Will the chancellor cane house owners in the budget?

[Clive Summerfield]

And as a counter to that:

50+ stealth tax rises, including removal of tax credits on dividend payments to pension funds (worth £5billion)

the contempt for democratic processes and institutions

The police being used as a revenue generation organisation

taking the country to war over non-existant WMDs

wilful destruction of service and knowledge industries by positive encouragment to outsource

see above. For example here in S. Yorks there were a lot of call centre jobs created, which gave some semblance of a return to employment after the devastation of the miner's strike. These jobs are now being outsourced overseas with the willing conivance of the govt.

squandering vast sums on public sector inefficiencies

as *positive* aspects of the Blair years???

Cheers Clive

[IMM]

I have. They are brilliant.

[IMM]

Can't go any longer.. This is need professional attention.

< snip garbage >

[IMM]

None whatsoever.

Much needed constitutional change - the most radical since Oliver Cromwell. The soundest eco,money in the world. The pound is almighty high Unemployment is very low, etc, etc.

Are bloody blind?

[IMM]

He thinks they should be back in cardboard city. In fact, the next Tory party manifesto will a programme to re-introduce these.

[IMM]

They are? When do drop right off to 10/6d then?

[David Hearn]

Exactly - basic 3 bed semi in Guildford, Surrey outside of high crime Council Estate = £220k (inside said estate about £190k). We sold our 2 bed maisonette (in high crime Council Estate) for £135k a year ago. Have now seen the downstairs 1 bed maisonette going for £145k.

On my salary alone we had to borrow 6.8x income (would have been 8x if we hadn't made some money on our flat). On joint income, its more like 4x joint income. Though being married to a nurse doesn't bring in bucketloads of cash, nor does having an unexpected baby arrive!

Whilst we could have rented - the rent on a similar place was more than the mortgage.

So I take issue that it is greed. We moved because we were unhappy with neighbours kicking their doors in, bashing up their wives and kids riding motorbikes around. We knew we wanted a family at some point in the not too distant future and that we'd outgrown the 2 bed flat - so 3 beds was the most sensible option. We wanted to save on fees so didn't want a stop-gap move (ie. pay estate agent fees, solicitor fees and stamp duty) so moved to a 3 bed place. As it turned out we bought pretty much the cheapest 3 bed semi we could (with horrible stone cladding and misted/rotten aluminium double glazing) for £204k a year ago.

David

[PoP]

That's £5bn PER YEAR since Labour took office!

PoP

Sending email to my published email address isn't guaranteed to reach me.

[Clive Summerfield]

I know it is difficult, but try not to confuse radical with good. I would hardly compare Blair's rampant croneyism and disregard for democratic processes with Cromwell's confirmation of the primacy of the commons. And it ranks low when compared to the Whigish Glorious Revolution.

Your placing of Blair alongside Cromwell is a perfect illustration of your blinkered and misplaced faith in the fool.

The strength of the pound is very much a double-edged sword. Especially with a PM so dogmatically commited to joining the EMU. Oh, and we have an increasing trade deficit, business investment down 1.6% year on year.

Well, unemployment is low, comparable with countries such as Austria and Ireland. What is interesting is to look at the trend in unemployment figures over the last decade, which have pretty much fallen consistently from a high of 10.5% in 1993 to 7.2% in 1997 and 5.0% in 2003. So Labour had inherited an improving economic climate anway, although credit should be due for them not screwing it up.

I guess you are.

Cheers Clive

[Mike Mitchell]

Eh? What *is* it about, then?

MM

[Mike Mitchell]

So, if another carpetbagger succeeds next time in demutualising Standard Life or Nationwide and your shares or policies suddenly paid you a huge bonus out of the blue, you'd say, "No, thanks! Don't need it!"

MM

[IMM]

Ridding the nation of hereditary Lords is the most radical political step since Cromwell.

< snip babble >

The economy and pound don't stay that way for 7 years because of luck.

Thank you.

< snip inane babble >

[IMM]

In the long term probably not needed.

[IMM]

I could never figure that out either.

[Clive Summerfield]

Nah, the radical step wasn't replacing an undemocratic upper house full of people who owed their position to nothing more than an accident of birth, with an undemocratic upper house full of people who owed their position to nothing more than being a significant donor to the Labour Party or being an old buddy of Tony's. The radical bit was to think that people would see it as a step towards democracy and accountability.

If you can't partake in reasoned debate, then fine, ignore the points made. Inserting just makes you look like a bigger prick than you already are (if such a thing were possible).

Sure. And the economy didn't get there by luck alone. Remember Gordon's promise in 1997 to follow the previous governments fiscal policies? Pointless asking really, you just replace with .

Confirms it, you are.

Cheers Clive

[IMM]

< snip babble >

< snip babble >

Thank you.

< snip babble >

[Clive Summerfield]

Oh dear, IMM's just failed his Turing Test.

Cheers Clive

[Andy Hall]

You normally write it.....

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Andy Hall]

Oh no....... :-(

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Phil]

So fairly soon, as this leftward trend progresses, we should get back to centre.