£260m 'wasted' in axing school building plans

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Benipete

I used to have a car like that.

Beni your bloody priceless only you can (and your buddy Less) can make me fall off my chair with laughter, in the middle of a serous thread, long may you reign

Have some green

[Less]

Originally Posted by jaysay

Beni your bloody priceless only you can (and your buddy Less) can make me fall off my chair with laughter, in the middle of a serous thread, long may you reign

Have some green

Excuse me please?

Where does it say that this is a serious thread?

Do you not read the posts? and if you do how can you take them seriously?

[andrewb]

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

Why is the planned banking levy such a small one and why is it taking longer to get around to than the one for the rest of us? They were screaming for it in opposition and yet now seem reluctant.

I've said it before but millions of people looked after their money for years and are now being punished for something they haven't done. The banks are responsible for losing our money and we're being penalised to bail them out - AGAIN.

Don't start on unemployment figures either. There's some creative accounting going on in Westminster when the figure is dropping but more people are being laid off than before the elections.

Where is your evidence that it'll be a small one? There isn't even legislation on the table yet, so how do you know it'll be small? The said they would press ahead with one with or without international agreement - Labour would only do it with international agreement and set no timetable. It seems that you're just criticising them for not solving the mess they've been left within 3 months of office. It's going to take a great deal longer I'm afraid.

Ken, we all know there are huge problems with the financial sector. Our huge deficit and borrowing is not just from bailing out the banks however. Government has a role to play in setting out a framework within which the banks can operate. It's not quite as simple as fixing the country by slapping a 99% tax on the banks as some people would have us believe. That's just not how the economy works.

What is the creative accounting in unemployment? You do seem to be coming out with a few unsubstantiated claims. They're using the same methods to work out unemployment as the previous government.

[MargaretR]

Democracy is an illusion.
It provides you with a choice between 'the devil and the deep blue sea'.
So why waste energy arguing about which you prefer?

[Margaret Pilkington]

[quote=jaysay;839035]That's something nobody will ever change,


Well John that is not acceptable.....and it won't ever change while we accept it.

This, I believe, is where the electorate become disillusioned.
They vote in a politician who does nothing that was promised....tells the electorate that they have to tighten their belts, but then we can see them living the life of Riley at our expense. One rule for them and another for us.
It just makes us realise that these people do not respect, or care about the electorate who voted them into office.....they are supposed to be working for us....yet none of them emerge from political life with anything other than a hefty bank balance....and the promise of some consultancy in some business or other.

As soon as you utter the words 'It will never change' or it is impossible to change things' then by your acceptance you close your mind to any opportunity to seek and find a solution.

Change must come, or a revolution.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by MargaretR

Democracy is an illusion.
It provides you with a choice between 'the devil and the deep blue sea'.
So why waste energy arguing about which you prefer?

Margaret, I am coming to the conclusion that you could be right.

If voting changed anything then they would stop us from doing it.
They like to think that they are letting us have a say in what happens, and they like to think we believe we have the power to change things, but in reality the parties are all the same....they just wear different colour coats so that their 'followers' know who they should follow....and they know that by dividing us politically, they make us weaker.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Margaret, I am coming to the conclusion that you could be right.

If voting changed anything then they would stop us from doing it.
They like to think that they are letting us have a say in what happens, and they like to think we believe we have the power to change things, but in reality the parties are all the same....they just wear different colour coats so that their 'followers' know who they should follow....and they know that by dividing us politically, they make us weaker.

this it what i have thought fer a good 10/12 years now, its good to see others getting the picture.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by cashman

this it what i have thought fer a good 10/12 years now, its good to see others getting the picture.

So Tony and Gordon didn't fool you either

[cashman]

Originally Posted by jaysay

So Tony and Gordon didn't fool you either

Not really, i just hoped, but seems your still being suckered.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Well, you are suckered because there isn't an alternative.

The Labour government wanted to let us think we could influence things and asked us for opinions on different things....it is just a placatory measure, a distractor.

Then this coalition mob get in and ask us which laws we want to be scrubbed off the books.....again, to try and bamboozle us into thinking we could make a difference.

I'm fed up of gimmicks, sound bites, spin(lies).......what I want is someone to make radical changes in the welfare system......remove it from the list of career options.
I want someone who will make justice something that doesn't make criminals the victims, that will listen to the victims of crime and take into account how crime has radically changed their lives.

I want someone who will recognise that education for our young people is an essential if we are to have a future as a country, but that that education does not always need to be given in a University...we need to value those with practical skills.

Is all this too much to ask of our supposedly democratic system?

No, don't answer that....I think I already know the answer.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Well, you are suckered because there isn't an alternative.

The Labour government wanted to let us think we could influence things and asked us for opinions on different things....it is just a placatory measure, a distractor.

Then this coalition mob get in and ask us which laws we want to be scrubbed off the books.....again, to try and bamboozle us into thinking we could make a difference.

I'm fed up of gimmicks, sound bites, spin(lies).......what I want is someone to make radical changes in the welfare system......remove it from the list of career options.
I want someone who will make justice something that doesn't make criminals the victims, that will listen to the victims of crime and take into account how crime has radically changed their lives.

I want someone who will recognise that education for our young people is an essential if we are to have a future as a country, but that that education does not always need to be given in a University...we need to value those with practical skills,

Is all this too much to ask of our supposedly democratic system?

No, don't answer that....I think I already know the answer.

I agree with a lot of what your saint Margaret, especially education, never have understood this calmer for university places, you were a nurse and from all reports a bloody good one too, pray tell which university you obtained your skillsI chose to follow my father and became a Joiner, I only wish I'd have been half as good as he was, although I wasn't all that bad, until my poor health cut it short, oh and by the way my father didn't go to university either. There will always be a need for people to hang doors, glaze windows, fit baths and sinks plus central heating, put roofs on, build walls, plaster walls, the list is endless, you don't need a university degree to do these jobs.

I agree on the welfare state as well, even though I unfortunately rely on it myself, but I have stated more than once, anybody who takes money from the tax payer should be prepared to prove they are entitled to that money, I will attend any tribunal or medical if required to do so, yet people like Mancie say the most vulnerable in society are being targeted, no they are not, there are none so vulnerable as those who chose to be saw as you say the welfare state should not be a career option, but there for those in genuine need

I am not great fan of the collision, but that is what we have been saddled with, and like you I spoiled my vote because of local issues, but I did cast a vote, however I admire that fact that this government have brought in 3 former Labour ministers in an advisory capacity, which can only be a step in the right direction

[Margaret Pilkington]

John, I am not a saint......you have to be dead for a few hundred years to get that kind of recognition.
I came from a poor back ground...lots of children(little contraceptive advice back then...other than 'don't do it') very little money,precious little welfare state despite the fact that my father was blown up on D-Day+6 and spent a lot of his time ill.

Everything I have, I have worked for. And it was tough getting a job when I left school because of the 'baby boomers'.
I have never expected anyone to take responsibility for my life. I figure that what I made of my life was down to me.
I worked in the weaving mill, but felt I could do so much more with my life......that is why I became a nurse. I wanted to make a difference.

What is missing from the lives of young people is esteem....you can have no esteem if you have no purpose in life.....no respect, either for yourself or for others.....because to respect others you first have to respect yourself.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Oh, I see it now...you were agreeing with what I said...not calling me a saint(thank goodness for that).
And when you say about ill health cutting short your working life......you had a working life...paid your dues into the system. These days there are whole families who have known nothing other than the 'Benefits' way of life.
If parents don't go out to work then there is a solid chance that the children won't work either, because they do not get the work ethic instilled into them.
My mother used to tell us that those who didn't want to work, didn't want to eat and had better not present themselves at the table at mealtimes.

[Mancie]

I don't go along with this talk of there being no difference between the main parties..I think they are far apart on spending.. just a few examples
Labour:
trebled funding for the NHS - Tories opposed
minimum wage - Tories opposed
heath and saftey laws for invalids at work - Tories opposed
increase in home help - Tories opposed
increase in carer's allowance - Tories opposed

Now we will have massive cuts in all the above and much more.. you could argue that this is what we need because of Labours overspending.. but it's obvious that Labour spend money on public services.. and it's obvious that the Tories always cut those services...the difference is very real ..so depending on your perspective you stick yer cross in whatever box you feel is best for yourself and the country as a whole .. simple.

[Margaret Pilkington]

or if you trust none of them, you spoil your paper.
Mancie, my point was that they are all the same in that they bamboozle the electorate, they treat us like we don't have a clue about anything, they think that by letting us have a (supposed) say in some issues that they are 'connecting with the people'.......they like the fact that people argue and fall out about their relative merits because this all means that we are divided......and everyone knows that to rule you have to divide the populace...it makes them easier to handle.
They all call each other names, they say one thing in opposition and do precisely the opposite when in power......but you think they aren't the same.

Their manifesto's tell you one thing, but their actions another.