anarchist

So where does that leave the Labour Party with its 30 odd percent support? I note David Cameron's personal approval rating has increased to 64% since the election. That would seem to be everyone except the remaining die hard lefties.

So what sort of swarf are you then. Are you the debris from a metal turning process or the slurry left over to fester in the bottom of a grinding pit?

What makes you think that you speak for "most"? Interestingly the opinion polls don't back up your claim. They suggest that an election held today would return a Tory Government with a healthy majority.

I think I am going to buy a Bates Motel T shirt for when I am queuing at check in.

Yes it is a shame that they are having to pay the bills for 13 years of Labour spending more than the country could afford.

Folks like him can normally manage with just their right one.

Well quite clearly you have been posting without having the slightest idea what you are talking about. Currently the country owes around £1 trillion. The fiscal deficit is the shortfall between what the government earns from taxation etc and what it spends on public services. The fiscal deficit (overspend) on this year alone is set to be around £160 billion. Each year this deficit adds to the overall debt. We currently pay around 10p in every pound collected in tax just to pay interest on this debt. So if we add 40% to the debt we will be paying 14p in every pound to pay interest without paying back a single penny of what we owe. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=277 In the calendar year 2009 the UK recorded a general government deficit of £159.2 billion, which was equivalent to 11.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). At the end of December 2009 general government debt was £950.4 billion, equivalent to 68.1 per cent of GDP. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=atwSlenveLJ0 Darling today cut his deficit forecasts for the next five fiscal years by 44 billion pounds ($66 billion) to 567 billion pounds, saying he expects the shortfall to decline from 11.8 percent of gross domestic product to 4 percent by April 2015.

Even with these cuts in spending outlined in the emergency budget government debt will still increase by almost £400 billion over the course of this 5 year parliament. Such was the massive overspending commited to by the previous government, we are not repaying debt with these cuts, merely cutting the suicidal and unsustainable rate at with debt is building up. In 5 years time each family living in the country will be saddled with an extra £16500 of debt on top of the £40,000 of debt that they are already facing.

Well it isn't all bluster then is it. The chief exectutive moves to HK and the head office and board of directors go too. Let's not forget that Alliance and Liecester as well as Abbey were both taken over by Santander and are now run from overseas.

All bluster eh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23748919-hsbc-high-command-quits-london-in-devastating-blow-to-capital.do The chief executive of HSBC quit London for Hong Kong today in a devastating blow to the capital.

The beer pump and the flush toilet. Not necessarily in that order.

Sheffield City Council Town Hall Pinstone Street Sheffield S1 2HH

This will probably answer your question. Page 7.. http://www.staff.city.ac.uk/p.booth/bondbasicsandyieldcurves.pdf I think it is probable that every man woman and child in the UK is exposed to the UK bond market to some degree.

It is more likely to annoy the non grey vote. Most people already receiving a pension will have its terms set out. It is people who are approaching pension age who get the carpet pulled out from beneath their feet when they find that their pot isn't being topped up each year.

No Quantitative easing was in effect the BOE printing money. The idea was to use the cash to buy back bonds and create a market for the sale of new issues. But printing money can only be used as a short term solution as there is nothing to back up the extra cash and will in the end lead to inflation and a reduction in the value of Sterling, which in itself will increase the rate of return that the market demands on bonds.

The answer is everybody who has cash to invest is a potential bond buyer. Rich individuals like Donald Trump for example. Then you have banks, pension funds, city councils, and governments. China is a large buyer of bonds because it is a useful way of obtaining foreign currency as interest repayments tend to be made every 6 months. Some people prefer to buy short term bonds, often buying a bond that has just 2 or 3 years left until maturity. But effectively bonds are just a way of buying debt and obtaining a return for doing so.

We owe the money to people who buy government bonds. These bonds are a guarantee by the government to buy back that debt, usually after 25 years for a set rate of return. To buy back matured bonds the government needs to sell new ones to raise the cash. If a country is perceived to be at increasing risk of defaulting, then the rate of return required by bond buyers increases. In the case of Greece this rate rose from around 4% to 10% in 12 months. Currently the market is demanding something like a 40% premium. Obviously paying 40% annual interest on a counties loans isn't sustainable and Greek bonds are now listed as junk bonds. Such is the price of getting on the wrong side of Standard & Poors.

So what is your opinion of Alex Salmond as Scottish 1st Minister?

They are more likely to be part of the Government than Labour.

Nothing new there then from the OP.

There are more than 3/4 million more people out of work now than there were when Labour came into office. There were 225,000 redundancies in the three months to the end of November2009, which is the highest level ever recorded in the UK. ALL UNDER A LABOUR GOVERNMENT

I certainly wouldn't put a bet on Brown. He's history. Unelected and unelectable. Brown is the best thing that happened to the Tory Party in 13 years.

So you don't deny the possibility. Progress indeed.

Were the other 2 Chip & Dale?

I keep hearing you say this, but that doesn't make you right. I have seen other people putting forward this argument, and with the bookies quoting Clegg at 7/1 obviously they are taking the possibility seriously. No one can form a coalition without the consent of another party. So Labour, L/D or Conservative will have to agree terms with one of the other parties. So assuming things stay as they appear in the polls we will have something like this on May 7th... Tory 295 seats (35% of the vote) Labour 235 seat (25% of the vote) L/D 85 seats (33% of the vote) Others 35 seats. (7% of the vote) So you imagine the first thing is Cameron goes to Clegg and says how about supporting me as PM, to which Clegg says on your bike. Brown tries and gets a similar response. (Clegg has already said as much) All of a sudden the big parties have a dilema, because Brown won't fall in behind Cameron as PM and Cameron won't fall in behind Brown. So in those circumstances where do they go? Does Labour form a coalition with the Lib/Dems in which Clegg becomes PM or do they risk losing power all together? And of course faced with such a senario would the Tories come to Clegg's party to avoid another 5 years in the wilderness? Of course both Labour and the Conservatives might refuse to play ball, but all that would do would be to force another election by which time the situation might change and either could face an electoral catastrophe. There is however one other factor which would put Clegg in Downing Street. Mervyn King said the other night that whoever formed the next government would have to implement such unpalatable cuts and taxes that they would face a generation in opposition. In the circumstance it might suit Cameron very nicely to allow Clegg to be a figurehead and take the flak, looking to emerge in 5 years as leader of an electable party.