10 most evil Tory deeds of 2012 explained in 130 words.

[ttosca]

• Homelessness is up 31% under the Tories (evidence).
  
  
  
• Gas Prices are up 31% under the Tories & 40% of families are on the brink of fuel poverty (evidence, evidence).
  
  
  
• 400 Sure Start Centres have been shut under the Tories (evidence).
  
  
• 11,000 Hospital Beds have been axed & 7,000+ Nurses sacked under the Tories (evidence).
  
  
  
• 95 Academy & Free School bosses now earn more than MPs & up to £300,000 a year (evidence, evidence).
  
  
  
• 250,000 Disabled People have been forced onto Unpaid Workfare with a 2% success rate (evidence).
  
  
  
• £7 billion worth of NHS Services have been privatised under the Tories (evidence, evidence, evidence).
  
  
  
• The Tories announced a total of 25% cuts Tax on Profit & scrapped the 50p Rate (evidence).
  
  
  
• Cameron has spent the year bullying, mocking & insulting women, disabled & the elderly (evidence).
  
  
  www.greenbenchesuk.com/2012/12/10-most-evil-tory-deeds-of-2012.html

[Oblomov]

I think still being on the EU is very damaging for GB. And the idea of joining the Euro, I think would cause alot more damage.
I too fear that this will happen with little say from us.

[niceguy2]

I doubt we will ever join the Euro and I think the EU countries have accepted that.

But I think it would be worse for us to leave the EU. I think the problem is that as a nation we focus on the bits we dislike. For example we moan about the human rights laws. Or the fact companies like Amazon are using EU laws to reduce their taxes. Or the fact that eastern europeans have flocked to our shores in search of work.

What we don't appreciate though are the benefits of being in the EU. The biggest being free access to the largest single market in the world. Our companies can freely trade with any EU country.

And I'm actually very worried that we will stumble out of the EU without realising the long term implications. For example the City of London may decide to decamp and set up in an EU country. Same for other multinationals who want a HQ within the EU. We may end up losing a lot of major business and be poorer for it.

[ttosca]

No, the Human Rights laws are the best parts of the EU. At least it prevents the UK from descending back to Victorian living and working conditions.

For example the City of London may decide to decamp and set up in an EU country. Same for other multinationals who want a HQ within the EU. We may end up losing a lot of major business and be poorer for it.

This is one of the dumbest things I've read in a long time. Well done!

The City of London is still a law unto itself. The companies based there wouldn't be able to do the wheeling and dealing, quasi-legal activity based anywhere in the EU. The City of London is a not a 'person' or 'company'. It cannot just 'pick up' and settle elsewhere. The businesses which are based there theoretically could, but they wouldn't, since they enjoy the special privileges the region brings, such as its own police force, lax tax laws, the corrupt voting mechanisms, and lack of transparency.

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/31/corporation-london-city-medieval

[Saltycopporn]

While you are back OP... Two of us have asked you what academies and gas prices have to do with the Tories? Genuinely interested.

[Xenia]

We will remain in the EU in the sense of the common market as it was set up - free trade etc. I am not overly concerned about that. I doubt we will leave nor that we will be on the inner track in the euro.

[grimbletart]

TBH - I have never minded that there are many with more than me. Envy is destructive. If people are prepared to work all hours - bloody good luck to them, especially as they are providing jobs for other people who may not be quite so entrepreneurial.

I do believe in trying as far as possible to make life an equal playing field with opportunities for all, but opportunity is not everything.

Attitude is hugely important. A personal anecdote. My father, like millions in the Great Depression lost his job and was down to his beam ends. His work colleagues (electricians) lost their jobs too and were involved in marches, protests, pamphleting etc. and generally being pissed off at the unfairness of it all.

My father and a friend decided it was pointless. So, they sold the only things they had - their motorbikes for under £50 each. With these they bought tools and set up on their own (both had just completed training and were 18 years old). They worked their socks off - 100 hours a week and went anywhere they could do a bit of work, no matter how small. Every penny beyond their rent and food they ploughed back. After 3 years they had just enough to employ a third person. Fast forward 10 years and they had nearly 100 employees and they were still ploughing every spare penny back. In another 20 years the business had tripled.

Among their employees were some who had been soapboxing and generally whinging a decade before: most had either not worked or had only odd jobs.

The point of this is not to say how special my father and his friend were, but to illustrate that all those guys had the same opportunities (or lack of them) but my Dad and his friend hauled themselves out of the mire when others hadn't. It was nothing to do with opportunity or luck in their case. It was attitude.

I've also never forgotten his attitude to money, which was only ever live to the level of the pay rise before last - something British Governments have singularly failed to do and accounts for a large part of the unholy mess we are now in.