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UK Election 2015

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The originator of the collage uses some artistic licence to make his point.

The point is perfectly valid IME. It should be thought provoking too.
 
merlin said:
The originator of the collage uses some artistic licence to make his point.

The point is perfectly valid IME. It should be thought provoking too.
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The originator doesn't need to make stuff up to make that particular point.
 
UK%2Band%2BGreece%2Bfinancial%2Bbalance.jpg

General government financial balances, % GDP: source OECD Economic Outlook

If only the Labour party had “owned up to its profligacy in office during the previous decade” it would have more authority in the macroeconomic debate today. I have written a great deal on this, but actually you can get the key points from the chart above. If you have a target for government debt which is 40% of annual GDP, and nominal annual growth is around 4%, you want to aim for a deficit of 1.6% of GDP. Labour clearly exceeded that, which is why the debt to GDP ratio drifted up from 30% of GDP in FY 2000 to 37% in FY 2007 (OBR figures).

A mistake? Yes, particularly in hindsight. Profligacy - absolute nonsense. The debt to GDP ratio in FY 2007 was below the level Labour inherited, which does not sound like a profligate government to me. Nor does a deficit in 2007 that is only about 1% above a long run sustainable level signal profligacy.

What blew the deficit was the recession. Ganesh acknowledges that, but says “there was no excuse at all for pretending that a recession was never going to happen “. This is pure hindsight stuff. In 2007, the consensus was that the UK was close to balance in terms of the output gap. It is only subsequently that some have tried to suggest, rather unconvincingly, that 2007 was really a global boom. So Labour was not pretending anything.

But why this urge for Labour to apologise for what is a relatively minor misdemeanour which had no major consequences. [1] Because it plays to the Conservative narrative: their version of history where Labour was responsible for the mess that the Conservatives had to clean up. Labour has been forced by mediamacro to buy into the deficit reduction narrative enough as it is: asking for more is just self-serving political nonsense.
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http://mainlymacro.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/controlling-past.html
 
The Deficit Lie

This also touches on the myth of what the tories inherited in 2010 and what they left for Labour in 1997.

Uncomfortable reading for some, so as usual they will put the blinkers on and bury their head in the sand. :)
 
Brian said:
Conservative benefit cut options leaked

More vicious attacks on the vulnerable and less well off.
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As per usual, no change there then, they won't get the chance imo.

I wonder why Cameron has such a hatred of poor people, people who are in desperate need of a helping hand, his & others (Duncan Smith) tone towards people such as this is quite disturbing, they would rather take from the poor & give to the rich (to quote a monty python sketch from many moons ago.) don't understand it.

I can't imagine many in this country, unless well off, voting for them as one day even the comfortable in society know that they may one day need welfare, they have burnt their bridges, it's time to move on from this kind hate mongering towards disabled & the mentally ill, the party really are a disgrace.
 
It is not that they hate poor people. It is just that high public spending, particularly dead weight spending like welfare, is unhealthy for the economy.

It is probably true to say that today there is a surplus of poor. Some advocate grinding them up for feed or fertiliser.
 
Cloth-Ears said:
It is not that they hate poor people. It is just that high public spending, particularly dead weight spending like welfare, is unhealthy for the economy.

It is probably true to say that today there is a surplus of poor. Some advocate grinding them up for feed or fertiliser.
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Whatever

Tax the rich, that might help matters
 
Bring welfare to zero and do it suddenly. Including Housing Benefit. Get 'em out by Friday !

Outlaw begging - punish it by public boiling.
 
Incredible and apparently entirely fabricated/made up on the spot story on the front page of the Telegraph today (link). A real taste of how the election campaign is being run in certain quarters.
 
Brian said:
The Deficit Lie

This also touches on the myth of what the tories inherited in 2010 and what they left for Labour in 1997.

Uncomfortable reading for some, so as usual they will put the blinkers on and bury their head in the sand. :)
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Hard for those who voted under the influence of propaganda and outright lies that allowed the coalition into power than to admit that they were fooled. Far better to compound the error than attempt to rectify their mistake no matter how many lives have been blighted.
 
tqineil said:
will anybody believe it... or has i t got that dirty?
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The "Ed Milliband isn't prime minister material" bit sounds believeable - but even if that was said it's quite a stretch to saying that the SNP would rather work with the Tories.

Having said that, perhaps the best long term result for the SNP would be for the Tories to win an overall majority but with no Scottish MP's, while the SNP dominate the Scottish seats. That'd pretty much ensure another independence referendum within the next 10 years.
 
From The Daily Telegraph April 4 2015


FO Memorandum

Discussion with the French Consul-General

6 Mar 2015

Just had a telephone conversation with Pierre-Alain Coffinier (PAC), the French CG. He was keen to fill me in on some of the conversations his Ambassador had during her visit to Scotland last week. All of this was given on a confidential basis, so please limit any onward circulation.

Main points to note

• Ambassador was quite struck by the Labour v SNP political debate in Scotland as opposed to the different Westminster dynamic (it was her first visit to Scotland as Ambassador…)

• She met SG Climate Change Minister Aileen McLeod, where they discussed COP21 (United Nations Conference on Climate Change) to be held in Paris at the end of the year. Clear from the discussion that the SG expects to be part of the UK delegation, with some suggestions that it could be the First Minister who attends. In any case, the SG wanted to be involved in all the regional / sub-state events around COP21 (main focus on the July event in Lyon?) SG has also asked if someone from the French Government COP21 team could attend and speak at the Edinburgh Science Festival next month (the SG had asked the IPCCC for a speaker, but without success.)

• PAC didn’t say if they would get a positive response. Could you perhaps feed this COP21 stuff back to DECC?

• She also met with Fiona Hyslop, who said she was planning a trip to France in July. Hopes to meet with the FR Culture Minister and with the EU Affairs Minister. PAC told me that he was aware of potential sensitivities around the proposed meeting with the latter (a previous visit request was turned down for that reason). He was aware that FCO would be informed in advance of the proposed visit and would be happy to listen to advice on how to respond to a request to meet the EU Affairs Minister this time round.

• The Ambassador also had a truncated meeting with the FM (FM running late after a busy Thursday…). Discussion appears to have focused mainly on the political situation, with the FM stating that she wouldn’t want a formal coalition with Labour; that the SNP would almost certainly have a large number of seats; that she had no idea ‘what kind of mischief’ Alex Salmond would get up to; and confessed that she’d rather see David Cameron remain as PM (and didn’t see Ed Miliband as PM material). I have to admit that I’m not sure that the FM’s tongue would be quite so loose on that kind of thing in a meeting like that, so it might well be a case of something being lost in translation
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Apparently FO officials were so surprised at the comments re Cameron and Miliband that they checked with the French Embassy oficials and established that the conversations took place in English which the French officials speak fluently.

What do we think of this?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/pol...vealed-Full-text-of-Nicola-Sturgeon-memo.html
 
"The Tories are working for an SNP victory ... It is obvious now, and the conversations I’ve had with senior Tories confirm it, that this is quite deliberate on the part of the Tories and very much driven by George Osborne. It was described to me as a “win-win”. They make Miliband look weak and prepared to conspire against English voters, and they boost the Nat vote against Labour in Scotland." http://www.capx.co/the-tories-are-working-for-an-snp-victory/

What else would you expect from the nasty party.
 
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