To think that Owen Jones is a fraud.

[soul2000]

I watched the R.T.S Lecture he gave last night on representation of the Working Class on Television, i have never heard such opinionated rubbish.
There are three questions i would like to act Owen Jones

1. Despite having an Oxford Education why do you deliberately mispronounce

certain words, in a kind of "STOCKNEY" accent.

1. Which Comprehensive did he attend , anybody who knows Stockport knows there is a huge gap between Poynton/Bramhall and Brinnington.

3. What class does he think he is with is Oxford education and two University lecturer parents.

Nancy66 Good point about OJ being respectfull towards his opponents. That is a big point in his favour.

So there are things OJ has not done? So what? He is one man. He has written newspaper columns on certain topics, but not on others. He has been on some demonstrations, but not others. None of this seems to me like misrepresentation.

eofa. How does a small cafe or struggling business pay livable wages. What i am talking about is get the big City firms out of London and the South East with generous tax benefits . Why cant the 56 Billion be spent on getting some of the infrastructure out of London and in to areas of need. The reason many business in the north don't pay livable wages because they are financially unable to due to having business that have declined due to changes in society. Many town centers have been ripped apart by the growth of out of town shopping areas. ,Many of the business left in these once thriving town centres can not even afford their rent never mind pay decent wages. The only way to improve the situation, is to actively encourage high quality businesses up the M1/6 and relocation in to areas of need. I actually think the North/South divide suits all political parties , Labour because they look after the poor better and will always come rain or shine have the seats. Conservative: Many of them think you need injections to come North of Watford, i have witnessed this myself ( By being a member of this awful party for 24 years). People need to stop seeing politics down a straight line of Labour/conservative and understand that they are bends in each political ideology.

This is a good clip of Owen Jones. He is the only socialist who can get under the opposition's skin. Compared to him, Yvette Cooper is an amateur. He is the best the left has got, because he is prepared to say things that the others won't say.

I don't think he is for real, but he is as good as it gets.

Going back to OJ's accent - as mentioned upthread, he comes from Sheffield, and you can still hear a slight Sheffield burr in his voice. OP this may be why he doesn't sound the way you think he should.

How does a small cafe or struggling business pay liveable wages?

Let me turn that round. What entitles a small business owner to exploit her neighbours by paying a wage on which they cannot live?

Your post rambles all over several big issues. I'm replying to this point alone, because I fucking hate this mindless "justification" of exploitation.

Are you going to explain why you keep accusing some people of saying things they didn't say and accusing of others of not saying things they did, OP?

What Garlic said!

People need to stop seeing politics down a straight line of Labour/conservative - Yes, you do.

What if the Cafe owner is not taking a wage, Garlic this is happening in many small business across the North .

I didn't ask for your rambling thoughts on paying a living wage, I pointed out that what you said about Owen Jones not addressing the issue of
a) a living wage
b) HS2
is more made up wibbling, disproved by a 30 second google search.

Soul, a business that cannot feed its owner or employees is a failed business.

Who have i accused have saying something.

I apologize about the Hs2 comment and good on jones for that.

I do get the opinion that many don't like me, or should i say they don't like the eight Characters that bare no resemblance to me in real life.

If you think i talk "CRAP/SHIT" thats fine my views are not going to effect your life/s are they, its not as if i am in parliament is it or i have the power to change anything.

If you want this thread to go away don't post.

There are plenty of such business that just earn enough money to pay the rent and basic pay for staff. The owners of these small businesses are unable to do anything else so just muddle through each month until the Bank finally pulls the plug.

soul2000 makes a good point.

I'm afraid that Owen Jones, the Oxbridge media commentator, too often gives the impression that it is capitalist bosses who are exploiting the workers and not paying them enough. I doubt the Oxbridge graduate has ever run a business and I bet he earns a tidy sum for his journalism. I doubt he really knows what it is like on the high street.

soul2000 is right, business owners are going under, banks have been ripping them off with their swap deals etc, and rates and taxes are too high for them to stay in business. Instead of harping on about "exploitation" by business owners, why doesnt Jones come up with some solutions such as arguing for rate and rent frezes or holidays and tax cuts for businesses operating in deprived areas or areas of distress.
The government would make up the tax revenue from the new employees that would be hired.

'All that'll be left is Costa, Tesco and charity shops': Lament of chocolate maker forced to close after rent, rates and VAT cut his profits to only £100 a week'

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2382352/All-thatll-left-Costa-Tesco-charity-shops-Lament-Simon-Dunn-chocolatier-forced-close.html

Give business a break, so that it can hire workers. Stop the old socialist divide and rule game played by the Oxbridge elite of pretending that small business owners are exploiting workers, and start talking about the real capitalist fat cats at Bilderberg and start talking about the bureaucrats and MPs and their expenses and perks for things such as heating their stables.

'Quarter of council tax goes on funding town hall pensions'
Who are we working for?

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2512940/Quarter-council-tax-goes-funding-town-hall-pensions--5-7bn-handed-past-year-goes-paying-retirement-incomes.html

All this talk of Stockport means I have to do this:

Good song. Never heard it before.
Beats Vegas.

Commander . Is that Parr Mill . I used to know the Owners DD.

It is completely irrelevant that he is middle class. Although under his (correct) definition of working class then he is working class!
He makes valid points. And until we have fairness in society it will be difficult for working class people to get the voice needed to change things. He may be privileged but he is trying to change that and work towards equality which will in the give more working class people a voice.

Why does Owen Jones always blame business, why doesn't he blame Gordon Brown who was responsible for the increase in state spending and the public sector rather than going for long term business growth and jobs in the private sector?

"Gordon Brown’s poisonous legacy lives on

His government wanted as many people as possible to be dependent on the state, argues Ruth Porter."

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/9188869/Gordon-Browns-poisonous-legacy-lives-on.html

And why doesn't Jones have a go at the waste in our councils and the high salaries in our councils and hospital trusts?

"Almost 30,000 council pen-pushers now earn more than £50,000 a year.

Taxpayers fork out £1.9billion a year on the high salaries, at a time when town halls are cutting frontline services and blaming the Government’s cuts.

Despite the age of austerity, 118 councils have actually increased the number of staff taking home more than £50,000."

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2281426/Almost-30-000-town-hall-pen-pushers-earn-50-000-councils-cutting-line-services.html

i bought my wedding dress in stockport. the husband came from milnrow. i've still got the dress...

''All that'll be left is Costa, Tesco and charity shops'

We have seen Reverend Flowers and his expenses from a charity. These charities are everywhere, and many of them seem to employ ex-Labour bigwigs and councillors and Labour politicians who were kicked out by the public. Osborne tried to make some of these organisations pay more tax and unfortunately had to drop it when progressives came out of the woodwork and howled him down.

Jones is right that the big corporations should pay their fair share in tax, but so should some of these charities.

Even Bilderberg has got a charity. I think we need some straight-talking clarity.

"CREDIT RATE SWAPS" .Thanks Claig we were ripped of by them and the bank insistence that they were required in getting loans. They used to sell it to you that it was in your best interests . They would scare you with the worst case scenario what if rates go up 3% or so , with the fear generated by them you sign up not knowing what they really are. My Dad has just helped a small business man who owned a small cleaning company that went out of business suddenly because overnight one of the (State Owned) banks withdrew his overdraft facility for no reason . He has just won £130k of the bastards and hopes to restart his business.

Great news that he won some money back.

But there should be jail sentences for some of the people in banks who were responsible for some of these policies. I hope that Jones will use his Oxbridge education and influence to call for that.

"Britain’s two State-backed banks have been accused of ruining thousands of small firms by using ‘unscrupulous’ business practices.

Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds ‘harmed their customers through their decisions and caused their financial downfall’, according to a bombshell report released today."

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2512791/Banks-ruin-firms-just-make-killing-RBS-Lloyds-branded-unscrupulous-profiteers.html

And where were the regulators while all this was going on and how much are they being paid?

The public always pays the price.