Theresa May

China is doing what we did when we had a empire, short memories or what?

China was never part of the empire. Maybe you're referring to Hong Kong, which was leased to Britain for 99 years in 1898!

Oddly enough even with a fair to middling memory, I find it hard to remember "when we had an Empire".
I do however wonder at the implications of handing over so much "power" (pun intended) to a nation who may well prove hostile or at least use their position to threaten exert pressure on us, rather like Putin and Russian gas.

In addition there are arguments that this is an outmoded as well as expensive way of producing energy.
If GO was all in favour, I'd be sceptical too. Why has Germany declared an end to nuclear power stations?

Thank goodness for Brexit! Had it not been for the leave vote and a new government, we would have signed up without a seconds thought with all the impondrobles! Saved by the bell I'd say! As for the empire, apart from bits and bob's who either opted to become crown colonies or, like Gibraltar were ceded to Britain in perpetuity, Hong Kong for 99 years the Falklands who almost to a person, wanted to remain British,the rest became independent after the war, 1950's/60's.

Don't Germany get a lot of their power from other countries nuclear power stations though?

nigglynellie I don't think Gononsuch meant that, but I am sure he/she will correct me if I'm wrong.
China is doing what we did when we had an empire not China was never part of the empire

As China is involved in nearly every country in Africa, I would say that they're only taking over where a lot of European countries left off. Colonialism, yes, but coming from the east instead of the west.

nigglynellie Sun 31-Jul-16 11:38:52 I don't think you can thank the Brexit vote for the delay in the decision over the power station; no one voted leave in order to stop the building of this mad enterprise. Rather I think thank goodness for the law of unintended consequences.

I'm afraid I have found Gononsuch's comments just intended to stir so not worth a reply.

Gracesgran I didn't read nigglynellies post as meaning that. I took it to mean that because of brexit we have a change of PM who has looked again at this project. Thank goodness.

voxpoliticalonline.com/2016/07/31/heres-why-mays-campaign-against-slavery-is-a-contradiction/

That article is crap. Rubbish comparisons. Don't understand how you can put such rubbish on here durhamjen.

voxpoliticalonline.com/2016/07/30/dwp-forced-to-reveal-firms-using-benefit-claimants-for-unpaid-work-after-4-year-legal-fight/

A list of over 500 companies that got free work from people claiming benefits. It's called Mandatory Work Activity. Look at the employers involved, that the taxpayer has been subsidising without being aware.

Why's it crap?

Comparing people working for their benefits with true hidden slavery?! Come on!!!

Whatever you think of Mandatory Work Activity, there's no comparison.

How much do you know about Mandatory Work Activity and what it entails?

Probably as much as you do.

And they scrapped it. Shame really. It must have got some lazy people out of their beds.

jbf I suspect the point is that if companies have jobs that need to be done they should be be offering them as paid employment, not getting them done by free labour paid for by the taxpayer.

And not every unemployed person is a lazy layabout. But I think you know that really...

Ahhh! People like me, you mean? People who are desperate for work? Living on JSA is grim.

The MAT didn't achieve anything, but the (so-called) Work Programme still continues.

As you don't seem to be able to come up with a rational explanation for your insults, I'm not going to continue this discussion.

Sorry! I meant MWA.

I suspect I know a whole load more about than you, jinglbells.

Look, I'm not saying I agreed with the Mandatory Work Activity scheme t the time. I had doubts about it. But you cannot compare it with real slavery. The kind Theresa May is hoping to get rid of.

No, not people like you actualy daphnedill. I had in mind a certain young feller very close to me who, a number of years ago now, would, I think, have benefitted from being forced to work for his JSA.

Sorry for the typos.

All I can say is thank goodness TM has put the brakes on Hinkley Point and I hope the deal is never signed. Apologies for this long post, but I've been following the negotiations in Private Eye.

As soon as I heard that the Chinese were going to build Hinkley Point, I told my DH it was a bad move from a security stance. Sure enough, the UK’s intelligence agencies are said to be concerned that a “back door” could be built into the control systems, allowing China to shut down the plant if it wanted to and remove it from our control.

Not only that, the EPR design is supposed to be safer and more efficient, but it has proved so difficult to build that not one has yet been completed. EDF started building the first EPR in Finland in 2005. It was supposed to start up in 2009. Work on the second EPR in France began in 2007 and was due to be finished in 2012. Another two EPRs are being built in China. All four projects are years behind schedule and have cost billions more than expected.

That's not all. Weak spots have been found in the French steel reactor core. If it has to be replaced, the unfinished plant would have to be largely dismantled to replace it. To make matters worse, earlier this year, it was reported that one of the companies supplying components to EDF had falsified safety certificates.

There's more. There are legal challenges pending. The Austrian government is appealing against the European Commission’s decision to approve state aid for the project, saying it breaches European laws. French authorities are investigating possible financial misreporting by EDF.

All that is to do with building it, but the cost of the electricity is extortionate. The guaranteed rate for electricity for the first 35 years is almost 50 per cent above current wholesale market energy price levels. Also, details in the proposal show guaranteed price can be increased "in relation to operational and certain other costs". Other energy firms have warned the deal could mean households could face higher energy bills to subsidise the project.

Sorry, but the whole thing stinks.

But, jinglbells, when I was long-term unemployed and was forced to go on various courses and programmes, most of the people were just like me. The fastest growing group of long-term unemployed is people in their fifties and early sixties, especially women.

We wanted to work and had worked in the past, but were finding it difficult for all sorts of reasons to find paid work. I actually volunteered to do a 4 week work activity (which is how I do know what's involved) and it was a total waste of time. I was doing work which should have been paid, but I was doing it for free and there was no training involved. I've never even put it on a CV, because it was so useless.