BBC Blog Network

User Profile

tarvaa

Listed below are comments made by tarvaa between Friday, 23rd May 2008 and Friday, 13th June 2008.

«Newer
Older»

A divisive Davis? 3:28pm on 13 Jun 2008 CEH # 32

"Gordon Brown stands for purpose, society, and building for the long term. I challenge anyone to say this is not in tune with the aspirations of the common man, business, and politics. "

"You believe in Britain? Brown is Britain."

While the "common man" etc may want purpose, society and building for the short term, GB does not seem to if you judge him by his actions.

Bringing a country to the levels of indebtedness in which we now find ourselves, despite having just come through an economic boom, is not long-term building.

Compounding a pension crisis but layering additional taxation onto pension funds is not building for the long term.

Spending billions extra on the NHS, with little real benefit being delivered is not building for the long term.

Mortgaging the countries future on hugely expensive, ill-conceived and one-sided PFI agreements is not building for the long term.

GB is about short term expediency at the cost of long term prosperity, and in the sense that we as a nation have the highest level of personal debt ever, then as least you are correct when you say that "Brown is Britain", and there is much wrong with both at the moment.
Ireland votes No - what next? 1:09pm on 13 Jun 2008 Well done Ireland.

26 governments refuse their populations a say on this ill-considered mish-mash of measures as 26 countries know that it would be impossible to explain to their populations why the Lisbon treaty deserves to come into being.

Fortunately the Irish people have been brave enough to withstand the political bullying and reject this treaty on behalf of all of us.

Surely now it is time for the politicians to get serious about EU reform, to turn this monolithic, unaccountable and mismanaged organisation into something that is accountable, is well run and more importantly, is answerable to its citizens. Unfortunately this isn;t likely to be the outcome, as we will end up with another set of ill-considered proposals that we will be denied a say on.
A divisive Davis? 1:01pm on 13 Jun 2008 Finally we have a politician willing to stand up and say "I care about this issue, and I am going to make a stand on principle"

"On Principle" - given all the exposure over MPs expenses, demanding that they are given eye-watering pay-rises, enhanced and protected pensions, finally we have an MP willing to fight for something on principle - something that I and many other people suspected that MPs had forgotten all about, in their eagerness to ride the gravy train.

Also DD has said that his stand is based on the creeping erosion of our personal freedoms, it is about so much more than just the 42 days, its about CCTV, ID cards, National Databases of all our phone calls, emails and web browsing, its about the ever-growing power of the state that has nothing to do with improving security as terrorists will find ways around all of these things.

As for those who say that this is a shameful waste of money by DD, these are the same people who backed a £2.4Bn (failed) bribe in an attempt to head off a back-bench revolt over the 10p tax band, these are the same people that relied on a £200m bribe to the DUP to head off a defeat over 42 days. The cost of a by-election fades into insignificance compared to these cynical use of taxpayers money.

Lets hope more MPs follows DD's lead and start to speak out for the freedoms that being constantly eroded by the state without good reason.
Tipping point? 12:32pm on 23 May 2008 Hopefully Nick Robinson's analysis is correct, and the massive rises in spending on Health and Education that had lead to little or no real improvement will start to be curtailed and the savings invested into reducing our increasing tax burden.

I am not just talking about the recent abolition of the 10p band (which should be more correctly described as raising the 10p rate to 20p) or the increase in fuel costs. I also include raising the 40p threshold in line with inflation, and not in line with wages, which has sucked hundreds of thousands extra into higher rate tax, the imposition of the rise in PAYE disguised as a rise in NI to get around their promise not to raise Income Tax as well as the below house price rises in Stamp Duty.

In addition we now have one of the most onerous corporation tax rates in Europe, which is leading to businesses shifting to other countries to avoid paying the excessive rates of taxation.

All this to throw money into public services without insisting on real reforms, or value for money.

Reducing the tax burden, and enabling people to choose where their money is spent (or saved) is more like real investment in this country then simply wasting it on the inefficient and bloated public sector. This is the real legacy of 10 years+ of Gordon Brown and his fiscal prudence.

«Newer
Older»

^ Back to top

BBC MMVI

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

BBC.co.uk

BBC Blog Network

Find and talk to the BBC's bloggers.

User Profile

tarvaa