TB Opinion Poll

[Willlow]

But it seems to be annoying him, which I don't understand.

Talking about politics isnt annoying me, people being blinkered to a belief about one party whilst ignoring exactly the same problem with other parties is.

 

[RHYDAL]

And shall we discuss the £12bn NHS computer system shambles?

You raise one of the three areas of complete mismanagement by this Labour Government.

1. Procurement - especially in terms of IT contracts. If you quantify how much we've pissed up the wall on this, you'd take a big chunk out of the National debt. However, all Governments records on this are shocking.

2. Balance of payments. In the early noughties, we should have decreased spending in some areas when we increased it in others. We didn't and this has bitten us on the arse. They got cocky - but so did 99% of the population as well.

3. Gold sale. Bad decision, cost us a fortune.

I was keeping them up my sleeve for further argument. But you seem to have missed the biggest screw up of them all. Banking deregulation. This is what Gordon Brown said in 2004 at Mansion House.....

Mr Lord Mayor ten years ago there were nine separate regulatory bodies for financial services.
To meet the challenge of global markets we created a single unified FSA.
In 2003, just at the time of a previous Mansion House speech, the Worldcom accounting scandal broke. And I will be honest with you, many who advised me including not a few newspapers, favoured a regulatory crackdown.
I believe that we were right not to go down that road which in the United States led to Sarbannes-Oxley, and we were right to build upon our light touch system through the leadership of Sir Callum McCarthy - fair, proportionate, predictable and increasingly risk based. I know Sir Callum is committed to reducing regulatory administrative burdens and the National Audit Office will now look at the efficiency and value for money of our system.

All this just before junk debts ran amock and brought the world economy to its knees. He ignored advice, favouring his own pigheaded approach to the economy and the rest is history.

I find this unforgiveable.

 

[Doggie_muz]

I was keeping them up my sleeve for further argument. But you seem to have missed the biggest screw up of them all. Banking deregulation. This is what Gordon Brown said in 2004 at Mansion House.....

All this just before junk debts ran amock and brought the world economy to its knees. He ignored advice, favouring his own pigheaded approach to the economy and the rest is history.

I find this unforgiveable.

I partially agree with this, but would also say that Mr. Brown's policies also led to some pretty impressive growth figures for a decade (admittedly insignificant in comparison to the subsequent recession).

I would also say that no financial sector regulation that would have been passed into law could have prevented said recession. Very few advocated reigning in the financial sector in 2004. Even if they had, there would not have been enough support to enact it. And even if it had, the global nature of the crisis would have meant that regulation would have insulated the UK very little (particularly given our integration with Europe and the US).

I struggle to see what sort of regulation would have had a material effect on the course of history. But I agree, the speech looks pretty misguided now.

 

[Darth Vodka]

Awww, I remember fondly the days when a government would spend a mere £3.4 bn attempting to mask a problem, before admitting the mistake and correcting it properly.

it was utter loss, a lot of it went to George Soros, at least Labour's bailing out of the banks went onto the balance sheet

Really, how so?

just look at the two growth rates of Britain and Euroland since Black Wednesday, Britain has been fine

and Euroland is suffering by being dragged down by Greece and the other PIIGS

King wouldn't have been able to drop base rate to 0.5%

 

[drew]

I like this speech from last year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgnWS4KMDdE

 

[RHYDAL]

I would also say that no financial sector regulation that would have been passed into law could have prevented said recession. Very few advocated reigning in the financial sector in 2004. Even if they had, there would not have been enough support to enact it. And even if it had, the global nature of the crisis would have meant that regulation would have insulated the UK very little (particularly given our integration with Europe and the US).

Eh? Mr Brown's own speech suggests otherwise in regard to regulatory advice.
The words 'global recession' have been coined by governments to abdicate their responsibility. Those Scandinavian countries who saved during times of prosperity (i.e.built their reserves), instead of lending wildly(and flogging off gold at rock bottom), would question this terminology.

 

[Blue Maniac]

I've thought it out carefully and decided I'm going to vote for none of the ****s.

 

[RHYDAL]

it was utter loss, a lot of it went to George Soros, at least Labour's bailing out of the banks went onto the balance sheet

And straight into the pockets of the tits who got us in this mess in the form of bonuses.

King wouldn't have been able to drop base rate to 0.5%

So encouraging more borrowing. There's a recurring theme here.

 

[Darth Vodka]

And straight into the pockets of the tits who got us in this mess in the form of bonuses.

well indirectly yes
and they had to the power to **** things up after Blair & Brown deregulated the markets and let the banks do what they want

AND has anyone noticed that RBS and HBOS are Scottish banks, bailed out by a Scottish PM after we gave Scotland their own fecking parliament?

don't hear them lot whinging about how they've got the oil and they should split from England any more do you?

 

[RHYDAL]

well indirectly yes
and they had to the power to **** things up after Blair & Brown deregulated the markets and let the banks do what they want

AND has anyone noticed that RBS and HBOS are Scottish banks, bailed out by a Scottish PM after we gave Scotland their own fecking parliament?

don't hear them lot whinging about how they've got the oil and they should split from England any more do you?

And dont get me started on the bleeding Welsh and their free prescriptions and university course fees. :icon_lol:

 

[The Major]

Wrong. Actual figure is 1.6m which is less than in 1997. Also, those on inactive benefits is going down - something that has never happened in previouis recessions. Long term unemployment is rising now because of the recession but is it miles lower than in the 80s and 90s. It is way lower now that in 1997.

Where do you get your facts from - the Daily Mail?

You keep telling yourself that.

 

[The Major]

Perhaps he deserves what you call "condescending remarks" (in fact, there was only one of them) if he does not compare like with like and thereby draws an incorrect conclusion - much as the Daily Mail does.

I don't think I do deserve any condescending remarks at all. I was merely quoting the widely reported govt statistics, not just in the Daily Mail but on the BBC as well.

UK unemployment records further fall

There are regional differences in the unemployment figures

The number of people unemployed in the UK has fallen again, leaving the jobless rate at 7.8%, figures show.

Total unemployment stood at 2.45 million for the three months to January, down 33,000 on the figure for the previous three months.

But long-term unemployment, covering those out of work for more than a year, rose by 61,000 to 687,000.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance fell by 32,300 to 1.59 million in February.

Unemployment among 18 to 24-year-olds fell by 34,000 to 715,000, but among the over-50s, joblessness rose by 14,000 to 398,000.

 

[Motown Fox]

Nice to see no BNP idiots on this site

 

[drummindefender]

I wondered who voted for Plaid Cymru :icon_lol:

 

[Profondo Rosso]

Just noticed. It's funny how the bars in the poll for Labour, Tories and Libs all came out the party's actual colour.

 

[drummindefender]

Just noticed. It's funny how the bars in the poll for Labour, Tories and Libs all came out the party's actual colour.

I intended that

I think its quite interesting that so far it seems to be fairly similar to actual opinion polls-tories ahead but not by much!

 

[drummindefender]

I also think this thread clearly demonstrates people still care about political issues, but are just fed up with those within the political system and the way it works.

 

[Profondo Rosso]

The LibDems have been calling for a voting reform for over a century. I tend to agree. I don't really like the current system either.

 

[The Major]

The LibDems have been calling for a voting reform for over a century. I tend to agree. I don't really like the current system either.

I bet it's never occurred to them that if we did change the system they'd be in govt forever.

 

[drummindefender]

I bet it's never occurred to them that if we did change the system they'd be in govt forever.

No different to Labour reforming the House of Lords to suit their interests. Not that I'm saying changes shouldn't have been made, but it was hardly done for purely democratic reasons.