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.

That's great glasnost, but I don't actually want to pay more tax either directly or indirectly so that owuld never appeal to me as a voter. I think that I am far better placed to spend my money than the government is and that the state is now so large and spends and wastes so much money that it needs to be massively reduced in size, child trust funds, health in pregnancy giveaways, endless initiative sin educatione etc are all IMO a waste of money. The waste in the public sector is astonishing. I am a frontline public sector worker BTW

Dittany - We aren't having an argument. We are refining the terms of your point.

I think you certainly DO include the tax paid by employees when looking at the tax income provided by different industries. This is the argument for lower corporation tax - that you get a net increase in income from more companies locating in your jurisdiction and employing more people.

Persona taxation is a cost to business in the same way that personal Tax credits are a subsidy for them - if personal tax rates go down you don't need to pay people as much money for them to end up with the same amount in their pockets.

That more Corporation Tax comes from Aberdeen that the City of London tells you nothing about how much Banking contributes to the Exchequer - even if we are just talking about corporation tax. Not all the Banking Industry pays it's Corporation Tax in the City. RBS is in Edinburgh.

TCNY, you are arranging deck chairs on the Titanic, you're not seeing the wood for the trees. Dick Turpin has just robbed the public and now the public has to pay. That's why they are out in the streets in their thousands; the old, the young, men, women and children. They don't think what happened was right, they believe the guilty got off scot-free, and the innocent are being made to pay the price. Some have travelled down for miles, they want to be heard, they're sick of the spin.

Dittany - David and Gideon != The tory party/Tory supporters/Tory MP's. I am uncomfortable with the way that senior politicians get pulled in to a rather rarified world, and the temptations that come with that. Blair and Mandelson are making far to much money now. That is something that you need strong institutions to counteract. This is the same problem there is with Executive pay.

Claig - That's all very well, but totally irrelevant to my point.

Everyone sat by and allowed our manufacturing industries to be killed off because we were happy to buy cheap shite from china.

I can count the amount of time I have heard people banging on about how great their "cheap" polish builders are - short term foreign labour on whole is here to support families abroad again money leaving the country.

How is it any surprise the country is now in the state it is? Such a shame everyone wasnt so motivated to deal with those problems.

I dont necessarily like where the cuts are being made unfortunately I think its a necessary evil - I am incredibly annoyed that bankers are still taking bonuses despite being incompetant.

But have a great day and remember if you start throwing fists or stones you have lost any high moral ground you have and stand no chance of being taken seriously.

Ah Glasnost. You and your ludicrous comparisons of spoilt contemporary public sector workers to people suffering in the Holocaust is both witless and lacking in taste.

And Dittany, as always your tone is hysterical and irrational.

'These cuts are being directed disproportionately at women. It's women who will suffer, and it's women who are going to rise up and stop them.'

Let's get out the smelling salts for all you latter day Emily Davisons eh?

Why did none of you militant marchers become active while GORDON

SHITBROWN was spending your childrens' future and ruining our country?

While he was supposed to be governing banks and yet let them run amok

and ruin our countries (England, N Ireland, Wales and Scotland's) finances.

Why, why why?

The people asking for no cuts are financially illiterate.

purple, that's not the debate. It's not cuts or no cuts. The issue is the level of cuts, the direction of cuts, the depth of cuts, the speed of cuts.

unlike the financially literate bankers and the financially literate politicians with their 'light touch regulation'?

agree, wb, but I see 'no cuts' on placards. Horrible anarchists ruining everything.

Miliband is making a damp squib speech right now, and right on cue, Sky TV are simultaneously showing pictures of a breakaway group clashing with police. Everything was OK up to this point, then right on cue the anarchists step in to discredit Miliband and the thousands of peaceful protesters. Makes you wonder who these anarchists are.

I've just seen the news. The TUC-stewarded parts of the demostrations are without incident; there does seem to be an anarchist presence, a number of shops have closed, and additional police are heading to Oxford Circus area - so that's probably a place to avoid/leave.

Didn't catch any estimates of crowd numbers.

by calling public sector workers 'lazy, idle and useless', thereiver, you reveal nothing but your own stupidity, blindness and ignorance. When they come for your job there'll be no-one left to speak out for you.

Claig: I don't think it's possible to draw conclusions about who those demonstrators currently described on the news as anarchists "really" are. I doubt the awkward squad (for want of better terminology) gives two hoots about timings of interviews on any one particular TV station. It'll all be differently edited by the later main news broadcasts anyway.

Anarchists would be those who disagree with any kind of centralised state.

wish i could be there, but marching with a 6 week old and the commute to get to london (4hrs) wasn't possible.

more frightened of the MET police than rogue protestors TBH. it's a sad day when the police scare people away from exercising a basic human right.

They are just sheep and they will believe what anyone tells them a lot of the time. All political parties know the money has run out and plenty of the pubilc wants much much deeper cuts, not these namby pamby first ones we've got.

I was near there this morning when police vans were coming in for an appointment but back out before the start of the march.

Of course people have the right to peaceful protest. It's very important but we musn't think everyone is against the cuts. Indeed o nly 7% of people think we need no cuts.

Well said Xenia!

(The ones I saw looked like incredibly fat sheep actually for some reason - they can't be cutting their food bills very much yet, but the walk might do them good.)

Crystalclear - Well they haven't exactly done a GREAT job of scaring people away now have they?