buctootim

Sure you're not thinking of soggy biscuits?

Agree it would have been much better to have stopped expansion in the 1980s. UK, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Italy, France, Belgium and Denmark have roughly similar economies and standards of living so you have freedom of movement without big imbalances. Politicians like Blair saw the eastward expansion as a way to divert the EU into broadening participation instead of deepening it. You can have a free trade zone including the Balkans, Turkey etc or a close political union with a much smaller group, but trying to do both doesnt work. On balance its still worth stating in, but its more marginal than it used to be.

Its not a good idea when you drill down though, thats the problem. 1. The NHS is cash limited and demand already exceeds supply, so any plan which increases costs without increasing capacity is stupid 2. The part of the NHS people need on an open access basis is A&E - which is already 24/7/365, or their GP - who aren't covered by this plan. 3. The higher death rate associated with weekend admissions is largely attributable to the fact that a much higher proportion of weekend admissions are very sick people admitted as an emergency rather than routine elective admissions typical during the week. 4. Whilst be admitted at the weekend is associated with higher death rate, being in hospital already at the weekend is associated with lower death rate.

Overrated

Demi

Reggae

Chile

He didn't have a happy ending

I agree its the people that have to change more than the policies. Burnham, Kendall and Cooper are all inextricably linked with Blair and Brown - and thats an electoral negative rightly or wrongly. Labour needs to find a conviction instead of soundbite politician. If they campaign on sorting out housing affordability, corporate tax avoidance and promise to keep the Tories spending limits they'd walk it imo.

Which is why Corbyn's election was a good thing. All the other leadership candidates stood for more of the same stuff which has already been rejected at two general elections. Corbyn leadership has ignited an open debate about what the party should stand for and will likely lead to some desertions. In the short term thats a bad thing, in the long term it will lead to a renewed party with credible policies and the emergence of an electable leader who is neither 'Blairite' or a 'Corbynista' .

By having Cameron on but not the other party leaders you mean?

Is it a reading disorder, or a comprehension one?

I think he's pretty much nailed it. Melodramatics over Corbyn are making your posts inconsistent at best.

So voting is only about self interest? Cant say I'm shocked by that sentiment from you.

Not in the main, but they've lost balance and introduced opinion into what is supposed to be strictly factual - the news.

Kuesenburg's piece was littered with value judgements, opinions rather than fact, something neither Marr or Cole would have done. Either Kusenburg isnt up to it or the BBC has lost its way, possibly both. None of the candidates who stood in the recent Labour leadership contest were electable. Three were centrist Blairite lite without sufficient credibility or ability and then there was Corbyn, who at least offered a choice, a different option. He has made it possible to actually discuss issues like nuclear disarmanament, not going to war every time we're asked, and how our foreign policy to contributes to the problems we later face. I have never thought Corbyn would still be Labour leader at the General Election. However Labour will benefit from his groundwork in opening up the party and breaking a few recent self imposed taboos. As a result the next leader will be stronger and more able than any of Burnham, Cooper, Corbyn or Kendall and not saddled with an outdated but untouchable agenda / manifesto. The real issue for me is much wider than Corbyn. Its the media's willingness to dump any pretence of balance or even fair reporting of facts. It is something even Foot or Major never faced to same degree and is genuinely worrying for democracy, for the reasons Johnnyboy gave above.

No-one mentioned being in Murdoch's pocket. The point, apparently lost on you, was that Harding has a history of working for right of centre publications. He is also on record as making the BBC newsroom more Israel friendly and has a decades long friendship with Osborne. Real friendships are not broken by one disagreement .

Oh dear, your liberalism seems to have eaten itself. The world according to Verbal - Reports I agree with are entirely balanced. Reports I disagree with are preposterous, cretinous and Pravda like. I think I can see why your producing career bailed on you.

I watched BBC tv news for the first time in ages yesterday and was genuinely shocked by how partisan it was in a piece by Laura Kuesenburg about Corbyn's reshuffle. She was using words like 'farce', 'pantomime', 'disorganised' and 'lacking credibility'. The reshuffle may or may not, depending on your politics, been any or all of those - but the supposedly independent BBC shouldn't be but broadcasting in that way about any political leader. When you think about previous holders of the Political Editor post - Michael Brunson, John Cole, Andrew Marr etc you realise how out of her depth she is.

FFS Jamie. You can be sure you were never even in touching distance of the plot when you start posting up infowars crap.

You can google too. Or you can choose not to, so that your wrongful assumptions aren't contradicted. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/01/04/world/europe/ap-eu-germany-sex-assaults.html http://www.smh.com.au/world/german-leaders-condemn-mass-sexual-assault-on-women-on-new-years-eve-in-cologne-20160105-gm00f9.html http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2016/01/05/actualidad/1451991976_936738.html http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article22046640.ab

But there wasnt silence. It was widely reported in the Cologne local media immediately and has spread throughout the world in less than a week. Im not sure you want to go down the conspiro-weirdo route.

Maybe he's more tempted by the ladies of Alderley Edge or Sloane Square than Shirley High Street?

No idea about the right course of action sorry - but I recently had cause to use an employment lawyer and the first phone call was free - so you can at least find out if its worth fighting without paying out. I used Fiona Martin at Martin Searle solicitors in Brighton. Im sure others can help too. http://www.ms-solicitors.co.uk/about-us/meet-the-team/fiona-martin/