Did you know under Labour's Watch...

[Grigsy]

...you got and could still get £250 for your child under their Child Trust Fund Scheme. Did you know that Mums? It was Labour that introduced the Child Trust Fund. So when your child and everyone elses child is 18 they will be able to join the very few elite that we call 'Trustafarians', you know, the ones that don't work for a living?

Did you know that under the 'Coalition of Cuts' that the Tories and Liberals will bring will mean bye, bye to the Child Trust Fund. So, that means, any more children you have will not get a cheque for £250 to put in whatever account you decide for your little miracle. That sucks right?

OK, want more?

Did you know that Maternity Leave has been extended to 9 months...from 6 months. But did you also know that after 6 months, parents can decide who takes the 3 months. So on top of the Labour's initiative of Paternity Leave (which has been extended to a month now rather than just 2 weeks) - Dad's can have 3 months with their babies when they are between 6-9 months old. How fab is that?! For everyone....yippee, some much needed siesta time for tired Mums...

Under a Labour Government, should we be so lucky, guess what....they want to extend the Maternity Leave to eventually get to 12 months...that's cool.

Also, hope you are all enjoying the reduced Nursery fees that you probably noticed after your child turned 3. Well guess what, that was also under Labour's watch. My fees for my daughter were £457 per month when she was 2. When she was 3 they were £238 per month. I'm delighted. But should the Tories get in, they plan to introduce 'Top Up Fees', so it will be Goodbye Grant and Hello, I'm skint.

Look, you are welcome to join my debate but please before you do, put aside your pre-conceptions and perhaps even get all 3 parties manifestos. You can do this by going online and go to their respective official sites. To be honest, after looking at all 3 my findings were this:

Nick Clegg, Nice but Dim (sorry), it is almost as if they wrote their policies on the back of an envelope at a dinner party. They mean well but seriously we need substance right now. Look at what's going on in Greece. Who do you want to guide us through these harsh times of austerity? We need prudence not wishy washy policies of some man who seems perfectly nice, but seriously, we are talking about the toughest job in the country. And it's not paid as well as you think. Infact, Gordon Brown took a cut of 1/4 of his salary. Sometimes I wonder, has Nick Clegg actually seen a Job Description for the Prime Minister!!

David Cameron - OK, he's got the gift of the gab but think it's very important to remind ourselves of what and who the Tories actually are. If interested, go to You Tube, and watch COMMON PEOPLE 2010.

Gordon Brown - well, as I said before. Here is a man of substance. Here is an unsung hero. Here is a quiet man with a big agenda. Modest, kind, truthful and a human being of the greatest integrity. He is a good man. Why don't you just look at his wife. Sarah Brown. She is a gentle, kind, serene and entirely beautiful woman. She is also highly intelligent and inspirational in many charities and other very important areas. But above all, Gordon and Sarah Brown are parents. They truly care. They know how important the first 48 months of a childs life is. If you don't buy me, then why not find out for yourself. Go onto the Labour Party Offical site. And watch him in action.

Off for a hot bath now

Ta-ra

Happy Bank Holiday!!!

Sarah

x

"at least it got you gals talking."

?????!!!!!!???!

we were already talking. We're MNers. It's what we do.

As for the sweet little fox - tell that to the chickens.

If you can't stand the heat Grigsy, then get out of the kitchen. I knew you wouldn't answer my points.

And by the way, at the time I was saying that Goodwin was mad to buy ABN AMRO at the top of the market but he was being hailed as a winner by all the herdish, but now wise press, as a winner. I think he was businessman of the year in Time magazine or something like that not long before. He made one acquisition too much as the market was asking him to respond to the Barclays bid.

All now lost in the search for scape goat in the recession.

So please put some original thought into your analysis and not just repeat tabloid soundbites.

TDiddy, the bankers pulled off the biggest robbery in history. This dwarfs anything ever seen on this planet. They said we're bust, pay up or we'll bring every economy on earth down. As it happens, I read the broadsheets as well. The difference is I don't have the disdain that you have for tabloid readers. I know that the broadsheets also tell lies to the public. I don't have as much respect for the bankers as you have.

It took you two weeks to get here after being so inspired?

We don't all want the Tories to get in By the way. I want Labour to stay. I just don't need to be told who to vote for by you!

Grigsy, you are coming across as somebody who has been up all night, and not in a good way.

Go to bed, take whatever medication you need to and try to stay calm.

'My neighbour who has diabetes had her baby prematurely...'
'Look, my best mate from school who now has a new baby but is also a big noise in the fashion world...'

'I met a black man last week...'

Look Grigsy, don't get upset. Just understand that if you really want to 'connect with mums' you should really have a look around the rest of the site. If you did you would know we have been talking, about politics, about everything, it's what we do on a talkboard.

Posts like this don't sway us, they just make us fed up with being patronised by politicians who think they know what we want but don't actually listen when we tell them.

Claig - we still haven't heard what DC would have done to avoid a certain depression. I don't object to reading the tabloids. I often have glimpse at the "underbelly" but I try to work out things for myself.

Actually the analysis of the recession by the broadsheets have been incomplete and superficial IMO.

A lot of thoughtless stuff about IRs, economic cycle without making the essential point about the PARADOX of stability leading to more risk taking.

I know you mums are a bit dim so I have started a thread here to tell you how to vote.

lots of love

Poll xxxxxxxxxxx

I am having an identity crisis now

' I'm mad because I think Sarah Brown is like Diana'

Sarah Brown is long dead? [shock[

you can take a ebaitng, come join in the wider MN

TDiddy, I'm not talking about DC. GBH was in power and it was him who allowed Fred the Shred to walk off with his pension. It was Gordon who dealt with the crisis by handing over whatever the bankers asked for. You should read the "underbelly" more often. Sometimes the ordinary people have a better natural insight into events, than the educated broadsheet elite. Although the elite despise Labour voters from Rochdale, such as Gillian Duffy, it is often the common folk who have a razor sharp insight into what is going wrong rather than the pompous elite in their ivory towers reading their broadsheets, who think they are superior to the underbelly.

Ta-ra and toodeloo Grigsy xxxxx

Hilarious thread!

A joke, right???

grigsy

1. Child fund - I am in favour of it being scrapped. Country can't afford to pay it.

Last time we had a statement my DDs fund was worth less than 250 as the investment had not done well.

1. Maternity pay - things have improved there although some companies were offering generous maternity leave anyway.
2. Nursery fees - the government does not provide enough state run nurseries so many people have to use private nurseries. The private nurseries cannot afford to run their service with the money from the govt alone. The top up sounds sensible. What should be done as well is to give places in the state run nurseries to the least well off. Everyone else can pay a small top up to use the private nurseries.

There is no need for children to go to nursery when they are younger than 3 so if we want to send our children to nursery at 2 or younger we should pay for it ourselves..I did and was happy to. I would far rather more money was spent on education post 5.

1. Gordon and Sarah are nice decent people. However there are far too many labour policies I don't agree with so I won't vote for them. The economy has not ended up in a very good state has it and Gordon brown famously promised an end to boom and bust. Having done A level economics I know that there is a cycle and you can't have a continuous boom.
2. clegg and cameron have children of similar ages to Gordon.

I'm a firm believer in income being greater than expenditure. It's simple.
No party of government can tax higher earners any more. This is because there is a tipping point at which if you raise taxes on higher earners any further, taxation revenue actually decreases. We've actually just gone over that point.

So, all parties are going to have to increase VAT. That won't be enough. The alternatives proposed by the various parties seem to be:

1. Slash spending - the Tory solution.
2. Borrow yet more money (we are already overburdened by debt and will end up like Greece) - the Labour solution. This seems selfish in the extreme to spend and store up debt for OUR children to have to repay.
3. Join the Eurozone - the LibDem solution which doesn't actually seem like a solution to me

Seems like a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea to me ...

claig - there you go again. Do you know that Brown's rescue of the banks is now forecast to make a profit? have you looked at the RBS shareprice? And Lloyds? have you seen how much RBS is paying govt for insurance?

It is the original shareholders who have lost out but tax payers will make a profit.

Am loving the idea that all you need to do to be a Trustarian is invest £250 and then wait for 10 years

That's the pensions crisis solved then, we can all invest £250 now and then in 18 years time we'll all be swanning around in Porsches...

I nearly put "swanning around in Porches" there - although that will probably be closer to the truth...

Gigsy - you are guilty of massively underestimating the intelligence of MNers. Have a read, look around.

I met a disabled man last week who told me that they should cut disability benefit as there are a lot of disabled people who could work....

Lloyds didn't need rescuing until GB persuaded them to take on Halifax.

I wonder why DC never says...I met a banker/hedgie/aristo last week who says that we should keep inheritance tax where it is? Must be harder for him to meet the rich types than meeting black men?!

scaryteacher - Lloyds had a board whose job it was to protect shareholder interest. That is why they get paid so much!! Fact is that GB will make a profit from LLoyds for the tax payer.

Well TDIddy I ahve to disagree with him, maybe they should tighten it so the potential workers can get it, but why cut it when there are definitely those who cannot whose lives would be adversely affected?

Which disability benefit? Thre replacement for IB (cant remember name?) or DLA? Becuase DLA is paid if you can work, it's needs based not income based IYSWIM.

I really didn't understand the left-wing fury about bailing out the banks. It was irresponsible reporting IMO. Only thing GB did that was economically sensible