We're off !

... yay.

Could be interesting this.Thanks for the reminder Granny xx

seen the Labour canvassers in Greasby getting ready to do the doors--about as annoying as the JWs. Well actually prefer the JWs as have more ammunition against them than politics.

Just caught Cameron on the radio saying you are voting for either Me or Milliband to be the next prime minister to walk through the doors of Nr 10. I hate smug arrogance.

First Faux pas made by Chuka Umunna.

never vote never will,its already been decided

Is there an actual point to this thread? What is the intentioned aim of it? Are we ALL expected to flood the link with propoganda?? Of our own choosing?

I see that a member was unaware that the #GE15 is even happening- however,as a result of this thread, it now knows #Awww #ThatsNice

The Conservatives are not revealing details of plans to slash £12bn from the benefits bill before voters go to the polls. Ian Duncan Smith said it may not be “relevant” to explain where the rest of the cuts will fall until after the election.
His comments came after the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) thinktank said the planned cuts will be difficult to achieve, involving “pretty dramatic” reductions in areas such as housing and disability benefits over the next three years. The intention appears to be to screw over the pensioners, the sick and poorest in society.

Usual Government pattern to bring bad news, already leaked the worst and backtrack a little bit afterwards to keep the peasants happy.

Overall benefits cap to be reduced to £23,000 (that moves many poorer people out of London and makes more room for the rich).

Benefits Cap to be renationalised (so it can be reduced even further in poor areas).

Child benefit to be capped to two children (because the rich don't need the paltry child benefit).

Industrials Injury benefit to be scrapped (because the rich don't work in dangerous parts of industry and don't need it).

Disability benefits to be taxed (sneaky way to reduce it but as with all benefits it should have some means testing).

Carer's allowance to be even more difficult to get (basically if you aren't carrying somebody around on your shoulders 24 hours a day - you ain't gonna get it).

Removing the contributory elements of JSA and ESA (which gives no time for people to adjust from employment to unemployment, bankers will love the interest they gain).

Do you know this DD or is it just assumptions ?
So far the Tories have not divulged anything with cuts and say they do not have any figures yet.

Quite amazing really, can't imagine it will do them any favours.

I still think it will fall on the Pensioners. Raise state pension to £144 per week (or a bit more, relating to when the announcement was made and when it could be implemented) and take away the Pension Credits. They want the pensioner votes though.


Pleased Lib/Dems are pledging more into mental health and depression.

If I could have my way I'd have anyone standing in an election (gov or local councils)either be lie detected, hypnotized or given a truth drug (maybe all 3) and told to answer certain selected questions honestly and truthfully.
Manifestos published in plain simple English together in the papers or a free thing like the globe explaining what they intend to do and how they'd do it and an independent think tank or other body examine them and say whether they are feasible

getting off my soapbox now

We are only into the second day of what looks likely to be 5 weeks of lies, counter lies, promises, false promises. Already Cameron has been forced to backtrack on the £3000 Labour tax bill statement and Labour backbenchers are saying they will scupper Milliband's public spending cuts.
I imagine if those standing for public office were forced to tell the truth by some electronic or mechanical means the machine would not be able to cope and would explode.Whoever gets in will clearly have to continue with cuts so it is really just down to whichever pet projects the ruling body decides to favour to the detriment of others.

Brush and tar springs to mind.Whoever get's in the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer and that is something you can guarantee.

Now we have a Party Propaganda Broadcast on behalf of the ? party

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbLGG5UGEKw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwXr_-_vp9E

Pretty nippy editing, there! Someone's gone to a lot of trouble to put that together. It's amusing how George Osborne's face expands and contracts depending on whether they've used before or after weight loss clips.

Who cares who gets in,the EU is already being helped by local greedy politicians to bring in it's regions policy, 2017 November, England won't exist as the EU takes full control of our country, MPs are just puppets pretending they are making laws and policies, when they know who really owns us as they are the ones who gave the country to their foreign bosses, voting and democracy nah!

[youtube]fbl-xqxsQfM[/youtube]

Yep. Its been happening for years. If we have a referendum and the country votes to stay in-- the next step could be a full Federal United States of Europe.
Interesting that the prophetical book of Revelation in the bible pointed towards a kind of one world leader. To achieve that you need fewer and fewer independent sovereign countries. You need to move to several large political unions, USA, Russia, Europe, Asia each with its own leader before the ultimate step to a single one world government. It seems a million miles away

from when he has been overdoing his visits to Lucy in the Sky.....with Diamonds? or his old mate Charlie?

Work part time? They're coming after the 'part time scroungers' now.

https://speye.wordpress.com/2015/02...t-cap-and-we-will-sanction-you-says-dwp/

Lost for words......

.

It looks like the dirty tricks campaign is hotting up, the alleged comments made by Nicola Kranky, are they true? could be, but unlikely, more like Tory smear, if the culprit is found the denial will be comments misunderstood in translation, but again little Jimmy could be up to her own mischief, this election has certainly sunk to gutter levels, it just shows how desperate the various parties are to grasp power, funny really, fingers worked to the bone poor pay who would want to be a politician the usual cries of the poorly done by MPs, now the bidding process has started, my government will build more houses than you, we will spend more than you on etc etc, getting sick and tired of the whole lot now.

Snap, Casper. It's all becoming heartily disheartening.

My biggest moan this week is the issues of immigration. Not the fact that there are so many immigrants (although I do feel the numbers should be controlled more )it's more the fact that all political parties ,bar one, seem to think that immigration is the best thing for our country. That then comes down to either fleecing other countries of the qualified people their own countries desperately need, or at the lower end of the market, as our own are refusing to do certain jobs and the immigrants fill that gap. Firstly, I do not believe that so called fact,but even if it were true, how very, very appalling to think that foreigners are not as worthy as we are, and that they will provide for the scullery . That idea to my mind is not far removed from slavery, or the Indian children working in factories for a pittance ,to make clothes and other products for the benefit of the west. No! no! no ! Anyone who comes up with that argument is not worthy the position they hold or will hold.

Spot on granny, as for the boasts on immigration being made by all parties but specifically by UKIP, it is all nonsense for to carry out their policies we would have leave the EU first, which would mean a referendum on membership, and at present only the Tories are offering that, so in that aspect its all pie in the sky, something that Nigel cant deliver, if we are to stay as part of the EU then immigration must be looked at within that framework, probably the best way to would be to allocate quotas based on the size of the country and its ability to provide a work and accommodation framework, or maybe standardise arrangements for immigrants so that each country is equal in what it offers in welfare benefits and housing, human nature as it is means people will head for the most generous place.

A few true words spoken there Granny. I think there are a lot of people in this country who do not know the meaning of 'proud to work'. Regarding the influx of immigrants, I believe no member of the EU should have to pay any more to an individual than their mother country. That would stop people coming here just for benefits - though most will take any job due to their culture to find work.

Cameron has reached a new low today. SamCam and her quite frankly sickening interview regarding their sick and disabled son, who sadly died. #familyman #myarse

Come on Rude', say what you really mean lol. They most certainly won't get the sympathy vote from me. Millionaires able to claim DLA for their kid then once the tragic death has passed they stop the 'lower classes' from being able to claim - truly hypocritical and vile.

I get DLA for my daughter but it wasn't an easy form to fill in it was mentally tiring going through it all

That struck me as somewhat distasteful too . Obviously shes not ever going to forget him, but its not like he'd only just died --it seemed a blatent 'use' of a sad situation to grab the sympathy vote, just like the shameless contestants in such progs as 'Britains got Talent ' who announce how their brave Granny who taught them to love music had just died of cancer , and they wanted to win just for them . Blurgh!!

Another one to add to Fish's contribution :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH0K_XIIBow

Very good ,Moonstar.

http://www.eventbrite.com/e/transit...3551538371&fb_action_types=og.shares


Few seats left.

[youtube]PPgS7p40ERg[/youtube] Watch past the first 25 seconds for this video from the Greens.

.

McVeys minions demonstrating the Tory regard for Health and Safety. Pictures taken on Irby Road earlier this evening. The pictures have been 'stolen' by me from their original upload on the facebook page 'The Wirral Network'

Set up, to cause bad press.

You only have to look at the position and windows the pics have been taken from.

If its a set up granny, they have gone to a lot of trouble for very little return, vehicle reg is on display, for those that wish to find out the truth it would be easy to prove or disprove.

All looks ok to me. They are using the van roof as a platform to comply with the regulations!
Clearly they will have done a risk assessment and decided hard hats and harnesses are not necessary.

If it's not a set up Casper, then according to Salmon's point, it is clearly 'bad press' on Facebook and now wikiwirral.

[youtube]iIGO7xvkxSw[/youtube] Catchy!!

Not sure if I have this correct for all, probably don't as such things vary accordingly.
Doing a calculation of increases in benefits and state pensions since May 2010.
So far as I can see state pensions have increased by approximately £18 in every 4 weeks.
Can anyone put down the increase on JSA or Disability/Other Benefit increases since May 2010 ?
The increase in pensions are calculated by the 'Consumer Price Index' figures, or growth in average weekly earnings above 2.5% whichever is the highest from figures released each September.
Not sure how any other benefits are calculated because I haven't looked.
The following website shows how pensions will change in the future:
http://www.ageuk.org.uk/money-matte...-reforms-mean-for-you/new-state-pension/

Now in trying to sort out the good from the bad, Mr Milliband also said he was going to freeze fuel payments, if elected. Firstly for 2 yrs, then 20 months last I read it was reduced to 6 months. So is that still on the agenda I wonder ?
Any help with figures and promises will be appreciated. Thanks

One thing about putting posters too high is people don't see them, Sainsburys Upton have done a similar trick at the cream cake stand posters high saying three for two etc and I'am still asking and the guy is pointing, must be the same with that poster, past that way this morning, vote UKIP, LibLabCon are just little school kids in the schoolyard all saying the same thing , look this way not that way because that's the way we will get the taxes back, beside 2017 we get taken over lock stock and barrel by the EU.

http://www.voterpower.org.uk/

Do not know how accurate the above link is, or indeed credible?!

(Noticed ITV news featured the precariously placed McVile McVey poster, in their programme).

Did anyone watch Ed Milliband's speech yesterday ?

I thought he spoke extremely well, and much improved on the two previous public debates. Seems to have gained his confidence more and couldn't avoid telling us that he
'IS READY'. So now he is 'Tough and Ready'.

Sadly, it doesn't seem possible to get to the bottom of their agenda. Still no definite clues and those MP's interviewed yesterday were all reading from the same script. Obviously that means there are a few porkies being told.

Not sure about the 'wrap-around' childcare is likely to be a success. Available for every child in every primary school with CRB checked volunteers. ??? How many are likely to be needed and who is going to be willing to take up voluntary positions from the arts, sports and music organisations. It would appear the impact would probably put the small businesses in that category.... out of business, plus, taking away more parental control from families. Seems as if the 'Kibbutz' idea is getting generally closer to our society than we would wish for .
Of course Tristram Hunt (Shadow Secretary of State for Education) is another one of those 'posh boys' (as people like to call them),from the Labour Party and his feet haven't really landed on the other side of the playground railings of the Independent School he went to.

Let's wait for the next one.(all in it together) tomorrow


WHAT IS KIBBUTZ?

Kibbutz means group in Hebrew. It is a modest name for something unique: a voluntary democratic community where people live and work together on a non-competitive basis. Its aim is to generate an economically and socially independent society founded on principles of communal ownership of property, social justice, and equality.

The first kibbutzim (plural of kibbutz) were organized by idealistic young Zionists who came to Palestine in the beginning of the 20th Century. Their dream was not just to settle the land it, but to build a whole new kind of society. Despite many hardships, they succeeded in creating a social system and a way of life which has played a crucial role in the development of the State of Israel both culturally and politically
http://www.kibbutzprogramcenter.org/about-kibbutz/

Who knows what could happen .Looking more and more to me like it could end up with a Unity Govt like after the war . Mileron or Camermil . Cant see a straight win for anyone - so of course all manifesto promises we hear from both sides , will be mashed into some sort of compromise and they can all justify their manifesto broken promises /failures , because their party had their hands tied by the other. Therefore I think the claims of the 'good' things they will do, will be hugely embellished as the election gets nearer .

Quite right Venice.

Missed Cameron this am I thought it was tomorrow, but will catch up on internet.

Milliband's ban on zero hours contracts is also suspect. Seems it will apply to some but not others .
This policy will give more loopholes for employers to wriggle through.

Quote:
Labour was leading the way on restoring workers' rights after party leader Ed Miliband pledged to tackle the issue of zero-hours exploitation.

Ed Miliband announced this week that Labour's manifesto will propose a number of safeguards for workers, including legal rights against being forced to be available at all hours – and being barred from working for others – when no work is being guaranteed. Anyone working regular hours for six months would have the right to ask for a fixed-hours contract and it would be automatic after a year unless the individual opted out.

http://www.billesterson.org.uk/seft...ontracts_are_an_attack_on_workers_rights

I can't see anything other than a hung parliament happening. It is just a question of who gets into bed with whom. To my mind only really Labour, Tories and Scottish Nationalists can possibly wield any power. The thought of a combination any two out of those three fills me with dismay.All the manifestos will be worth less than they would be had a single party assumed control.

Only the oldies on here will remember the third Miliband brother, Glen, and his wonderful rendering of 'In The Mood'

My understanding is that the Unity Govt didnt do too bad a job? I think its my least objectionable choice.

Does anyone see how Cameron is going to justify selling off more Council houses so cheaply after only 3 years residence --and flats are to get 70% discount!!! Imagine getting an ex council flat in London for that, when young couples there renting in the private sector are struggling to save a mortgage for the full price on the same type of flat and have no chance . Seems very unfair.

The worst thing though is if the councils are to be forced to sell off their most expensive housing privately , which is likely to largely be multi bedrooms , and then build smaller properties with the money, to offer to council tenants so those tenants are able to buy the properties cheap after 3 years ------ how does that balance financially , and what about the housing stock for larger families? The promises after last sell offs of council housing to build lots more little ones didnt come to much did it. I dont agree with it at all. They should just build more properties ,not sell old ones off.

Simple really, most council houses have been transferred to housing associations, its them that are going to have to foot the bill - it certainly won't be coming out of Cameron's own pocket.

Double hit on the housing associations because some are having financial problems already because of bad debts from bedroom taxes.

So the housing associations are going to go under then? Where does that leave social housing?

I think the Unity Government had a bit more to worry about than party politics like keeping Adolf and his hordes out.

Can someone explain the 'bedroom tax' and the link with causing Housing Associations to have bad debts due to unpaid bedroom tax. Have they already paid the bedroom tax in advance ? If not, then they shouldn't have bad debts. Don't know how it works.

Cameron's idea could be beneficial from the point of saving costs on upgrading properties and then the money goes towards new properties. It will at least get the banks to part with their money for a while (even if it is on paper).

Opinions differ, and I wouldn't even consider that the chance of someone owning their own home is something that should not happen. My generation were very lucky to have that advantage, and it should not be denied to others if possible, but adding that I hope it wouldn't be open to immigrants or EU members, mainly because many of our own would be more than happy to have their own home and possibly the only way they could. Foreigners would only rent them out again anyway, and there should be a clause included to stop that happening until 10 years have past, or some such thing.

Sincerely hope we don't have a coalition including the SNP sitting in Westminster.

Yes, its not obvious and is quite a sneaky way that the Government made sure they weren't landed with the debts.

Most housing association tenant's housing benefits are paid direct to the Landlord, not through the tenant. If there is bedroom tax to be paid, the housing benefit is reduced by the amount of bedroom tax, so the landlord receives a shortfall which the tenant is supposed to pay to the landlord.

From what figures I have seen, I would estimate that across Merseyside there is over £10m of bedroom tax being owed to housing associations, the real figure could be a lot more than that, if someone said £40m I wouldn't be surprised.

The Conservative manifesto seems to have taken a slight deviation to the policies of the left, last week Dave was saying we must continue on with austerity till the job is finished, yesterday Dave was "promising" goodies for all, they have now miraculously become the party of the working man / woman, now that is something I will never ever believe, it says everything when politicians change their policies( we will stay on track with austerity until the job is done and the debt is reduced)but now all of a sudden its Christmas time courtesy of Dave a born again socialist

I'm hoping for a Conservative/UKIP Coalition...

I think that would work quite well.

UKIP have the voice and the balls to say what they think that the Conservatives are lacking.

But UKIP would be the minority in the coalition and would get walked all over by the Tories like the Libdems did.

Britain is in a no-win situation at this election, the British public are going to lose out never mind what because of the crazy party political system we have.

Every MP and Councillor should be independent and hence be able to vote as they see fit, their voting records should be fully visible to make them accountable to the electorate.

In reality it looks like UKIP won't have enough seats to swing it for a Tory coalition.

I've yet to see anything this government has achieved, they haven't reduced debt merely transferred it. They have made a lot of noise about issues that are hardly significant.

Whilst it is easy to criticise the finances of the last government, the effects of the global crisis on the UK was minimised compared to most other countries. We probably came out of it even better than Germany when all things are taken into account.

Our downfall is reliance on Russia for power and China, India and Pakistan for cheap labour, we need to invest inwardly, not outwardly, you can only throw money away to other countries for so long before it will crash - look at our previous dependence upon Japan, luckily we had other countries to fall back on but we will run out of reliable cheap labour countries at some point and have no skilled mass workforce to rely upon.

Up to 2013- quite alot:

Under the Tories homelessness has shot up 31%.
Tory boasts that they would turn Britain into a “tax haven” have come to pass, at least for the rich with tax avoidance now at a all time high.
To many of the jobs created under the Tories have been part time. Evidence shows that record numbers of those in work want extra hours but cannot get them.
There are now 600,000 less public sector workers than there was when the Tories came to power.
The Universal Benefit Payment has forced families to move into squalid housing, typically defined as the lowest 33% of houses by rental value in an area. Given that 46% of private rental homes are deemed sub-standard, (ONS).
The UK Statistics Authority has rebuked David Cameron Fuckwitted Pob lookalike Michael Gove and Iain Duncan Smith for their consistent misuse of government statistics.
The Tory Work Programme has delivered just a 2% success rate, after they ignored NAO warnings it was a waste of money.
The Tories will cut Corporation Tax (profit tax) by 25%, from levels of 28% to 21%. This is at the same time as scrapping Child Benefit for some earners and cutting Child Tax Credits
The Tories spent nearly 3 years demonising benefit claimants with their “curtain pulling” stigma, even though £66bn goes unclaimed every Parliament in benefits.
The Tories failed to make permanent the Bankers’ Bonus Tax and profiteers in the City of London are still being rewarded, disproportionately, for taking unnecessary risks and they have also refused to cap bankers bonuses.
The Tories showed no sympathy for the families suffering from Child Benefit Cuts. One Tory MP labelled mothers complaining about losing Child Benefit as engaging in “fiscal nimbyism” and urged them to live within their means.
The Tories refused to regulate the Fast Food industry. Instead, they asked their nudge unit to consider “fat taxes” on the poor. They even stopped obsese people having access to some NHS operations. Unashamed of their deeds, one Tory MP said NHS Patients should pay for their medicines if they contract illnesses through “Lifestyle Choice”.
The Tories launched a war on women, by cutting Tax Credits and accusing feminism of holding back men.
The Tories have wasted more than £90 billion of taxpayers’ cash.
The Tories have increasingly refused Freedom of Information Requests, and have changed the rules to make it easier for an FOI request to be refused.
The Tories have axed 5,000 Fire men & Fire women.
The Tories have axed 28,000 staff in Police Forces throughout the country.
The Tories have accepted £20 million of donations from people who have directly benefitted from their policies. The blame lies not with the donors, but the Tories for creating unnecessary conflicts of interest by accepting the cash.
The Tories have abolished Remploy, and sacked 5,000 disabled workers in one day. Oblivious to the sensitivities of what they were doing, the workers were formally sacked on international day for disabled people.
The Tories scrapped the 50p Rate of Tax, and in doing so have given a tax cut to millionaires.
The Tories admit they will now have to borrow well over a £150 billion extra this parliament because of their failed growth. That figure has since grown again.
The plans announced to halt teachers automatic progression through the Main Pay Scale could end up costing teachers up to £10,000. There are real fears among Unions that these plans amount to pay freezes through the back door.
The numbers of workers not even being paid the National Minimum Wage has grown under this government, with women being the worst affected.
The numbers of homes built under the Tories are at levels lower than any time since the Second World War.
The numbers applying to go to university have declined 2 years running, this year by 6% alone. These are dangerous times, where aspiration for educational advancement is becoming unfulfilled.
The number of working households now relying on Housing Benefit to make their rent payments has doubled.
The number of families on housing waiting lists is now at a record high, after Grant Shapps failed to solve the lack of affordable housing supply.
The NHS is wasting more money than ever before. Agency Spend among Foundation Trusts has climbed 50%. We are now paying private consultancies hundreds of millions to assist the new CCGs, to audit accounts, and to report on the future viability of NHS Trusts.
The government have still failed to tackle payday loan companies, leaving it to crusading backbench MPs to campaign for.
The government blamed the poor for being unemployed as unemployment stayed stubbornly above 2.4 million. One Tory MP even accused the unemployed of playing the system and warned of a “rude awakening” as unemployment reached 2.5million.
The average NHS worker has had a real terms pay cut of £1,600 due to George Gideon Oliver Osborne, son of Sir Peter Osborne, 17th Baronet of Ballentaylor and Ballylemon and Felicity Alexandra Loxton-Peacock, educated at St. Paul's and Magdalen College, Oxford’s pay freeze.
Suicide Rates have begun to rise again.
Staff Cuts: 85,000 less people are employed by the state in Health & Social Care. 42,000 less are employed in the actual NHS.
Rail Fares have risen more than 20% since the Tories came to power and energy bills are not far behind.
Privatisation: £7bn worth of the NHS has been privatised and 90% of it has been handed to a tiny number of companies.
Private landlords are recouping a record amount of £42bn a year from tenants, yet the Tories only answer was to cap housing benefit, instead of capping private rents.
Personal debt continues to rocket while George Gideon Oliver Osborne, son of Sir Peter Osborne, 17th Baronet of Ballentaylor and Ballylemon and Felicity Alexandra Loxton-Peacock, educated at St. Paul's and Magdalen College, Oxford shifts the bankers debt from the state to us.
Patient Satisfaction: When Labour left office NHS Patient Satisfaction was the highest it had ever been (73%). It has since taken a record slump to (58%). Just over half of people are now happy with what the NHS has to offer.
Parents, pupils and teachers did not want academy status for their schools, but Fuckwitted Pob lookalike Michael Gove has ignored local democracy and forced academisation upon them.
Our NHS Foundation Trusts are facing increasing economic instability. In total, 7 NHS Trusts face ‘hit squads’. The NAO concluded that PFI was not the main cause. In fact, rising spend on Agency Staff as a result of Lansley’s recruitment freeze was the main reason.
Of the top 10 private health companies in the UK, who have all seen their business blossom under the Tories, there have been 100+ Care Quality Commission Inspections on their premises in 2012 which have reported shortcomings at their sites.
No 2 local NHS areas in 2012 offer the same health entitlement. North Yorkshire patients, for example, are losing their right to follow up appointments and health visitors as £10m of cuts are being made to local services.
Children’s rights to expensive cancer drugs now vary from trust to trust.
NHS Treatments such as cataracts, hip replacements are no longer available free of charge on the NHS in some parts of England for some patients. In total, 22 Treatments are now restricted.
Nearly 8,000 Nurses have been axed under the Tories and thousands more have received redundancy notices.
More than 400 Sure Start Children Centres have now been shut under the Tories, this from a party who promised not only to protect them but to extend them.
£1.3 trillion of damage has been done to economy through lost growth & ballooning debt and misspent money.
Fuckwitted Pob lookalike Michael Gove scrapped EMA that the Institute of Fiscal Studies called Value for Money. His decision was not based upon the deficit since he first sought to scrap it in 2004.
Fuckwitted Pob lookalike Michael Gove has left Britain with the most over-crowded classrooms in Europe.
Fuckwitted Pob lookalike Michael Gove has cherry picked the best schools for “converter” academy status, the schools with poorer OFSTED records have been held up in their applications.
Fuckwitted Pob lookalike Michael Gove has actually closed more than 200 schools at a time when class sizes are rising.
Fuckwitted Pob lookalike Michael Gove halved the funding on school meals after which Jamie Oliver attacked him for decreasing the quality & health of children’s nutrition.
Fuckwitted Pob lookalike Michael Gove cut £860m from the Children & Families budget and used it to bribe schools to switch to academy or free school status.
Fuckwitted Pob lookalike Michael Gove cancelled Labour’s plan to roll out free school meals for middle-class families at a time when evidence shows more families are in desperate need of the meals.
Just 454 Affordable Homes were built a 6 months spell under Grant Shapps, as reported by the ONS in November 2011. This was a 97% decrease.
Jeremy Hunt has ordered every Primary Care Trust in England to put 3 further chunks of its NHS out to tender under AQP by September 2013. This follows on from the 456 forced tenders this year. In total, 912 pieces of our primary NHS services are being flogged.
Infant mortality rates have started to rise again after a long period of them failing.
In Sheffield elderly patients have to pay £5-17 for foot treatment. For a time Sheffield was also charging patients £25 for whiplash tests. In the East of England major health providers are limiting courses of physiotherapy treatment.
In each of the 2 years of Tory Rule, private rents have grown by more than 4%.
Ian Duncan Smith is forcing public sector workers to accept a 3% tax hike in their pension contributions against their will or any proper consultation.
Iain Duncan-Smith penned one of the most heartless letters I have ever read to the family of a suicide victim caused by his policies.
The government have been slammed by the leading experts in the Housing Profession who published a Housing Report concluding that the Tories, and in particular Grant Shapps as Housing Minister, were failing tenants.
Half of England’s Ambulance Stations are being shut down and sold off. In total, 591 hectares of NHS land is up for Sale.
Gove now famously refused to discuss Ofqual’s letter of concerns about the E-Bacc in front of the Select Committee. The one-off 3 hour replacement of GCSE English has been labelled dangerous, unequal, unaccountable and unprecedented.
George Gideon Oliver Osborne, son of Sir Peter Osborne, 17th Baronet of Ballentaylor and Ballylemon and Felicity Alexandra Loxton-Peacock, educated at St. Paul's and Magdalen College, Oxford signed a record number of PFI deals in his first year in power that will cost the Tax Payer £33bn.
George Gideon Oliver Osborne, son of Sir Peter Osborne, 17th Baronet of Ballentaylor and Ballylemon and Felicity Alexandra Loxton-Peacock, educated at St. Paul's and Magdalen College, Oxford raised an extra £41bn in taxes in 2011 at a time when the economy was struggling but cut taxes for the rich.
Gas Prices are up 31% under the Tories & 40% of families are on the brink of fuel poverty.
Food Banks have grown every year of this Tory government and Child poverty has also increased. The Tories have responded in various ways from trying to claim this as a success of the Big Society, to denying poverty even exists in the UK.
Female rates of redundancy are climbing at a faster rate than men. More than 80%+ of workers losing their job in the NHS are women. Huge wage differentials still exist between men and women.
Despite violence against women climbing, and domestic abuse jumping 20%, one Tory MP drew parallels between the allegations of sex crimes, and smoking a joint.
Despite having the consultation period required for redundancy notice halving from 90 to 45 days, the Tories persisted with blaming workers for their declining rights. One Tory MP cruelly judged that British Workers were among the ‘Worst idlers’ in the World.
David Cameron has now abolished Equality Impact Assessments thus guaranteeing less equal services for disabled, elderly, LGBT, and BAME voters.
Fuckwitted Pob lookalike Michael Gove cancelled a plan to rebuild 715 crumbling schools thereby ensuring that all Labour’s great advancements in updating our school infrastructure were put on hold.
10% of A & E Wards are shutting. Dozens of District General Hospitals are facing downgrade or closure.
Chris Skidmore co-authored a book that labelled UK workers among the most “idle” in the world. He called for Unemployment payments to be repayable loans, and proposed that benefits such as tax credits and child benefit be capped to just two children.
Chris Grayling forced 350,000 young person’s (50,000 of who are disabled)to work unpaid for multi-national firms.
Cameron has spent 3 years bullying, mocking & insulting women, disabled & the elderly.
At least 570,000 more households (1.2 million people) were forced into fuel poverty in one single day when energy companies announced a masive price hike in the winter of 2012.
As a portion of GDP UK state spending in Education is set to fall far behind the USA making us more neo-liberal than the state we love to mock for its laissez-faire approach.
Andrew Lansley & David Cameron ignored a Tribunal Ruling to publish Risk Register.This Risk Register if published could have saved lives as it would have led to an improved mitigation response to the Tories new NHS impositions.
After mucking up the security arrangements for the Olympics, and wasting taxpayers’ money in still paying a company £80 million+ for failure, a Tory MP had the audacity to mock the Olympic Ceremony as Leftie Multi-Cultural Crap.It has also come to light that the same security company G4 has been robbing the tax payer blind in what is now a police investigation.
According to the UK Statistics Authority, the Tory Manifesto Commitment on page 45 has been broken. There has not been a year on year increase in NHS spending in real terms as promised.
According to the National Audit Office, Gove has overspent by £1 billion on his Free School & mass academisation experiment. Gove is making up the shortfall by taking £1bn cash from state school children.
A&E Waiting Times at 8 year high. Things have not been this bad since 2004.
A proliferation of the same fast food premises in and around schools mark this a sorry year for those trying to improve school food standards.
A Bedroom Tax on families with wounded soldiers, disabled or elderly who require extra space for their treatment is callous.
A 20% VAT rate has added 0.7% to inflation that reached 5% in 2011 while wages grew at less than half rate. This had a dramatic effect on the misery index.
95 Academy & Free School bosses now earn more than MPs & up to £300,000 a year.
74% of GPs say that there has been a reduced entitlement on the NHS this year.
600,000 people will go bankrupt under this government.
250,000 Disabled People have been forced onto Unpaid Workfare with just a 2% job success rate.
2012 was the year where Academy Bosses salaries accelerated to more than double the pay of the Prime Minister. There are now hundreds of Academy bosses raking in more than Government Ministers earn.
2012 saw record high Clinical Negligence payouts totalling more than £1.2 billion. This is a £500 million increase than payouts under Labour. Each claim takes on average 1.3 years, so the 2012 payouts were for errors in 2010-11.
25,000 businesses have already gone bust under this government.
4 Trusts have now been placed in administration with one judged ‘bankrupt’. A Further Trust was told it was facing bankruptcy
2 NHS Acute Secondary Hospitals are either a) privatised or b) the formal process of franchising has begun.
11,000 Hospital Beds have been axed in 2 years. We now have the lowest number of hospital beds in our NHS in living memory.
10,000 students GCSE English Results were debated in a High Court as Fuckwitted Pob lookalike Michael Gove oversaw a belated altering of the grade boundaries that unduly punished some students by as much as 2 grades.
A benefit cap was brought in that will save just a 110 million a year while the Tory party still ignore the loss of 25 billion in tax avoidance.
Iain Duncan Smiths universal credit scheme has turned into a multi billion pound disaster with the software unable to cope on a national roll out.
The bedroom tax has not saved a penny and is now costing the country money as those who are effected are now claiming for private rent.

Flippin' 'Eck Rude, that must be the longest post ever on Wikiwirral.

Personally I think this has the potential to ruin more peoples lives than any other option unless you are 100% fit for your entire working life, already own your own home, earn more than the living wage and have a very good private pension with health care. Unfortunately most people in society do not fall into this category.

Works for me...

The problem is that unless you're very poor or very rich, the outcome is generally going to make sod all difference to you.

Hence why even though I've said the above, I don't see any point in voting.

Watched UKIP deliver their Manifesto this am., and missed Clegg's, other than a bit of a repeat on the news channel. He seemed to be far more assertive, than he has just recently.

Suzanne Evans, who I have previously thought was a drip in a nightie, actually delivered the UKIP Manifesto proposals extremely well. I was quite impressed with some of the policies they are promoting as they appear to make sense, and they also have covered a far wider agenda than the Tories or Labour.
Still don't fancy a UKIP coalition, I think that would result in stale mate at every full stop.

One thing of importance that I either missed or was not mentioned , was employment and job creation.

DD, thanks for explaining yesterdays question.

I am neither rich nor poor but every party sitting in No.10 has an effect on my life. A lost opportunity to vote now will mean a further 5 years of not being able to let any party know how you feel. I do empathise with your viewpoint HansG but wish you would reconsider voting even if its for the best of a bad lot. The day we get proportional representation and the ability to effectively sack an mp cannot come too soon.

I think you will find that has been included in UKIP's Manifesto, Gee.

The core of their manifesto, still revolves around immigration, and what they are suggesting regarding that is pie in the sky unless we have a referendum, and at present only the Tories are offering that, and if that were so the outcome may be to stay in, even if we vote to leave we could still be obliged to take immigrants from the EU as part of our trading obligations, I personally don't like Farage, hail fellow well met something not right there, reminds me of being an Oswald Mosely type.

Could have just posted a link:
Click Here

or the 2013 original without added expletives :
Click Here

Why do we need a referendum to close our borders to Europe, we didn't have one to open them! We have only been permitted to vote on the common market which foolishly we did, turning our backs on the commonwealth market and numerous other trade agreements we had with other countries.

We alienated ourselves from something that was working well to surrender ourselves to the inevitable United States of Germany.

It wouldn't bother me too much if there were a hung parliament and that all MPs had all facts and figures for voting on changes and were allowed a free vote as their consciences dictated and not to toe the party lines.
A foi list of how they voted on issues would be handy for checking on how our local mps vote

Back from a VERY interesting evening in West kirby.

A Question Time type event. McVey, Greenwood and two other non-entities were on the panel- the Kipper sent in a 'schoolboy-esque apology'.

Questions submitted and asked from the floor included the topics: better society and how it can be funded,addressing the increasing use of foodbanks, fracking....N.H.S., T.T.I.P, local energy sourcing.

Yes, dad.

You don't need an FOI, its available on TheyWorkForYou but I would prefer it to be provided by the Government.

Live account: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/recap-esther-mcvey-wirral-west-9053481

Bet Esther McVey was pleased that Nicholson hadnt come out with his claims about the NHS before that event.

.... who can believe all he says, with a track record like his ?

The following is of interest ,although obviously not of his making. So much involved toward the present position of the NHS. What a waste of money !.....

In April 2007, the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons issued a damning 175-page report on the programme. The Committee chairman, Edward Leigh, claimed "This is the biggest IT project in the world and it is turning into the biggest disaster." The report concluded that, despite a probable expenditure of 20 billion pounds "at the present rate of progress it is unlikely that significant clinical benefits will be delivered by the end of the contract period."

She was schooled.

I agree with you Granny that its desirable for people to have the chance of their own homes, but Why instead of having people buy their council houses for up to 70% of their worth, and then after a time having the right to sell on for whatever its worth now ( like council house tenant the other day now sitting on £1.25 million ) - why dont they make it that you have to offer it back to the council or housing assoc first, with the same percentage discount you had been given . That way, people would have the right to buy, and when they sell, still have a % profit of any rise in value. And the council/housing assoc would still have a house to let to the ever increasing number of desperate people.

Good idea Venice, but possibly after years of home improvements and extensions, the Councils would not wish to purchase them.
To be viable, the work would have to be done by registered companies, and many will do DIY home improvements. Health and safety and all that !

I agree with both your posts.

I'd suggest using brownfield sites to build prefabricated housing starting from one bedroom units on which more rooms could be added to as the need grew
Google prefabricated housing
I can't find the site where a 3 bedroomed house was made from tons of plastic from a tip for about £40,000

click

Brownfield sites are normally ex-industrial sites located in industrial areas, don't we want to keep them for future industry?

There are loads of demolished residential areas around, the landowners should be forced to either build or sell, I think planning permission should be extended to include demolition and so dictate the future of the land, it seems very wrong that anyone can demolish a property and create empty unused land without planning permission.

Who knew that Ed Milliband was speaking at Pensby High School this morning ?
Televised on BBC.
Just can't help that vision of him with a couple of bobbing antennae on his head. His ability to blink so much seems to say 'I am so important, I do not need to see you'.

Half his manifesto seems to be focused on admitting(not apologising for) all the things the labour government got wrong last time around (he's forgotten he played a major part in all of that), seems to have taken him a long time to admit it.
Never, ever to be trusted again and really, really don't like him either. Silver tongued creep.
They'll never get my vote.....sorry Casper, a definite NO.

....and the other one, is about to get rid of the blue and fill it with orange.

Must have been a party faithful meeting, didn't recognise any faces as I don't live too far away from Pensby, me I'am voting UKIP seems I'am a racist, fruitloop, for doing so, I find it unbelievable, I live on an island part of the British Isles if I want to go to other countries I need to fly or take a ferry or train, anyone from another country coming here has to do the same, we had colonies which were turned into a group of countries called Commonwealth countries which decided to run their own affairs, people from these country's came to study or came as sailors and quite a few stayed and lived around the Mersey even to having one of the first mosques in Liverpool in the 1890s, we've had immigration for a few hundred years into this area and they've been assimilated and are part of the people of the Mersey area, you can't allow 300,000 people in a year and expect housing, schooling, NHS etc to absorb that amount, we have to look why people want to come here when they travel through a number of country's that they could stop in without fear or threat to their lives, me I'am still a racist and a fruitloop for mentioning that word "IMMIGRATION".

Well Davew , I wouldn't be a bit surprised if many others were likely to be supporting UKIP.
At the moment, Farage seems to be saying exactly what he's up for, no fibs. The ordinary public want and need the truth, of which most politicians are not really parting with.
Just because people are looking for an answer to curbing the immigration figures does not mean they are racist or odd.
When we look at the map of Europe and look at the size of our little island in comparison, it's simply not possible to keep the same pace for the next number of years and it's grossly unfair of Europe to expect it of us.
Most of those who think the same are frightened of their own thoughts, including the politicians. When many of them have immigrant backgrounds, they can hardly decry others coming into the country and when London has more than half it's population who are not indigenous, a lot of votes could be lost if it was discussed with any deep meaning. The whole idea is pre-planned for a multi racial society, and whether we like it or not, we will get it. I also think that this business of selling off housing stock and replacing it with newer cheaper, smaller properties, will be for the benefit of immigration and as they can't take many more in the southern part of the country, it will be an opportunity to integrate everyone. HS2 is another scheme to filter out the over population of London.


Watch out for UKIP and their supporters, I really believe they could and will do a lot better than the phoney reports are telling us at the moment.
Mind you, one of them from Great Yarmouth has been arrested tonight. Another slip of the fist! Not good and doesn't help the campaign one bit does it ?

The big problem that I see with Nigel Farage's ideas on immigration is that it means pulling out of the European Union. That would be a disaster for us, we would lose the free market within EU , 500 million consumers lost overnight. Now, when we trade with Japan, China and other big players we are negotiating on behalf of what represents 20% of the world's GDP. Our standing as a global force would disappear as alone we are about 1% of world population.Farage is right that we allow too many immigrants in and perhaps his idea of a points system makes some sense. UK is slowly sinking under the numbers coming in, the infrastructure simply cannot cope which leads to high house prices which makes it almost impossible for people to get onto or move up the housing ladder.

To put in in a nice way Salmon, "rubbish" it's a 60-40 split with more goods from trade from Europe coming to us, can you see the European car companies stop trading with Britain and let Japan and Korean cars takeover, even all our exports that go via the European hub to the rest of the world spend 3 days in the EU then are exported as EU exports, why not look to Liverpool and it's getting built ocean container port, we are a trading nation with a growing economic Commonwealth of nations in Asia we can trade with, Europe is a dying backwater and is taking us with it, trade with Europe but dump the expensive EU, nothing wrong with Europeans, well apart from the their competition, when the EU signs off with the accountants where all those billions have been sprayed then we see if we need them, 20years of unsigned accounting if you had a business would put you in jail.

That is what I call an intelligent response "rubbish"

Nigel Farage is not proposing breaking free trade links with Europe, he is proposing to have a trade agreement with Europe the same as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland have.

Indeed but none of those mentioned have ever been members of the EU. Every report and commentary strongly suggests that for UK to leave and then come back to EU for only certain benefits which suit UK would be met with disdain and/or refusal except on very unfavourable terms for UK. Departure from EU would almost certainly lead very quickly to Scotland going independent and who know what would happen to Wales and Ireland.SNP are basically heading the polls simply because many Scots see them leading them to indpendence from the "hated" English.

Cameron on his battle bus heading to Wirral. Got a lovely reception in Liverpool. Edit, he got the train to Wirral as he did not want to face the protestors near the bus.

The way their leader is threatening to run Britain, the sooner we have a referendum to expel Scotland from the United Kingdom, the better.

Derek- you were asking somewhere about easy to read manifestos?

Mencap have released easy to read manifestos

https://www.mencap.org.uk/easymanifestos

Still full of BS hahaha

Last laugh of the night.

He would appear to be on repeat........he's not. It just seems that way

[youtube]jlTggc0uBA8[/youtube]

How is it rubbish? the HSBC don't seem to think so, there is nothing I would like better to go back to the days of the Commonwealth with our true friends, but unfortunately its not going to happen, so to leave the EU would be a disaster, the continentals can be vindictive especially the French followed by the Germans and would love us to come a cropper, we are now the beggars of Europe maligned and hated by most of them.

These are raps done for the budget, still funny and the same words and phrases are still being applied.....



[youtube]UvB4iJIy-rQ[/youtube]

[youtube]Cg4TyYoOUuQ[/youtube]

Oh dear!!!

There are 5.2 million small firms in Britain. 5,000 like the Tories enough to sign a letter to say they think they are doing a good job. That is less than one-tenth of 1%!


And some sigs are false!!!!!

http://politicalscrapbook.net/2015/...includes-people-who-dont-own-a-business/

Mr Milliband has promised to have minimum wage standing at £8 per hour by 2020.

Last October the Low Pay Commission directed that the National Minimum Wage should rise by 19p to £6.50 per hour.

If we take a 19p increase each year between now and 2020, that would be an increase to £7.45p per hour.

Therefore with increase in utilities (which is more than likely) food shopping, rents, and general living costs etc. the additional 55p that's promised is not going to make any difference what so ever.

So it's a promise that won't make a jot of difference. Everyone will be worse off than they are now. Unless of course, the economy stays static, which is not what they are hoping for.
Of course, employees will be that much better off than what any of the other parties are committing to, but the chances of Working tax credit to go up is probably minimal.


Which ever Government is elected, I don't think anyone should be under the impression that they will be any better off in the next Parliament. It's just not going to happen.

The most important issue in my mind is housing. Apart from building like mad, they should also bring in an act to help those in the private sector from being on short term lets.
Germany for example according to a documentary I saw, have a huge amount of privately rented accommodation, the difference is, they can live in the same place for very long term, such as 30 yrs. If we have to follow Europe in all we do, we need to have the same rules as Europe.

That's how I see it, but I'm sure someone will say I've got it all wrong ?

19p rise represents a 3% increase which is ahead of inflation, I can't see it consistently increasing ahead of inflation for 5 years on the run.

The two groups of people that are going to get hit most at the moment are part-timers and self-employed, if you don't work at least 35 hours a week you will be effectively heavily penalised - the criteria for what counts as "work" for the self-employed is very strict.

Britain's building plan (in order to increase employment and reduce the cost of housing) is yet again being corrupted by London centralisation - the prices of houses in London are still increasing at a massive rate. The Government need to de-centralise as much as possible away from London, this is the easiest time we have ever had to do this because of the internet there is less need to centralise.

We are heading full speed into yet another crash caused by the banks and housing markets. SOURCE.

Instead of demolishing and building, we should be refurbishing and renovating - just look at how many houses have been demolished in the Birkenhead area in recent years, it isn't cost effective and is fuelling a crash not preventing it.

It would appear that most voters will not get the party they voted for under this present system. There needs to be an entire overhaul, the way the votes are accounted for is ludicrous. Proportional representation is the only fair way to go. At the moment, Labour, who will be second, in most of the Scottish constituencies, should be well ahead in the polls. People's votes for UKIP, Lib Dems and Greens will count for nothing if their parties come second in their respective constituencies. Proportional representation would also put paid to tactical voting and, I believe, that more people would turn out as they would be sure that their vote would make a difference.

My concern's about proportional representation are that while populace will be represented the geographical aspect won't.

The cities will have the majority of the vote, the urban areas will be totally under-represented so countryside preservation, farming, fishing and similar will have very little sway.

So the next thing that happens is that someone introduces a modified-proportional representation which will also have its biases and weaknesses especially with having a party political system in place.

It hardly matters what the result is next Thursday. I predict that there will be another election before the end of the year.

Gone from being really enthusiastic to totally disillusioned. All the negative campaigning annoys me but not nearly so much as the fact that no politicians seem capable of giving a direct answer to a direct question. Are the words 'yes' or 'no' not in their vocabulary

I dont think it matters whether they have a straight yes or no anyway , because it seems yes can mean no and no can mean yes in the political arena , mostly because mentally they spell it
nobut and yesbut .