buctootim

That is gobsmackingly amazing in a league where transfer fees are rare. Highest in League 2 and only two clubs in League 1 paid more. Its not even like they've signed superstars - big squad and falling away badly atm.

Me too. I also like the fact his views and policies aren't shaped by opinion polls but by conviction. He should get two years to persuade the country. Plenty of time for Cameron's bombing of Syria and austerity reversals to become a cluster****. If hes still behind then there is still two years to get a new leader before the election.

...

Kriek

But the coalition have been by and large bombing only when they have specific targets which can be destroyed without massive collateral damage - and the result is a relatively low level of activity which has been ineffective in stopping IS. The Russians are bombing massively, much more indescriminately and apparently being effective. Which is better? destroying IS and in the process destroying much of the population and the infrastructure they need to live - or bombing at a low level which allows IS to advance and perpetuate their murderous ideology? Surely neither is the answer.

That was my exact point. Without accurate intelligence you dont have pinpoint targets - all you can do from the air is bomb general opposition controlled areas. If Verbal supports a no fly zone why is he attacking Corbyn for not wanting to send in the bombers?

Maybe thats no bad thing. They were never going to have a free and fair government which respected all factions - Libya is proof of what happens when you take down a government and leave nothing in place. Best you can hope for is that the **** who governs Syria is better than IS, and Assad is.

I thought thats what you wanted. Surely anyone who suggested bombing Syria even more wasn't the answer is just a sad hard lefty who doesnt understand global politics. Precision strikes with no collateral damage are usually a myth, even with conventional armed forces. Cell structure based terrorist groups like IS dont operate from big bases which make nice big easy targets but instead from houses within civilian areas. Add that to the lack of intelligence about exactly where IS are (because anyone who informs is tortured and dies) then the only aerial option is carpet bombing. Corbyn is wrong about many things but arguing against bombing civilian populations is not one of them. Never more so than now. We ended up in Iraq and up to 1 million dead because of 9/11 and weapons of mass destruction, despite Iraq having nothing to do with either. Lets not kill more civilians in Syria because of Paris.

Only by comparison. He's even more brilliant than nature made him!

That, or Verbal is being dishonest

Classy reply as ever Badger. Sorry to hear about your job.

The difference is though that Brown's overspend was by a couple of percentage points of GDP knowing it would be covered by economic growth, which it was right up to when the financial crisis hit. You can argue he should have seen it coming or should have been running a surplus at that point in the economic cycle, which is true - but at the point he made the decisions it was affordable and public debt was only around 38% of GDP. Osborne knows we are deeply deeply in the schitt but is still cutting taxes and funding giveaways.

Osborne just wants to get elected as next Tory leader and become PM. He's not worried how much he needs to borrow to fund his portrayal of all things to everyone. Criminal abuse of office Imo.

You are confusing fiscal policy with monetary policy, which is apt because Osborne does the same, constantly trying to claim credit for the independent actions of the Bank of England. The economy's recovery is down to an extended period of record low interest rates, quantitative easing and being outside the eurozone - none of which is attributable to Osborne. If anything Brown is more responsible as it was him that gave the BoE independence. Osborne has been largely neutral on tax take and public spending - despite the rhetoric neither have changed much. What he has done is redistribute income within the existing envelope in a way which is unhelpful to the economy. Money has been taken out of the economy by 1) reducing corporation tax - the beneficiaries of which are largely overseas. 2) Creating disincentives to work by taking money away from the economically active and giving it to the retired 3) transferring money from the salaried to the wealthy - who are more likely to spend that money overseas.

Because he had to - because his economic assumptions and policy have been wrong, not just once or twice but consistently miles out; because before today the Conservatives had stupidly committed to ring fencing 70% of the budget; because today they compounded that error by adding police and defence; because they decided to increase health and pensions above the rate of inflation which meant he had to decimate other services to save money which then created an outcry which then led to a backtrack. Economically inept and weak. The worst chancellor I can remember by a long way.

I didnt see McDonnell's speech, but I did see Osborne's response. He was saying Labour would borrow in good times and in bad times and would never deal with the deficit. I thought that was a bit rich from a man who has borrowed more in the past four years than the combined total borrowed by all Labour Governments in history put together.

How many people keep a car for 40 years? Its possible but not desirable. Refurbishing old equipment has got more to do with how Government allocates money than military need - tight scrutiny and political control of new capital expenditure but much less so on drip drip maintenance and operational upgrades.

Surely it makes more sense to build cheap ships with a design life of 20 years than to keep refitting the electronics, engines, pumps etc on outdated hulls?

Russian jet shot down by Turkey, apparently. https://www.rt.com/news/323215-warplane-crash-syria-turkey/

Or given a hefty bonus by News International. I have some sympathy with them - mostly they lead dead ends lives of petty crime and drug dealing and have so little hope for the future that going to Syria to get a women who is forced to marry them and then get killed seems a viable option. Having some sympathy for the individual doesnt preclude being happy for them to be wiped out or jailed.

Not really. The didnt use to have a major problem, but they kept jailing and killing people and now they do.

About 760 Germans left to fight in Syria, of which 200 have returned so far and another 120 dead according to German interior minister de Maziere. .

If it's good quality fencing which has been pressure treated then it's probably good for 20 years without doing anything.

Evil as they are its important to not overstate the size or power of IS. The Iraq war cost 250,000 + dead, the Syrian war 250,000 also with around 75,000 dying in the past 12 months. IS are estimated to be responsible for 15,000 of that. Its a bit more complicated than loading up the planes and bombing the **** out of Raqqa, destroying empty bases for PR purposes.

Mustafa Özsarı. "Let it be clear: In Turkey (especially at football matches) a one minute silence is always used to chant for those who died in terrorist attacks. And what they are chanting is this “Şehitler ölmez, vatan bölünmez”. Translation: “Martyrs, they do not die (they are immortal), homeland (land, our land) is indivisible.” That is a habit from our past with the terrorist organisation PKK. More than 30,000 of our citizens died over the past 30 years by the PKK (including babies, women, children, teachers, officers, doctors, students and soldiers). In any event, after PKK terrorists kill someone in Turkey, people chant this. Below is a proof from one Turkish Premier League match: Same slogan “Şehitler ölmez, vatan bölünmez”. And also, they booed the terrorist, not the victims. Any victims of terrorism are accepted as martyrs in Turkish culture. There is no disrespect to them, there has not been, there will not be."