buctootim

I can't decide whether Cameron is talking tough about welfare cheats in order to appease those in his party who have doubts about a crack down on tax evasion, or whether its a cynical attempt to pull public anger and attention away from tax evasion and allow him to do nothing.

Hotel du Lac in Varenna on Lake Como is beautiful. Both hotel and village are great. Stay here in Tuscany near Florence http://lnx.petrognano.com/ - fantastic wines and olives grown on the estate, great people and food in the farmhouse kitchen for guests. Pompeii and Herculaneum are far better (and bigger) than I expected. Sorrento and the Amalfi coast drive are both must do's - though will be very busy that time of year. I tried to find the road up to the summit of Vesuvius and was flummoxed by people who take down official signs and put up others to point the way to their restaurant or bar named Vesuvius. Get a sat nav.

Lol. Its pretty true, but I actually ended up enjoying the drive in the end for its comedy value. Dodgems and triple parking.

Those stats show that overall it was a real mix of people. The only standout facts are that 90% of those arrested were men (do women not aspire to free tvs too?) and that two thirds had some kind of educational special need - effectively behavioural problems or generalised thickness. Young men with behavioural or learning difficulties are exactly the kinds of people who have trouble fitting in - either socially or in employment. Some kind of social intervention is necessary - but it isnt just throwing benefits at them.

Stop trying to subvert the kneejerking with facts. Its unbecoming on TSW.

The Pannu quote. What's currently unavailable?

No its not. Its the Chief sports writer of the Birmingham paper directly quoting the VP of Birmingham FC.

Well as far as any of us know.... tbf I'm not saying it is, but its little comfort to think that if these things can happen by accident how much worse they could be if people were doing it on purpose.

MI5 have been talking publicly for some time about the unprecedented amount of state sponsored cyber attacks and hacking against the British Government and British companies. China has been named on more than one occasion. I wonder if they are linked. http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/security/3366298/london-listed-firm-lost-800m-from-cyberattacks-mi5-boss-reveals/

Tell you what. We'll surround you with fine mesh net and then send 30 men into the water with hammers and machetes and see if you can last longer, given the bigger brain an all.

What do they feed salmon on?

We're more likely to sign Pete Best than Leon.

Would be interesting to have some objerctive evidence about whether people feel Britain is less fair and more unequal than it used to be. My subjective view is that they do. The gulf between the haves and have very little is so much wider than it used to be that many people feel demotivated and less inclined to try. Its not right but it is understandable. Watching the Alf Ramsey documentary on another thread, and his rented room in an ordinary terraced house whilst playing professionally for Saints compared to Balotelli and his ilk now brings that home.

A statue by the guy who did the orginal Ted Bates. I'd pay good money to see that.

I was at a pub in Ditchling the other night and they used one of those machines where you put a paper voucher in a hand operated roller machine and sign at the bottom.

I wonder which players they'll buy with the deposit money.

Its apples and pears though. You are comparing the Polish workers (usually young and single) who are motivated and entrpreneurial enough to get on a bus and come to the UK to find work with our underclass. Poland has its drunks, personality disordered, chaotic lifestyles and plain too dim to work as well - but they arent the ones who come to the UK.

That doesnt work either. Providing artifical jobs costs more than it saves, as the Remploy factory closures demonstrates.

Totally agree with you Dune. By increasing the supply of cheap labour you take money away from the bottom of society and give it to the top, increasing disparity. Government incentives should go to companies that invest in high quality training and creation of a skilled workforce producing high value product - not trying to compete with China and India at the scrabble to the bottom.

Over the past 40 years the number of people in work, the number of people registered unemployed and the number of people on incapacity benefits have all grown - way beyond the growth in population. So you now simultaneously have more people working, saying they cant find work, or that they want to work but are unable - largely due to women entering the workforce and no longer staying at home looking after kids and being absent from official stats (no bad thing btw).

something to do with fags? .....or Horton Heath?

Id actually like to see far more top end of the market homes built - four and five bed homes of good size in large plots. The rationale is that we dont have enough houses and the ones we do have are overpriced, generally too small and of poor standard. Building lots of small, box like 2 bed flats is not the answer, they are slums of tomorrow. The answer to that is to increase supply at the top end, bringing down prices and making it possible for a whole chain of people to trade up.

What do you actually do Dune? (in broad terms, I dont want to stalk you)

Thats the crux. It should always be worthwhile to work instead of draw benefits.

Importation of cheap labour has been a policy of governments of all shades for the past 50 years, driven by business lobbying and threats to relocate somewhere cheaper. We would have been much better off going down the high investment, high tech, high wage route ala Germany, Switzerland and Japan.