Politics

[Christmas Tree 3997]

When did you pick up an Italian accent?

[Kevin Carr's Gloves 3212]

Probably the record numbers in employment or the record numbers from poorer families attending uni or the millions taken out of paying tax or the millions who have seen fuel duty or council tax frozen under this government etc etc etc

 

 

Apart from this being totally wrong could you please explain how people from poorer families going to university is benefitting them in the long run.

 

Please ensure you cover the increased fees in this and also mention the achievement gap between richer and poorer students. Please also cover the uptake on the courses least likely to lead to debt clearance.

[PaddockLad 14639]

Probably the record numbers in employment or the record numbers from poorer families attending uni or the millions taken out of paying tax or the millions who have seen fuel duty or council tax frozen under this government etc etc etc.

 

So paying less to the exchequer is a good thing now? Is this know as the 'Amazon effect"?

 

How many are part time jobs or on zero hours contracts?

 

"Uni for all but the stupidest" was Blairs mantra, no surprise you or Tory party HQ can't see the irony or the pointlessness in providing degrees but no jobs at that level unless the phrase "do you want fries with that?" figures highly.

 

Hope your well mate

[Tom 13883]

In addition how many jobs are part time or zero hour contract & does this influence the figures in a disproportionate manner thus rendering them false?

[NJS 3986]

I don't mind repeating that if they use % of gdp as a means of measuring the defecit then they should cut the shit about major leaving a healthy economy.

[Sonatine 10010]

[Kevin Carr's Gloves 3212]

Very good

[desmondTUTU 0]

From the BBC website, a design for the new union jack designed by readers.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25222891

 

[ADP 0]

MPs to get 11% pay rise. I mean, it's laughable how much of the piss that is taking out of the taxpayer

[Kid Dynamite 5941]

Yep. Nurses pay still frozen, despite earning about 33% of MPs salary

[ewerk 26493]

Probably the record numbers in employment or the record numbers from poorer families attending uni or the millions taken out of paying tax or the millions who have seen fuel duty or council tax frozen under this government etc etc etc.

 

Ah yes, the great increase in employment.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25287068

[Rayvin 4964]

Probably the record numbers in employment or the record numbers from poorer families attending uni or the millions taken out of paying tax or the millions who have seen fuel duty or council tax frozen under this government etc etc etc.

 

CT - out of interest - do you truly believe that the Tories have your best interests at heart? Take Labour and the Lib Dems out of it, and just focus on the Tories without comparing them to anyone. They're awful. Labour and the Lib Dems might be worse in your opinion, but the Tories, in the cold light of day, are undeniably awful.

 

That would be my guess anyway - I just wonder sometimes why we all spend so much time point scoring one party against another when they all suck, all lie to us, and generally don't operate in our best interests unless there's a key vote winning opportunity. Democracy isn't the answer, it's failed. We vote for the same parties over and over again, with no choice in our future at all. But we put up with it because it's something to take sides over. If we stopped arguing over whether Labour were better than the Tories or vice versa, I wonder if we'd sit down and go 'actually, this political system isn't working for us on any level, and we need to address this'.

 

I reckon they've just used 'divide and conquer' on this.

[Christmas Tree 3997]

CT - out of interest - do you truly believe that the Tories have your best interests at heart? Take Labour and the Lib Dems out of it, and just focus on the Tories without comparing them to anyone. They're awful. Labour and the Lib Dems might be worse in your opinion, but the Tories, in the cold light of day, are undeniably awful.

 

That would be my guess anyway - I just wonder sometimes why we all spend so much time point scoring one party against another when they all suck, all lie to us, and generally don't operate in our best interests unless there's a key vote winning opportunity. Democracy isn't the answer, it's failed. We vote for the same parties over and over again, with no choice in our future at all. But we put up with it because it's something to take sides over. If we stopped arguing over whether Labour were better than the Tories or vice versa, I wonder if we'd sit down and go 'actually, this political system isn't working for us on any level, and we need to address this'.

 

I reckon they've just used 'divide and conquer' on this.

There's so many levels you can get into discussing politics and each one has its merits. The bottom line however is that so far we have not discovered a system that works better.

 

That said, you can also over analyse politics to death. There's very little difference between any of the parties these days. It's all about sound bites and getting their noses in the pig trough.

 

Sometimes Labour are better, sometimes conservatives and it really comes down to which party has a decent selection of people to pick from. Currently Labour seemed to have used up all their good politicians during the last government and we are currently left with the dregs who have weasled up to the top. Another 5 years you will see this lot gone and the cream will rise again.

 

The crash and repairs put in place basically mean that nothing much is going to change IMO over the next 30 years regardless of who gets in. Financial restraints will make it unlikely that a future Labour government will come in and increase the size of government or welfare. It's pretty much sleights of hand and tinkering regardless of who gets in.

[Tooj 17]

MPs to get 11% pay rise. I mean, it's laughable how much of the piss that is taking out of the taxpayer

 

Tbf in this case it's not actually gone through them and has apparently been recommended by some "independent" review panel.

[Gemmill 34642]

Either way it's fucking scandalous. They're welcome to reject it too.

[TheTaffer 0]

Either way it's fucking scandalous. They're welcome to reject it too.

No they're not, after the expenses scandal ipsa was set up to take the power away from MPs regarding their own pay and expenses. The only way they can reject it is by giving it away or something like that.

[ewerk 26493]

While obviously badly timed, they're not exactly hugely well paid. I'd happily see them have their salary doubled on the condition that they carry out no paid outside work. And also banned from lobbying, dodgy directorships etc. while in receipt of their parliamentary pension.

[NJS 3986]

And stopped from nepotistic "researcher" appointments.

[ChezGiven 0]

While obviously badly timed, they're not exactly hugely well paid. I'd happily see them have their salary doubled on the condition that they carry out no paid outside work. And also banned from lobbying, dodgy directorships etc. while in receipt of their parliamentary pension.

Completely agree.

 

When the government needs to actually do something (e.g. sort out energy prices and put together a regulatory package that works), they cant leave it up to the energy minister because they havent got a clue what to do. They appoint someone with experience in the business and who has top management experience working in complex organisations.

 

Make running the country attractive financially and better people will want to do the job.

[Howmanheyman 26985]

http://news.sky.com/story/1179344/poverty-report-hard-work-is-not-paying-off

 

 

For the first time, there are more people in working families living below the poverty line (6.7 million) than in workless and retired families combined (6.3 million), a report has found.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that almost 13 million Britons are now living in poverty, having suffered a "sustained" and "unprecedented" fall in their living standards.

The social policy research charity found people remaining in poverty despite moving in and out of work, with some facing "very severe hardship".

At the same time the study finds that the support on offer to people who fall on hard times is "increasingly threadbare".

The report found that job insecurity is common for millions of people, with one in six of the workforce claiming Jobseekers' Allowance at some point in the last two years.

There have also been big shifts in terms of which groups are experiencing poverty: the largest group in poverty are working age adults without dependent children - 4.7 million people are in this situation, the highest on record. Pensioner poverty is at its lowest level for 30 years.

Not all of the findings are negative. There has been an improvement in the labour market with falling unemployment and underemployment, and, over the longer term, improvements in health and education outcomes.

Young adult unemployment has peaked at 21%, and unemployment among the whole population has begun to fall.

The number of people underemployed - ether unemployed, economically inactive and wanting work or working part time but wanting a full time job - fell by 100,000 over the last year.

One of the author's of the report, Dr Peter Kenway, told Sky News: "People are hard hit everywhere. It remains the case that young adults are on low incomes, but more than half of people who are low paid are above the age of 30.

"This is not a phenomenon of people who are at the start of their working lives. We've got people who are really hard-pressed and unable to progress."

Julia Unwin, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's chief executive, added: "This research shows millions of people are moving in and out of work but rarely out of poverty.

 

"Hard work is not working. We have a labour market that lacks pay and protection, with jobs offering precious little security and paltry wages that are insufficient to make ends meet."

 

 

[Renton 17835]

Yep, MP's salaries should reflect the importance of their job, it's odd they get paid less than GP's or head teachers. As there's only 600 odd MPs it's going to make no difference to public finance.

 

However the timing of this is .............. somewhat unfortunate.

[Christmas Tree 3997]

I know politicians on all sides use these sort of statistics for a Punch and Judy but I do think we over use the word poverty in this country.

 

Sure we have poor people, always have always will but Poverty is a word that to me conjures up images of worse off countries or pre war times.

 

 

[Howmanheyman 26985]

I know politicians on all sides use these sort of statistics for a Punch and Judy but I do think we over use the word poverty in this country.

 

Sure we have poor people, always have always will but Poverty is a word that to me conjures up images of worse off countries or pre war times.

 

If you said the second sentence in the voice of say, James Earl Jones or Morgan Freeman then that would sound almost profound. Still be a load of shite, like.

[Happy Face 29]

I know politicians on all sides use these sort of statistics for a Punch and Judy but I do think we over use the word poverty in this country.

 

Sure we have poor people, always have always will but Poverty is a word that to me conjures up images of worse off countries or pre war times.

 

 

What you mean is you don't personally know anyone in poverty and it doesn't get the news coverage it should. The media being more interested in tales of dole scum claiming tens of thousands of pounds a month in handouts as easily as putting the lottery on.

 

..but you saw a Catherine Cookson once where a kid had a wash in a stream.

[Dr Gloom 19841]

Good read in the new yorker on why austerity during the bad times doesn't work

 

http://m.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2013/12/by-george-britains-austerity-experiment-didnt-work.html