Nanny's so called "Big Society" may or may not be quite as "big" as we were led to believe. Those who publicly "swim against the tide" of whatever the media/politicians deem to be the "big society" will find themselves ostracised.
The departure of Lord Young, David Cameron's "enterprise tsar" and scourge of "red tape and health and safety", may well backfire on the government.
It most certainly can be argued that Lord Young, given that he is a very experienced politician, should have known that by saying that those who have mortgages have "never had it so good" that his words would be twisted by the media.
However, he is technically correct. Those with mortgages and jobs are better off in this recession, with low interest rates, than they would have been in earlier recessions when rates were higher.
He also noted that the spending cuts are not as "harsh" as they are being made out to be. In fact the "cuts" will take government spending back to levels last seen in...wait for it...2007! Also bear in mind that the national debt stands at a staggering £4.8 Trillion, the cuts are but a "gnat's piss" when compared to that figure.
With regard to the loss of 0.5M public sector jobs, this should be taken against a backdrop of a workforce that numbers 30M and the fact that there are many public sector jobs (eg back office diversity officers etc) that are non jobs.
Needless to say, if you have no job or are on a very low income and rely on the state then the recession will bite.
Lord Young though was pointing out that the self flagellation of the government and media, over the depth and harshness of the recession and cuts, may well in fact be overdone.
His straight talking advice and commonsense wrt cutting bureaucracy and rolling back the state (which is responsible for getting the country into this mess) will be badly missed.
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Very true. I don't think that Lord Young spoke these comments out of ignorance of the reaction, it's more likely that the government was testing the waters of the media reaction of trying to be more positive about the economy using a minor figure rather than one of the big guns.
ReplyDeleteExperience politicians like Lord Young don't tend to make silly mistakes but are ready to lay themselves down for the party if required, IMHO.
Yes, the Government inflict penury on the old and the sick to save (they claim) £11bn and this morning I hear they are giving away yet more taxpayers' cash to - wait for it - bail out Irish banks. Now we find the real reason behind "Call me Dave's" zeal for bashing those he sees as "benefit scroungers": to hand any savings to his mates in Big Business. As far as benefits are concerned the previous government shook most of the bad apples out of the tree. What about the billions lost through tax evasion Dave? Do speak up - I can't hear you.
ReplyDeleteSadly, modern politics is in a mess. It is my view, that the party leaders have far too much power over the rest of the MPs. The party leader decides who will get the top jobs, be that in the cabinet, if their party is in power or, in the shadow cabinet if they are in opposition. Many people come into politics straight from full time education and are very ambitious people, they want to go up their chosen career ladder and thus, they butt suck the one person that can make or break their career; the leader.
ReplyDeleteLord Young's only mistake was to tell the truth which, sadly for him, went against Cast Iron Dave's message......We have politics by media and so jornalists set the agenda. Mr Cameron needs to stop being a progressive Marxist and start being a proper Conservative, he is in danger of loosing the votes of people like me; traditional Conservatives.
One last comment; Given that politicians go into politics in the main for power, why are they so keen to give it away to the EUSSR?
New Labour/Blue Labour/Yellow Labour there is no choice and no choice means no democracy.
don't for one minute think that Young will not have opportunity to be of influence. He is unelected and one of the 750/800 morons that have been given the power to rule us without our consent.
ReplyDeleteThe ones who've never had it so good are primarily the ones who, in the past, chose the well-worn path of taking on the greatest amount of debt bearable, in the form of interest-only mortgages, on the assumption that the majority of the debt would be paid off for them over time in real terms using a form of wealth transfer by stealth (i.e. inflation).
ReplyDeleteBefore the crash, they were typically making monthly interest payments to the banks, and the banks were making monthly interest payments to savers. Following the crash, they're typically making minimal interest payments to the banks, and the banks are making minimal interest payments to savers. Another form of wealth transfer by stealth (i.e. ultra-low interest rates).
And now with all that extra money, printed by the Bank of England, slushing around in the economy, the spectre of inflation is on the horizon again, i.e. the next instalment of wealth transfer by stealth.
Given that some have never had it so good and some are being bled white; his choice of words reflect the underlying attitudes in this country to the relative merits of saving versus debt.