[Closed] one week till a tory majority

Same goes for the country. We cant afford to employ all these people in our public sector. We cant afford to build new schools and hospitals forevermore. It is out of control and needs to stop before we can make real progress.

So you think that not building new hospitals or schools is progress? You've already mentioned you can't afford servants so you're not wealthy as such, then you would rely more on the infrastructure that has been built.

Blue for you? They deserve you.

If you think Cameron would be good for the economy, who was Lamont's special advisor?

I'd love to know which country some of the people who commented on GB's sterling work as Chancellor and as PM have been living for the last few years.

Labour have made the public service fat, lazy and greedy as they always do.
Sadly the growth in numbers hasn't been in front line personnel eg police officers, firemen, nurses, teachers etc. It has been through the exponential growth in the numbers of people employed by unelected quangos with no accountability and large salaries for delivering little of benefit. The sooner they all get removed, the sooner the country can reduce it's deficit and control it's wild spending.

I would vote for any party who I thought would remove these pointless bureaucrats and pen pushers.

I got a phone call at work recently from the local Labour council who had been given a large amount money to help local businesses. They were canvassing views on using the money to employ a 'small business advisor' based on our industrial estate. This would be replicated across the county. I pointed out we already had two council employed 'business advisors' in the council run business centre 50m away and no-one on the industrial estate knew what they did so why did we need someone else to do nothing with them. No doubt the 'business advisor' would be yet another public servant who's never worked in 'business' with no credentials to advise anyone. Rant over.

Conservatives love their Quangos too you know. We need STV to make our elections more representative so there are more voices in the commons, we also need a fully elected and secular upper house.

scu98rkr...and the country is not feeling pain now??

Not as much as it could be. In comparison to previous recessions the country feels like its absolutely bustling. Im from the midlands and last time I remember a really quite dead feeling in the town with many many shops closing and whole sections of the high street closing.

This has nt happened this time at least in the areas I live suggesting to me its not as bad. Also during the recession there dont seem to have been massive lay-offs . Most company's seem to have coped through voluntary redundancies and moving people to part time work most of my friends seem to have kept their jobs. Although obviously people have lost there jobs.

My younger cousins however are struggling to get work. So the main issue I can see is that youth unemployment has grown massively but obviously if an economy is not growing where are jobs for young people going to come from ?

And in some ways the figures for youth unemployment look bad as a percentage because older workers have just managed to keep their jobs. Rather than previous recessions where sons daughters fathers and mothers were losing jobs together.

We don't need any changes other than GB as PM. The number of jobs he has created since 97 is testiment to his understanding of what the country requires and what it actually needs. It's right that he must stay in charge so he can drag out the solution as long as possible.

neninja - The country of which you speak is the same one that Polly Toynbee writes about in the Guardian every week. It sounds like an idylic place. St Gordon has saved the world. We all live in unrivaled prosperity. And all is rosy in the Garden.

It makes me shudder at the thought of the Tories in power again. But your right about the Quangos. Cameron says he'll abolish regional Development agencies. Good on him. They're worse than ****ing useless.

I went to a recent NWRDA event. It was to launch Creative Credits. a £6 million scheme to boost the creative industries in the North West. It was held in the uber-expensive Lowry Hotel. There was lots of wine and canapes. And the usual stuffed Quango suits (doubtless on obscenely enormous salaries) and 'consultants' spouting utter and complete drivel. They were collectively clueless as to what was actually going on We walked out in utter despair. If thats what the government thought would rescue business then god help this countries economy.

I'm sure the £6 million is long gone. We know of not one single company who has actually benefitted from a single penny of it (though we know plenty who applied). We know plenty who have subsequently gone bust though. Ourselves included.

The sooner this bloody ridiculous useless gravy train gets chopped the better. Or we really are all totallly ****ed!!!!!!!

We know of not one single company who has actually benefitted from a single penny of it

Konabunny. I acknowledge the good the labour party has done. But theres a lot of utterly wrong-headed nonsense that tips the balance the other way.

This ridiculous dependence on consultants. Its like the thrall they've been held in by the bankers. Its ridiculous. The whole culture is completely out of control. It was just-about sufferable when we thought we could afford it. But in the present climate it just looks obscene. Spending tax-payers money on wine and canapes in posh hotels while the companies (shall we call them 'little people') they are supposed to help, go to the wall? The phrase 'fiddling while Rome burns' sums the whole thing up

This is about a whole strata of society that seems to believe that to staff these well-paid but effectively useless talking-shops is their entitlement.

neninja you are wrong labour has massively increased the number of nurses and vastly improved the nhs

but the quango culture has to go, they have been influenced by the city boys and thats why labour too has to go

i just think the tory will be much much worse

who 1st deregulated the banks
who 1st created pension holidays
who 1st placed the financial services economy above all else
who took us into the eec, (yet it was brown who insisted we stay out of the euro)

labour have been following the economic template set by the torries,
cameron proposes nothing different financialy
so we will still be at the mercy of the boom and bust cycle
the only difference is that public services will be decimated while the very rich get tax breaks

but if you are enough of a sheep to believe what you read in the press then go ahead vote freshly ****ed penis and see how nothing changes (unless you are already very very wealthy- in which case be prepared to get even richer)

My favourite recent Quango story

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7005417.ece

You really couldn't make it up. If it wasn't spanking millions of pounds of our taxes, this would be hilarious. How many other examples like this do you think are out there?

If you think Cameron would be good for the economy, who was Lamont's special advisor?

According to the BBC on current figures Labour would still have the most seats.

Recent poles here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8280050.stm

So we get 34% Con, 29% Lab, 28% LD

Put those figures in here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8609989.stm

Labour still beat Tories - great! or not....

I saw some "Vote G**rg* Osb*rne" signs outside houses in a Cheshire village last night.

I felt slightly unwell.

When you add PFI's and Public sector pensions to the national debt its nearer 2 trillion.

Tories will cut services to reduce the debt, Labour will cut less services and hope for the best.

Thats the choice really. Personally cant stand another year of the milliband, harman mandelsons etc. Smarmy f*&kers.

We know of not one single company who has actually benefitted from a single penny of it

The Lowry Hotel did...

Unless the public sector workers are hoarding their salaries under their beds, they're surely spending them in the private sector?

So, a gov dept "wastes" money buying a rose-scented mind-sprinkle room in which their six Lesbian Community Engagement Officers can relax. If the room is built using UK-supplied materials by a UK construction company and the six LCEOs spend their salaries on dungarees and flax oil from their local deli, no money has left the economy.

A rant from a non-Labour voter with a social conscience....

Lets set out some background - I'm a manager with a global US based corporation. We're a science and engineering based company, and like most US companies are pretty hard-nosed and commercially focused...

... so then - this public sector waste that can be swept away like autumn leaves - just so much chafe that we can do without / can't afford?

Or real people, being paid to do work, paying taxes on their earnings and spending the remainder in the economy??

Lets do the Tory experiment and swap their pay cheques for dole cheques - WTF is that going to do to the economy? All you moany small businessmen (ie the normal arch-capitalists with too small a brain to see how things really work) will then either struggle to make end meet as nobody can buy your services, or shut yourselves away in your recession proofed financial security...

And who supplies goods and services to the public sector? - YES, THATS RIGHT, the PRIVATE SECTOR.

My hard nosed, US, commercially focused, dynamic corporation will be looking at a shrinking public sector market share - because we obviously can't afford to support our armed services, decommission our nuclear power stations, build new roads / railways / power stations / airports / schools / hospitals and protect the public and environment from environmental pollution.

Get with the ****ing programme - cuts to the public sector directly affect the private sector as well.

I saw some "Vote G**rg* Osb*rne" signs outside houses in a Cheshire village last night.

Must have been very tempting to replace the word "Vote" with something beginning with F.

I drove to a very posh bit of leafy Surrey to collect my new bike a couple of weeks ago and was struck by the number of Tory posters around.

Seems a bit like preaching to the converted. Do they only put them up where they don't think they'll get defaced?

Get with the ****ing programme - cuts to the public sector directly affect the private sector as well.

I'm glad it's not just me then.

but the quango culture has to go

I don't know how. Quangos have been around a longtime, in fact more quangos were introduced under the Tories in the 80's and 90's when they realised that someone had to control the bureaucracy they had sought to cut by trying to reduce the state, so instead of elected bodies you got more un-elected quangos.

Get with the ****ing programme - cuts to the public sector directly affect the [u]private sector[/u] as well.

Some of you Turkeys are voting for Christmas.

I just don't understand how a labour government could be in for so long yet fail to close the wealth gap, and in fact cause the gulf between rich and poor to reach its widest since the end of WW2. And that's despite increasing tax significantly to invest into the public sector. At least old labour tried to help the people that voted them in.

And who supplies goods and services to the public sector? - YES, THATS RIGHT, the PRIVATE SECTOR.

Yup, it's a complete fallacy to suggest that you can make swinging cuts to the public sector without it also harming the private sector.

I personally will probably gain financially by a pretty hefty sum if the Tories get in and abolish inheritance tax - still think it would be a real shame if they do get in and I certainly won't be voting for them. I think the best hope is for a hung parliament and the Lib Dems gaining the clout to push for electoral reform.

in fact cause the gulf between rich and poor to reach its widest since the end of WW2.

Labour managed to considerably slow the rate at which the gap between rich and poor was increasing under the previous government. Not very impressive but a lot better than the alternative.

I drove to a very posh bit of leafy Surrey to collect my new bike a couple of weeks ago and was struck by the number of Tory posters around.

Seems a bit like preaching to the converted.

On the other hand, St Helens in the 80s/90s was awash with "vote Labour" signs in Two of their safest seats(so safe that one of them is now held by that once-Tory defector , Sean Woodward). It's probably the same now.

I think the best hope is for a hung parliament and the Lib Dems gaining the clout to push for electoral reform.

ABSOLUTELY

Any straight thinking folks should vote LibDem this time just to get the electoral reform that this country is screaming out for.

Even if your not of LibDem persuassion - this is the best chance of a generation (or more) to re-set the political system in this country.

Indeed.

Just because your old granddad voted for the local land-owner or the local mine's shop-steward, you don't have to vote for the person wearing the same coloured rosette.

When we moved to a bigger house 9 months ago we fixed our mortgage for 5 years just in case. There's no way we could afford double figure interest rates like last time.

Hang'em all.

>Get with the ****ing programme - cuts to the public sector directly affect the private sector as well.

public sector is going to get hit hard regardless of who wins, wake up and smell the coffee.

Due to the size of our debt and the fact that it will have to be paid off eventually we are all going to get shafted, long and hard and probably without the courtesy of a nice dinner beforehand.

I think the only thing we are actually voting for is who will be first in the queue.

PPP debt and the public sector pension debt means our actual debt adds up to 90k per household some boffin said last night. Even if he is wrong, even if he's out by 50% we are still up the shitter by 50 odd K per household.

As a country there's no more going down the pub, no more lunches out it's sandwiches from now on, no more home improvements, no more big flashy cars, no more going off with our American friends for a fight in the curry house.

Bottom line were are staying in watching TV and eating tesco value for the next five years miniumum until we are out of the shit.

Blair, Brown, Clegg makes no odds, what has to be done has to be done. Even the ones who think they are being truthful soon realise that the world conspires to make them liars, who'd be a politician eh!

public sector is going to get hit hard regardless of who wins, wake up and smell the coffee.

Thank you for that. I can smell the coffee - in fact, if you were in close proximity I would have to resist the urge for physical violence towards your person.

Why - because this week I had to tell a father of two, whose wife was made redundant last year, that his job was being put at risk, that's why.

Bottom line were are staying in watching TV and eating tesco value for the next five years miniumum until we are out of the shit.

>in fact, if you were in close proximity I would have to resist the urge for physical violence towards your person.

What a nice chap you must be, I'm not sure what warranted the threat against me.

resist the urge

But apologies, I am not normally prone to aggression.
Something in your post must have triggered it - along with the rather unpleasant business of telling highly qualified and capable team members that they might no longer be required...

He does seem in a very bad mood. Must be the pressure of being so hard-nosed and commercially focussed. Sounds exhausting

Any straight thinking folks should vote LibDem this time just to get the electoral reform that this country is screaming out for.

Is it really screaming out for reform? Other than LibDem voters? The current system has been fairly effective for the past 200 years or so, every 10 (or so) years you get a change in government, which keeps corruption nicely in check, most of the MPs are known locally, generally speaking very little extreme legislation gets passed...

I'd get rid of the current House of Lords, maybe a STV second chamber, but even then you run a serious risk of the place being a dumping ground for semi-retired politicians that no local party wants.

Except that the Tories want it to be everyone else eating bread and dripping whilst they carry on with their luxurious lifestyle paid by shares in bakeries and abattoirs.

Apart from the inheritance tax changes, which is supposed to be an attempt to change it back to something for the very richest as it used to be, I think the Tories are being pretty even handed really in their proposals. Do think they should put back the inheritance tax changes as now is not the time.

>But apologies, I am not normally prone to aggression.

no worries, wouldn't have wanted to be in you shoes re: the father and redundancy risk.

Electoral reform might offer one benefit in that they might have to actually work together to get stuff done, I can't see how that's bad. Seems to work for a lot of other nations.

Electoral reform might offer one benefit in that they might have to actually work together to get stuff done, I can't see how that's bad. Seems to work for a lot of other nations.

Doesn't work particuarly well here in Spain, you end up with regional parties calling the shots.

If Cameron can't even be trusted to lock a bike up, why would anyone trust him to run the country?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/2453508/David-Cameron-has-bicycle-stolen-on-shopping-trip.html

yeah, tory power

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who took us into the eec, (yet it was brown who insisted we stay out of the euro)

Do people really believe callmedave is going to cut Quangos? I suppose he'll have to cut some to fund the 5,000 ‘full time, professional community organizers’ he wants.

5,000 @ £20,000 = £100 Million a year

Chaff.