Number of workless doubled under Labour

[meditrina]

Link to article quoting ONS statistics.

It's not good, is it? Even allowing for some of the increase being students. Especially in conjunction with reports of stalling social mobility.

I understand why it annoys people if they think that the Tories are being blamed for Labour's policies. But I think most people blame the Tories for continuing them and making the situation worse. In any case, when Labour brought in the policies you mention, they were criticised for taking them from the Tories, IIRC.

That's why I think there's no discernible left and right any more. I could say they are as bad as each other, but I really don't think that. I just think Labour is in the grip of something at the moment, and I hope it will come out of it and restore the balance. I hope that's why Ed Miliband has been lying low. But I fear it might be because he wants to see the tories hoisted by their own petards ... By which time it will be too late for the rest of us.

And the quote 'From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs' is from Marx, I think - one of the main tenets of communism! I'm not sure I see the connection to a free market with safety net ... Or were you being (where's a tongue-in-cheek icon when you need one?)

The tories historical talked a lot of talk and did fuck all to help anyone they just cut stuff.

Nu-Labour did stuff, the wrong stuff, ill judged miss guided bullshit to help the unemployed, some of which did start off good but then degraded fast into someones cash cow again, like New Deal, they all so had a tendency to announce new things endlessly which they had been doing for years anyway, I guess a lot of voters have short memories so thats how they got away with it.

The ConDems are unfortunately a combination of the two, cutting left right and centre, not giving a crap about the poor and endlessly installing new ill judged rules, announcing things as new that have been going for years.

I expect things to get worse long before they get better, the only things the ConDems excell at is softening the blow I.E they claim they are going to make 12 cuts in something then decided against 3 or so resulting in people saying it's bad but it could have been worse, stroke of genius that.