BBC Blog Network

User Profile

awa_the_noo

Listed below are comments made by awa_the_noo between Tuesday, 24th June 2008 and Thursday, 23rd October 2008.

«Newer
Older»

Agenda pressure 1:48pm on 23 Oct 2008 How much longer will this so-called story drag on? Do you really expect us to believe, Nick, that there are not some rather more significant political events to investigate and report: dodgy Home Office statistics, the end of 'no boom and bust', the 'R' word - now grudgingly coming to you courtesy of our Great Leader, even the mysterious disappearance of P. Woolas from Question Time panel ... Oh, I give up, you know about all these far more than I do; after all, that's what you're paid for.
The Corfu story 10:25am on 21 Oct 2008 To quote Mr Balls-Cooper: "So what?" If any donations were illegally channelled to Tory coffers, where is the evidence?

The Mandelson spin machine, using his "old friend", is once again in overdrive feeding the gullible media. A transparent attempt to divert attention from his Lordship's own dubious background and dealings.
Rewriting the rules 5:03pm on 18 Jul 2008 "85. At 3:28pm on 18 Jul 2008, moderateprogressive wrote:

80:

"well no, of course the global economy was important, particuarly cheap goods from asia. brown benefitted from a prosperous economic environment - undoubtedly."

Fine.

"bank of england independance, allowing expert economists to ensure a close match between demand and supply, was also beneficial, as was the encouraging of increased labour supply, through the provision of child-care to single mothers, liberal immigration etc."

And, as a result of low interest rates, arguably artificially low, and lax regulatory conditions, individuals were encouraged to borrow to purchase property - in many cases, beyond their means. This inevitably lead to huge house price inflation, conveniently omitted from Government Price Indices.

"yes brown took credit that in truth wasnt 100% realistic - "

Good. We agree on this.

"but would you really expect any politician to say no, actually, i had nothing to do with it, please elect the tories at the next election. would a man so truthful and decent and disdainful of spin as david cameron do differently? a man who claims he is green whilst having a car follow him to work? who goes to the arctic for a pretty photo-op, ignoring the damage caused by flying there? who wears four sets of a clothes at a party conference?"

This mini-rant about Cameron seems irrelevant to the present discussion. Brown has been 'in charge' of Government finances fo 11+ years. I'll wait until Cameron is in power before deciding what he will or will not spin. Brown's actions, particularly on borrowing and off-balance sheet fiddles (for example, PFI and public sector pensions) have made a major contribution to the current situation where even more borrowing is needed.

"reminds me a little of the 1992 election where the tories won after a scare-campaign, promising no tax rises, and shortly afterwards increasing taxes"

NuLab would never do such a thing...

"none of this, of course, changes the fact that current inflation is not home-grown."

A rather sweeping statement. I don't know to what extent inflation is home grown, but, for example, I don't see how Council Tax inflation is anything but that (of course, it's a tax and therefore doesn't count in the calculations).

If the Government has to borrow more, one result is likely be higher inflation, partly as a consequence of a devalued currency.
Rewriting the rules 3:03pm on 18 Jul 2008 "68. At 1:56pm on 18 Jul 2008, jimbrant wrote:

... Since it's difficult to identify areas where savings of any significance could be made in the short-term (in spite of facile comments on here about Quangos and so on)..."

Really, how do you know? I thought we employed Government ministers and civil servants to determine patterns of expenditure.
Rewriting the rules 2:59pm on 18 Jul 2008 "53. At 1:27pm on 18 Jul 2008, moderateprogressive wrote:

51:

the last 6 to 12 months notwithstanding, we had the longest period of low inflation in living memory! as a result of mismanagement? despite high and condinued growth? i think not"

Of course, our low inflation during the past decade had nothing to do with global conditions - unlike the present dire straits in which we find our economy, according to Bean.
Spend less or tax more? 10:34am on 02 Jul 2008 Nick, you still don't get it! You must stop using the term 'spending' - it's INVESTMENT.

How can any taxpayer possibly object to their cash being used for hugely beneficial endeavours - that is i n v e s t m e n t s - such as massive increases in (some) health employees' salaries, with no quantifiable productivity improvements, and world-class Government IT projects that are years late, many times over budget... or quietly abandoned because they don't work?

I'm sure that, at this very moment, Bean and acolytes are beavering away in their bunker trying to find ever more ingenious ways of separating taxpayers from their money.

Re your PS. I don't get the connection between Finkelstein's article and Cameron>
Power of the pumps 2:11pm on 24 Jun 2008 So, Mr Bean goes to Jeddah pleading for lower oil prices and, guess what happens...up they go. Entirely predictable, given his ability to turn to dust everything he touches.

The only way our control-freak 'PM' can influence petrol costs is to return some of the huge fuel tax windfall his 'government' has received from the 20%+ increase in pump prices during the last year alone. Given the outcome of his years of 'prudence' - the catastrophic debts incurred that now must be serviced - this is a likely as the survival of a snowball in the Sahara.

«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

awa_the_noo