buctootim

shotgun

I dont do tribal politics - its not only pointless but prevents people from seeing situations as they are. Around 40% of people vote for the wrong party based on their views but have bought into the 'my team good, your team bad' mentality. I've voted for four different parties in the past, depending on candidate and election - including Tory.

Ultimately producing countries need the debtor countries. You cant have mass employment making tvs and cars and Iphones if you dont have demand. For every balance of trade surplus there needs to be an equal deficit somewhere. This hour long video from Yanis Varoufakis before he was Greek finance minister is very interesting, I really recommend it. It starts slowly but is well worth sticking with after the first few minutes. I don't agree with his implied conclusion that its okay to default, but his grasp of subject and 'how we got here' from a global perspective is enlightening.

I agree you shouldnt be running a deficit during an economic boom, something both Brown and previous conservative chancellors were guilty of. However until 2007 the annual deficit was being funded by economic growth and, as Whelk said, the UK had one of the lowest debt to GDP ratios in the modern world. The massive increase in debt after 2007 wasnt a sudden increase in recurrent expenditure on public services, it was a collapse of revenues. Should Brown have been more prudent, continuing as he did in the early days of the Blair government? yes. Was he doing anything that previous conservative chancellors hadn't done, or that other western countries weren't doing? no. Therefore to paint him as uniquely profligate or incompetent is wrong.

Just to put the hoary old myth to sleep. The deficit was caused mostly by a collapse in tax revenues, not an increase in spending.

You have an odd approach to life. You tell yourself what you want to hear and then seem to believe it, facts notwithstanding. Germany, Denmark and Portugal all had long recurrent recessions and periods of stagnation. As the UK is in Europe they are out comparators to judge whether Labour did better or worse than average, not Paraguay. http://www.independent.ie/business/world/denmark-cant-avoid-third-recession-in-four-years-29236928.html http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21580178-despite-shrinking-economy-portuguese-want-keep-euro-floundering http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11160944/Eurozone-in-crisis-Germany-could-enter-third-recession-in-six-years.html

Small world

UKIP trustworthy? http://www.ukip.org/cameron_fiddling_the_books_on_nato_defence_spending_is_a_betrayal_of_our_troops

I dont know, and tbh honest I dont care enough about Clarkson, steak dinners or the producer to bother googling further!

They dont. The point is Fallon has given Miliband a 24 carat maximum publicity opportunity to demonstrate he will pursue Labour's policies whatever the SNP think. The Tories have effectively shot themselves in the foot by neutralising one of their best angles of attack.

Really? looks pretty across the board to me. In fact many countries, the PIIGS, were far worse. http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=cjsdgb406s3np_&ctype=l&met_y=gdp-ppp#!ctype=l&strail=false&bcs=d&nselm=h&met_y=gdp-ppp&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=region&idim=country:61:65:184:83:162&ifdim=region&tstart=639615600000&tend=1302303600000&hl=en_US&dl=en_US&ind=false

I thought they weren't? Hasnt Clarkson admitted to it? http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/jeremy-clarkson-handed-himself-because-5323137

Im not saying it should have gone to court. No doubt the producer was concerned about his career and got some good assurances / compensation. I just think its odd that anyone would deny there was a crime when the facts of the abuse and assault arent disputed.

Its not effective though because it forces Miliband to issue a categoric assurance that it wont happen. On a cynical tactical level they would have done better with gentle ongoing doubt raising and innuendo.

They said they would maintain a continuous at sea deterrent and would take the advice of the Admiralty, acknowledging that four would almost certainly be required. Making stuff up and then being proved wrong is not the way to get elected - especially when the tories will fail to maintain the NATO commitment of spending 2% of GDP on defence. It just adds hypocrisy to the list.

He wasnt prosecuted because the victim declined to give a statement. Threatening behaviour and assault are crimes.

flasher

The whole campaign is desperate. There is such a lack of talent on all sides. Fallons attempt was misjudged - it just gave Labour the opportunity to get massive publicity for saying they would maintain the continuous at sea deterrent - thereby making the Tory look spiteful and Labour trustworthy.

Currently they are tied in the polls but with Labour predicted to get four more seats than the Tories due to the greater concentration of their vote. I doubt there would be another formal coalition. Much more likely imo is a minority Labour government working with the ad hoc support of the SNP and Lib Dems. It would give Parliament more power than it has had for decades.

On another forum somebody asked what would happen after they've blown the German reparations money - go after the Turks and Byzantines? (if they've left a forwarding address).

Basically it all boils down having an internal market in the NHS. Hospitals and GPs get paid for every patient they see and every procedure carried out. Each of those actions need to be recorded and billed for. Counting and recording of every action increases accountability and oversight but at a cost in time, resources and equipment. Some people think that the principal of 'money following the patient' makes the NHS more efficient and responsive. My experience is that it diverts money away from patient care and ironically creates waste in pursuit of efficiency.

Lefty Ed, lefty Dave, lefty Nige, lefty Nick and now lefty Wes.

You do know GPs perform procedures, issue drugs and refer patients to hospitals right and get paid by work done? and that the whole point of integrated IT systems is to enable that to happen? and you did read special K's post admitting IT work takes GPs time? Your point is what?

The Tories, UKIP, Lib Dems and everybody else agree with him. Red Dave, Red Nige, Red Nick, lefty b'stards.

I wasnt denigrating the quality of the staff, far from it. Torres claimed you can contract out and leave them to get on with it. My point was contracting out requires a lot of time spent by NHS staff to shape and inform the process. Your post confirms that, it unavoidable.