Messages

Here's a little about me, because I like talking about myself:

I forgot to mention that I'm currently growing a goatee. There's a depressing amount of white in it.

Regards

Robin

[everyone]

I spent over an hour replying to this last night, then posted only to discover the connection had gone tits up and I lost everything. Some of you may have heard my cry of anguish.

All of his mistakes will never touch the people in power, with money! It's going to be you and me who have a hard future.

That always has and always will be the case.

Selling 60% of the country's gold and letting every Fucker know in advance, which meant the price dropped to a 20 year low. Some place the loss to the treasury between 2 & 5 Billion pounds.

Is that a loss per year or a one-off? If it's a one-off loss, it's bordering on the irrelevant, shocking though it may seem. The NHS alone cost £94 billion in 2008/9.

Remember the pension fiasco, when his own people told him not to do it and he just went ahead and changed the tax system (this hit the poor more than the rich - treasury officials reported). This will hit everyone with a pension, especially the POOR.

I admit I don't know much about this one - I'll ask my folks how they've been affected.

Here's a little bit about me so you know where I'm coming from.

Here's a little about me, because I like talking about myself:

My dad was a sales rep and my mum was a nurse. Dad was made redundant and took early retirement, mum only retired last year. Dad now does voluntary driving for the ambulance service, mum does voluntary work for the MS society.

Mum worked nights for decades and wore the same few dresses until the armpits wore out, and then had to keep wearing them. They spent all their money putting my brother and I through private education after the Tories closed down the local grammar school.

I have missed the odd-day from work, but not for years. After starting teacher training following two years unemployment I had appendicitits and glandular fever one on top of the other, and had to go back living with my folks for a year, got no benefits, and as a result of this won't be getting a full state pension.

Similarly, I've paid into my work pension schemes, but another two years at univeristy getting another degree resulted in missing more pension contributions, so even less of a state pension for me.

I've never been in debt or overdrawn, despite six years at university.

I've never owned a credit card.

I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't have a car or mobile phone - it staggers me how much money people are willing to waste on this stuff.

I don't have kids - I don't think I can afford them.

I'm paid well enough, currently on 24,000. My brother, with a tiny fraction of the qualifications I have and working the private sector as a machinist earns more.

I hate my job. I keep doing it because it's in the public sector and it matters. I live with the constant knowledge that if I fuck up, worst case scenario is that people die - my colleagues might say I'm being melodramatic, but in truth I don't they don't think about the implications a lot of the time.

Next five years, well, who knows if I'll have a job. The public sector is not safe. I don't blame any government - I blame the general public who demand more and more and more, without even attempting to find out how much services cost and refuse to vote for governments with open tax policies.

Also, I knew that because of all the bad lending by irresponsible greedy people to greedy irresponsible people would bite us on the arse one day and I'm not an economist!

I'd worked that out, too, but I blame the people who decided to borrow. I recieved all the offers of credit cards and ignored them, even at times when I had nothing. The government could have stepped in and controlled the banks, I suppose, but I can see all the headlines and forums crying 'nanny state!' if it had.

By the way, the government pay out more in benefits than they take in at the moment, that was from a BBC programme, we can't go on like this!

I agree. Increase taxes or kick people off benefits? Which one is going to get us elected?

Here are a few ways I would improve this Great Country of ours!

All sports centres, youth clubs, swimming pools, etc to be paid for out of taxes. You can use your local ones free (may have to pay to use out of your area ones).

What will you say to all the people who say these things are non-essential services, they're a waste of money that could be put into education, road-building, the NHS and so on? Those who don't want to use such services - I loathe exercise and never needed a youth club to keep me on the straight-and-narrow after school.

All the unemployed to be paid a certain wage and have to do charitable work, help the aged, clean the beaches, community stuff, etc.... (I suppose some people will moan that they have to work for the dole, well I'd change the bloody name then).

Fine. You realise this will require a massive reorganisation of the employment services, liaising with thousands of outside organisations, medical services to properly assess claimants and work, police checks for those working with the vulnerable. A huge increase in cost.

All buses and trains in the country are free, paid for by taxes again. More people would bloody use them then, if they knew that their taxes paid for them and you could just jump on and off with no tickets.

That's great - I don't drive and rely heavily (though not entirely) on public transport. However, I've argued with enough people to know how much others hate travelling alongside strangers, crammed in, unable to smoke and use their mobiles if they want to, aren't free to come and go at the time of their choosing, having to wait - the complaints are endless.

If we really want to help people, help society, and save millions if not billions every single year then we should ban alcohol and smoking, but I think we know what trying that would get us.

There we go, Tory me (who is the only person on here who can prove the way he voted, I did put my reason down for voting Liberal this time) believes in paying for that lot to benefit everyone in this country.

As I said way back, I'm not interested in knowing who you or anyone else voted for. And incidentally, a photo of a voting slip proves nothing - did we see it go into a box? I am not, repreat not, saying it didn't, just pointing out how easy it is to take something at face value.

Sometimes you have to break the mould and start again. The only problem with my idea is that the rich bods who own all the above would not be able to fleece everyone anymore and all parties wouldn't allow that.

I place blame for the problem on the ignorance and selfishness of the general public. Blaming everything on the rich or on governments is so, so easy - I did it myself for years - but when it comes down to it most people vote for themselves, not for society. I think that's the root of the problem.


Regards

Robin

However there are plenty of economists who do agree and understand the causes of the economic crisis but they dont work for the govt and they are not listened to.

You mean the ones you happen to agree with. That doesn't make them right.

This is all opinion, Peter, not fact.

Regards

Robin

Personally i think what Brown and Blair have done to this country is totally unforgivable and for a country to be virtually bankrupt after 12 years of economic growth regardless of how that came about

So what should Brown have done? What have other countries like ours with economies that are heavily reliant on the financial services industry done that have proved more effective? What should have been done about banks that were collapsing?

but personally i think certain political parties just have a total misunderstanding of economics.

You mean ones you don't agree with? Seems to me that even experienced economists can't agree, so how you can expect politicians to understand or to presume that you understand is beyond me.

Whether it's politicans or the public, I see a lot of criticism of Brown, but little in the way of practical alternatives that are supported by convincing evidence in their favour.

I really don't like politicians in general, so I've no particular liking for Brown. However, as far as I can tell he gets the blame because of his position, not because he's actually directly responsible for anything particularly outrageous. The current problems can be laid at the doors of many people and organisations, in many countries, and over many years - it's far too easy and far too lazy to blame one prominent individual.


Regards

Robin

I think it boils down to the fact that a fair few people are actually reasonably happy with the way things are.

Also, when you get down to it, the big* beef most people have with New Labour is Iraq. Illegal war, yes. Lies, yes. Yes, to all of it. Blair is a snivelling, supine cunt whose cowering acquiescence to Dubya's wishes should guarantee him a very special place in Hell. Yes, I agree.

I think this is the root of it all. May have already posted this, but I still think that without Iraq Blair would still be PM and/or fairly well respected.

The other big issue, the one to beat Brown himself with, is the national debt, but as far as I can tell if Brown hadn't borrowed and spent that money the country would have been completely fucked and the situation far, far worse than it is. I seem to recall we were in debt in 1997, too, but it was Brown who paid that off. Little is made of this in the media, but I think people are conscious of it to some degree.

The Conservatives haven't quite made it because, I think, much of the general public is concerned that they'll resolve the debt issue through pretty severe cuts in public services. I think we all realise that cuts are coming anyway, but it's a matter of degree and focus, and the Conservatives are probably less trusted to get that right.


Regards

Robin

I can't believe after all Gordon Brown and Labour has put us through over the last 14 Centuries years so many still voted. Sheesh..

I think it boils down to the fact that a fair few people are actually reasonably happy with the way things are.


Regards

Robin

Does anyone know why Scottish Nationalism/Independence isnt a bad thing  and yet British Nationalism/independence is ?

Personally, I've got no time for nationalism of any variety. I also believe that united we stand, divided we fall. Appreciating and caring for your home is noble, but making a political and divisive issue out of it just causes trouble.

However, the key difference between Scottish and Welsh nationalism is that the Scots and Welsh nationalists are concerned with the excessive political influence of England. Poltically active British nationalists tend to be concerned with the mere presence of non-white people in their midst.

That's a generalisation, but the tendency resluts in the negativity.

Regards

Robin

I love the way that a bloke who was not elected to rule, became the Prime Minister due to a deal done years ago is now trying to hang onto power, after his party lost the election.

Depressingly, I find myself not caring in the slightest - I can't see how having anyone else in charge for the last few years would really have made anything better. I come back to the lesser evil option, and right now I think that is Brown and Clegg working something out. Electoral reforms and Vince Cable as Chancellor might not be a bad start.

If this was happening in a third world country, Labour voters would be up in arms about it.

I'm more concerned about the people who queued to vote but couldn't. Numerically, their votes wouldn't have made a difference as I understand it, but I find that loss of democratic rights far more appaling than an electoral quirk that allows Brown to hang-on until something else is sorted out.

Regards

Robin

I was seriously considering one of these, but I could buy a laptop and have change for a small heap of real books for that.

Then I fear you had a very unrealistic expectation of how much it was going to cost!

Quite probably, although to be honest, I hadn't given cost much consideration at all as it seem irrelevant until it was actually available.

Regards

Robin

I was seriously considering one of these, but I could buy a laptop and have change for a small heap of real books for that.

Regards

Robin

Is it just me or does the NF symbol look like a Union flag held aloft on fire?

The Conservative one is surprisingly weak, little more than a smudged scribble really. I can only assume the tree is an attempt to lure in a few confused Green voters.

The Christian Party's effort is a bit simplistic, but you can see where they're coming from.

Regards

Robin

Our BNP candidate is called Trebilcock.

Seems apt - Three times as much of a dick as the other candidates.

Just for interest:

http://www.surnamedb.com/surname.aspx?name=trebilcock


Regards

Robin

I dont want Labour to win because of 1997 to 06/06/2010.

Be careful Peter, now that these polite and loving Labour lot know that you won't be voting for their party, they will despise you.
As far as they are concerned anything that has gone wrong with this country in it's entire history is the Conservative parties fault, even before it was invented, especially because of Maggie Thatcher 

I say this not to imply that you are voting Tory but because that's what they will think!

I thought he was voting for UKIP. Mind you, I've not been playing close attention lately.


Regards

Robin

I'm finding the idea of someone I otherwise think well of voting for those evil blue bastards quite hard to deal with. Is this normal?

Normal and understandable.

This was just brought to my attention:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/poverty-and-injustice-in-david-cameronrsquos-model-borough-1962318.html


Regards

Robin

I am so old.

*sob*

Don't worry about it, Jim. He'll grow old, become bitter, and die one day, same as the rest of us. Hold onto that thought.


Regards

Robin