AIBU to think there are more right wing views on MN than left wing?

[Bumsnetter]

I used to think it the other way round but lately there have been a lot more right wing views on threads.

I will never be right wing, don't think it is in my DNA but quite a lot of dogma on the left really pisses me off.
Fundamentally I believe in equal opportunity, we can't all be the same, we will not all achieve the same things but the opportunities, particularly in terms of education and health should not really be about being able to pay
What a waste if we neglect children and write them off at an early age, and reading on the history of health and and social assistance, it is not hard to see why the welfare state came into being

I do however have no patience for job-worthiness and waste of money and resources or for excuses or overblown sense of entitlement without feeling the duty to contribute

i agree with you SFX mum.
i am always amazed at the number of people who are so convinced life will always smell of roses for them (financially) unless they are aristos\independently wealthy they are only a merger \redundancy\ divorce\ death\ illness\disabled child away from shitsville themselves.

I think some think that the shit only happens to lazy, useless folk rather than luck being a major player.

I do think the most vocal group are those to the left and many who have it tough. I sometimes get the impression that anyone to the right or who is comfortably off probably stays quiet for an easy life.

I am a libertarian (read PJ O'Rourke to explain)
I believe in tax systems that reward success
I believe in benefit systems that support the genuinely unable
BUT
I believe that most of the EU economies have become far too much "nanny state" with a high tax burden and control.
In these days of realising that the developed world has lived beyond its means for 15 years, we have to accept that there is no "them" there is only "us"
we either pay for it, or do it, or it does not happen.
No more borrowing from our kids please.

i dont think so op yabvu

BRING BACK WORKHOUSES lazy poor fuckers using my taxes to feed their kids. thank fuck there is a new initiative in place to send those going hungry to christian food banks by the jobcentre this isn't a third world country you know. if people want to eat, they should stand in line to get food - or get a job.

you see this shit wouldn't happen to me becuase mater and pater ensured i had a good education. but they were working class too, pater once briefly worked as deputy chief executive to oxfordshire county council. we know what poor is you know. As a child mater would instruct the maid to re-heat food and we wold don an extra jumper than waste heat.

that is where the poor go wrong you see. they aren't prepared to don another jumper.

which is why it is all their own fault. ample opportunity is given. e have a free education system in this country. If poor people don't want to make use of it then they should queue for food.

some of those dustbin men/ refuse collectors just didn't get a good enough degree

luck is responsible for some fortunes, but it is strange how the more I studied/worked/moved about in search of opportunities the luckier I got...

Bemybebe - but what's your background, are you form a nurturing stable environment where you were encouraged to aspire or did you do well despite your background? For most people I'd say the luck starts at birth.

loving environment, absolutely no money, no "helping hands" as it were, iykwim
of course i was lucky to be born into the family i was, though dm and df relationship was difficult (at best), they both loved me in their own ways

Anyone who thinks we are striking for better teabags is so deeply in cloud cuckoo land, I just don't know where to start.
The majority of us are striking to help people keep their jobs and the terms and conditions they signed up to.

gay40
but the terms you were signed up on were unaffordable
5-10 years ago all the private competitive companies realised and dealt with that issue - hence private sector pensions are now generally employer affordable - ie crap
The public sector has exploited its monopoly to precept for 19.1% employer contributions - because we are not allowed to choose another bin collector.
THe buck has now stopped : even the public sector must stop living beyond its means

and the shite you get from the unions
Pensions as a %of GDP will fall - IF THE REFORMS ARE IMPLEMENTED
read the effing report
without the reforms, the %age will rise EVERY YEAR till we private sector employees deliberately scare you into heart attacks.

LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS OR DIE - its that simple

I do think that people are more open about right-wing views since the last election. I do think that having a mostly Conservative government means that the tone of discourse has altered on here and in a lot of the press.

Incidentally I am also someone who went to private school and my dad went to public school etc but all very left wing.

Just caught up with rest of thread.

An awful lot of socialists are well heeled. An awful lot of poor people vote tory.

Wealth/class does not dictate voting behaviour, by a long chalk.

Talkinpeace2...it is recognised that the pensions are perfectly affordable, and that pension reform is just a tactic to reduce the civil service as a whole. Even the Coalition financial advisers say that pension reform is not required.
What IS required is the collection of tax from those companies and individuals who owe our countries billions in tax evasion. Including our very own cabinet.
Say for example, you bought a house, and you signed up for a mortage, x years at £x a month. Then, at the end of your term, they told you you had to pay an extra 10 years, at a higher rate, because some millionaire MP had invested his savings abroad and they needed the money. Would you think that was OK?

the national debt per household relating to unfunded public sector pensions is something like £33k (though not yet realised) - for the banking bailout it was about £3-400 and falling as it is repaid.

so the situation does not resemble the one you liken it to.

there needs to be capitalism but with a social conscience = something this govt compltely lacks eg cutting benefits for disabled people and cuts to services for vulnerable groups. I'm alright Jack

I'm not talking about the banking bailout, I'm talking about the £200 billion that our millionaire cabinet and other business bigwigs have squirrelled away in offshore funds. That tax is what we should be chasing, not cutting benefits for genuinely disabled people. That money is needed for our affordable childcare, our services for the elderly, decent healthcare and education.

Gay40
Read the report
pensions are affordable IF THE REFORMS ARE IMPLEMENTED
if they are not they are not
GET REAL
Why should around 8% of all council tax go to pension contributions
(50 % of council tax = wages, 19% of wages is employer contributions)
from people who GET NO PENSIONS

The pension contributions you have paid are like a low start interest only mortgage - they in NO WAY cover the cost of your house / pension

IGNORE the guff from the Councils and the Unions, read the Actuaries reports of the pension funds
Public Sector Pension reform is essential
and I personally find it offensive that my lazy arsed bin men (two collections in four months) will get a pension higher than my earnings in the current climate

I have read lots of reports, both in the course of my work and in my own time. We do not need pension reform, we need tax dodging reform.
You seem to be comletely missing the point I'm making about uncollected tax, which would knock the thieving of pensions by the government on the head.

I'm new to mumsnet (hi!!) and one of the reasons I joined was because of the political povs I read. I used to write on a really left wing forum, but it pissed me off so badly I had to leave!

I have been surprised (and feel bad about) agreeing with some of the stuff I read on the bbc, and it has struck me that the tories are 'using' the press in rather a positive way - articles on encouraging people to work hard rather than coast because they have talent and so on. Politically I think I am a bit left, right and wiberal. I do have a big personal history tho and have solved it by my own sheer hard work and dedication and at the end of the day I believe in doing things for ourselves, if we want them. I suppose that's a bit tory.

it's not a race to the bottom. everyone should have a decent pension- why do we all want everyone to have stuff as shit as 'us' rather than go 'actually- we should strive and hope for equality' do you think Philip Green is worried about his pension.

and twice monthly bin collections are part of a drive to encourage recycling and cost savings (and halving the work force) the bin men didn't get a week off every other week for the same pay. Catch yourself on dude.

The lines are far too blurred to tell who's who. Everyone is pi**ed off at something.

You may have to be more specific... Right is against ..... whilst left agrees with..... to get a better view..& whatever you do don't mention the... immigrants, from anywhere or for whatever reason. Sore point on both sides at the moment!

Define left and right wing, as all the evidence is that the old lines are shifting.