Re: There is trouble afoot
 

Blah blah, you only have to listen to the Lib Dem back benches and the polls to know whats happening isn't representative of them or their voters.

Re: There is trouble afoot
 

... and yet this is precisely the outcome we will get at every election, should we ever enact their core policy of PR voting for Westminster by Single Transferable Vote. The Lib Dems and their supporters had better get used to it.

In a coalition, nobody gets everything they wish for, only what is achievable by consensus. As it happens, this is exactly what goes on within all political parties anyway; it's just that in a coalition arrangement the horse trading is a lot more visible.

Claims that the proposed spending cuts are not legitimate because the Government is somehow not legitimate are a massive red herring (as well as having something of a desperate, hollow ring to them, given that Labour both knew the cuts were necessary and was prepared to go into a coalition with the Lib Dems).

Re: There is trouble afoot
 

I do get the feeling the Tories are using the public acceptance that cuts need to be made to aggressively cut as much as possible and greatly reduce the size of the state, which is ideologically appealing to many of them.

Cuts do have to be made but the extent and targets of those cuts should be examined closely and people are entitled to oppose certain cuts. Obviously if jobs are on the line then people in those sectors will be campaigning very hard against them.

I question the decision to abolish the Film Council and the extent to which they want to cut funding for Scientific research.

I heard what I think was the Science minister, it was a government figure anyway, on the radio stating that only 'the best' research which has a direct commercial application should receive funding. Staggeringly idiotic because your not sure of the success of a research program until it's done and some of the greatest scientific breakthroughs did not necessary have a commercial application upon invention.

This is off-topic anyway but my point is that unquestioning acceptance of government cuts is not a good idea.

Again, off-topic and I apologise.

I think this is a good thing though, with the current system usually a part can get between 35/40% of the vote but dictate policy for 100% of the electorate. I think coalition governments are a better idea as current over 50% of the electorate has some representation.

Re: There is trouble afoot
 

Strange - I could have sworn the coalition proposition was put to a special Lib Dem Conference, and they overwhelmingly approved it, and this was after the Liberal Democrat Federal Executive and Parliamentary Party approved the coalition agreement negotiated with the Conservative Party (both bodies endorsed it by more than a three-quarters majority) - part of the Triple-Lock process.

Re: There is trouble afoot
 

Blah blah (Yeah I can be rude back :rolleyes:) - poor argument if you are going to discuss Polls and representation - According to the polls when the leaders debates kicked off before the election race, Nick Clegg and the Libs were either going to become second, with Labour in 3rd place or become the party in power, yet they fared the worst ever results and actually lost more seats than they gained and stayed in third place after Labour.

Re: There is trouble afoot
 

It's not the cutting I or anyone else objects to, it's the level they are trying to achieve that's the problem. Even the Mail's own article suggested such

---------- Post added at 13:21 ---------- Previous post was at 13:18 ----------

I wonder when that was agreed if they knew the scale of their 'partners' plans, if they did then they deserve to become as unelectable as some political observers have said recently.

---------- Post added at 13:24 ---------- Previous post was at 13:21 ----------

Yes Mick we are all well aware that you can be rude. However if my comments caused Chris any unpleasentness I would hope he/some one removes them as it wasn't my intention.

Re: There is trouble afoot
 

While I am not defending the unions, it's easy to forget (as seems to be happening here) that as a result of these cuts, a lot of people will lose their jobs. A lot of people who didn't even vote for the government that caused it. And yes, I do mean the previous two Labour governments.

Re: There is trouble afoot
 

Quite agree with you stuart .It is worrying me how deep the cuts will be and how quickly they will be made .It seems to me that the current coalition are trying to clear the 155billion debt or what ever this weeks figure is in a couple of years which does seem a tad unrealistic.
In my opinion we don't need the unions to creat trouble by strikes if the cuts/job losses are too severe too quick then the general public will kick back with protests as happened with the poll tax.I heard a report after the election that we needed to clear the debt or at least get it down to a more manageable level to maintain our 5 star credit rating ,would it be such a bad thing if our credit rating did go down for a few years ?After all if the gov do their job properly we shouldn't need to borrow so much in the future anyway

I don't have anything to do with unions and never will but i always thought that unions were there to protect workers against unfair working conditions,low wages ect ,within a specific company not to protest against government policy

Re: There is trouble afoot
 

As I understand it, if our credit rating is downgraded the interest the UK pays on its massive borrowing will increase hence we'll be wasting even more money than we currently are purely on interest with less available to actually pay off debt and run the country.

Re: There is trouble afoot
 

Thanks Osem ,i think i understand a bit better now :tu: ,this does answer a lot of questions ,like why the gov is trying to get as much paid off as possible as quickly as possible ,basically it's the same principle as a family would do with the house hold income ,the unions being the kids kicking and screaming because they have to have a cheap computer instead of a state of the art one because the mortgage has to be paid

Re: There is trouble afoot
 

Has any one seen the obcene bonuses the awarded to the city brokers rake in for pushing money around.

Re: There is trouble afoot
 

Has anyone seen the relevance of this to strikes over government cuts, 75% of which were in Labour's March budget anyway?

Re: There is trouble afoot
 

who gave Bob Crow and the other dinosaurs the right to tell the British public to take part in civil disobedience.

Who gave them the power to affect my pay.

Who gave them the power to mess up my working day.

I don't remember there being a vote put to the uk that did give them that power.

Bunch of jumped up little gits that is all they are.

Would they if Labour had put forward these cuts have tried to ruin the county just as much, I seriously don't think so myself.

---------- Post added at 17:05 ---------- Previous post was at 17:00 ----------

Now now stop bringing facts in to this, The unions don't understand facts.

Re: There is trouble afoot
 

Well Bob Crow and others went on strike during the Labour years despite the lack of cuts so I think we can presume they would have...

Re: There is trouble afoot
 

Did they recommend civil disobedience as well ??

Oh great here we go again with union men disrupting people's lives, Calling people scabs, And creating friction in communities. How long before workers are attacked again like in the miners strikes. I wait to see bus loads of pickets turning up outside places of work to disrupt peoples right to work.