And didn't the Daily Mail just get the vapours over that - plus he has a foreign wife. And my god, all his kids' names end in 'o'  

But you and I have already discussed in the last few weeks the alarming way the markets dip at the thought of GB continuing at the helm.  Is the spectre of having to call in the IMF really so distant?

Alas people tend to judge both the Kinnocks now on the vast amount of money they have both managed to earn from Europe.

Have we? That passed me by. I'm not a big fan of the current laissez faire market economy btw. and would tend to blame it for the current world-wide economic crisis. It seems to exist by talking up the price and fetishising commodities, houses, cars and other everyday stuff.

So! Do I deduce that it's OK for people to make money as long as they are the "right" people?

Whereas Tory MEPs have never taken a penny, of course.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t...s/article4069524.ece

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t...s/article4087645.ece

No as a matter of fact I don't care what political persuasion you are the obscene amounts of money that people like the Kinnocks and the Blairs have made, not to mention Peter Mandelson and his dodgy mortgages, make me sick.  Feel free to mention senior Conservatives who have also done very well from the gravy train.

Ooh Deman your link led to a nice little article entitled "I'll carry on spending says belligerent Brown".

But they aren't obscene amounts of money. Obscene amounts of money are things like the 9 gigapoonds given to that London for their Olympics, the fact that the top end of the Sunday Times rich list could pay off the national debt twice over and of course, my old favourite, the many tax evaish/avoidance billions hidden in lands far far away of which we know very little.

Oh right! It's like that is it? Whotsit from the forum who did the Friday countdown was always bashing London too. Is is a fundamental opposition to metropoli or capital cities in particular?

I dont know wether it's true or not but my son told me that when Mandelson was xampaigning in the last election he went ooop North. He went into a fish and chip shop and when presented with fish, chips and mushy peas he exclaimed 'aaaaaaaaah guacomole'....................well it gave me a laugh

It's not a case of bashing London. Somewhere along the line we've lost another steelworks but there is plenty of cash to give to London for various whims and fripperies such as the banks, Olympics etc..

ADAM Boulton has just lifted the lid on the reality behind the urban myth that Peter Mandelson once mistook mushy peas for guacamole in a chip shop.

The incident occurred, said Adam on Sky News, but it was an unnamed American researcher who made the mistake, not Mandelson. The story grew legs, apparently, because Peter’s good friend Neil Kinnock spread it round (the rumour, not the guacamole&hellip.

I'm sure you as an individual have been in situations where you haven't had a pot to pish in but you've somehow found some cash to treat a loved one. The overall good feeling that the gesture has is then transformed into something priceless. I know I've been in a situation like that. That's how I see the Olympics....a national event that will generate a feeling that will benefit all. My cousin was part of the Vancouver organising committee (VANOC) and he told me that they are already reaping financial rewards for all they shelled out.
Edited to add...That has also made a difference to Canada as a whole and given them a sense of pride and inclusiveness.

As he should.

Quote - The Tories are in the grip of the failed ideology that visited double-dip recessions on Britain and the US in the 1930s, he insists — “that you shrink an economy when it is in difficulty and wait for private investment to recover in the hope that everything is OK”. The economic orthodoxy of 2010, he says, is for governments to support the economy until the private sector has recovered sufficiently, or risk higher unemployment, more business casualties and higher deficits. “I think any serious economist looking at this at the moment would say that 2010 is a key year.”

Read GJ's link - it's very interesting.

At least it was 'spend', not 'steal'.

Brava

The Olympics haven't done Greece any good,we should have let France or whovever get them a total waste of money.

Greeks didn't do Greece any good! I've been reading about their 'accounting' practices, and, if anything, it strengthens the argument for more controls on the financial sector, and less laissez faire market economics.

I stopped buying lottery tickets when they started to take cash from them for the Olympics,I have no interest in them at all and any sporting ideals etc they may once have had have long  since gone out the window,with huge sponsorship deals by mega companies,cheating, drugs etc.

Well that's your view but from my point of view I find it a bit different

GLENYS KINNOCK, the new minister for Europe, has amassed six publicly funded pensions worth £185,000 per year with her husband Neil, the former leader of the Labour party.

They have already received up to £8m of taxpayers’ money in pay and allowances, he as a European commissioner and she as a member of the European parliament.

The pair are already drawing payments from three of their taxpayer-funded pensions. Glenys Kinnock, 64, soon to be elevated to the House of Lords alongside her husband, is collecting a teacher’s pension and from next month is entitled to another from Brussels with an estimated annual value of £48,000.

Lord Kinnock, 67, is receiving one pension as a former MP and a second for his service in Brussels, together worth more than £112,000.


Glenys Kinnock is simultaneously drawing a ministerial salary of £83,275. Her job entitles her to a further ministerial pension.

After she retires from her job she will be eligible to draw a further UK-based pension related to her service as an MEP, worth £19,730 a year.

Neil Kinnock, who resigned last week as unpaid chairman of the British Council to avoid “perceived conflict of interest” with his wife’s ministerial role, receives a pension of £83,089 for his service as European transport commissioner between 1995 and 1999 and vice-president of the commission from 1999 to 2004.

He receives a further £28,936 a year for his 25 years’ service as an MP, including time as leader of the opposition. He also claimed £13,700 of allowances while a member of the House of Lords during 2007-8.

During their time in Brussels both Kinnocks claimed a housing allowance on top of their incomes, even though they lived in the same home. This alone would have netted the couple almost £600,000 over 10 years.

Call me old  fashioned but I would have prefered to keep the steelworks.

 And the good causes lottery money used to be spent on. Loads of community projects, serving disadvantaged or vulnerable across the UK, have had to either cut back or close down completely, because the money they used to get has all been siphoned off for the Olympics.

I can't quote it all but at no point have you mentioned anything that they shouldn't have.

Or anything a Tory politician in the same role wouldn't also have been entitled to. I think the problem isn't that they earn a lot of money, but that they're Labourites who earn a lot of money. And Tories would prefer to keep it all to themselves.

Call me old  fashioned but I would have prefered to keep the steelworks....ref: GJ
Well then may be I'm a little old fashioned too, but I also prefer to deal with the here and now....and we are holding the Olympics in 2012 so I may as well get excited about it and then try and engage my kids too in the hope that all the athletes, rowers, gymnasts etc. will hold more of an appeal to them than the teenage Crack Tycoon who lives round the corner from us.

That is your take upon it, not mine.  I think public servants of any party who end with 6 pensions, or a huge property portfolio like the Blairs have somehow lost their way.  This country is on its knees and some politicians are sitting very pretty indeed.  I would condemn any that make that much money from the public purse.  The main thrust of my argument is that the sums mentioned are taxpayers' money and how much do we owe now?  Did I read correctly that Brown has pledged on behalf of all of us to pay £500million per day in interest? Britain will spend more than four times as much next year paying the interest on Labour’s debt than on the Olympics. The total budget for the Olympics is £9.35 billion.

I'm with squiggle on this one.....and all that obvious nepotism the Kinnocks and Blairs have going on. They're taking the mick!

Well I was with squiggle up to that bit at the end that just appeared....I'll have to ponder on that

okay...it changed again....squiggle you're frying my brain

The bottom line is that some are, as someone put it the other day, trying to defend the indefensible.

Sorry suzy trying to keep it real and show the real position we are in.  Finished now, well for now at any rate   I may get attacked but I will not stand by and have only one viewpoint on this forum if I have anything to do with it.

Well, obviously. Would you expect people who disagree with you to spout your take?

No

Well, a little understanding and pragmatism can go a long way. That's why I married a Tory

 You're a saint. What I meant was, I have no problem with people voicing their own opinions, but they shouldn't be surprised if I do the same with mine.

Its a forum Deman that's what we do!

Quite.

As long as it doesn't get abusive which it hasn't, I think it is healthy for people to have a really good argument and to express their views. It shows a vibrant forum and we should encourage it. It would be boring if we all had the same views.