[Archived] Quality Of Life In Britain Is The Best It Has Ever Been

[thenodrog]

The Tories are about to live up to their name as the party of unemployment.

I've never heard that. How long has that been their name?

Anyway Jim anybody whose any good won't be out of work long. Cream always rises to the top.

[BuckyRover]

An "Office for Budget Responsibility" set up by the new Con - Dems government with Osborne pulling its strings would say that, wouldn't it ? With the forthcoming cuts likely to reduce economic activity, it's almost certain those growth forecasts will have to be reduced further downwards towards the end of this year. The Tories are leading this country into another recession and Osborne is exacerbating a worsening economic outlook by cajoling finance ministers around Europe into fiscal tightening that is destined to lead to further losses of jobs. The Tories are about to live up to their name as the party of unemployment.

So when Gordon Brown saved the world and everybody followed that was a good thing.

But now when the G20 finance ministers say that things have changed since Greece, and Britain is doing the right thing cutting now, you now think they have been cajoled and are just following Osbourne (the supposed anti EU party).

Even Germany are implementing austerity packages. Everybody is doing it (apart from the US but I assume that is because Obama is up for relection in 2 years, it's never really a vote winner).

People don't buy it jim, if we go into recession again it will be because of Labours economic failure. They decided to spend through the crisis without the surplus of money that should have been built up during the good times.

[jim mk2]

People don't buy it jim, if we go into recession again it will be because of Labours economic failure.

Good try, but wrong. Gordon Brown successfully brought Britain out of a worldwide recession caused by the collapse of the global financial system. If we enter recession again, it will be because of the Tories' ideological desire to cut the size of the state dressed up as public service cuts. Don't believe everything you read in the right-wing press and think about it for yourself.

[BuckyRover]

He delayed it, that is all.

Everybody realises that now. It was fantasy economics. If he had run a surplus in the boom (sound economic theory) then he could have claimed the credit. He did not.

[thenodrog]

All animals are equal but some pigs are going to be equal to men soon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/politics/10305817.stm

[Billy Castell]

Could be worse. You could be stabbed.

P.S. Jim, that ___ Brown got us into the ruddy mess into the first place. And the banks are still taking us all up the ___. A truely Socialist government would have taken them out, and not bought off all their dodgy debts and let them award themselves huge bonuses, and continue to speculate on risky schemes.

[den]

Could be worse. You could be stabbed.

P.S. Jim, that ___ Brown got us into the ruddy mess into the first place. And the banks are still taking us all up the ___. A truely Socialist government would have taken them out, and not bought off all their dodgy debts and let them award themselves huge bonuses, and continue to speculate on risky schemes.

Weren't the Tories prepared to let the banking system go to the wall, with my/our savings going with them?

Proper question as well.

[jim mk2]

With regards to Drummer Boy's post, the simple answer is that the deprivation and neglect to be found in East Lancs and alot of other areas of the north do not exist in London and the south. The north - south divide is real and is continuing all the time - in the past 10 days the new transport secretary Phillip Hammond, MP for Runnymede and Weybridge in nice soft Surrey, has axed some modest improvements to railway stations in the North west, including Manchester Victoria and Preston, axed the Leeds trolleybus scheme and axed the Mersey Gateway project. Other vital northern schemes such electrification of the Manchester / Liverpool / Bolton / Preston lines are also seen as vulnerable to the next round of Tory cuts. Multi-billion pound investment in the London Crossrail and Thameslink projects meanwhile go ahead as planned.

Further to my post above, Transport secretary Phillip Hammond today gave the green light to the £16 billion Crossrail project linking Heathrow airport and Canary Wharf.

Mr Hammond said: "I came to visit the Crossrail project today to signal my intention to press ahead with the major improvements in our transport system that business and passengers need. The work being carried out at Canary Wharf is an excellent example of how this can be done in an innovative and efficient way, so that we get value for taxpayers' money.

"We live in difficult economic times, but that does not mean that we should scrap big projects which would give the economy a vital boost in the future. But it does mean that we must ensure that every pound we invest is well spent. I am determined that this scheme remains affordable - Londoners, business and the taxpayer would expect nothing less."

So there you have it. Another £16 BILLION to be invested in London and the south east infrastructure because "Londoners, business and the taxpayer would expect nothing less" while a modest £50 million scheme to renovate decrepit stations in the north-west such as Manchester Victoria, Preston and Crewe are axed. In other words, the Tories are looking after the south, as they always do, while the deprived north is let to wallow and rot. A fine example of the "one-nation Toryism" that we can expect for the next 5 agonising years. And north country folk actually voted for 'em - you couldn't make it up.

[Neil Weaver]

Jim, your OCD is reaching Vinjay levels. Are you related? Or perhaps you ARE Vinjay?

[Sandiway Blue]

Further to my post above, Transport secretary Phillip Hammond today gave the green light to the £16 billion Crossrail project linking Heathrow airport and Canary Wharf.

Mr Hammond said: "I came to visit the Crossrail project today to signal my intention to press ahead with the major improvements in our transport system that business and passengers need. The work being carried out at Canary Wharf is an excellent example of how this can be done in an innovative and efficient way, so that we get value for taxpayers' money.

"We live in difficult economic times, but that does not mean that we should scrap big projects which would give the economy a vital boost in the future. But it does mean that we must ensure that every pound we invest is well spent. I am determined that this scheme remains affordable - Londoners, business and the taxpayer would expect nothing less."

So there you have it. Another £16 BILLION to be invested in London and the south east infrastructure because "Londoners, business and the taxpayer would expect nothing less" while a modest £50 million scheme to renovate decrepit stations in the north-west such as Manchester Victoria, Preston and Crewe are axed. In other words, the Tories are looking after the south, as they always do, while the deprived north is let to wallow and rot. A fine example of the "one-nation Toryism" that we can expect for the next 5 agonising years. And north country folk actually voted for 'em - you couldn't make it up.

http://www.24dash.com/news/central_government/2010-06-15-Transport-Secretary-commits-Government-to-16-billion-London-Crossrail-scheme

Look in particular at the part that says the Tories SHELVED the idea in the 90`s due to cost,but then the plans were revived by LABOUR,yes you heard right,LABOUR.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/start-of-pound16bn-crossrail-project-hailed-1685353.html

I particularly like this bit:

Mr Brown said: "Many people said it would never be built, but today we are celebrating a defining moment for London as Crossrail's construction gets under way."

So Conservative`s the party of the south and Labour`s the party of the north eh? shouldn`t your last comment read "And north country folk actually voted for LABOUR - you couldn't make it up".

[Billy Castell]

Weren't the Tories prepared to let the banking system go to the wall, with my/our savings going with them?

Proper question as well.

I think they were prepared to let Northern Rock go, but I can't remember what the stance was when it all went mental, and a zoofull of ____ hit the fan.

It's nice that you assume I have savings though. You don't get much to save on my wages. Personally, I would find all these bankers who are making fat profits out of the crisis, strip all their assets, and send them to a gulag for a few years. They have destroyed our country, reduced us to a generation or more of very high taxes and terrible public services, and should pay. Labour have let the banks make them look like a plasterers' radio, and the new government will make sure they get some action too.

[jim mk2]

http://www.24dash.co...rossrail-scheme

Look in particular at the part that says the Tories SHELVED the idea in the 90`s due to cost,but then the plans were revived by LABOUR,yes you heard right,LABOUR.

http://www.independe...ed-1685353.html

I particularly like this bit:

Mr Brown said: "Many people said it would never be built, but today we are celebrating a defining moment for London as Crossrail's construction gets under way."

Crossrail was originally given the go-ahead by serial shagger and former Tory chairman Cecil Parkinson in 1989, cancelled by the Tories in the early 1990s on "cost grounds" (sound familiar ?) and revived under Labour later that decade. But you're missing the point, which is that the £16bn scheme that will benefit London and the south east (because "Londoners, business and the taxpayer would expect nothing less" ) has been given the green light while some measly projects that would have made a huge difference to the north - I see today that the Liverpool - Manchester electrification is now under threat - are the first to be chopped by the new Con - Dems government. Working class Tories - dontcha love ' em ??

[koi]

Well well well Jim has actually raised a very good point that I wholeheartedly agree with; the Thames Rail Link. I can't remember the figures but I think it's around £16bn to develop. However, it was very much a Labour bribe and to use one of Jim's excuses for the last 13 years; it'll cost too much to reverse.

[Sandiway Blue]

Crossrail was originally given the go-ahead by serial shagger and former Tory chairman Cecil Parkinson in 1989, cancelled by the Tories in the early 1990s on "cost grounds" (sound familiar ?) and revived under Labour later that decade. But you're missing the point, which is that the £16bn scheme that will benefit London and the south east (because "Londoners, business and the taxpayer would expect nothing less" ) has been given the green light while some measly projects that would have made a huge difference to the north - I see today that the Liverpool - Manchester electrification is now under threat - are the first to be chopped by the new Con - Dems government. Working class Tories - dontcha love ' em ??

Thats because the work on the Canary Wharf Crossrail station started in 2009 (as dated in the independent article) so why stop it partway through construction?

[Billy Castell]

Working class Tories - dontcha love ' em ??

Yeah, Labour have been full of people concerned about their fellow working man haven't they Jim? Tony Blair came from a family of ship builders with strong union roots, and Brown really stood up to the banks and financiers and made sure they didn't get carried away with risky deals with our money. And all Labour MPs were forgoing any chance to abuse the expenses system knowing it was paid for by decent working people. Whenever I see and hear Hazel Blears or Harriet Harman, I get visions of Vera Duckworth.

[47er]

You get the Government yo deserve they say. What have we done?

[thenodrog]

You get the Government yo deserve they say. What have we done?

Spent up.

[JAL]

Further to my post above, Transport secretary Phillip Hammond today gave the green light to the £16 billion Crossrail project linking Heathrow airport and Canary Wharf.

Mr Hammond said: "I came to visit the Crossrail project today to signal my intention to press ahead with the major improvements in our transport system that business and passengers need. The work being carried out at Canary Wharf is an excellent example of how this can be done in an innovative and efficient way, so that we get value for taxpayers' money.

"We live in difficult economic times, but that does not mean that we should scrap big projects which would give the economy a vital boost in the future. But it does mean that we must ensure that every pound we invest is well spent. I am determined that this scheme remains affordable - Londoners, business and the taxpayer would expect nothing less."

So there you have it. Another £16 BILLION to be invested in London and the south east infrastructure because "Londoners, business and the taxpayer would expect nothing less" while a modest £50 million scheme to renovate decrepit stations in the north-west such as Manchester Victoria, Preston and Crewe are axed. In other words, the Tories are looking after the south, as they always do, while the deprived north is let to wallow and rot. A fine example of the "one-nation Toryism" that we can expect for the next 5 agonising years. And north country folk actually voted for 'em - you couldn't make it up.

It looks like an improved fast track out of Britian for the City's slimballs, after another good week were they've screwed us all then jet off into the sunset to reap their dishonest rewards jim

Only problem is i'm not in on the scam, just a poor sucker paying into it !

[Tris]

Crossrail was originally given the go-ahead by serial shagger and former Tory chairman Cecil Parkinson in 1989, cancelled by the Tories in the early 1990s on "cost grounds" (sound familiar ?) and revived under Labour later that decade. But you're missing the point, which is that the £16bn scheme that will benefit London and the south east (because "Londoners, business and the taxpayer would expect nothing less" ) has been given the green light while some measly projects that would have made a huge difference to the north - I see today that the Liverpool - Manchester electrification is now under threat - are the first to be chopped by the new Con - Dems government. Working class Tories - dontcha love ' em ??

It's worth pointing out here that jim is lying through his teeth.

The only spending that has been reversed so far - and quite rightly - is cosmetic changes to a few stations - Manchester Vic and Preston for example. Flatter platforms were planned, and nicer Costa coffee shops, when Lord (never elected) Adonis took a free tour around Britain as a pre-election jaunt on taxpayers cash and couldn't handle the lack of M+S outlets.

Thankfully the new government has seen the sense in completing Crossrail in London - which will benefit the whole country because that's where we scruffy northeners go and do business. It's our capital city. That's why there are three trains every hour from Manchester to London. Liverpool - Manchester electrification is totally pointless at this stage, and should not be paid for from the public purse at the expense of hospitals and schools.

No outgoing government has ever handed over an economy in such a mess. Gordon Brown should be hung, drawn and quartered, it's a f*****n' disgrace he's still an MP. Where's our gold? What happened to our pensions??

Idiots like jim will try and steer the focus away from the disaster the Labour government has left whilst still trying to sponge off the state. The rest of us will stand firm, work hard, tighten our belts and throw in the cash to rescue the country.

[Paul]

The rest of us will stand firm, work hard, tighten our belts and throw in the cash to rescue the country.

But how Tris? I can see the first points, "stand firm, work hard, tighten our belts" and TBH I don't have a problem with this. Where I do have a problem is with the potential impact on Social Services, I'm desperately worried about the likely impact on someone like our Tom. We've spent 21 years working, planning and educating to help him achieve true independence and with luck in 12 months time he'll be living in supported housing in the community. A pretty ordinary every day sort of life. It's been our goal for more than 20 years and I fear the current administration will look to cut the support Labour policies put in place for this area. Under the previous Conservative administration such projects simply didn't exist, whilst under Labour our family have not just been given hope things would work but could actually see how it would happen. Labour were already cutting funding in these areas, or at best the funding levels were not sufficient to provide all the required support. What is going to be the policy in the next five years?

Do you believe we will be asked to "throw in the cash" in the form of higher taxes or are we going to have to watch spending slashed in every area, especially in those which have little impact on the majority. While I can see the need for efficiencies, and listening to some of the stories my wife brings home from work can believe they are necessary, surely we cannot improve the economy unless we all help provide the country with greater income?

I've been watching the Free Schools project with great interest because I feel it gives us a true indication of where this government will take us in the next five years. To me Free Schools seems to be all about government relinquishing responsibility for an area which can be argued to be part of the social spending programme. The end result may well be an increased divide between those who can help themselves and those who need help and support. This programme may well be an indicator of the future and it frightens me.

It seems to me if we don't all throw in some cash the government have little chance of reducing the deficiet without a devastating impact on public sevices.

[thenodrog]

But how Tris? I can see the first points, "stand firm, work hard, tighten our belts" and TBH I don't have a problem with this. Where I do have a problem is with the potential impact on Social Services, I'm desperately worried about the likely impact on someone like our Tom. We've spent 21 years working, planning and educating to help him achieve true independence and with luck in 12 months time he'll be living in supported housing in the community. A pretty ordinary every day sort of life. It's been our goal for more than 20 years and I fear the current administration will look to cut the support Labour policies put in place for this area. Under the previous Conservative administration such projects simply didn't exist, whilst under Labour our family have not just been given hope things would work but could actually see how it would happen. Labour were already cutting funding in these areas, or at best the funding levels were not sufficient to provide all the required support. What is going to be the policy in the next five years?

Do you believe we will be asked to "throw in the cash" in the form of higher taxes or are we going to have to watch spending slashed in every area, especially in those which have little impact on the majority. While I can see the need for efficiencies, and listening to some of the stories my wife brings home from work can believe they are necessary, surely we cannot improve the economy unless we all help provide the country with greater income?

I've been watching the Free Schools project with great interest because I feel it gives us a true indication of where this government will take us in the next five years. To me Free Schools seems to be all about government relinquishing responsibility for an area which can be argued to be part of the social spending programme. The end result may well be an increased divide between those who can help themselves and those who need help and support. This programme may well be an indicator of the future and it frightens me.

It seems to me if we don't all throw in some cash the government have little chance of reducing the deficiet without a devastating impact on public sevices.

You need to accept the fact Paul that the current situation is down to the financial irresponsibility of the last Labour govt. Simple as that. The old saying that "money can only be spent once" does apply. It's been spent irresponsibly by the last lot despite them being left an incredibly strong economy in 97.

You must be desperately concerned for your Tom's future and rightly so. I hope that the funding continues but rem there are 60+ million people in this country and any responsible govt has to govern for the majority for the good of the majority. If we carry on in the mode that we were left in May the country will inevitably go bust and that will help nobody.

[jim mk2]

It's worth pointing out here that jim is lying through his teeth.

The only spending that has been reversed so far - and quite rightly - is cosmetic changes to a few stations - Manchester Vic and Preston for example. Flatter platforms were planned, and nicer Costa coffee shops, when Lord (never elected) Adonis took a free tour around Britain as a pre-election jaunt on taxpayers cash and couldn't handle the lack of M+S outlets.

Really ? Manchester Victoria is among the 10 worst stations in Britain, six of which are in the North west and which will no longer receive a much needed revamp. The Manchester Victoria scheme is part of a much larger Northern Hub plan to rebuild much of the greater Manchester network to benefit the whole of the north of England. There are now fears that this scheme will also be scrapped because of Osborne's cuts.

Here's the lies for the hard of reading.

http://menmedia.co.u...ation_in_the_uk

http://news.bbc.co.u...er/10154987.stm

Thankfully the new government has seen the sense in completing Crossrail in London - which will benefit the whole country because that's where we scruffy northeners go and do business. It's our capital city.

A railway line from Abbotts Wood (where?) to Maidenhead (where?) costing £16bn will not "benefit the whole country". The rest of your statement is plain stupid.

Manchester to London. Liverpool - Manchester electrification is totally pointless at this stage, and should not be paid for from the public purse at the expense of hospitals and schools.

Manchester - Liverpool (and the rest of the northern rail network) is in dire need of modernisation. Kent gets billion-pound 125mph bullet trains into St Pancras, the north gets Pacer railcars.

It's not just in transport that the north is facing deeper cuts compared to the Tory-voting south. A deal to bring the Royal Opera House to the Palace Theatre and Salford's Lowry has been thrown into jeopardy; the Mayfield project to create a "Whitehall of the north" for 5,000 civil servants near Piccadilly, the £451m rebuilding of the Royal Liverpool hospital, plus school building projects in St Helens, Halton and Warrington are also at risk.

Labour leadership contender and Leigh MP Andy Burnham had it right when he said: "The story of Tory governments past has been to swing the axe over the north-west and what surprises me is how quickly they've returned to that and put at risk all the momentum we've gained as a region." No surprise Andrew, it's typical of the Tories I'm afraid.

The fact is none of these cuts are necessary. If the Con - Dems did nothing and economic growth continued even at its present subdued level, the deficit would halve in 4 years anyway. With the help of the right-wing media, the coalition have conned the public into believing their story that tax rises and public service cuts have to be made "for the good of the country" and gullible Tory voting scum like Tris have swallowed it hook, line and sinker.

[roversmum]

That's a bit stiff, Jim, calling someone 'scum' because of the way they vote.

[thenodrog]

Kent gets billion-pound 125mph bullet trains into St Pancras, the north gets Pacer railcars.

1. I think the line from the tunnel to St Pancras through Kent was part of the Channel Tunnel deal with France. In fact I believe the French were dismayed by the time it took to put in place. Like em or loathe em their high speed high tech side of the deal was up and running miles before our lot could get past the lesser spotted newt loving brigade who restricted our eurostar to 30mph on outdated lines.

2. You should face a lengthy ban for the scum comment. I hope you get one. If you don't then it's a poor reflection on board moderation.

[jim mk2]

Osborne's cuts to hit the poor hardest, particularly in the north.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a8d8edc8-7c8d-11df-8b74-00144feabdc0.html