General Chat

Following on from Teresa, if I may, It has always been the govt' of the day's 'mandate' to blame everything on the preceding govt ( even the Conservatives under Major blamed Maggie having got rid of her lol) I do wish they would all stop doing that... what I want to hear is the politician who doesn't do that...who says "This is where we are NOW and what is past is past" and then gets on with it!

But Eldrick you are right ( well at least I agree with you so that might make us both wrong ;-) ) that it has been down to unfettered greed at all levels.

That concept of 'greed is good' grew into a monster very firmly under Mrs T's watch! Many people benefitted greatly but forgot that it might not always stay that way....property prices boomed and then bust very fast ( I know because I was lucky enough to benefit 'just in time' in 1990). The same has happened again and the banks let it...

I don't have any answers, my political head has shut down rather ;-) but I do know I don't trust 'smarm and charm' to have my best interests at heart ;-)

Unfettered greed, is about right..
You only have to look at the outing of our politicians with all their greed and dishonesty, and they are still being a load of greedy ba*****s, all of them whatever party.

George

It lit a fire under Ed Milliband

GREED!! GREED!! GREED!!
That is all I see in these columns. If you had the chance to earn the money that high earners get, would you turn it down(would you turn down a lottery win if you had won it) NO!!
Nobody has to have children and expect other people to pay for them but they do.
How many people on benefits could go to work and will not because they get more on benefits . Which leaves the non workshy to pay for them.
How many people go onto further education to better themselves instead of blaming everybody else when they cannot get a job.
There are still people like me who still believes that if you want anything you have to earn it. But many more who believe that everything should be given to them free and then some more.

Labour favours the workshy, Tories everybody but the people like me.
Other parties have never proved what they can do but will pander to the greed to get the votes.

What hope have we non workshy got?

Shouts hear hear and bangs on table :-D

well said Harswell

Roy

what about the truely sick and dying Harswell

those who worked before becoming ill
some where in the higher tax brackets
payed their way its not their fault they are ill

not every one is work shy
they to are affected by the budget to

Roy - I read your opening post and thought "Good, a great budget" - since reading that I have watched the news and seen the reality - you must be living on a different planet from me

Petrol going up yet again and road tax - the knock on effect of that alone will cause increased prices everywhere

Thanks for backing me Roy, We , the backbone of the country, are a dying breed. You will soon see by the replies that we will soon get.

I am a pensioner that has worked all my working life from shovelling S**t if it was required, and never earned any more than the average wage but was brought up to work hard and be proud of what I did.

I don' t think there's a person on earth who would begrudge the GENUINE a penny Joy...certainly not me.

But I have to be honest here........I am appalled by the amount of arrogant *well i won't do that job why should i* types round here that seem to live a life out of reach for us when my poor OH has to work in a cr***y factory.up at 4 am ...twelve hour shifts day AND night.

Labour traditionally leave the country bankrupt...Tories traditionally turn it about........I DO NOT like the current Government one bit......too diluted and tame to make the decisions needed..but we've got what we've got.....which is imho a damn sight better than the shower we booted out.

I will never forgive Gordon Brown for raping my fathers pension...or indeed our precious gold reserves just to buy votes.

But hey. that's just my opinion x

Their are some valid points on most post's but i despair at politicians who in opposition slate the administration of the day on every point but then have no answers them selves and also refuse to say if they got in power they would not reverse the said proposal, if thats the best they can do i don't understand why the media even give the the time of day.

And as for GREED i have said before on this forum that i left school at 15 with no qualification

but even i new the banking crisis would happen sooner or later but these so called university educated politicians say that they never saw the banking crisis coming

It was obvious to me in the early 2000's that government should not allow financial institutions to sell people the idea that they could take the equity out of the homes to spend today because people failed to realise that they were effectively selling their home and then buying it back at a higher price later so it always was going to end in tears


Roy

Joy, I am not callous .
Where have I said we should not look after the truly sick and dying.
The word I used was WORKSHY.

Over the years I have been personally affected by budget and political decisions by all parties but one in particular. It doesn't matter which one.

Since I married (I wasn't old enough to vote when I married) and could vote, I have always voted for the same party as my husband but neither influenced the other. That is until we moved to where we live now and started to vote tactically. I have voted in every local and general election.

Next time? I won't be voting. Close the bar in the Houses of Parliament and let them all go home after work and be ready for work the next day. Let them think about what they really believe in rather than what is good for each of them personally or will look good. Let them look at their families and see how things affect them. Go into hospital (try Good (No) Hope) in Birmingham for 24 hours. Live on a pension for a month. Come to work with me for a couple of days. Face reality and then make political decisions.

The Budget? Probably good for someone. Maybe good for others in a year. Bad for some immediately. Any different to usual? No.

i am not saying you are Harswell
but asking what about them ??

this government are treating some of them like criminals
i know a man near us who has no legs cant get DLA
because he can walk a little bit to well on his false legs

yet i see lots of people get it who are pretending to be ill
the work shy as you put it

Harswell "we the backbone" just who are "we" ? I take it I am not included in the "we" because I gave up a well paid job
( £1000 plus a month) to look after someone for the princely 'compensation' of £34 a week, someone who had never had the opportunity to make it for themselves because they too were looking after disabled relatives...( having worked all their life wherever and whenever they could from age 14 and doing a 'mans job ' in the war)

If a country ONLY focuses on those who can work, who are fit and have the fortitude to do whatever work is available then it will be a richer place in terms of money perhaps...but a much poorer place in its care for the sick, the disadvantaged and the plain unlucky.

But who else is going to PAY for that care if not the folk that work????

Doesn't mean non workers are insignificant (I am one of them)...but surely you have to look after the folk whose taxes pay for those less fortunate...else we'll end up like Greece ¬!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

N. B I still haven't had the chance to fully digest the budget..I'm talking in general terms...not in specifics x

Obviously my reply coming after Harswell's must put me as one of those who are not considered to be backbone of the country. Quote "You will soon see by the replies that we will soon get".


I have shovelled shit literally ( I still do!) and have never been a high earner. I now have to work years more to get my pension. Just because you are now a pensioner and have worked don't put yourself on a pedestal. There are many that are more deserving to be up there.

So my 35 years of my own contributions count for nothing? I PAID for the care I give by my own taxes and NI in all the years I worked for it.

And the OAPs in this country are short changed by every government
we have ever had
some of them worked and fought to make this country great
and they are neglected by not only the government
but sometimes their families
this doesn't affect me as we have no old people in my family
but is still annoying to watch
the prices of care homes is ridiculous
fat cat care home owners screwing the old people is sickening
the government should step in and cap what they charge
because the staff who do the real work dam well don't see the money
they are on minimum wages usually

I could work hard and be proud of what I did 40 hours a week at basic rate and still not earn enough to rent an ex social housing house on a run down estate here.

There really has to be something done about the property market, rents now are running higher than a mortgage for the same place. If mortgages and rents are too high a proportion of a wage how is one to live? Yes with rent you can get a lot of it paid if you are on low wages, costing the taxpayer...but you can't do that with a mortgage ( that's 2 years only also costing the taxpayer) which is fine if there are jobs out there...and believe me locally the jobs I see are either specialised or part time...what use is 2hours one day a week to someone tied into a mortgage they took out when earning a decent wage?