Lord Duckhunter

Tax credits and the minimum wage trap people in poverty. Of course they were designed to help the poorest , but as per usual once politicians try and rig the market the unintended consequences are worse than the problem they're trying to cure. We've ended up with a situation where large multi national profitable companies have their pay roll subsidised by the tax payer. I have minimum wage guys working for me who have turned down promotions and O/T because they'll be no better off as any extra money comes off their tax credits. We have no incentive to put our wages up because tax credits and unskilled EU migrants ensure our vacancies are always filled. As for food banks , if people want to run them or donate to them, that's up to them. However I won't be doing either. We have a welfare state that pays people enough to eat whilst they're looking for work and tax credits, family benefit ect means people in work get enough to feed themselves. There are obviously people who fall through the cracks of society or who are ill, mentally or addicts , but generally I don't accept that people have no other option than food banks if they're claiming the correct amount they're entitled to. I realise that view won't be popular, but surely the debate should be around what people consider to be a minimum standard of living . Is owning a mobile, a TV, or even a car a right that people have or are they luxeries that should go to leave more money for food. What about fags and booze, should people be expected to stop smoking before using charity to feed themselves? I'm interested in what people think are basic requirements and what people feel are luxury items they should only have once they've been fed , and housed.

You wonder why political parties use spin, its because mugs like you fall for it.They take a semblance of truth and twist it favourable. She was not bought up in a council " flat" . Maybe social housing, but her dad was assistant secretary general of the united nations, it was hardly a working class battle out of poverty. Her brother is a free lance photographer who did some work for a charity that got poor people into construction. Hardly the jobbing builder she tried to spin to the press. Guido Fawkes had her number good and proper over that bit of spin. She also sent her kid to a selective school out of her constituency, despite opposition to selective education. What a surprise.

Frustrated because they were there for the taking. Jose at fault for the first and Forster for second. Not convinced about Forster at all, terrible for the goal. Long worked so hard but missed a couple of decent chances. Hes got great work rate and spirit , good control and lots of ability, he is just so wasteful in front of goal. I guess if he could finish he wouldn't be playing for us as he's got everything else to play in premiership. My motm was victor, great performance and real maturity to not get booked.

Just seen on Twitter that they have a celebrity visitor on Thursday , the Wealsdon Raider is appearing at a skate night club . " what a ****ole" " you've got no fansss, " you've got no ground and are are a bunch of w anchors " . I couldn't think of anywhere more suitable for his new venture into personal appearances.

Course it was , it was a shocking decision. The striker still had a goal scoring opportunity, he had an open goal. A clear goal scoring opportunity was not denied as he still had one. It should have been a yellow , if he wanted to go back and give a free kick. Although it should have been a hand ball against west ham.

Extravagant public spending left us in a poor state to deal with the global crisis when it came. You should tighten fiscal policy in the boom years and loosen it in any down turn . How on earth could it ever be acceptable for people earning 60k to be able to claim welfare via tax credits and why were we paying millionaires child benefit, to name just 2 crazy public spending choices. Brown spent money like it was going out of fashion and left us I'll prepared for the downturn . The Tories under Cameron and his stupid " modernisation " program , also seemed bewitched by this " no more boom and bust" nonsense and promised to match this incompetent rubbish . A proper Conservative party would have been calling for us to be running a surplus to protect us from future events , not going along with this lunacy . There are only 3 ways we're ever going to get the public finances back under control. One is to default on our debts, two is a radical rethink of what we want the state to do in relation to what taxes we want to pay or 3 is to leave the mess for our children and their children to sort out. Unfortunately the established parties all agree that 3 is the best option. They are just arguing around the edges , but make no mistake about it , none of them have the will or the balls to actually sort it out .

That's a bit harsh ! They should be allowed to drive provided they have proof that they're dropping off or picking up their old man from the pub, or doing the weekly shop. Talking of pubs and being over the limit in the morning, I play 5 a side with a copper. He told me they now moniter cars left in pub car parks overnight. By leaving your car you are advertising the fact that you're on the lash. When you pick your car up in the morning they breathalise you. He said they're nicking as many drink drivers in the morning as they are at night. He advised us to never leave you car in pub carpark overnight ,unless you're 100% sure you'll pass the test next morning. Leave your car on a nearby street.

Good to see Red Ed getting into the Xmas spirit with his Xmas card. Personally I don't think a picture of him working on the manifesto has much to do with Xmas, but at least no non Christians will be offended. Seasons greetings Ed.

If you're going to tax property the fairest way to do it is via a transaction tax, rather than a wealth tax. This could be when you buy or when you sell, but surely that makes more sense than this ridiculous mansion tax idea. How's is stamp duty any more outdated than any other sales tax?

I like 3 at the back as it can mean 2 up top without being out numbered in midfield . I think long and Pelle could form a decent partnership but a 442 would leave us exposed , so 352 could work. However, you need a proper preseason to work on it and also need 2 holding mid fielders . We would still be weak in centre mid without cork, Morgan and Toby and Rooney, Mata and RVP will have a field day if the back 3 are just thrown together without being drilled to playing together in a 3.

Worst thing about game was driving to work straight afterwards ( on nights this week) and listening to Solent. I'm sorry , but Dave merrington is clueless and we have some ****ing idiots texting in, I despair . I finally switched off when Dave started moaning that Ron should have left cork on to see if he could run it off . Excuse me you geriatric northern twt, that's exactly what did happen . He went down minutes before he finally had to come off. And some of the texts FFS. As for the game . I thought Toby was magnificent in both roles, he's differant class, I'll be amazed if we can pick him up permanently . Forster had his best game for us and defensively I thought we had a good shape and game plan. Obviously going down to 10 will always be a blow, doubly so if you've got Mayuka & Mane on the pitch and someone as immobile as Pelle up top. It also gave them a boost and lifted the crowd. I don't get the Maya moans, thought he was ok. Maybe Ron thinks him and Jose know each other better than chucking Gardos into a new pairing, and maybe he thinks Read a bit lightweight for the required role . Worry that Pelle maybe a bit of a flat track bully. Certainly struggled again against international defenders. Long's attitude was fantastic again, and the two full backs played well. I didn't think arsenal went out to kick anyone or nobble anyone, I saw 2 committed sides battling hard and a ref slightly out of his depth. No shame in losing sun or weds, and that doesn't change just because of a quirk in the fixture list means they're back to back . Our season was always going to be defined by results against the also rans , not arsenal away or city home . There's not many who thought we'd have 26 points by new year , let alone dec 4th. So we need to keep some perspective here.

We should start Gaston bingo. " clearly has talent " " Aston Villa" " Dangerous when he came on" " tired from world cup/copa America/international football/no preseason." " Young" " In a foreign country" Any more? I do agree he looked" dangerous when he came on" a few times, unfortunately the danger was coinciding a goal after he'd given it away cheaply. Has their ever been a player so over rated after delivering such little value for money?

He's OK , not as bad as some make out. What standard of player do people really expect to be 3rd or 4th centre half for Southampton? The toughest position for a youngster to slot into , you'll always need experienced back ups . As Ron was a world class centre half himself hes pretty qualified to make the right decision.

What is it going to take for people to realise he is a complete and utter waste of money? I love all the " he is clearly talented" posts that appear every now and then . " Clearly" , he is not good enough . Mr Woo was talented and skilful but that doesn't make him a talented footballer and neither is Gaston. Clearly an over rated waste of money. Awaiting the " he was brilliant against Villa replies" lol.

I would give Long a run down the middle as I reckon he could worry them with his movement. After watching chambers get the run around at Swansea I would persist with Mane , if chambers looks like he'll be full back. Bloke next to me reckoned victor is out with 5 bookings, but haven't seen anything, so must be wrong.

Playing with that intensity City would have beaten anybody bar Chelsea , they were really up for it. We were average and I thought we didn't really believe we could win. Small example,we've been constantly using short corner routines this season, but didn't yesterday. I just thought we were a bit too respectful. Victor did well, particularly first half and long made a impact when he came on. Pelle is too static against Kompany, and the two wide men were really poor.Personally I'd give long a run down the middle weds and give Pelle a rest.

Even if MS had stayed on I think we'd still have lost. City get beat when they go through the motions , yesterday they worked hard and played well. Not really a lot Ron could have done.

Perhaps we should wait till after the Man utd and Chelsea games. We can then copy their songs , just change the words.

WTF

Rip, really sad news. A real freak accident . I remember the going over the west Indies gave Brian Close when he was in his 40's in pre pure helmet days. Seems unbelievable that they just batted with the odd bit of padding.

Again, the voice of reason. The simple facts are that The Williams sisters would wipe the floor with any a average Joe playing tennis. Same as running , Jess Ennis would be far quicker than the average Joe. It is elite sport and therefore deserves it place on TV. Chick football is not elite , it is rubbish . Most pub teams could batter the women's national team . The standard is hopeless it doesn't deserve the billing it gets. It could be packaged as a novelty , like sports aid or that match that the celebs play. It could even be marketed as a " look at these pretty little things kicking a ball about" type of show . What I object to is not them playing the game, but people trying to take it seriously and making out people who don't are dinosaurs . It isn't on TV because there's a demand for it or because it's elite sport , it's political correctness . I wonder what the birds who play netball for England think about it. They have more talent yet get overlooked because they don't play a mans sport. That's hardly empowering women, piggybacking on the back of men.

Spot on

If men didn't play tennis , women's tennis would still be interesting and a credible sport to show on TV. Same with athletics and swimming. Women's football and cricket are not, without the men's game they are not a valid sport to attract this level of media and TV interest.

Tickets were £15 and £1 for kids.However, Fa charter clubs could have 10 free and then it was £7.50 per ticket for them. So I doubt they took **** all at the box office. "The Dog and Duck v Hunde und ente" would sell out what is basically a visit to the new Wembley with a game thrown in. I would be interested in how many regular football supporters went. I suspect it was mainly kids and wimmin lib types, with a few metro sexual types thrown in. Did anyone on this forum go, because there's normally a few who do go to Wembley England games normally.

Nobody is saying they can't play it, just that they are rubbish at it and it is political correctness rather than demand that gets it on the beeb.They should be encouraged to play as its good for their health and well being, but that doesn't justify the nonsense about the " England Team" . Chick cricket is the same , completely over exposed for a minority pastime. They wouldn't cover a load of hairy arsed builders doing Billy Elliot's on BBC 4 . The only reason its on is so metro sexual males can make out their enlightened and in touch with their feminine side. I bet hardly anybody watched it apart from under the thumb hubbys, pervs, screaming girls/women and teen boys. I used to hate the school boy internationals as the crowd got on my wick, I bet this was 10 times worse.