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Can we have an example of it being used as a meaningless buzz-word, and a euphemism for "spend spend spend" before the Blair government? It's such a common word that there must be many many examples - surely? I read through the entire Harold Wilson "White Heat" speech from 1963 last night (excellent bedtime reading), many pages of it, and not once did I find the the word, and the speech was in connection with future industrial strategy. In fact the only search engine return I could find of Harold Wilson actually using the word was in the proper financial sense of creating a UK investment bank to fund small enterprises (which would of course have demanded a fixed and defined monetary return for the taxpayer). Pro tem my answer to your question is: No, I don't think they were telling porkies, because the word was formerly used truthfully:

A good argument to the Null vote so thoroughly disliked by our establishment politicos! Generally when a politico bemoans the fact that people don't vote it's a cipher for: they aren't voting for me and the more people who have no command of the facts that can be persuaded to trot into the polling stations the more likely it is they'll fall for my empty rhetoric! Of course a substantial Null vote would kill this political strategy stone dead!

It's the most misused, disingenuous word used at this election. It obfuscates and downright deceives. No, that word isn't immigration, it's invest. When you hear "we are going to invest in..." you know you are being lied to - a politician never invests in anything! This is politico code for spending money we haven't actually got (and will never have), on things we probably don't need, in ways that won't actually produce any tangible investment returns. It's generally empty rhetoric, because anyone getting into power will have to face the broad reality of how state spending is already structured, and the wiggle room for changing anything at all is minimal - if you pursue the pet political project you used to buy votes you'll have to steal from things which pretty much everyone has already decided is really important. And... as spending on those other things has been refined over the years in the light of hard experience, and your pet political project is just starting out - the chances of simply squandering public money now becomes very much higher! Say you'll raise more tax to pay for it and your're fooling no one, because tax revenue has already been maximised by the numerous budgets of all governments. Yes, the plain truth is that raising the tax rate will result in less tax; or less tax from some other source, or worse: an actual drop in Gross Domestic Product to tax! So, any poltico using the 'i' word is either fooling you or fooling themselves. And... here's the kicker: is anyone who is either lying to you to grab power, or so easily fooled themselves, a safe enough pair of hands to put at the controls of our economy? Beware the 'i' word: it's a trap for fools!

You blinked; you missed the 'U' turn!

You only had to read a few of my posts to know where I stand - and it most certainly isn't as a Tory voter! I sincerely hope that I don't have any "followers", and that everyone can think for themselves. Your retreat is only necessary if you think that your ideas won't stand up to public scrutiny. A full range of political views is always welcome here, but you should be prepared to justify them. If you are feeling a little sore we can declare a (partial) truce!

But... maybe... Hmmm! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/20/theresa-may-knighthoods-shake-up-lose-gong-dishonour/

Well, sonny, you are now talking about 100 years ahead. But you see that's what the dishonest Labour people will do in the future. They'll want to apply emotive images of the past to future situations when your children and their children have progressed way beyond what we can imagine today. And they'll want to pretend that this advancement was solely due to them and not due to the aspirations that we all share. -------- P.S. Happy to tackle your now outed questions directly bb, but can we cut out the silly emotive stuff that is designed to appeal to the politically naive (in Emily Thornberry contemptuous style) - there aren't too many of those left - in case you haven't noticed!

Good that you mentioned "stong and styeble" because there are times in history where we need that but a lot of times when we all profit from a bit of instability. Right now the dishonest Tory people and dishonest Labour people got us into a big mess by trying to give OUR County away, and we've only just said NO! Every time we've got into a big mess we've needed a few honest Tories to get us out of it; the honest Labour people mean well but aren't very good at running things, only at giving other people's money away - until it runs out! But, you shouldn't vote for the same party all the time as whoever they are they get sloppy and start looking after themselves. Communities who vote for the same party all the time tend to impoverish themselves - because they are disregarded by one party and taken for granted by the other - simply by asking the question you've shown that you're more intelligent than that.

Because, sony, the truth about this world is that everyone must look after themselves and their family first, and anyone who pretends they are doing otherwise is being dishonest with you. An honest rich man will help advance your lot a little, but a dishonest poor one will part you from what little you have!

How do we know the Nissan problem was is attack and not a straightforward bug? It's often a convenient excuse to blame external parties for lack of testing; we've been hacked sounds so much more dramatic and blame-free than oops, dumb mistake. Nissan app developer busted for copying code from Stack Overflow Actually, whatever way you look at this the blame lies internally, as using a sixteen year old operating system that was always known to be riddled with bugs, was abandoned, and is has been complete maintained for three years now was asking for trouble. Practically every home user knows this and did the necessary long ago.

What a beautiful beautiful world when all the sane and stable pillars of the community show so much concern for the terminally unhinged?! Pop stars Jarvis Cocker and Bob Geldof to speak at Brexit fallout event First she cares about our fledgling democracy, and now she's caring about our mental health. Is there no end to this woman's humanity?

NHS hospitals brought down by hackers Who else but the Ruskies?

Why don't they just say Vote Corbyn and we will ensure that you get Blair?

There's never an "End of" to the democratic process for thinking people Eggy. But, your right to continue to cast a meaningful vote wherever you wish, and your right to make a mistake and your right to correct it later, is what the majority of us voted for in the referendum. If you've any doubt that this right was about to be progressively removed from us then take a look at the internet censorship proposals coming out of Brussels this week. When they try to abuse the word "populist" they are in fact targeting the British notion of democracy.

..and the Telegraph and DM saves the Labour Party printing costs by publishing the leaked Corbyn Labour Party manifesto detailing a return to 1983 chaos, and disastrous spend spend spend economics. How could this possibly have happened, unless... some senior figure(s) inside the Labour Party wanted them to lose the election badly! Naahh... what a silly thought!

A sense of entitlement doesn't just afflict the Cameronite ruling classes does it? I always chuckle when the likes of Diane Abbott or Yvette Cooper talk about "our voters" i.e. we own them because we do all their thinking for them. "You can now kiss goodbye to passenger trains being put back on which would have seen house prices rise and attract business" I'd love a full discussion about that Mr Willis. Why don't you trot along here and explain yourself fully? Or... maybe you don't think your rhetoric will stand up to critical examination?

What takes the gloss of everything that is happening is that the Parliamentary Labour Party actually want a crushing defeat (as long as they can cling on to their own seats of course) as now they see it as the only way they can now oust Corbyn. There was a news clip yesterday of a Labour MP canvasing doors pleading with voters to ignore everything in the Labour manifesto as he fundamentally disagrees with practically everything in it. I suppose this takes what we always knew about the mind-numbing stupidity of core Labour support to the absolute limit. What I'd like to ask these Labour MPs is what makes them think that if/when they oust Corbyn the same highly organised Marxist factions aren't going to elect an even more extreme candidate. If it's that they intend to split the party to regain some sort of rationality then why haven't they already done this? Congratulations to all the independents anyway, particularly Malcolm.

This morning we hear May asked if she knows what a mugwump is. Now you or I (and maybe Corbyn and/or Farage) would have given an honest yes or no answer, but <groan> she gives the usual politician's diversionary "I only know that [insert current political buzzwords]". Slippery politico we all think, and of course she is! But it's is a pretty irrelevant question, and either a yes or no answer would have sparked off columns of garbage by the scribblers, and hours of TV "political discussion". Her strategy was to kill off the dumb and irrelevant question. The answer she gave is near instantly forgotten, and has minus zero news value. Above all that IS her strategy in this election, because everyone else is doing her campaigning for her (particularly the EU apparatchiks). All she needs to do is to present an image of competence and confidence and it's a landslide. There are going to be no "bacon sarnie" moments for May this year!

A catfight in Hartlepool makes the front page of a "quality" paper, and Jeremy Corbyn urges people not to vote for May because.. she is “presidential” in the way she controls power, and she's just like Tony Blair, who he now tells us is in reality a Tory! It seems that all the good things May has done are due to "Tory rebels" who constantly keep her on track. There's a contradiction or three in there Jeremy, but I'm sure you're our man if we have to live with more contradiction. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/29/ukip-leader-forced-cancel-rally-fight-brexiteer-remain-voter/

To display properly click on image then click on Full Size box to lower left, the click on image again to magnify.

Not looking too promising for an early result then!

This is the twenty first century: if you don't congratulate yourself you don't get to be The President of The USA!

Sorry for being so quiet at the moment. Yes, I've got a new (discount) computer at the moment with a keyboard that actually works well. In fact so well that I feel compelled to dash off a topical book. I think the title will likely be 101 Ways To Get Thrown Off An Aircraft and Claim Huge Compensation. Unfortunately... there are also ways of getting thrown off an aircraft that are very hard to paint as victimization: 2017 is really turning out to be a disastrous year to be a snowflake in. Oops.. maybe there's a better book to be written on that? ;)