DEM not gonna CON dis NATION: Rolling UK politics in the short-lived Cleggeron era

not going to be a massive deal if he goes. i don't think he's really associated with the govt by johnny voter to the same extent as say, campbell was.

If Campbell had gone five or six months into Blair's reign no one would have noticed him at all.

So, just to be clear, if a family has two earners earning £40k they don't lose their benefit but a family with one earner on £44k does?

I think that's right, it's higher rate taxpayers that are seeing it stopped, it's a way for them to get round the hurdle of means testing for families, because they can say it isn't means testing.

In isolation I'm not bothered about this policy, as far as cuts go, payments to high earners are about as painless as they get. There's a thin end of the wedge element to it though - at what point to do stop restricting benefits for high earners in future? Will they have to pay more for NHS care in the future? I'm know I'm speculating about things that haven't happened yet but it's not that big a logical leap.

There's a thin end of the wedge element to it though - at what point to do stop restricting benefits for high earners in future? Will they have to pay more for NHS care in the future?

yeah there is an aspect of this, but given that *any government currently in power would be making cuts*, this one seems pretty easily defensible.

Yeah it's a nice, uncontroversial "we're all in this together" policy to push off the conference with.

Hmmm. We're going to lose £1584 a year because Mrs. Trifle earns just over the higher tax limit (I earn virtually nothing) but our neighbours (combined income of £70k) lose nothing? I can't help but feel slightly miffed. I'm not saying we need the money but I think we need it more than they do. Lovely people though (resentment growing...most resist...urge to let the tires of their Jag down...).

tug that forelock

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/oct/04/boris-johnson-cbi-strike-ballots

On yer bike, Johnson. Or join a union if you want a say in union policy matters.

What about elected mayors who win power on just 19% of the vote?

I suspect this will be pointed out to BJ. Will be pleased when the dust of history settles and the word association result called up by 'Boris Johnson' and 'bike' will once again be 'Antonella Wyatt'.

twitter hating on some guy called bob crowe

It drives me nuts that when I first moved here, there was no Thatcherbaby whining about strikes (the whining at the time came from your actual Thatcher) and the average person wouldn't have dreamed of crossing a picket.

tbf what exactly is a thatcherbaby anyway?

One that loves Thatcher like she was their mummy.

I hate the term 'Thatcherbaby', it's pretty counterproductive in terms of actually trying to engage people with any point you're trying to make. It doesn't help that the RMT is beyond woeful at communicating with anyone other than its workers. I'm willing to bet most people don't even know what the strike is about, just that there is one and it's getting in their way.

i have never heard anyone use "thatcherbaby" except suzy.

If Campbell had gone five or six months into Blair's reign no one would have noticed him at all.

yeah, the smart guy with a grudge waits until just before the next election to go on the record on this story imo.

i have never heard anyone use "thatcherbaby" except suzy.

I thought Marcello coined but either way, not a great way to go about winning an argument.

Pretty sure a lot of people were annoyed about strikes in the 70s and 80s tbh.

totally.

'thatcherbabies' just means 'british 20somethings who grew up under thatcher', right? we don't even know we're born, etc.

Click on "Bob Crowe" on Twitter and treat yourself to a glimpse of the selfishness, viciousness and political illiteracy of the British public. The RMT need to get much better at getting their message out because most people seem to think they're doing it just to make people late for meetings and/or bring about a Marxist revolution.

Click on "Bob Crowe" on Twitter

Shan't.

really worthwhile opinion that we needed to be alerted to

can anyone point me towards some sweet anonymous comments on the websites of local newspapers?

― J0rdan S., Thursday, September 30, 2010 9:42 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I wasn't arguing, I was complaining about self-centred little shits. BIG DIFFERENCE. Thatcherbaby is what I call people who are kind of beyond reaching, because everything complicated that happens in this world is obviously put there to inconvenience and annoy them, their taxes pay for nothing but chavs and lazy assholes, and they focus on (ohhh, say) the wages of a union official 'whine wine I don't make that kind of money, why should he get to...' while letting proper fat cats slide. Maybe if they weren't so immature I wouldn't be calling them a baby anything?

Babythatchers more like.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/10/03/article-1317438-0B75580C000005DC-995_306x540.jpg

dom top of the bob crow twitter shitpile

xp I'd axe their benefits etc.

Osbournes stiff arms in that pic...must not touch the young conservatives...must not touch the young conservatives...

EYES STRAIGHT AHEAD *Frances is going to kill me with GUNS*

something about checking out the size of his fiscal deficit

RARE SIGHTING OF PRESENTABLE ENGLISH-GIRL ANKLE shame about rest of outfit and clear lack of familiarity with BUTTONS or IRON.

why are tory women so warty?

It's the evil trying to get out.

Osbourne pretending that the deficit is solely the result of public spending profligacy again.

Didn't know this was going to be on: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/episode-guide/series-58/episode-3

That's the whole reason for the Coulson news revive TBH.

oh it's peter oborne so it'll be the jews to blame, sorry i mean not to blame

to give the scrote some credit, nick robinson just said the reason they're cutting child benefit rather than winter fuel payments is that during the election cameron said something like 'read my lips: i will not cut winter fuel payments'. only osborne said last year he wouldn't cut child benefits. it does seem wrong that two people earning £43k can still claim. both my parents worked full-time throughout my childhood so i can barely get my head around the idea of the 'stay-home mums' the telegraph is whining about. i guess some of my friends' mums didn't work.

I gave up work to look after the kids.

I was a "stay-home-and-read-ilx dad'.

i gave up work

(not to look after children)

the details of implementation sound a bit half-baked (lot of gymnastics to avoid calling it "means-tested", but looks like they've created an incentive for to avoid a salary between 41k and 41k+child benefits) and setting aside the axiomatic point about whether cuts are needed and how they should be timed, surely this has to be pretty much the least objectionable thing they could cut. totally fine with me tbqh.

my aul fella took foreign jobs to get away from the kids

I'm not objecting to the cut per se, but (and I would say this of course - see upthread) I think the cut off point should be higher and I don;t understand why households on a lot more than my household should still get the money. That doesn't seem fair or "we're all in together" at all, just seems to be penalising me for going part-time to look after the kids (and read ilx).

yes, not doing this on total household income being over twice the 40% limit seems (or something like that) seems, at best, stupid.

At the moment this feels like a (rough calculation) 3% pay cut. Ahh, fuck it, it's not like they've suddenly lost my vote, so they could probably care less.

Lot of Tory voters will be on £44k though. Not doing it on combined salary seems kind of ridic, but I'm a bit wary of people being in favour of a cut as long as it's safely outside their own income band. £44k is well inside the top 10% of the country isn't it?

ITV news took a typically lol perspective on it, focusing the questioning of some Tory person on how punishing 'traditional families' with the stay-at-home mum isn't a Tory way to go about things, but put like that it does seem like it could be a nice vote-loser.