sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

SCOsazOBY

Tax text messages

r32

Seems like the number one item to cut would be the £5 billion ID card scheme, experts say it wont work anyway. None of the 'terrorists' we have had in the UK would have been stopped by it, they were all here legitimately.

Second would be the total waste in changing thousands upon thousands of road speed limit signs, there are 3000 deaths on British roads (approx) each year. Thats far too many but the Govmnt claim a third are speed related when their own figures show its nearer 11%. With 80,000 deaths directly attributable to smoking and up to 40,000 deaths from booze with a similar number caused by obesity. I think if th HMG want to save lives there's a better return other than changing signs.

SJ_Skyline

I would cut the non-jobs Gordon has created over the years in the civil service and various un-elected, highly paid quangos. There are over 500,000 of these posts that have been created over the last 11 years. All those people setting targets for services that shouldn't be target driven and then spending vast quantities of money collecting, collating and publishing meaningless statistics.

I'll focus on just one - the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board which as far as I can tell does sweet fa, employs 450 people, spending a budget of £50 million of public money.

SVXNUT

Currently, according to available figures from the chat forums 58% of the staff employed in the NHS are not qualified to change a sticking plaster. Maybe this might a way of suically removing about 30billion from the budget.

FlightMan

Make the banks pay bank 50% of any annual profit back to the Govt.

rossyboy

iTrader: (8)

Not many are mentioning defence.

Why are we going around pretending to be some big shot in the world, spending a fortune on defence? Lets face it, if Russia or China decided to have a go, we'd get shafted anyway.

Keep hold of the nuclear deterant, but cut back on everything else. If we keep out of middle east affairs, they'll leave us alone and we wont need to go fighting terrorists. Just look at all the European countries that mind their own business and dont get attacked.

MJW

I think 50% of f**k all is still, f**k all !

RA Dunk

all of the other European countries are not so far up America`s **** that it makes them public enemy No2 though

SJ_Skyline

You would find that there were no longer any banks listed as uk-based.

RA Dunk

BTW regarding cuts, i would spend first, any immigrant who hasnt had or held onto a job within the last two or three years would be getting a free plane fare back to there native home land

then i would turn to our own lot of scrounging mongrels and soap dodgers who havent worked in the last two or three years found find them selfs digging roads or something similar for their dole money, maybe this would give them a bit of incenitive to get out of their beds before dinner time every day and get a bloody job!

CrisPDuk

Leslie

I like that 999 one above!

One of the very high costs and an awful waste is the enormous army of civil servants and managers who do nothing worthwhile anyway. It was reported the other day that many civil servants turn up for work and they have no idea what they are supposed to be doing anyway! We have all these managers working out the targets that they say must be set, and then processing the ticks in the boxes which come back. Target driven workforces are a very bad way to run organisations. The workers become tied to their targets and move hell and high water to achieve those to the detriment of the job they are supposed to be doing. Its the best way for those who have no idea of how to run a workforce to make it look as though everything is fine according to the statistics when the work is just not being done properly!

Flash said some years ago that if he achieved power that he would dump all the Quango's which are also wasting our taxes as hard as they can go! Well he just seems to continue to create new ones, as his predecessor did of course, as well as employing God knows how many special advisors, so many of them for the same subject. We have an incredible number of Quango's now.

The impression one gets is that it is a good way to make unemployment figures look better and its an effective way of buying votes too when you think about it!

Les

Leslie

We did pretty well at deterring the Soviet bloc from attacking any part of Nato during the Cold War. They knew perfectly well that if they tried it on that although they might destroy the West, they would have nothing left to call their own anyway! Despite the fact that our troops are having their lives put on the line for political reasons, kindly don't underestimate their loyalty and effectiveness at persuading a possible enemy that it is not worth the candle should it come to it.

Les

Les

rossyboy

iTrader: (8)

Les, in no way was my post intended to put down our troops efforts. I have nothing but absolute repect for them and their sacrifices. I just dont believe we should have got ourselves in there in the first place when the majority of the other Euro nations mange perfectly well without getting involved.

Leslie

If you are talking about the efforts today, I agree with what you say.

Les

NotoriousREV

1)Simplify taxation by:

a) Removing NI
b) Single rate of income tax (which includes earnings on investments etc.)
c) Single VAT rate for everything except essentials
d) Companies taxed on profits
e) Use fuel tax instead of any road charging schemes
f) Ditch any other tax

2) Reduce costs in the NHS by:

a) Removing layers of management
b) Removing current targets and replacing them with patient-care based targets i.e. Was the patient treated like a human being? Was the ward clean? Did they get more than a cursory glance from the doctor? etc.
c) More nurses and doctors doing actual patient care and less paperwork

3) Defence

a) Stay out of issues that are nothing to do with us
b) Carry a few nukes as a deterrent
c) Enlist anyone of working age, who is capable of work, who has been out of work for more than 12 months. Pay them no more than the benfits they would have recieved

4) Immigration

a) No job? Go home
b) Criminal? Go home
c) Work hard, pay taxes, contribute to society? Welcome to your new home.
d) We're a semi-Christian/Secular nation, we like a drink, we like a bit of banter. If you can't either enjoy or tolerate any of the above, go home.

5) Local Government

a) Paid from a central fund, weighted to account for population, investment needed to meet standards and contribution to central fund from company profits and income tax.
b) Council to serve local residents and ensure that bins are collected, streetlights work, roads aren't full of holes etc. Councils are not there to spy on, bully or otherwise rule the lives of those they serve.

6) Schools

a) Some kids will win, others will lose. Get them used to it at this age. Build self-confidence and self-esteem through identifying real victories, not by pretending there are 35 "winners".
b) Help all kids reach their potential, don't let bright kids suffer because of thickos and don't ignore the thick kids otherwise they'll end up as dole scroungers.
c) Make exams mean something. Only true genius' should be getting all As. Cs should be the norm.
d) Teach personal responsibilty above all else.

7) Police

a) More coppers on the streets, less paperwork
b) If you've got some ****** caught on camera driving a stolen car through rush hour traffic at 90mph the wrong way up a road past a school, you and 6 of your mates are allowed to set to with batons once you stop him. Saves the CPS getting involved
c) Stop letting the CPS decide if cases should go to court, let the court decide who is guilty or not.
d) Build more prisons, use hard labour and make sentences harder, including 3 strikes rule

Basically, remove the layers of management, make things simmpler and stop wasting money. Focus on the majority, help those in genuine need and don't let people scrounge.

warrenm2

leave the EU - responsible for over 120000 pieces of UK legislation since we joined, current cost £55.775bn per annum (The Bruges Group)

ScoobyWon't

Paid from a central fund, weighted to account for population and area covered.

I know here in Notts we are funded as a county but should be funded as a metropolis, similar to Manchester. We are actually the busiest cops in England and Wales.

re: C) CPS - I know of one case where they refused to prosecute before they got a statement from one particular officer.

They wouldn't accept "No" as an answer.

So his partner drove them both down to see the CPS employee.

CPS employee was a bit surprised to be confronted by a German Shepherd.

The Zohan

Ed Scott for PM.

Enjoyed your post on the MRF very much BTW