Welcome and introductions

First topic message reminder :

Around the autumn of 2007 I came across the MSN message boards and found one entitled "UK Politics" which I joined and enjoyed for over three and a half years, then around April 2011 MSN decided in their wisdom to close down that particular message board.

Over time the MSN message board posters had become like friends, and though I had never met any of them, they became as familiar as the regulars I have a pint with in the local village pub, one or two were fairly nasty and quite vile, most were very pleasant people.

Fortunately, one of the redundant MSN bloggers (Ivan) decided to start his own political blogging site, and many of the old MSN posters followed him to his newly created site, and after a competition to find a name, it was agreed to call it "Cutting Edge".

I have to point out that Ivan ran things in a very fair and democratic way, the members decided the rules, they chose the name and logo, several of us were appointed as moderators and common sense prevailed.

Unfortunately the host of our board was "ProBoards" whom I would definately NOT recommend to anyone, they pulled the plug and closed Cutting Edge down saying that we had broken the rules.
To this day we still do not know what rule(s) were broken, and by whom, we wrote very polite emails to ProBoards asking for an explanation, but we got no answer other than "you broke the rules".

And so here we are WELCOME

Hello Bob! Welcome to cutting edge! I'm a leftie too! Drifted away under Blair and rejoined so I could help to elect Ed! Cutting edge is a credit to Ivan and the rest of the team, hope you enjoy the banter and debate here.

Hope you get well soon too!

Thankyou for the welcome, very nice of you. I look forward to being on here.

I'm really impressed with Ed, I've been watching his performances very closely and I like what he is saying.

I sat watching his Q&A in Harlow recently, the thing that impressed me most was that I could tell he was actually listening to the people in the room and what they were saying had an effect on him.

As well as ability as a leader, I think he has a willingness to listen and understand and most of all Compassion. I'm hopeful for big things from Ed, I think he will do us proud.

Me too Bob! He strikes me as having a strong social conscience, we need people like him, as we're now feeling the full effects of a government filled with well heeled toffs who care about nowt only money.

I think 3 more years of this lot will have even more of a far reaching effect that what that cow Thatcher did.

He seems to understand the need for growth, and if he uses his head, he could win people around by shouting from the roof tops about the smashing to pieces of our NHS!

I'm hoping this rotten stinking government collapses long before 2015, I dread to think of the damage they will do. Someone told me 88% of the cuts are still to come, they are going to take us back to the days of the Great Depression if they carry on like this.

As for the NHS, that is the biggest act of sheer vandalism by this nasty ConDem coalition, and there has been a lot of competition for that sick prize. All they can do is wreck and destroy.

But like you I think there is lots to be hopeful for. I lived through the 80's so I know that what they destroy can be rebuilt. And I'm sure that once Labour win the next general election, the tories will be out of power for at least another generation.

Just to let people looking here know - I've started a new discussion "Is it time for a vote of no confidence in this government?"

I've been working with some friends on twitter - we are working to get an epetition started for a No Confidence Motion in this government. All comments thoughts and suggestions gratefully recieved

Hi all,

Just joined, I'm a lefty, and enjoy a good political debate. Looking forward to some great discussion with like minded people!!

Sam

Hello Sam! Welcome aboard! Hope you enjoy yourself here on cutting edge!

BobEllard wrote:I've just joined Cutting Edge, looking forward to meeting you all.

About me: I'm a lifelong leftie Labour voter. Did student politics back in the 80's, then sort of drifted off into a working life and left it all behind.

Now the 80's have come back with a vengeance, thought it was time to stand up and be counted again. I got active again through 38 degrees campaigns (wish that had been there in the 80's) and then went on to Join the Labour Party and have been active on Twitter (@bobellard1) tweeting like a deranged budgie for Labour, Decency and Fairness (I also like very bad jokes). Thats where I met Ivan, who suggested I look at Cutting Edge. So here I am!

At the moment I am restricted to being an armchair warrior due to ill health, but I expect to make a full recovery so I am looking forward to help those pounding the pavements in future elections. Till then I'm trying to do my bit online as best as I can.

I am also a lifelong hereditary Gooner (Arsenal Supporter), other Gooners will tell you that means I never give up on lost causes!

Hi Bob
Welcome to cutting Edge website and its great to have another Labour Supporter with us. I look forward to reading all your posts too.

Red Cat Woman [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

sampbang wrote:Hi all,

Just joined, I'm a lefty, and enjoy a good political debate. Looking forward to some great discussion with like minded people!!

Sam

Hiya Shampbang

welcome to cutting Edge great to have you with us, hope to read your posts too.
Red Cat Woman

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Hello bob and sam.

A very warm welcome to you both. I am sure you will enjoy your time wirth us. I am impressed with your comments so far and look forward to more.

Regards,

Mel.

Hello. Welcome to everyone who's new. I hope you're all nice people

Does anyone here have knowledge of financial issues like incorrect National Insurance bills? I need to challenge the Inland Revenue, but when I've done it in the past I don't know what to say so I always give up.

Begin here .... [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Consider a call to your nearest Citizens' Advice Bureau.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Will look, although I've been on the site before and I don't get anywhere. Thank you.

I've just emailed my financial advisor with a copy of the letter to see if he'll help. I'm not sure if it's within his remit, but he might know just from looking at the letter where they're going wrong.

he might know just from looking at the letter where they're going wrong.

or possibly where YOU have been going wrong? Be brave, and never begrudge paying experts for their knowledge, especially when they save you money.

My friend, who does extra work like me but isn't employed like me, challenged his regular NI bills. The bills stopped and he got a refund. I pay more than he does in the first place, yet I still get billed.

I don't pay the financial advisor. The way it works is we (my family) take advice from him on investments, and he makes money when we set up each investment. For that reason, I think a query about an Inland Revenue letter is out of his remit. I'll get there eventually - maybe I will take your advice and try CAB. With them, it's a case of whether they happen to have a financial expert on the team I suppose.

Where are the newbies? Come and say hello!

Hi, Ivan. Thank you for inviting me to the site. I'm groping my way around, atm.

Ivan wrote:You have witchfinder to thank, not me, for setting up this forum, out of the reach of ProBoards. I was ready to go into retirement!

I have the e-mail address of everyone who was a member of Cutting Edge on 10 September, and I have started sending them e-mails in batches of 12 - although Yahoo is getting suspicious that I might be a spammer.

Although we had 103 members, only just over 40 were what I call 'active', but nevertheless I will write to them all and let them know where we are.

It's rather pointless re-appointing Moderators at this stage, until we have something to moderate, but I intend to be very vigilant to ensure that the malcontents who caused so much bad odour around Cutting Edge do not come here.

Eventually I might be able to resume my recruiting activities.......

[left]

Good to have you on board pari. "Groping" is not allowed though.

Seriously though you will find your way very quickly here and if you do have difficulty there are plenty of nice members who will assist.

Good luck pari.

Hi Pari

Yay! A fellow American. Nice to have one around and hope you stick around.

Hello Pari! Welcome to cutting edge! Hope you enjoy the forum!

OOOH!! Fit us in between that cup of tea and changing the lightbulb!



EM Hello in the passing

Woman's work is never done.

Oh dear Sharina, I am so sorry to hear of your sad loss.

Hi everyone. I'm Linda (originally from London but I divide my time between there and Yorkshire and I've also lived in Shropshire as well as in two foreign countries) and I'm known as Big Lin because I'm pretty tall for a girl! (Just under 6 foot in fact but fortunately my hubby is 6ft 4!)

Welcome, biglin! I hope you enjoy the forum.

Hello and welcome biglin.

My daughters 18yrs and thirteen both 5ft 11 and still wearing high heels
which makes them as tall as me their dad.
I have given up on high heels myself though

Phew! Not EVERYTHING has gone to the dogs then.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, No, 'God' actually created patriarchy and institutionalised authority. Hello and welcome to my Marxist life. I am a Labourite of course but I have a tendency to be sat in Trotsky's backyard. I am a member of the Colne Valley Labour Party, I have lived here for over fourteen years and I consider it my political home. I am very involved in the local community and local issues sometimes take priority for me. I am a firm believer that the 2015 General Election can be won by Labour if Labour take a bigger role in their constituency. For a lot of voters, national issues are obviously important to them aswell, I do respect this but we need to stress that choosing a candidate does not always correlate to choosing the Prime Minister. With all due respect to our potential PM, the leader is only part of the representative efforts in parliament.
 
So a little bit more about me, I am 21 years old and I have a degree in History. However the most important thing about myself is my work experience, I have worked from the age of 13. It has built my character and political identity in a way that education eventually complimented. For a long time I was not sure where I stood but by the age of 18 I knew I was very very left. This confusing process was not made easy by the media, the only access to politics young people seem to have nowadays. When I took politics a-level and was introduced to ideologies I really opened my eyes to the world around me. It should not however, have taken that long. Anyway I digress, I mainly post about Labour specific issues with a touch of Tory bashing.
 
 
Thank You.

Welcome indeed to new poster Bowerholly.

Now we may learn the truth about the unexplained disappearance of a Labour member for the Colne Valley seat many years ago ....

Albert Victor Grayson (born 5 September 1881, disappeared 28 September 1920).

What was he about to reveal?

Greetings One and All,
 
I am a Labour Left Socialist from the South Coast, I have a keen interest in all disability related issues that come out of Govt.
 
I am Disabled having suffered an SAH Stroke in April 1990 and am living proof there is long life after such a major event in life.
 
Looking forward to having a read of the threads here and join in where I can.

Hi I'm Knarky Badger an SWP member from Gravesend Kent.
I have a particular interest in Disability and LGBT issues.
I have spina bifida and hydrocephalus. My main interests are politics (that figures, hey?), rugby (london irish), ancient history and archaeology, reading and my 2 cats Jochi and Charlie.

and my 2 cats Jochi and Charlie.

Anyone who didn't have an interest in their cats would be no cat owner at all! Welcome to the forum, Knarky.

I am a Labour Left Socialist from the South Coast, I have a keen interest in all disability related issues that come out of Govt.

Hello, Pompey, and welcome aboard. I have an interest in disability related issues, as well, though being in America, I cannot comment much on British issues. But I do pay attention.

pompeyfaith wrote:Greetings One and All,

I am a Labour Left Socialist from the South Coast, I have a keen interest in all disability related issues that come out of Govt.

I am Disabled having suffered an SAH Stroke in April 1990 and am living proof there is long life after such a major event in life.

Looking forward to having a read of the threads here and join in where I can.

Hi Pompeyfaith
Great to have you with us. look forward to reading your post

Ideally we require a 5000 volt lightning-bolt to zap the keyboard of any attempting hacker.

As long as Moonbeam is not a moderator on here I will be fine.

Regards Edna.