bridge too far

I think one of the bones of contention is the proposal to withdraw Housing Benefit from people under 25. These people, if they are in work, are likely to earn comparitively low wages and certainly won't be buying somewhere to live. So they rely on rented property. Given the high rents being charged these days, they need Housing Benefit to enable them to have somewhere to live. And, of course, given the high rate of youth unemployment, many of them will not be earning a wage at all, probably for the forseeable future. Dave's solution is to send them back home. Many young people who leave home do so because they want to get away from abusive parents or from parents with drug or alcohol problems. Others can't go back home because their parents might have downsized (for all sorts of reasons) and there simply isn't room for them. All these proposals would have some merit if there was a very, very low unemployment rate. But there isn't and a lot of young people are going to be left high and dry by these plans.

Funny, I thought it took two to make a baby

A bit like tax avoiders then

Site is down [h=1]The page you requested is currently unavailable[/h] For some reason the page you are trying to access http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/pompey-past/pompey-s-cva-meeting-due-to-take-place-this-morning-1-3986656 is currently unavailable. From here you can visit our homepage or go back to the page you were last on.

The London 2012 Festival is a once in a life time event unless you think that there will be a London 2013, 2014 etc event? Of course not - it's a 'cultural olympiad' to coincide with the Olympics. Since, judging by your opening post, you're happy to listen / watch it, why are you moaning? You just like to moan for the sake of it, don't you. It must be sad being so negative about so many things; especially in one so young

I wonder why, then, at the bottom of the link I posted, there is a list of partners and sponsors? Or maybe it's like Barclays sponsoring the Premiership and then the television companies paying £mmmmm to broadcast matches. I mean, they have matches every week in the season, don't they. It's a once in a lifetime festival being celebrated in the UK as are the Olympics. Nowt wrong with that.

It's all part of this http://festival.london2012.com/ and sponsor funded, it seems

I didn't realise that drinking champagne was reserved for those of a right wing persuasion and was not for the likes of socialists.

I think you might find this interesting and informative http://www.kpmg.com/Global/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/individual-income-tax-social-security-rate-survey-September-2011.pdf It puts our tax rates into perspective

We're big fans

Probably of no help whatsoever, but British Gas are offering £400 off new boilers in their latest 'scrappage' scheme (by the end of this month, I think). It does, of course, mean that you have to find the rest of the cost.

Hey buster! I'm not THAT old

Or on a Daily Mail 'article' (I use that word with caution)

Careful - you might sink into generalisation

I liked watching Inspector Morse (and the offshoot, Lewis) because it's set in Oxford. I know many of the pubs featured in the programmes and it used to amuse me that, when doing a hospital scene, the outside of the Radcliffe Infirmary was used but the inside definitely wasn't. Ironically, Morse's death (from a heart attack) WAS filmed at the John Radcliffe hospital at the time that its cardiac unit was under investigation!

Also, most of the weekend broadsheets carry very good consumer advice sections and would, I'm sure, be very interested in this story.

According to this: http://halebooks.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/rollover-author-james-raven-on-how-his-passion-for-writing-never-went-away/ an electronic version will be available in August

My thought too! Big fan of crime novels (Robert Goddard - another 'local lad' is a favourite) and I like them when they're set in an area I know. I'll look out for this for my holiday at the end of the month

waltham

A ssmooth as a baby's bottom, eh?

I guess leaving the euro would result in the devaluation of the consequential drachma. Since, I think, they import more than they export then presumably the devalued currency would lead to inflation. Their erstwhile Prime Minister was saying this on the BBC this morning and citing particularly the cost of fuel. It's interesting I think that most European business leaders (in Greece and elsewhere) want to retain the euro.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18478982

tis

Corrected

phlegm