Dave's cuts are going be deep and they will hurt

[FellatioNelson]

I've been hearing this all day on the radio. I can't take the suspense any longer. They are going to affect the lives of 'every one of us'

I feel like a person wincing and clenching my teeth in anticipation of the big fuck-off needle the school nurse is wielding, and I'm next in the queue....

Come on then, what's it going to be?

Pretty bird has hit the nail on the head. In the good times money was squandered whether on slack management or daft projects. Now we are going to have to pay.

The practice of moving people to long-term benefits to get them off the jobless list must change. These benefits will have to be stopped and these people 'helped' probably with some compulsion back to work.

We have too many young people going to university there arent the graduate jobs, it's a con. This doesnt mean there are the non-graduate jobs either but hitting the job market without the debt burden must be better.

We need to be more robust about our health. This means not rushing ourselves or our children off to the doctor at the first sign of a cough or a cold.

We are going to have to cut a lot of things back to what we need not what we want.

Lenin - actually I was going to say just that, but I wondered if it might be taken so I'm glad that as we are on opposite political sides you said it for me!

I'm all for being able to buy a better range of simple drugs over the counter, for things which are relatively easy to self diagnose, like in the US. It would free up time and money in the NHS, and many things could be bought for no more than the cost of a prescription anyway.

They not only reap the results, but they are maintaining the status quo.
It's not just talent or self drive that guarantees you a job that pays well.

Yes they do Riven, which is what motivates them to slog away so hard. If you start to insist they are brought down a peg or two, to live a lifestyle more akin to the worker bees, they will start to behave like worker bees. And then where will we be? A nation entirely made up of bus drivers and milkmen will not fund the welfare state you depend on for your DD!

Sorry Riv, that sounded like a personal dig. Wasn't meant to be.

Franco - who has been guaranteed a well-paid job regardless of any sign of talent or self drive? Apart from the Royal family and a tiny tiny handful of hanger-on?

So then you're 20% VAT SUE52 will shaft my children twice, not only are they let down by the state system in the first place as most of the children in prep have started out in their local primary, but now their parents can't afford to help them out of that situation but the state sector doesn't benefit either. How exactly is that helpful ?

Grrr Your not you're

It might not be that they are motivated by 'even more' Riven (although some are). It might just be that they love their job and are very good at it - motivated by achieving promotion, making a profit for their company etc - and expect to be renumerated accordingly.

If you were offered a pay rise or a bonus, which involved a lot of hard work and responsibility, would you bother if you thought that 75% of it was going to be taken in tax?

As the op said the ''lives of everyone of us''. That means you and I, Mumatomany. If I'm next in the queue, my big ticket item would be VAT on luxury goods, for someone else it might mean losing free school meals or their breakfast club/ after school club. This pain is to be shared by all. I don't see why you think private schools have a secret charm to exempt them from this.

Private education is a commodity like any thing else. If pupil numbers were to fall because of vat, fees would go down. Supply and demand, market forces and so on.

Tax avoidance is not only legal, there is a view that it is admirable. Tax breaks are set by the Government to encourage particular behaviors - presumably for the good of all in the end. So by taking up those behaviors you SHOULD be performing a social good. Whether the rules are set up appropriately however...

Well I disagree obviously, education is different otherwise you'll need to add VAT to nursery places and University fees too.
The point is school fee's won't go down, schools will close, teachers will loose jobs along with cleaners, cooks, maintenance staff.
What about private care homes are they fair game too ?

My wish list would be;

Scrap road tax - put a fraction of a penny on a litre of fuel, those who drive a lot pay more and those who pootle a few thousand miles as year pay less. Everyone has to display a valid insurance disc instead of tax disc. I would rather know a car is insured rather than taxed.

Again put a fraction of a penny on all confectionary, soft drinks, ice cream etc - the funds go straight to the NHS and NHS dentistry - let the items that cause the problems of obesity, decay etc pay directly towards the healthcare these problems require.

Know how to cut an NHS waiting list by 17% overnight? Get patients to cancel any appointments they cannot make - obviously there are many unforeseen circumstances that can make a patient miss an appointment but a rainy day is sometimes all it takes to find consultants twiddling their thumbs.

Also if patients returned crutches, walking sticks, wheelchairs and other apparatus after their treatment has finished it would help NHS budgets and if patients followed the adice given to them re; finishing their course of drugs or doing their physio etc etc the savings to the NHS would be massive

Everyone has a responsibility to the NHS it was called 'The envy of the world' for a reason.

I would also like to see a return to vocational apprenticeships and technical colleges - there are too many people seeking jobs with a degree that is neither use nor ornament.

Also at the point of sounding totaly harsh and I expect to get flamed for this [ducks] if you are a family on benefits then please do not go on to have another child, then another child then another child. It makes it very obvious you are doing nothing to improve your circumstances.

Roadtax is already cancelled for those who get HR mobility via DLA Lamp (not us in case someone thinks I am cahsing my pennies!0- whilst it's a good idea I think we'd need to up Mobility a bit to compensate for the extra fuel expense.

I really don't see the point in that. Why not just reduce CB in the first place - one hand gives you and the other one takes away...

Ah, but Lamplighter, under the current system they are doing exactly what's necessary to improve their circumstances. And therein lies the main problem!