Johnny Bognor

What with the ticket tax, if we introduce a TSW match tax, Dune will do his nut!

To be fair, when I saw the unelected president of the grammar police make such a boo-boo, I couldn't resist. Some might call it an open goal and I couldn't fail to score from 3 yards out. I normally have to work quite hard to get one over on you and so couldn't believe the opportunity. Easy! Easy! Easy!

To be fair, I blame the people asking the questions and those that teach the "a, b, c's"

On the political compass, I am in the cross hairs of the quartiles, making me the most politically balanced on the forum. This gives me the freedom to knock the irresponsible and morally corrupt bankers, but also blame the useless failure of a Labour government. Those who only knock the bankers, but absolve the government of blame are the unbalanced politically motivated. Unfortunately the manifesto I would vote for was not put forward by a political party.

So what you are saying is that Mervyn King's line of thinking is in line with mine? It must be nice for you guys to be in such distinguished company. So are all of you lefties going to continue to just blame the bankers?

See: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloa...9/2009_pps.pdf Then download table 13.7a The Public Sector are better paid in every percentile, excluding the top 20% of all earners, which has been the case since 1984. (This does not take account of job security, pensions, holidays, paid sick and all the other benefits enjoyed by public sector workers.....and inset days + free lunch on inset days provided to teachers). Also, in table 13.9a, private sector workers work more hours in every percentile when compared to public sector workers, so we move on to table 13.5a which shows: 1. The bottom 10% of earners in the private sector earn £5.99 per hour (compared to £7.34 in the public sector) 2. If you are a middle earner in the private sector you get £11.84 compared to £14.95 in the public sector 3. In the top 10% of earners, the average private sector worker enjoys £24.29 per hour which is LESS than the top 10% in the public sector who get £24.77 per hour. Therefore I think we should make fat cat public servants pay more in tax.

Especially all those Bosch products (made in Poland), Mercedes (made in South Africa), Villeroy & Boch (made in China), VW (Polo and golf made in S Africa)..... I could go on, but my point is that Germany is not immune to outsourcing and globalisation. In Germany, the share of manufacturing as a % of GDP has fallen by 25% since 1980. In fact the only major producing economies to show an increase in manufacturing as a share of GDP over the last two decades are China and South Korea. So although manufacturing represents 21% of the German economy, it is not as important as you make out. In the UK, manufacturing accounts for approximately 18% of GDP so in reality, the so called thatcherite decline in UK manufacturing is based more upon socialist worker fairy tales rather than pure economic facts. Yes, German manufacturing is getting them out of a hole, but it didn't stop them getting into the hole in the first place. The making of things is not where the money's at, as it is in product design, innovation / inventing, intellectual property etc .......this is what generates wealth. Look at the success of the US IT industry which contains some of the world's most profitable companies.... it's no coincidence that pretty much all of the world's largest IT companies (Sun, Oracle, Microsoft, Cisco, Apple etc etc) were spawned in the 1970's in one place (Silicon Valley). If we want to grow the UK economy we don't need factories, we need product designers/inventors, entrepreneurs and the services companies required to oversee production and marketing/sales. We have to look to the future, not the past.

Dune kind of has a point. Although New Labour did not turn out to be socialist, they were voted in by the socialist voters and supported by the socialist voters. Therefore, as so many socialists voted for them, they were the representatives of the socialists in the country........ ....... which is why I don't understand why the socialists still love and support them when they were seriously bum ****ed by them.

I blame both the bankers and the labour government in equal measures. The bankers were criminally negligent as far as I am concerned and those who knew what was being done should be brought to justice, not given £7m penions. Their lending was irresponsible and the packaging and sale of risky debt is bordering on fraud IMO. The only people to suffer in the Financial Services industry are those at the bottom.... the bank tellers and the admin staff - they weren't to blame but paid the price. As for Labour, the warning signs were there as far back as 2003, but failed to act and failed to put money by. My business banked over 50% of the profits year on year up to the crash, which has more than helped us weather the storm. As competitors followed the G Brown approach to prudence and spunked all the money in the good times, they have since gone to the wall enabling my business to take advantage and pick up work we may never have had. Whilst on the subject of Mr Brown, I hold him personally responsible for lying and misleading the country with his no more boom and bust ********. People were taking out 120% mortgages off the back of the confidence shown by our great leader. He needs to be criminally prosecuted for fraud as do the people approving these mortgages. The lefties only blame the bankers as their precious labour could never be blamed for anything, but as far as I am concerned both are to blame and both should be held accountable.

No government spending is a solution. What they do is spend the money that they saved during the boom years especially for a rainy day.......oh.

Nutshell? Nutjob more like

Have to disagree with you there. Have you ever tried taking a flight anywhere? As a result of the terrorist attacks, air travel will never be the same. This type attack was unprecedented and at the time left the world in shock. At the time, many thought it could be the start of WW3. Fear gripped the planet like never before. Many go on about where they were when Kennedy was shot, as this was a poignant time in history and this was the death of one man. There is one big difference between a war and the terrorist attacks. In war, civilians are not DELIBERATELY targeted whereas the terrorists went out to MURDER innocent people. So for whatever the wrongs and rights of the wars, the underlying principals are very different. Out of interest, were you not shocked by the 7/7 bombings?

I thought you met her on Monday, then took her for a drink on Tuesday........at least that's what Craig told me.

I could never see it happening here. You woud have to do a risk assesment and no doubt the health and safety brigade wouldn't allow it to happen (irrespective of the rights or wrongs)

When I grew up there was a solid link between music and fashion and this link has been lost. Was having a chat with Wayne Hemmingway about this the other day and that was his inspiration for the Vintage festival at Goodwood last month - i.e. to celebrate the link between music and fashion from a bygone age. I was watching the Alan Davies teenage revolution on C4 earlier this evening and you can see how youngsters back then belonged to a clearly defined groups. These groups no longer exist and therefore youngsters today struggle more with their identity.....now they are left with famous for 15 minute celebrity nobodies upon which to model themselves.

That'll cost you

Jees, he's ruined the country and now he wants to ruin our football club

To be fair, they only made £659 profit in the year ending 30/06/09. More of a "NOT FOR VERY MUCH PROFIT" company and considering the work they put in, it isn't far off being a charity.

I know, you still haven't apologised for calling me a rapist over 4 years ago!

I'm not sure weather or not he was stitched up.

I don't believe they did that in the early days or in the middle. However, towards the end, there was definately a scorched earth policy going on. From memory, major long term contracts were signed just before the election (which isn't the done thing), committing the incoming government to unnecessary expenditure. If you know you are going to lose (which they did), why not try to make things more difficult for your opponents (which they did)?

The main story in the Guardian tomorrow is that their poll shows the public back the coalition when it comes to the economy. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/17/coalition-poll-winning-economy What are your views on the first 100 days? Discuss

Someone I know of had a girlfriend called Tina. They split up and he couldn't decide whether to add "Cor" in front so that it read Cortina or "Beans" so that it read "Tina Beans"

Private education may not offer more to clever children, however private schools offer more to children over and above academic education. Facilities are often miles better (such as sporting facilities), whilst boarding schools offer a real character building experience. Therefore, they can offer a more all round experience which includes education at the centre, but also develops children in many other areas.

Couldn't agree more. Look at the celebrity entrepreneurs, most of whom are educational failures / drop outs / flops Theo Paphitis (1 GCSE in geography) James Caan (Left school with no qualifications) Duncan Bannatyne (Joined the Navy at 15, then went to prison) Alan Sugar (Not all that academically) Richard Branson (Although he went to public school, he didn't achieve academically) What surprises me is the number of dyslexics in there, who are seriously disadvantaged when compared to 'normal' students, yet they have acheived the very highest levels of success. At the end of the day, you can't teach drive and ambition.