Strictly European. - Page 3

Originally Posted by jazzguru

I made my point. Don't get all upset because you missed it or tried to spin it and failed miserably.

People in Britain are freezing to death because fuel prices are too high and are depending on government to save them. Your energy minister has admitted the government program that is supposed to deal with fuel poverty is a dismal failure.

Government is not the solution to your problem. It IS the problem.

How do you think fuel prices got so high in the first place? Could it, perhaps, have something to do with the fact that your government has intentionally driven fuel prices higher to "save the planet" from the "threat" of global warming? And if not intentionally, then indirectly by imposing insane regulations and restrictions on energy production.

I bet more than a few people in Britain would really appreciate some global warming right about now.

But I guess it's okay. They won't have to pay NHS (which is broke and running a deficit) to treat their frostbite and hypothermia.

Originally Posted by trumptman

If his taxes paid for his health care and someone elses as well, then it isn't the government's fault he hasn't got money for fuel for heating.

Originally Posted by segovius

Can't see a problem with it...tellingly you left out the bit about who was REALLY responsible for the deaths: the Capitalist System.

Originally Posted by segovius

Or if his taxes paid for wars he objected to costing billions a week.

Or if his bills need to go up to give some fat wanker another million in bonus.

Or if the greedy bastard's who run the show's sole response to financial meltdown is to screw the last penny out him before the gravy train sinks forever.

Or if the Capitalist System fucks him up so bad he gets thrown on the scrapheap when they have wrung the last drop of exploitable commodity from his paltry life.

In fact, NONE of it is the Government's fault EVER (unless the Govt is Left-wing which it never really is) - it's ALL HIS OWN FAULT.

We know this because this is the infallible Wingnut extremist truth #1 handed down from Mt Sinai.

Originally Posted by trumptman

If the government screws up everything it touches, steals from the poor to give to the reach, and only protects special interests instead of human interests.....

..then why the hell do you keep advocating for more and more of it?

Originally Posted by marcUK

Ive never witnessed that reading these boards, quite the opposite infact.

Originally Posted by jazzguru

I made my point. Don't get all upset because you missed it or tried to spin it and failed miserably.

People in Britain are freezing to death because fuel prices are too high and are depending on government to save them. Your energy minister has admitted the government program that is supposed to deal with fuel poverty is a dismal failure.



Government is not the solution to your problem. It IS the problem.

How do you think fuel prices got so high in the first place? Could it, perhaps, have something to do with the fact that your government has intentionally driven fuel prices higher to "save the planet" from the "threat" of global warming? And if not intentionally, then indirectly by imposing insane regulations and restrictions on energy production.

I bet more than a few people in Britain would really appreciate some global warming right about now.

But I guess it's okay. They won't have to pay NHS (which is broke and running a deficit) to treat their frostbite and hypothermia.

Originally Posted by jazzguru

I'm making a link, alright. Just not the one you say I am. Pay very close attention to the following 2 sentences:

1) The British government runs NHS. It is broke, running a deficit, and unsustainable long-term unless changes are made.

2) The British government runs a program that is supposed to deal with fuel poverty. It is a dismal failure, and people are dying as a result.

Both of the above sentences have a word in common that starts with a "G".

Are you seeing the link yet?

Originally Posted by segovius

Can't see a problem with it...tellingly you left out the bit about who was REALLY responsible for the deaths: the Capitalist System.

Still...seems Hands Sandon was merely stating the facts so there's no real chance of any Conservative doing that it seems.....

Originally Posted by jazzguru

I'm making a link, alright. Just not the one you say I am. Pay very close attention to the following 2 sentences:

1) The British government runs NHS. It is broke, running a deficit, and unsustainable long-term unless changes are made.

2) The British government runs a program that is supposed to deal with fuel poverty. It is a dismal failure, and people are dying as a result.

Both of the above sentences have a word in common that starts with a "G".

Are you seeing the link yet?

Originally Posted by segovius

1) Since the onset of the freezing conditions UK Energy Suppliers have hiked prices by 38%

Originally Posted by segovius

2) The Government has no real power to stop them - the real question should be 'what sort of sick bastards would do that?'

Originally Posted by jazzguru

Thanks for making excuses for your government's failure, cego.

Originally Posted by segovius

Actually it is not strictly accurate to call them 'my' Government for the following reasons:

1) I despise them as I despise all Right-wing abominations

2) As they are Right-wing it seems unlikely I would excuse them

3) I did not vote for them and have never voted for anyone

4) I do not live in the UK.

My allegiance is purer in nature and to a nobler and impartial cause: facts.

Originally Posted by jazzguru

My apologies, I thought you were a citizen of the UK.

Tell me, do you think the government of the UK is left or right of the US government?

Originally Posted by segovius

You can't see what's not there... you are hallucinating.

The facts are these:

1) Since the onset of the freezing conditions UK Energy Suppliers have hiked prices by 38%

2) The Government has no real power to stop them - the real question should be 'what sort of sick bastards would do that?'

3) The cold weather payments for the poor are fixed. The reason people are dying is not because of the level of this payment - it is because of the greedy bastards mentioned above ensuring the end-user cannot use heating.

4) The Government does not in fact run the NHS. It is run by a collection of more or less independent Health Authorities.

The Welsh and Scottish authorities for example may have policies on free prescriptions which the English do not. There are many examples of this and treatment differs widely by region for this reason.

5) Perhaps you should take some time out and consider whether you need to do eithe rmore research or less posting.

Originally Posted by trumptman

The reason isn't because of greed but because of governments debasing their currency. All Western governments are debt ridden and are trying to print away their problems. When you have a real tangible thing, like oil, copper, iron, etc. and people want to give you money for it and then print up a whole bunch more money to devalue the money you currently hold, you are going to charge more. The commodity boom isn't just in the U.K. and it isn't based off any greed except for government greed.

HOUSEHOLD energy bills could double to £2,500 a year in an “unstoppable” rise driven by the £200 billion fight against climate change, a market expert warned yesterday.

Mark Todd, of energyhelpline.com, said rocketing prices will send costs for hard-pressed families and the elderly into the “stratosphere”.

He said consumers will have to pick up the tab for new windfarms, nuclear power plants and the networks needed to support them.

Mr Todd’s worst-case scenario forecast means bills could rise from the current £1,215 average for gas and electricity – so-called dual fuel bills – to £2,472 a year within 10 years. He spoke out as five of the biggest energy firms in Britain told MPs that energy bills will rise by up to 25 per cent over the next decade.

That would slap another £303 on the average gas and electricity bill.

Yet campaigners Consumer Focus said that over the past seven years alone domestic dual fuel bills have soared 124 per cent – from an average £543 a year. Mr Todd said: “Both the cold spell and rebound in the economy are contributing factors to wholesale gas prices rising by 56 per cent in the past three months. It’s therefore no surprise that five of the big six energy companies have warned MPs that domestic bills will continue to rise.

“There seems to be an almost unstoppable upward trend with prices creeping up remorselessly. When price drops come they tend to be small, when price rises come they tend to be big.”

The Government is shortly expected to announce a consultation on reforming the energy market.
And on Monday the Climate Change Committee quango laid out a blueprint for cutting carbon emissions which it admitted would require investment of about £150 billion in energy infrastructure up to 2030.
Mr Todd said: “The year’s price rises are only the tip of the iceberg.

“An unpalatable cocktail of green taxes, power station investment, a crumbling grid and dwindling gas supplies is set to send prices into the stratosphere.

“Energy bills are many homes’ biggest expense. UK consumers must shop around for a better deal.”
Head of energy at Consumer Focus, Audrey Gallacher, said: “It is up to the energy industry to show that any price rises are fair. It must be easy for customers to find the best tariff, switch easily and be confident they are paying a fair price.”

Energy UK, which speaks for the major suppliers, last night urged the public to make homes more energy efficient.

Originally Posted by jazzguru

My apologies, I thought you were a citizen of the UK.

Tell me, do you think the government of the UK is left or right of the US government?

Originally Posted by segovius

Actually it is not strictly accurate to call them 'my' Government for the following reasons:

1) I despise them as I despise all Right-wing abominations

2) As they are Right-wing it seems unlikely I would excuse them

3) I did not vote for them and have never voted for anyone

4) I do not live in the UK.

My allegiance is purer in nature and to a nobler and impartial cause: facts.

Originally Posted by Hands Sandon

When you look at the ages of people wanting to migrate it's pretty obvious that the closer they get to needing healthcare the more likely it is that they wouldn't migrate. Tellingly also the UK has the lowest migration rates, just two percent who will soon migrate. You have to remember too that Europe's now a nice hot sunny climate with all the legal rights of citizenry which it wasn't before. The US and Canada are bound to attract some people too, but that's not as easy to do as Europe is.

Not a day passes when I don't feel hugely relieved and inspired to be back in the UK, though I do miss some things about the US and will return, it doesn't have the magic of this place, at least not for me.

Originally Posted by jazzguru

One in Three Britons Would Like to Leave the UK

Why would anyone want to leave a country with "free" healthcare?!

In another sign of the desperation European finance ministers are dealing with headed into 2011, Spain has taken a step that many solar industry watchers thought was unthinkable: retroactively lowering feed-in tariff rates. ............From one perspective, the fact that Spain has taken a step that many solar industry executives thought impossible to even contemplate makes it hard to downplay. After all, solar project economics are founded on the idea that the FIT rates will be in place like a long-term bond, and investment rates of return on the solar projects are predicated on attractive returns being generated by the feed-in tariffs. The project finance desks across Europe that finance projects have said that if Spain went ahead with its plans to retroactively reduce solar FITs, it wouldn't be possible to finance solar projects anymore, because no one would trust any government to not follow Spain's lead.

In effect, the Spanish move would put the "fear of god" in anyone even contemplating project economics in solar and trying to attract investors with the assurance of FIT rates.

Originally Posted by jazzguru

One in Three Britons Would Like to Leave the UK

Why would anyone want to leave a country with "free" healthcare?!

Originally Posted by nvidia2008

It's the weather, plain and simple. And the landscape. And the boringnesssss. And the fact that anywhere else is usually more interesting and less gloomy.

Originally Posted by segovius

And Right-wing Extremist racists oppressing everyone - and that's just the Government.

There's the EDL and the BNP too....

France will deploy extra police and keep vandalism statistics under wraps on New Year's Eve to fight what authorities say has become an annual "sweepstakes" of disaffected youths competing to see who can burn the most cars.

Youths in depressed suburbs of French cities have been torching hundreds of vehicles on New Year's Eve and Bastille Day since the early 1990s. Police say the annual rite has turned competitive, with youths tracking the news in the first days of the new year to see which neighborhood did the most damage.

Originally Posted by trumptman

Those crazy kids! Traditions are important though and they sure understand that in France. I keep forgetting though, are they burning the cars because of lack of universal health care or because of it? What's the talking point again this week?

Originally Posted by segovius

I'll try to clear it up

Trouble in Europe: people protesting against the jackboot of authoritarianism and casting off the yoke of oppression.

There is however, one exception....yep...you guessed!! Our Gallic cousins - they are a hoot!

Trouble in France: people protesting FOR the jackboot of authoritarianism and begging FOR the yoke of oppression...... oh an complaining that they might have to do a year's extra work before wasting their twilight years sinking into that good night in a haze of xenophobia, national pride (for what?) and cheap Margaux from Monoprix.

There is another exception though - and I think this is the thing to which you refer - the 'not quite French' citizens and Muzzlims from 'dodgy uncivilized countries' who have been ethnically-cleansed and banished to gulags beyond the Périphérique where nice stolid citizens can't see them.

Look at it like this: it's kind of a Holiday Bonus for the Gendarmerie Nationale - the immigrants get to complain about oppression once a year and the kind and gentle Gendarmes get a free pass to kick their heads in.

Originally Posted by NoahJ

Train up a child in the way they should go...

Originally Posted by segovius

I think 'spare the rod....' is probably more in line with the French psyche. Such as it is.

Originally Posted by Frank777

Just saw this in a news feed. Anyone have more details about this 'seizing' of private pension money?