Labour manifesto launch

Were you actually awake during the Major government? Did you not notice that infamous day during the ERM debacle where interest rates shot up not once, not twice, not three times but again and again and again? It was hysterical. Only not very funny if you had a mortgage or any other borrowings. Then there was the recession, with millions of people losing their homes... If you want to pretend the Major government was a halcyon period of financial stability, you are going to need the story-telling abilities and lack of regard for the truth of someone like, ooh, Jeffrey Archer.

"brockyg Tue 13-Apr-10 14:46:50
Sorry I missed a page, had to go to bed.

Strix, coming back to Labour and the recession. Think it's only fair to point out that it was the Conservative government who so drastically deregulated our banking system and allowed the building societies to turn into banks. A little historical perspective would reveal who really laid the foundations for this mess, and it wasn't Labour. "

It was also Tory good fiscal management that started the ten year long boom that began just as Labour took power, lets get this clear. The boom years were not browns doing, it was the Major Government's doing. Labour had no hand in bringing on ten years of prosperity.

All Brown managed to do was waste all the money and then stand about looking helpless, having sold off our gold reserves for peanuts and raided our pension funds.

" brockyg Mon 12-Apr-10 21:48:23
I swear if you asked 10 people about the lisbon treaty (except rabid Eurosceptics)they'd wonder what you were on about. Everyone accepted that Lisbon merely amended previous treaties and that a referendum was not needed, only the Irish Republic held one in the whole of Europe. Can we talk about what really matters to people? "

Utter bollox, it was the legal document that effectively brought into legal existence the state of Europe, and has paved the way for the United States of Europe.

It gave sweeping powers to europe to bacsically force national governments to obey Brussels, no matter what.

If it so chooses, and it will do at some point when it fees strong enough (if not then why give yourself the power in the first place), can abolish our political parties, suspend any further national elections, dissolve Parliament and discharge all our MP's. It can take over our armed services, our police forces (by merging them into a European Army and a European Police Force) and it can force us to adopt the Euro currency.

The Lisbon treaty is dangerous and will utlimately lead to the destruction of nation states and the formation of the European Superstate.

If you dont believe me, the get off your arse and take the trouble to find out. People like you are sleepwalking us into a european dictatorship because your ignorant of the real implications.

Apart from that, we didnt get the promised referendum because Brown knew it would be an overwhelming NO vote, thats why the lying toerag broke his election promise to give us one. And if Brown was scared he would get a fight to pass it, then that on its own is an indication theres something fishy and dodgy about it and an overwhelming reason to have such a vote.

Builde - I do hate all this talk of 'hard working families'. Patronising twaddle. I'd be more inclined to vote for someone who said, look, everyone's working far too hard, let's sort society out so people don't have to do long hours just to survive or maintain a career. A bit of balance between work and play would do us all some good. Where are all the ruddy volunteers Cameron's so keen to recruit going to come from if the country is entirely made up of hard working people?

WTF is 'a future fair for all' supposed to mean? A future funfair? If they mean a 'fair future', why don't they say it? (Presumably because they could then be done under the trades descriptions act).

God, I hate them.

Will there be anything for the single, hard-drinking feckless man/woman?

I've supported all the previous maternity reforms (lots of lovely paid maternity leave) but even now I'm beginning to think families get a bit much and that - if single - I would be v. pissed off.

Brown had the prosperous years and he saved nothing. How is that the Conservative's fault? I've already said he didn't cause it (and neither did the Conservatives), just that he failed to prepare us for it when he could and should have. He has spent everything and now when we need it, the pot is dry. That is fault of the tax and spend chancellor: Gordon Brown.

Sorry I missed a page, had to go to bed.

Strix, coming back to Labour and the recession. Think it's only fair to point out that it was the Conservative government who so drastically deregulated our banking system and allowed the building societies to turn into banks. A little historical perspective would reveal who really laid the foundations for this mess, and it wasn't Labour.

What do they say in there about Higher education? They still want Universities to take account of 'context' when considering applications...

Scrapping GP boundaries as much as I hate to say anything nice about the Lib dems is a brilliant idea. They should do the same for schools.

btw for comparison, Lib Dem policy on GPs = to scrap practise boundaries (or whatever they're called) and let people can register where they want, with GPs to be paid "patient premium" for taking patients from deprived areas.

I thought the top secret McKinsey report said in order to cut 50% off your costs cut 50% of your work.

well worth a few hundred thousand if you ask me

like you say Edam a few spotty 'consultants' straight out of Uni know so much more than those in the healthcare business

Okey dokey. I will look for them later in the week.

It is a pure "fun" exercise.....to see how much I can read before I swear! Although that doesn't really apply with the lib dems.

Conservatives launch theirs tomorrow, Lib Dems on Weds. don't have a clue about the BNP...

You clearly have a taste for fiction, Tiny.

Just to be nosey....(and because I can't find them) does anyone have the links for the manifestoes (manifesti?) for Lib Dem, Tories, BNP?

actually maybe we should face reality about post offices. there are three within a short walk of my front door - as is true in a lot of London. That's great but given that I han buy stamps in every newsagent it may not be strictly necessary. In rural France the local pub will often also be the post office and the bookies which keeps everyone afloat - and the community. The post office might want to be a bit more flexible. It can't be sensible to maintain more than 10,000 branches when Woolworths has gone and half the high street is putting up the boards. And maybe the first wave (oops sorry) of wind urbine outfits didn't make it but that's often been the case for the vanguard in a new industry but there's a lot doing OK

yes, by the Dept of Health, they won't publish it.

oops, sorry PW!

Um, I mean 'ideas beloved of special advisors that don't necessarily work terribly well in the real world'... like making patients re-register with their GP every five years, because inconveniencing patients is a minor quibble when you can open up the 'market'.

Top secret one where McKinsey's claim they know how to run the NHS so much better than all those ill-informed doctors and nurses. Scary stuff - bunch of management consultants deciding where to wield the axe. Because clearly people with MBAs in stating the bleeding obvious know far much more about medicine and nursing than people with qualifications and experience and far much more about one of the largest and most complex organisations in the world than the people who actually work in it...

Apparently if only they would pull their socks up, everyone could see 10 zillion patients every hour... apparently things like up to £2.4bn could be saved if all hospitals were as 'productive' as the 'best' (hey, sacking people makes your organisation so much more efficient! Now if only we could get rid of all those pesky patients cluttering up the corridors too...). And stop procedures for 'unnecessary' things like grommets, because hey, McKinsey's know far better than the sodding doctors. (The clinical evidence suggests grommets are no better than watchful waiting in general for children under three who have had glue ear no longer than three months, IIRC, but in McKinsey-land that translates to primary care trusts should never ever pay for grommets at all, no matter what the clinical judgement of the doctor who has actually seen that particular patient.)

Productivity in healthcare is an incredibly hard thing to measure. Because ultimately medicine is about people - a consultation between a health professional and a patient. It's not as simple as making widgets (and I bet people who make widgets would argue that isn't particularly straightforward either.)