The Good News thread, local jobs, economy etc

[leicsmac]

US shale oil production has increased by about 4 million gallons a day, US imports have plummeted.

 

Short term economically brilliant. Long term environmentally dodgy.

 

Still, if it's a choice between that and being reliant on dodgy regimes across the globe who control most of the oil...

 

But of course there is a third option that doesn't in fact involve kowtowing to tinpoit ME sheiks or wrecking your environment. Sticking a bit more money in making renewables more efficient and giving fusion research as close to a blank cheque as you can. 

 

Reliance on oil and gas in whatever form isn't enough. Said it before and I'll say it again - fusion is the only option that will fit the worlds long term increasing energy needs without changing the natural environment irrevocably for the worse.

[Buce]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30512657

Unemployment down (ONS figures), though the reduction is slowing.

First real wage growth for 6 years, even if it's only been caused by falling inflation - in turn caused by falling oil prices (anyone know what's happening there? I haven't looked into that - don't know what the causes are and whether that is short-term or long-term?). Let's see if the low inflation, lower unemployment and slight upturn in real incomes are sustained now....early days.

I read an article in yesterday's grauniad (can't link it from the app) which suggested that the Yanks and Saudis were artificially driving down the cost of oil in order to collapse the Russian economy, which is highly dependant on oil exports.

In other news, Laboir have opened up a 5 point gap, according to the latest poll, the Tories dropping three points to 28%.

[Alf Bentley]

I read an article in yesterday's grauniad (can't link it from the app) which suggested that the Yanks and Saudis were artificially driving down the cost of oil in order to collapse the Russian economy, which is highly dependant on oil exports.

In other news, Laboir have opened up a 5 point gap, according to the latest poll, the Tories dropping three points to 28%.

 

Could be a repeat of 92-97, then....Tories make a mess of the economy, then turn it around while squabbling over Europe......and Labour win a landslide!    (not serious on just about any part of that, yet somehow....) 

[Guest MattP]

Quick glance at the odds on Hills and the odds for next government are ridiculously close...never seen anything like it.

 

 

7/2 - Con-Lib Coalition

4/1 - Labour Majority

4/1 - Labour Minority

9/2 - Conservative Majority

9/2 - Lab-Lib Coalition

6/1 - Any Coalition Involving UKIP

13/2 - Any Coalition Involving SNP

7/1 - Conservative Minority

33/1 - Any Coalition Involving Greens

50/1 - UKIP Majority

500/1- LIB DEM Majority

Edited 17 December 2014 by MattP

[leicsmac]

What can you get on there being two elections in 2015, I wonder?

[Guest MattP]

What can you get on there being two elections in 2015, I wonder?

 

8/1

 

http://sports.williamhill.com/bet/en-gb/betting/e/6933073/Will-There-Be-2-General-Elections-In-The-UK-In-2015%3f.html

[leicsmac]

8/1

 

http://sports.williamhill.com/bet/en-gb/betting/e/6933073/Will-There-Be-2-General-Elections-In-The-UK-In-2015%3f.html

 

Might be worth having some of that. 

[MooseBreath]

What about the odds on a conservative/labour coalition?

Similar thing happened in Germany I believe

[MooseBreath]

Short term economically brilliant. Long term environmentally dodgy.

Still, if it's a choice between that and being reliant on dodgy regimes across the globe who control most of the oil...

But of course there is a third option that doesn't in fact involve kowtowing to tinpoit ME sheiks or wrecking your environment. Sticking a bit more money in making renewables more efficient and giving fusion research as close to a blank cheque as you can.

Reliance on oil and gas in whatever form isn't enough. Said it before and I'll say it again - fusion is the only option that will fit the worlds long term increasing energy needs without changing the natural environment irrevocably for the worse.

It isn't the only option at all. Solar power alone could comfortably support the world. Wind, hydro, geothermal, tidal, Hydrogen fuel cells, other tech no yet complete... We'll end up with a balance I'm sure. Electric vehicles will wipe out most of the demand for oil long before we've come close to running out. The shift will happen when the commercial viability of renewables overtakes oil and fossils. When it happens it will happen quickly. By 2025 the way we generate our energy will have totally changed. History will mark it as a game changing era where energy became clean, cheap, and abundant. It will transform the world.

[Webbo]

It isn't the only option at all. Solar power alone could comfortably support the world. Wind, hydro, geothermal, tidal, Hydrogen fuel cells, other tech no yet complete... We'll end up with a balance I'm sure. Electric vehicles will wipe out most of the demand for oil long before we've come close to running out. The shift will happen when the commercial viability of renewables overtakes oil and fossils. When it happens it will happen quickly. By 2025 the way we generate our energy will have totally changed. History will mark it as a game changing era where energy became clean, cheap, and abundant. It will transform the world.

It'll definitely transform the world but I think you're a little optimistic with the time scale.

[Guest MattP]

Labour party motion to axe the bedroom tax defeated in the house of commons.

Lib Dems wouldn't join them, bizarrely Douglas Carswell did.

I really hope UKIP aren't going to start moving to the left now on things like this to try and secure Labour/Underclass votes in the north.

Edited 17 December 2014 by MattP

[ADK]

UKIP will be exposed sooner or later.

[leicsmac]

It isn't the only option at all. Solar power alone could comfortably support the world. Wind, hydro, geothermal, tidal, Hydrogen fuel cells, other tech no yet complete... We'll end up with a balance I'm sure. Electric vehicles will wipe out most of the demand for oil long before we've come close to running out. The shift will happen when the commercial viability of renewables overtakes oil and fossils. When it happens it will happen quickly. By 2025 the way we generate our energy will have totally changed. History will mark it as a game changing era where energy became clean, cheap, and abundant. It will transform the world.

 

Kudos to you for being the optimist on this one Moose. I really hope you're right about it. Though, as Weboo says, I think the timescale is a mite too optimistic.

[Webbo]

Labour party motion to axe the bedroom tax defeated in the house of commons.

Lib Dems wouldn't join them, bizarrely Douglas Carswell did.

I really hope UKIP aren't going to start moving to the left now on things like this to try and secure Labour/Underclass votes in the north.

I hope they are. I'd rather they took votes off Labour than the Tories.

[Filbert Walker]

I hope they are. I'd rather they took votes off Labour than the Tories.

Good point!.... maybe UKIP could do that in Labour areas and clean up next May....then swing back to the right and make England great again....

[leicsmac]

Good point!.... maybe UKIP could do that in Labour areas and clean up next May....then swing back to the right and make England great again....

 

I'm sorry...when exactly were we great?

 

I guess you mean 'Powerful and feared', though, right?

Edited 18 December 2014 by leicsmac

[purpleronnie]

Good point!.... maybe UKIP could do that in Labour areas and clean up next May....then swing back to the right and make England great again....

[Guest MattP]

I'm sorry...when exactly were we great?

 

I guess you mean 'Powerful and feared', though, right?

 

When were we great? Have a ready of some history, I can't believe anyone can have such a low opinion of their own nation. Maybe he means 'Rich, respected and admired' rathered than 'Powerful and feared'. When Nikita Kruschev or Joseph Stalin used to meet Eisenhower, Truman or Roosevelt it was a formality that the British Prime Minister would be there to oversee things, that was the respect and statue we held in the World just 50 years ago.

 

We've gone from that to now seeing our Prime Minister have to beg the German or French Prime Minister to allow who we want in our country and success stories being that we only have to pay half of what we are told to bail out socialist nations who have become economic disasters.

 

That's why I think a lot of the left love the EU, they can turn Britain into the country they want it to be through the backdoor without getting anyone ever to vote for it. A pathetic and feeble nation subservient to others.

[Kopfkino]

Labour party motion to axe the bedroom tax defeated in the house of commons.

Lib Dems wouldn't join them, bizarrely Douglas Carswell did.

I really hope UKIP aren't going to start moving to the left now on things like this to try and secure Labour/Underclass votes in the north.

Its been Ukip party policy to oppose the bedroom tax for a while so it's hardly them moving to the left.

However Carswell was quite a strong supporter of it when he was in government but now he's all of a sudden decided to be anti it. I hope that's because he's voting in the interest of his constituents, as he should do, rather than toeing the party line or just trying to tell the world he is different to his former colleagues(which he isn't)

[leicsmac]

When were we great? Have a ready of some history, I can't believe anyone can have such a low opinion of their own nation. Maybe he means 'Rich, respected and admired' rathered than 'Powerful and feared'. When Nikita Kruschev or Joseph Stalin used to meet Eisenhower, Truman or Roosevelt it was a formality that the British Prime Minister would be there to oversee things, that was the respect and statue we held in the World just 50 years ago.

 

We've gone from that to now seeing our Prime Minister have to beg the German or French Prime Minister to allow who we want in our country and success stories being that we only have to pay half of what we are told to bail out socialist nations who have become economic disasters.

 

That's why I think a lot of the left love the EU, they can turn Britain into the country they want it to be through the backdoor without getting anyone ever to vote for it. A pathetic and feeble nation subservient to others.

 

Yeah, perhaps I went overboard with the hyperbole there. I do feel a great appreciation for my country of birth and the things it and the people from it have accomplished through history (Shakespeare, football, the jet engine, the Westminster system, 50 Shades of Grey)...I'm just not into much jingoism regarding it, especially considering to be 'great', as well as the terms you mentioned, we did some pretty shady stuff. Powerful nations on the world stage always do. Besides...why crow about the great stuff that the UK did in the past? We shouldn't have to - we know we're that good.

 

We're still a part of the Big 5 in the UN, so to a degree we still are a mover and shaker in the world arena. We don't command the power we once did, but people still do listen. I get that it annoys people that we don't have the autonomy that we once did thanks to the EU - actually I think that if Cameron had the balls to tell Europe to go fvck itself we would be able to manage economically, but we'd have to do a lot more trading with other countries outside the EU to make up for it.

 

In a wider perspective, given the way the world is moving I think the nation state is moving towards obsolescence anyway. Given how global trade, travel and communication is now borders are becoming more and more tenuous. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on your point of view, but, as I've said on here many times before, one day there will be a problem that forces humanity to act as one world rather than a collection of nation states, or perish.

[Guest MattP]

Its been Ukip party policy to oppose the bedroom tax for a while so it's hardly them moving to the left.

However Carswell was quite a strong supporter of it when he was in government but now he's all of a sudden decided to be anti it. I hope that's because he's voting in the interest of his constituents, as he should do, rather than toeing the party line or just trying to tell the world he is different to his former colleagues(which he isn't)

 

Apologies, that was more my point, Carswell was a huge supporter of it under the coalition.

 

If he has changed on the basis of his constituents then fair enough, but he's in the same constituency he was in when he was voting for it!

[MPH]

 

Quick glance at the odds on Hills and the odds for next government are ridiculously close...never seen anything like it.

 

 

7/2 - Con-Lib Coalition

4/1 - Labour Majority

4/1 - Labour Minority

9/2 - Conservative Majority

9/2 - Lab-Lib Coalition

6/1 - Any Coalition Involving UKIP

13/2 - Any Coalition Involving SNP

7/1 - Conservative Minority

33/1 - Any Coalition Involving Greens

50/1 - UKIP Majority

500/1- LIB DEM Majority

 

 

 

 

 

@ they think its ten times more likely to have a UKIP majority governemnt than Lib Dem

[Guest MattP]

@ they think its ten times more likely to have a UKIP majority governemnt than Lib Dem

 

There is no doubt UKIP will massacre the Lib Dems in terms of votes, Lib Dems will probably end up with more seats though.

 

For the record I think the two Lab/Tory minority governments are the best bets, people have seen what has happened to the Lib Dems this time around and I'm certain no one would really want to enter into a coalition with one of the big boys, it's political suicide for them.

 

One of the best bets I've seen is on Ladbrokes 'electoral bias' coupon....

 

11/4 for Labour to get more seats but the Conservatives to get more votes across the country. That should be no more than 6/4 imo.

[Guest MattP]

Finally , things seem to be moving regarding the Elm Lodge Guest House along with a other locations. It's taken years but I don't think they can sweep this under the carpet anymore.

 

Just hope the people who know are going to be brave enough to come forward.

 

http://news.sky.com/story/1394091/three-murders-investigated-in-child-abuse-probe

 

 

Police are investigating the murders of three young boys as part of an inquiry into an alleged historical Westminster paedophile ring.

Detectives from Operation Midland want abuse victims and potential witnesses to come forward to assist them in their probe into the suspected gang.

They are appealing for any information from people who lived in or visited Dolphin Square in central London in the 1970s.

The residential development near Parliament has long been popular with MPs.

Officers believe the abuse took place at locations in London and the Home Counties, including military bases, between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s.

 

[ADK]

Labour minority seems a decent bet.

 

Pretty sure the Lib Dems have to ask their members first if they want a coalition and I can't see grass roots members backing it even if Clegg wants to do it. It's clearly not in the interests of the party and they would have no chance of getting anything they want.

 

UKIP or at least Farage, wouldn't be so daft as to go into a coalition as they rely on being the protest party and wield power by indirect means.

 

I do expect Labour to make more gains off the Lib Dems than the Tories and I think they will take a small number of seats off the Tories too. UKIP might take a few Tory seats as well. On the other hand, the SNP will dominate Scotland.