THE RESULTS... Neither strong nor stable

A good post Ed, with much of what I was thinking expanded on. There has to be a balance between tax take and spend, and until the country can produce enough there will be problems. A lot of infra-projects can make money when completed, clearly shown by overseas companies seeing they can make money from them, but I ask should the country borrow money to invest in them, and take the proceeds rather than it leaving the country. Over half of the railways are foreign owned, four of the big six electricity suppliers are foreign owned, the list just goes on. Yes they provide work, they buy some products if manufactured at the right price in the UK, but some of the profit generated leaves the country. We have grown to rely on services and been happy to sell things for short term gain rather than long term benefit. Just the way that I look at a broad sweep, as we agree it is far more complex.

 

A certain amount of selected austerity, as a way of balancing the books is acceptable. But nobody can tell me that a form of austerity which can find money for Trident but not for more policemen on the beat is either balancing the books or increasing my security. We can find money for wars but not for hospitals - that is not austerity. We keep saying that we are the 4th (or 5th) biggest economy in the World - so the money is there, yet the poorest 25% of our society earns less than the same group in any other Western European country - the only poverty in Europe comparable to Britain is in the East. The only way to secure long term growth is to have a healthy spending power spread over as large a segment of the population as possible.

 

I do not know - nor really trust figures that talk of poverty - especially between countries. Intuitively I can believe a number of western European countries (Scandinavia, Germany, France, Benelux) will outperform us but am doubtful about some others.
Saying that I agree totally that there are choices to be made on where to cut spend. I would argue that if you cancel Trident for reasons of not being able to afford it then that is austerity too. (I would support that) However policemen on the beat is another headline grabber that really ought to be thought about. If we had 10,000 more policemen spread about the UK it would not stop a terrorist finding a high street to drive a van in. That is just electioneering. Each party will have views on how to spend a police budget and unless you are an expert - and even they disagree - then you cannot say spending it on feet on the beat is more effective than on intelligence or another area.
It is no good just saying what position in the league table we sit. If our spend is more than our income in the long term we are passing debt to the future. In 2010 we overspent by £150 billion - that had to be dealt with. So if we are agreed that the government long term has to reduce spend to meet income then the debate becomes more sensible and we stop playing the South Park "austerity is bad" game and instead we are forced to say how we increase tax revenue, where we reduce spend and how much borrowing we will accept. I give Labour full credit for changing the agenda towards looking to increase spend and taxes but question their choice of where to spend and where to tax - as well as how much to borrow.
In my mind there is little doubt we do not have high enough income tax - across the board to pay for what most of us want.

 

Although I said that you cannot compare a nation to a family budget - like Thatcher did, even if you did, austerity alone does not work. A family on the breadline first looks at the possibilities of increasing income - then at ways of reducing expenses, beginning with axing those which are unnecessary (eg. HS2 trains and unnecessary elections). Selling of all his suits so that he looks like a beggar for the next job interview brings nothing - simply ensures that he will never get out of poverty. Increasing income (bearing in mind that there are no profit making nationalized industries left) means increasing taxes. Britain has a much lower rate of corporate tax than others in the Western World - and should be working together with the EU. to standardize this. Then, if firms up and go then they also lose access to our markets (and I would be really rigid about this). The same applies to a financial transactions tax - again a theme where we should be working with our European partners and not against them.

 

Jeremy Hunt savaged by the doctor who stood against him & who he accused of lying. You have to wonder if they really think that the electorate are sheep who can be lied to about anything and everything by his party...

http://www.thelondoneconomic.com/ne...gp-lying-election-night-reply-dynamite/13/06/

 

A very compelling letter which is grounded in the reality in the NHS today

 

An analysis from across the pond.

http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2017/06/10/britain-the-end-of-a-fantasy/

I think the title sums it up nicely.

 

A good article. I wonder if anyone has done one giving an opposite point of view?

 

Poor article. Full of inaccuracies and biased assumptions. Not from across the Pond either but from Ireland and from someone with his own agenda. Unsurprisingly he writes often in the Grauniad.

 

I thought it good because he put forward a reasoned argument that many would agree with. I do realize that some would want to dispute his view, the reason for me asking if anyone had done something similar from the other end, but all I see at present is the government and PM getting flak from all the press, even the Torygraph and Mail.

 

I thought a reasoned article that is not shamelessly biased as you might see in some tabloids. Also I must say that the Guardian is a serious newspaper.. Although in the populist eye it is often ridiculed..

 

Not often one gets a rational point of View with so many strands of understanding of our (UK) situation.
Excellent analysis.

 

The only thing I disagree with in that article is the assumption that May was ever anything other than a Eurosceptic in actuality. Her performance as Home Secretary does very little to suggest otherwise. If she'd done her job properly then we probably wouldn't be in this mess. And, whichever side of the political divide one stands, it's an almighty mess.

 

http://www.irishnews.com/news/north...er-on-gay-marriage-1061889/?param=ds441rif44T

To de-stable-ise May even further, her partners in terror, the DUP, have also been complicit in election expenses fraud - in addition to the 'dark money' scandal that is festering in the background.

And now, Arlene Foster has been caught out in a lie. After she denied sending the Scottish Government a letter asking them to curtail same-sex marriage access for Northern Ireland couples in Scotland - the Scottish Government exposed her lie by publishing it...

 

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/ne...conservative-uk-government-minister-scotland/

And how's this for a 'democracy'? Failed Tory candidate for the Perth constituency is made a lord - and is now a UK government Cabinet minister. Absolutely beggars belief.

 

I think we are into uncharted waters now, and there is no way of knowing what will happen next. The PM has managed to isolate many who voted for her party by her sheer incompetence, and in more normal times would have been moved on very quickly. These are not normal times due to the voters rejecting what she was offering, and while she tried to make the election all about her having a mandate to tell the EU what they had to give the UK, that was not accepted. We saw yesterday that the EU will stick to it's rule book, something we must have known would happen, but for some strange reason she thought that she could treat them as someone disadvantaged who has little voice. Today we have seen Carney and Hammond joining forces to say that leaving the EU is going to make everyone poorer, and trying to argue for a long transitional period. The rapid departure is being moved into the bad idea compartment. This of course will enrage the right wing Tories who have taken her captive, so as she struggles on with their support she will come under more pressure to take her leave. None of the Tory party would want another general election, and it is quite possible that her going could trigger another one. Meanwhile people over here just cannot believe she wasn't making a joke over her strong and stable claims.

 

Recent Indy poll gives labour 3% lead...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...may-grenfell-tower-dup-election-a7796516.html

Times change ....

 

Still alarming to think that 41% of voters can still contemplate voting for this shambles.

 

Not when you see some of the blatant 'alternative truths' that get peddled on social media - and, worryingly, believed by the gullible.

 

It is a cultural thing too. Many people would see the Tory party as 'their' party but going through some difficulties now.

Social identity is very much connected with political identity.

Plus a chosen media that reinforces your identity.