Aghhh - How Utterly Wrong!! Policy on the hoof, again!

BBC Radio 2 announced today that student loan debt would soar to 200 billion by 2040. I wrote to my MP and David Cameron 2 years ago saying this would happen. I asked whether the government had planned for non-payment of loans and what their figures were. I accused them that government was not thinking ahead and policy was made on the hoof. What an utter waste of time politicians are!!

They replied with plassitudes that meant nothing at the time and history is showing just how useless their replies were.

Stop MPs getting an 11% pay rise vote here!!

Come on UK - stop this happening. Why on earth should MPs get an 11% pay rise when they are responsible for the mess the country is in. Forget whether you vote labour, Conservative of Jedi knight. Let's rise up together and vote, otherwise you are voting for apathy!!

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/

What is Margaret Hodge Smoking??!

She is certainly on a high. The height of hypocrisy. She is blaming Customs for failing to collect all revenue on tobacco. This costs £2 billion a year http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/10/british-tobacco-companies-are-fuelling-black-market-trading-4141212/

It amazes me the gall politicians have for blaming others whilst ignoring their own magnificent blunders. The government fails to collect taxes from corporate business in the region of billions every year, and have failed to do so for the last 7 years. How on earth can she criticise others?

Surely she must recognise her own failings and responsibilities in this area. It is hugely hypocritical to point the finger of blame elsewhere while Amazon, Starbucks and many more companies simply refuse to pay taxes.

Bloody politicians and egos the size of London Bridge. Sack them all!!

Freedom of Speech - My Ass (or donkey to be polite)

Freedom of speech has two significant problems.

On the one hand being politically Correct stifles free speech. Try talking about migration without being labelled racist. It doesn't matter that the UK is broke, the NHS buckling under the strain, the roads jammed and full to capacity and our GP surgery as full as the roads. You are racist to discuss this.

Then there is the Guardian! Giving terrorist free information on how to bomb UK and get away with it.

Politicians - I hope you are proud of yourselves for creating such a mess!!

Likely Power Cuts - Yet more nonsense from Stupid Politicians

Another prime example of politicians incapable of forward planning. MPs seem only to be able to work short term, probably because they are focussed on backstabbing each other.

That the UK is facing power cuts is a disgrace. Politicians have had many years to plan ahead as they known for a long time that various power stations were nearing the end of their life and in typical fashion we are facing a potential crisis.

Politicians have had their day. We need effective people running the country. Sack the lot of them.

Just for fun - Does the Mail hate you?

This was amusing - give it a try

http://toys.usvsth3m.com/are-you-hated-by-the-daily-mail/

"Work for Benefits" - Impact on Graduates

OK so it costs graduates about £40k to get a degree and then the politicians want them to sweep the streets or pick up litter when they can't get a job. What a surprise when there is an uproar in coming months. What a way to treat people.

In general I think people should work for allowances, but the above is a potentially very sore point for many graduates. Surely the government should help by ensuring degrees are meaningful and likely to lead to a decent job, otherwise this is just hypocritical to charge on the one hand and then demean them on the other.

Really, Really Angry...

I really hate this advert and the ad campaign by HR Revenue and Customs. https://www.gov.uk/sortmytax

What angers me is the bullying tactics whilst cowardly ignoring corporate tax and the wealthy! Corporate tax avoidance is a much bigger problem and would net the government far more money. They are also ignoring wealthy people who find tax loopholes. I really object that this is so biased and one sided. It is discriminatory in the worst possible way.

We are all taxed hugely already!! I feel hounded and every penny has to be accounted for whilst big business (Starbucks, eBay, Amazon etc) decide what tax they feel like paying or do not bother at all. Many of these companies owe taxes going back over 7 or more years. That is a staggering sum.

It is not fair that the wealthy who can afford clever lawyers also get away with blatant tax avoidance. I am already paying huge levels of taxes and to penny pinch hard working people whilst ignoring blatant and deliberate tax avoidance is annoying.

I believe the annual tax bill of Corporation is £30 billion and for the wealthy a further £ 5 billion. I would suggest HM revenue level the playing field and become fair by chasing big business and wealthy in a proportional manner to squeezing hard working people.

Please complain to:-

http://www.asa.org.uk/Consumers/How-to-complain/Online-Form/Step1.aspx

Energy Price Rise Freeze - The Truth!! Beware at your peril.

It seems to me to be common knowledge that many energy companies (foreign owned) subsidise their own companies by charging the UK more! This is grossly unfair and underhand. But, it also reflects a problem with the way UK runs competition. There isn't any. If there was competition then British Gas could easily undercut EDS and other companies subsidising French and German consumers. But British Gas don't. They simply hike their prices annually in line with whatever profit they can get away with.

I am fully behind doing something to end this extortion by big bully boy companies (who don't pay taxes, no doubt). But a Freeze on prices is simply a gimmick. The companies WILL recover their costs either before, or after the freeze.

What should horrify politicians (they are of course too dumb to see this) is the vehemence by which the industry is attacking this potential freeze. Surely politicians should be forewarned this has become an expected annual hike. They have simply gotten used to getting away with massive hikes before each winter and not surprisingly profits soar. unfortunately the politicians are complacent as usual. It is now the norm.

As to needing the money for infrastructure - the water companies have been giving this as an excuse for 10 years or more BUT is there any evidence for infrastructure improvements? This is so easy to claim and we public (unprotected by fat cat politicians) have to suffer the consequences.

Please pass this message on!! Write to your MP and feel free to pass this message to them.

No, No, No, No - Stupid Politicians!!

Please drop the live debates before elections. Let's stop blindly following the US. The right to silence, open plan offices and now this. It's too showbiz and tells us nothing.

At the last election Nick Clegg was by far the best candidate in live debates, but has proven to be the worst politician, in my opinion. Surely we don't need any more proof than that!!

It tells us who is best looking, charismatic and like all politicians ... the best liar. Surely The Voice typifies a good approach, not to see the candidate and let influence your opinions. Also, firing from the hip with off the cuff remarks proves very little.

The US have this system and I think it stinks (no offence chaps from across the ocean :) )

Politicians - Evidence they don't work for our better good.

Well, I've been saying it for a while, but Damian McBride's book says it all. Politicians spend all their time jostling for position and manipulating the media to get colleagues fired. Politics seems to be more about one-upmanship than worrying about the country and politicians seem to spend an awful amount of time and effort smearing each other.

If only they spent as much time on policies and leading the nation. What a waste of time they all are.

Gibralter and the might of the Royal Navy, or what's left of it

Amazing. Can no one else see the irony of this?. We are sending a task force of 10 ships to Gibraltar over Spain's recent issue over sovereignty. Has anyone else realised the task force has SIX SUPPORT VESSELS? Wow, that will scare the Spanish.

What are we threatening spain with, delivering or removing cargo. Scares the s***t out of me.

Tax dodgers

The government recently posted the names of 20 tax dodgers, but only one arrest in a year. I'm a little confused why they highlight these folk who are costing the nation millions, but not mentioning the other tax dodgers;

Starbucks
Amazon
Some (all?) UK water companies
etc.

After all - we are led to believe corporate tax avoidance is costing billions. is it that the government is to friendly with big business and is too afraid to denounce them?

Zero pay contracts

I though there was a minimum wage in this country and yet time and again I hear about zero wage contracts. Surely these folk could sue their employers as otherwise having a minimum wage is a mockery. oddly enough, the palace and MPs are the first folk who would be sued. how on earth have we got into the ludicrous position of expecting people to work for FREE, sometimes for a year or more. Come on folks. Get real.

Mr Angry

OK, I admit it. I don't get it. Why do people in the UK think only in terms of Labour, Tory, other etc? Why can't folks see how pathetically useless all politicians are?

I have some friends that are died-in-the-wool labour supporters. They vote labour because their parents did. They consider themselves working class, although they live in leafy suburbia. They love discussing politics, but their response to every debate that doesn't go their way is - don't believe everything you read in the Daily Mail. That phrase crops up time and time again like some well worn record. They have no counter argument, no facts of their own. Simply, don't believe the evil rag.

What they don't know, and probably wouldn't believe, is I have voted labour, twice. I don't fit their mould as I don't say, don't believe the Mail as my mantra. Because of that - I am not on their wavelength or intelligence level. I get my facts from the radio, the news and blogs. I have even written to MPs and the Council for Freedom of Information data. It infuriates me, therefore, when I am told, don't believe the Mail. Is that some magical phrase that puts the country to rights? Does it make them feel good about themselves? Is it a Mason's phrase to get you into some inner circle? I don't know.

All I know is the country is in a shambles due to politicians behaving like movie stars. I know that my wage is taxed into non-existence to pay for unemployed, migrants, sickness benefits, GPs earning a rare fortune, water CEOs earning a million a year, council chief executives creaming it in, etc etc. With council tax, water rates, fuel on duty, parking fees and every other hidden tax, I am taxed at around 50%. So, too, are you!!

Where are the 50% of non-voters and what is their view? What will it take to wake up a large percentage of people who have given up on politics? Let's vote in non-politicians. People who have worked and have experience of life. Politicians are completely hopeless and out of touch. Captains of Industry perhaps. May be then we will see a change in this country for the better.

Privatisation of the Royal Mail - the Facts!

When is the government going to wake up to the fact competition doesn't work? This is their real aim behind privatisation and it is simply flawed. Our energy and water bills have sky-rocketed even though there is meant to be competition. None of the companies pay taxes either. Before government sells of the Royal Mail they need to look at what is already privatised and see that it really doesn't work.

The first thing that happens is the CEO awards himself 20-30 million in shares, a massive pension pot and £1M salary. This is a fact. That's a lot of stamps. It also means more efficiency drives to pay for the CEO so the staff have to have pay freezes or be sacked!!

David Cameron - wake up and get a grip!

How Can Anyone Defend the MPs Exorbitant Pay Increase?!!

Wow. Listened to Radio 2 and Sir Ian Kennedy defending his decision to increase MPs pay by 10% at a time of financial hardship.

Many listeners were very angry and Sir Ian defended himself by explaining in the overall picture MPs were actually not doing that well, when you consider their pensions will reduce. Hang about - most of us are having pension reductions and no sweetener. Sir Ian, you comments were not defensible!!

Many folk are on a pay freeze at the dictate of the MPs. So they are telling us NO PAY RISE for the foreseeable future whilst basking in a £10k increase themselves. What a bunch of hippocrits. What is really annoying is that they caused the financial problem in the first place, see earlier posts!

MPs - taking the mickey.

Wow, who would have believed it.Nadine Dorries is back in the Tory party. Are they mad? She put two fingers up at here constituents and waltzed off to become famous without any warning. Even her mother complained she wasn't fit to be an MP, I believe. This typifies MPs believing themselves to be more pop star than representative of the people. With David Cameron as a role model, appearing on David letterman's chat shows tying to emulate his hero Boris Johnson (you failed by the way David) I suppose the party had no choice.

All MPs and all parties are letting us down and this is yet another example of government in shambles.

Stupid Politicians - Complacency is Destroying the UK.

For some time now I have struggled to put my finger on what it is that I am dissatisfied with about politics and politicians. Finally I have had a Eureka moment and it came listening to the Deputy Leader Simon Hughes, commenting about lib democrat performance on the May 2013 council elections.

“We are not complacent,” he declared, with the smugness of the Cheshire Cat.

How can one man be so utterly wrong? In one simple statement he has identified the crux of the woes of the last 10 years of government. What is sad is that he and other politicians are oblivious to the many problems and their potential solutions. They accept too much as the norm rather than questioning them and they appear utterly incapable of understanding the anger in the public ranks.

Blithely Mr Hughes explained his party’s council election failure as the usual mid-term tactical vote by the dissatisfied public. He seemed to roll his eyes as he explained this down turn – it always happens and is inevitable was his message. That is why his party was unpopular. He didn’t question why the voters are always frustrated mid-term. He saw this as a natural occurrence. Again – how wrong can he be? The reason for the mid term dislike of government is that the public is fed up with failed policies. The fact that MPs accept the mid-term drop in popularity reflects how complacent they have become. They need to understand the sheer frustration amongst the voters and our key message that they are failing us. His complacency doesn’t even let him see this. By the time government does, they will no doubt commission various contradictory reports, yards long and full of blether – when the answer is so simple. You, the politicians are failing us, the people.

Mr Hughes and all other MPs are dreadfully complacent in another key area and again they don’t even realise it. Fifty percent of the public are turned off from voting? Why? Because no matter whom you vote for you end up with the same mess. Fundamentally, politicians are failing us i.e. one government is as bad as another. Perhaps it is how politicians are trained. After all does endless debate actually achieve anything? It seems that years go by before comprehension dawns and then years go by before policy actually changes. Perhaps we need folk who understand business and the running of things, rather than people trained in politics.

An area that makes me very angry is the obvious complacency stopping the politicians from identifying the key issue behind the financial crisis. Complacency by successive governments has allowed business to simply stop paying taxes over many, many years. Initially, this probably started small with business testing the water, hiding some profit here, other profit there. Government should have nipped this in the bud 10 years ago when it first started. Their complacency must have seen like a windfall to many business leaders. Wow, we no longer have to pay taxes.

The first thing business did was award the Chief Executives with startling pay rises. Who can blame business; after all it was probably a Chief Executive who identified these massive savings in money. Bonuses came next; all at the expense of taxes, leaving a massive black hole for the public to fill. Finally business realised that government wasn’t interested in taxes at all. Many haven’t paid taxes for 7 years! It has become the norm and business is entrenched in avoiding taxes.

Tax avoidance has now grown to a staggering thirty billion pounds a year; a massive proportion of the national debt, especially when considering the years that this has not been paid. Rich people, probably seeing the success of business, followed suit and they avoid paying five billion pounds a year. Complacent government has looked on – and done nothing, allowing this practise to grow over the last ten years. If there is a financial crisis – this is it. Government – look no further and stop hounding the public.

In another area, for years, the government has expounded the virtues of competition then Ms sink back into a mire of complacency as the country tries to come to terms with yet another crazy dictate. Is competition beneficial to the public purse? Look at the water industry as an example. In the last decade in England water bills have risen by 68%. In Scotland, where there is no competition, they have only risen by 24%. That doesn’t seem like competition is working.

In another example, we have seen hundreds of building projects, won by the cheapest bid, suddenly delayed and costs escalate to double and triple the original bid. The parliament building in Edinburgh and the trams in the same city are wonderful examples of competition failing. The cleanliness of the hospitals is another example. Then there are companies winning bids and then walking away with a fortune after leaving the company/business in the mire – Southern Cross old people’s homes’ fiasco.  Government watches this shambles with utter complacency, believing it is all going swimmingly well, while roads now costs millions of pounds per mile to fix and years of delays. Look at the M25 junction 5 with a completion date of July 2014. Is competition working? No one believes it is and yet government are asleep to the problems they have created and we the public suffer as Fat Cats get wealthy on the sheer and utter waste of public money.

Often government policy and activity take years to realise and correct. For more than 10 years the public and media have known that GCSEs have been dumbed down and only recently has the government woken up and finally admitted this. Another example is whether schools can sell playing fields and the benefit (or not) of competing on the playing field ... years of oscillating from one view point to the next when common sense would dictate a sensible route forward. Complacency by government, as schools try to follow one failed policy after another only to have them changed in the blink of a sleepy eye.

The utter complacency by MPs when GPs negotiated their own pay deal, when their pay leaped to a staggering two hundred and fifty thousand pounds a year and they refused to do any more night calls, landing the country with a massive bill to pay locums, many under qualified.

The complacency of government after Germany has warned us about the forthcoming Rumanian influx and the despoiling and crime in the areas they inhabit.

The list seems endless. I have barely scratched the surface. What can we do though? I firmly believe that politicians need a serious wake up call. The people and press need to present the damming findings above to government and they should be called to account for their failings. Send this essay far and wide, send it to your MP and demand an explanation, copy it on Facebook, Twitter and any other media as you can. Spread the message far and wide and help the people to realise why the country is in crisis. It is not the fault of the public, but years of government complacency. Perhaps voting for UKIP en mass as a protest is an answer. Politicians have failed; let’s vote for MPs with experience in work and industry rather than wannabe popstar-MPs like Nadine Dorries, from I’m-a-celebrity-get-me-out-of-here fame, and David Cameron following in her footsteps by appearing on US chat shows. The rot is clearly from the top down.

Let’s re-examine government policy. As an example of lack of policy – look at our overcrowded roads. Why not ask hauliers to take a break in rush hour? Why not speak to motorway services and ask them for a 50% discount for lorry drivers in the rush hour. Surely there are many policies that could work that haven’t even been explored or thought of, all because our MPs are devoid of ideas and accept too much as the norm. Complacency is killing our once proud country. Don’t be complacent yourself and take action as suggested above. Now.

Warning - may contain sarcasm!

To everyone in the world and especially Romania. Please come to this country. We welcome you with open arms. You will get a free house and more money than you can shake a stick at. If you have 11 children we will find a Grade 1 listed building to house you and you well get upward of £30,000 per year. We are working on making that more money as we know how hard it is to get by, especially in hard economic times. Bear in mind the money is after tax. Don't worry about the hard working people who fund this, they never complain and, after all, the government will find new ways to tax them. And if you get rich, you can find one of many loop holes to exploit so that you don't have to pay the nasty tax man. No one else does, except the hard working middle classes, but heh hoh, that's their lot.

As to the nasty Germans warning the UK of your thieving ways, I'm sure they are misguided. The UK will sympathise with your thieving and supply translators at exorbitant costs to make you feel less intimidated as you burgle your way across the country. Anyway our jails are like hotels and full in any event. A massive tip is to buy a cat upon arrival and then the UK cannot deport you on humanitarian grounds. Works every time. Our lawyers are on a lucrative deal to defend you and will do their up most to get you off any trumped up charge the police will come up with.  Be assured that all our civil servants are all currently doing a diversity course, again at huge expense, to make you feel welcome. They are educated that you are not thieves and burglars, but welcome members of the community and if they repeat that often enough then I'm sure they will believe it.

Be aware that our government is very very clever. Labour introduced mass migration to the UK to alter the demographic nature of the company some years ago  i.e. so people would vote for them. This can't have gone wrong, so I strongly suspect David Cameron is simply a Labour PM cleverly hidden within our ranks. The government is clever in many other ways and would not allow the UK to be bankrupt so we can clearly afford many more migrants visiting these lovely shores and claiming huge benefits. Our national debt is a trifle and we welcome you with open arms. Come hither one and all and help us to bleed the country dry. We are already building on the flood planes to give you new housing and when you are swept away then there will be more room for your brothers and sisters.

Metal Theft, China and the UK government looking foolish - again

Metal theft epitomises how completely inept UK government has become. Lead and copper has been stolen to feed the growing dragon, China. Labour seemed incapable of doing anything and for several years metal theft went on unabated, making the UK look foolish. The Tories took a couple of years to tackle this problem and it all just reflect how ponderous UK government is, over bloated and too full of its own self importance to tackle real problems. They were probably debating their next pension rise and how to get that past the unsuspecting UK populace whilst freezing our pensions! Well, they succeeded on that important issue. In the 4-5 years it took to even attempt to stop metal theft, I wonder how many tons have departed our shores?

To make it worse we have the UK Lawyers! Two men caught on a church roof couldn't be prosecuted for sealing lead - which they clearly were - because no one could prove they weren't on the roof looking at the view. That happens a lot of course.I often climb on to church roofs to take in the view and pocket a few tons of lead on the way. Great stuff.

We should get rid of politicians and replace them with folk with experience of life and who have held real jobs - and been successful. We shouldn't employ politicians who are self serving and turn up on I'm a Celebrity get me Out of Here. Surprised Cameron hasn't applied.

Short termism

Well the lights are about to go out. Government has not been forward thinking which has always been a concern of mine. A number of power stations are soon to be turned off and there's simply no replacement. this is shocking news and highlights how totally useless all politicians are. The Italian elections confirm that - a comedian has won a huge amount of votes.

No one trusts politicians any more.

Our politicians are repeatedly letting us down. The chaos that is soon to come over power is just one example and if they are not planning for the future how many other policies are simply fit for short-termism?

How much tax do you pay - the reality?

Ouch. I just sat down and worked out how much Tax we generally pay in the UK on our hard earned money. The tax burden has always been bad in the UK but it has grown beyond all proportions. If I include national insurance, and then include 20% VAT on pretty much everything I buy (excluding Cornish pasties - thanks George), council tax and taxes on fuel - I calculate that I pay over 50% in tax.

Half my pay gone! All those folk out there that are bitter about UK government suddenly deciding to reduce pensions because of austerity measures need to factor in that we pay over 50% in tax. I'm a little surprised the Unions (NUT, NASUWT) haven't latched on to this fact!

50% tax!! And that's probably a conservative figure. What's your view?

Cameron - are you a loon?

Of course people should have a right to light. To imagine a neighbour building and blocking your windows is infuriating. Surely we learnt from the leylandii fiasco. Are you incapable of learning? When you came into power you tried to close grammar schools until their was an uproar. Policies are made on the hoof and given the food fiasco that seems a very appropriate comment!

You want to build on the green zone, also. Have you seen the roads and the traffic jams? Britain is full. We cannot keep to your silly not thought through policies. 1000 more homes in Maidstone and other areas?? Come here and see the traffic on a Monday morning. It's impossible as it is.

Get some useful policies. Collect the £30 billion corporation taxes that are owed annually. Back date it 10 years and if they don't pay shut them down. Use the money to keep our AAA status and pay off the debt.

Good Grief - Mansion Tax Nonesense

Why introduce a new tax when they are unable to collect current taxes? On the BBC news yesterday they announced £5 billion is uncollected due to the wealthy avoiding paying. That's on top of the corporation tax dodgers (£30 billion) such as Starbucks etc etc.

This has been going on for many years. That's £35 billion each year!!! In 10 years that's been 35 0000 million. If the government collected its taxes and enforced collection we would be out of this mess by now.

Why aren't this and the previous government collecting its due? How can Starbucks set its own tax when the rest of us declare profit and tax is set on that? Why is this and the previous government so useless? Why does no one seem to care???