Alabama's state auditor Jim Zeigler came under fire on Thursday for his remarks defending Mr Moore.
He was quoted as saying that even if the Washington Post report were true, "it's much ado about very little".
Mr Zeigler told the Washington Times newspaper: "Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus.

That's not so much mendacious as just plain dumb

Booted out or swinging from a lamp post out?

SHIPLEY MP Philip Davies said men and women should be treated the same when they commit a crime.

He said a crime was the same regardless who committed it and there was no justification for treating people differently based on their sex. ...He said: “It is fair to say that I am often pilloried for arguing that men and women should be treated equally.

"I do not see that there is anything particularly controversial in that, but it never ceases to amaze me how often I am accused of being a misogynist, sexist, or some other term of abuse, merely for saying that men and women should be treated equally before the law."

On Wednesday, the Chancellor Philip Hammond is expected to use his Budget to help young people get on the property ladder. But should this really be the responsibility of the State? Isn’t there more that the young could do to solve their problems themselves?

Here we present seven simple tips for millennials on how to buy a house.

Be born earlier. All too many young people today didn’t get round to being born until the late 1980s, or even the 1990s. As a result of their tardiness, they were much too late to take advantage of low house prices. Those who had the foresight to be born in the 1950s and 60s, by contrast, have been justly rewarded for their “get-up-and-go”. If you were born too late, be sure not to make the same mistake again.

Inherit wealth. Inheriting wealth is an excellent way to pay for that first big deposit. Increasing numbers of young people, however, commit the textbook error of growing up in a poor family. Carry out a detailed assessment of your parents’ income. If it’s less than £250,000 per annum, are you sure they’re the right parents for you? Shop around for the best deal. Ideally, look for parents approaching retirement with no other offspring and a medium-sized buy-to-let portfolio.

Make sacrifices. To help you save for a deposit, avoid wasting money on trivial inessentials, such as foreign holidays, new iPhones, nights out, taxis, coffees, takeaways, alcohol, clothing, heating, rent and food.

Make your savings work harder. With interest rates low, high street banks are currently delivering little for savers. Instead, try funnelling £20million into an offshore tax haven.

Boost your earning power. Struggling financially? Consider making some extra cash on the side by becoming a 1960s rock star, Russian oligarch, chief executive of Walmart or monarch.

Club together. If you don’t have enough money to buy a property on your own, think about buying jointly. A two-bed flat in London Zone 4 should be well within your reach if you pool resources with just 60 of your closest friends.

Be patient. Remember that property prices can fall as well as rise. At some point in the next 18-24 months, an economic disaster of unimaginable magnitude should bring houses down to a much more affordable level – and, thanks to your youth and superior physical fitness, you’ll be in an excellent position to fight off competitors in the desperate looting of banks, supermarkets and high-street shops. Good luck!

Or cheaper fares.

Or cheaper fares.

Unionised labour calls for higher wages, doesn't it?

Budget deficit widened to £8bn. Safe hands. Strong and stable. Economically wise.

Let's nationalise it first.

Oddly, it's one where I'm on the fence and probably wouldn't make it a priority. The main benefit would be integrating track (already publicly owned) and the services which should improve efficient planning. Of course let's put aside the issue of buying the rolling stock back from the leasing companies.

Public ownership is not going to solve the ageing infrastructure, overcrowding on certain services (unless we move to reservation only services that cause a whole new world of headaches), or fare costs. Train operating companies aren't that profitable so there's not much of a saving there (around 4% return per annum at best). Many fares are regulated, and the franchise system already means that the government sets out what services it wants running over a set number of years. I don't think that putting the railways into the annual budget round is a good idea as you need some form of long termism, but I wouldn't want an arms-length public body to be able to operate without some form of political direction.

But it's an issue I'm continually playing with when I get bored, and I think there are different priorities between long-distance, regional, and local services.

A lot of that sounds like the NHS

Looks like Mugabe's on his way out.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/21/after-the-liberation-of-mosul-an-orgy-of-killing

Rather a sobering read about the state of affairs in Mosul.

I'm not a Tory but surely the only bit of that graph which might raise an eyebrow is that last bar. The rest shows the increase in debt levelling off as the deficit was reduced.

The formal mandate we set is that the structural current deficit should be in balance in the final year of the five-year forecast period, which is 2015-16 in this Budget. This mandate is: Structural – to give us flexibility to respond to external shocks; Current – to protect the most productive public investment; And credible – because the Office for Budget Responsibility, not the Chancellor, will decide on the output gap.

In order to place our fiscal credibility beyond doubt, this mandate will be supplemented by a fixed target for debt, which in this Parliament is to ensure that debt is falling as a share of GDP by 2015-16. I can confirm that, on the basis of the measures to be announced in this Budget, the judgement of the Office for Budget Responsibility published today, is that we are on track to meet these goals.

I have better things to do with my time than vainly trying to educate the perpetually deluded and/or stupid. Sorry.

I'm not a Tory but

It's all true. Moggmentum!

I was going to post, but really, it’s just all too pathetic for words. I have better things to do with my time than vainly trying to educate the perpetually deluded and/or stupid. Sorry.

Ahahaaa

https://twitter.com/faisalislam/status/ ... 0686605312

Full Times headline furiously tweeted by Tory MPs pre Budget strategically covers up last six words...

Quote:

Full Times headline furiously tweeted by Tory MPs pre Budget strategically covers up last six words... “.. since Brexit cut value of pound”