Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 90 total)
  • Nick Clegg, you are the weakest link, goodbye!
  • ohnohesback
    Free Member

    So in advance of the budget we’ve had the announcement of regional pay for public service workers, a reduction in the top rate of income tax, and the privatisation of the roads, right-wing ideological goals that previous non-coalition tory govts either didn’t want to or couldn’t implement. Now that the Welfare Reform Bill and the Health Bill have been passed, are Cameron and Osborne signalling that they regard the Lib-Dems as having exceeded their usefulness, that the Lib-Dems can stay in the ‘coalition’ if they choose, but that the tories are going to proceed with their right-wing agenda no matter what NC says?

    Maybe now Mr Clegg finally comprehends the yawning chasm that is opening underneath him…

    wwaswas
    Full Member

    Lib-Dems are damned if they stay in the coalition and damned if they leave though.

    if they stay and can’t give specifics on how they moderated tory policies then they have no credibility.

    if they leave now and force election they’ll get hammered at polls due to current disatisfaction and we’ll end up with a tory majority.

    Clegg knows this is is his ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity to be in the government and he’ll stick with it whatever happens.

    allthegear
    Free Member

    I have a horrible, horrible feeling wwaswas is tight…

    🙁

    Rachel

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    binners
    Full Member

    Lib-Dems are damned if they stay in the coalition and damned if they leave though.

    Yes, but if they leave, then they could spare the rest of us from eternal damnation.

    They’re hopelessly naive. I couldn’t believe Vince Cables statement the other week about the Tories having no ‘grand vision’. What?!!! Seriously?!!! Wake up FFS! They’ve got the clearest ideological vision I’ve ever seen. They want to privatise everything. The NHS, the Education system, the police, now the roads. And make damn sure that when they’re voted out in 3 years, the process is irreversible

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    Makes you wonder though, what would have happened if either of the other outcomes of the GE had occoured?

    1) Conervatives win outright, and get (rid of) everything they (don’t) want. A wet blanket though the Lib-Dems have been, they have at least exerted some restraint on the conservatives, just look at the news, it’s all Cleg and Dave or Cable and Osbourne fall out on this/that/the other, with barely any influence from the Labour ‘opposition’. In some ways it’s nice to have a constructive government getting things done rather than the usual argumenttative government/opposition setup.

    2) Labour win, and keep trying to buy their way out of the recession (which might have worked, in my non expert view we needed another 12-18 months of spending before making the cuts, evidenced by the u-turn in growth figures as soon as the ’emergency budget’ was announced)

    ohnohesback
    Free Member

    The much-heralded ‘falling out’ stories are but window dressing. DC knows that he has NC exactly where he wantes him and NC knows that as well.

    Coyote
    Free Member

    And make damn sure that when they’re voted out in 3 years

    Seriously Binners, can you see this happening given the complete and utter lack of a credible opposition. For the first time I look at the main parties and see nothing that appeals to me.

    butcher
    Full Member

    Who’s Nick Clegg?

    Seriously, if the Lib Dems only just grew some balls and vocally challenged the tories as being as set of *******s, then they might have stood a chance in the future.

    Their uninspiring time in government however has made them look like nothing more than a bunch of showboaters who wanted to be on the telly.

    mcboo
    Free Member

    An the alternative is to vote for Ed Miliband as PM yes? You get a lot of whinging about this government but how come we never hear those magic words?

    totalshell
    Full Member

    the lib dems have formed an effective opposition to the conservatives, they at least have some small veto over any plans. the labour party has proved to be completly irrelevant and increasingly out of touch with reality. shame on milibrand bros. by confusing the party by both standing they ended up with the leader no one wanted and no one will remember the Foot years all over again.

    Rio
    Full Member

    An the alternative is to vote for Ed Miliband as PM yes

    And Ed Balls as Chancellor. Now that really scares me…

    jota180
    Free Member

    An the alternative is to vote for Ed Miliband as PM yes? You get a lot of whinging about this government but how come we never hear those magic words?

    maybe because our electoral system doesn’t allow it?

    just a thought

    they at least have some small veto over any plans

    You either have a veto or you don’t
    You can’t have a veto of varying levels

    mcboo
    Free Member

    maybe because our electoral system doesn’t allow it?

    just a thought

    What you on about? If you dont like the Coalition (I do) then what are you all saying? Vote Labour for Miliband and Balls yes?

    teamhurtmore
    Free Member

    Maybe now Mr Clegg finally comprehends the yawning chasm that is opening underneath him…

    I think this is an obvious conclusion but one that (perhaps) time will prove wrong. In general, I am not a fan of coalition governments (nor AV partly for that reason) and I find some of the more obvious horse-trading between the LD and the Tories somewhat depressing especially this week. I am also mixed on some of the LD policies (and “almost” 100% against anything that Dunce Cable spouts).

    Nevertheless, I am beginning to change my mind about the coalition and even the value of NC for the very simple reason that the coalition had forced a greater level of debate on many issues – voting, NHW reforms, inequality, taxation, is wealth morally wrong (!!), how to avoid speeding tickets (oops, ignore that), the folly of wind farms etc. All of this has added transparency and debate rather then obscurity and confusion. And that is a good thing.

    The concept of coalition is new for most of us and is bound to be a rocky road. But with such a weak opposition, I think that the LDs have actually played an important role at keeping CMD &Co in check even if the Tories have ultimately called their bluff/stitched them up on many policy issues.

    If Cleggy survives the next year, I think history will judge his contribution kinder than the obvious conclusion that many of us come to now.

    ohnohesback
    Free Member

    What exactly have the Lib-Dems vetoed?

    binners
    Full Member

    You’re absolutely right Coyote. There’s no credible alternative. The labour party under Ed Milliband is an absolute joke! He’s pathetic!

    With the worst unemployment figures for god knows how long, 2.7 million, announced last week – and what do we hear from the labour party? Nothing! Not a squeak out of them!

    They should be running rings around this lot! The economy is a car crash. But who’s shadow chancellor? Ed Balls. Seriously? The man who helped Gordon Brown steer the economy onto the rocks in the first place!

    I do think we’ve seen the end of parliamentary majorities for the foreseeable future, on account of them all being equally as ****ing useless!

    jota180
    Free Member

    What you on about?

    The electorate don’t get to choose the PM, the parties do it and they can change them without any input from the electorate

    mcboo
    Free Member

    Come on say it jota…..vote Labour yes?

    richmtb
    Full Member

    Time will tell just how much the Lib Dems have mitigated the Tories plans. But one thing is certain Labour at them moment are an absolute joke.

    The most effective opposition to the government has been the SNP!

    AdamW
    Free Member

    I’d vote for my next door neighbour’s dog than the tories, or labour for that matter.

    LD had my vote. Never *ever* again. 😥

    mcboo
    Free Member

    Thats the problem Labour are going to have. Lot of you guys are passionatly opposed to the government but how often does anyone on here ever say Vote Labour? It’s all SNP or Greens or Ernie giving us a lecture on Marxist theory. But hardly ever does anyone nail their colours to the mast with Messers Miliband and Balls. They are going to lose.

    Coyote
    Free Member

    Good point binners. Nothing from the so-called opposition of worth for a while now.

    Agree with AdamW too.

    MrWoppit
    Free Member

    It used to be the case that government Capital Projects were a useful tool to help regenerate moribund economies. This of course, was predicated on governments being able to afford them. This is not the case today.

    Would not involving the private sector achieve an even better result with the road-building schemes generating real profits and jobs.

    Do we now not want this and if so, why not?

    ohnohesback
    Free Member

    No we don’t. Look what happened when the private sector got involved with the railways.

    kimbers
    Full Member

    privatising the NHS and education should have sent the lib dems running from the coalition but i completely agree that clegg will cling on to what power he has for as long as possible no matter how far dave has his fist up his bum

    privatising roads isnt so bad for the lib dems as theyve always been a bit more pro environment?
    and considering how expensive toll roads are (m4 bridge, m6 toll)
    i think that if all our motorways are toll roads a lot of people will be priced off them

    edit
    and cameron clearly says only new roads will be toll roads, and then gives the example of improving the A14 so it becomes a toll road, which blatantly means any time a bit of work is done on an existing road private companies will be able to charge you for driving on it.

    footflaps
    Full Member

    I’ve stopped helping / supporting my local Lib Dems over NC’s behaviour – not going to do anything to help a bunch of Tory sycophants keep DC in power. Back to Labour now 🙁

    mcboo
    Free Member

    Back to Labour now

    We have found one!

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    The Lib Dems are completely finished as a result of this. Vote lib deam and get Tory will follow them for a generation. they have made a fundamental blunder.

    MrWoppit
    Free Member

    ohnohesback – Member
    No we don’t. Look what happened when the private sector got involved with the railways

    Your memory of Nationalised Railways (if you have one) has become warped over time by your prejudices.

    Given the choice (and having had the experience), I prefer today’s system, flawed though it is.

    teamhurtmore
    Free Member

    ohnohesback – Member
    What exactly have the Lib-Dems vetoed?

    We dont know what goes on behind the scenes with these people who represent us (!!!) and the honest answer is probably not that much. But that is not to say that they are not forcing much more, healthy debate on key issues. And that has to be a good thing.

    kimbers
    Full Member

    also surprised that dave is suggesting this as his horse riding buddy clarckson will be all ranty?

    or will he be happy that the mways will be empty for him and other people that can afford supercars??
    while us plebs sit in b-road traffic jams in our ford focus

    teamhurtmore
    Free Member

    You’re absolutely right Coyote. There’s no credible alternative. The labour party under Ed Milliband is an absolute joke! He’s pathetic!

    Or is it simply that they are all facing the same problems, all frankly arguing the same solutions (sic) once you get past the obvious party-political rhetoric and all constrained by the enormity of the real mess that we are in? None of these guys would really be able to do anything better.

    I love the attacks on the “austerity” Tories – FFS, they haven’t even started yet. Minor tinkering with the deficit and as for the overall level of debt….!!!??? As Mckinsey and the rating agencies point out, we haven’t even started on deleveraging the UK economy yet. And Balls is not completely stupid and knows the limits of talking complete BS as his speech to the Fabian Society a weeks ago showed.

    aracer
    Free Member

    I’d vote for my next door neighbour’s dog than the tories, or labour for that matter.

    LD had my vote. Never *ever* again.

    Is your next door neighbour’s dog standing then? Otherwise you appear to be a bit short of alternatives.

    MrWoppit
    Free Member

    or will he be happy that the mways will be empty for him and other people that can afford supercars??
    while us plebs sit in b-road traffic jams in our ford focus

    I must be some sort of “sub-pleb”, then, cycling or using public transport…

    Aren’t cars the problem, the great car society being an invention of Saint Margaret? The super-rich can do what they like in their super cars as far as I’m concerned.

    cynic-al
    Free Member

    “Minority party in coalition having to compromise” SHOCKER!

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    Aren’t they just saying that new roads would be private/toll?

    I’m for it, if the roads are built on economic grounds, i.e. like the M6 toll or transporter bridge in M’boro cut off a fair sized corner, and the toll aproximately equals the fuel saving then why not let a private company have a stab at it?

    fuzzhead
    Free Member

    no, not just new roads. Roads that have been altered, worked on etc. So one of Dave’s buddies’ companies could work on a road, alter the lines to create a new lane and then be able to charge people for the privilege of sitting in traffic on it.

    kimbers
    Full Member

    thisisnotaspoon – Member

    Aren’t they just saying that new roads would be private/toll?

    as i said earlier…….
    cameron clearly says only new roads will be toll roads,
    and then gives the example of improving the A14 so it becomes a toll road,
    which blatantly means any time a bit of work is done on an existing road private companies will be able to charge you for driving on it.

    politician in being 2 faced duplicitous twunt shocker!

    mcboo
    Free Member

    Are we against toll roads now? Or are we against them because it is the evil Tories who are moving in that direction? I well remember Labour floating the idea a few years ago of a national pay per mile road charging system. That got kicked into the long grass under pressure from the road lobby.

    fuzzhead
    Free Member

    Given that the proposal includes siphoning off of VED to grease the wheels of this little enterprise, it’s a wholly different kettle of fish to the road-pricing schemes we heard about under Labour.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 90 total)

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