I am presently reading Owen Jones fascinating book – Chavs. I was immediately taken by a few facts from the preface which I believe are relevant.
- In 2011 living standards for the average Briton declined at the fastest rate since the 1920s.
- In the same 2011 boardroom pay for Britain’s top one hundred companies soared by 49% (The previous year it had soared by a staggering 55%).
- The wealth of Britain’s richest 1000 increased by 20% after leaping up by 30% the previous year.
- The claim by Cameron and Osborn that we are ‘All in this together’ is both ludicrous and offensive.
- The poor suffer a triple whammy of benefit, services and support cuts
- The result is food banks, zero hours exploitation and return of childhood illnesses associated with severe poverty
- The record of this coalition government is the worst poverty record of any government for a generation.
The mantra of austerity is has been an excuse to bring in huge swathes of Tory dogma driven ideology that favour the rich and greatly reduce public services.
It is obvious to me that if you wish to reduce debt you cut the excess bureaucracy and glitz and leave the essentials. You do not bring in great change because all change costs money.
This government, despite having no mandate, has brought in huge dogma driven change that is immensely disruptive and costly. Under the guise of improving and austerity they have cut to the bone and created demoralisation and disarray thus reducing effective opposition.
Their cuts and low pay exploitation have resulted in tax reductions so we are still borrowing at an even greater rate and the debt is not paid off.
The alternative is to trim with realistic cuts. Not bring in huge changes and to stimulate growth. Growth pays off the debt! It is not rocket science.
Who has benefitted? – the rich
who have been shafted? The poor and public services
That’s the nasty party.
And you tell me your vote does not count – they’re all as bad as each other?
I trust none of them. They are politicians. Labour has done some stupid things – but the nasty party are cynical, clinical and ruthless.
It’s the lesser of two evils for me! I believe in fairness and justice
I agree with you but still think I will vote Green if I can get a vote by proxy or postal.So hard to get an answer. However for me All parties including The Greens do not seem to keep the emphasis on the environment.
My heart says Green – my head says Labour. The environment is crucial!
Thanks again for your comment.
Best wishes
Opher
Reblogged this on rennydiokno.com.
navasolature: Go to https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote You should be able to register for a proxy or postal vote on the site
Opher: Not only are the Tory policies devisive and dogma-driven, but the whole austerity storyline is utter horseshit, and is in fact just a good smokescreen to flog off valuable services to their mates at knockdown prices.
Unfortunately, although Labour are not quite so pernicious, they still subscribe to austerity and are thus not much of an alternative to the Torys (imo). Also, they’re still happy to entertain Tony Blair, who to my mind was largely responsible for eviscerating much of the genuine socialism in the party, and is a war criminal to boot.
So its Green for me too.
I can concur with all that. The Greens are very tempting. I just hate to see such a nasty bunch of cynical, lying creeps get re-elected!
As I say – the lesser of two evils! We’re going to get one or the other!
Reblogged this on Opher's World and commented:
I wrote this two years ago. Since then the Tory party has swung to the right making things even more dire. The Labour party is saying the right things – but oh how the media will try to pull it all apart.