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Gluestick

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Everything posted by Gluestick

  1. This thread could be re-titled, "Flame Wars R Us"! All of us engage in differences of opinion. This is the essential lifeblood of fora. However, Ad Hominem attacks are not necessary, unpleasant and not wanted. Renovating a ruin. Perhaps, for me, the very best Grand Designs edition ever, was about a man and woman who fell in love with an old Maison de Mâitre, which had been burned out by Germans in WWII; and left thereafter. See Here: And Here:  If you want it? Then go for it! BUT: work out the numbers, firstly and VERY carefully! Then add at least a 30% contingency...
  2. Minty: The book you cited was an opinion. And sadly, that is all. And furthermore it is archaic. Perhaps a far superior reference would be here: See: The crux is, Britain, unusually, does not have a codified constitution. Which means lawyers and parliamentarians can and often do, make it up as they go along. Just one example, perhaps being the Bill of Rights 1689: enshrined within this act is the right of all citizens to bear arms. This has never been rescinded or the act itself repealed. Yet by one act of parliament, much later, we do not even now enjoy the right to possess them! High time Britain had a codified constitution, IMHO.
  3. [quote user="Hoddy"]Gluestick, in your contempt for the average British voter, you may have missed the fact that Planet Earth is currently more popular than the X factor.[/quote] Hoddy: you may well like to review the stated viewing stats: Here: Interesting how the Number two is only a little behind... And that weekly view of East Enders, aggregated is so enormous. And, btw, I do not suffer "Contempt" either of or for the British Voter. Point of fact I feel rather sorry for them; they have been brainwashed. However, the singular fact remains, Britain's supposed democratic future lies in the hands of the mainly illiterate, ill-informed, uncouth oik. And their malaise is worsening, rather than improving. Personally, as a once extremely patriotic royalist, who was extremely proud to be British and considered myself most fortunate to have been born in this wondrous land. This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself Against infection and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands,-- This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England. King Richard II; Act Two, Scene One. Now? I am bloody ashamed of it and a majority of its denizens.
  4. [quote] the UK constitution,[/quote] What "UK Constitution"? Britain doesn't actually have one! Which is one of its core problems. Interesting, since I studied "British Constitution" at Grammar School, all those years ago; sigh... [:(]
  5. Clearly, Minty, Valls, as Hollande's PM carries with him the taint of Hollande's failed Socialist policies. Personally, I believe Valls is a sacrificial goat. as was Walter "Fritz" Mondale put up to fight the Dem's presidential battle against Reagan. Interestingly, I was working in Silicon Valley Calif at that time, and in our local hostelry, as Reagan and Mondale were on TV in a Head-to-Head debate, the barstaff pulled out a big TV on a lazy tongs over the bar, the lights were dimmed and for the whole hour, everyone in the bar was glued to the TV. It was surreal: drinks were still being served, quietly, the soft whisper of coins and notes exchanging and absolutely zero conversation! After the debate, loads of discussion; and even life-long Dems were backing Reagan and going to vote for him. Seems to me the French are fed to the back teeth with Holland and his Socialist stupidity; thus  measuring Valls hope, I would suggest it lies between Stanford-Le-Hope; The Cape of Good Hope; Bob Hope; and No Hope! [:D]
  6. [quote user="idun"] I do wonder if Carla regrets this last relationship! [/quote] Well, she does have rather a rich history, herself Idun............. Jerri Hall divorced Mick Jagger because of Bruni: and.... "Other relationships It has been claimed that Bruni has been involved with Louis Bertignac, Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Léos Carax, Charles Berling, Arno Klarsfeld, Vincent Pérez,[67] and former French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius.[68][69][70] The Enthovens While living with Jean-Paul Enthoven, Bruni started an affair with his son, philosophy professor Raphaël Enthoven (the song "Raphaël" from Bruni's album Quelqu'un m'a dit is named after him), who was at the time married to novelist Justine Lévy, daughter of philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy.[71] Bruni later denied ever having an affair with Raphaël's father in an interview published in Vanity Fair, "I never slept with him, not even a minute."[2] The affair and the end of her marriage inspired Justine's 2004 book Rien de Grave (published in English in 2005 as Nothing Serious).[72] Bruni and Raphaël had a son, Aurélien, in 2001. Bruni told Vanity Fair that the couple broke up in May 2007 because Raphaël thought their relationship did not have a commitment.[2]" Source: Wiki: France having always enjoyed much respect for diplomatic excellence and style in affairs of state, Bruni once burst into a cabinet meeting at the Elysee and insisted on handing out copies of her new CD to all present. Clearly, she thought it was a cross between a reality TV show and a social event. Hollande has been even worse.
  7. As can and have US presidents, too, Wooly! Perhaps the very best illustration being the Bail-Out Bill, to rescue US banks and the financial system. Using their own version of Project Fear (if you remember): "The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Division A of Pub.L. 110–343, 122 Stat. 3765, enacted October 3, 2008), commonly referred to as a bailout of the U.S. financial system, is a law enacted in response to the subprime mortgage crisis authorizing the United States Secretary of the Treasury to spend up to $700 billion to purchase distressed assets, especially mortgage-backed securities, and supply cash directly to banks. The funds for purchase of distressed assets were mostly redirected to inject capital into banks and other financial institutions while the Treasury continued to examine the usefulness of targeted asset purchases.[1][2] Both foreign and domestic banks are included in the program. The Act was proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson during the global financial crisis of 2008 and signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 3, 2008." By loudly proclaiming America was nearly broke and only had days to survive ([Www] ), Congress and the Senate who originally both opposed the bill, quickly came around when parts were quickly re-written, but well larded with "Pork"! Since the bill consisted of over 200 pages of complex financial terms and expressions and complex legalese, there was just no way the Congressmen and Senators could actually understand its ramifications; nor did they have time to seek external expert opinion and analysis. The then US Sec. of Treasury, was of course one "Hank" Paulson; and guess who he worked for prior to being boosted in as Sec. Treas.? Err. Goldman Sachs; AKA The Vampire Squid; the bank which had been flogging loads of fraudulent MBSs (Mortgage Backed Securities) and other connected derivative products and pushing these instruments as AAA security - which they clearly were not - and simultaneously, shorting the same positions. and ended up making a bundle.
  8. [quote user="Sunflower"]I would say the private sector is driven by greed and certainly not by any sort of 'ethics'.[/quote] I use the term in the modern business analysis sense; for example, The Protestant Ethic, doesn't actually suggest ethics were particularly involved; the psychological drivers were diametrically opposite! In the same sense, describing a person as possessing a "High Work Ethic" doesn't actually and necessarily imply they are a deeply moral person; etc. Drilling down into the "Private Sector" since circa 48% of UK GDP and around 46% of private sector are created and sustained by SMEs, the majority of which are Class Size Zero and Micro-enterprises ( and roughly the same numbers applies to all of the 12 original EU states, your are therefore all the self-employed are driven solely  and only by greed? At some time, examine the lives and work and the moral compass of, amongst numerous others, Dr Hewlett and Dr Packard. The "Unacceptable face of capitalism", perhaps best illustrated by Philip Green et al, has been a direct result of Thatcherism in the UK and one William Jefferson Clinton (for different reasons) in the USA. Yes of course, the present World of finance and banking, does suffer an increasing number of what are termed Vulture Capitalists. Yet, it always did and always will. [quote]In contrast the public sector serves to provide a social support framework for the vulnerable. It also provides a social framework for the private sector - roads, infrastructure, waste disposal, the legal system, education, health.[/quote] I would suggest local authorities in Britain, extracting vast sums of Council tax and UBR and then failing dismally to deliver the promised services is hardly moral. any more than is the UK government's extraction of untold billions from long suffering motorists and then failing in an abject sense to maintain roads to an adequate level. I would further suggest that schools consuming vast budgets to increasingly turn out a rapidly growing number of functionally illiterate and innumerate pupils is far from a raging success. Waste disposal: please don't make me laugh!  OK if one has room for numerous bins etc, yet land fill continues apace, despite the failed waste disposal tax. The legal system. You really do dwell in Cloud Cuckoo land: it is at the top, politically warped; lower down it is increasingly incompetent and caters mainly for those nasty vulture capitalists I also despise. Try and find good claimants solicitors for example; hardly any left. Since the big boys focus on protecting Big Biz from the results of their chicanery; and the Legal Aid System has collapsed. Want to take someone to court, now? Court fees went up by as much as 1,600% recently, in case you were unaware. [quote]I am assuming that you are a proponent of Milton Friedman economics, Gluestick? The economics that drove Pinochet to 'disappear' thousands? [/quote] Well sadly you assume wrong! Whilst I do follow certain monetarist theories of the Chicago School, Friedman was an early neo-con and more particularly a Libertarian. That said his economic theories taken to Chile by grads of Chicago University, (popularly called The Chicago Boys) did indeed massively improve numerous aspects of the Chilean economy; so much so that it is now the top in 17 Latin American nations. This is bad? You simply cannot adduce that Pinochet's actions in repressing any opposition could be directly attributed at Friedman's door: that is, with respect, a stupid as well as fallacious observation. Finally, do your remember the heinous treatment of poor little Victoria Climbie? And the social workers who threatened to strike if a colleague who failed the child, utterly, was not re-instated? And this demonstrates Public Sector Moral compass, perhaps?
  9. The singular difference, Wooly, being, of course the private sector is driven by the Profit Ethic: whereas the public sector is driven by the desire to create and sustain profligacy. And when agreed budgets expire, simply scream for even more money to waste! Very well worthwhile reading for elucidation on the disparate monetary value represented between the private sector and the state, is Neville Shute Norway's most valuable part-autobiography, "Slide Rule". Wherein Norway recounts the battle to finally "prove" how the state was eminently much more efficient and effective than capital and thus the venal private for-profit, sector. Shute-Norway of course worked on the private sector R101; whilst the socialist state's competitor was the R100. Whilst the R101 flew very successfully and met all of the design brief, the state's R100 crashed, disastrously, at Beauvais, France on October 5th, 1930, killing nearly all on-board. See here: Perhaps worse of all, are Britain's Whitehall Mandarins; cynically explored in C P Snow's classic work, "The Corridors of Power". So sadly, earlier this year, Anthony Jay, expired. May he rest in peace. The journalist, Quentin Letts wrote a long obituary in the Mail on Sunday. (In my own defence I must say it is Mrs Gluey who buys it on the odd occasion, not me!). It was so very good, I clipped it to retain on file. To all students of Perfidious Albion at its best (perhaps that ought more properly to be worst!), I commend you to read it. Here
  10. [quote] Gluestick thank you for describing Parkinsons law which I am sure everybody, including myself, is aware of. [/quote] Well, Richard, I am not sure "most people" either actually do; or even remember it. [quote]However please address the points raised in the post. [/quote] Well, I rather thought I did address those points, Richard! Worth us remembering, perhaps, one of the first things M. le President "Wobbly Jelly" did, after his victory, was to significantly increase  the size of the French Civil Service. For no good reason and without any justification whatsoever.
  11. [quote user="EuroTrash"]Well yes I can see why Italy prefers imaginary money to real money :-) but the banking "system", surely, is the hardware and the software through which those digits gallop, [/quote] Not quite. Politicians have allowed bankers to create their own little World within a World. Unfortunately, it is the banker's synthetic and imposed World which now controls all of us and the politicians and nation states too. Indeed, both governments and people have become serfs: we are now enslaved to the bankers and mega-wealthy financial institutions. Reading your and Richard's early comments on figures and money, it is correct that to us mere mortal grunts, we sweat to earn a  few quid or Euros, only to see the value of such (which, naturally, we equate to living, paying our bills, putting food on the table etc), constantly depreciate. Which begs the simple question "Is our actual work, our sweat,  our application worth less overnight? And if so, then why?" Modern so-called "Banking" is now an horrendously complex, intertwined and interactive incestuous network of masquerade. Thanks to what are called Fractional Reserve Banking and Credit Money Creation and Debt Creation from nothing, our belief that governments create money which acts a medium of exchange (e.g. value given for value received), is simply now myth. What banks do is create Debt; and illusory, mythical "Money"! Well worth re-reading the great cynical humorous writer, Stephen Leacock's short story on money.... Scroll down to "How to Borrow Money". Here:
  12. Aha, Richard; Parkinson's Law prevails, viz: Parkinson's law is: - "The work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". See here: Add to this reality, the natural propensity for bureaucracy seeking to ever enlarge itself, in order that larger and ever larger groups create promotional prospects and the opportunity for people to become in charge and thus improve their standing, pay and pension rights! Bureaucrats are desperate to create their own self-sustaining continuum; and thereby control more and more until they become indispensable to the perpetuation of a system that they themselves have created!  
  13. Nice attempt. However the contemporaneous banking system is mainly digital: money, per se, other than the rapidly diminishing quantity of "wads of notes and bags of coins", which are miniscule when compared to imaginary "money" which is represented by binary digits and gallops around the globe in its mega-trillions each and every day. Perhaps when it all crashes, soon, it will fall over a virtualised digital cliff. And I am assured, Cliff doesn't reside anywhere near the Amalfi Coast, lovely though it is, but in a virtuality Cloud server located in a Data Farm near Phoenix, Ariz.
  14. [quote user="EuroTrash"] You make it sound like the BPV&T plays an entirely passive role, sitting there being told what to believe and what to think, but frankly if it's going to vote it should use its brain and be a bit critical.[/quote] Nail on Head, ET! So sadly, the great British Voter doesn't actually deserve a damned vote! Brain? I wish! It's miniscule brain is far too concerned with football, soap operas, the latest moronic "Reality" TC show (look at the viewing figures of such as Strictly pretend to be able to dance"; the X Rubbish, et al; and in general drooling over the latest celeb as if they were in process of saving the World and humanity. Ah me, the Roman Senators had it all worked out way back; give 'em bread and circuses; that'll keep the plebs in line! Today, the "bread" being take aways, ready meals which can be hoovered up from the settee without missing a second of the mindless garbage of TV: and the "circuses" being self-obvious. Churchill had it all worked out: "The best argument against democracy, is a five minute conversation with the average voter."
  15. Seems M. Hollande has converted from a Socialist (well, sorta!) to a Libertarian, Wooly. As I have stated so often in the past few years - sigh - to the point of ad nauseam, the voter, citizen and most critically, TAX PAYER, is clearly viewed by career politicians as simply an irritation en route to power, influence and vast increase in personal wealth... [:@]
  16. Hype: Journalese for Hyperbole. Definition: "Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.". Well, as with most other commentators and analysts, I fully intended for the econometrics to be taken absolutely, and most literally. It is factual the Italian banking system is poised on the edge of a cliff: it is factual that Italy's Treasury is owed more than the annual expected gross revenue from tax and duty et al.  You may well describe facts as "Hype"................ [Www]
  17. And, for an easier way to reach the URL... Here:
  18. Exciting news concerning the Italian referendum, this morning. See Here: "Italians to Vote on Referendum with Massive Potential Consequences" We already know that the Italian banks are faced with a massive liquidity crisis and there is no hope the Italian government can or would bail them out. Indeed, the Italian State, has failed to collect taxes and duties, far larger than its annual budget! And the ECB or EU cannot help, financially, since this is both outside its legal ambit and constitution and thus law and in any case, to do so, no matter how sneakily, would trip escalating demands for emergency assistance from Greece et al. Lovely, isn't it, when ideologues run themselves so far into a blind creek and collectively forget to bring even one paddle! [URL=http://www.sherv.net/][IMG]http://www.sherv.net/cm/emo/laughing/roflmao.gif[/IMG][/URL]
  19. Core problem, for me, Paul, is the British public and voter and taxpayer [:@]  has been lied to serially, since Heath's blatant misrepresentations and outright calumnies in 1973! I have on file - somewhere in my archive - a copy of a letter sent to Heath by a Tory grandee, warning him (Heath), that the party were building up huge and disastrous future problems, by misrepresenting the UK's accession to the Treaty of Rome as "simply joining a trading bloc". Heath of course shrugged off such concerns. Which is indicative of senior politicians utter contempt for the voters and citizens. Simple research, amply demonstrates the forward plans, desires and objectives of the European architects of the ideological concept and planning. For goodness sake! EMU (Economic and Monetary Union) as a future objective is enshrined in the damned treaty! Amongst others, Jean Monnet was a fervent Federalist. Heath's introduction of VAT, as "One simple tax; one low rate!" was again complete calumny. VAT, Heath said, would replace the "Highly complex and difficult Purchase Tax (PT). Except............... PT only applied to NEW luxury goods; watches, fur coats, jewellery etc. It never ever applied to either used goods and/or labour. Furthermore, VAT now suffers multiple rates and greater complexity than PT ever did. Outside the Scope: Zero Rate: Reduced Rate: Lower Rates on home energy; etc. And VAT's original 10% rate is now 20%; and if the EU Council have their way, the current UK dispensations on zero rate for Food, Education Supplies; Books and Newspapers etc, will evaporate. Cynically, I once wrote: "A politician  is an egotistical  and pathological liar, attached to a large mouth!" (© PDD (R) Ltd 2016) I find no cause to amend my statement...
  20. [quote user="richard51"]I do see where you are coming from with your ideal house albf. However, surely, if you are not using a room in a house with central heating all you have to do is close the valve to the radiator in the room. By ruling out central heating I think you deflect from your main points.[/quote] Couldn't agree more richard. I was going to make an identical comment, yet by this time, trying to use logic and Thermo-Dynamics theory and practice in the latter part of this thread was clearly a waste of time and grey matter. [Www]
  21. I have tried to nail this down. If any one group were responsible, then it was clearly Vote Leave! See here: Neither Leave. EU nor Grassroots Out made such claims. In any case, I believe the original comment (And it was never ever a cast in Concrete Statement), was "for example, we could have an extra £350 Million a week to spend on the NHS and other critical areas." Just shows what happens when political parties emulate major corporates and employ PR bunnies... However, quite what this has to do with Turkey joining the EU or an EU military force is totally beyond me? [8-)]
  22. [quote user="alittlebitfrench"] Oil is a dead fuel and gas as well.[/quote] Well, let's hope there is a massive investment, soon, in nuclear power stations... Or planting new trees. Solar and wind simply do not create sufficient energy. Which is probably why, Germany has rolled back its much vaunted solar programme and heavily invested in new, err, coal-fired power generating stations. Central heating is clearly the most efficient form known to man of heating buildings: mainly owing to the inherent economies of scale. Even ground-source heating requires electricity: much of which is generated by both natural gas and heavy oil. Still, looking on the not-so-bright side, I suppose we could all revert to tallow candles; or slaughtering the whales left; or eat a bushel of carrots per day... Or retiring to bed, as the daylight fades away. Wearing our fleeces, naturally, to try and keep warm... [Www]
  23. [quote]a bit dopey Clegg, delusional / grossly oversimplified version of events[/quote] You've described him to a T, ET! [:D] [quote] anybody who reads the papers would have known was total codswallop? [/quote] Nail on head; except, the British "Papers", if one can stretch a point, dismally failed to provide intelligent and accurate versions of such events. Interesting to me, how Farage instructed a motley collection of media bunnies what dumb brains they are two days ago in Copenhagen. "........Copenhagen at the News Xchange annual conference for the international broadcast news industry Farage addressed the audience of around 630 journalists from around the world and promptly sent them into a Twitter frenzy by informing them they were out of touch." Ah me, always remember the the profound words of Mark Twain (A newspaper man). "The man who does not read a paper is ill-informed. The man who does read a paper is misinformed!"
  24. [quote user="andyh4"]"The sticking point was Erdogan's human rights atrocities, post the attempted coup " I love how you tell 'em GS. Turkey had to meet 32 criteria, of which it had met one - up until the coupe. It now meets none. Never is a very long time, but if the 32 criteria remain on the table, they will not be joining any time soon.[/quote] Oh I quite agree, andy. Except this is hardly the point, is it? The salient point is the "assurances" given by Dave et al concerning no hope of Turkey joining "until the year 3,000!". Clearly on the EU's own press releases this is simply not true! See here:
  25. Turkey. Dave, Clegg et al denied utterly, Turkey was even being considered as an EU member. Once the Referendum dust had settled, the EU Council proudly announced it was going ahead. The sticking point was Erdogan's human rights atrocities, post the attempted coup and as a temporary holding measure the EU Council agreed to grant Turkey visa-free access to Europe, as a sop to ensure Erdogan continued to restrain the hordes of illegal immigrants in Turkey who were trying to reach Western Europe. This became a game of blackmail. Now the EU Council has informed Erdogan that visa-free travel is not going to happen anytime soon; ad so he has again threatened to release the immigrant floodgates. A frightening concept: tens of thousands of Turks running amok around Europe through uncontrolled Schengen borders. [:-))] P.S. For those who do not know, the Turkish Mafia is large and bloody dangerous and controls the import of heroin into Europe. It is also intertwined with the Albanian, Bulgarian and Russian Mafiya and the Sicilian Mafia, the Naples Camora, the Ndràngheta in Calabria, the Union Corse in mainly Marsailles and the Cosa Nostra in the USA. Activities: white slaving for compelled prostitution; violent robbery; drugs dealing and distribution; contract murders; etc. Nice. You didn't really believe Donor Kebab bars created sufficient income for those top-end Mercs and Porsches, did you? [Www]
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