Come on now, time to get it off your chest and come clean. How many people here thought we were making a terrible mistake when we refused to adopt the Euro?
I am pleased to say I was an anti.
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>> I am pleased to say I was an anti.
And so was I; very much so.
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To be fair, I think it could have lasted longer/been more succesful if the rules had been ridgidly applied - for too long the Greeks and others got away with breaking fiscal rules. But that would have made the Greek government unpopular and lead to failure at the ballot box.
But then rules don't seem to count for much in Europe - how many years have the accounts not been signed off for now?
I think Europe is too disimilar for rigid fiscal rules to work.
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>>
>> But then rules don't seem to count for much in Europe - how many years
>> have the accounts not been signed off for now?
>>
A lot of that in fairness is down to money given to governments on a national level and then disappearing, not always through fraud. They simply can't track it properly, not that fraud doesn't happen, and even if the EU disappeared into thin air tomorrow morning the fraud would still happen. After all could the UK government sign off on it's accounts and track ever pound, or could any country for that matter?
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>> I think Europe is too dissimilar for rigid fiscal rules to work.
>>
>>
>>
Or any rules, I was in Barcelona this week, There were gig stages (big Meccano) being built in several of the squares using Hiab trucks. They are obviously on a different 'elf 'n safety planet.
Are we the only country that applies Euro laws? The others seem to use the ones they like.
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If my income and savings were in Euros I would not be looking at the massive devaluation they have suffered in the last two years. Our government has had the flexibility to "save" the economy by devaluing the worth of the pound and allowing inflation to rip. Not something that is wholly worthy of praise.
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I agree with BB - my opinion exactly....the whole thing was a fudge. The only thing that Gordon Brown got right in my opinion.
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In - out (shake it all about) makes no difference really, if the €uro sinks, we'll all end up down the Swanny,
£64,000,000,000 wiped off the value of Britains biggest companies yesterday :(
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I was anti because I was agin the idea of a European nation. It is beyond argument that you can't have monetary union without political union, as is now being demonstrated.
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The new greek anthem - to the tune of I will survive
At first we took the aid
We were petrified
Kept thinking we could only live
with Germans by our side
But then we spent so many nights
Thinking how you did us wrong
And we grew strong
And learned to string you all along
and so we're back
Just watch this space
What are the yields doing up here
you've got a sad look on your face
We should have made people pay tax
And begun austerity
But were busy on the beach
And you bail us out for free
Go on now go walk out the door
Things turned around now
And the Dax is on the floor
Merkel the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye
Watch the Euro tumble EuroStox become the S M I
Oh no, not I
I will survive
Oh as long as Trichet buys our bonds I know I'll stay alive
We have our cushy lives to live
And in return nothing to give
And I'll survive I will survive (hey hey)
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The Greeks should leave the euro and take a lesson from sterling - 25% devaluation and two years later there'll be low unemployment, low inflation, high economic growth...oh, wait a minute.
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I voted "No" and nothing since has made me feel I was wrong.
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>> I voted "No" and nothing since has made me feel I was wrong.
>>
Couldn't agree more Roger, to both bits.
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The Euro is something which works in principle, but not in practice.
The British Constitution is the opposite. It shouldn't work in principle - but it does in practice.
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There should have been a political union from the beginning of the E.U. For the Euro to work properly.
It's ok for George Osborne to say sort it out in six weeks .Its the Banking system which was allowed to create this mess.We are going over old grounds.
What's going to happen now is anybody's guess.Depends on the Germans I suppose they have the deepest pockets.
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What is causing the massive plunge in confidence in world market is lack of action. The markets don't much care what the solution to the Greek problem is as long as decisive action is taken.
There has to be either an absolute commitment to stand by Greece and offer it the loans it needs or Greece needs to leave the euro in some sort of controlled default. Greece is not a large economy, only 2% of the EU overall GDP. The problem should have been resolved a year back. Germany needs to display some leadership but unfortunately Angela Merkel on one hand does not want to be responsible for a decision that could mean the beginning of the end for the Euro but on the other hand knows that the German people do not want to spend any more of their money on Greece and will not support more loans.
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=koY6kXhQDQo
About sums it up what he says,some swearing but there you are.
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Spot on CG, the markets want to see leadership and increase in the ESFS upto 1.5 tn euro up from 400 bn. I suppose if you were that way inclined you could say the markets are driving the polticians into a corner only way to get them to do anything ;) This could have been sorted the plan was agreed on, but fell down. They all know what needs doing but for political reasons they can't do it at the moment. I think about October time they will bring it in, greece will default in a structured manner after eurobonds has been set up.
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Modern democracies have manouvred themselves into a situation where they cannot take fast decisive action about anything.
The EU is even worse, because it is a pseudo-democracy run by a politbureau of smug incompetents lacking leadership qualities.
It is unfortunate that in counter direction to this trend, financial markets are getting ever faster to respond to events, or increasingly, non-events.
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I will be honest. At the time I thought the Euro was right and at the exchange rates we would have been offered at the time the Euro would have been worth something like circa 50p rather than the circa 90p it is today. We would have been comparatively wealthy by comparison.
The USA makes the single currency work across 50 states, so in theory the same should be possible over here. The problem is that poor states such as Greece and Ireland have been allowed to spend too much without any real sanction and this has impacted the reputation of the whole Eurozone. If (and hindsight is 20/20) more sanctions were placed on the PIGS to keep them in line fiscally then we would not be having these problems!
The Netherlands, France, Belgium and Germany would have been better starting off with the Euro alone then allowing others to join as they met the criteria. With a smaller Eurozone, I think it would have been more likely that we would have joined because we would have been joining a much more level field.
Unless there is an absolute financial calamity in the UK there will be no chance of us ever joining it now.
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The Greeks need to default. It is impossible for them to repay theiir debt and interest in the next 20 years.. unless their economy grows 10% for each and every year. (It declined 7% last years).
So they need to do what all countries seeking to escape from a mountain of debt do.. (Iceland, Argentina)..
get lenders to write off (say) half their debt... Which will lead to most of French banks being nationalised.. so the French won't agree.
get lenders to forgive interest for some time...
devalue their currency (which they cannot as they are in the Euro.. so leave).
The Germans and French want none of the above to happen... so if it does it's going to happen because all other courses are worde.
I anticipate some more money lent to the Greeks in October (!) and a proper default next year...
So far this is a storm in a teacup.. com,pared with what may very well happen.
The Telegraph has a good article about the lack of any political leadership in Europe - because the EU has no way of allowing it. tinyurl.com/42klcxw
Last edited by: madf on Sat 24 Sep 11 at 14:28
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"The global economy is horribly unbalanced, with the world's exporters selling the rest of us their wares but also lending us the money to buy them. The imbalances have been exaggerated by some deliberate policy interventions – like China's determination to keep its currency hugely undervalued, which has the effect of making its goods much cheaper they should be. Over-borrowed countries need to reduce their debts, exporting nations need to find more domestic sources of demand and the world needs to agree on how to make the transition to a system with fewer trade barriers and currency controls".
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/q-amp-a-is-this-bad-news-for-ordinary-people-or-absolutely-disastrous-news-2360075.html
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Interesting piece here from Max Keiser on the €uro + interview with UKIP spokesman Steve Woolfe.
rt.com/programs/keiser-report/episode-192-max-keiser/
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. Over-borrowed
>> countries need to reduce their debts, exporting nations need to find more domestic sources of
>> demand and the world needs to agree on how to make the transition to a
>> system with fewer trade barriers and currency controls".
>>
>> www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/q-amp-a-is-this-bad-news-for-ordinary-people-or-absolutely-disastrous-news-2360075.html
>>
Hmm Typical of the Independent . Preach one thing and do another... (J Hari anyone?)
So they support the Coalition's debt reduction policy and think Ed Balls is totally wrong and Milliband is as well?
Err no.
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The Greeks cannot leave the Euro and devalue their currency because their debt is denominated in Euros and that Euro denomination would not change if they were to leave.
The only solution is either default or for everybody else to leave the Euro.
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Or maybe for Germany to leave the Euro, with perhaps Austria and a couple more allies, leaving France to head the rest.
Now where did I put that ferry timetable?
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Indeed, Mike. Germany and the northern/central European states to create a northern Mark. Even the Poles might be prepared to join that.
Which way France goes would be interesting.
And yes, then the Germans would struggle as their exports would not be able to cope with the ex-Euro's being worth £1.30ish.
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now there is an interesting thought, if the euro is suddenly no more, what happens to all the euro debt?
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>>if the euro is suddenly no more, what happens to all the euro debt?<<
= www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIgqr0q2rtA&feature=related
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If the Euro is no more - and with no Germany in it , it would de facto fail - the DM would soar, the Euro crash and any bank relying on assets (loans to third parties) denominated in Euros would suddenly find their assets fell sharply in value. Ie. German, French, Swiss, Greek, Irish, etc banks
And go bust or need Government bailouts.
All this talk of Germany reviving the DM is basically saying it's the end of the EC. Cos if Germany leaves the Euro, it would lead to the bankruptcy of most Euro nations. WW3 fought with currencies? Only 1 winner. Germany..
Last edited by: madf on Wed 5 Oct 11 at 12:47
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>> If the Euro is no more - and with no Germany in it , it
>> would de facto fail - the DM would soar,
Only thing is there is no DM.
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The rumour is Germany is printing DMs and going back to it.
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No doubt there is that rumour, chances of it being true? Virtually nil.
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I think it will be very interesting to see how history views Gordon Brown.
Will he be the man who brought the nation to its knees financially.
Or the man who kept it out of the Euro and who therefore prevented complete financial meltdown.
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Gordon Brown will be airbrushed from history.
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Donning my conspiracytheory-ism hat for a moment, there may well be a master plan behind these shenanigans and that now most of €urope is truly caught by the gonads, the next move will be even closer integration i.e a more federal €uropean superstate leading eventually to a new world order/one world government.
:}
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>
>> next move will be even closer integration
I don't think it's a conspiracy at all, whatever the problem closer integration is the answer for the EU. It's been happening for 50 years and will no doubt continue.
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A solution to the latest problem had been agreed but at the last minute the french pulled out for political reasons. The eurobond scheme will give the EU access to money without going cap in hand to the countries.
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>>The eurobond scheme will give the EU access to money without going cap in hand to the countries<<
Just means even more debt though like putting petrol on a fire in the hope that it will go out,
all that 'scheme' will do is to buy time and leave the debt mountain for future generations to deal with.
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Well debt has been increasing for decades across the globe. As long as people can meet the payments, it seems madness but as long as they are on the same page, it's fine(ish).
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But as any househusband will tell you - if your debt is 120% of your GDP, you're stuffed!
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Possibly so, but it's hard to read a household budget across to a countries economy.
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Perhaps they need a Hausfrau in charge in charge of things 'over there'.
:(
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>> But as any househusband will tell you - if your debt is 120% of your GDP, you're stuffed!
I thought the mortgage limit was around three times income. Have things changed recently?
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Hasn't he airbrushed himself form history? What's he doing these day?
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>> I think it will be very interesting to see how history views Gordon Brown.
>>
>> Will he be the man who brought the nation to its knees financially.
>>
>> Or the man who kept it out of the Euro and who therefore prevented complete
>> financial meltdown.
As most of Western Europe seems be on or about to fall to its knees financially Brown looks less like the unique incompetent he's portrayed as.
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>> As most of Western Europe seems be on or about to fall to its knees
>> financially Brown looks less like the unique incompetent he's portrayed as.
we are on our knees as well. So 1 tick for the unique incompetent theory because he managed it without even joining the Euro, give him two UI ticks in fact.
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Irishman, spaniard and italian walk into a bar ... barman asks "whatl it be ?" " 3 large ones please" replies the irishman," whos paying asks the barman?" and the greek guy at the bar replies "the german"
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>> we are on our knees as well. So 1 tick for the unique incompetent theory
>> because he managed it without even joining the Euro, give him two UI ticks in
>> fact.
The US of course is as bad as Europe and no Euro to blame there either.
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>> >> we are on our knees as well. So 1 tick for the unique incompetent
>> theory
>> >> because he managed it without even joining the Euro, give him two UI ticks
>> in
>> >> fact.
>>
>> The US of course is as bad as Europe and no Euro to blame there
>> either.
that puts him in the George Bush category then, it gets worse!
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Despite him being Chancellor for the Blair years, he had the liars grip on his nethers, he however gets the blame as Blair baled out and left him holding the baby.
We seem to be getting as good as the Yanks at electing snake oil salesmen, present PM excepted seeing as he's another unelected one, not to say he's going to be any better than the previous two mind.
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I hate to type this, as I aren't into pedantry, but he's not unelected.
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ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2011/10/05/693816/quantum-leap-eurotarp/
is interesting..
Sometimes Alphaville is hard going so I reads it SLOWLY.
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Thursdays Keiser Report + interview with Professor Steve Keen author of Debunking Economics ~
rt.com/programs/keiser-report/episode-194-max-keiser/
Report 193 (Debts and Slavery) here if y'all interested ~
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu0wDv1LJ4k
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>>As most of Western Europe seems be on or about to fall to its knees financially Brown looks less like the unique incompetent he's portrayed as<<
Well, I agree.
I don't want to worry anyone but Prayer for the Day on Radio 4 this morning was read by Jean-Claude Trichet...
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The man who sold half our gold at $35/oz will never ever have total financial credibility again. He doesn't even turn up in the Commons often
"The decision to sell the gold – taken by Mr Brown when he was Chancellor – is regarded as one of the Treasury's worst financial mistakes and has cost taxpayers almost £7 billion."
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>>has cost taxpayers almost 7 billion
just chicken feed as we sail into the Dire Straits and onto the Olympic Whirlpool :-((
Hold very tightly as we disappear down the plughole.
Happy Motoring Phil I
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Thank you Roge - excellent, really excellent, and what a blimming bunch of Muppets!
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He doesn't mince his words, that's for sure...
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Don't fret about it, we will all be joining the Euro soon if you believe the Mail!
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2063103/Wolfgang-Sch-uble-says-UK-join-euro-Germany-plans-block-EU-referendum.html
Oh, and just look at the last few countries that held the Olympics. Greece is in trouble. China is in the middle of one of the biggest property bubbles ever seen! It will all go wrong!
Last edited by: zippy on Fri 18 Nov 11 at 13:42
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>>
>> Oh, and just look at the last few countries that held the Olympics. Greece is
>> in trouble.
>>
Greece has held the Olympic games about 400 times.
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Mr Farage better start speaking German, or else...
Always a pleasure to hear people speak with conviction.
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Thanks for the link to Farage's barrage.
That should have been the sort of speech a Prime Minister gave if we had one worth mentioning, Maggie would have enjoyed that.
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Cameron had his meeting today wirh the German frau.Don't think he got anywhere or did she.It is about time we make up our mind in the UK which way we want to go.Have a referemdum either in or out the EC and get it over with.In the meantime people are hoping for big investments from the German company Siemens,in this area.High unemployement here these jobs are needed.
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I don't begin to understand this kind of midi-economics. It's double-Dutch to me. I don't care if there's a referendum and I wouldn't have a clue how to vote, just like last time.
MAASTRICHT! MAASTRICHT! they bellowed. God it was awful. Didn't mean a thing to me.
Way I see it, jobs go to the place the firm in question thinks is most profitable in the medium or long term, in any country in the world inside or outside the Eurozone. But firms often screw up and get it wrong. Nevertheless when the decision is made it results from a package, what the labour market is like, whatever the government kicks in in tax incentives, assessment of how soon the country is going down the khazi, where the managing director's missus likes to do her shopping, where the pole dancing amuses the marketing director, all that and no doubt a lot more, I wouldn't know.
Good luck though Dutchie. We all like our neighbours to feel that everything's all right.
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Never been to Maastricht they reckon it is a nice town in the south of the low lands.I think it is all a masterplan A.C we will be chipped and obey.>:)When i hear economics waffle on the Telly talking about bonds and derivitives and banks lending to each other and printing money.I am lost and so are most of us.The governor of the bank of England makes more sense to me sensible fellow.The minimum wage in Italy is 1300 Euro a bit of fiddling with the tax and you have a decent living.I am rambling on sorry.
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My plan would be for Britain and Germany to invade France and Italy, then form an alliance with Russia to annexe China, that would just leave the US where we could use their own trick of fermenting revolution, leading to a 3 way E. W. and S. division of Uncle Sam.
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Yeah should work. Can't see any flaws.
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....and there was I thinking what a beautiful anthem Germany had. One of the best in the world.
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Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God!
He whose word cannot be broken, Chose thee for his own abode.
Deutschland über alles" (literally, "Germany, Germany above all").
Nothing changes!
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You miss the point though - the Deutschland bit is all about an united Germany - nawt to do with world domination. Haydn tune is near perfect as an anthem.
I used to be able to play that (as a hymn tune) on a 'cello !
Last edited by: R.P. on Sun 20 Nov 11 at 10:28
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"Nothing changes!"
The official German National Anthem comprised the third stanza of the former anthem and has done since 1952.
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit Unity and law and freedom
für das deutsche Vaterland! For the German Fatherland
Danach lasst uns alle streben Let us all strive for that
Brüderlich mit Herz und Hand! In brotherhood with heart and hand!
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit Unity and law and freedom
Sind des Glückes Unterpfand; Are the foundation for happiness
Blüh' im Glanze dieses Glückes, Bloom in the glow of happiness
Blühe, deutsches Vaterland. Bloom, German Fatherland.
Considerably less belligerant than ours
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Sun 20 Nov 11 at 10:34
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The Dutch anthem is (ben ik van duitsen bloed) Am i from German blood.Also a sentence in the anthem a alliance to the Spanish King who the Dutch where at war with for 80 years.Strange are these songs.The Germans have changed Roger we don't want another war do we?
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When it comes to National Anthems, they all pall into pathetic mediocrity when faced with this.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOAtz8xWM0w
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and the worlds worse Anthem is "Advance Australia Fair" universally recognised by Aussies as a PoS, so bad they never sing the second verse.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=B57QEEl97po
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Re R.P.'s clip.
The video accompanying the song is all about Scottish rugby. Such a shame they aren't very good at it!
"Scotland competed in the Five Nations from the inaugural tournament in 1883, winning it 14 times outright—including the last ever Five Nations in 1999—and sharing it another 8. In 2000 the competition accepted a sixth competitor, Italy, thus forming the Six Nations. Since this change, Scotland have yet to win the competition. The Rugby World Cup was introduced in 1987 and Scotland have competed in all seven competitions, the most recent being in 2011. Scotland's best finish came in 1991, where they lost to the All Blacks in the third place play-off.
Scotland have a strong rivalry with the English national team. They both annually compete for the Calcutta Cup. Each year, this fixture is played out as part of the Six Nations. England are the current holders after defeating Scotland 22–16 at Twickenham in the 2011 Six Nations".
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I agree that Russia's is the best. The Marseillaise is pretty good too. God Save the Queen has the distinction of being the only anthem I know in waltz time.
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The Marseillaise is pretty good too
And was there ever a more evocative version than this one ? It certainly must have been at the time the film was released...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oROASA1v92U
Last edited by: R.P. on Sun 20 Nov 11 at 15:21
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I so wish our anthem was Jerusalem.
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Interesting poet Blake, Religious mystic but anti established church. Took part in the Gordon Riots and believed in free love and considered totally mad by his contemporaries .
Would probably be camped outside St Pauls if he was around today.
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>> Marseillaise is pretty good too
... and seriously bloodthirsty.
Two totalitarian 'anthems' - The Internationale and the Horst Wessel song - are far prettier musically than they have any right to be. Like Toots and the Maytals singing 'All over this land, desolate, desolate...', a stark dissonance between form and content.
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Just seen this anekdote of yours Dog.Have you been drinking the wodka again?>:)
I have a nice bottle at home son in law brought it back from Poznan excellent stuff.
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Better send some to Pugley to clean his garden bench with ;}
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No way!My brother finished most of a fine bottle last time he stayed with us.Jan likes a drink once he starts.>;)
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The absolute best National Anthem is Spain's
A spiffing tune and NO WORDS!
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The Spanish lost for words Roger? At sea they used to never shut up.>:)
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I think God Save The Queen is just about the worst anthem of them all.
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There's always Rule Britannia (which can be sung ironically I suppose)
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Land of hope and precious little glory :-(
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Good article Roge, I have voted for UKIP before and would vote for them at the next election,
Didn't know his wife was (don't mention the ***) German, but as I'm pro German, she can stay :)
I think we'll be seeing more of Nigel Farage / UKIP in the coming months/years, well - we are!
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>> I think we'll be seeing more of Nigel Farage / UKIP in the coming months/years,
>>
Agreed, the one party of three names has forced this to a head.
The recent vote by the commons under unveiled threats from the state party leaders over the EU referendum debate has made many realise, a bit late but nonetheless welcome, that our much lauded democracy is in it's death throes.
Some serious spinning and electorate bribing to be done for the next election.
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>> we'll be seeing more of Nigel Farage / UKIP in the coming months/years,
No doubt we will, but as a party it is doomed to minority eccentric status by having a name that suggests the UK isn't independent.
The voters may be thick, but they aren't that thick.
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>>The voters may be thick, but they aren't that thick<<
dunno, they voted for a war crim twice!
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>> >>The voters may be thick, but they aren't that thick<<
>>
>> dunno, they voted for a war crim twice!
>>
Whose party then appointed the Maximum Imbecile as Prime Minister.
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Chaps, never mind the tabloid invective.
The point is that UKIP is a moronic name for a party and guarantees permanent minority status.
Who runs Britain? Brave little UKIP!
I think not.
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>> The point is that UKIP is a moronic name for a party and guarantees permanent
>> minority status.
>>
This is hardly your usual style of constructive criticism.
If your reckon that it's a moronic name, what should they call themselves then?
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Given their manifesto, United Kingdom Independence Party is an appropriate name.
It does what it says on the tin.
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>> what should they call themselves then?
The filch a few nationalist, xenophobe and paranoid votes from the real parties party?
Look, I'm not calling you Youkippers morons. Nationalism, xenophobia and paranoia are perfectly reasonable in today's alarming world.
I think the NAME is moronic. The mass of voters don't believe any more than I do that this country isn't independent.
Sheesh! as Humph would say.
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>> I think the NAME is moronic. The mass of voters don't believe any more than
>> I do that this country isn't independent.
The Greeks and Italians thought THEY were independent until new, unelected, leaders were parachuted in!
I DON'T think the name is moronic!
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They can call themselves fpd for all care Sire, it's their policies that catch my vote.
www.ukip.org/content/ukip-policies
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Cloud cuckoo land springs to mind.
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A protest vote for many I would expect.
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Nappies and Politicians should be changed often - both for the same reason.
Cuckoo, cuckoo ;)
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"Politicians should be changed often"
Could have sworn we had a general election 18 months ago:-)
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>>Could have sworn we had a general election 18 months ago:-)<<
So how are they doing CG? VAT increased to 20%, unemployment increased to 2.62 million, young men STILL being sent home in body bags - 4 last week :(
My wife had to give another work colleague the big heave ho today - the 13th one since the recession began, so sad - what with Xmas coming up as well, I wonder where it will all end??
I'm not saying 'Nige' and his outfit could do any better in the present economic crisis but I honestly believe Gran Britannia could make it on it's own in the world, and not be part of this ill conceived €uropean cock up.
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>
>> I'm not saying 'Nige' and his outfit could do any better in the present economic
>> crisis but I honestly believe Gran Britannia could make it on it's own in the
>> world, and not be part of this ill conceived €uropean cock up.
Like america you mean? Their borrowing is still going up.
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>> > I honestly believe Gran Britannia could make it on it's own in the
>> world, and not be part of this ill conceived €uropean cock up.
>>
That's what Roger Bootle says. Good man imho.
"There's only one club worth joining, and that's the World. And we are already members"
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"I'm not saying 'Nige' and his outfit could do any better in the present economic crisis but I honestly believe Gran Britannia could make it on it's own in the world, and not be part of this ill conceived €uropean cock up."
Fine and in that case you need to get a majority of you countrymen to agree with you and vote UKIP in the next election. The fact that remains that only 18 months go we had a general election and a huge majority did not vote UKIP.
That may be unpalatable to you but its true. Our system of democracy provides for an election every 5 years. 18 months in you want to chuck them out and start again because they haven't solved all the UK's problems, many of which are probably beyond any government to solve, at least in the short to medium term.
The UK may be going through a rough patch but compared with other we are perhaps not doing too bad. Compared with most people in the world and indeed the lives our parents and grandparents lived most Brits are doing OK. Perhaps our expectations are just too high.
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>>because they haven't solved all the UK's problems, <<
I think it's more a case of they haven't solved ANY of the UK's problems without making at least two more problems out of every 'solution'.
Pat
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>> I think it's more a case of they haven't solved ANY of the UK's problems
>> without making at least two more problems out of every 'solution'.
>>
>> Pat
E.g.?
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>>Our system of democracy provides for an election every 5 years. 18 months in you want to chuck them out and start again because they haven't solved all the UK's problems<<
No, I never said that at all, we voted Conservative at the last election - mainly to get the other lot out, but would vote for UKIP at the next election unless a miracle happened and it looked like Millipede could stand a chance of moving into number 10.
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I was responding to your original obesrvation "Nappies and Politicians should be changed often - both for the same reason" from which I assumed you would like to ditch the present government sooner rather than later.
No party is going to come with all the answers. I very much doubt whether the UK would look quite so stable if Mr Farage of Mr Milliband was in charge. The current coalition is doing too bad in the scheme of things and its foolish to believe any party would have done much better over the past 18 months bearing in mind the almost overwhelming problems facing the economy.
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>> I was responding to your original obesrvation "Nappies and Politicians should be changed often -
>> both for the same reason" from which I assumed you would like to ditch the
>> present government sooner rather than later.
If you keep changing nappies, no toilet training takes place. A government needs time to make changes work.
At the end of the day, if you didn't vote for a party to take you our of the EU, then you have now got what you voted for. And don't forget we are not in the Euro, so you can stop moaning about that too.
There - thats that one fixed.
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>>A government needs time to make changes work<<
Like reducing my 88 year old housebound Fil's heating allowance by £100.
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The abolition of the heating allowance supplement was past of a package of spending cuts implemented to reassure investors in this country that the UK could and would pay its debt.
THose cuts had to be made quickly. The decision simply to pay the core heating benefit and not the supplement was an easy choice
To date those measures have worked. The UK maintains a AAA credit rating and can borrow at a lower rate than most countries.
Do those specific cuts in the heating allowance to be re-assessed? Yes. At present we have a ridiculous system whereby we are paying £200 per household to many people who don't need it, myself included, and some like your FIL are desperate for a little more help. I expect the current system will be reviewed by next year.
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@ CG Norwich:- Different labels - same policies!
Last edited by: Roger on Wed 23 Nov 11 at 22:09
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One of my facebook friends has posted the following status:
The eurozone's facebook page has changed its currency status from "single" to "it's complicated"
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In the last ten years, we have lost Johnny Cash, Steve Jobs, Bob Hope and now Jimmy Saville.
So, now we have No Cash, No Jobs, No Hope and no bu&&er to Fix It.
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Tongue in Cheek Natch!
Instead of giving billions of pounds to banks that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan
There are about 10 million people over 50 in the work force.
Pay them £1 million each severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:
1) They MUST retire.
Ten million job openings - unemployment fixed
2) They MUST buy a new British car.
Ten million cars ordered - Car Industry fixed
3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage -
Housing Crisis fixed
4) They MUST send their kids to school/college/university -
Crime rate fixed
5) They MUST buy £100 worth of alcohol/tobacco a week .....
And there's your money back in duty/tax etc
It can't get any easier than that!
Last edited by: Meldrew on Tue 6 Dec 11 at 10:14
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If only things were that simple :).
I have a simpler solution, take over Australia and dump all our offenders in prison there, that will save a fortune.
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>> If only things were that simple :).
>>
>> I have a simpler solution, take over Australia and dump all our offenders in prison
>> there, that will save a fortune.
>>
>>
>>
There is a simple solution.
Tax each blogger £1 per post..And 50p per reply.
All tweets to be charged 10p each..
All Facebook entries £1.
Annual revenue £250 billion.. Country solvent.
And as a by product - only sensible blog replies, far fewer tweets and no rioters organising over twitter..
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>>I have a simpler solution, take over Australia and dump all our offenders in prison there, that will save a fortune<<
D'ya know - I was thinking exactly the same thing a week or two ago (seriously!)
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Yes but the rest of the World will continue to dump their wasters and religious fanatics on us and that costs us the same fortune!
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>> I have a simpler solution, take over Australia and dump all our offenders in prison
>> there, that will save a fortune.
>>
A suspect always returns to the scene of the crime, that's why there are so many Aussies working in bars in London. - Milton Jones, Mock the Week.
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THE EURO: Own Up - Clk Sec
