Greg, can I now punch Osborne in the face?

msmancunia

Jesus DDD, you've got way too much time on your hands if you're typing that out in the middle of the day. If you've got nothing to do I've got 17 pages of meeting minutes to type up.

DonDaddyD

msmancunia wrote:

Jesus DDD, you've got way too much time on your hands if you're typing that out in the middle of the day.

Not as much you if you've got time to read it...

msmancunia

DonDaddyD wrote:

msmancunia wrote:

Jesus DDD, you've got way too much time on your hands if you're typing that out in the middle of the day.

Not as much you if you've got time to read it...

I'm having a typing break after typing 13 out of 17 pages of meeting minutes....

Drfabulous0

DDD in the not entirely unlikely event of being raped by a sex crazed Victoria Pendleton zombie then I think it highly probable that you would also be turned into a zombie due to the exchange of bodily fluids, plus you may well be bitten during the coitus, also any resulting pregnancy would likely lead to the birth of a zombie baby. Therefore I reccomend using protection, carry both a condom and a chainsaw at all times, it's better to be safe than sorry.

rjsterry just try it buster.

jonomc4

Graeme_S wrote:

On my 5 mile commute there used to be (up until 2010) 3 lollipop folk and there are now none.

When our house was burgled last year we had to try not to disturb any of the evidence (ie not tidy up) until a forensic dude could come and look at it the following day. The PC who told us this was so embarrassed he was blushing while he explained that due to cuts West Midlands Police Force now only have one forensic person on duty at any time to cover the East side of Birmingham and the whole of Coventry. So if someone gets hit by a car in Birmingham and you get burgled anywhere in that entire area, you're shoot out of luck.

Coventry City Council announced a budget yesterday with cuts of £29 million as part of the £150 million of cuts they're having to swallow in the 4 years ending in 2015.

My wife is a Physiotherapist in the NHS. Since 2010 they haven't been replacing staff in her department when they leave. They now can't effectively cover sick leave, holiday or maternity and are basically short staffed all the time. Her and one other member of staff saw nearly 50 patients in a single day recently which basically gave them time to say hello and write in their notes that they'd seen them.

I can accept that we're not actually saving any money, but there absolutely are cuts being made.

Well there you go - because of the profligate spending over the last 12 years or so - we now have a lot of interest to pay on all the debt we previously racked up - and then there is the whole PPI debt that is costing the country billions each year and making some labour donors very rich (and yes I know a couple personally).

Do people really think that we can go on without cuts? Sadly that is the thinking that got us in this mess to start with and people still want it to continue? Obviously those people don't have kids.

The real mistake this government had made (in my humble opinion as an economist) is that they should have maintained some spending earlier on capital projects - yes this would have increased borrowing but the capital projects would have returned revenue over the years and at the same time kept things like employment higher - with the recent credit rating cut this will be much more costly now. Sadly money borrowed for social welfare, returns very little and at the same time maintains the idea that it is OK not to work. All members of society have to work and add to the system but sadly the idea of society and doing you bit has evaporated very recently and now people look firstly at what they can make from the system rather than paying into it.

But yeah keep on blaming the Tories or whoever else your bete noir is.

msmancunia

jonomc4

Obviously those people don't have kids.

And this makes a difference because...?

bushu

Put my name down in the queue for Zombie Pendleton please!

yay nearly hometime, thanks for making my day

DonDaddyD

bushu wrote:

Put my name down in the queue for Zombie Pendleton please!

...I want to shake my head, but, deep down, part of me wants to nod in acknowledgement....

notsoblue

msmancunia wrote:

jonomc4

Obviously those people don't have kids.

And this makes a difference because...?

Because people without kids are selfish, irresponsible hedonists that only live for the moment and have no future, obviously. Besides, everyone knows that the act of procreation instantly imparts onto you great wisdom and knowledge of the universe.

Drfabulous0

notsoblue wrote:

everyone knows that the act of procreation instantly imparts onto you great wisdom and knowledge of the universe.

Well that much is obvious from any episode of the Jeremy Kyle Show.

DonDaddyD

jonomc4 wrote:

Do people really think that we can go on without cuts? Sadly that is the thinking that got us in this mess to start with and people still want it to continue? Obviously those people don't have kids.

I see that group as being born from the generation who lived grew up during the 70s, 80s and early 90s. Most didn't have much opportunities (compared to what we have now), didn't have access to credit and so they missed out on a lot (compared to what we can do now). This, of course meant, that they worked, saved their money and bought their houses (in my Father's case, two) - some got degrees later in life - but many feel they missed out on their 20s (travelling and sh*t I guess).

When their children grew up (in their almighty wisdom of parenthood) most took on a doctrine of "just spend it, you only live once and you've got the rest of your life to save money".

Thus creating a generation of consumer-driven young people with an attitude of 'have now spend later'. - Some 'marketeers' refer to them as Generation Y.

The real mistake this government had made (in my humble opinion as an economist) is that they should have maintained some spending earlier on capital projects - yes this would have increased borrowing but the capital projects would have returned revenue over the years and at the same time kept things like employment higher - with the recent credit rating cut this will be much more costly now.

I actually think you agree with almost everyone in this thread 'except Davmaggs, who claims that there are no cuts'. I think everyone agrees that cuts to services are being made and that in many cases they need to be made.

What most - across the political spectrum - are not happy with is how the cuts are being made and how quickly they are being implemented. Also, in the NHS's case at least, the cost of cutting services is looking like its going to outweigh the savings being made from said cuts. This leads me, personally, to believe that many of these decisions are founded by idelogic principles and not economic ones.

At the same time we aren't seeing enough action (and this involves spending) being taken to encourage economic growth. It is not enough to hope that the private sector will pick up the flak. (At this point I think Boris is doing more for the UK economy than Osborne).

At every juncture Osborne's economic plan appears to have failed - even saving the UKs credit rating, which was a key justification for his actions (the other was reducing the deficit and cutting public spending - none of which he has achieved or will likely achieve by the end of this Government - so he has failed, even though he will say others. He'll probably blame "the last Government" for his five years of failure). He has also stifled what was a recovering economy (when the Coalition came to power).

If inflation wasn't kept artificially low (actually stalled) we would be in real trouble.

Our reasonings may be different but I think our conclusions are all mostly the same.