Bolitics The New Condem Government

[Kingfisher]

I hear the duke of York has been tweeting about the importance of tackling inequality. Of course we should Andy, how about we start by abolishing monarchy?

There will be even more sense coming out of the Davos jolly boys outing tomorrow as Cameron and Osborne are set to give talks on the subject.

[Eames]

^^ I though Peston gave a very accurrate summary of Davos on R4's PM a couple of days ago.

 

Something like "Of the 15 people I have spoken with today, 5 are genuinely concerned about how the rich can help and have a responsibility to the worlds poor. 5 are journalists..... and 5 were just gits"

[bickster]

Davos is just an extremely expensive Jolly for politicians to meet their paymasters and get to talk crap to the rest of the world. Economic summit my arse

[8pints]

Davos is just an extremely expensive Jolly for politicians to meet their paymasters and get to talk crap to the rest of the world. Economic summit my arse

 

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

There was something creepily 'manifest destiny' about Cameron's bilge at Davos.

[chrisp65]

^^ I though Peston gave a very accurrate summary of Davos on R4's PM a couple of days ago.

 

Something like "Of the 15 people I have spoken with today, 5 are genuinely concerned about how the rich can help and have a responsibility to the worlds poor. 5 are journalists..... and 5 were just gits"

 

I was listening to that and presumed at some time he'd explain what G.I.T.S. stood for, but no, fair play to him gits were rich people expressing concern for poor people in generalised terms at a rich person's jolly.

[Kingfisher]

Good news! The jobless totals are down. Lets all celebrate, low pay, no pay, no rights, zero hour contracts. They're the future. Our bright future. Crack open a bottle.

More good news!

The feel good factor in the UK continues as we learn that our wages have been rising in real terms in 2013! That's according to Cameron.

In other news, according to debt charity StepChange, payday loans increased by 18.3% in 2013, coupled with a 44% rise in people with arrears on essential household costs like rent over the last year.

Lets crack open another bottle!

[Awol]

 

Good news! The jobless totals are down. Lets all celebrate, low pay, no pay, no rights, zero hour contracts. They're the future. Our bright future. Crack open a bottle.

More good news!

The feel good factor in the UK continues as we learn that our wages have been rising in real terms in 2013! That's according to Cameron.

In other news, according to debt charity StepChange, payday loans increased by 18.3% in 2013, coupled with a 44% rise in people with arrears on essential household costs like rent over the last year.

Lets crack open another bottle!

 

The casual reader might surmise that you aren't best pleased that the IMF have upgraded their forecast for UK economic growth in 2014 to the highest of any western country, or indeed that the UK has just had its biggest quarterly fall in unemployment since records began.

 

It's absolutely right to highlight what the government gets wrong, like the horrors caused by ATOS, or the retarded implementation of the bedroom tax, but to try and spin obvious good news as being terrible just devalues any serious points you might have, imho.

[Kingfisher]

Good news! The jobless totals are down. Lets all celebrate, low pay, no pay, no rights, zero hour contracts. They're the future. Our bright future. Crack open a bottle.

More good news!

The feel good factor in the UK continues as we learn that our wages have been rising in real terms in 2013! That's according to Cameron.

In other news, according to debt charity StepChange, payday loans increased by 18.3% in 2013, coupled with a 44% rise in people with arrears on essential household costs like rent over the last year.

Lets crack open another bottle!

The casual reader might surmise that you aren't best pleased that the IMF have upgraded their forecast for UK economic growth in 2014 to the highest of any western country, or indeed that the UK has just had its biggest quarterly fall in unemployment since records began.

It's absolutely right to highlight what the government gets wrong, like the horrors caused by ATOS, or the retarded implementation of the bedroom tax, but to try and spin obvious good news as being terrible just devalues any serious points you might have, imho.

Oh yeah, I'm trying to spin obvious good news with facts.

An IMF forecast eh? I'm pissing myself with excitement.

[Awol]

 

 

 

Good news! The jobless totals are down. Lets all celebrate, low pay, no pay, no rights, zero hour contracts. They're the future. Our bright future. Crack open a bottle.

More good news!

The feel good factor in the UK continues as we learn that our wages have been rising in real terms in 2013! That's according to Cameron.

In other news, according to debt charity StepChange, payday loans increased by 18.3% in 2013, coupled with a 44% rise in people with arrears on essential household costs like rent over the last year.

Lets crack open another bottle!

The casual reader might surmise that you aren't best pleased that the IMF have upgraded their forecast for UK economic growth in 2014 to the highest of any western country, or indeed that the UK has just had its biggest quarterly fall in unemployment since records began.

It's absolutely right to highlight what the government gets wrong, like the horrors caused by ATOS, or the retarded implementation of the bedroom tax, but to try and spin obvious good news as being terrible just devalues any serious points you might have, imho.

Oh yeah, I'm trying to spin obvious good news with facts.

An IMF forecast eh? I'm pissing myself with excitement.

 

Great comeback...

[snowychap]

I don't think that people should concern themselves with whatever forecast the IMF may make - ever.

Edit: Even so, regarding the UK's GDP growth, it would be interesting to try and imagine what the current parties in government would have said about this growth had it been happening under a Labour government (or Tories if under a Lib/Lab thing).

My guess would be that the government (whomever might be sat on the treasury benches) would be taking credit and hailing it as great and the other lot would be worrying about asset bubbles, continued debts, the reliance upon low interest rates, the fragiility of any recovery that seems to be its constant backdrop (we can't do anything that may 'endanger' this recovery), &c.

 

The employment numbers are pretty interesting  for a few reasons (not exclusively):

that apparently the increase of the 'self-employed' almost matches the increase in full-time employees in the quarter the figures are for (articles I've seen suggest that's more of an increase in freelance workers than 'start-up' business and entrepreneurship);

the increasing worry about productivity;

is it the rest of the workforce that is 'taking the hit' via pay squeezes (bollocks to the 'take home pay graph that Tory snr and Tory jnr have magicked out of their bottoms)?;

does it put Carney in a position that he didn't want to be this early in his tenure?

Edited January 24, 2014 by snowychap

[mockingbird_franklin]

I don't think that people should concern themselves with whatever forecast the IMF may make - ever.

Edit: Even so, regarding the UK's GDP growth, it would be interesting to try and imagine what the current parties in government would have said about this growth had it been happening under a Labour government (or Tories if under a Lib/Lab thing).

My guess would be that the government (whomever might be sat on the treasury benches) would be taking credit and hailing it as great and the other lot would be worrying about asset bubbles, continued debts, the reliance upon low interest rates, the fragiility of any recovery that seems to be its constant backdrop (we can't do anything that may 'endanger' this recovery), &c.

 

The employment numbers are pretty interesting  for a few reasons (not exclusively):

that apparently the increase of the 'self-employed' almost matches the increase in full-time employees in the quarter the figures are for (articles I've seen suggest that's more of an increase in freelance workers than 'start-up' business and entrepreneurship);

the increasing worry about productivity;

couldn't be anything to do with encouragement by DWP for claimants to go "self employed'  as a sole trader with a business that does not do any real work or provide any real services but allows them to claim tax credits instead of out of work benefits, could it?

Edited January 24, 2014 by mockingbird_franklin

[Kingfisher]

In the latest government press release;

The economy is doing so well at the moment that fat Pat (or whatever her name is), the matriarch of James Taylor Street has found a high flying job and bought a brand new Mercedes. The producers have had to rename the final episode of 'Benefits Street', 'Millionaires Row' such has been the upturn in the economy.

[mockingbird_franklin]

In the latest government press release;

The economy is doing so well at the moment that fat Pat (or whatever her name is), the matriarch of James Taylor Street has found a high flying job and bought a brand new Mercedes. The producers have had to rename the final episode of 'Benefits Street', 'Millionaires Row' such has been the upturn in the economy.

Chancellor of the exchequer?, seems like they let anybody have that job recently, probably better qualified than Gideon for the post anyway

[snowychap]

couldn't be anything to do with encouragement by DWP for claimants to go "self employed'  as a sole trader with a business that does not do any real work or provide any real services but allows them to claim tax credits instead of out of work benefits, could it?

Quite possibly.

Also, it could be down to labour market supply-side 'improvements' which one would have thought would offer less of an incentive to look for full time employment (as precarious as that would be for the first two years) than something freelance and thus help (as above) to provide a workforce that is able to put less pressure on inflation by means of wage demands.

All of this would go better if there were some kind of attack on unions, collective bargaining and so forth.

[peterms]

Looks like Balls has completely lost it.

Utter madness. Having spent the last few years failing to challenge Osborne's stupid mantras about deficits and surpluses, he's now trying to outbid him in the moron stakes.

[StefanAVFC]

Had a 'debate' with a colleague at uni yesterday about Immigration. I got shouted down and called 'leftie', 'liberal' and 'guardian reader'. Like-minded people just sat there and said 'Jenny you're well good at this'. Shouting off buzzwords is being good at debating? Not worth my time.

 

More frightening is that these are student teachers and ignorant as anything.

[snowychap]

Looks like Balls has completely lost it.

It's a shame. He once made a speech that made sense - for him as both a politician and an economist.

I guess it's inevitable that he has decided to concentrate on the former regardless of the extent to which it means he needs to bury the latter.

[Awol]

Haha, that's your funniest contribution for years Drat!

[Kingfisher]

Had a 'debate' with a colleague at uni yesterday about Immigration. I got shouted down and called 'leftie', 'liberal' and 'guardian reader'. Like-minded people just sat there and said 'Jenny you're well good at this'. Shouting off buzzwords is being good at debating? Not worth my time.

More frightening is that these are student teachers and ignorant as anything.

They won't find many of their seasoned peers supporting the governments right wing agenda in the staff room at break time.