TUC National Demonstration Against Cuts

[OrangeBernard]

Who's going? I've just booked my train tickets. Its my first protest, any advice or tips? Bit worried about kettling.

i would like a percentage to pick where i spend my taxes - would really love an 'opt in' system myself

@claig - These fees will stop many people going to university for fear of getting into debt

Because people keep on scaring them by making out they are going to be broke for the rest of their lives. Stop scaring, start encouraging.

Yet it can't be seen that investment in additional needs children can lead to less dependence on welfare later?

@happiestblonde - thank goodness - sanity - thank you.

i do thing that the degree thing is a bit weird. people are either capable or not of being good at a certain job. you don't need a degree to do most jobs these days yet not having one will mean you earn on average 60% less which is crackers.

Glitter exactly! Even the loopiest anti tax libertarian must have once in their lives walked on a pavement!

This post tax, post state, Britain ... I think it would not be the upstandingly moral place imagined by some. More like anarchy, and unequal beyond belief. Still, if the wealthy within it could get over their 'abhorrence' and try a bit of collectivism, they might be able to club together at a local level to buy a new iron security gate to keep everyone else at bay...

'Stop scaring, start encouraging'

do you think that is what the new fees policy will do? Why do you think so many students protested? They are not stupid, they know it is meant to discourage them.

happiest blonde, correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't you the one who claimed you worked for the Conservative party last week while simultaneously lusting after George Osbourne on budget day?

Glitter i meant your post ages ago about use of the public saector, this thread is moving too quickly for me!!

studyinghard sanity? happiestblonde I don't think you tories are using the same dictionary as I am.

As for opting in to tax, I want any tax I paid that has gone on trident back then, for a start. But it doesn't really work like that, so that's why I haven't gone around yelling about it left, right and centre. But apparently it's OK to complain vociferously about taxes paid that have gone on keeping people healthy and educated.....? Bizarre.

@claig - the figures are out there for all to see regarding how much people will have to pay back as a percentage of their salary that they achieved by starting their career from a position of quality advanced education.

I remember going to an open day at Southampton Uni when, in the canteen, the tannoy went off every 5 mins announcing yet another protest to go on. It put me off going their - people were following like lemmings because they had nothing better to do. Students protest at anything. Especially if the focus is on them. I've seen that first hand.

If they are intelligent enough to do a degree, they should be intelligent to work out the benefits in the long term.

We pay our taxes into sectors like the NHS because, with the best planning in the world, we can never guarantee that we won't need them. All it takes is a serious accident that requires admission to the nearest hospital (for either ourselves or someone close to us) and I don't think there's anybody on here who'd be saying "no, no, it's ok. Continue on to the private hospital many miles away, I don't want to be a burden on the state."

yay bullet!

bullet that reminds me of a family friend, an extreme libertarian, whose life was saved by the NHS after a motorbike crash. He was in hospital for months.
A and E, the fire service, the police, unemployment benefit, disability- there but for the grace of god go all of us.

studyinghard, why do you think that countries like China and France have free university education? They will outstrip us and the reduced numbers that are willing to take on such huge debt will not be able to compete with other countries in the information age and the knowledge economy. We are deskilling and downsizing, while other countries are investing. It is short-term and the country and all our people will pay the price.

I don't think there are many private hospitals that deal with acute care? A&E facilities ie road accidents, heart attacks? Correct me if I am wrong.

Jogon - I am unable to work owing to the fact that I am unable independently to walk, cook, garden, shop, get on a train, etc etc. That's why I use a wheelchair. However, just to reassure you that I'm not squandering that £105 per week, I'm naturally at your disposal to be "sifted" as you so invitingly put it. Please don't concern yourself that I might find this intrusive or patronising in any way; we crips are used to being public property. After all, you've paid for it; you should be able to see what your money's being wasted on.
Oh, sorry, I forgot - did I mention Piss Off? Hope you're not offended by that any more than I am by your post.

Maybe the 'providers' won't be so 'willing' to take on parts of the NHS that cost a lot and yield few returns (well, obviously we wouldn't count keeping people alive as any kind of 'return' would we)

ten out of ten for alice there....

Alice, so you think anyone should be able to claim DLA at any time without any sort of checks or balances?

Just looked up happiestblonde's libertarians.
They are anarchists and will end up destroying society. They are not right wing, they are libertarian anarchists and are as deluded as the communists. The right wing G.K. Chesterton was right

"G. K. Chesterton wrote that "Herbert Spencer really went as far as he could in the direction of Individualism, just as Karl Marx went as far as he could in the direction of Socialism. He left only the gallant and eccentric Auberon Herbert to go one step further; and practically propose that we should abolish the police; and merely insure ourselves against thieves and assassins, as against fire and accident." (Illustrated London News February 15, 1936, p. 266.)"

It's the people claiming who shouldn't be that take money form those who genuinely need it like yourself.

It's a shame you resorted to abuse, I enjoy debate when it doesn't come down to mudslinging.

Jogon.... what the hell... how do you deduce that from the post?
The sheer amount of evidence needed now is huge, far from 'no checks and balances' yet they still want to cut claimants by 20%...

@wook - not sure I'm a tory - nor labour. Personally I think they are much of a muchness; they both want to be in power. They'll both slag each other off. They would both face the same economic situation. The would both make cuts. They would both have to claw money back from other sources. Labour introduced tuition fees in the first place to the disgust of students. So both are doing the same. I'm in agreement that cuts need to be made. Everyone has a NIMBY attitude to where the cuts are made and that's understandable. I'll be affected by it as my work depends on the public sector, as does that of other members of my family. I know it's coming so I'm battening the hatches to make sure I'm prepared. I'm making sure my skills are up-to-date so that if I have to, I am ready to find other work. If people think that they are going to be "cut" they should be doing the same. But, at the end of the day, both the tories and labour would have to do the same, maybe at a different rate, and yes, there's the "alternative" but Milliband hasn't confirmed what he would actually do (correct me if I'm wrong) - it's just political bickering in a hope to wear down the public enough to force an early election or win the next one - that's all they really care about. And the tories would be doing the same if it was the other way round. If either was in power, they'd have the same situation, the same budget and I really don't think that things would turn out that different. Given that labour f*ked up the economy over the last 13 years so it makes sense to give the tories a shot - because labour may fk up the recovery as well. And of course labour will say the tories are going to f*k it up anyway. Lots of highly educated, rich people trying to gain ground and points in the Commons.

Glitter, absolutely. I'm not sure there are ANY private acute facilities with teams of doctors ready on standby when RTAs etc are brought in at a moments notice.

Private hospitals don't have emergency facilities, so if anything goes wrong people are blue lighted to the nearest NHS facility.

How many people know of someone who claims DLA or other benefits who shouldn't be? I know of 2. I know of others who totally deserve to be on DLA and get all the help they need like, it sounds, Alice. I also know of Childminders who don't declare income, who are above their numbers. They cheat the system and don't have an issue with it.