| OT : Autumn Statement 15:48 - Dec 5 with 802 views | basilrobbiereborn |
I heard some of a very interesting programme on Radio 4 the other day in which some academic was talking about the "implied notion of the centre" breaking down.
In essence what he was saying was that the public spending reductions needed in the next Parliament would be so severe that we would have to throw out our conventional views on what the size, nature and role of the state sector should be in order to reconfigure what both national and local taxation could reasonably deliver.
I suppose this is a wordy way of saying we'll get far less than we get now, but it made me wonder how well equipped our politicians are philosophically to change the parameters of their thinking. The evidence of local government, and its collective reaction to the duty of best value suggest there is a real paucity of original thought out there. Add in political dogma (e.g. Labour have always been a tax and spend party and know little else) and you suspect that we may have a real problem in the medium term.
All of this, without even building in the problems of rising demand for services and the steady rise in public expectation of their "entitlement". Interesting, and worrying times.
[Post edited 5 Dec 2014 15:49]
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| OT : Autumn Statement on 16:13 - Dec 5 with 780 views | OdinsRaven |
Kill em all and let God sort it out... | | | |
| OT : Autumn Statement on 19:34 - Dec 5 with 743 views | Wizaard |
With the boom in zero hours contracts leading to reduced tax revenues, allied to the wilful disregard of big business tax evasion, we're heading for a real shitstorm after May if the current path continues. | | | |
| OT : Autumn Statement on 21:15 - Dec 5 with 721 views | Southshorepool |
Tax and spend instead of gifting tax breaks to the rich so they can afford to spend. I know which shower I prefer. | |
| Mainstream music is sh!t! |
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| OT : Autumn Statement on 21:29 - Dec 5 with 717 views | HarryHorse |
If the election goes the way I think it will I suspect we are going to see a steadily more right wing Conservative party as their term progresses than we've seem for some time . I really fear for the public sector and the NHS in particular . | | | |
| OT : Autumn Statement on 23:10 - Dec 5 with 690 views | Rusty2Stands |
Those of us who have worked in the public sector, you included Robbie, all knew that there was waste which needed to be cut.
However, the scale of the cuts up to now will I fear be nothing compared to the ones which are coming.
I honestly believe that within 5 years the state sector will bear no resemblance to what it does even today.
I suspect the majority of the public haven't been or don't believe they have been affected by the cuts up to now. That's about to change. There is going to be monumental changes and people are going to have to accept that the many of the public services they rely on just aren't going to be there.
That convenient Library round the corner you're so used to isn't going to be there.
The fortnightly bin collections will be monthly at best.
There will be very few operational police stations and even less police on the street
The planning application for your kitchen extension which now takes 8 weeks to decide will take 6 months.
School classrooms will once again have buckets in them collecting water from the roof leaks.
It will start to bite.
If you think the potholes are bad now, you've seen nothing. | | | |
| OT : Autumn Statement on 23:25 - Dec 5 with 684 views | fleetwoodbry |
"Gifting tax breaks to the rich so they can afford to spend", what tosh the bloody rich can afford to spend plenty without the tax cuts they're getting from this lot. Its also time to hit tax avoidance so hard that its just not worth doing, but dont expect THIS lot to step up to the plate!! | | | |
| OT : Autumn Statement on 11:27 - Dec 6 with 619 views | Tang67 |
Agree as somebody who works in the NHS I can assure you in my Dept there is no slack and people are being squeezed
Expectations are very high but I do believe targets come before patients and there are still s lot of managers who spend time at endless meetings about how to squeeze more out of the front line - this needs addressing as every reform or change in direction just fuels this profligacy
I think it is time tax evasion is stigmatised the way welfare fraud is | |
| Poster formerly known as bisphamtang |
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| OT : Autumn Statement on 12:45 - Dec 6 with 606 views | HarryHorse |
I actually think they will start to dismantle the NHS Tang,by stealth at irst but under the guise of cost cutting | | | |
| OT : Autumn Statement on 14:19 - Dec 6 with 583 views | fleetwoodbry |
HH In my opinion they've started already, there's a large number of services in the NHS that have been put out to tender, cleaning, catering and the Ambulance service to name just 3, and they wont be happy until the whole lot goes. We currently have large swathes of the ambulance service run by Arriva the bus company, and boy can you tell!! They've had thousands of complaints about how they operate from patients since they got the contracts and I'd be amazed if they were allowed to take up the contract when it comes up for renewal in 2016 | | | |
| OT : Autumn Statement on 14:53 - Dec 6 with 575 views | HarryHorse |
That doesn't surprise me Bry , knew about the cleaning and catering but not the ambulances . I'm afraid I'm unreconstructed when it comes to cleaning , contracting out does not make for cleaner wards in my view . Efficiency is one thing but cheaper does not mean most efficient . I expect more stories like the one about it being safer to give birth at home as there is less risk of infection etc . That will probably get spun to push for more privatisation | | | |
| OT : Autumn Statement on 16:02 - Dec 6 with 565 views | fleetwoodbry |
Exactly HH, make it look worse then use it as an excuse to privatise, disgraceful imho. It's common sense surely that if you put sevices out to tender that the cheapest option is more than likely the worst option!! Yet when trying to justify top salaries for managers they trot out the old chestnut, if you want the best you have to pay the best money. Well imho THAT applies to the nursing, ckeaning and catering staff as well, if you want the best you have to at least pay a living wage for gods sake!! I could tell you things about the running of the ambulance service that would make you cringe mate but obviously I have to be careful. Suffice to say there's a certain taxi firm in Preston that makes a fortune out of its "contract" with the nhs, and that surely can't be right!! | | | |
| OT : Autumn Statement on 22:31 - Dec 8 with 438 views | 1966_and_all_that |
It really, really upsets me how far, since the end of WW2, the British public have allowed themselves to be duped, conned and lead by the nose by the treacherous, self-serving right-wing media in this country. The condescending aphorism, "give them a credit card and they're all middle class", is actually a truism that underpins the selfish, libertarian commercialism upon which so much of everyone's day-to-day existence is based: even people with extremely little in the way of capital wealth behind them see a need to prostitute themselves to the God of commercialism during the annual December shopping festival. In celebration of what? The birth of Jesus Christ or a debasing needs to show your kids that you can be a good parent too? Overwhelming wealth and power lie in the hands of big business and its lickspittle, brown-nosing political expression, the Tory party. The only chance there is for the people of this country to breathe life back into its honourable public consciousness is to reject the salivating private greed of the Tories, reject the small nation racist rhetoric of Farage, and look to Labour and the Green Party for any sense of community and social conscience. Yes it's easy (and lazy) to say that labour are all tax and spend. But without the provision of public service through a well-intentioned and well-managed fiscal policy, we aint got a hope. We will be back in the hands of private landlords, private insurers, private health provision, private schools and private law enforcement. Do you fancy buying your kids education from G4S or, perhaps, checking over the private GP tariffs on offer from Smith Klein Beecham (got 2 kids? buy one all-inclusive 2 year health deal, get you second kid at half price!). | | | |
| OT : Autumn Statement on 23:15 - Dec 8 with 424 views | fleetwoodbry |
Splendid post 1966, well said that man  | | | |
| OT : Autumn Statement on 20:37 - Dec 11 with 378 views | Tang67 |
Some excellent posts and glad to see people including me are beginning to realise the relentless propaganda pumped out by the right wing press
Cannot stand the divide and rule tactics employed by the mail and sun
66 good stuff fella | |
| Poster formerly known as bisphamtang |
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| OT : Autumn Statement on 20:45 - Dec 11 with 376 views | tangerinemoss |
1966, just seen your post, very well put, we need to keep challenging the status quo, or our children and grandchildren will look back at us and ask why we allowed universal healthcare to be sacrificed on the altar of right wing self interest. Stephen Dorrel, working for a Health Company but still an MP till next May | |
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