Have the Conservatives fixed our country?

[Bob Arctor]

1)

3) Yes it is a price worth paying. I work hard and therefore am entitled to a better quality of life than those who don't work. I am fed up of people without jobs having TVS, holidays, heating etc.

 

So Tories think that people who are too ill to work or have been made redundant shouldn't have heating? Should they pay for their own hypothermia treatment too?

 

Also, I wasn't aware of the need to ditch the telly if one loses one's job. You don't seem very happy. You do know it will just make you miserable if you keep comparing your situation to other peoples? It's a psychological dead end.

 

---------- Post added 17-06-2016 at 13:35 ----------

 

All you were doing was conflating zero hours with part time, they're very different things.

 

That's precisely what he was doing.

[chem1st]

Actually no.

We're discussing debt as a percentage of GDP.

If for example debt stands one year at 100% of GDP, then GDP grows by 2% and the size of the deficit is 1% of GDP, then debt as a fraction of GDP actually falls slightly.

Hence the "almost".

 

Of course the reverse is true as well. If there is negative growth, then there can be no deficit, or even a slight surplus, but the debt as a percentage of GDP can still rise.

 

Edit: Okay sorry. I now realise you just said pretty much the same thing.

 

We can ensure GDP has risen and will rise by increasing a fictitious number used to calculate GDP.

 

Debt as a fraction of GDP then falls.

 

We could include an imputation for sexual activity between partners based upon how much a prostitute may charge. This would allow GDP to rise substantially when the economically active and economically inactive get their end away.

 

We already estimate a figure for prostitution, so surely we ought to include a figure for sexual activity between partners when money does not change hands. To ensure fair comparison between countries where prostitution is more/less prevalent.

[El Cid]

An unfavourable evaluation of the government's flagship policy response to the 2011 riots has been suppressed, BBC Newsnight has learned.

 

The analysis found that the Troubled Families programme had "no discernible" effect on unemployment, truancy or criminality.

 

The initial scheme sought to "turn around" 120,000 households at a cost of around £400m.

 

That is what I mean; the Tories spent £400 million and achieved very little. Is that because £400 million is not enough, or does our benefits system need a real overhaul?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37010486

[ez8004]

Are you richer now than you were straight after the global financial crisis?

 

---------- Post added 17-06-2016 at 11:28 ----------

 

You know when fuel was 1.40 per liter.

 

Yes. Very significantly so.

 

I just wish the gap between welfare and being employed widened more.

[tinfoilhat]

That is what I mean; the Tories spent £400 million and achieved very little. Is that because £400 million is not enough, or does our benefits system need a real overhaul?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37010486

 

Does our benefits system need an overhaul? Short answer - yes. Is that going to solve that troubled families thing? Not on your life. You could have doubled to £800million and that will not "sort" Wayne and waynetta and their off-spring.

Edited August 8, 2016 by tinfoilhat

[Anna B]

Does our benefits system need an overhaul? Short answer - yes. Is that going to solve that troubled families thing? Not on your life. You could have doubled to £800million and that will not "sort" Wayne and waynetta and their off-spring.

 

The benefits system may well need an overhaul but so do a great many other things. There are very complex problems in nearly all sections of society, and I think it's all interrelated. The troubled families and the poor are simply the visible end of the line, which is why throwing money at them won't work.

 

It's interesting that we never look to the Northern European countries such as Sweden, Finland and Denmark who have a good reputation for governance, as an example to follow. Instead we seem to favour the American model, when they are even more screwed up than we are.

[Cyclone]

I wouldn't go so far as to say they have "fixed" our country, but they are doing a sterling job improving it.

 

1) They have managed to avoid dragging us into any illegal wars. This means there are not millions of dead innocent brown people as a result of their governance.

You're going to count "not created an illegal war" as an improvement.

Wow, you're setting the bar low.

 

2) Lots of jobs have been created. A small number of these are zero hour contracts, but what the racist supporters of the Labour Party don't realise is that the majority of people on these contracts want zero hour jobs.

 

3) Tax breaks mean that I now get to keep a lot more of my hard earned money.

 

4) Cuts to welfare has meant that the gap between the non workers and the employed has widened, increasing the incentive to work.

 

5) The EU referendum. Even though I (like most intelligent people) shall vote remain, people deserve a choice.

 

I predict the conservatives will win the next election easily

 

This is just fingers in ears going la la la whilst the country burns.

The NHS is in the worst crisis of it's existence, created entirely by the tories presumably with the end goal of privatisation.

The referendum was a moment of monumental hubris by Osborne and a disaster for the entire country.

Education continues to become something only the wealthy will be able to have.

The demonisation of the poor and immigrants has fractured society and poverty is at the highest levels since Victorian times.

[unbeliever]

You're going to count "not created an illegal war" as an improvement.

Wow, you're setting the bar low.

 

This is just fingers in ears going la la la whilst the country burns.

The NHS is in the worst crisis of it's existence, created entirely by the tories presumably with the end goal of privatisation.

The referendum was a moment of monumental hubris by Osborne and a disaster for the entire country.

Education continues to become something only the wealthy will be able to have.

The demonisation of the poor and immigrants has fractured society and poverty is at the highest levels since Victorian times.

 

It never ceases to amaze me how programmed peoples responses are to these matters.

No matter how much money gets into the hands of the poor, the Conservatives are deemed to be working against them. Now matter how much money goes into the NHS it's supposedly in a massive crisis as part of a plot to privatise it.

 

Why is it that so many otherwise reasonable and thoughtful people, when it comes to politics, start from a programmed conclusion and then adjust the apparent facts to fit those conclusions?

 

How do you deal with the fact that the Conservatives consistently put above inflation spending increases into the NHS?

How do you explain the massive cuts in income tax for the poor at a time when the government is desperately trying to get out of the red?

[El Cid]

It never ceases to amaze me how programmed peoples responses are to these matters.

No matter how much money gets into the hands of the poor, the Conservatives are deemed to be working against them. Now matter how much money goes into the NHS it's supposedly in a massive crisis as part of a plot to privatise it.

 

Why is it that so many otherwise reasonable and thoughtful people, when it comes to politics, start from a programmed conclusion and then adjust the apparent facts to fit those conclusions?

 

How do you deal with the fact that the Conservatives consistently put above inflation spending increases into the NHS?

How do you explain the massive cuts in income tax for the poor at a time when the government is desperately trying to get out of the red?

 

Until this year.

 

Its a 2 party political system, you are either with them, or against them.

[Cyclone]

It never ceases to amaze me how programmed peoples responses are to these matters.

No matter how much money gets into the hands of the poor, the Conservatives are deemed to be working against them. Now matter how much money goes into the NHS it's supposedly in a massive crisis as part of a plot to privatise it.

Junior Doctors striking.

Student nurse bursaries abolished.

 

It amazes me that no matter how the conservatives attack the NHS some people will continue to believe that they are trying to help it.

You're accusing others of confirmation bias when you show every sign of it yourself.

 

http://nhsvault.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/nhs-cuts.html

 

Here's your "increased" funding. It's the lowest rate of increase since the 1970s and so it isn't remotely keeping up with the increase in demand as we continue to live longer and get older and have a higher population.

 

Take a close look here at figure 3

http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/blog/2015/10/nhs-spending-squeezed-never

 

LARGEST EVER SUSTAINED REDUCTION IN NHS FUNDING AS A PERCENTAGE OF GDP.

 

Ouch, that's going to make your cognitive dissonance ring like a bell.

Edited August 9, 2016 by Cyclone