There isnât a thread on this forum where it wouldnât be relevant to reiterate what cunts the Sindo are.
A reflection of the extent to which spin came to dominate their reign. Statistics are easy to present as a story. A nuanced story that might reflect reality is harder to sell. The wire covered this ground pretty well I suppose.
Well, as a single objective measure, looking at the level of spending should look after health and education. Obviously if you knew of any notable discrepancies here you should raise them, but Iâm fairly convinced that health and education spending rose in line with general expenditure. Whether that made a difference is really more to do with competence than the economic outlook of the Government.
Iâm fairly sure that any changes that were made to the taxation system under Blair were more progressive than regressive, though Iâd have to look into it further to back it up.
Their regulation of the financial industry was blatantly poor.
All in all, I conclude it was a centre-left Government. Feel free to disagree with me.
But didnât the Times support Blair?
I see Ed Milliband is reching out to the squeezed middle classes in the Telegraph today. He will take Labour back to the left with his public sector union buddies and will conduct opposition for oppositionâs sake with Ed Balls as his shadow chancellor. He has already said that he will never do a deal with Lib Dems while Clegg is in charge. Might limit his options if the next Parliament is hung but more likely that the Lib Dems will be wiped out. Expect defection of some of their lefties to labour next May when AV is defeated. Tories might end up absorbing the ones that can walk on two feet. And then with the boundary commission reform that will favour the Tories and the defeat of AV youâll be looking at two party politics in England again and five more years of Conservative government.
Liked Edâs speech yesterday. Expected move to appease print media and big business didnât happen. The footage where he criticised war in Iraq and then pictures showing David scolding Harman as she is applauding was interesting to watch.
yeah there was a target for ambulance response time 8 minutes or something - by all accounts some NHS trusts had ambulances out circling the whole time just to be on time for more calls rather than responding to the severity of the calls. 18 week referral to treatment - you can imagine what strokes are being pulled. very difficult to measure the quality of service accurately in areas such as health, education, justice etc.
Speaking of stats, the NHS despite being universally hailed was ranked 14th best european health system last year by the EHCI. Difficult to get value for money in an organisation of 1.5m people!!! One ahead of it was Ireland, whom the report reckoned suffered from marketing problems as since the HSE was formed has seen significant improvements. The Dutch are streets ahead on top - proof if ever it was needed that the legalisation of hookers and drugs has a positive impact on a nations health. A health system based on compulsory social insurance may also have something to do with it. FG are proposing to implement the Dutch model in Ireland if elected.
i have experience of the uk education system too - they are producing a generation of retards have no doubt. school management concentrate solely on their ofsted score, principals get rewarded on how few suspensions they give out, academic results etc - well you can guess how that plays out in practice.
The Brits seem to be turning around their economy pretty well which surprises me.
Whatâs going to become of all the Labour donors?
No idea.
David has left high profile politics it seems at least for the time being. Look on his face here at end is gas.
Milibandâs victory and his various speeches are meaningless if you donât consider the impact on Labours support base.
They are completely intertwined with matter of his victory though. Change in policy direction is pretty obvious already so impact on support will be clear also.
Dave has decided not to remain on the front bench and take time out. The right decision. The mother must be one stupid bint to enourage Red Ed to take on his own brother. Then again the parents were Communists.
Iâm off to read the p.ie thread on the milibands to brush up on the sibling rivalry, but whatâs the source of his ire on iraq?
Ed being critical on Iraq effectively criticises the former foreign secretary, who just happens to be his brother?
Or is it because Edâs opposition to Iraw is newly developed and the brother sees it for what it is?
Ed wasnât an MP at the time but was an adviser. He was against it then and has said he would have voted against it had he been an MP. David wasnât foreign secretary at the time but he did vote for the war. He didnât like Harman clapping along as he noted that she had voted for the war as did he.
Anyone been following the UK budget cuts. Interesting stuff. Seems to be more innovation than weâve seen here thus far.
Do we have a thread for our own budget yet?
I came up with a couple of radical ideas today and would like to share them. I would encourage others to do likewise and then we can compare notes.
Newsnight had a report last night that funding for aircraft carriers would be maintained but not for aircraft so said carriers will be either lying idle or carrying American or French airplanes. Sir Humphry would be proud Im sure
Sir Humphrey would make bits of these cunts
Sir Humphrey: Bernard, what is the purpose of our defence policy?
Bernard: To defend Britain.
Sir Humphrey: No, Bernard. It is to make people believe Britain is defended.
Bernard: The Russians?
Sir Humphrey: Not the Russians, the British! The Russians know itâs not.
I see on Sky News this morning it is reported that Ed Millibands shadow Chancellor has stepped down due to his personal police protection officer was knocking his missusâŚ
Sorry for Alan Johnson, he seemed like an alright sort. He was being slagged off in the finance job but if he had that shit going on at home must have affected him. He is apparently the first mod or ex-mod to have held high ministerial office in Britain