50k a year and I'll go for dinner with Dave :wink:

Did you see Matt's wonderful cartoon in the Telegraph, a couple of days ago? A wealthy-looking couple in evening dress are walking away from Number 10. The man is saying, "I didn't have the pudding, so I shouldn't have to pay the full £250,000"!

 

[AMc]

Coming soon to Channel 4 "Cameron dine with me" entry fee is £250K but you get to rate his food and "entertainment" out of 10 in a cab on the way home...and influence public policy

 

[AMc]

More TV news Channel 4 has been forced to cancel "Clegg dine with me" as they were unable to find anyone willing to appear next to him.

 

[Feltwell]

Poor old Nick. I do seriously wonder if he will even get back in as an MP, never mind party leader at the next election. Bearing in mind that his constituency is Sheffield Hallam:-

- It contains lots of students - who are not surprisingly rather aggrieved at the Lib Dems completely reneging on their pre-election promises on tuition fees

- The cancellation of the Sheffield Forgemasters loan as soon as the coalition came to power went down very bady in Sheffield with most of the rest of the population

He had a very high majority in the last election but who knows........ with the above points plus his general unpopularity, it's not impossible that he'll get his P45 next time round.

 

[skier-hughes]

Well, I'm trying to sort myself out with this impending fuel delivery driver strike, I have 75 litres of diesel, just nowhere to store it, the bath is full of pasties, the dining room full of athroom, the office is full of stamps..............

 

[Feltwell]

Come on Graham, be creative....

Diesel - use those pallet rings I gave you to build a big box, stick a bit of polythene inside it, hey presto! A diesel storage depot. Who needs Health & Safety?

Pasties - You're OK so long as you didn't buy 'em hot. Post them out to the rest of PPUK, I'm sure most of us like a nice pasty

Stamps - for the pasties of course, what else?

Dining room full of "athroom" - well, with no pasties that bath will be much easier to lift now and put in it's right room.

 

[Penners]

Well, I'm trying to sort myself out with this impending fuel delivery driver strike, I have 75 litres of diesel, just nowhere to store it, the bath is full of pasties, the dining room full of athroom, the office is full of stamps..............

And as if that lot wasn't bad enough, now the Swissport baggage handlers at Stansted Airport are going on strike over the Easter weekend, in a manoeuvre cynically calculated to cause as much chaos as possible. So they'll ruin goodness knows how many people's Easter travel plans.

B@st@rds!

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Poor old Nick........ with the above points plus his general unpopularity, it's not impossible that he'll get his P45 next time round.

Ah - that explains it. I had been trying to fathom out why the govt I support had recently been feigning levels of incompetence only surpassed by Gordon Brown. Now I realise - it is all supposed to take the heat off Cleggy for a while...! :lol:

 

[Feltwell]

[Ah - that explains it. I had been trying to fathom out why the govt I support had recently been feigning levels of incompetence only surpassed by Gordon Brown.

Feigning? Are you sure it's not genuine? I reckon they're just warming up :wink:

Just popping out to fill my petrol tank to 2/3 full - or is it half full - or completely full - or should I filling up the jerry can for the mower - or filling the mower can up for the jerry - I've really lost track you know :?

(No petrol queues or shortages round here by the way. Are Shropshire folk sensible enough to realise that there is no need to panic? Especially those of us who are feeling very smug in our LPG powered cars. Takes me about 3 months to use a full tank of petrol).

 

[JohnB]

My local filling station is out of diesel, but still has petrol. I discovered this when we walked there to buy dog biscuits! Lucky I splashed out £10 on diesel last Sunday!

 

[FamilyWiggs]

For sale: one litre of petrol. Will accept two first class stamps or a Greggs pasty.

 

[Feltwell]

A Gregg's pasty? Come on Mr Wiggs, I know you support the Tories but have some standards dear chap :lol:

(The way petrol prices are going, it'll be a Harrods pasty soon )

 

[biffvernon]

The whole issue of funding is very murky across all parties, not just the Tories.

Not the Green Party. The funding pool is too shallow to be murky.

 

[Flyfisher]

Shallow or deep, people only ever donate to a political party - any political party - because they have some vested interest that they believe the party concerned can influence.

Cash for access, cash for honours, cash for wind turbines, cash for whatever . . . . it's all an attempt to buy influence.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Shallow or deep, people only ever donate to a political party - any political party - because they have some vested interest that they believe the party concerned can influence.

Cash for access, cash for honours, cash for wind turbines, cash for whatever . . . . it's all an attempt to buy influence.

Nope - as a relatively modest donor I do it because I believe in the aims of the party and want to support its electoral success; in the general sense or for a specific candidate. This is the case I think for most donors - there is no specific quid pro quo.

All parties have a donors dining clubs (heck, my old university do too), where the more you donate the better the table you sit on in the commons. Pay enugh and you sit with cabinet/shadow cabinet members, or even with the leader. There is nothing inherently wrong with that - parties have to raise cash. If it's good enough for my university or charity events, why not for a political party?

What is wrong, is the suggestion that paying to dine with senior members of either party can influence policy in an undue manner.

However, it is also entirely sensible that major employers, business leaders, charities, expert groups, etc etc, are able to inform and influence industrial polcy, housebuilding, legislation or any other areaa of policy. The alternative is uninformed or ineffective policy or legislation.