The a and e that I have the misfortune to have to visit normally when one of the kids has a cut or it looks like a busted bone are always full of non English speaking people, who delay the process by having to get people to translate the info, do you think that would make a difference to the 4 hrs rule
Again I make no apology for raising the issue of the knock on impact of this governments austerity policies on local authorities and people need to know that it means more than just a few less books in the libraries (if there's any still open in your area).
Well, sure, shed loads of public sector jobs have gone away. But then the million jobs alluded to by The Mirror equate, almost exactlty to the EXTRA 1mn public sector jobs created by the last Labour administration.
So, in large part, while local government might squeal, in round terms they are only being put back in their box and back to where they should be. Now, of course, it is true to say that central Government's control over how much extra money local authorities can raise from hard-pressed council tax payers is adding extra pressure. Some of the more astute councils are finding ways of dealing with this. If yours isn't, I'd vote off your local councillors if I were you. Personally, yes, I do still have libraries. (I can even pre-order books on-line using ELAN - Essex Libraries Automated Network.) But I don't have street lights between the hours of 1:00 am and 5:00 am except on major thoroughfares. Otherwise I've not noticed a diminution of services. If anything there may have been an improvement but I'm still not sure I get value for money. While the left love to scream about "cuts" as if the discipline of good budgetary management is in some way a bad thing, I'm not sure that stuff like making the plod work for a full career before getting their gold-plated pension and swanning off to a rewarding job in the private sector (or back to their old job but as a civilian as many did for double the bubble), is actually a bad thing. Then there's stuff like teaching assistants - what the hell are they for? Being a parent is just too much trouble for some people these days I guess?
Oh right, so my opinion is nothing to do with witnessing first hand the results of the "efficiencies" enforced on local authorities over the last five year then? Or the many years I worked in the pubic sector under the previous Tory government…
It's because I'm too thick to evaluate properly the content of articles in left leaning newspapers (that I've never read) or understand the frequent messages relating the (dire) budget situation that the Chief Exec of my employer or the LGA puts out? Maybe I'm being naive and those desks that no longer have anybody sitting at them but did a few years ago are there because the public didn't need anyone to do that job in the first place? Maybe I'll just explain 'squeal' to the next person that turns up expecting the same level of service they got 7/8 years ago that we've all been "put back in our box" so go away please?
I'm glad you haven't had need of your local authorities services and found them missing, many people who do though are in a pretty bad place tbf. But I'm pretty sure if I had walked into your office when you were working and took 60, 70, 80% of the staff out (and THAT is what I am personally aware of in some cases but EVERY service will have been effected) then your clients would have noticed a difference in the service provided, no matter how much wastage you believe was in the system.
Okay. lots of things to think about there. So my first thought was: are you local council making the right cuts in the right places? For example are your street lights still on at night?
Let's look at Dorset Police versus Essex Police. I've chosen Dorset because if memory serves, they cover Bournemouth (?) and Essex because it's my own local Constabulary.
The Force itself provides these helpful figures for the 12 months to March 2013 comparing Dorset Police with the rest of England and Wales:
Emergency and priority calls per 1,000 population Dorset 114 England & Wales 134 Victim-based crime per 1,000 population Dorset 49 England & Wales 54.5 Prosecutions (charges) per 1,000 population Dorset 7.0 England & Wales 10.2
It tells us that, as you'd expect, the good folk of Dorset are fine upstanding law-abiding citizens doesn't it? And that, as a consequence there will be less policing to do.
Now it seems that Dorset police have around 2130 officers (plus other staff of course) for a population of 710,000. That's a reduction from 2730 officers when the coalition came in. So that's now one officer per 333 members of the public. Whereas in Essex we have 3,311 officers for around 1,600,000 people. That's one officer per 483 people. Why have you guys got an extra half a policeman to share between every thousand of you when the figures indicate pretty low crime levels? You are nearly running at the same levels as the PSNI per 1,000 population which is ridiculous as they have to deal with crime on an industrial scale and the on-going para-military issues!
Anyway, in the year up to March 2014 Essex dealt with 100,144 crimes. That's 30 crimes per officer. Dorset's total was 40,163; that's just 19 per officer.
During that period Essex crime rates reduced by just 1% (possible because the street lights aren't on!) whereas Dorset's was down 4.7%. Essex too have lost officers but interestingly their detection rates have increased slightly to 29%. Whereas Dorset's is at (a very poor in comparison) 23.5%.
In summary, therefore, your police has one and half times the resources of Essex Police but still manages to solve nearly 20% less crime while only having two thirds of the case load.
So, I'd like to suggest that in comparison with the rest of the Country and in particular, that hotbed of crime, Essex, Dorset Police don't look like very good value for money at all and that there is still some headroom for further cuts and plenty of opportunity for increased performance levels and some actual detection. I'd be on to your bosses at the Town Council to tell them they are wasting money that could be better spent elsewhere if I were you. Particularly as the drop in crime in your area tells us that even fewer police should be needed for the future.
Lang Buisson: Spending on outsourced services increased from 4.8 per cent in 2009 to 7 per cent in 2014
So on average 0.44% of services each year. A lot of Labour campaigners claimed in 2010 that by 2015 the NHS would no longer be free at the point of use. Yet at the rate you have quoted it will take until 2226 for the NHS to be fully privatised. If your lie that David Cameron is trying to privatise the NHS had any basis, do you also have the knowledge of how he intends to keep himself alive for more than 200 years in order to finish the job as clearly you're hiding some kind of medical or scientific miracle of longevity.
You've called me a liar. I'm calling you a prick. Shall we call it quits ?
I'm not calling you a liar but you have believe a claim that is based on a lie and are repeating it here. I am telling you now it is a lie, much like the claim that Labour caused the global financial crash is a lie. You can call me a prick but I don't think that helps you in any way.
As for the NHS performing well. I'm not at all sure what measure you are using. Certainly not the same one that noted that A&E in NHS England has not hit its targets for what is it now 27 consecutive weeks.
It has performed well though - between 91.5% and 93.3% in the last six weeks alone. That's pretty efficient if you ask me. Current year to date performance is 92.4%. 100% would be lovely, but surely even you realise you need to be realistic with 'targets'?
The biggest issue to me in the current stats on A&E attendance is the significant increase in numbers attending A&E - up an average 30,000 a week from just five years ago. Those increases are frightening.
One of the first acts of the coalition was to lower the existing target from 98% under Labour. The cynic in me might suggest that goalposts were moved because they anticipated their programme of walk in centre closures, etc might have an effect on waiting times.
And what are the targets in the current Labour Party manifesto?
My whole point is that 30,000 more people a week are visiting A&E. And certainly in the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS, this significant increase in visitors to A&E is made up almost exclusively of migrants - the vast majority from the EU.
This is direct from a ward and A&E nurse who has been working at Maidstone Hospital for six years.
If only we had a poster whose partner was a senior nurse in another local NHS trust who could confirm if it is different there.
But I wonder how many of those are going to A&E because of closures to walk in centres or not being able to access a GP?
Back come the suggestions.
I could 'phone my GP surgery now and make an appointment for tomorrow - and probably be given 3/4 time slots. I have been with this surgery for seven years and have never, not once, had difficulty in getting an appointment.
But then I'm registered there.
So three attempts at trying to find why A&Es are averaging 30k a week more people attending over the past five years. And no one is prepared to accept the real reason.
Had a leaflet pushed through the letterbox today on behalf of TUSC, the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition, not the similarly named Fleetwood mac album. I suspect that the Labour party has nicked a few of the TUSC policies, at least TUSC is advocating what would, pre 'New Labour' have been totally reasonable Labour/Socialist policies. Shame that the Aussie led Green Wellies are getting more publicity than this outfit, TUSC policies and rhetoric could well do with more scrutiny and publicity.
The a and e that I have the misfortune to have to visit normally when one of the kids has a cut or it looks like a busted bone are always full of non English speaking people, who delay the process by having to get people to translate the info, do you think that would make a difference to the 4 hrs rule
Again I make no apology for raising the issue of the knock on impact of this governments austerity policies on local authorities and people need to know that it means more than just a few less books in the libraries (if there's any still open in your area).
Well, sure, shed loads of public sector jobs have gone away. But then the million jobs alluded to by The Mirror equate, almost exactlty to the EXTRA 1mn public sector jobs created by the last Labour administration.
So, in large part, while local government might squeal, in round terms they are only being put back in their box and back to where they should be. Now, of course, it is true to say that central Government's control over how much extra money local authorities can raise from hard-pressed council tax payers is adding extra pressure. Some of the more astute councils are finding ways of dealing with this. If yours isn't, I'd vote off your local councillors if I were you. Personally, yes, I do still have libraries. (I can even pre-order books on-line using ELAN - Essex Libraries Automated Network.) But I don't have street lights between the hours of 1:00 am and 5:00 am except on major thoroughfares. Otherwise I've not noticed a diminution of services. If anything there may have been an improvement but I'm still not sure I get value for money. While the left love to scream about "cuts" as if the discipline of good budgetary management is in some way a bad thing, I'm not sure that stuff like making the plod work for a full career before getting their gold-plated pension and swanning off to a rewarding job in the private sector (or back to their old job but as a civilian as many did for double the bubble), is actually a bad thing. Then there's stuff like teaching assistants - what the hell are they for? Being a parent is just too much trouble for some people these days I guess?
Oh right, so my opinion is nothing to do with witnessing first hand the results of the "efficiencies" enforced on local authorities over the last five year then? Or the many years I worked in the pubic sector under the previous Tory government…
It's because I'm too thick to evaluate properly the content of articles in left leaning newspapers (that I've never read) or understand the frequent messages relating the (dire) budget situation that the Chief Exec of my employer or the LGA puts out? Maybe I'm being naive and those desks that no longer have anybody sitting at them but did a few years ago are there because the public didn't need anyone to do that job in the first place? Maybe I'll just explain 'squeal' to the next person that turns up expecting the same level of service they got 7/8 years ago that we've all been "put back in our box" so go away please?
I'm glad you haven't had need of your local authorities services and found them missing, many people who do though are in a pretty bad place tbf. But I'm pretty sure if I had walked into your office when you were working and took 60, 70, 80% of the staff out (and THAT is what I am personally aware of in some cases but EVERY service will have been effected) then your clients would have noticed a difference in the service provided, no matter how much wastage you believe was in the system.
I was doing the equivelant of 3 blokes graft when I worked at Rentokil including 1 day a week spent at the BBC Television Centre and then went in for the odd out of hours call out without even battering an eyelid. Result? I was fast tracked onto getting me BPCA Level 2 and made a senior technician, leepfrogging the whinging sicknotes I was covering for and who subsequently got pumped down the road. This is the song I'd play at full volume when I use embark on me 2 and a half hour drive across London before I even started work....
The a and e that I have the misfortune to have to visit normally when one of the kids has a cut or it looks like a busted bone are always full of non English speaking people, who delay the process by having to get people to translate the info, do you think that would make a difference to the 4 hrs rule
Again I make no apology for raising the issue of the knock on impact of this governments austerity policies on local authorities and people need to know that it means more than just a few less books in the libraries (if there's any still open in your area).
Well, sure, shed loads of public sector jobs have gone away. But then the million jobs alluded to by The Mirror equate, almost exactlty to the EXTRA 1mn public sector jobs created by the last Labour administration.
So, in large part, while local government might squeal, in round terms they are only being put back in their box and back to where they should be. Now, of course, it is true to say that central Government's control over how much extra money local authorities can raise from hard-pressed council tax payers is adding extra pressure. Some of the more astute councils are finding ways of dealing with this. If yours isn't, I'd vote off your local councillors if I were you. Personally, yes, I do still have libraries. (I can even pre-order books on-line using ELAN - Essex Libraries Automated Network.) But I don't have street lights between the hours of 1:00 am and 5:00 am except on major thoroughfares. Otherwise I've not noticed a diminution of services. If anything there may have been an improvement but I'm still not sure I get value for money. While the left love to scream about "cuts" as if the discipline of good budgetary management is in some way a bad thing, I'm not sure that stuff like making the plod work for a full career before getting their gold-plated pension and swanning off to a rewarding job in the private sector (or back to their old job but as a civilian as many did for double the bubble), is actually a bad thing. Then there's stuff like teaching assistants - what the hell are they for? Being a parent is just too much trouble for some people these days I guess?
Oh right, so my opinion is nothing to do with witnessing first hand the results of the "efficiencies" enforced on local authorities over the last five year then? Or the many years I worked in the pubic sector under the previous Tory government…
It's because I'm too thick to evaluate properly the content of articles in left leaning newspapers (that I've never read) or understand the frequent messages relating the (dire) budget situation that the Chief Exec of my employer or the LGA puts out? Maybe I'm being naive and those desks that no longer have anybody sitting at them but did a few years ago are there because the public didn't need anyone to do that job in the first place? Maybe I'll just explain 'squeal' to the next person that turns up expecting the same level of service they got 7/8 years ago that we've all been "put back in our box" so go away please?
I'm glad you haven't had need of your local authorities services and found them missing, many people who do though are in a pretty bad place tbf. But I'm pretty sure if I had walked into your office when you were working and took 60, 70, 80% of the staff out (and THAT is what I am personally aware of in some cases but EVERY service will have been effected) then your clients would have noticed a difference in the service provided, no matter how much wastage you believe was in the system.
I was doing the equivelant of 3 blokes graft when I worked at Rentokil including 1 day a week spent at the BBC Television Centre and then went in for the odd out of hours call out without even battering an eyelid. Result? I was fast tracked onto getting me BPCA Level 2 and made a senior technician, leepfrogging the whinging sicknotes I was covering for and who subsequently got pumped down the road. This is the song I'd play at full volume when I use embark on me 2 and a half hour drive across London before I even started work....
The a and e that I have the misfortune to have to visit normally when one of the kids has a cut or it looks like a busted bone are always full of non English speaking people, who delay the process by having to get people to translate the info, do you think that would make a difference to the 4 hrs rule
Again I make no apology for raising the issue of the knock on impact of this governments austerity policies on local authorities and people need to know that it means more than just a few less books in the libraries (if there's any still open in your area).
Well, sure, shed loads of public sector jobs have gone away. But then the million jobs alluded to by The Mirror equate, almost exactlty to the EXTRA 1mn public sector jobs created by the last Labour administration.
So, in large part, while local government might squeal, in round terms they are only being put back in their box and back to where they should be. Now, of course, it is true to say that central Government's control over how much extra money local authorities can raise from hard-pressed council tax payers is adding extra pressure. Some of the more astute councils are finding ways of dealing with this. If yours isn't, I'd vote off your local councillors if I were you. Personally, yes, I do still have libraries. (I can even pre-order books on-line using ELAN - Essex Libraries Automated Network.) But I don't have street lights between the hours of 1:00 am and 5:00 am except on major thoroughfares. Otherwise I've not noticed a diminution of services. If anything there may have been an improvement but I'm still not sure I get value for money. While the left love to scream about "cuts" as if the discipline of good budgetary management is in some way a bad thing, I'm not sure that stuff like making the plod work for a full career before getting their gold-plated pension and swanning off to a rewarding job in the private sector (or back to their old job but as a civilian as many did for double the bubble), is actually a bad thing. Then there's stuff like teaching assistants - what the hell are they for? Being a parent is just too much trouble for some people these days I guess?
Oh right, so my opinion is nothing to do with witnessing first hand the results of the "efficiencies" enforced on local authorities over the last five year then? Or the many years I worked in the pubic sector under the previous Tory government…
It's because I'm too thick to evaluate properly the content of articles in left leaning newspapers (that I've never read) or understand the frequent messages relating the (dire) budget situation that the Chief Exec of my employer or the LGA puts out? Maybe I'm being naive and those desks that no longer have anybody sitting at them but did a few years ago are there because the public didn't need anyone to do that job in the first place? Maybe I'll just explain 'squeal' to the next person that turns up expecting the same level of service they got 7/8 years ago that we've all been "put back in our box" so go away please?
I'm glad you haven't had need of your local authorities services and found them missing, many people who do though are in a pretty bad place tbf. But I'm pretty sure if I had walked into your office when you were working and took 60, 70, 80% of the staff out (and THAT is what I am personally aware of in some cases but EVERY service will have been effected) then your clients would have noticed a difference in the service provided, no matter how much wastage you believe was in the system.
I was doing the equivelant of 3 blokes graft when I worked at Rentokil including 1 day a week spent at the BBC Television Centre and then went in for the odd out of hours call out without even battering an eyelid. Result? I was fast tracked onto getting me BPCA Level 2 and made a senior technician, leepfrogging the whinging sicknotes I was covering for and who subsequently got pumped down the road. This is the song I'd play at full volume when I use embark on me 2 and a half hour drive across London before I even started work....
classic up and at 'em from ex Ford @ Dagenham production worker Billy O .. he made it big through graft and talent .. also, what a pleasure to see the delicious Kathleen Turner gettin' on downnnnnn ((:>)
The a and e that I have the misfortune to have to visit normally when one of the kids has a cut or it looks like a busted bone are always full of non English speaking people, who delay the process by having to get people to translate the info, do you think that would make a difference to the 4 hrs rule
Again I make no apology for raising the issue of the knock on impact of this governments austerity policies on local authorities and people need to know that it means more than just a few less books in the libraries (if there's any still open in your area).
Well, sure, shed loads of public sector jobs have gone away. But then the million jobs alluded to by The Mirror equate, almost exactlty to the EXTRA 1mn public sector jobs created by the last Labour administration.
So, in large part, while local government might squeal, in round terms they are only being put back in their box and back to where they should be. Now, of course, it is true to say that central Government's control over how much extra money local authorities can raise from hard-pressed council tax payers is adding extra pressure. Some of the more astute councils are finding ways of dealing with this. If yours isn't, I'd vote off your local councillors if I were you. Personally, yes, I do still have libraries. (I can even pre-order books on-line using ELAN - Essex Libraries Automated Network.) But I don't have street lights between the hours of 1:00 am and 5:00 am except on major thoroughfares. Otherwise I've not noticed a diminution of services. If anything there may have been an improvement but I'm still not sure I get value for money. While the left love to scream about "cuts" as if the discipline of good budgetary management is in some way a bad thing, I'm not sure that stuff like making the plod work for a full career before getting their gold-plated pension and swanning off to a rewarding job in the private sector (or back to their old job but as a civilian as many did for double the bubble), is actually a bad thing. Then there's stuff like teaching assistants - what the hell are they for? Being a parent is just too much trouble for some people these days I guess?
Oh right, so my opinion is nothing to do with witnessing first hand the results of the "efficiencies" enforced on local authorities over the last five year then? Or the many years I worked in the pubic sector under the previous Tory government…
It's because I'm too thick to evaluate properly the content of articles in left leaning newspapers (that I've never read) or understand the frequent messages relating the (dire) budget situation that the Chief Exec of my employer or the LGA puts out? Maybe I'm being naive and those desks that no longer have anybody sitting at them but did a few years ago are there because the public didn't need anyone to do that job in the first place? Maybe I'll just explain 'squeal' to the next person that turns up expecting the same level of service they got 7/8 years ago that we've all been "put back in our box" so go away please?
I'm glad you haven't had need of your local authorities services and found them missing, many people who do though are in a pretty bad place tbf. But I'm pretty sure if I had walked into your office when you were working and took 60, 70, 80% of the staff out (and THAT is what I am personally aware of in some cases but EVERY service will have been effected) then your clients would have noticed a difference in the service provided, no matter how much wastage you believe was in the system.
I was doing the equivelant of 3 blokes graft when I worked at Rentokil including 1 day a week spent at the BBC Television Centre and then went in for the odd out of hours call out without even battering an eyelid. Result? I was fast tracked onto getting me BPCA Level 2 and made a senior technician, leepfrogging the whinging sicknotes I was covering for and who subsequently got pumped down the road. This is the song I'd play at full volume when I use embark on me 2 and a half hour drive across London before I even started work....
I will for the first time in my life be voting labour.
As a parent of kids with special needs I have seen over the last few years most of the services that my kids use and need having the funding ripped out from under them, a lot of the grants and support they got from the labour government were considered unnecessary by our coalition. The other issue is the nhs, with my MIL currently about to die from cancer we have seen the failings of the nhs, not really the fault of the doctors and nursing staff but the fact the hospitals are over stretched and over worked she had to wait months between scans and appointments and chemo etc, this could have been the difference between life and death. I've seen more and more schools pushed into academies and good schools are losing their identities, teachers losing a lot of their benefits and schools performances going backwards. I have serious issues with social services and their inability to help in certain situations because their budget is too limited and they have to focus on some problems over others. I've seen my MIL struggling for years with a disability in an over priced private rented house because she was unable to get a council flat suitable because of the bedroom tax everyone decided to downsize at once. I've also seen hard working proud fathers in tears after having to use a food bank as their wages don't stretch quite far enough.
I don't think immigration and the EU are should be highest on the priorities given the state of everything else.
I have seen this too with my mother in law dying in hospital after a fall due to lack of care a couple of years ago. I spent a night in that hospital after her fall and promised myself I would never vote conservative. What I saw, nobody should see. I am somebody who would probably be a little worse off under Labour. I can take that if I live in a better country that cares that there are hundreds more foodbanks and the vicious further cuts to social payments without any detail, telling all who have ears to listen. These are cuts to the things that make a difference to disabled and poor working people. The Tories do not care about them and people who vote for them dont either. I worked hard for this and that blah, blah , blah. Lots of people work hard but some are not selfish greedy ********. Shamefully, some people put a few quid in their pockets (and that is all it would be for all but the ridiculously wealthy, who will still be ridiculously wealthy under Labour) above a country that cares about its people. Labour will cut the deficit. They have promised to do so. They will just ensure the burdens of doing so are met more fairly. And sensibly they have given themselves a little more time to do so.
I will for the first time in my life be voting labour.
As a parent of kids with special needs I have seen over the last few years most of the services that my kids use and need having the funding ripped out from under them, a lot of the grants and support they got from the labour government were considered unnecessary by our coalition. The other issue is the nhs, with my MIL currently about to die from cancer we have seen the failings of the nhs, not really the fault of the doctors and nursing staff but the fact the hospitals are over stretched and over worked she had to wait months between scans and appointments and chemo etc, this could have been the difference between life and death. I've seen more and more schools pushed into academies and good schools are losing their identities, teachers losing a lot of their benefits and schools performances going backwards. I have serious issues with social services and their inability to help in certain situations because their budget is too limited and they have to focus on some problems over others. I've seen my MIL struggling for years with a disability in an over priced private rented house because she was unable to get a council flat suitable because of the bedroom tax everyone decided to downsize at once. I've also seen hard working proud fathers in tears after having to use a food bank as their wages don't stretch quite far enough.
I don't think immigration and the EU are should be highest on the priorities given the state of everything else.
I have seen this too with my mother in law dying in hospital after a fall due to lack of care a couple of years ago. I spent a night in that hospital after her fall and promised myself I would never vote conservative. What I saw, nobody should see. I am somebody who would probably be a little worse off under Labour. I can take that if I live in a better country that cares that there are hundreds more foodbanks and the vicious further cuts to social payments without any detail, telling all who have ears to listen. These are cuts to the things that make a difference to disabled and poor working people. The Tories do not care about them and people who vote for them dont either. I worked hard for this and that blah, blah , blah. Lots of people work hard but some are not selfish greedy ********. Shamefully, some people put a few quid in their pockets (and that is all it would be for all but the ridiculously wealthy, who will still be ridiculously wealthy under Labour) above a country that cares about its people. Labour will cut the deficit. They have promised to do so. They will just ensure the burdens of doing so are met more fairly. And sensibly they have given themselves a little more time to do so.
so did the tories at the last election... it's only been halved. How can we believe labour who borrowed and spent far beyond our means?
I will for the first time in my life be voting labour.
As a parent of kids with special needs I have seen over the last few years most of the services that my kids use and need having the funding ripped out from under them, a lot of the grants and support they got from the labour government were considered unnecessary by our coalition. The other issue is the nhs, with my MIL currently about to die from cancer we have seen the failings of the nhs, not really the fault of the doctors and nursing staff but the fact the hospitals are over stretched and over worked she had to wait months between scans and appointments and chemo etc, this could have been the difference between life and death. I've seen more and more schools pushed into academies and good schools are losing their identities, teachers losing a lot of their benefits and schools performances going backwards. I have serious issues with social services and their inability to help in certain situations because their budget is too limited and they have to focus on some problems over others. I've seen my MIL struggling for years with a disability in an over priced private rented house because she was unable to get a council flat suitable because of the bedroom tax everyone decided to downsize at once. I've also seen hard working proud fathers in tears after having to use a food bank as their wages don't stretch quite far enough.
I don't think immigration and the EU are should be highest on the priorities given the state of everything else.
I have seen this too with my mother in law dying in hospital after a fall due to lack of care a couple of years ago. I spent a night in that hospital after her fall and promised myself I would never vote conservative. What I saw, nobody should see. I am somebody who would probably be a little worse off under Labour. I can take that if I live in a better country that cares that there are hundreds more foodbanks and the vicious further cuts to social payments without any detail, telling all who have ears to listen. These are cuts to the things that make a difference to disabled and poor working people. The Tories do not care about them and people who vote for them dont either. I worked hard for this and that blah, blah , blah. Lots of people work hard but some are not selfish greedy ********. Shamefully, some people put a few quid in their pockets (and that is all it would be for all but the ridiculously wealthy, who will still be ridiculously wealthy under Labour) above a country that cares about its people. Labour will cut the deficit. They have promised to do so. They will just ensure the burdens of doing so are met more fairly. And sensibly they have given themselves a little more time to do so.
so did the tories at the last election... it's only been halved. How can we believe labour who borrowed and spent far beyond our means?
Yes it has been halved but at what cost? Standards of living is at an all time low, the deficit does need to be cut but does it have to be so quickly? A bit slower as to not hit our frontline services so hard and to make those poorest in society even poorer, a mother shouldn't have to starve herself for days just so her kids can eat, hard working people shouldn't have to go to charities to feed their families, people with cancer shouldn't have to wait 8 weeks to see an oncologist, kids with special needs shouldn't have to go without their much needed facilities and businesses shouldn't be shutting down along every high street up and down the country.
The problem is Sadie a lot of the reasons it needs to happen is because under the last labour government, the scrounging scumbags with no intention of getting of their arse to support them selves found it very easy to abuse the system that was there to support the needs of those at their lowest ebb,they also allowed council and government officials to create numerous jobs and idea groups to do the work that those already in that position could and should have done by either working as hard as required to do a role and not hide behind nonsense beurocracy as to why they couldn't, like it or not and I don't know who is to blame for it but under that government at the time thousands of people come to this country and use it and it's services without having already contributed to it, Gordon Brown even tried to hide their intention of letting more in and gaining their vote to ensure his survival by calling anyone who said anything about it a racist and a bigot, we can't now moan that those who abused it are now not living such a happy existence, things ain't great things could be better but in my opinion they are better now than before
so did the tories at the last election... it's only been halved. How can we believe labour who borrowed and spent far beyond our means?
Well, hopefully they won't have to provide a massive bailout for the banks again, which was what caused the 2008 crisis in the first place. That said, apart from the Lloyds TSB split, things have gone very quiet on the whole banking reform thing lately, so I'm not sure if they are still "too big to fail" now
I will for the first time in my life be voting labour.
As a parent of kids with special needs I have seen over the last few years most of the services that my kids use and need having the funding ripped out from under them, a lot of the grants and support they got from the labour government were considered unnecessary by our coalition. The other issue is the nhs, with my MIL currently about to die from cancer we have seen the failings of the nhs, not really the fault of the doctors and nursing staff but the fact the hospitals are over stretched and over worked she had to wait months between scans and appointments and chemo etc, this could have been the difference between life and death. I've seen more and more schools pushed into academies and good schools are losing their identities, teachers losing a lot of their benefits and schools performances going backwards. I have serious issues with social services and their inability to help in certain situations because their budget is too limited and they have to focus on some problems over others. I've seen my MIL struggling for years with a disability in an over priced private rented house because she was unable to get a council flat suitable because of the bedroom tax everyone decided to downsize at once. I've also seen hard working proud fathers in tears after having to use a food bank as their wages don't stretch quite far enough.
I don't think immigration and the EU are should be highest on the priorities given the state of everything else.
I have seen this too with my mother in law dying in hospital after a fall due to lack of care a couple of years ago. I spent a night in that hospital after her fall and promised myself I would never vote conservative. What I saw, nobody should see. I am somebody who would probably be a little worse off under Labour. I can take that if I live in a better country that cares that there are hundreds more foodbanks and the vicious further cuts to social payments without any detail, telling all who have ears to listen. These are cuts to the things that make a difference to disabled and poor working people. The Tories do not care about them and people who vote for them dont either. I worked hard for this and that blah, blah , blah. Lots of people work hard but some are not selfish greedy ********. Shamefully, some people put a few quid in their pockets (and that is all it would be for all but the ridiculously wealthy, who will still be ridiculously wealthy under Labour) above a country that cares about its people. Labour will cut the deficit. They have promised to do so. They will just ensure the burdens of doing so are met more fairly. And sensibly they have given themselves a little more time to do so.
so did the tories at the last election... it's only been halved. How can we believe labour who borrowed and spent far beyond our means?
Yes it has been halved but at what cost? Standards of living is at an all time low, the deficit does need to be cut but does it have to be so quickly? A bit slower as to not hit our frontline services so hard and to make those poorest in society even poorer, a mother shouldn't have to starve herself for days just so her kids can eat, hard working people shouldn't have to go to charities to feed their families, people with cancer shouldn't have to wait 8 weeks to see an oncologist, kids with special needs shouldn't have to go without their much needed facilities and businesses shouldn't be shutting down along every high street up and down the country.
Careful there Sadie.
According to people like the ever charming @cafcfan perhaps you should have thought about all this before being the sort of "feckless idiot" in who has "children with nary a thought to their well-being" - how dare you expect any assistance from the state now?
Still, as long as he and his beloved public school chums are doing OK then not much else really seems to matter.
The a and e that I have the misfortune to have to visit normally when one of the kids has a cut or it looks like a busted bone are always full of non English speaking people, who delay the process by having to get people to translate the info, do you think that would make a difference to the 4 hrs rule
Again I make no apology for raising the issue of the knock on impact of this governments austerity policies on local authorities and people need to know that it means more than just a few less books in the libraries (if there's any still open in your area).
Well, sure, shed loads of public sector jobs have gone away. But then the million jobs alluded to by The Mirror equate, almost exactlty to the EXTRA 1mn public sector jobs created by the last Labour administration.
So, in large part, while local government might squeal, in round terms they are only being put back in their box and back to where they should be. Now, of course, it is true to say that central Government's control over how much extra money local authorities can raise from hard-pressed council tax payers is adding extra pressure. Some of the more astute councils are finding ways of dealing with this. If yours isn't, I'd vote off your local councillors if I were you. Personally, yes, I do still have libraries. (I can even pre-order books on-line using ELAN - Essex Libraries Automated Network.) But I don't have street lights between the hours of 1:00 am and 5:00 am except on major thoroughfares. Otherwise I've not noticed a diminution of services. If anything there may have been an improvement but I'm still not sure I get value for money. While the left love to scream about "cuts" as if the discipline of good budgetary management is in some way a bad thing, I'm not sure that stuff like making the plod work for a full career before getting their gold-plated pension and swanning off to a rewarding job in the private sector (or back to their old job but as a civilian as many did for double the bubble), is actually a bad thing. Then there's stuff like teaching assistants - what the hell are they for? Being a parent is just too much trouble for some people these days I guess?
Eton - you know, the place where those clever, privileged kids go - the ones you'd like to see running the country in perpetuity
For the sake of clarity, I just want the country's most talented individuals running the country. That precludes numskulls of any persuasion. In fact my personal preference is likely to lead me away from Etonites (is that a word?) because it's an all boys school, and I think women tend to make better politicians than men.
Also for clarity, one third of the pupils at Eton are there on a bursary, not because their parents are rich - so why are you so keen on tarring them with the same brush as the wealthy you so obviously hate and despise? Do you really think it's the rich who are at fault because some feckless idiots in Lewisham have children with nary a thought to their well-being?
You must be ever so proud of yourself being such a staunch warrior for the elites, wow, there will be a statue of you in the Cap Doffers Hall of Fame any time now.
For what its worth I suppose I'd be considered middle class and rich by most peoples standards, and my children go to private school, but having been brought up on a council estate I don't look down my nose at the less fortunate and I certainly don't sneer at them the way you seem to take great pleasure in doing.
Are ordinary people in Lewisham or other working class boroughs really "feckless idiots" for having children? Do they really have "nary a thought for their well being" just because those children go to a state school that employs teaching assistants?
Shocking way to talk about ordinary working people, but says a lot about how you see the world.
I will for the first time in my life be voting labour.
As a parent of kids with special needs I have seen over the last few years most of the services that my kids use and need having the funding ripped out from under them, a lot of the grants and support they got from the labour government were considered unnecessary by our coalition. The other issue is the nhs, with my MIL currently about to die from cancer we have seen the failings of the nhs, not really the fault of the doctors and nursing staff but the fact the hospitals are over stretched and over worked she had to wait months between scans and appointments and chemo etc, this could have been the difference between life and death. I've seen more and more schools pushed into academies and good schools are losing their identities, teachers losing a lot of their benefits and schools performances going backwards. I have serious issues with social services and their inability to help in certain situations because their budget is too limited and they have to focus on some problems over others. I've seen my MIL struggling for years with a disability in an over priced private rented house because she was unable to get a council flat suitable because of the bedroom tax everyone decided to downsize at once. I've also seen hard working proud fathers in tears after having to use a food bank as their wages don't stretch quite far enough.
I don't think immigration and the EU are should be highest on the priorities given the state of everything else.
I have seen this too with my mother in law dying in hospital after a fall due to lack of care a couple of years ago. I spent a night in that hospital after her fall and promised myself I would never vote conservative. What I saw, nobody should see. I am somebody who would probably be a little worse off under Labour. I can take that if I live in a better country that cares that there are hundreds more foodbanks and the vicious further cuts to social payments without any detail, telling all who have ears to listen. These are cuts to the things that make a difference to disabled and poor working people. The Tories do not care about them and people who vote for them dont either. I worked hard for this and that blah, blah , blah. Lots of people work hard but some are not selfish greedy ********. Shamefully, some people put a few quid in their pockets (and that is all it would be for all but the ridiculously wealthy, who will still be ridiculously wealthy under Labour) above a country that cares about its people. Labour will cut the deficit. They have promised to do so. They will just ensure the burdens of doing so are met more fairly. And sensibly they have given themselves a little more time to do so.
so did the tories at the last election... it's only been halved. How can we believe labour who borrowed and spent far beyond our means?
Yes it has been halved but at what cost? Standards of living is at an all time low, the deficit does need to be cut but does it have to be so quickly? A bit slower as to not hit our frontline services so hard and to make those poorest in society even poorer, a mother shouldn't have to starve herself for days just so her kids can eat, hard working people shouldn't have to go to charities to feed their families, people with cancer shouldn't have to wait 8 weeks to see an oncologist, kids with special needs shouldn't have to go without their much needed facilities and businesses shouldn't be shutting down along every high street up and down the country.
Careful there Sadie.
According to people like the ever charming @cafcfan perhaps you should have thought about all this before being the sort of "feckless idiot" in who has "children with nary a thought to their well-being" - how dare you expect any assistance from the state now?
Still, as long as he and his beloved public school chums are doing OK then not much else really seems to matter.
Come on, let's quit on this stuff chaps.
Everyone contributing on this should be above this sort of stuff. Let's not spoil it please, if everyone starts digging like this then any decent contribution to the thread ends, and this has by the main been running fantastically well for a long time. Let's try and keep it going right through to the election. If people wind you up enough to post with anger, aggression or to dig, please take a step back (for everyone) ta
I have never understood why the phrase 'decent working class' is bandied around so often - but if somebody said 'decent middle / upper class' it would be classed as snobbery.
I'm not sure the old 'class' classifications apply anymore. It's now pretty much purely about money, so something like:
- Benefit income - Low earned income - Middle earned income - High earned income - Super rich
That's a fairly crude scale and sort-of fits in with the A, B, C1, C2, D, E model.
In my opinion 'decency' is a completely different construct.
I think you are probably right. We use the A, B, C1, C2, D, E in advertising for very broad grouping in audience targeting, and if we ever have to drill down further into income groups then you can do that as well.
The a and e that I have the misfortune to have to visit normally when one of the kids has a cut or it looks like a busted bone are always full of non English speaking people, who delay the process by having to get people to translate the info, do you think that would make a difference to the 4 hrs rule
Again I make no apology for raising the issue of the knock on impact of this governments austerity policies on local authorities and people need to know that it means more than just a few less books in the libraries (if there's any still open in your area).
Well, sure, shed loads of public sector jobs have gone away. But then the million jobs alluded to by The Mirror equate, almost exactlty to the EXTRA 1mn public sector jobs created by the last Labour administration.
So, in large part, while local government might squeal, in round terms they are only being put back in their box and back to where they should be. Now, of course, it is true to say that central Government's control over how much extra money local authorities can raise from hard-pressed council tax payers is adding extra pressure. Some of the more astute councils are finding ways of dealing with this. If yours isn't, I'd vote off your local councillors if I were you. Personally, yes, I do still have libraries. (I can even pre-order books on-line using ELAN - Essex Libraries Automated Network.) But I don't have street lights between the hours of 1:00 am and 5:00 am except on major thoroughfares. Otherwise I've not noticed a diminution of services. If anything there may have been an improvement but I'm still not sure I get value for money. While the left love to scream about "cuts" as if the discipline of good budgetary management is in some way a bad thing, I'm not sure that stuff like making the plod work for a full career before getting their gold-plated pension and swanning off to a rewarding job in the private sector (or back to their old job but as a civilian as many did for double the bubble), is actually a bad thing. Then there's stuff like teaching assistants - what the hell are they for? Being a parent is just too much trouble for some people these days I guess?
Eton - you know, the place where those clever, privileged kids go - the ones you'd like to see running the country in perpetuity
For the sake of clarity, I just want the country's most talented individuals running the country. That precludes numskulls of any persuasion. In fact my personal preference is likely to lead me away from Etonites (is that a word?) because it's an all boys school, and I think women tend to make better politicians than men.
Also for clarity, one third of the pupils at Eton are there on a bursary, not because their parents are rich - so why are you so keen on tarring them with the same brush as the wealthy you so obviously hate and despise? Do you really think it's the rich who are at fault because some feckless idiots in Lewisham have children with nary a thought to their well-being?
You must be ever so proud of yourself being such a staunch warrior for the elites, wow, there will be a statue of you in the Cap Doffers Hall of Fame any time now.
For what its worth I suppose I'd be considered middle class and rich by most peoples standards, and my children go to private school, but having been brought up on a council estate I don't look down my nose at the less fortunate and I certainly don't sneer at them the way you seem to take great pleasure in doing.
Are ordinary people in Lewisham or other working class boroughs really "feckless idiots" for having children? Do they really have "nary a thought for their well being" just because those children go to a state school that employs teaching assistants?
Shocking way to talk about ordinary working people, but says a lot about how you see the world.
You have overstepped the mark and turned this thread into a class war.
I have never understood why the phrase 'decent working class' is bandied around so often - but if somebody said 'decent middle / upper class' it would be classed as snobbery.
I'm not sure the old 'class' classifications apply anymore. It's now pretty much purely about money, so something like:
- Benefit income - Low earned income - Middle earned income - High earned income - Super rich
That's a fairly crude scale and sort-of fits in with the A, B, C1, C2, D, E model.
In my opinion 'decency' is a completely different construct.
I think you are probably right. We use the A, B, C1, C2, D, E in advertising for very broad grouping in audience targeting, and if we ever have to drill down further into income groups then you can do that as well.
The a and e that I have the misfortune to have to visit normally when one of the kids has a cut or it looks like a busted bone are always full of non English speaking people, who delay the process by having to get people to translate the info, do you think that would make a difference to the 4 hrs rule
Again I make no apology for raising the issue of the knock on impact of this governments austerity policies on local authorities and people need to know that it means more than just a few less books in the libraries (if there's any still open in your area).
Well, sure, shed loads of public sector jobs have gone away. But then the million jobs alluded to by The Mirror equate, almost exactlty to the EXTRA 1mn public sector jobs created by the last Labour administration.
So, in large part, while local government might squeal, in round terms they are only being put back in their box and back to where they should be. Now, of course, it is true to say that central Government's control over how much extra money local authorities can raise from hard-pressed council tax payers is adding extra pressure. Some of the more astute councils are finding ways of dealing with this. If yours isn't, I'd vote off your local councillors if I were you. Personally, yes, I do still have libraries. (I can even pre-order books on-line using ELAN - Essex Libraries Automated Network.) But I don't have street lights between the hours of 1:00 am and 5:00 am except on major thoroughfares. Otherwise I've not noticed a diminution of services. If anything there may have been an improvement but I'm still not sure I get value for money. While the left love to scream about "cuts" as if the discipline of good budgetary management is in some way a bad thing, I'm not sure that stuff like making the plod work for a full career before getting their gold-plated pension and swanning off to a rewarding job in the private sector (or back to their old job but as a civilian as many did for double the bubble), is actually a bad thing. Then there's stuff like teaching assistants - what the hell are they for? Being a parent is just too much trouble for some people these days I guess?
Eton - you know, the place where those clever, privileged kids go - the ones you'd like to see running the country in perpetuity
For the sake of clarity, I just want the country's most talented individuals running the country. That precludes numskulls of any persuasion. In fact my personal preference is likely to lead me away from Etonites (is that a word?) because it's an all boys school, and I think women tend to make better politicians than men.
Also for clarity, one third of the pupils at Eton are there on a bursary, not because their parents are rich - so why are you so keen on tarring them with the same brush as the wealthy you so obviously hate and despise? Do you really think it's the rich who are at fault because some feckless idiots in Lewisham have children with nary a thought to their well-being?
You must be ever so proud of yourself being such a staunch warrior for the elites, wow, there will be a statue of you in the Cap Doffers Hall of Fame any time now.
For what its worth I suppose I'd be considered middle class and rich by most peoples standards, and my children go to private school, but having been brought up on a council estate I don't look down my nose at the less fortunate and I certainly don't sneer at them the way you seem to take great pleasure in doing.
Are ordinary people in Lewisham or other working class boroughs really "feckless idiots" for having children? Do they really have "nary a thought for their well being" just because those children go to a state school that employs teaching assistants?
Shocking way to talk about ordinary working people, but says a lot about how you see the world.
You have overstepped the mark and turned this thread into a class war.
Ridiculous.
Really? But calling working class people "feckless" for having children and having "nary a thought for their well being" is just fine and dandy with you?
You're not a moderator so wind your neck in, I could say more but out of respect for AFKA I will leave it there.
I will for the first time in my life be voting labour.
As a parent of kids with special needs I have seen over the last few years most of the services that my kids use and need having the funding ripped out from under them, a lot of the grants and support they got from the labour government were considered unnecessary by our coalition. The other issue is the nhs, with my MIL currently about to die from cancer we have seen the failings of the nhs, not really the fault of the doctors and nursing staff but the fact the hospitals are over stretched and over worked she had to wait months between scans and appointments and chemo etc, this could have been the difference between life and death. I've seen more and more schools pushed into academies and good schools are losing their identities, teachers losing a lot of their benefits and schools performances going backwards. I have serious issues with social services and their inability to help in certain situations because their budget is too limited and they have to focus on some problems over others. I've seen my MIL struggling for years with a disability in an over priced private rented house because she was unable to get a council flat suitable because of the bedroom tax everyone decided to downsize at once. I've also seen hard working proud fathers in tears after having to use a food bank as their wages don't stretch quite far enough.
I don't think immigration and the EU are should be highest on the priorities given the state of everything else.
I have seen this too with my mother in law dying in hospital after a fall due to lack of care a couple of years ago. I spent a night in that hospital after her fall and promised myself I would never vote conservative. What I saw, nobody should see. I am somebody who would probably be a little worse off under Labour. I can take that if I live in a better country that cares that there are hundreds more foodbanks and the vicious further cuts to social payments without any detail, telling all who have ears to listen. These are cuts to the things that make a difference to disabled and poor working people. The Tories do not care about them and people who vote for them dont either. I worked hard for this and that blah, blah , blah. Lots of people work hard but some are not selfish greedy ********. Shamefully, some people put a few quid in their pockets (and that is all it would be for all but the ridiculously wealthy, who will still be ridiculously wealthy under Labour) above a country that cares about its people. Labour will cut the deficit. They have promised to do so. They will just ensure the burdens of doing so are met more fairly. And sensibly they have given themselves a little more time to do so.
so did the tories at the last election... it's only been halved. How can we believe labour who borrowed and spent far beyond our means?
Yes it has been halved but at what cost? Standards of living is at an all time low, the deficit does need to be cut but does it have to be so quickly? A bit slower as to not hit our frontline services so hard and to make those poorest in society even poorer, a mother shouldn't have to starve herself for days just so her kids can eat, hard working people shouldn't have to go to charities to feed their families, people with cancer shouldn't have to wait 8 weeks to see an oncologist, kids with special needs shouldn't have to go without their much needed facilities and businesses shouldn't be shutting down along every high street up and down the country.
Careful there Sadie.
According to people like the ever charming @cafcfan perhaps you should have thought about all this before being the sort of "feckless idiot" in who has "children with nary a thought to their well-being" - how dare you expect any assistance from the state now?
Still, as long as he and his beloved public school chums are doing OK then not much else really seems to matter.
What an absolutely nonsense response, it has nothing what so ever of substance, yes there are people who absolutely have made lifestyle decisions with regards to family planning without any consideration on who or how they intend to give that child a life it deserves, they believe that because they can have children and we live in a country that will support them that it is their right to continue to have children and don't care they haven't worked or currently work and believe that every other mug should fund it, to just piss all over it turns it into a statement that dismisses it out right is ignorant and unfair on those who don't see why the hell they should contribute to it or feel sick to their stomach seeing them smoking wearing decent clobber and watching 50 inch TVs whilst doing so, and they are facts their not fiction, the people and a high % of people who dont work because they are happy with their stock without doing so is there for all to see
I will for the first time in my life be voting labour.
As a parent of kids with special needs I have seen over the last few years most of the services that my kids use and need having the funding ripped out from under them, a lot of the grants and support they got from the labour government were considered unnecessary by our coalition. The other issue is the nhs, with my MIL currently about to die from cancer we have seen the failings of the nhs, not really the fault of the doctors and nursing staff but the fact the hospitals are over stretched and over worked she had to wait months between scans and appointments and chemo etc, this could have been the difference between life and death. I've seen more and more schools pushed into academies and good schools are losing their identities, teachers losing a lot of their benefits and schools performances going backwards. I have serious issues with social services and their inability to help in certain situations because their budget is too limited and they have to focus on some problems over others. I've seen my MIL struggling for years with a disability in an over priced private rented house because she was unable to get a council flat suitable because of the bedroom tax everyone decided to downsize at once. I've also seen hard working proud fathers in tears after having to use a food bank as their wages don't stretch quite far enough.
I don't think immigration and the EU are should be highest on the priorities given the state of everything else.
I have seen this too with my mother in law dying in hospital after a fall due to lack of care a couple of years ago. I spent a night in that hospital after her fall and promised myself I would never vote conservative. What I saw, nobody should see. I am somebody who would probably be a little worse off under Labour. I can take that if I live in a better country that cares that there are hundreds more foodbanks and the vicious further cuts to social payments without any detail, telling all who have ears to listen. These are cuts to the things that make a difference to disabled and poor working people. The Tories do not care about them and people who vote for them dont either. I worked hard for this and that blah, blah , blah. Lots of people work hard but some are not selfish greedy ********. Shamefully, some people put a few quid in their pockets (and that is all it would be for all but the ridiculously wealthy, who will still be ridiculously wealthy under Labour) above a country that cares about its people. Labour will cut the deficit. They have promised to do so. They will just ensure the burdens of doing so are met more fairly. And sensibly they have given themselves a little more time to do so.
so did the tories at the last election... it's only been halved. How can we believe labour who borrowed and spent far beyond our means?
Yes it has been halved but at what cost? Standards of living is at an all time low, the deficit does need to be cut but does it have to be so quickly? A bit slower as to not hit our frontline services so hard and to make those poorest in society even poorer, a mother shouldn't have to starve herself for days just so her kids can eat, hard working people shouldn't have to go to charities to feed their families, people with cancer shouldn't have to wait 8 weeks to see an oncologist, kids with special needs shouldn't have to go without their much needed facilities and businesses shouldn't be shutting down along every high street up and down the country.
I wonder what Greece's social services are like after their deficit got out of their control.
Surely you should be blaming labour for putting the subsequent governments in the position where they had to use austerity and cut the deficit.
I will for the first time in my life be voting labour.
As a parent of kids with special needs I have seen over the last few years most of the services that my kids use and need having the funding ripped out from under them, a lot of the grants and support they got from the labour government were considered unnecessary by our coalition. The other issue is the nhs, with my MIL currently about to die from cancer we have seen the failings of the nhs, not really the fault of the doctors and nursing staff but the fact the hospitals are over stretched and over worked she had to wait months between scans and appointments and chemo etc, this could have been the difference between life and death. I've seen more and more schools pushed into academies and good schools are losing their identities, teachers losing a lot of their benefits and schools performances going backwards. I have serious issues with social services and their inability to help in certain situations because their budget is too limited and they have to focus on some problems over others. I've seen my MIL struggling for years with a disability in an over priced private rented house because she was unable to get a council flat suitable because of the bedroom tax everyone decided to downsize at once. I've also seen hard working proud fathers in tears after having to use a food bank as their wages don't stretch quite far enough.
I don't think immigration and the EU are should be highest on the priorities given the state of everything else.
I have seen this too with my mother in law dying in hospital after a fall due to lack of care a couple of years ago. I spent a night in that hospital after her fall and promised myself I would never vote conservative. What I saw, nobody should see. I am somebody who would probably be a little worse off under Labour. I can take that if I live in a better country that cares that there are hundreds more foodbanks and the vicious further cuts to social payments without any detail, telling all who have ears to listen. These are cuts to the things that make a difference to disabled and poor working people. The Tories do not care about them and people who vote for them dont either. I worked hard for this and that blah, blah , blah. Lots of people work hard but some are not selfish greedy ********. Shamefully, some people put a few quid in their pockets (and that is all it would be for all but the ridiculously wealthy, who will still be ridiculously wealthy under Labour) above a country that cares about its people. Labour will cut the deficit. They have promised to do so. They will just ensure the burdens of doing so are met more fairly. And sensibly they have given themselves a little more time to do so.
so did the tories at the last election... it's only been halved. How can we believe labour who borrowed and spent far beyond our means?
Comments
Let's look at Dorset Police versus Essex Police. I've chosen Dorset because if memory serves, they cover Bournemouth (?) and Essex because it's my own local Constabulary.
There was an article recently in your local press bemoaning the cuts to policing. bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/11840782.The_Thinner_Blue_Line___warning_over_police_numbers_after_major_budget_cuts/?ref=rss Which is all shocking news isn't it looking at it in isolation? And pretty much backs up what you've said. But let's look more closely.
The Force itself provides these helpful figures for the 12 months to March 2013 comparing Dorset Police with the rest of England and Wales:
Emergency and priority calls
per 1,000 population
Dorset 114 England & Wales 134
Victim-based crime per
1,000 population
Dorset 49 England & Wales 54.5
Prosecutions (charges) per
1,000 population
Dorset 7.0 England & Wales 10.2
It tells us that, as you'd expect, the good folk of Dorset are fine upstanding law-abiding citizens doesn't it? And that, as a consequence there will be less policing to do.
Now it seems that Dorset police have around 2130 officers (plus other staff of course) for a population of 710,000. That's a reduction from 2730 officers when the coalition came in. So that's now one officer per 333 members of the public. Whereas in Essex we have 3,311 officers for around 1,600,000 people. That's one officer per 483 people. Why have you guys got an extra half a policeman to share between every thousand of you when the figures indicate pretty low crime levels? You are nearly running at the same levels as the PSNI per 1,000 population which is ridiculous as they have to deal with crime on an industrial scale and the on-going para-military issues!
Anyway, in the year up to March 2014 Essex dealt with 100,144 crimes. That's 30 crimes per officer. Dorset's total was 40,163; that's just 19 per officer.
During that period Essex crime rates reduced by just 1% (possible because the street lights aren't on!) whereas Dorset's was down 4.7%. Essex too have lost officers but interestingly their detection rates have increased slightly to 29%. Whereas Dorset's is at (a very poor in comparison) 23.5%.
In summary, therefore, your police has one and half times the resources of Essex Police but still manages to solve nearly 20% less crime while only having two thirds of the case load.
So, I'd like to suggest that in comparison with the rest of the Country and in particular, that hotbed of crime, Essex, Dorset Police don't look like very good value for money at all and that there is still some headroom for further cuts and plenty of opportunity for increased performance levels and some actual detection. I'd be on to your bosses at the Town Council to tell them they are wasting money that could be better spent elsewhere if I were you. Particularly as the drop in crime in your area tells us that even fewer police should be needed for the future.
(just trying to lighten what has become an increasingly angst ridden thread).
Time for a re-think on party funding.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32339415
I could 'phone my GP surgery now and make an appointment for tomorrow - and probably be given 3/4 time slots. I have been with this surgery for seven years and have never, not once, had difficulty in getting an appointment.
But then I'm registered there.
So three attempts at trying to find why A&Es are averaging 30k a week more people attending over the past five years. And no one is prepared to accept the real reason.
I suspect that the Labour party has nicked a few of the TUSC policies, at least TUSC is advocating what would, pre 'New Labour' have been totally reasonable Labour/Socialist policies.
Shame that the Aussie led Green Wellies are getting more publicity than this outfit, TUSC policies and rhetoric could well do with more scrutiny and publicity.
COYUKIP
According to people like the ever charming @cafcfan perhaps you should have thought about all this before being the sort of "feckless idiot" in who has "children with nary a thought to their well-being" - how dare you expect any assistance from the state now?
Still, as long as he and his beloved public school chums are doing OK then not much else really seems to matter.
For what its worth I suppose I'd be considered middle class and rich by most peoples standards, and my children go to private school, but having been brought up on a council estate I don't look down my nose at the less fortunate and I certainly don't sneer at them the way you seem to take great pleasure in doing.
Are ordinary people in Lewisham or other working class boroughs really "feckless idiots" for having children? Do they really have "nary a thought for their well being" just because those children go to a state school that employs teaching assistants?
Shocking way to talk about ordinary working people, but says a lot about how you see the world.
Everyone contributing on this should be above this sort of stuff. Let's not spoil it please, if everyone starts digging like this then any decent contribution to the thread ends, and this has by the main been running fantastically well for a long time. Let's try and keep it going right through to the election. If people wind you up enough to post with anger, aggression or to dig, please take a step back (for everyone) ta
Easiest You have overstepped the mark and turned this thread into a class war.
Ridiculous.
You're not a moderator so wind your neck in, I could say more but out of respect for AFKA I will leave it there.
What an absolutely nonsense response, it has nothing what so ever of substance, yes there are people who absolutely have made lifestyle decisions with regards to family planning without any consideration on who or how they intend to give that child a life it deserves, they believe that because they can have children and we live in a country that will support them that it is their right to continue to have children and don't care they haven't worked or currently work and believe that every other mug should fund it, to just piss all over it turns it into a statement that dismisses it out right is ignorant and unfair on those who don't see why the hell they should contribute to it or feel sick to their stomach seeing them smoking wearing decent clobber and watching 50 inch TVs whilst doing so, and they are facts their not fiction, the people and a high % of people who dont work because they are happy with their stock without doing so is there for all to see
Surely you should be blaming labour for putting the subsequent governments in the position where they had to use austerity and cut the deficit.
huffingtonpost.co.uk/ramesh-patel/growth-cameron-austerity_b_2007552.html