Labour - the truth behind the madness!
10 September 2003, 01:01 AM
#1
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Amid the carpet bombing and the ack-ack fire between media and government, the work that Labour are doing quietly continues, mostly unreported and unnoticed. Unless a story points a finger of blame at the government, news editors in press and broadcasting alike are not currently inclined to regard it as newsworthy.
This government is now virtually friendless in the media, though NOT with the electorate. This is an extraordinary state of affairs. Just when you thought it couldn't get much worse, British journalism has taken a newly raucous turn, locked in a downward spiral, with a government lashing out too.
The BBC's plight is only the backwash: navigating this frenzied climate, its own journalism inevitably absorbs an element of the same anti-government attack formula that now passes as a sign of "fair and unbiased" reporting. The madness of the government is that the more it bashes the BBC, the more the BBC has to prove itself unbowed by hitting back. This is lethally dangerous to both.
Here are key figures for Labour's first two spending years, 1999-2001. They reveal the greatest fall EVER recorded in families living in severe hardship.
Until now, there was concern that, yet again, target-obsession distorted the real poverty picture. The EU-wide poverty measure counts those living on less than 60% of median income, and the government is committed to getting all children over that line by 2020. With an extra dollop of cash - £5 more child tax credit - the chancellor will probably get a quarter of poor children over the line by 2004-05. But no one knew if all it meant was families just under the poverty line being pulled over it, while the severely poor were left behind.
But today's figures show how much real hardship is being eased.
The Policy Studies Institute analyses the regular Families and Children Study, closely examining 8,000 families. Checking for 40 essential items that poor families often lack - hot meals, coats, outings, plus their debt-levels - in just two years the numbers in severe hardship fell by a remarkable 40%. These poorest families are non-unemployed: their living standards rose via direct state cash in the biggest income support and child benefit increases ever introduced.
The survey reveals the blindingly obvious, so long denied by Tories in their reign: money makes things better. These families' extra cash was not spent on booze and ****, but on family essentials - fewer debts, more children's shoes. For those who argue whether it is better to measure poverty by the "60% of median" yardstick or by what people lack in a list of basic essential items, for the first time this shows that both measurements produce much the same figures. Work does pay, since the families that gained most were those where someone moved into work, drawing in working family tax credits.
One Parent Families yesterday drew attention to new facts on single parents: 46% of lone mothers now work, but it will be hard to hit the government's ambitious target of 70% in jobs by 2010. For those who recall Tory attacks on single parents, this shows that their children are indeed sicker, less likely to gain good GCSEs and more likely to have contact with the police. But these are the attributes of severe hardship, not lack of a father: once income is taken into account, there was no difference between them and the children of equally poor married couples. Because fewer lone parents work, more are poor
So, come on, cut them some slack!! They are achieving MUCH more than the Tories EVER did!!
Pete
[Edited by pslewis - 10/9/2003 1:02:55 AM]
This government is now virtually friendless in the media, though NOT with the electorate. This is an extraordinary state of affairs. Just when you thought it couldn't get much worse, British journalism has taken a newly raucous turn, locked in a downward spiral, with a government lashing out too.
The BBC's plight is only the backwash: navigating this frenzied climate, its own journalism inevitably absorbs an element of the same anti-government attack formula that now passes as a sign of "fair and unbiased" reporting. The madness of the government is that the more it bashes the BBC, the more the BBC has to prove itself unbowed by hitting back. This is lethally dangerous to both.
Here are key figures for Labour's first two spending years, 1999-2001. They reveal the greatest fall EVER recorded in families living in severe hardship.
Until now, there was concern that, yet again, target-obsession distorted the real poverty picture. The EU-wide poverty measure counts those living on less than 60% of median income, and the government is committed to getting all children over that line by 2020. With an extra dollop of cash - £5 more child tax credit - the chancellor will probably get a quarter of poor children over the line by 2004-05. But no one knew if all it meant was families just under the poverty line being pulled over it, while the severely poor were left behind.
But today's figures show how much real hardship is being eased.
The Policy Studies Institute analyses the regular Families and Children Study, closely examining 8,000 families. Checking for 40 essential items that poor families often lack - hot meals, coats, outings, plus their debt-levels - in just two years the numbers in severe hardship fell by a remarkable 40%. These poorest families are non-unemployed: their living standards rose via direct state cash in the biggest income support and child benefit increases ever introduced.
The survey reveals the blindingly obvious, so long denied by Tories in their reign: money makes things better. These families' extra cash was not spent on booze and ****, but on family essentials - fewer debts, more children's shoes. For those who argue whether it is better to measure poverty by the "60% of median" yardstick or by what people lack in a list of basic essential items, for the first time this shows that both measurements produce much the same figures. Work does pay, since the families that gained most were those where someone moved into work, drawing in working family tax credits.
One Parent Families yesterday drew attention to new facts on single parents: 46% of lone mothers now work, but it will be hard to hit the government's ambitious target of 70% in jobs by 2010. For those who recall Tory attacks on single parents, this shows that their children are indeed sicker, less likely to gain good GCSEs and more likely to have contact with the police. But these are the attributes of severe hardship, not lack of a father: once income is taken into account, there was no difference between them and the children of equally poor married couples. Because fewer lone parents work, more are poor
So, come on, cut them some slack!! They are achieving MUCH more than the Tories EVER did!!
Pete
[Edited by pslewis - 10/9/2003 1:02:55 AM]
10 September 2003, 10:14 AM
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Pete is right.
Wether you like it or not Labour HAVE made an impact(however small) on tackling poverty and inequality.
How do i know.........both my parents have low incomes(pensioners) and i KNOW that under Labour they are better off.I even encourage tham to vote Labour(against my better judgement maybe).
I may not be better off under TB,but my parents are.....and with Pete being 75
...
[Edited by paulr - 10/9/2003 10:15:38 AM]
Wether you like it or not Labour HAVE made an impact(however small) on tackling poverty and inequality.
How do i know.........both my parents have low incomes(pensioners) and i KNOW that under Labour they are better off.I even encourage tham to vote Labour(against my better judgement maybe).
I may not be better off under TB,but my parents are.....and with Pete being 75
...[Edited by paulr - 10/9/2003 10:15:38 AM]
10 September 2003, 04:11 PM
#3
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If you don't vote you have thrown away any right to complain about who is in power - so, to those - SHUT YOUR GOBS!!!
Labour will cruise the next election - FACT
The Tories are dead - FACT
Blair is the best leader the world has seen - soon to be FACT
I am always right - FACT
Will that **** on page 1 (CheekChimp) who told me I was boring him, go and read something else!! or is that a bit too inteligent for him????? I don't know, you open up a thread that you are bored with AND THEN posts to say you are??? Have you ANY idea how sad that makes you??
Pete
[Edited by pslewis - 10/9/2003 4:12:54 PM]
Labour will cruise the next election - FACT
The Tories are dead - FACT
Blair is the best leader the world has seen - soon to be FACT
I am always right - FACT
Will that **** on page 1 (CheekChimp) who told me I was boring him, go and read something else!! or is that a bit too inteligent for him????? I don't know, you open up a thread that you are bored with AND THEN posts to say you are??? Have you ANY idea how sad that makes you??
Pete
[Edited by pslewis - 10/9/2003 4:12:54 PM]
10 September 2003, 04:34 PM
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If you don't vote you have thrown away any right to complain about who is in power - so, to those - SHUT YOUR GOBS!!!
I'll vote for who I believe in. If I don't believe in any of the parties on offer, are you saying I should? Absurd. This is how the parties like the BNP get in power, by using up protest votes.
I didn't vote in the last election, but not out of apathy or laziness.
Personally I'd vote if there was an option on the ballot sheet of 'None of the above'.
Of course I'll vote for a party I believe in but where are they??
[Edited by Dracoro - 10/9/2003 4:36:58 PM]
09 October 2003, 09:57 AM
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So, come on, cut them some slack!! They are achieving MUCH more than the Tories EVER did!!
I get oh so tired of 'What the tories did sometime in the past/18 years of tory rule' etc. Hey people! Labour did some(well lots!) **** in the past too. Who cares, it's in the past. I'm more concerned about what is happening NOW and in the FUTURE. The past is exactly that, the PAST.
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09 October 2003, 12:16 PM
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still not voting.
Whoever you vote for, the same bunch of self-interested, illuminati 'gophers' still gets in. This is just a one party state masquerading as a free democracy....so don't expect anything to change...
Whoever you vote for, the same bunch of self-interested, illuminati 'gophers' still gets in. This is just a one party state masquerading as a free democracy....so don't expect anything to change...
09 October 2003, 12:37 PM
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09 October 2003, 12:56 PM
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We must destroy this double-dealing, deceitful, incompetent, shallow, inefficient, ineffective, corrupt, mendacious, fraudulent, shameful, lying government, once and for all.
Stick that in yer crack pipe and smoke it pslewis.
09 October 2003, 01:01 PM
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I can't believe old fart lewis is SO pro-labour given our social and economic climate !!! Maybe life is cosey for the tartan shawl and slippers brigade, but it certainly isn't for those of us trying to make some headway in this overtaxed, inefficient country.
I don't vote, and I'm sure there are those that feel I therefore cannot have a say - but seeing as my taxes help fund whichever inept govt. is in power at the time, then I'll say what I like.
I don't vote simply because who the hell would you vote for ? Dumb or Dumber ?!? I'm currently taxed to the hilt for being a responsible citizen, and this sucks. TBH, providing they do a good job - I don't care who is in power, conservative or labour. But the problem is, Labour are currently doing a crap job...IMO.
Matt
I don't vote, and I'm sure there are those that feel I therefore cannot have a say - but seeing as my taxes help fund whichever inept govt. is in power at the time, then I'll say what I like.
I don't vote simply because who the hell would you vote for ? Dumb or Dumber ?!? I'm currently taxed to the hilt for being a responsible citizen, and this sucks. TBH, providing they do a good job - I don't care who is in power, conservative or labour. But the problem is, Labour are currently doing a crap job...IMO.
Matt
09 October 2003, 02:29 PM
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the trouble is....we're all dumbasses....we're the ones who allow this irrelevant political 'punch & judy' show to continue....
the joke's not on pslewis, or paulr, its on everyone.
the joke's not on pslewis, or paulr, its on everyone.
09 October 2003, 02:39 PM
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Tonygochi
"He's virtually the British Prime Minister!"
Ever wished you had personal access to the Prime Minister of Great Britain?
Now you can! Have your own pet Tony Blair on your desktop - at your beck and call day or night!
Feed and care for your own pocket sized Premiere!
Watch as he fights to win your support!
Repremand him when he behaves badly!
See him generate new policy ideas, and set up working parties and focus groups!
Above all, work with him to build New Britain!
Download NOW!
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill...tonygoch2.html
"He's virtually the British Prime Minister!"
Ever wished you had personal access to the Prime Minister of Great Britain?
Now you can! Have your own pet Tony Blair on your desktop - at your beck and call day or night!
Feed and care for your own pocket sized Premiere!
Watch as he fights to win your support!
Repremand him when he behaves badly!
See him generate new policy ideas, and set up working parties and focus groups!
Above all, work with him to build New Britain!
Download NOW!
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill...tonygoch2.html
:
09 October 2003, 02:45 PM
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telboy
what's the answer? revolution, insurrection, mass abstention...I dunno, but one way or another the 'alternative' is not to put up with it.
I don't claim to have all the answers, but it doesn't mean I have to adopt the same 'party political sheep mentality' that everyone else seems to...
what's the answer? revolution, insurrection, mass abstention...I dunno, but one way or another the 'alternative' is not to put up with it.
I don't claim to have all the answers, but it doesn't mean I have to adopt the same 'party political sheep mentality' that everyone else seems to...
09 October 2003, 02:49 PM
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I've got a "get rich quick and make the government lick your ***" idea.
Make yourself into a corporation, preferably a supermarket involved here, then you get to pay no taxes, the government give you money to stay here and you are accountable only to a standards group which you are chairman of and, hence, always find in your favour.
Its that simple! dont say I aint good to ya.
Make yourself into a corporation, preferably a supermarket involved here, then you get to pay no taxes, the government give you money to stay here and you are accountable only to a standards group which you are chairman of and, hence, always find in your favour.
Its that simple! dont say I aint good to ya.
09 October 2003, 02:54 PM
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paulr
depending on which books you read, there is indeed likely to be an 'election' (of sorts) in 2012...but unfortulately not the kind that any of us will be able to influence...
depending on which books you read, there is indeed likely to be an 'election' (of sorts) in 2012...but unfortulately not the kind that any of us will be able to influence...
09 October 2003, 02:54 PM
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Sounds like it would work np Seenthelight.
Greg Palast is an investigative journalist ,who once worked along side Blair, and so knows first hand pretty much what is going on inside Mr Smilie's head.
Tony Blair, according to Greg Palast, has sold his soul to the free market. He imagines that the large transnational corporations will be the panacea to worldly problems. His evangelical utopian dream is built upon the maxim that the message is more important than the content
Blair has taken Thatcherism (Social Darwinism) to new heights. He adores the anything goes, no boundaries, pure and unadulterated competition without governmental regulations. It's competition to destruction.
Blair has taken Thatcherism (Social Darwinism) to new heights. He adores the anything goes, no boundaries, pure and unadulterated competition without governmental regulations. It's competition to destruction.
09 October 2003, 02:55 PM
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Don't bank on it paulr - the truth is out:
__________________________________________________ ______
Labour - a government that's never there when people need it but always there when they don't.
Think about everyday life.
You struggle to get to work because the traffic's jammed. Where did all that extra petrol tax go?
More and more of your day is spent dealing with government's petty regulations.
They waste your time - they wear you down.
You work longer, too - to make up for the extra tax you're now paying.
You get home late - to find your daughter's been bullied at school.
You know it's not the teachers' fault. The government won't let them exclude the bullies.
They're the same gang that stole your son's mobile last week.
The police don't have enough officers to catch the culprits.
So, they offer a crime number instead¿ as if that's good enough.
And then Gran's on the phone - her operation's been cancelled again. It seems the doctor says he must give priority to other patients to meet Tony Blair's targets. Gran doesn't count.
Government - always there when you don't need it: with its extra taxes and bureaucracy never there when you do.
Never there in the fight against crime, never there to give you and your family the schools and hospitals that you have paid for.
Blair must go.
You don't expect the earth just a fair deal. But in Labour's Britain, government is on people's backs, but never on their side.
Tony Blair's in your face when you don't need hassle, out of the country when you need help.
Labour isn't working again.
People have seen through Labour and they've seen through Tony Blair, too. He said he had no plans to increase taxes - then increased them sixty times.
He promised to be fair - but plundered the lifetime savings of people preparing for retirement.
He pledged to be tough on crime - but gun crime has doubled....
__________________________________________________ ______________
I think you get the picture. And over the next 18 months so will everyone else. VOTE THEM OUT.
__________________________________________________ ______
Labour - a government that's never there when people need it but always there when they don't.
Think about everyday life.
You struggle to get to work because the traffic's jammed. Where did all that extra petrol tax go?
More and more of your day is spent dealing with government's petty regulations.
They waste your time - they wear you down.
You work longer, too - to make up for the extra tax you're now paying.
You get home late - to find your daughter's been bullied at school.
You know it's not the teachers' fault. The government won't let them exclude the bullies.
They're the same gang that stole your son's mobile last week.
The police don't have enough officers to catch the culprits.
So, they offer a crime number instead¿ as if that's good enough.
And then Gran's on the phone - her operation's been cancelled again. It seems the doctor says he must give priority to other patients to meet Tony Blair's targets. Gran doesn't count.
Government - always there when you don't need it: with its extra taxes and bureaucracy never there when you do.
Never there in the fight against crime, never there to give you and your family the schools and hospitals that you have paid for.
Blair must go.
You don't expect the earth just a fair deal. But in Labour's Britain, government is on people's backs, but never on their side.
Tony Blair's in your face when you don't need hassle, out of the country when you need help.
Labour isn't working again.
People have seen through Labour and they've seen through Tony Blair, too. He said he had no plans to increase taxes - then increased them sixty times.
He promised to be fair - but plundered the lifetime savings of people preparing for retirement.
He pledged to be tough on crime - but gun crime has doubled....
__________________________________________________ ______________
I think you get the picture. And over the next 18 months so will everyone else. VOTE THEM OUT.
09 October 2003, 03:08 PM
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The Tories are jumping on the Populist, Daily Mail set agenda more now than when that little Turd Hague's day.
If you want a less tolerant, more self centered, more selfish society, Vote Tory!
If you want a less tolerant, more self centered, more selfish society, Vote Tory!
09 October 2003, 04:59 PM
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"Blair is the best leader the world has seen - soon to be FACT"
"I am always right - FACT"
pslewis - one of these statements is likely to be proved incorrect...any idea which one?
"I am always right - FACT"
pslewis - one of these statements is likely to be proved incorrect...any idea which one?
