Always amazes me that so many Englishmen take a liking to the Scots even going as far as to support their national football team. Fact is most of them still carry chips on their shoulders from the days of William Wallace and hate us with a passion. Not trying to tar them all with the same brush but personally I've no time for the Scottish nation as a hole. They always reckon they're hard done by but in reality more money is spent on them per head from central government. They want to have their cake and eat it if you ask me. Free tuition fees, free hospital car parking, free prescriptions, I could go on.
What amazes me somewhat is that a Tory resents a sickly Scotsman being able to park his car for free at the hospital but deems it ok for bankers to make off with millions and companies like Starbucks to dodge vast amounts of tax. Surely this is getting your priorities askew?
I don't resent a sickly Scotsman parking his car for free, I resent the fact that an Englishman cannot do the same, fool
Have to say that doesn't amaze me in the slightest unfortunately. I know a lot of Scottish people, never had a problem with any of them and as a nation I think they're great. Have to say I have fallen out of love with a lot of my fellow Englishmen and women lately though
The English and The Scots both saw sense in not electing that bunch of Labour chancers! So much for Sturgeon saying that she wanted to lock out the Tories! Now that there is a Conservstive majority Government we can tell the SNP to go and do one!
Just try it Johnnie,I can't wait. I know which side of the barricade I will be on.I hope Carpetright have their insurance policies up to date for the summer holidays.
So be mad at our politicians rather than putting it on the scots. And the Tories will take away that free parking space, and the hospital it's in front of and erect a bank....or a poor people burning pit! Tories have those, right?
It just amazes me how much people parrot all the scare mongering from the press. The SNP aren't evil. Labour wouldn't run this country into the ground. It's just a false narrative that was created and perpetuated by those on the right. And so many lap it up. I said before that politicians shouldn't have any time in front of the cameras or have slogans and "branding" because it's all meaningless bollocks designed to sway the millions who don't know enough to think about these things critically. Parties should just write a manifesto and everyone has to read through them and make a decision based on the policies they agree on most. Better yet, do what the ancient Greeks did where everyone has to be a politician for x number of years in their life and in that time you come up with policies that are then voted on by the public as a whole, after everything in that policy is laid out in as simple and understandable a manner as possible. Removes the potential for career politicians who are only in it for themselves cough CAMERON cough.
So what is your idea that actually pays for this? Not that I would personally put those items at the top of my list. Please do not say closing tax loopholes because it is not enough, and also has implications with investment which is of prime importance at the moment. Lets have an original idea. Personally, I think a truly massive science investment and education is the best way out, along with big cuts to the military and lesser cuts to police, fire, hospitals. Science brings jobs, education, money, investment, cultural changes, garavitas etc. Pumping extra millions into Hospitals, Police, Fires services will do very little to get us out of thios mess. Whereas Science will/can improve all those things. A final point, I think Labours main issue is this, they are too happy to take money off the poor. Instead of going on about tax breaks for the rich, they should have focussed on tax cuts for the working classes. I don't believe they are a party for the working classes, their ideology gets in the way.
I wasn't suggesting that's all we should have. I fully agree science and education should be our driving force. The state of education in this country is pretty awful. I can appreciate big cuts to the military but why would you want to cut funding to hospitals? The 2 things that Governments should really put above everything else are Education (Including Science) and Health.
Because it's that simple? I would suggest the first thing we'd need to do is move away from a society that rewards greed.
How about a turnover tax on non UK companies that take make money here, but fiddle their accounts so that they don't pay their fair share, or a reduction in the foreign aid budget. Alternatively we could do away with the police & fire service all together and get people to take out insurance. May be we could have little plaques on the walls of our properties so that people would know if we had insurance. We might find over the next couple of years that we will need our police & fire services, although if we do they will fail to be able to deal with any significant disorder, but never mind that disorder will be confined to city centres where most of the people that voted Conservative don't live.
As usual I don't agree with a lot that Carrabuh suggests but as a ' champagne Socialist ' I do think that we need to look again at what the welfare state set up by Clem and Nye was intended to do. It was a safety net for people unfortunate enough to face sickness and unemployment through no fault of their - not to turn into a lifestyle. The NHS was set up to provide free GP, Hospital and emergency services etc - not the nice to do add ons such as, and I apologise if this offends anybody, IVF. All Public sectors need to look hard at and take firm action on the top heavy Chiefs/Indians situation that has developed. Years ago the Police force in an area was run by a Chief Constable with the budget being set by an elected unpaid Council Committee. Now we have a Police Commissioner, Assistant Police Commissioner, Chief Constable, Deputy Chief Constable, Assistant Chief Constable, Assistant Deputy Chief Constable etc etc and out on the streets the thin blue line gets thinner. As a senior Council jokingly said to me a couple of years ago ' whenever a hole is being dug you will see 4 Officials with clipboards taking notes - if we have to make cuts the man digging the hole will have to go'
Excellent post 1950 - especially re the welfare state and how some families are better off collecting all of their various benefits, than working!!! Sorry - why???? Yes, the ratio of managers to workers in some organisations is just beyond belief and I'm sure there are significant savings to be made there as well. Another thing I'd like to see happen is that anyone who turns up at A&E has to pay a significant contribution towards the cost to the system of their foolishness. <donstinhatemoticon>
..................and that's exactly what the Tories want to do, plug those holes to make sure the undeserving get **** all .........................FINALLY !
problem is that they stop the deserving from getting what they need, but they couldn't give a ****. They introduced a system to try and capture those folk that are scroungers, but populate it with stupid feckers who don't have the competency to interview or diagnose people . But, they don't seem to care and pay more attention to what these idiots say despite a plethora of evidence from GPs, health workers, consultants etc. If we judge the UK on how they treat the most deserving and vulnerable, then we now look like a bunch of complete and utter ****s. it is beyond my abilities to work out why people don't care about this. AND I EXPECT EVERY TORY WILL IGNORE THIS UNPALATABLE TRUTH!!!!
