The devil is in the detail... "Plenty of experts have good suggestions for turning this around. The Child Poverty Action Group rightly calls for the introduction of a triple lock on child benefit and tax credit – just as pensioners enjoy. Little of that will be heeded by this lot. Meanwhile, more and more services for the young will be whittled back to almost nothing. Just in time for half term, youth workers in London tomorrow launch a campaign to save playgrounds and youth clubs from closure. Good for them, but they have a hell of a battle ahead, as local councils up and down the country are forced by Westminster into another five years of budget-slashing. Warwickshire more than halved its youth services in one year; Carlisle has closed 21 playgrounds. When a rich country can no longer be bothered to provide play spaces for its kids, you have to ask what the point of all that wealth is." I really feel for tomorrow generation (and my own when i have children). They will get so much less than what I got when I was growing up. I guess you get used to having less when less is all you have.
Yet that is exactly what the Tories are proposing: "freeze working-age benefits, tax credit and child benefit for two years."
Yup it's going to be a depressing place to live, where our civil liberties are stamped on, our right to protest (or even talk about these things) is inhibited, where the gap between the rich and the working class and poor is increasing, where there'll be much less playgrounds, libraries, community centres, leisure centres for people to access, and the disabled and disadvantaged are stigmatised and social movement is decreased. The NHS and BBC will cease to be as we know them (and as Aneurin Bevan dreamed of them), a two tier education system and healthcare system will be created. The next generation will need to pay for the deficit increases and recession of this generation, in the same way that my generation had to pay (and recover from) 12 years of Thatcher government. But they'll also need to deal with fracking under their homes, pollution, increased homelessness, suicide rates and corporate culture in every part of life. Glad I'm not having kids...
Yes there's lots of idiots around, and people seem to have a real relish for selfish and/or fear mongering/divisive policies which will probably not make this country very fun.
I don't understand why you feel the need to defend the government on everything they do. Especially when they are intentionally doing everything they can to ruin the lives of the majority of people in this country, and the future children, yet the lives of the richest are the only ones which are improving. Look up the phrase 'social cleansing'.
In fact you know what? Let's do some myth busting! Myth 1: "The last Labour government bankrupted this country" Nonsense. We had a budget surplus and were actually experiencing more growth under Labour than we have under the Tories. Which, may I add, has been the slowest recovery EVER. We still had our AAA rating until Cameron lost them. Let's not forget that the Tories have borrowed an extra £550bn since they came to power, doubled the national debt and did not eradicate the deficit like they said they would by 2015. Myth 2: "our long-term economic plan is working" Yes. For the 1,000 richest individuals in the UK whose wealth has doubled since the financial crisis, whereas average pay since 2008 has declined. It's worth noting, as mentioned previously, that those who encouraged fiscal stimulus end up reaping the benefits in the long term. America achieved significant growth and a lowered deficit. We cannot say the same for us. In fact, as I've said previously, look at what Iceland did! A truly remarkable turnaround and it all happened through stimulus. Myth 3: "the quality of lives for working families has got better" please log in to view this image The IFS have said: "69% (£8.4 billion) of the £12.2 billion per year giveaway would go to working families in the top half of the income distribution...Just 15% (£1.9 billion) would go to working families in the lowest-income half of the population." please log in to view this image "Because 17% of workers already pay no income tax, those with the lowest earnings benefit little from a further increase to the personal allowance...The workers who would gain most in percentage terms from this further increase are those in the lower-middle of the individual earnings distribution," - IFS please log in to view this image Among the 2.2 million families paying income tax and on universal credit or council tax support, their family income would increase by only 0.8%. As the chart shows, more than 40% of those in the second and third poorest declines would lose some of their extra income through reduced benefits. please log in to view this image This chart is in relation to how the 40p tax rate pledge would affect the poorest - richest families. "The Centre Forum think-tank has previously produced research showing that the top 10% would be most helped by the 40p tax threshold being lifted to £44,000, so Cameron's proposal to take it to £50,000 would go even further." So - anyone still want to defend the Tories?
It's interesting that the law is being introduced by a party who were elected by 25% of the population
Of course they do. Try virtually any newspaper or media outlet. Can't think why that might be... Some people might argue that having 40% of eligible voters in favour of an elected party would be a good idea.
Like the last election, then? The difference is that the politicians understand the implications of their decisions, while the voters largely don't. They're also given the information to make correct decisions, while the electorate are intentionally deceived and mislead by all involved.
To be honest, I just want to see what The Magic Man's response will be. He never uses facts and just uses rhetoric. After providing him with facts and data to show the differing trends, I want to see what his rebuttal is.
I think that he's just on a windup for the most part, BG. I don't think that he's particularly pro-Tory, just anti-Labour, which is fairly understandable.
