UK General Discussion

[You kip if you want to...]

Just came across this from last month. Don't understand why Scottish Labour is so crap.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-20755329

Do you think that's crap because you disagree with her view that free university leads to lower standards or do you think they are crap because they are embracing more right wing views?

They are crap because they send their 'best' down to Westminster and leave their second rate, ex councillors or union patsies to harangue the Scottish people bleating on about the 'Tories at Westminster' in a Scottish election until people's ears bleed.

This I agree with. I was all for Jim Murphy running in the leadership election, but those with ambition daren't look to the assemblies apparently.

[You kip if you want to...]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/01/07/boris-johnson-child-benefit-_n_2423292.html?utm_hp_ref=uk

The fact he's the most popular politician in the country makes me sick.

[afleitch]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/01/07/boris-johnson-child-benefit-_n_2423292.html?utm_hp_ref=uk

The fact he's the most popular politician in the country makes me sick.

Well it's certainly not going to be Ed now is it He's referring of course to the axing of child benefit for wealthy families; you know, those who earn two to three times the average wage who are still entitled to claim it. He admits himself he and his wife had received nearly £50,000 over the past twenty years which probably went on his ski-ing holidays.

If he called it an "absurd system whereby low-income people paid in their taxes for richer families to receive this Mussolini-like reward for procreation", then I fully agree with him, because that's exactly what it is. I know of a Tory in my local association who think's it's crazy for him to receive it but spends it on his daughter's pony lessons.

[freefair]

What the UK needs is a system in which the best politicians are just as attracted to subnational politics as they are to national/federal positions

[Silent Hunter]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/01/07/boris-johnson-child-benefit-_n_2423292.html?utm_hp_ref=uk

The fact he's the most popular politician in the country makes me sick.

Well it's certainly not going to be Ed now is it He's referring of course to the axing of child benefit for wealthy families; you know, those who earn two to three times the average wage who are still entitled to claim it. He admits himself he and his wife had received nearly £50,000 over the past twenty years which probably went on his ski-ing holidays.

If he called it an "absurd system whereby low-income people paid in their taxes for richer families to receive this Mussolini-like reward for procreation", then I fully agree with him, because that's exactly what it is. I know of a Tory in my local association who think's it's crazy for him to receive it but spends it on his daughter's pony lessons.

Pony lessons and skiing holidays do benefit children, but should the state pay for them?

[afleitch]

What? Did you read my post, or the article for that matter.

[Simfan34]

I don't understand opposition to what Boris is saying at all. Or is there another side to the argument? Because upwards income redistribution doesn't seem like a good thing.

[YL]

I don't understand opposition to what Boris is saying at all. Or is there another side to the argument? Because upwards income redistribution doesn't seem like a good thing.

There are certain advantages to universal benefits.  For one, it's harder for people who really need the benefits to slip through the net, something which can happen quite a lot with certain means tested benefits.  Another is that the means testing itself generally involves spending a fair amount on a bureaucracy to run it.

If you have a reasonably progressive tax system, then it isn't upwards income redistribution anyway.  And the stuff about Mussolini is just silly.

[Silent Hunter]

What? Did you read my post, or the article for that matter.

I'm not saying that the state should give child benefit to rich families (although I disagree with the way this new cap is calculated). What I am saying is that those things can benefit children; taking a child to Switzerland for a ski holiday is something that they enjoy.

[Simfan34]

What? Did you read my post, or the article for that matter.

I'm not saying that the state should give child benefit to rich families (although I disagree with the way this new cap is calculated). What I am saying is that those things can benefit children; taking a child to Switzerland for a ski holiday is something that they enjoy.

But is that something that the state should subsidise? Or, perhaps, what if he had chosen to buy a Jaguar or the cellarful of Lafittes?

[You kip if you want to...]

If this coalition's a "Ronseal Deal", I must assume that 'the tin' isn't the manifesto of The Conservative Party or the Liberal Democrats then.

[Leftbehind]

Or the coalition agreement.

Simfan: it's a universal provision for children - not a targeted re-distribution to the wealthy. It's unlikely the wealthy get more out of it than put in, and if any fairness issues do arise then raise the taxes on them (and not cut them, like the coalition are doing). If it's not needed - fine, piss it away, but it's still no more a re-distribution than any other universal benefit is (like universites, for instance, where they last tried to apply this fatuous argument). 

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Alasdair Milne, a career BBC bureaucrat who's tenure as Director General in the 1980s was cut short for political reasons, has died at the age of 82.

[afleitch]

Alasdair Milne, a career BBC bureaucrat who's tenure as Director General in the 1980s was cut short for political reasons, has died at the age of 82.

Which perhaps we can be thankful for given his views on women at the BBC.

[afleitch]

UKIP sacked their youth chair because of his support for gay marriage, which runs contrary to UKIP's blatant attempt at winning votes off of a moral panic policy.

[bore]

You can just feel the libertarianism.

[You kip if you want to...]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qjBec3fpBI

Wonder where this fits in the whole 'strivers vs. shirkers' narrative.

[afleitch]

Andrew Marr has had a stroke :/

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Which perhaps we can be thankful for given his views on women at the BBC.

I wouldn't describe myself as a fan of Milne (hey, he banned Brimstone & Treacle), but at least he wasn't an utter disaster like Checkland or Birt.

[You kip if you want to...]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/01/10/mps-vote-to-increase-pay-86250_n_2448503.html?1357840986&utm_hp_ref=uk

Oh Westminster.

[doktorb]

If this coalition's a "Ronseal Deal", I must assume that 'the tin' isn't the manifesto of The Conservative Party or the Liberal Democrats then.

No, it's the Coalition Agreement.

[You kip if you want to...]

If this coalition's a "Ronseal Deal", I must assume that 'the tin' isn't the manifesto of The Conservative Party or the Liberal Democrats then.

No, it's the Coalition Agreement.

"Does what it says on the tin." What parts of the coalition agreement did they tell the electorate about again?

[doktorb]

If this coalition's a "Ronseal Deal", I must assume that 'the tin' isn't the manifesto of The Conservative Party or the Liberal Democrats then.

No, it's the Coalition Agreement.

"Does what it says on the tin." What parts of the coalition agreement did they tell the electorate about again?

All of it. It was published in hard copy and on-line forms upon its signing. It  couldn't be made available before it was written, after all.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Trouble is, the government hasn't actually followed it in certain rather important areas. No Top Down Re-Organisation Of The NHS and so on.

[You kip if you want to...]

If this coalition's a "Ronseal Deal", I must assume that 'the tin' isn't the manifesto of The Conservative Party or the Liberal Democrats then.

No, it's the Coalition Agreement.

"Does what it says on the tin." What parts of the coalition agreement did they tell the electorate about again?

All of it. It was published in hard copy and on-line forms upon its signing. It  couldn't be made available before it was written, after all.

Sorry, I guess I'll have to clarify what I meant to make it a bit more obvious, when were the electorate given a chance to democratically elect a government based on such a coalition agreement?