Alistair........................

[Big J R]

(I've got a lovely pair of black eye-brows) Darling.....

 

Has delivered his first budget.

 

Discuss...

 

(over to you, Unc !!!!!)

[cantos]

It is all America's fault.

[Big J R]

Poor old Moo !

 

She's getting it again !

[cantos]

I wish.

[American FLEET FAN No1]

Originally Posted By: cantos

It is all America's fault.

It was good enough for you to pay a visit!

[cantos]

Fleety what has happened to Moo,she has not been around here or the other site.

[American FLEET FAN No1]

No idea, cantos...............She was around enough to ban one of my jokes over there!

[Big J R]

Alien abduction ?

[American FLEET FAN No1]

Originally Posted By: Big J R

Alien abduction ?

Could be...............Maybe British Customs didn't check cantos's bags very thoroughly, on his return from America!

[Moo]

I've been around at the other site. Perhaps you're just not looking in the forums I have been posting in?

 

As far as it being America's fault, I think we are in deep enough poo on our own to be messing about with someone else's budget.

[Big J R]

Originally Posted By: Moo

As far as it being America's fault, I think we are in deep enough poo on our own to be messing about with someone else's budget.

That'll make a change !

[The Invisible Man]

Back to the question.........

 

As far as I can make out the budget is essentially the same as every other budget I can remember i.e. clobber 'the motorist' and the 'drinker'. Only the excuses for doing so (and not raising income tax and thus taxing according to ability to pay but can't do that as we might not get re-elected) have changed.

[Greg_Dyke]

not a very exciting budget, was it...

 

4p on beer

 

how much on petrol ?

[pabird]

Frigged up economy

Frigged up immigration control

Frigged up NHS dentistry

Frigged up NHS management

Frigged up Peace in Iraq

Frigged up Transport integration promise

Frigged up promise of vote on European constitution

 

Successful policy actions?:

MPs salary

MPs pensions

MPs expenses

MPs second/third homes policy

10,000 London council homes in the past year to immigrants

Job for failed ex-PM in Far East/Business community and promise of stab at European President Role

 

 

Frigged up Government who should be banned from Government for the next 100 years

 

 

 

 

[Big J R]

Succinctly put, pa !

[pabird]

The loud cheer from single family parents and pensioners could be heard all over the UK when the following announcement was made:

 

Muffins enter typical UK 'basket'

 

Spending on muffins and smoothies reflects cafe culture says the ONS

Fruit smoothies, muffins and portable digital storage devices have all been added to a typical basket of UK goods, used to measure inflation.

Frozen vegetarian ready meals, CD singles, "stubbie" lager and 35mm camera films are to be removed, the Office for National Statistics said.

 

The ONS updates its 650-strong basket of goods and services annually, to better reflect public spending habits.

 

The basket is used to calculate the Retail Prices Index.

 

The ONS said the inclusion of fruit smoothies and muffins was reflective of a growing "cafe culture".

 

"Fruit smoothies are included as the emerging market of healthy soft drinks continues to rise in supermarkets," said the ONS.

 

It added that muffins were being included for the first time to reflect the fact that snacks such as croissants and cakes were being bought when customers bought coffees in cafes.

 

The removal of Top 40 singles from the basket reflects the fact consumers are downloading music more, said the ONS.

 

The prevalence of digital cameras means consumers are buying far less film, which explains why the 35mm film dropped from the basket.

 

In contrast, spending on portable digital storage devices has grown. This includes memory cards and storage sticks, mp3 players, mobile phones and computers.

 

 

[Greg_Dyke]

Originally Posted By: pabird

Frigged up economy
Frigged up immigration control
Frigged up NHS dentistry
Frigged up NHS management
Frigged up Peace in Iraq
Frigged up Transport integration promise
Frigged up promise of vote on European constitution

Successful policy actions?:
MPs salary
MPs pensions
MPs expenses
MPs second/third homes policy
10,000 London council homes in the past year to immigrants
Job for failed ex-PM in Far East/Business community and promise of stab at European President Role


Frigged up Government who should be banned from Government for the next 100 years

Sadly Pabird, there is no alternative at the moment...Labour are the best of a bad bunch

The Tories announced this week, as part of their budget response, they would not be reversing any of the actions in the current budget !

However, in response, and as devil's advocado, I willm answer for the government...

Economy...no recession in broad terms since the mid 80's
Immigration control...is not the issue, it's the illegal entry into the country that is the apparent problem. The government are meeting all the targets with regard to immigration control.
NHS Dentistry...The government have struggled to find a solution to the growing problem of poor teeth...the NHS cannot cope with this, unless more dentists are attracted to the profession, from abroad. Otherwise, taxes will have to be raised to prop up the NHS..which would you prefer, higher taxes or more immigration ?
NHS management..see above !
Peace in Iraq...when was Iraq ever peaceful..we are heading for a situation where Iraq will either be slightly more peaceful, or slightly less peaceful, than pre-2003. Going to war was a poor decision, but any party in charge would have done the same.
Transport integration promise...the government should be encouraging more varied use of non-motor vehicles, car sharing, cycle use, etc
promise of vote on European constitution.. Seeing as the constitution was abandonned, why the need for a vote ? Do you think the Tories will pull us out of Europe ??

[pabird]

Economy...You will not find many people on fixed income and in particular pensioners to agreemillions of them are in recession

Immigration control...It most certainly is the issue, they lost it on border controls, they had no mandate to change the culture in huge UK areas by mass migration

NHS Dentistry...[color:#FF0000]The Government have had ten years to find an answer so even in your words have failed

NHS management. see above !YES

Peace in Iraq...You are living in a dream world where Bush did not bully Blair in to invading despite the rest of the worlds objections, how can two major powers invade without provocation and leave the country five years later without attending to water-power and other serious infrastructure essentials?

Transport integration promise...The Government promised to have a fully integrated transport system within 5 years (Prescott) another smashed promise

Promise of vote on European constitution. Please address the real world, the new paper is a major change in removal of sovereignty to Europe including the introduction of a European Foreign office and European President, Ted Heath, Blair and Brown have lied continuously and are lying now

[Greg_Dyke]

pabird,

 

lets talk about the big picture...

 

Big Government rarely affects my day to day life, other than a few pennies here and there.

I don't smoke, or break the law and live comfortably in my own routine.

 

What European decisions have really affected me ?

NONE

I avoid high crime areas and keep my guard up when i am out, to prevent me becoming a victim.

I dont mind paying a bit extra tax, for schools, hospitals, roads, education, as these all benefit society as a whole.

 

I refuse to blame any government for my own shortcomings, as 95% of the time, it's our personnel decisions that guide our lives, not theirs.

 

The only party who would not have gone to Iraq is the Lib Dems, they were / are a long way from power. To pin it all on two men (Bush / Blair) is ridiculous, when just a few years before Clinton was bombing all over the place in the former Yugoslavia

 

The NHS was ruined by Health reforms in the 80's, and is bumping along, from crisis to crisis...unless the public wants a rise in income tax, to fund better services, this will continue

 

The School system has suffered change after change, through the 80's, 90's and 00's, but the major problem is the parents, giving up responsibility to the schools, and then complaining when the teachers cant cope.

 

TIME FOR THE UK CITIZENS TO WORK AS A COMMUNITY, IF THEY WANT THINGS TO IMPROVE.

The selfish days of the 80's have cost us a lot, people should stop blaming the policiticians, they vote for, and do something more constructive, to improve their lot.

 

Finally, Immigration, this country was built on immigration, immigration is a good thing, not an evil. It contributes to the economy...any economic migrant coming to the country, is here because they want to improve their lives, by far and away the most benefits and houses are being paid to the exisitng population, not the 5% of recent generation immigrants.

 

If we had the money from the tax lost on top earners sending their cash to off shore accounts, it would out weight the amount lost in benefit fraud anyway.

 

end of sermon

[pabird]

Greg, I agree with certain of the issues you raise but notice you made no comment reference the MPS salaries, expenses etc.

You state The only party who would not have gone to Iraq is the Lib Dems, but the entire case for invasion was built on Blairs lies reference weapons of mass destruction and their availability with 45 minutes. as a result of his lies we have killed and maimed thousands of innocent people,

The NHS was ruined by Health reforms in the 80's, and is bumping along, from crisis to crisisLets get this right, the labour party gave us 24 hours to save the NHS (1997) they have since poured billions (for which we do pay higher taxes) in to the NHS and almost all of that money wasted as they failed to understand that the NHS needed money to develop client care (us). Truth is of course Labour cannot manage anything as big as the NHS

Finally, Immigration, this country was built on immigration, immigration is a good thing, not an evilagreed but not uncontrolled criminal lack of care or concern of the effects by the government.

If I were an economic migrant I would come to England and would traipse past Germany-France-Belgium etc to get here.

Truth is Iam an immigrant from North London who lost his inherited Wood Green culture to immigrants’ and all done by a Government that never was franchised to take such action, if you are to allow a couple or more million legal/illegal migrants in and in an uncontrolled "go where you will" manner you must impact on the lives of the indigenous, the social services the NHS and the schools in the area that those migrants choose to flood. In to.

Greg this mob cannot manage