egg

Agreed. He's a bright bloke and has enough about him to know what to say and what not to say. He had a chance to clarify and repeated the one murder point. He was trying to minimise the situation to make his point, and didn't take the opportunity to clarify when he had the opportunity.

So 3 or 4 people hijacking the forum with aligned political views. I have no issue with that, but question why you see differing views from 3 or 4 people as such an issue.

I think some of us have a less binary view of the political spectrum of you and a few others. Your opinion that anyone left of your thinking is a raving leftie is pretty tragic.

Some of us have worked hard mate and work when / if we choose. The rewards of capatilsm. Your time may come.

Ha!! What a well thought through response 👏👏 As an aside, I'm not sure how many lefties support means testing benefits and clipping the wings of state pensions. Feels a tad more centrist to me, but your world only sees left / right. Shame.

Should we, France, etc have kept our colonial land in Africa? How's having part of the EU on mainland Africa going today?

I don't think it'll be a season. I'm still thinking 8-12. 8 I think he stays, any more I think he goes sadly. Let's see, MB has a decent track record so today may well be D-day.

49,000 people now arrived in Ceuta. The easiest thing for the Spane need to accept it's nonsense having sovereignty over it and cede it to Morocco.

With the season starting in 15 days and 14 days to appeal. Gulp.

Not enough NI payments to get a state pension? I don't access the NHS either, and although I accept I must still pay NI, I think private health premiums should be tax deductable. Give people incentive to take strain away from the NHS. Re pensions, I really like the Ozzie superannuation system. Something to be said for that but our pension system has become so expensive I can't see any way of funding the existing obligations whilst banking people's contributions for their future.

No. The triple lock is unaffordable, and social care is needed. I think most people acknowledge that. Other things have to change as well. I've said above that some state benefits (eg. PIP, DLA) should be means tested. I don't extend that means testing to the state pension, and pension credit or similar should be in place to help those pensioners who need more. We need a system where social care is available, where people who need state assistance get it, but we can't have a system where people receive monies that they simply don't need regardless of whether they tick certain boxes.

Post of the week 👏

He said "But always we will show how we are going to pay for it, what we are reprioritising. That will be a theme that we will always come back to." I don't take that as a suggestion that policies and funding will be announced simultaneously - expecting that is unrealistic.

Got a link?

Indeed. He either wants social care sorting or he doesn't. If he does, he should applaud Burnham for the commitment, and welcome the fact that he wants to take time to work out the details including the funding. I'm slightly baffled why anyone sees any of that as a bad thing.