I am pleased the government has retreated on the sale of forests.
I note with interest the comment made by a Downing Street adviser that:
We just did not think
Well it is time to think.
Time to think about the impact of reform on the NHS - which will be destroyed by Lansley's proposals.
Time to think about one million young unemployed people.
Time to think about the voluntary sector - where someone told me yesterday the situation is not just bad, but dire because of cuts in local authority support, and few organisations have owned up to it yet.
Time to think about real banking reform.
Time to think about an alternative economic policy.
But will they do it?
Or will they just not think?
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its fine to be partisan, but just picking up on your comment about young unemployed people, if you actually looked at the policy proposals the coalition are running with, and the fact that this problem has been around for decades, you might more reasonably conclude that there is some thinking going on; even if you don’t agree with that thinking.
@alastair
The data shows that youth unemployment has sky rocketed as a result of the recession
The Coalition response is simply to fuel unemployment as fast as it can
There is not thinking – just callousness and indifference
You seem to share it
Richard,
You write –
“Time to think about the impact of reform on the NHS – which will be destroyed by Lansley’s proposals.”
They know it will be destroyed – that is the whole point!
As for the forests u-turn, I have to say I am rather cynical on this one – I am not sure that they were very serious in the first place – don’t they look nice and thoughtful now?! Caroline Spellman says it shows that they involve and listen to the stakeholders. RUBBISH. When have they listed to the BMA, RCN, Unison, etc?
@Mary Taylor
Agreed
Remember this : we have a government we did not elect. The Conservative Party did not win an overall majority . Under the ‘ first past the post’ system that they seek earnestly to espouse in the present debate over reform of the election system they did not win. David Cameron is the Prime Minister by default. And behind his acceptable face of conservatism are the usual suspects, the dyed- in- the- wool Tories living out their archaic, nostalgic fantasies . Cameron tells us that the ‘ Big Society ‘ is his ‘ passion ‘ . Do you recall Tony Blair’s mantra ‘ education, education, education ‘ . Politicians, particularly those at the top, love these slogans ( just watch some old episodes of ‘ Yes Minister ‘ . It’s as true now as it was when these were first broadcast twenty five years ago ) and believe that by proclaiming them they are in touch with the populace at large from which they are in fact detached ; remember Blair’s encounter with the woman who wanted to confront him about the NHS- the sheer look of horror on his face when challenged by an ordinary member of the public. It’s simply not in their script. Power Elites the world over are now facing challenges to their authority which would have seemed inconceivable just a few years, or even months ago, but the financial crash has had an impact on ordinary people everywhere and many have come to the realisation that the people in charge are not gods, but ordinary people just like themselves and by setting up power structures that separate the leaders from the citizenry, whether the system of government is a dictatorship or a democracy benefits only the leaders. That is the reality of yesterday . It is no more than nostalgia after the events in Eygpt and elsewhere and the protests here are just beginning, but they will grow and grow until we the people effect the changes necessary to create a system that does not favour the few over the many.