Off Topic The Politics Thread

why don't you make some memes
how hard can it be to make one

 

Goldy from my perspective I wasn’t meaning illegals

 

I can’t be arsed and don’t have the Russians to do it for me. Whatever happened to that report?

 

The "average adult" in the UK will include all the pensioners, the sick and disabled, relatives that are carers for sick.... It's meaningless!!

 

You really are an idiot, where have I ever posted anything that justifies you calling me a racist, and before you start and make a bigger dick of yourself, remember ISLAM is not a ****ing race, it’s a religion and I hate all religions equally.
Secondly the reason the attack in Germany hasn’t made the news in such detail is probably down to biased reporting, yet another reason I don’t watch mainstream media news programmes and read mainstream tabloids, newspapers etc.
You really need to get a grip and move on before your idiocy defines you and what you are.
End.

 

Just imagine what more could be achieved if the great unwashed from Broken Britain got off their arses, declined benefits and went fruit picking instead of Johnny Foreigner. Stuff like that, really.

 

in the uk I was paid 90 pound per day to work 7 to 5
I would never do a minute more
I moved here and its mostly paid by the hour
now I work between 65 and 75 hours a week
I get paid more than the kiwis
work longer hours than the kiwis who whine if they work any overtime
and certainly pay more tax than them

legal migrants do not move around the world to be a burden
of course they are going to work harder in their new countries

 

See more insults, I’ll ask again where have I called you racist? I’m fully aware Islam isn’t a race it’s a base behind several religions, I’d agree with you I have no time for religion either.

 

Scots offshore wind farm revolution has created just 6% of jobs forecast by ministers

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Exclusive by Martin Williams @MWilliamsHT Senior News Reporter

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Exclusive
Outrage as wind farm revolution offers just 6% of 28,000 jobs Scots ministers' forecast


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SCOTLAND'S forecast of a jobs bonanza from the offshore wind farm revolution has been described as "a pipe dream" as it emerged it has created just 6% of the 28,000 direct jobs predicted by this year.

New official estimates state that there were just 1,700 full-time jobs in the offshore wind sector in Scotland, a fraction of the numbers projected by ministers by 2020.

The Scottish Government's low carbon strategy published in 2010 which described the large scale development of offshore wind as representing the "biggest opportunity for sustainable economic growth in Scotland for a generation" with Scotland having an estimated 25% of Europe's offshore wind potential It said there was a potential for the creation of 28,000 direct jobs and £7.1 billion investment by 2020.

A Unite Scotland source said: "It is scandalous. These figures are truly unbelievable."

It comes as concerns remain over Scotland losing out on multi-million pound contracts for Scotland 's wind farm revolution - after a ministerial summit convened to end the "scandal" of Scots green jobs going abroad promised action.


It was confirmed that Paris-based GE Renewable Energy, a division of the Boston-based multinational General Electric, has been awarded a major project in the creation of one of the country’s biggest offshore wind farms, the £2 billion Neart Na Gaoithe (NnG). And it was working collaboratively with two Dutch-based companies on the offshore wind farm project which is now being jointly run by French state energy giant EDF and state owned Irish energy company ESB.

READ MORE: Minister wind farm summit pledge over Scots renewables jobs "scandal"

In November, the Herald revealed Scotland had already missed out on hundreds of millions of pounds of work in the creation of the wind farm off the Fife coast, before the latest development with unions furious at the way NnG is being handled.

At the time of the 2010 strategy, it was said that Scotland had the natural resources to become the "green energy powerhouse of Europe" and said: "It is critical that Scotland exploits the opportunities being made available by the offshore wind industry."

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The report was supported by John Swinney, now deputy first minister, and then cabinet secretary for finance and sustainable growth who said in the report that the transition of Scotland's industries and firms to low carbon processes, products and services is both an "economic and environmental imperative, and offers the potential to stimulate and exploit rapidly expanding global markets".

But the latest estimates by the Office for National Statistics last month reveal that 1,700 full time jobs relied directly on the offshore wind sector in Scotland in 2018. That is a rise of 1000 from 2014.

Analysis for the Scottish Government in advance of the 2010 strategy by IPA Economics identified the worst of four scenarios which was described as "low delivery of energy" with "unrealised economic benefits" where additional jobs created in the offshore wind sector failed to reach 1000 by 2020.

READ MORE: Scotland loses again in £2bn wind farm boom after ministers pledge action

In October, the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council, co-chaired by energy minister Paul Wheelhouse put forward a strategy to boost offshore wind capacity by the end of this decade which would be enough to power every household in Scotland twice over and to boost the local content of projects.

Details of the plan show that that the ambitions have scaled down since 2010 - with a desire to boost the number of offshore wind jobs to "more than 6,000" by 2030 - just over a fifth of the forecast for 2020.

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The details emerged as attempts by one union to get details of the number of jobs relying on offshore wind farms through Crown Estate Scotland and the Scottish Government failed - because they did not hold the information.

Unite Scottish Secretary, Pat Rafferty said: "The latest data highlights that direct employment is around 2,000 jobs when a greens jobs bonanza of 28,000 was promised ten years ago by the Scottish Government.

"We now have definite proof that this has been a pipe dream. Billions of pounds worth of renewables contracts are being awarded with minimal benefits to local and regional supply chains which is why urgent action must be taken to enforce local content clauses in all contracts...."

“It’s also absolutely staggering that based on how important the offshore wind sector is to the Scottish economy that the Scottish Government doesn’t have a clear idea what is exactly going on in relation to job creation because they don’t hold the information."

The latest jobs figures have come off the back of the "scandal" of Scotland's green revolution being increasingly placed in foreign hands.

In November, the Herald revealed Scotland had already missed out on hundreds of millions of pounds of work in the creation of the wind farm off the Fife coast, before the latest development with unions furious at the way NnG is being handled.

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Unions have criticised what they saw as “the scraps off the table” that Scotland has received in the NnG project as the Herald revealed Scotland lost important NnG project work to England, Germany, Finland and France.

Last month, GE Renewable Energy confirmed it is overseeing the project for the design, supply, construction and commissioning of onshore and offshore wind substations for the NnG development.

It will be responsible for the delivery of all infrastructure within the perimeter of the project, including ground works and civil construction.

And the French firm says it will act in a "consortium arrangement" with two Dutch firms, platform construction experts HSM Offshore BV and engineering company IV-One.

READ MORE: Scotland left with 'scraps off table' in £2bn wind farm boom


That news came on the day of a summit over what union chiefs describe over the "renewables scandal" led to new measures promised by the Scottish government designed to increase the number of offshore wind contracts staying in Scotland.

The government announced that developers will have to agree on supply-chain commitments when applying for offshore wind leases in an effort to protect domestic jobs.

Meanwhile, the Herald understands it has still not been decided whether Scotland will get a cut of a key contract to build the 54 steel foundation jackets which anchor the turbines to the seabed. It has been proposed that eight might be built in Scotland with the rest being constructed in south east Asia.

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The £640m Saipem turbine jackets deal will mean Canadian-owned Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab) yards in Arnish and Fife continuing to lose out in the “green manufacturing revolution” getting no more than an estimated 15% of the valuable and crucial manufacturing work. Saipem will also supply and install an additional two jackets for offshore substation.

BiFab, which employs around 1,400 workers was rescued from the brink of administration by the Scottish Government with a loan valued at £37.4m, but then was purchased by Canadian firm DF Barnes, although hundreds of jobs were shed.

The workforce is now estimated to then stand at just 115 So far the only new confirmed jobs Scotland would gain is 50 over 25 years, at a new maintenance base at Eyemouth harbour.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The 2010 report included a range of possible scenarios based on robust industry data available at that time – a time when the support mechanism for offshore wind looked very different to now.

“UK Government policy has undermined the ability of offshore wind developers to utilise the local supply chain, because its focus is on price alone, rather than taking into account value created for the economy.

“For our part, we are using all devolved powers at our disposal to maximise economic and jobs potential from Scotland’s enormous renewable energy resources – which will be vital to meeting both Scotland’s and the UK’s net zero emissions targets.

“We help to fund the ONS Low Carbon and Renewable Economy Survey and our analysts work to ensure the design and methodology of the survey is as robust as possible.”

 

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Joe Barnes

@Barnes_Joe

EU27 ambassadors couldn't agree on Michel Barnier's negotiating mandate today – France still holding out on the level-playing field demands. They will return for another go on Monday with ministers due to sign off the guidelines on Tuesday next week.

 

I'm sure that's true (and sympathies for having to put up with all those whinging Kiwi's!). But in terms of income to the economy, a lot of unskilled immigrants came to the UK from Europe. Not knocking it, they did stuff that maybe Brits didn't want to do like fruit picking. But high earners are mostly Brits, in the City of London. Of course there are immigrants too, but mostly Brits and its these service industries in Banking and related finance, Insurance, Law, accountancy etc that brings in the big money into Treasury coffers

 

Well done, you and Turkish have a agreed on something. Call it quits, eh?

 

You’re more of a xenophobe than a racist which I hope helps.

 

'I've Not Hurt Anyone': The Stories Behind TV Licence Prosecutions
We spent a day in the magistrates' court and found those being punished for failing to pay are some of society's most vulnerable.

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  By Aasma Day

“I am not a criminal. I’ve been forgetful and stupid, but I’ve not hurt anyone or done anything purposefully wrong.”

Each year, more than 100,000 people – three-quarters of them women – get hauled before magistrates for not paying their TV licence fee. Earlier this month, Sara Smith was one of them.


“I felt nervous and embarrassed,” the 26-year-old told HuffPost UK. “I had never been to court before and suddenly I was around criminals.”

A public consultation is under way to help the government decide whether not paying the TV licence fee should remain a criminal offence.

As things stand, people like Sara who haven’t paid up are summoned to court once a month.

Alongside her at Blackburn Magistrates’ Court when HuffPost UK visited were people facing financial difficulties and health issues, some who didn’t speak English as a first language, and others just down on their luck.

In the end, Sara was fined £40 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £60 and a £30 victim surcharge – a total of £130, which she’ll pay in instalments of £10 a week.

A mother of three who briefly fell behind on the licence fee while caring for her father, Sara didn’t know she’d done anything wrong until bailiffs turned up at her front door. She later developed pneumonia and ended up missing her first court appearance.

“I genuinely just assumed we had a TV licence,” she told magistrates. “I do have a TV licence now. I just fell behind on two payments while I was looking after my dad and had switched the TV licence to my partner’s name at the same address.”

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The Magistrates Association
Magistrates court
The next day, as her young children watched cartoons, Sara told HuffPost UK how her father had been dying of cancer at the time she missed the payments, and she was spending her days by his side while her partner worked night shifts and took care of their children during the day.

“We were literally crossing paths and I was coming home late at night and not checking the mail,” she said.

Her partner, a forklift driver, had to take the day off without pay so she could go to court, so the family lost more financially than the £130 bill Sara was handed by the bench.

“My dad was in a really bad way but had outlived the prognosis given to him by specialists,” said Sara. “I would be at the hospice all day, but then when I’d get home, they would ring and say ‘this is it’. I’d rush back, but then he’d pull through again.”

I am not a criminal. I’ve been forgetful and stupid but I’ve not hurt anyone or done anything purposefully wrong.”Sara Smith, mum-of-three
As her young children watched television in the living room, Sara told HuffPost UK her four-year-old daughter had recently been diagnosed with autism. “She is fascinated with the TV,” she said. “Part of her autism is that she likes watching the same things over and over again.”

The bailiffs, arriving at 7am one day in November, had threatened to get locksmiths to let them into her house, and said she now owed £800 for the privilege. What they didn’t bother telling her was who she actually owed the debt to, something she had to ring them up to find out.

“I was then supposed to go to court in December.” she said. “But two days before, I started having chest pains and had to go to hospital. They found blood clots on my lung and a shadow which was pneumonia. Then the next court date I was given for January was the same day as a CT scan appointment.”

In 2018, 72% of all prosecutions for licence fee non-payment were against women. It accounts for 30 per cent of all prosecutions against women, more than any other offence.

Campaigners say women are more likely to be living in poverty or affected by austerity and also the ones most likely to be present when TV licensing officers visit the property.

From April 2020, the annual cost of the TV licence fee will be £157.50. And from June, only over-75s claiming pension credit will be eligible for a free TV licence.

For those who don’t have a bank account or don’t want to set up a direct debit, they can use a TV Licensing payment card. This allows them to spread the cost with weekly payments costing £5.60 a week. Using this method, people pay for their first licence in 26 payments, one each week. Once they’ve paid all 26 payments, they will pay fortnightly instead.

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Former culture secretary Nicky Morgan launched a public consultation to look at whether non-payment of the TV licence should remain a criminal offence.

Currently, anyone who watches or records live TV or uses iPlayer without a TV licence is guilty of an offence.

While you cannot be jailed directly for not paying the licence fee, if they later fail to pay a fine they could end up behind bars.

In 2018, more than 121,000 people were convicted and sentenced for evasion, and issued with an average fine of £176.

Launching the consultation, Morgan said many people felt it was wrong that “you can be imprisoned for not paying the TV licence” and that its enforcement punished the vulnerable.

She said: “We are launching a public consultation to make sure we have a fair and proportionate approach to licence fee penalties and payments that protects those most in need in society.”

I still needed the TV for the kids. When you can’t afford to go out and do things, they need something to do."Mandy Griffiths, mum-of-two

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Aasma Day
Mandy Griffiths
Missing three TV licence payments left Mandy Griffiths facing a four-figure bill.

“It cost me £6 every week or so for the TV licence,” she told HuffPost UK. “But sometimes, I just didn’t have the £6 to pay as I needed it for food, gas or electric.”

Mandy, a single mother of two, says access to TV is important for people facing financial hardship, particularly if they have children. “I still needed the TV for the kids.” she said. “When you can’t afford to go out and do things, they need something to do.

“I went from missing around three TV licence payments to being fined around £100 and court fees on top. It ended up going up to around £1,000 and it had to come out of my benefits money. At one point, I was paying £150 of my benefits a month to different people I owed. So now I try not to get behind on my TV licence.”

Financial struggles were a recurrent theme in the TV licences cases witnessed by HuffPost UK at Blackburn Magistrates’ Court.

One 32-year-old man had been listed for a hearing but told magistrates he had accidentally ticked the “not guilty” box and wanted to change his plea to guilty. He admitted using a colour television at his address without a licence when TV Licensing officers visited. He cited financial difficulties and handed over paperwork as proof.

After giving him full credit for his guilty plea, magistrates fined him a total of £184 and told him the minimum repayment he could make was £5 a week.

A 45-year-old man who stood in the court coughing told magistrates he had some health issues and pleaded guilty to using a colour television without a licence. He was fined a total of £137 and, after telling magistrates he wouldn’t be paid until the end of the month, was given 28 days to make his first payment of £5.

A 41-year-old woman wearing a purple headscarf attended court with an interpreter who translated everything into Urdu. It transpired she had originally been fined £220 in her absence two years ago, with a victim surcharge of £30 and costs of £205.

Through her interpreter, she told the court a mistake had been made and wanted to know if the fine could be reduced. At the time the TV licensing officer called, she thought her husband was already paying for a licence. When she found out this wasn’t the case, she couldn’t make a payment as the couple were experiencing financial difficulties.

One woman was fined a total of £455 in her absence while another, described as unemployed, was fined £295.

Another woman, who the court heard was suffering from anxiety and on a low income, was fined a total of £290 in her absence.

Still another had telephoned to say she wasn’t going to attend as she had suffered a head injury and gone to hospital.

Meanwhile, the mother of a man who was due to be tried for not paying the licence fee had written to the court to say her son hadn’t lived at the address in question for two months. She said suffered from mental health problems and autism and had gone missing before being sectioned. The mother explained she had called TV Licensing but three fines had still come out of the man’s benefits.

When people have got very little money, they spend it on essentials such as food and heating."Roni Marsh, debt team leader for South West London law centres
Roni Marsh is the debt team leader for South West London law centres, which defend the rights of people who cannot afford a lawyer.

She told HuffPost UK that many of the people prosecuted by TV Licensing are “vulnerable, have health issues, have English as a second language or are people with low literacy”.

“One of the saddest things is that the people we come across do not realise the consequences or realise what has happened until money starts coming out of their benefits,” she said.

“When they are in financial hardship, many people avoid opening their post. Some of them don’t understand the implications. I had one woman recently who told me she’d signed some paperwork to make TV Licensing officers go away – but she had no idea what she’d signed.”

Marsh says not having a TV cuts people off from a major part of life. “When people have got very little money,” she explained, “they spend it on essentials such as food and heating.

“I’ve seen people who are not paying their TV licences and taking the risk as they can’t afford it. But they still want access to a TV, especially when they have kids as it keeps them occupied. If someone said they didn’t have a TV, that would be viewed as unusual.”

Marsh said having deductions made from benefits was pushing vulnerable people into food banks.

She added: “Being summoned to a magistrates’ court is frightening for anyone, but it must be terrifying for people with anxiety and mental health issues, and those already facing financial hardship.”

John Bache, national chair of the Magistrates Association, told HuffPost UK his organisation welcomed the public consultation.

He said: “It is concerning that, in 2018, 72 per cent of non-payment cases involved a female defendant.

“We would call for more research to better understand and address this disproportionality.

“It is important to note that an individual will not be sent to prison for licence evasion itself, but only for wilful non-payment of the ensuing fine, and prison is treated by sentencers as a last resort.”

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Classen Rafael / EyeEm via Getty Images
A TV Licensing spokesperson told HuffPost UK they were committed to operating fairly and prosecution was always an “absolute last resort”.

He said: “When someone doesn’t pay for their TV licence, they are given multiple opportunities to then do so. This includes them being sent multiple letters and the majority of first-time suspected offenders are not prosecuted if they buy a licence before their court hearing.”

He added a detailed government-commissioned review had already found the current system was “the fairest and most effective”. However, he said: “We do appreciate that some people struggle to pay for their TV licence and so we do everything we can to help.

“We offer a range of different payment options and we work with money advice and community organisations across the UK so they can advise those on low incomes.”

The consultation, launched on February 5, will last eight weeks with the government publishing its response this summer. It will also look at the viability of an alternative enforcement scheme.

Decriminalisation would mean TV licence evasion would become a civil offence similar to non-payment of council tax or an electricity bill, rather than a criminal offence.

But for people like Sara, it comes too late.

“I feel so relieved the court appearance is over – I felt so sick and embarrassed,” she said. “I am so nervous I am going to forget the weekly payments that I’m just going to pay the fine off in full as soon as we can.”

 

this will go down well in france and germany


Portugal considers subsidising UK tourists' post-Brexit healthcare
Country looking at continuing cover offered by European health insurance card

Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent

@lisaocarroll
Tue 18 Feb 2020 06.13 GMT Last modified on Tue 18 Feb 2020 06.16 GMT

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Several measures are being considered to minimise the disruption of Brexit on the Portuguese economy. Photograph: Alamy
Portugal is considering offering British tourists subsidised post-Brexit healthcare in an effort to retain their custom in the Algarve, Lisbon and beyond.

It is one of several novel measures being considered by the Portuguese government in an effort to minimise the disruption of Brexit to its economy.

Rita Marques, the tourism minister, said the country was examining a unilateral offer to ensure cover offered by the European health insurance card (Ehic), the EU reciprocal system, can continue if a deal is not struck on it during this year’s trade talks.

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Portugal plans special lanes for Britons in airports after Brexit
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She said: “The Portuguese and the UK are the oldest allies in the world and no matter what happens the Portuguese will stand by the British. The British traveller is very important to us.

“We are looking to guarantee this health cover next year. We are currently looking at how often it is used and if it is making a positive impact. We are in the process of testing this and the other ideas right now.

“If these are issues that are important to the British traveller, then we have to go for it. We are trying to minimise the disruption to British tourism.”

About 2 million Britons visit Portugal every year. The latest figures show the Algarve is the No 1 destination with 1.2 million British tourists in 2019.

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Number of British tourists to Portugal in 2019 Photograph: Turismo de Portugal
Among the other measures Portugal were considering, said Marques, were dedicated passport lanes for British visitors, special arrangements to continue to recognise British driving licences and entry for British pets.

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But the potential to offer replacement healthcare cover when the Ehic ceases to apply to British residents from January next year is the most dramatic and potentially costly intervention the government is considering.

“The idea is you would pay the same as a Portuguese person, which is a small tax to see the GP or to visit a hospital,” Marques said, adding that it would involve agreements with both state and private hospitals.

Unlike the UK, many countries charge a set fee for GP and A&E visits. This co-payment would still apply to British tourists in Portugal where it costs between €14 (£11.70) and €18 for emergency medical service, and between €9 and €45 for a consultation with a GP or health centre.

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Guardian Today: the headlines, the analysis, the debate - sent direct to you
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The Ehic grants EU citizens access to free or reduced-cost healthcare while on holiday in the EU and the European Economic Area, and pays for 250,000 medical treatments of British tourists each year, according to a House of Commons research briefing. However, unless a deal is agreed to continue with the Ehic system, the cover for Britons will disappear on 1 January 2021 when the Brexit transition period ends.

Continuing with the health card may be a price worth paying to keep British tourists, who contribute €3bn – or about 1.5% – to the overall Portuguese economy of €204bn.

Statistics show 17% of tourist receipts come from British tourists, with the number of overnight stays among Britons up almost 8% compared with 1.3% for tourism as a whole.

Last year’s Brelcome campaign, advertising the country’s 850km (530-mile) coastline, food and sunshine, helped reverse a 2018 decrease in British tourist numbers after a six-year boom.

 

https://newsthump.com/2020/02/21/ho...mmigration-system-take-the-test-and-find-out/

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The average migrant will also include the old sick disabled and kids.

 

Woohoo
I'm allowed back
80 points