good stuff the tories will do?

[tbaldwin]

That's funny cos for every "official" unemployed person job seeking there are loads more who don't count in the official statistics!

( I thought public sector jobs had to be advertised, even if they have been unofficially allocated already??)

True enough but i think alrights point is valid too.
I wonder how many billions of £s are wasted advertising jobs that have already been allocated by local and health authorities. Probably enough to pay off most of the countrys debts.

 

[FOXITEWHIG]

Reduce the size of government and cut taxes.

 

[tbaldwin]

Reduce the size of government and cut taxes.

Sounds good to a point.
And that point is where you see that you end up paying more to get less.
Privatisation has been a huge waste of public money. We now pay higher subsidies to train companies`than we paid for a nationalised service and the trains run slower.
Energy companies are a law to themselves and PFI is the disaster in waiting.

Mind you if you called for a cap on higher salaries in the public sector and scrapping trident that would get my vote.

 

[chainsaw cat]

Reduce the size of government and cut taxes.

Hey, welcome, friend.

You are our kinda guy.

Want to come round my place for mince pies and sex?

 

[Ibn Khaldoun]

Maybe it'll be like Sarajevo where everything was in such dire straits that it made people come together?

 

[FOXITEWHIG]

Want to come round my place for mince pies and sex?

The Economist says NO.

 

[FOXITEWHIG]

Mind you if you called for a cap on higher salaries in the public sector and scrapping trident that would get my vote.

Scrapping Trident is a good idea, but the Tories won't do it. Especially with Liam Fox as the shadow defence secretary who is opposed to any real cuts in defence spending:

"There'll be a replacement for our Trident system under the Conservatives...The country requires it for its defence".

 

[ViolentPanda]

Scrapping ID card would be good.

Only if the plans to consolidate data held on disparate databases is also scrapped, otherwise the net effect will be the same: increased state agency access to and surveillance of your personal information.

 

[ViolentPanda]

just thinking about the 'nosiness' that's been in the press, quite a lot of it is done by local councils (fining people for not shutting bins, using anti terrorism laws to snoop on people) has this kind of behaviour been used across the board of political parties?

Seems to have been, at local government level.

 

[ViolentPanda]

That's only the advertised vacancies. Anyone who works in personnel will tell you that, for every advertised vacancy, there are 4 unadvertised.

Across job-types or in specific fields?
Because unless you're talking about specific fields, you're chatting shit and know you are chatting shit. Even taking into account unadvertised vacancies including ones that are only "internally advertised", there are still more job-hunters than vacancies, something that's reflected in the fact that with supply outstripping demand, there's little upward movement of pay rates.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Reduce the size of government and cut taxes.

Calling yourself "Foxite Whig" doesn't distract from the fact that you're peddling modern Tory policies.
BTW, care to justify "cutting taxes" through reference to current economic facts rather than through ideological attraction?

 

[ViolentPanda]

Maybe it'll be like Sarajevo where everything was in such dire straits that it made people come together?

Wouldn't we need snipers to patrol high positions and make random executions of members of the public to get a Sarajevo vibe going?

 

[ViolentPanda]

The Economist says NO.

The Economist, like the subject it purports to report on, is prone to flights of fancy and delusion.

 

[LLETSA]

That's only the advertised vacancies. Anyone who works in personnel will tell you that, for every advertised vacancy, there are 4 unadvertised.

That must be why more people than ever of working age are not working.

21% of the adult population are 'economically inactive.'

 

[DotCommunist]

The Economist, like the subject it purports to report on, is prone to flights of fancy and delusion.

That isn't fair, the economist does at least obey the internal logic of the fantasy called Capital. See also: the FT.

 

[audiotech]

A Battle that Must be Won was their headline during the miners strike, so biased.

 

[Ibn Khaldoun]

Wouldn't we need snipers to patrol high positions and make random executions of members of the public to get a Sarajevo vibe going?

heh, i dunno. there's probably a better example.

but yeah we could do that.

 

[Giles]

Only if the plans to consolidate data held on disparate databases is also scrapped, otherwise the net effect will be the same: increased state agency access to and surveillance of your personal information.

You are quite right. I hope that they will do this, although I am not holding my breath.

They should bin this new "ISA" thing as well while they are at it.

Giles..

 

[Azrael]

Only if the plans to consolidate data held on disparate databases is also scrapped, otherwise the net effect will be the same: increased state agency access to and surveillance of your personal information.

Agreed. I've no time for ID cards, but the database they're tied to is far worse than issuing a piece of plastic with your name and address on. I fear the Tories will ditch the headline-grabbing bits of plastic, but keep the database on the quiet.

On a more positive note, they've said they'll remove the power of the police to keep biometrics from suspects, except in sexual or violent cases, where it'll be three years. Still too much, but better than Labour's pathetic, stroppy attempts to comply with the ECHR's unanimous ruling.

Scrapping Trident is a good idea, but the Tories won't do it. Especially with Liam Fox as the shadow defence secretary who is opposed to any real cuts in defence spending:

"There'll be a replacement for our Trident system under the Conservatives...The country requires it for its defence".

Depends what the replacement is. If it's a small deterrent, much less than the absurd £70bn cold war-leftover Labour have proposed, there's a case for it. (Although there's also a case for ditching our nukes completely, now.)