Oh, enough of this!

Don’t worry – we are all guilty of that from time to time.:) But I am really sorry to read the rest of your post.:( Losing your job is bad enough but having to fight the bureaucracy to get what you are due is appalling. ( I smell a post from Lincoln 7 on this!;))

Not that it is any consolation and will probably not be realised in our lifetimes but I applaud Ian Duncan Smith’s attempts to bulldozer through serious welfare reform, a component of which is structural overhaul to achieve a far, far simpler system. If it ever happened it could really help people like you and the old, who struggle with the complexities of the “Brown” system.

S.H. Your right, see ELDERLY FOLK Posting,Something needs to be done.

Lincoln .7

RE: Inwinnable Asscrackistan war

This is a unilateral NATO action. It is not just the UK and the US flexing their military muscles. Canadians, Dutch, German and French forces are also involved. For better or worse, the UK is part of NATO and we are committed to providing military assets as and when called upon.
Is it fair we are providing more troops than most other NATO nations put together? No.
Should we withdraw? No
Should we reduce the number of forces there? No
Why? Because the moment the Torries see soldiers, sailors and airmen sitting idle, they’ll axe thousands to save money and that will leave us with a complete joke of an Armed Forces. With very little jobs out there, that puts thousands extra in the Job Centre queue.

The Tory Government in general:

This Government no one elected has already killed off the only viable search and rescue and reconnaissance service we had (Nimrod), the Harrier and the Ark Royal. Neither will see a replacement for years, perhaps decades in some cases, if ever.
Satisfied they’ve saved enough within the Armed forces, it is of no surprise to me the Police are next for the firing line.

Next it’ll be the Fire Service.
They will systematically cripple every government run service.

That’s the Tory way!

No comment!!:mad::mad:

S.H. Post 39, exactly sums it up.

L.&

And so does this!!:mad::mad:

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/233660/Payouts-for-thief-burnt-in-burglary

S.H. Post 39, exactly sums it up.

L.&

How interesting – I am ashamed to say that I knew nothing of these problems, or the lack of help for trhem, so I hope that programme did some good and I applaud you for taking part.

Thanks for those kind comments. It has been a giant learning curve I have to say. About a month ago, I got a call from the BBC, to ask if I would take part in a television program called The Politics Show, which I now know, goes out on Sunday mornings. It was the local support group that I go to, for blind and partially sighted people that initially started the whole thing off. The BBC folks came to my home to do the interview to camera on a Tuesday, and the prog went out on the following Sunday. The reason that the group set this up was because of the bad time that I, and many, many other people are having to go thru to get the help we need, whilst at the same time, learning cope with our new found disabilities. God knows something needs to be sorted! How the elderly cope with it all, goodness only knows.

Don’t worry – we are all guilty of that from time to time.:) But I am really sorry to read the rest of your post.:( Losing your job is bad enough but having to fight the bureaucracy to get what you are due is appalling. ( I smell a post from Lincoln 7 on this!;))

Not that it is any consolation and will probably not be realised in our lifetimes but I applaud Ian Duncan Smith’s attempts to bulldozer through serious welfare reform, a component of which is structural overhaul to achieve a far, far simpler system. If it ever happened it could really help people like you and the old, who struggle with the complexities of the “Brown” system.

Appreciate that feedback. I think what happens with me is that my digits fly across the keyboard, with my brain some miles behind them;)

I think that my view of certain things is being coloured by my recent and sudden job loss, due to medical reasons (partial loss of sight). The dealings that I’m having with the benefits system, and obtaining the appropriate medical treatments, is a b****y nightmare. How older people manage, I don’t know. But thats probably another thread for another day.:)

Interflug, I have no problem in agreeing with you that bankers were a part of the problem. But do bear in mind that but for the governement of the day freeing up the regulations relating to lending that part of the problem would never have happened. And to compound that problem the governemnt of the day then went on its own spending spree, borrowing as though there was no tomorrow thus fuelling the banks’ frenzy.

At no time did central government feel the need to relook at the regulations, or to send a message to the banks that it was getting out of hand. And the other factor often omitted from the debate is the rank idiocy of the public accepting without due consideration the opportunity to borrow their way to heaven, without considering their ability to repay. The excuse that the banks were offering self-asessment on 5 times income cuts no ice. We make our decisions on what we borrow, not the banks.

Interflug – no I am not an expert, if by that you suggest I would have a degree in economics, perhaps. I can only plead an A-Level and half a lifetime in business, but I certainly do know that blaming the entire mess as simplistically as you do on bankers and financial whizz kids is about as far from the truth as you can get. Kev had it rather well when he referred to the disgusting wastage of central government.

I have followed the rush of exchanges between you, Lincoln and Kev with great interest and can’t really add anything more, at this stage.

SkyHigh, I thank you for your interpretation of my posts, however simplistic you may have found them to be. We can all learn by absorbing criticism I guess. My father and I have often debated this topic. He is now in his 78th year, spending most of that time in business. He is an extremely wealthy man and he made his fortune by working hard, as very many people do, and ended up being on the board of 5 different companies. Now if that man tells me that the bulk of this mess IS down to the poor acumen of bankers, their comrades, and some lousy policies in central government, then I do tend to take his opinion seriously. I’ll think that you’ll find mention of central government, its members, and its wastefulness more than once in my posts. I personally do not blame the entire mess on bankers et all, but they do, IMO have to shoulder a great deal of the blame. Call that simplistic if you wish, that is your right, but I cannot agree with you.

I suppose I could say, well he would say that wouldn’t he? Those either side of the divide will sling statistics and figures back and forth until the cows come home.
And what you say about the policy is correct and the Tories have never made any secret of their desire to reduce the public sector. Firstly because it is one of the ways of reducing expenditure and secondly because they believe that where applicable private operations work better than public ones. That case is arguable – just as the figures are. So where does it get us?

Well I think a bit of realism is what’s needed. And (Ha) honesty. I think the fact that most of the current government are systematically picking off elements of the public sector and denigrating them clearly shows that they are on dodgy ground with the facts – otherwise they would be clearly articulating them. The current frenzy, for example, around the police is bizarre. We’ve also seen local government workers attacked at teh same time as (surprise surprise) cuts are announced. Whilst I now work in the public sector I have also worked in the private sector and everything in the garden isn’t rosy there I can assure you.

Unfortunately once you start scapegoating people to put your policies into action it becomes a very slippery slope.

I.M.H.O. This is a subject that could go on forever and never come to an acceptable conclusion. As long as there is a Joe Bloggs and an M.P. there will be an argument over one subject or tother, so how on earth can we expect 650 to talk sense, and come to at least one conclusion they will all agree on.
AHHHHHH yes, their own pay and pension rises again at Mr Bloggs expense.

I recon this will eventualy disappear up it’s own afterburner.

Lincoln .7

I suppose I could say, well he would say that wouldn’t he? Those either side of the divide will sling statistics and figures back and forth until the cows come home.
And what you say about the policy is correct and the Tories have never made any secret of their desire to reduce the public sector. Firstly because it is one of the ways of reducing expenditure and secondly because they believe that where applicable private operations work better than public ones. That case is arguable – just as the figures are. So where does it get us?

Linc – the piece on pensions I mentioned…………

Herein lies the great conundrum for David Cameron and his team. The pensions regime in the public sector cannot continue as it is. … Long post snipped

Actually that is not quite the case. Public Sector pensions are an issue but are certainly not the issue that they are being made out to be in what is only one part of the current governments spin which aims to demonise the public sector. Large figures generally quoted are figures which would be paid out were every single member of the pension scheme to ask for their pension at once. This is never going to happen – but it makes a nice piece of headline grabbing.

The Hutton report on pensions outlined some very simple ways of dealing with the deficit in public sector pensions – that is get those people in the schemes to pay more for them. I am a member of such a scheme and feel that this is the right thing to do. It is also salient to note that for at least two years in the last 15 the pension scheme I am a member of paid money into the treasury as it was in surplus.

The pension issue is but one of the attempts to sell cuts in the public sector to a gullible public. The other is the wages paid. Now it is often quoted that we get a good pension in lieu of poor pay. This is quite true as the pay in the public sector has never been brilliant. Once again it is a myth that pay is better. The article below by Ben Goldacre tells it much better than I do but shows it is pointless trying to make comparisons.

http://www.badscience.net/2010/01/if-you-want-to-be-trusted-more-claim-less/

The other unfortunate thing about the whole public / private sector pension issue is it demonstrates how this country has become a selfish little country. Rather than look at private sector pensions and ask how can we improve them (or even fight to retain them) people are looking at what others have and say “I haven’t got that so let’s take it off them”. Very similar to the depressing debacle over housing benefit.

And not wishing to be one of those people who doesn’t offer a solution – the reason the cuts are so severe is that the Tories are pushing them through because 1) this is the only way they can slash the public sector as they are ideologically opposed to it and 2) they feel that the public will have forgotten the cuts by the time the next election occurs. A much more sensible option would have been to cut more slowly ensuing that the most vulnerable were protected and that the impact on unemployment wasn’t so severe. Whilst this may have left them vulnerable at the polls in 5 years time, at least the societal breakdown and damage would not be as great.

Ooh! What a good idea!:)

Pete, Sit down and have a cuppa,compose yourself, then get ready for the next round 😀

Lincoln .7

:diablo:

Interflug – no I am not an expert, if by that you suggest I would have a degree in economics, perhaps. I can only plead an A-Level and half a lifetime in business, but I certainly do know that blaming the entire mess as simplistically as you do on bankers and financial whizz kids is about as far from the truth as you can get. Kev had it rather well when he referred to the disgusting wastage of central government.

I have followed the rush of exchanges between you, Lincoln and Kev with great interest and can’t really add anything more, at this stage.

Lincoln.

Sheltered life? Maybe. Pots of money? No, not even enough to be secure and comfortable but that makes no difference to a thread like this.

I don’t, nor ever would, presume to have any answers, let alone THE answer. I do know, however, that ranting about it on internet fora such as this one does NOTHING to improve the situation. I suspect the Government are quite happy when people apportion blame on the so called ‘benefit culture’, immigration et al. It deflects neatly from the massive and disgusting wastage that have been a part of Central Government for decades.

If you want to change things, then go and make a stand. Try for election to Parliament, you could hardly do worse than the Lib Dem candidate last week.

Regards,

kev35

I’ve no argument with any of that. I do however believe, that what one man perceives as ‘ranting’ is another guys sincerely held point of view. And isn’t that why we are all on here?

The government should derive no happiness when people apportion blame for this situation on the ‘benefit culture’. For them to do so, merely reinforces my belief that the bulk of them are cynical wasters and that they bury their heads in the sand, and despite all the rhetoric, address nothing. The bulk of people know this, and it does the image of politicians no good at all.

I did once hold a council seat in my then home town’s council, back in the late 70s. If only the pursuit of objectives for the good of the town and its people, commanded the same effort as did the generation of hot air in the council chamber. What an achievement it would have been.

Unfortunately i’d be inclined to temporarily suspend the Overseas Aid (Development Fund?). Surely the billions spent could be used to (I won’t say better effect) benefit Britain. I don’t like saying this but I feel we need to sort our own country out first as our immediate priority.

Alex