David Cameron is PM.

Slight tangent, but I would just like to say, good for Miriam Clegg for actually managing to remain an independent professional woman who happens to be married to a politician, as opposed to turning into some kind of political Stepford Wife ala SamCam and Sarah Brown!
 
A question for those who are anti Conservative.

What is that YOU percieve to be 'wrong' about Tories? I am interested to know if the comments that I have been hearing and reading over the last few weeks can actually be bourne out in facts.
 
Well I think its bloody fantastic and I did vote. I think everyone should. Mum called me up last night when I was up the yard when it was announced and told me I was thrilled.

like David Cameron said lets reward those who do work! Now thats the total oposite to what Labour thought and watching GMTV this morning some woman wrote in and said something along the lines of " Im not happy with DC being the ne PM, I voted for GB as he is the one to get us out of the resession" !
 
Sarah1 said:
I do not like David Cameron in the slightest & I think he'll be the worst thing to happen to this Country since Margaret Thatcher.
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Yeah a tory government hauling this country out of a labour induced recession - terrible prospect! :p
 
Sarah1 said:
What will be will be I suppose, the rich will get richer the poor will get poorer. :p
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Just like they did do under "New Labour" in fact the biggest increase in the earning defferential between the top and botton earners in modern times has occured in the last 13 years.
 
stacey_lou said:
Well I think its bloody fantastic and I did vote. I think everyone should. Mum called me up last night when I was up the yard when it was announced and told me I was thrilled.

like David Cameron said lets reward those who do work! Now thats the total oposite to what Labour thought and watching GMTV this morning some woman wrote in and said something along the lines of " Im not happy with DC being the ne PM, I voted for GB as he is the one to get us out of the resession" !
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Maybe the GMTV viewer thought "he got us into this mess so he should be the one to sort it out" :p
 
It remains to be seen whether the Conservatives will do any better this time round than they have done previously, personally, I think I might be saying 'I told you so' in a few years time! :p
 
spaniel said:
Deja Vu. I just hope it doesnt drive DC bonkers like it did Thatcher!
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Agree Spaniel. I actually like David Cameron, and think he actually comes across as being genuinely passionate about the country. Unfortuntely picking up the **** from the labour government means he will no doubt be seen as a "baddy" in the same way Thatcher was at the end of her term.

Also, the recession could have been, and has been dealt with a lot more effectively in other countries who have also been effected, so don't preach the "it was a global recession, nothing to do with labour" card. I work in the finance/credit industry, have many friends/associates who have done and do work in this trade for many years, and they saw the recession coming LONG before it hit and was made public, because of the way the banks were being allowed to run... and the lack of action to help prevent it.

England could be, and was at one stage a self sufficient coutry. This isn't necessarily a good thing to be, BUT if valuable assets hadn't of been sold off by the labour government, and desperate deals made in order to "get into bed" with other countries, we wouldn;t have been hit nearly as hard as we have been.
 
Sarah1 said:
Could someone explain to me how the global recession was GB's fault?! :confused:
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He's been at the forefront of british politics for 13 years with pretty much unfettered control over british economic policy so where we stand in all this can very much be landed at his door.

As the recession started in the USA GB probably couldn't have prevented the whole thing in its entirety (although he stood a better chance than most as he had good access to the succession of US presidents).

The thing that is Brown's "fault" is his failure to exercise caution in the good times so that we emerged from an economic boom with debts and strutural defecit. His failure to realise that his boast that he had brought an end to boom and bust was unrealistic. His failure to guard against future recession. His failure to regulate the banks and their lending practices. His failure to regulate the banks and their borrowing/investing practices. He allowed certain banks to become too big to fail rather than blocking mergers and encouraging competition. He failed to recognise the impending crisis in the USA and take steps to limit our exposure....... and so on.

Brown could have protected us much better and reduced the effect of the crisis on the UK.

Of course all that assumes the benefit of 20/20 hindsight which is unfair but many people thought that Brown should have been reining in the banks and exercising caution long before the economic crisis happened. The position was simply unsustainable. It is common sense, in your personal spending you save a bit for a rainy day rather than borrowing willy nilly expecting the good times to last forever, and you certainly don't borrow and spend more to get out of debt like Brown was proposing before the election!
 
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KatB said:
England could be, and was at one stage a self sufficient coutry. This isn't necessarily a good thing to be, BUT if valuable assets hadn't of been sold off by the labour government, and desperate deals made in order to "get into bed" with other countries, we wouldn't have been hit nearly as hard as we have been.
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Valuable assets like British Petroleum, British Gas, British Steel, British Telecom, Rolls Royce & National Freight to name but a few?!
 
Rolls Royce wasn't so much a valuable asset as a bloody big albatross actually. It was only bought into government ownership in a desparate attempt to save it from collapse and the loss of huge numbers of jobs. It was in a terrible financial state, but it was important to us because of the involvement in important national projects, defence and civilian (concorde for example), it was too big to be allowed to fail.

Putting it back into private ownership was absolutely the right thing to do as it has continued to trade as a british company and when there have been hard times more recently the company has been able to make redundancies and deal with hard times as private company without being a drain on resources.
 
Katt said:
He's been at the forefront of british politics for 13 years with pretty much unfettered control over british economic policy so where we stand in all this can very much be landed at his door.

As the recession started in the USA GB probably couldn't have prevented the whole thing in its entirety (although he stood a better chance than most as he had good access to the succession of US presidents).

The thing that is Brown's "fault" is his failure to exercise caution in the good times so that we emerged from an economic boom with debts and strutural defecit. His failure to realise that his boast that he had brought an end to boom and bust was unrealistic. His failure to guard against future recession. His failure to regulate the banks and their lending practices. His failure to regulate the banks and their borrowing/investing practices. He allowed certain banks to become too big to fail rather than blocking mergers and encouraging competition. He failed to recognise the impending crisis in the USA and take steps to limit our exposure....... and so on.

Brown could have protected us much better and reduced the effect of the crisis on the UK.

Of course all that assumes the benefit of 20/20 hindsight which is unfair but many people thought that Brown should have been reining in the banks and exercising caution long before the economic crisis happened. The position was simply unsustainable. It is common sense, in your personal spending you save a bit for a rainy day rather than borrowing willy nilly expecting the good times to last forever, and you certainly don't borrow and spend more to get out of debt like Brown was proposing before the election!
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This I agree with 100%. I like the ideals and ethos of Labour (personalities aside) - making society fairer, helping those who *can't* (not use of the word can't, not won't) help themselves, education for all. However, I do agree that the Labour government did little to protect us during the good times. The banks should have been better regulated and reined in. I do feel that the (Labour) government sat on their laurels during the good times, enjoying them too much and apparently thinking little about what might happen in the future.

As for what I dislike about the Tories... I agree that we need to cut our deficit, that efficiencies need to be made within the public sector. However, listening to George Osborne is exactly the same as listening to senior management in my previous company... "efficiency savings" and "restructuring" just means mass job cuts. This is the party who would privatise the NHS in the blink of an eye, who believes that education is the privilege of those who can afford to pay for it, and who would (had it not been for the Lib Dems insisting it be scrapped) have put more money back into the pockets of the already very rich with inheritance tax plans.

Questions for those who thing we are wrong for supporting Labour, or for being wary of the Tories... Would you prefer a situation like the US, where you need healthcare insurance (which is expensive and sometimes difficult to get) to receive medical treatment? Do you believe that education should be available, free, to all or would you prefer that only those who can afford it should be entitled? As far as David Cameron is concerned, I fail to believe that an Eton-educated man from such a privileged back ground can possibly understand how his decisions will affect ordinary working families.

All of that aside, I actually think the prospect of a coalition government is quite an exciting one. It will be interesting to see how it pans out and hopefully the Liberals will be a calming influence on the Tories. I feel that our political system needs to change so am fascinated to see if this really will be the catalyst for it.
 
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i too think that this coalition government might be exciting and i hope for the sake of all of us it does work, it would be nice to see our government and politicians working together for the best for all of us not fighting like children in junior school

yes i believe that people who can work should work but also believe that as a country we should support individuals and there should be benifits in place for familys to cope with adverse conditions like the loss of a bread winner whether it is by death or illness don't forget the children in these situations tend to be the inocent ones yet they are demonised for their family backgrounds

so rather than blame people might we use this new approach to government as a new stepping point for all of us

ps i would like to remind people that thatcher only balanced the books by selling of the british gas, electricity, trains and coucil houses to name a few
 
chestnut cob said:
This I agree with 100%. I like the ideals and ethos of Labour (personalities aside) - making society fairer, helping those who *can't* (not use of the word can't, not won't) help themselves, education for all. However, I do agree that the Labour government did little to protect us during the good times. The banks should have been better regulated and reined in. I do feel that the (Labour) government sat on their laurels during the good times, enjoying them too much and apparently thinking little about what might happen in the future.

As for what I dislike about the Tories... I agree that we need to cut our deficit, that efficiencies need to be made within the public sector. However, listening to George Osborne is exactly the same as listening to senior management in my previous company... "efficiency savings" and "restructuring" just means mass job cuts.

Was chatting to a friend last night, she's a teacher and her husband a nurse. They both agree that there are "efficiency savings" too be had in education and healthcare and that there are jobs which actually should be scrapped. If that can be seen in those two sectors then it is likely to be true throughout the public sector. So on that basis I have no problem with Tory efficiency savings, no point increasing the defecit if the money is being spent on pointless cr*p


This is the party who would privatise the NHS in the blink of an eye, um no, that isn't a tory policy at allwho believes that education is the privilege of those who can afford to pay for it, no they believe that there should be choice within the education sector, which would include options within the public and pprivate sector only some of which would need to be paid for, and if you want to pay extra for education why the bloomin heck shouldn't you be able to? and who would (had it not been for the Lib Dems insisting it be scrapped) have put more money back into the pockets of the already very rich with inheritance tax plans. It isn't putting money back in anyone's pockets, this is money that has already been taxed once, being taxed again just because someone dies. IHT scares loads of people and at the moment you don't have to be that rich to be hit by it. People want to be able to leave legacies and lots are scared that it will all go to the government at the moment. IHT also has to be paid in advance of receiving the legacy and is a crippling burden on someone who may actually not be rich at all.

Questions for those who thing we are wrong for supporting Labour, or for being wary of the Tories... Would you prefer a situation like the US, where you need healthcare insurance (which is expensive and sometimes difficult to get) to receive medical treatment? Do you believe that education should be available, free, to all or would you prefer that only those who can afford it should be entitled? That is just scare mongering and not based on policy at all As far as David Cameron is concerned, I fail to believe that an Eton-educated man from such a privileged back ground can possibly understand how his decisions will affect ordinary working families.Oh come on, credit the man with some intelligence, I don't receive benefits but can imagine what it would be like to live on them, and I can't afford to send my children (that I don't have) to private school but I can imagine that if i could I might want to consider it

All of that aside, I actually think the prospect of a coalition government is quite an exciting one. It will be interesting to see how it pans out and hopefully the Liberals will be a calming influence on the Tories. I feel that our political system needs to change so am fascinated to see if this really will be the catalyst for it.
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Now I can agree that this coalition is an exciting prospect, and I do think that it looks like we will get the best of both worlds, I'm glad about the £10k income tax threashold in particular as it will make a difference to a few people I know
 
I desperately want to believe that they are all about the good of the country so, I for one, am not going to spend my time whining that the Tories got in. I'm going to keep an open mind on this one. I do agree with some of their policies, like not paying people to sit around on their backsides, so thats a start. I just hope they dont let us all down.
 
spaniel said:
A question for those who are anti Conservative.

What is that YOU percieve to be 'wrong' about Tories? I am interested to know if the comments that I have been hearing and reading over the last few weeks can actually be bourne out in facts.
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I am not anti-Conservative. In fact, I think David Cameron will be a good PM and I'm glad Mr. Brown has gone. But it isn't Cameron that I worry about - it's the really right-wing Conservatives that bother me..

For example:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7407589.stm

The majority of the shadow Tory cabinet (as was) voted to ban hybrid stem cell harvesting - something that would actually really advance medical research and reduce the number of human embryos needed for stem cell research. If that isn't backwards, I don't know what is. Maybe that doesn't seem important in the grand scheme of what the country needs right now but let's not forget that one of the real economic assets that this country has (and the sort of industry that could really make money and pull us out of recession) is the scientific and medical industry. If that's thwarted by the incredibly short-sighted views of a Conservative government, then technology companies WILL go abroad and the country will lose out.

I would also be extremely wary of seeing the NHS privatised (or part-privatised) - having to pay through the nose for your train fare only to find there are no seats?! Want to do the same when you see your GP?! I accept the NHS has to move with the times but I do believe that a free health service is one of the great things about the UK.
 
Finally we have a government in the interests of the country, not themselves. After 13 deceitful years of Labour, unemployment tops 2.5 million and rising and our budget deficit is about to eclipse Greece. Like most Labour governments they end leaving us swamped in debt. I’m very optimistic about what Cameron, the Conservatives and their coalition with the Liberal Democrats can achieve, but it’s not going to be easy!
 
Sarah1 said:
Could someone explain to me how the global recession was GB's fault?! :confused:
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* He (as treasurer) flogged all our gold reserves, when gold was at its lowest price
*Labour did not save at all, they just spent
*Labour gave UK banks self regulation which is how they ended up in this mess

Spain did not have to bail out Santander as they banned then from buying dodgy US mortgage junk bonds. That is why most banks now taken over by Santander

So yes it was Gordon's fault good riddance to bad rubbish!
 
I do not have a problem with David Cameron per se, although I do think he is a suck up, and think that when he gets round to it, he'll get just as much crit as Brown did.

I do, however, have a problem with just about everything the Conservative Party stands for. Admittedly, they do have some good policies, like on immigration, however, the entirety of their inheritance tax scheme is just wrong. It shows all the country's faults: consumerism and selfishness. As the tories are a Capitalist party, and I believe Capitalism is wrong, I can simply not stand to see Cameron in Government.
 
CotswoldSJ said:
* He (as treasurer) flogged all our gold reserves, when gold was at its lowest price
*Labour did not save at all, they just spent
*Labour gave UK banks self regulation which is how they ended up in this mess

Spain did not have to bail out Santander as they banned then from buying dodgy US mortgage junk bonds. That is why most banks now taken over by Santander

So yes it was Gordon's fault good riddance to bad rubbish!
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However, it wasn't, because of the US housing markets. They were lending too much to be paid back at such a low rate, it lost the US a lot of money. Obama had to bail out those banks, just to support the American public, and the UK banks, who had dealings with the US banks, suffered some of the repercussions. The main reason it affected so many in the UK, was the Icelandic banking system collapsing, in which many UK businessmen had invested. This meant they lost all their money, and so they didn't go out of business, the government had to help them.

The UK banks suddenly had hardly any money, because it was all withdrawn by the UK businessmen, and as they were already lending for mortgages etc, they found themselves in huge debt, resulting in the Government having to bail them out as well, finally accumulating in the British Public losing their savings, coupled with the price of just about everything going up.

The government did all they could under the circumstances they were in (although, they had spent a lot, so were not in the best position to help .. silly Labour) but you can clearly see that this INTERNATIONAL economic crisis was not the fault of the UK...more like consumerised America.
 
ClarePauling said:
However, it wasn't, because of the US housing markets. They were lending too much to be paid back at such a low rate, it lost the US a lot of money. Obama had to bail out those banks, just to support the American public, and the UK banks, who had dealings with the US banks, suffered some of the repercussions. The main reason it affected so many in the UK, was the Icelandic banking system collapsing, in which many UK businessmen had invested. This meant they lost all their money, and so they didn't go out of business, the government had to help them.

The UK banks suddenly had hardly any money, because it was all withdrawn by the UK businessmen, and as they were already lending for mortgages etc, they found themselves in huge debt, resulting in the Government having to bail them out as well, finally accumulating in the British Public losing their savings, coupled with the price of just about everything going up.

The government did all they could under the circumstances they were in (although, they had spent a lot, so were not in the best position to help .. silly Labour) but you can clearly see that this INTERNATIONAL economic crisis was not the fault of the UK...more like consumerised America.
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It was a lot to do with Obarma he and his buddies were before he was elected banging on and goading the banks to lend money to folk in the US who had no way of ever making the repayments on their sub prime loans.. Obarma is just another destructive socialist,
 
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ClarePauling said:
I do not have a problem with David Cameron per se, although I do think he is a suck up, and think that when he gets round to it, he'll get just as much crit as Brown did.

I do, however, have a problem with just about everything the Conservative Party stands for. Admittedly, they do have some good policies, like on immigration, however, the entirety of their inheritance tax scheme is just wrong. It shows all the country's faults: consumerism and selfishness. As the tories are a Capitalist party, and I believe Capitalism is wrong, I can simply not stand to see Cameron in Government.
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one day you will be older and wiser!!!!
 
CalllyH said:
so when they say protect lower incomes with public sector pay cuts - mmmmm not happy
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My take on the public sector for what its worth
1 too many penpushing clipboard whelding non jobs
2 not enough care workers, cleaners and other frontline people, too much put out to contract and still the same number of manegers and overheads.
3 over generous pay and un funded gold plated index linked pensions for the upper levels.
4 general waste and poor decisions.. for instance useless IT systems..and bigger and evermore elaborate offices, letting projects go way over budget with no one taking resposibilty or being sacked..
we realy need to get a grip and stop the waste so we can have the services we need without it bancrupting the taxpayer....
 
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