Ah, the tories are in conference and they want...

[Peikko 1,575]

<div id="article-wrapper"> George Osborne speaks at the Conservative conference. Photograph: Jon Super/AP

The Conservatives today took their biggest political gamble in a generation when the shadow chancellor, George Osborne, urged the nation to respect his honesty by setting out a painful, if carefully pitched, package of spending cuts.

Osborne finally showed his hand after months of criticism that the Tories are short on policy detail as he unveiled plans including a one-year pay freeze for 5 million public sector workers, deferral of the state pension by a year, and slashing back tax credits for the middle class.

In a speech that may come to decide the outcome of the general election, he repeatedly deployed David Cameron's leadership election slogan – "we are all in this together" – to ask the nation to make a collective sacrifice in which everyone but the poorest would have to contribute to reduce "the largest deficit in our modern history".

Claiming Britain was entering a new era in politics in which there will be a premium on candour, Osborne told the Tory conference in Manchester: "These are the honest choices in the world in which we live. Anyone who tells you these choices can be avoided is not telling the truth.

"After a year in which trust in parliament has been rocked to the foundations, we know that politics must change forever. We have to be open and transparent with the people we serve."

The measures announced today represent a spending cut of more than £23bn over a parliament. But Robert Chote, the director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, said the cuts amounted to just a "dent" in the challenge to more than halve the deficit by 2014. The proposals would only take Osborne a sixth of the way to meeting his goal, he said.

The Tories said they had been more specific about the coming pain than any political party since Labour had proposed tax rises ahead of the 1992 election. Some savings, such as greater efficiency in the public sector, would reap billions, they claimed, but could not be quantified this side of an election.

Osborne's promised pay freeze elicited a furious response from the unions. "Millions of public sector workers will be left out in the cold," said Dave Prentis, leader of Unison. "Other staff will have to pay with job and service cuts while bankers and tax cheats escape with a slapped wrist."

In the headline measures announced today Osborne proposed:

• A public sector pay freeze for 5 million public sector workers in 2011, excluding frontline military and 1 million public servants earning less than £18,000.

• £3bn-a-year cuts in Whitehall bureaucracy, including a £50,000 annual cap on new public sector pension payouts and cutting regulators and inspectorates.

• A requirement that any public sector salary, including those in the BBC, worth more than the prime minister's £198,000 will be put to the Treasury for the chancellor's personal approval.

• Abolition of child trust funds for all but the poorest third of families and disabled children.

• Withdrawal of tax credits for households with incomes earning over £50,000 by means-testing the family element of the child tax credit.

• Putting back the state pension age to 66 for men in 2016 and for women in 2020.

Accused by some of not showing the maturity required for the job, Osborne was bold enough to risk alienating the party's rightwing by insisting: "We could not even think of abolishing the 50% tax rate on the rich while at the same time I am asking public sector workers to accept a pay freeze to protect their jobs."

Explaining his decision to exempt public sector workers earning less than £18,000 from a freeze in 2011, he said: "I don't believe in balancing the budget on the backs of the poorest." The freeze, he claimed, would save 100,000 jobs.

Osborne said he reserved the right to use the tax system to hit bankers if they used state subsidies to prop up their bonuses rather than strengthening their balance sheets. "I believe in the free market, not a free ride," he said.

But the Tories privately acknowledge that even a carefully-targeted pay freeze risks alienating millions of teachers and nurses, angry that they are making sacrifices owing to the mistakes of bankers. Osborne hopes that the deferral of the pain until a year after the election will save him from a political backlash.

Labour has so far recoiled from a total freeze from 2011, instead announcing that the pay of 750,000 public sector workers will be frozen to 1% or less next year.

Liam Byrne, chief secretary to the Treasury, said: "He lost his nerve. It was far from clear that this speech even pays for itself, let alone matches our pledge to halve the deficit in four years."

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However, is austerity what the British public want

[Peikko 1,575]

Apparently, Not!

Tesco shoppers hungry for top-of-the-range foods

The year 2009 was supposed to herald a new age of austerity for consumers: "An era of the frivolous being unacceptable and the frugal being cool."

Less than 12 months ago, Andy Bond, the boss of Asda, predicted: "This won't be a recession where it is a blip and then we are back to where things were." A new breed of post-crisis consumer would emerge, who would shun conspicuous consumption, hate waste and balk at the very idea of heat'n'eat ready meal dinners.

Well, according to Tesco, the new era lasted about six months, because we are already reverting to our time-saving, luxury-loving old ways.

Last year we may have had a Lehman collapse-induced flirtation with dried lasagne sheets, cheap cuts of meat and value packs of crumpets rather than croissants. But that is now so 2008.

Britain's biggest grocer says its Finest premium range is back in big demand. Sales of its top-of-the-range ready-made lasagne (twice the price of the basic equivalent) are up 20% on a year ago. Paella and lamb shank dinners – hardly austerity dining – are showing similar growth. Sales of Finest Parma ham are up 22% while Java ground coffee is ahead 34%.

Next week Tesco is launching an even finer Finest range – called the Restaurant Collection, featuring items such as pancetta-wrapped chicken with butternut squash.

It's not just Tesco moving upmarket. Waitrose has just done a deal with Prince Charles's Duchy Originals, which will see the brand appearing on a wider range of posh nosh. The upmarket grocer has also come up with Seriously – a super-luxe range of pricey puddings.

Organics are also making a comeback. Just a few months ago insecticide-free fruit and veg looked like a luxury few could afford, but Tesco says sales are picking up: organic blueberries, apples and leeks are up 86%, 20% and 19% respectively on a year ago.

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[Chica Yeyé 41]

sister Cleo posted the same thing like 7 times....

[Niels Bohr 72]

It's the delays and system response.

HTTP works over TCP protocol. TCP has throttling, and congestion control. If Madame Cleo had pipeline-consistent TCP connection, she probably clicked add post a few times and this message is repeated several. The server was probably handling a heavy load on the socket and wasn't able to send an ack signal to the client side (Madame Cleo), therefore, TCP kept sending from the client side until it recieves an acknowledgement.

That is probably how her message was posted several times.

[Peikko 1,575]

My internet connection at worked sucked big time this afternoon. I asked for someone to remove the extras but I guess the mods and organizers are asleep

[Niels Bohr 72]

Madame has violated the TOS, however, due to unusual circumstances she cannot be banned.

I hate it when it happens to me.

[Peikko 1,575]

Well, if they do, they do - I would imagine it would simply be a temporary suspension though, not an outright banning :o

[Ban Hammer 13,342]

My internet connection at worked sucked big time this afternoon. I asked for someone to remove the extras but I guess the mods and organizers are asleep

organizers can't do that. with all the time you've been here, you didn't know that?

[Peikko 1,575]

I only make an effort to remember things that are important, VJ rules and regulations really don't qualify.

[Ban Hammer 13,342]

I only make an effort to remember things that are important, VJ rules and regulations really don't qualify.

yes, we know it does take up quite a bit of your parking space.