Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Thu Dec 12, 2013 8:24 am  

JerryChicken wrote: ... Do I give Osborne credit for this ? I give him credit for finally realising that austerity doesn't work even if he won't publicly say it, I give him no credit for continuing with the cutting of expenditure in public services and the selling off of public assets despite election promises that those public assets were safe in his party's hands - whilst all the time increasing the country's debt. Would those lies include cutting funding for mental health care? Any recovery is to be welcomed. It'll be nice when the majority of the British people see it and not just a few. It'll be nice when unemployment falls and vacancies rise – and when underemployment falls too. It'll be nice when ordinary people see their incomes grow rather than decline. It'll be nice when food banks close their doors through lack of anyone needing them and then the Red Cross no longer need to hand out food parcels in the UK. It'll be nice when this government stops telling lies about benefits claimants as well as those lies about its policies.

JerryChicken wrote: ... Do I give Osborne credit for this ? I give him credit for finally realising that austerity doesn't work even if he won't publicly say it, I give him no credit for continuing with the cutting of expenditure in public services and the selling off of public assets despite election promises that those public assets were safe in his party's hands - whilst all the time increasing the country's debt. Would those lies include cutting funding for mental health care? Any recovery is to be welcomed. It'll be nice when the majority of the British people see it and not just a few. It'll be nice when unemployment falls and vacancies rise – and when underemployment falls too. It'll be nice when ordinary people see their incomes grow rather than decline. It'll be nice when food banks close their doors through lack of anyone needing them and then the Red Cross no longer need to hand out food parcels in the UK. It'll be nice when this government stops telling lies about benefits claimants as well as those lies about its policies.

Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Thu Dec 12, 2013 8:44 am  

A significant reason for the reduction in real wages in recent years has been the fact that an increased proportion of the wage bills of employees and employers alike is going on national insurance and pensions. Labour aRe largely responsible for the former and as government tries to address the latter people moan about having to work longer.

Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Thu Dec 12, 2013 7:40 pm  

Mintball wrote: It'll be nice when this government stops telling lies about benefits claimants as well as those lies about its policies. It ain't over yet, not by a long way http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/12/12/george-osborne-welfare_n_4430917.html?utm_hp_ref=uk. In order to sell the idea of swingeing cuts to the benefits bill in the next term he is going to have to start telling some whoppers in order to get the Murdoch press reading public onside, which is basically all he has to do to get re-elected, stand by for some epic "scroungers" tales to come in the next 15 months so that white-van-man and you taxi cab drivers convince themselves that its the crippled and insane that are robbing tax from their wallets (when they pay any).

Mintball wrote: It'll be nice when this government stops telling lies about benefits claimants as well as those lies about its policies. It ain't over yet, not by a long way http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/12/12/george-osborne-welfare_n_4430917.html?utm_hp_ref=uk. In order to sell the idea of swingeing cuts to the benefits bill in the next term he is going to have to start telling some whoppers in order to get the Murdoch press reading public onside, which is basically all he has to do to get re-elected, stand by for some epic "scroungers" tales to come in the next 15 months so that white-van-man and you taxi cab drivers convince themselves that its the crippled and insane that are robbing tax from their wallets (when they pay any).

Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Thu Dec 12, 2013 8:09 pm  

JerryChicken wrote: It ain't over yet, not by a long way http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/12/12/george-osborne-welfare_n_4430917.html?utm_hp_ref=uk. In order to sell the idea of swingeing cuts to the benefits bill in the next term he is going to have to start telling some whoppers in order to get the Murdoch press reading public onside, which is basically all he has to do to get re-elected, stand by for some epic "scroungers" tales to come in the next 15 months so that white-van-man and you taxi cab drivers convince themselves that its the crippled and insane that are robbing tax from their wallets (when they pay any). It's a sound strategy, as Rachel "tougher than the Tories" Reeves has decided. Still, no doubt in 2015 the "Big 2" will be cast into the wilderness by the voters aghast at these policies.

JerryChicken wrote: It ain't over yet, not by a long way http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/12/12/george-osborne-welfare_n_4430917.html?utm_hp_ref=uk. In order to sell the idea of swingeing cuts to the benefits bill in the next term he is going to have to start telling some whoppers in order to get the Murdoch press reading public onside, which is basically all he has to do to get re-elected, stand by for some epic "scroungers" tales to come in the next 15 months so that white-van-man and you taxi cab drivers convince themselves that its the crippled and insane that are robbing tax from their wallets (when they pay any). It's a sound strategy, as Rachel "tougher than the Tories" Reeves has decided. Still, no doubt in 2015 the "Big 2" will be cast into the wilderness by the voters aghast at these policies.

Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Fri Dec 13, 2013 10:15 am  

I genuinely wouldn't know who to vote for now. Maybe it's time for a new Guy Fawkes (a more successful one). Clear the lot out and start again. Mind you there are still plenty of public schoolboys with an over inflated sense of entitlement out there, we will never run out of those. The party they join depends on how wet or dry they are 1. had your lunch money stolen, know your place, bullied mercilessly, fagging for the big boys but still an arrogant little S4h!t with a superiority complex over the masses - LibDem: 2. cardigan, in a band, smoke a bit of weed, Daddy a bit of a leftie, not allowed into any secret societies, Labour: 3. stole lunch money, had a fag, regularly vomit on an underling after consuming too much champagne and fois gras, wear rediculous Voctorian era clothes, member of secret society, Tory.

Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Sat Dec 14, 2013 5:45 pm  

As above - If there was an election tomorrow, I would not vote, simple as, and that would be for the first time in the 26 years I've been eligible to do so.

The Tories are rotten to the core, always have been, always will be.... The Lib Dems are just useless chancers - They know they are a pointless minority, an irritant on the political landscape, yet are constantly looking for a way to wheedle themselves into some sort of power, even being prepared to sell all their principles so as to being able to cosy up with whoever is in power..... As for Labour - For a party that should be the voice of those in the most peril from such an uncaring government, they are totally inept... Ed Milliband is hopeless. The majority of his shadow cabinet are equally awful - I don't know a single one of them who appeals in the slightest to me.

We all know that Tony Blair wasn't the messiah that many of his initial worshippers hoped he would be, but UK politics desperately needs somebody of his charisma to bring some vision and hope back to the political scene.... Democracy is slowly dying in this country, simply because the public don't care any more about charisma-free monotones offering nothing fresh or nothing that offers any hope to the vast majority.

Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Sat Dec 14, 2013 6:39 pm  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

We all know that Tony Blair wasn't the messiah that many of his initial worshippers hoped he would be, but UK politics desperately needs somebody of his charisma to bring some vision and hope back to the political scene.... Democracy is slowly dying in this country, simply because the public don't care any more about charisma-free monotones offering nothing fresh or nothing that offers any hope to the vast majority.

The last thing I want to see, after Camoron and Blair is someone with "charisma", I'd far rather see some policies that will help address the growing inequality in this country. Both Cameron and Blair hads charisma, what they both lacked was an ability to resist the neoliberalism that now blights the developed world, where the market is seen as everything and service is a dirty word. It's high time neoliberalism was shown up for what it is: an expectation to privatise profits, knowing full well that the state will cover any losses. The banks are but the prime example.

So stuff charisma, give me substance

Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Sat Dec 14, 2013 7:44 pm  

cod'ead wrote:

The last thing I want to see, after Camoron and Blair is someone with "charisma", I'd far rather see some policies that will help address the growing inequality in this country. Both Cameron and Blair hads charisma, what they both lacked was an ability to resist the neoliberalism that now blights the developed world, where the market is seen as everything and service is a dirty word. It's high time neoliberalism was shown up for what it is: an expectation to privatise profits, knowing full well that the state will cover any losses. The banks are but the prime example.

So stuff charisma, give me substance

I agree with what you say with regards to needing politicians with substance, but there can be no denying that Blair, in the run up to his election and in the initial honeymoon period as PM, really seemed to offer something fresh, a refreshing vision to the awful stink that the Tories had become in their final years under Major.

Presently, we have zilch, absolutely nothing, from any of the major parties - Its little wonder that minority, crackpot parties like UKIP are managing to garner support in areas where they should be laughed out of town.

Of course, we want substance and not false promises, but I think firstly we need somebody, or something to wake up a disinterested public, otherwise democracy may as well be done away with, because having elections, where only a third of those eligible to vote are doing so, just become an embarrassing sham and give little authority to those who somehow find themselves in ultimate power.

Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Sun Dec 15, 2013 9:13 am  

What really grinds is when its nigh on impossible to vote for the party that used to be important and meant something to you growing up.
I haven't been able to vote for my party, the Labour Party, for many many years.

Re: No More Arguments: Austerity is Working! : Sun Dec 15, 2013 12:37 pm  

And now a Tory think tank has come up with the idea of only paying benefits for the first two children. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/12 ... ref=topbar This coming from the same guy who claimed on expenses to heat his stables. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/11 ... 50907.html

And now a Tory think tank has come up with the idea of only paying benefits for the first two children. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/12 ... ref=topbar This coming from the same guy who claimed on expenses to heat his stables. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/11 ... 50907.html