I'm not sure there's much to add to this:
Except to note that Osborne was committed to leaving exactly the same amount of borrowing in 2010 as Labour delivered.
Oddly Osborne never mentions that this was his 'long term plan'.
Why is that?
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Well, well.
It could be that they are spooked by something (the child benefit furore?) or that someone has finally got through to them that the first two years of their administration severely damaged the economy?
He may also have been adding up the savings from his next round of social security cuts.
Having said that, I had to cringe and turn the TV off during the last leaders debate when the bloke accused Miliband and Labour of ‘bankrupting’ the UK. Total testicular material. Where do they get them from?
The audience seemed to support that view. If a lot of voters still believe that Labour did over spend and create an abnormal deficit then there are less doubts as to whether or not the ConDemned will be brought back to power.
The most cogent response I’ve heard from anyone in Labour about their spending whilst in power was from 77 year old John Prescott on Channel 4 the other night.
Labour’s attitude to the deficit misinformation almost seems collusive.
I do find it worrying that this has still not been addressed
The woman who asked the question was a plant. She claimed she was undecided but she signed the small business letter supporting tories,
It is a standard strategy.
When looking to replace a Labour government the Tories claim they will broadly match the spending commitments of Labour. When looking to replace a Conservative government Labour claims they will broadly go with Tory plans to cut or restrain spending.
Both parties see it as a way to overcome the incumbent party’s advantage and to push into the centre ground.
Yes – there is a pattern, you are right. But maybe – MAYBE – that is just not enough anymore?
Today the Tories pushed a leaflet through my letterbox. It reiterated that tired old joke about “there is no money left”. The 2 points that occurred to me were;
1) I’m struck by the Tory inability to understand a joke. Seen also when Alex Salmond said he was (gosh) writing Labour’s budget. I think this is because the Tory party is now dominated by ‘neo-liberal’ ideology which holds that every human being should be absolutely free economically & that we have no responsibility to other human beings. Silly as these ideas may be, they are very attractive to those on the extreme end of the Autistic spectrum & my impression is that a lot of Tory MPs & activists are out there. I’m not being critical, & to be honest I know I sit somewhere out there myself, but I don’t think a governing party full of people who cannot empathise & prefer all facts, even meaningless ones, to any emotional understanding, would be a good idea.
2) It worries me that there may be people who know nothing about economics who really believe that, were it not for urgent action by George Osborne, we would have, literally, run out of money. Plainly, this is silly, but the man on the street doesn’t know about economics. This seems, to me, to be quite a dishonest way of conducting a campaign.
Very sad to see the old and wrong trope about autism and empthy. Autistic people generally are empathetic. It the neo liberals who aren’t.
Having said that, if I was Labour leader I would have had Liam Byrne (the chap who left that note?) keel-hauled and thrown out the party for ever. And I mean it.
You don’t give ammunition like that to state destroying Tories. Ever.
What a nice left-winger you are, believing as you do that autistic people tend towards policies that in your opinion lack empathy.
I think the comment was insensitive to autistic people, as another person has said
But that neoliberals lack empathy is obvious
And given that it is by choice it is worrying
.I’m sorry that I have given offence. I didn’t actually refer to “autistic people”, I referred to those high on the Autism spectrum.
At one level Autism can be a horrible handicap & I’m genuinely sorry if I appeared to be belittling that.
At the other extreme, it seems to me that what we call ‘Autism” in high achievers (so called Aspergers syndrome) can mean nothing more than having a very male brain which always demands right/wrong answers, exhults logic & demeans understanding & requires everything to be formulated in perfect equations.
I’m certainly not claiming to be free of that, quite the reverse. I always find it more easy to remember the anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto than the Wife’s birthday. I love chess & loathe darts. I’m probably very high up the chart & before my first son was born I can honestly say that my level of empathy with other human beings was alarmingly low, except on the rare occasions that I attended a football match.
For that reason, I can understand neo-liberals & identify the inadequacy in their thought processes. They need, very slowly, to repeat to themselves;
1 No man is an island (John Donne)
2 Stand by me (Ben E King)
3 You’ll never walk alone (the Kop)
& then decide if its a good idea for George to enforce the “bedroom tax” while introducing changes to the pension rules that will ensure many wealthy people can entirely escape IHT on their large estates.