The 2015 Popularity Contest (aka UK General Election )

[Joey66]

How any sane person would want Ed Miliband and Ed Balls as Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Uk is beyond the realms of rational thought..........ffs I wouldn't let them run a school tuck shop with any confidence.......

so let the Etonians run the country - with Boris the fruitcase ready to take the Tory leadership over!

 

[Clint Planet]

so let the Etonians run the country - with Boris the fruitcase ready to take the Tory leadership over!

You'd be forgiven for thinking we'd left the last century for the 19th one and not the 21st.

 

[The Esk]

It's a funny old world when people having more of their own money to spend on things they want is seen as a bad thing.

Perhaps it is because a considerable element of society recognise the value of having a properly funded education system, national health service and benefits system for people to fall back on in hard times. In recognising the value they are prepared to make a reasonable contribution through the taxes they pay.

Admirable I'd call it.....

 

[Mrk]

Please explain your reasons of tax revenue dropping if we are doing so wonderful as the Tories claim?????
Cost of living is lower - house building is as low as the 1930's Growth is minimal, my son has not had a pay rise for 5 years!
I do not advocate Labour so where do you read that from? I just advocaTted any combination other than the Tories as it will be a coalition of sorts anyway !

I explained them in the post you have quoted, tax cuts and wages not matching inflation.

Cost of living is higher, because as I've mentioned, for most people, inflation has outstripped wage increases.

And I'm not suggesting you advocate Labour, I was asking why you went off on a weird tangent about "typical Tory Dogma".

 

[Mrk]

There was never any chance of them meeting their immigration targets since they are honour-bound to admit any EU national. Any promise to meet immigration targets was a deliberate lie to garner votes. In fact, since they couldn't get rid of EU nationals, they went after non-EU residents instead, often overseas students who contribute to the economy and usually have no desire to stay. Utterly idiotic.

I agree, and in some ways they're a victim of their own success - because our economy has grown substantially faster than most of the EU and our employment levels have risen so sharply, we've become a magnet for EU nationals trying to find work.

Definitely an idiotic pledge though.

 

[michaelh1990]

I agree, and in some ways they're a victim of their own success - because our economy has grown substantially faster than most of the EU and our employment levels have risen so sharply, we've become a magnet for EU nationals trying to find work.

Definitely an idiotic pledge though.

A magnet in the sense that agencies ship in a hundred or so EU nationals at a time to do jobs that british people refuse to do due to the dreadful working conditions eg next warehouse or sandwich factory that were in the news recently.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Perhaps it is because a considerable element of society recognise the value of having a properly funded education system, national health service and benefits system for people to fall back on in hard times. In recognising the value they are prepared to make a reasonable contribution through the taxes they pay.

Admirable I'd call it.....

Sure, except you know that most of the money tends to come from other people (ie those with more to give). The lowest earning 50% of the population pay around 10% of its income tax. Given the amount of hate on this forum and other places for the people that are footing most of the bill, it doesn't seem as though many find it admirable at all.

 

[EFCNIK]

Imagine spending your whole life complaining about rich people looking down on you because of where you were brought up, and then doing exactly the same because of where more well off people were brought up though.

Inverse snobbery at its finest on here.

 

[The Esk]

Sure, except you know that most of the money tends to come from other people (ie those with more to give). The lowest earning 50% of the population pay around 10% of its income tax. Given the amount of hate on this forum and other places for the people that are footing most of the bill, it doesn't seem as though many find it admirable at all.

The bottom 50% of earners contributed 27.4% of all Income Tax revenues in 2013-14.

The "admirable" comment relates to those who see the value in contributing to society as a whole rather than using income for personal consumption which was your original point.

 

[The Cowboy]

Imagine spending your whole life complaining about rich people looking down on you because of where you were brought up, and then doing exactly the same because of where more well off people were brought up though.

Inverse snobbery at its finest on here.

I don't really understand what you're saying here. Can you explain? Your post doesn't read very well.

 

[The Esk]

Imagine spending your whole life complaining about rich people looking down on you because of where you were brought up, and then doing exactly the same because of where more well off people were brought up though.

Inverse snobbery at its finest on here.

I don't understand this at all.

The point about socialism and equality is that all that is asked is that every individual is given an equal chance to be educated, to earn and develop a career and to contribute to society rather than in the main, your lot in life be determined by your parents' income and status.

It's that simple.

 

[The Cowboy]

I don't understand this at all.

The point about socialism and equality is that all that is asked is that every individual is given an equal chance to be educated, to earn and develop a career and to contribute to society rather than in the main, your lot in life be determined by your parents' income and status.

It's that simple.

I don't think that is necessarily the case in this country. No doubt there are privileged folk who will get an easy ride, but there is nothing stopping you from succeeding in life because you're from a poor background.

I'm no Gordon Gecko but I've forged myself a pretty good career in banking (boo hiss etc) from a bog standard working class NW England background. There may be some establishments or occupations that are the preserve of the rich, but not all.

 

[peteblue]

so let the Etonians run the country - with Boris the fruitcase ready to take the Tory leadership over!

No mate its all about competence. Harold Wilson was a great Parliamentarian as was Margaret Thatcher. Do you really want the country run by a man with more similarity to Wallace & Grommit. This is not about left versus right or Labour versus Tory, just competence. Miliband is not up to it, and once you put your red tinted glasses aside you will see it too...........

 

[The Esk]

I don't think that is necessarily the case in this country. No doubt there are privileged folk who will get an easy ride, but there is nothing stopping you from succeeding in life because you're from a poor background.

I'm no Gordon Gecko but I've forged myself a pretty good career in banking (boo hiss etc) from a bog standard working class NW England background. There may be some establishments or occupations that are the preserve of the rich, but not all.

I have no problems with you being a banker, however you'd agree that you're the exception rather than the rule. I'm pretty familiar with the City and talk to City folk regularly as part of my business - not many are "common folk".

 

[peteblue]

I don't understand this at all.

The point about socialism and equality is that all that is asked is that every individual is given an equal chance to be educated, to earn and develop a career and to contribute to society rather than in the main, your lot in life be determined by your parents' income and status.

It's that simple.

Is that why Labour did away with grammar schools, the greatest equaliser this country ever had.........