quick thoughts on wednesday's strike

it's said that pensions are so much better in the public sector than in the private sector and so they should be made worse.
how about let's have better pensions in the private sector? that should be answer.

all of those on the right saying that the deficit came about by spending today and pay on the never never tend to be those arguing against good public sector pensions. But insuffuicient private sector pensions is just saving up problems for the future. If people don't save for their pensions then the state will have to bail them out later and it'll be MY generation's problem. We need to get this sorted now rather than the current lot thinking it'll be someone else's problem when it hits the fan.

on the strikes - i think that changes to make pensions more affordable and more in line with people's life expectancy is right in and of itself. I'm not convinced this strike is needed, and will have to make an uninformed judgement about the conduct and negotiating of the government and the unions. won't hold my breath then

Clegg defiant despite Lib Dems' slump in Barnsley poll‏

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12645090


I personally think this line is hurting rather than helping Clegg:
""In government, nationally, we will continue to do what I think is absolutely vital for the long-term benefit of the country. Namely sort the economic mess we inherited from Labour for the long-term benefit of Britain.""

Nick Clegg claims fees debate could deter poor from applying to university

"Analysis by the lobbying group representing new universities, Million +, suggests the reforms will limit social mobility and see almost two-thirds of graduates paying much more for a degree than they do now. The "triple whammy" of higher fees, real interest rates for loans and a longer debt write-off period is likely to represent a bad deal for taxpayers and will leave between 60% and 65% of graduates worse off, with middle-income earners hit hardest, according to the study.

Allowing universities to charge £9,000 a year will result in many women spending most of their working lives in debt, while pupils from poor families and mature students will be put off applying, it said."


Says it all

Lib Dem activists target Nick Clegg over tuition fees‏

But they added: "There is one thing that sets the Liberal Democrats apart from other political parties; this is that when we say we will do something during election campaigns we then do it in government."

I must admit a certain amount of pleasure to see their holier-than-though attitude come back to bite them in the arse. Of course, the above statement is made a lot easier by not being in government, which they did expect to be


Mr Clegg said last week that he "massively regrets" being in a position where he cannot deliver on his election promise. However, he told the BBC that more Lib Dems were becoming "comfortable" with the policy as they studied the details.

Every time he opens his mouth he says something terrible, so let's hear more Mr Clegg. It must be something to do with spending all that time with Tories. He'll say something about breeding next.

So what exactly is 'progressive' in politics?‏

"Nick Clegg has yet to describe himself as a "progressive conservative" but his definition of what it means to be a "new progressive" sounds suspiciously familiar.

Old progressives, he argued in a speech on Wednesday, "emphasise the power and spending of the central state", while new progressives "focus on the power and freedom of citizens".

Labour and its new leader Ed Miliband he argued, risk becoming the "new conservatives of British politics" as they obsess over income tax distribution, while ignoring the wider social picture, such as access to good public services and life chances.

"For old progressives, reducing snapshot income inequality is the ultimate goal. For new progressives, reducing the barrier to social mobility is," said Mr Clegg."


Clegg is incredibly full of shit

Labour to stage Commons debate on tuition fees on Tuesday

I'm really not happy with the hanging an effigy thing. Also, there's a good point about the debate uniting the disparate government

Nick Robinson's Newslog: Migration cap: Lower than 43,000?‏

So they're happy to make hay with headlines which won't really work and they know it. Sounds very cynical, taking people for a ride, jumping on their fears and prejudices in order to make political capital, excluding the rich from the rules and fudging the figures so that the whole thing is a sham.
Sounds like the work of this government to me

UK opens door to wealthy migrants‏

Poor foreigners we don't want, but rich ones we welcome with open arms. A very dark and unpleasant side to the government's migration policy. Not nice at all.
If this is the price we pay for being 'open for business' I think we should look at other options.

media strategy and that

the Tories, sorry, coalition government, have a very disciplined media operation based around the simple message of 'it's all Labour's fault'. If people buy this the government will get more time, if people don't Labour could spend the next 5 years testing Prof. Nut's conclusions and still win.
cuts are going to start biting hard, but if people believe the line about it being Labour's wasteful spending and forget the role financial services played in bringing our country (and others) to it's knees, the Government gets credit.

Cable says tuition fees rise is 'on the right lines'‏

Once again, when the tough decisions are needed the Lib Dems have rolled over to have their tummies tickled in the face of power. The speed with which they have abandoned just about everything they stood for at the election is really staggering. They give two-faced turn coats a bad name.

and when Cable announced it, "No-one in his party stood up to protest".

I personally think fees should be scrapped and replaced by funding through the direct tax system, the only way to make it fair.
I think the introduction of competition is the worst thing when coupled with fees as those who are poorer or looking to get less-highly paid jobs may see the better option as going somewhere cheaper and accepting a cut-price education rather than fulfilling their potential, while those who can afford a better education will get one, squeezing out more able but less wealthy competitors, for that is what students are to become to each other.
Perhaps not surprising that selective education based on wealth is the favoured route given the backgrounds of Clegg, Cameron, Osborne etc.

my worst time of year

i hate having to sit through Tory conference at the best of times, but with these smug hypocritical bastards In Government (!, looking at you Clegg) they are unbearable. Quote of the day: "Conservative party traditionalists tell the chancellor his benefit cut for high earners could discourage marriage and hit middle-class single mothers". Now i thought they were against single mothers, but apparently it's only poor ones. Middle class single mothers are to be defended. Hypocrites

alternatives to the budget cuts

left foot forward, while discussing the challenges facing Ed Miliband as leader, identifies the Spending Review as key.
I, like them, would like to see a different approach to economic policy from the the coalition. no shit.
by sticking to Alistair Darling’s timetable but switching to a 50:50 ration with no protection for the Health budget, departmental cuts can be reduced to 8 per cent – in stark contrast to the Coalition’s 25 to 40 per cuts.
sounds good, so long as the tax rises bring in enough without hurting people and the economy.

terms of debate

if this is true, and it does seem close to the mark at least, it's very sad. i wrote recently about Ed Miliband being called Red Ed and stupid that is, well:
"Why cannot the Business Secretary seek to address a lightly regulated market, or at least question the merits of unfettered capitalism? The acceptable debate has leapt from concerns about banks and the short-term recklessness of some businesses to one about the inefficiencies of the public sector. Savings in the public sector can and should be made, but surely it must be possible for public figures to highlight other issues without being portrayed as revolutionary Marxists.

Yet the younger Miliband has been christened "Red Ed" for daring to argue that the state has a role in regulating markets, and Cable is called a Marxist. Both are compared to Tony Benn for veering a millimetre away from Cameron/Blairite orthodoxy. It seems that the acceptable perimeters of debate in Britain are very narrow. The wacky reaction to Cable reminds me of a brilliant lecture that Gordon Brown delivered in 2003 in which he argued that while markets worked in most spheres, there were limits in one or two areas. The lecture was widely dismissed as a disastrous return to Old Labour."

half funny small mercies

Small mercies
23. Homophobic Home Secretary.
24. National Insurance Rise on workers but not business
25. Liberal Democrats are touting their willful refusal to learn from New Labour's mistakes as a virtue.

20. They're not Ukip
21. They're not the BNP
22. Thatch, Tebbit and Lamont are long gone

37. There'll be no waiting for operations once all the elderly proles have died through the winter, after Dave cancels all the winter fuel payments and freezes their state pensions.

'At least they're easy to laugh at'
Since ca. 1979 they've been no laughing matter whatsoever - as millions would be all too able to tell you from bitter experience. Former Junior Health Minister Edwina Currie sums up the sort of innate sublimated nastiness lurking within every Tory's inner core:
In September 1986, she became a Junior Health Minister. Among her comments over the next two years were, despite being not religious, saying that "Good Christian people" don't get AIDS, telling old people who couldn't afford their heating bills that they should wrap up warm in winter, and telling northerners that they die of "Ignorance and chips'
Let's not be fooled. The self-proclaimed 'Nasty Party' is still very much in business.