Originally Posted by Ursus.Maritimus

0.1% isn't out of recession - 0.1% is spending on Christmas. Come March publishing we'll still be in recession.

For Mandelson to say that George Osborne was being unpatriotic for saying this on Sunday calls to mind the expression of Samuel Johnson in 1775 who said "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel".

Yeah. But the figures are seasonally adjusted. So it isn't Christmas.

Originally Posted by Bazzinho1977

Originally Posted by Ursus.Maritimus

0.1% isn't out of recession - 0.1% is spending on Christmas. Come March publishing we'll still be in recession.

For Mandelson to say that George Osborne was being unpatriotic for saying this on Sunday calls to mind the expression of Samuel Johnson in 1775 who said "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel".

Yeah. But the figures are seasonally adjusted. So it isn't Christmas.

OK - my bad.

Still think Brown and Mandelson are cunts, mind.

Originally Posted by Ursus.Maritimus

Originally Posted by Bazzinho1977

Originally Posted by Ursus.Maritimus

0.1% isn't out of recession - 0.1% is spending on Christmas. Come March publishing we'll still be in recession.

For Mandelson to say that George Osborne was being unpatriotic for saying this on Sunday calls to mind the expression of Samuel Johnson in 1775 who said "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel".

Yeah. But the figures are seasonally adjusted. So it isn't Christmas.

OK - my bad.

Still think Brown and Mandelson are *, mind.

I think you would have to walk an awfully long way to find anybody who disagrees with you on that.

Originally Posted by KingCnut

Originally Posted by DeltaDog

Originally Posted by muhandis89

Then there is this:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle7015819.ece

What the fuck is he doing?

For once he is thinking clearly and looking to the future. He knows himself and several chums are going to be looking for work later this year (hopefully).

So making sure there are plenty of quangos ensures there are plenty of grossly overpaid jobs for them to jump into.

He's massaging the figures.

The quangos will be gone very soon after Gordon is gone, but levels of government spending have a positive affect on GDP. Hence Gordon's massive increases in quango spending alone would have caused the 0.1% growth last quarter and the 'end of the recession'.

Stand by for a double dipper now that the quantitative easing money photocopier has been unplugged. The usual suspects will no doubt be telling us how the recession isn't really a recession.

Oh - and all those lovely non-jobs created by quangos and funded by the government don't half keep the unemployment figures down.

As for non-jobs I just did a quick search of keywords on jobs.guardian.co.uk ...

1. Diversity = 436 jobs
2. Equality = 215
3. Gay / Bisexual / Lesbian = 13
4. Sex = 37
5. Asylum = 13
6. Illegal = 2
7. Immigration = 19
8. Media = 1154

It should be noted that not all of these jobs are government / quango (etc) but I'd estimate from pure guesswork that a good 75% of them are. It should also be noted that with an average income for the UK of (say) £20,000 if all of these roles were independent (there may be double counting in the numbers) then the cost to the taxpayer of this would be £28.34million.

Originally Posted by Bazzinho1977

Originally Posted by Ursus.Maritimus

Originally Posted by Bazzinho1977

Originally Posted by Ursus.Maritimus

0.1% isn't out of recession - 0.1% is spending on Christmas. Come March publishing we'll still be in recession.

For Mandelson to say that George Osborne was being unpatriotic for saying this on Sunday calls to mind the expression of Samuel Johnson in 1775 who said "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel".

Yeah. But the figures are seasonally adjusted. So it isn't Christmas.

OK - my bad.

Still think Brown and Mandelson are *, mind.

I think you would have to walk an awfully long way to find anybody who disagrees with you on that.

Seasonally adjusted, yes - but do they allow for VAT returning to its old (higher level)? And has allowance been made for the car scrappage subsidy scheme? When that stops, it will surely have an effect.

Originally Posted by Ursus.Maritimus

As for non-jobs I just did a quick search of keywords on jobs.guardian.co.uk ...

1. Diversity = 436 jobs
2. Equality = 215
3. Gay / Bisexual / Lesbian = 13
4. Sex = 37
5. Asylum = 13
6. Illegal = 2
7. Immigration = 19
8. Media = 1154

It should be noted that not all of these jobs are government / quango (etc) but I'd estimate from pure guesswork that a good 75% of them are. It should also be noted that with an average income for the UK of (say) £20,000 if all of these roles were independent (there may be double counting in the numbers) then the cost to the taxpayer of this would be £28.34million.

Yes. But then it could be working as the Media Operations officer for the BNP Objectives: Reduce diversity, stop news stories about equality, refrain from Gay / Bisexual / Lesbian Sex and stop Illegal Asylum seekers from securing their immigration.

My good lord. I must congratulate you on the most bizarre leap of statistical imagined problems I have ever seen. We have the worst government in ages - and you are making stuff up to be angry with them for?

Originally Posted by OldSnowy

Originally Posted by Bazzinho1977

Originally Posted by Ursus.Maritimus

Originally Posted by Bazzinho1977

Originally Posted by Ursus.Maritimus

0.1% isn't out of recession - 0.1% is spending on Christmas. Come March publishing we'll still be in recession.

For Mandelson to say that George Osborne was being unpatriotic for saying this on Sunday calls to mind the expression of Samuel Johnson in 1775 who said "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel".

Yeah. But the figures are seasonally adjusted. So it isn't Christmas.

OK - my bad.

Still think Brown and Mandelson are *, mind.

I think you would have to walk an awfully long way to find anybody who disagrees with you on that.

Seasonally adjusted, yes - but do they allow for VAT returning to its old (higher level)? And has allowance been made for the car scrappage subsidy scheme? When that stops, it will surely have an effect.

VAT impact is taken into account. The car scrappage scheme will have had some effect. However, given that it was meant to have an effect - that is like saying "those ba$tards took action and it worked - lets hope they don't keep taking that action that worked"!!

I am actually not certain what level of impact the car scrappage scheme had really. It is a question of materiality. For 0.1 growth in GDP for the UK think in terms of billions. Do you think that the car scrappage scheme has really had that much of an effect on us buying cars? I don't know.

I don't believe a change of government will have much impact on qangos, it was the last lot that introduced them. If memory serves, they were also embarrassed by them too.

Anarchy is the only solution I'm afraid.

Now, where did I put all my safety pins and ripped tartan trousers?...

Originally Posted by Uncivil_Servant

Originally Posted by Command_doh

I thought this was going to say he had committed suicide...

Carlsberg don't make headlines, but if they did....

Lets hope it is headlines soon