badgerx16

What that report says is that CO2 in the Thermosphere, 80+ Km above the earth's surface, reflects excess radiation energy from solar storms back into space. It doesn't say anything about the Greenhouse Effect acting at lower levels.

I've just ordered the special offer - the Gove book, the 'Keep calm and pretend it's on the lesson plan' mug, and The Ofsted Murders. That's the first bit of Mrs B's Christmas sorted.

Surely the Job Centres should be able to filter the applicants in advance of submitting their details ? Their function is to get people into work and therefore to maximise the candidates chances by ensuring they have some sort of chance of being successful. How much time ( and money ) is wasted by employers having to process unnecessary paperwork and provide the feedback to enable the JCs to fill in their tick box sheets ?

Because they are being honest ? If the Job Centres are prompting such applications then they are failing both the unemployed and the tax payer.

Personally no, but I have to comply with it. I'm against any form of 'positive discrimination' - I prefer to treat everybody equally from the off and allow the selection process to produce the appropriate outcome in an unbiased way.

With the Public Sector such equality in recruitment is often mandated in that the work force must reflect to the racial demographic of the local population. I think the Police are also encouraged to do this.

But if they cannot be so certain of their electoral base, ( far fewer 'safe' seats, etc ), they will have to pay attention to more of us in determining policy - particularly in the 2nd and subsequent years of an administration when they've run out of headline manifesto commitments.

But there would be a difference because a PR system would prevent a party, blue or red, from gaining an unassailable Parliamentary majority ( 100+ ) with potentially less than 40% of the vote. It's that disproportionate safety in numbers that leads PMs like Thatcher and Blair to think they are invincible.

But that is not how our system works. Firstly because there are the 'safe' seats, whether Tory or Labour it matters not, if you support what is locally the minority party you may as well not bother. You may also get seats where there is the possibility of either of 2 parties getting in, but where voting for any other option is similarly fruitless ( ie voting LD in Southampton ). Thirdly there are the seats that matter - the 'swing' seats that will be contested ( generally ) between Labour and Conservative. It is to tempt the voters in this minority of seats that both parties concentrate their efforts and design their manifestos. The outcome of this is that for almost all General Elections since WW1, the winning party has had less than 50% of the vote, yet both Thatcher and Blair had majorities of over 100. I doubt there has ever been a GE result where 50% of the registered electorate has voted for the winning party - so how does that give us 'what the people of this country want' ?

Betrayal. I also set my screen background to a red rose with a black border - mourning the death of democracy in this country. What we were left with is a centrist mish-mash of policies designed for middle class swing voters in marginal seats.

Indeed, after Bliar's first term I had, for a while, the following as my scrolling screensaver - "New Labour, Tory lite. Different colour, same old sh!te".

One is 'Red Ed' threatening central Government interference in a free market by controlling prices, the other is the Prime Minister acting in the national interest to secure our energy future by controlling prices.

Top post.

'Call me Dave' blaming 'green taxes' is a sop to the nimby readership of the Daily Mail / Express. Renewables will always operate at a disadvantage in the current economic environment as start-up and infrastructure costs penalise development. I find it puzzling that UK Government is talking about cutting this 'taxpayer subsidy' yet our nuclear program is about to get a boost that is almost entirely funded from French and Chinese Government coffers.

He didn't win them for me - never been a member of any political party. Yes I voted Labour in his first win, but voted LibDem subsequently - my vote is always wasted anyway as it's usually a fairly safe Tory seat.

Maggie's bastard offspring in 'Mea Culpa' shock - don't EVER accuse Bliar of being a Labour politician.

JARVIS Cocker probably has quite a bit as well.

"What's the point in being rich, if you don't know what to do with it, 'cause you're so bleeding thick" J Cocker ( "Mishapes" )

I'd be a banker, rake in huge bonuses for gambling with other people's money, and duck out just before the world wide crash.

Two of our four dogs are 'Charlie' and 'George', though the connection wasn't intentional.

Is this still your opinion ?

"As one sided a match as I've seen this season" - 'tater's comments sums it up. Wish J-Rods volley had gone in as the performance deserved more goals and he deserved a second.

I thought I'd posted those comments before !

It's Lee Dixon.

From memory the driving standard is quite poor, and they don't like the Germans. ( Did a walk around Fort St Elmo, which is the main WW2 museum, following directly behind a coach load of Germans - spent about half an hour muttering things like "And vich of zese bombs did you drop ?" and "Is that your crashed stuka ?". )