UK Wide protests
 

http://news.sky.com/story/1505401/th...erity-protests

There is only one scenario about this demonstration is - WILL Cameron and Osborne care about this - simple answer is NO

They will not care about what cuts they make. The have also got to find money to py for the total refurbish of the Palace of Westminster.

We will end up paying for this, while they live the life of riley

The United Kingdom is a rich country, but the way we are going, we could be a third world country within the next two to three years.

And the poor will be poorer. and food banks trebled

Re: UK Wide protests
 

Just waiting for the usual suspects to turn up.

Re: UK Wide protests
 

Osem has took them all out for the night l hear.;):D

Re: UK Wide protests
 

The protestors are right. We should simply spend all the money (again) :dozey:

Re: UK Wide protests
 

You really are full of dramatic rubbish.

Re: UK Wide protests
 

The only way we will become a third world country is if we let in enough people from third world countries.;)

Re: UK Wide protests
 

I get really fed up with people who support Cameron and His bloody cuts.

This is why he didn't mention anything in the election run up. I was brought up in Poverty, and it bloody hurts.

When l retire, l will end up knowing that this government will ruin everything that l have worked damn hard to support.

Am l bitter, yes, my son was sacked on Wednesday due to the cuts. As his employer couldn't afford to keep him on.

Re: UK Wide protests
 

I have sympathy for your son, I really do Arthur. However, the reality is that the cycle of borrow and spend under Labour nearly sent us into chaos like America and Greece. Recovery might be taking a long time, but cuts are necessary to try and restore us back to the great Nation we should be.

I'm not saying that the cuts are 100% right or ethical, but something needs to be done to try and turn us around. I can think of several places where cuts would be better found, but the financial packages needed to get rid of them would probably be too expensive.

Re: UK Wide protests
 

That's a lot then, at least over a third of the voting population.

I think the conservative manifesto was clear? And they got in on it.

Re: UK Wide protests
 

Mark, l am grateful for your comments. But in reality, It appears to me that everyone is equal in this country.

We should also pay our fair share of taxes. But you tell me is it fair that people who have to pay Bedroom tax for example, are 90% in the poor region.

And yet, millionaires and people with pots of money and have five /six bedroom mansions pay the same tax. Is that fare.

They probably get more in interest rates than anything.

This is why these demonstration are about. Its not fare. And Cameron and co don't give a damn.

My son has been told that he will get about £60 per week, as his wife is on 16000 per year as a Geriatric Nurse and looks after the elderly.

The United Kingdom is rich, and there are never any fears of this country, turning into other countries.

We have this division in the country - the Rich on one side, and the poor on the other

Re: UK Wide protests
 

Arthur, I am sorry to hear about your son's predicament, but I must pick you up on one of your points...

The so-called "bedroom tax" is actually a reduction in Housing Benefit for over-occupation (for example, if there are two people, say mother and son, living in a three-bedroomed accommodation, they will have their Housing Benefit reduced).

I don't know many people with pots of money living in five/six bedroomed houses who get Housing Benefit - I am willing to be proven wrong, though....

btw, I live in a four bedroomed home, and was paying £950 per month on a mortgage and another £160 per month in Council Tax, and received no reduction, so how I was paying the same Bedroom Tax as someone living in Council/Social Housing confuses me...

Re: UK Wide protests
 

Summer's here.
I hope these protests don't turn into riots all over again.

---------- Post added at 23:11 ---------- Previous post was at 23:00 ----------

Oh no. not the Bedroom Tax again.

The mother and son were living in that 3 bedroomed house for a few years on "the minimum amount the law says that you need to live on"

then Dave invented a tax so they are now not living on the "the minimum amount the law says that they need to live on"

and there's no smaller properties avaiable for the mother and son to change to.

Re: UK Wide protests
 

There isn't the money to go on another splurge unless taxes go up to fund it so the protesters are on a hiding to nothing.

Re: UK Wide protests
 

A response to the rubbish posted by the right wing members of this forum .. he is trying to balance things out although he is outnumbered

Re: UK Wide protests
 

Nothing like stereotyping to help the debate along.....

Debating is about "what's right", and the focus should be on propositions and positions, with facts and opinions (hopefully) backing these up - people may not agree, but can be civilised about it.

Arguing is about "who's right", and is just about nay-saying, labelling, and 'getting one over' on others....

Re: UK Wide protests
 

i wonder what the response from the middle class would be to a conservatory and garage tax;)

Re: UK Wide protests
 

Hugh you misunderstood, Arthur said the rich do not pay their "fair share of taxes", he said that rich pay more or less the same amount of tax (not "bedroom tax") as the poor.

Hugh, I am in the same position like you and our bills, Council tax, water rates etc are huge and we get no reduction. I do not like it :)
One can say that the "rich" have been squeezed too, for example the Life time Allowance for pensions has been slashed down to 1,250,000 pounds (of which 40% contributed by the taxpayer, nice!), it bloody hurts. The price of a flat in London is over half a million and the stamp duty is/was 15K or so, it bloody hurts.

But on the other hand, for example, the combo of sub-standard school provision and high University fees harms the future of intelligent kids unluky to be born poor. As Arthur said poverty hurts....

To me the problem is corporations do not pay tax and the "benefits" for the rich (expenses, slash funds, bonuses, non-taxable perks, you know what mean). HSBC, DBS, Barclays help the rich with tax advice (or you may call it avoidance).

My favorite, "Corporate hospitality", it pays for all those bloody expensive restaurant bills and plonk....

Re: UK Wide protests
 

Carlos, thanks for the clarification.

Arthur, my apologies for misunderstanding/misinterpreting your post.

Re: UK Wide protests
 

Sorry to hear about your son, meanwhile Charlotte Church appears on TV gobbing off about the cuts, whilst sat on a pile of x millions of pounds

Re: UK Wide protests
 

It already exists - we pay for planning permission, we pay for them to be built, we pay VAT on that price, and the addition values is reflected in our Council Tax Banding... ;)

Re: UK Wide protests
 

Tax payers will pay for the renovation because we own it ,incidentally tax payers includes MP's

Re: UK Wide protests
 

That statement is just plain wrong.

Re: UK Wide protests
 

Indeed:

Linky

Facts are your friends. ;)

Re: UK Wide protests
 

I hate cliches but


Lies, damned lies, and statistics

What you quoted is a fact and I accept it.

But tax on salary is simply an inconvenience for some not a burden. Most "real" income comes in a different ways other than salary. Tax-sheltered bonuses/intensives/enhancements/dividends, in other words backhanders with a fancy name... I will not dwell on this. But see

Example

It's more widespread than you think.

But people with income between 50-90K are indeed screwed up, they do pay more than their "fair" share.... their bills are astronomical as they do not get reductions for anything, they pay the full wack for everything. On top of that they are means tested for any possible benefits and fail to get any....

Re: UK Wide protests
 

These people are absolutely entitled to protest about the ongoing austerity measures.

I actually agree with them to an extent, however I very much disagree with them to an extent also.

The hypocrisy of the Palace of Westminster if it ends up being renovated and returned to service as seat of government is pretty grim. For a fraction of the cost Parliament could be moved elsewhere, achieving two worthwhile goals in one.

Housing benefit has indeed gotten completely out of control but I'm sure everyone knows my solution to resolving that issue.

All that said I have to wonder just how many of these protesters are actually paying their way in our society. It's very easy to ask for more of other people's money; I wonder if more constructive arguments than just opposing austerity wouldn't be a better choice.

Re: UK Wide protests
 

:tu:

Re: UK Wide protests
 

I don't see the merit in this. First all whilst there is too much centralisation in London it would seem to be that the centre of Government should be in the capital.

It's not just as if you would need to move the MPs themselves but also large chunks of the Civil Service and the Government machine. The MoD, the Home Office, the Foreign Office and the Treasury are just a few of the departments that would need to move what with ministers having to ferry between them often.

The capital also serves a useful place for meeting. There are direct trains and planes to London from almost every UK city, from almost any major city in the World in fact, that cannot be rivalled by anywhere else. It's not as if moving Parliament to Manchester will suddenly see Manchester Piccadilly gaining more commercial routes just because a few civil servants and MPs have to get up there.

It's also got a lot of history and existing traditions that the famous structures around Whitehall help display. The State Opening of Parliament would work weird if it was in a soulless office block just off the M60. That sense of history in fact is something that it would be a shame to lose. It's the home of the oldest parliamentary democracy in the World and when MPs sit in the chamber then they're surrounded by the history of who went before and what those people did.

Finally we have to renovate Parliament anyway. It's a famous historical landmark and a World Heritage Site. It would be cultural vandalism to let it decay into ruin for temporary populist appeasement and a little bit of saved money. Most of the buildings around it are fit for purpose anyway.

While we're at it I don't think the Government sitting anywhere else in the UK would make them more in-tune with the population. Just because someone lives in Liverpool or elsewhere doesn't make them an expert on the 'regions' across the UK.

Re: UK Wide protests
 

Couldn't they decant to somewhere else within London then? Perhaps Buckingham Palace to save HRH all that bedroom tax? :)

Re: UK Wide protests
 

Hugh, no need to apologise.

My biggest issue is that if major companies paid there taxes, in the proper manner. Then that would ease the biggest burden going.

But Mr Cameron wont chase it up, as these company owners pay money into the purses of the Tory party.

The Tories always hit the poorest, and those on benefits - yes, there are some spongers out there. But there some people out there that have been placed there by being made redundant through cuts.

Food banks are the poor's supermarket, and it must be demoralising going to them And this government are not doing anything to help.

They are planning 12 billion on welfare cuts in the next budget. Where is that going to hit

Re: UK Wide protests
 

The Dutch capital is Amsterdam. Their parliament meet in the Binnenhof in The Hague.

It's not without precedent and given we're the most centralised economy in Europe I'd say some pretty desperate measures need taking.

We are, after all, all in it together. If we end up moving government from the Palace of Westminster for a while anyway may as well ensure we get best use out of the new facilities.

Re: UK Wide protests
 

I don't have an issue with moving them out whilst the repairs are being done. However I don't think it's feasible, economically sensible, or practically worthwhile to permanently move the Parliament.

We could look at moving other things out of London and ensuring new industries can develop in other places but if there is one thing London is historically and practically set up for it's being the capital of the UK and the home of it's Parliament. It's all there on Whitehall. The only snag is having to redevelop the Houses of Parliament themselves which we have to do anyway as it's one of our biggest historical attractions.

Re: UK Wide protests
 

I very much doubt that. I'm not saying it couldn't be done, but a new building would have to be constructed and the record of spending public money on such things is very poor. - Scottish Parliament for example - then all of the government depts and ministries are in London, you either relocate them too or you have to commute between locations as well as your constituencies.

Better off leave it where it is.

Re: UK Wide protests
 

They have been refurbishing the Houses of Parliament for many years, and there is no need for them to move out.

I worked there many year ago, and money is no object. The place is always being done up.

I think that this question is a 'red herring' considering it was mentioned just before the protest march.

Just to give you an insight into what they spend there. The gold that you see, is real. Not imitation stuff.

Can you imagine the outrage it would cause if the cost went into billions, and they agreed to it.

And everyone else is being hit by cuts

Re: UK Wide protests
 

Unfortunately, Arthur, your viewpoint is not congruent with actuality.

A close friend of mine worked for a comms consultancy company (done lots of work for MOD and lots of foreign Governments in this area), and he was asked around 3 years ago to look at revamping the IT Infrastructure/Networks in the Houses. His month long review found huge issues that needed resolving before the IT work could begin, such as removal of lots and lots of asbestos, and rotting supporting walls/beams/etc. - even then, a rough quote was around £2 billion.

The current quote is in the range of £3 to £6 billion.

btw, is there anywhere you haven't worked?

btw2, what gold?

Re: UK Wide protests
 

Probably on ornate wooden scrollwork.

Re: UK Wide protests
 

Oh, gold leaf...

I was imagining hundreds of gold bars just lying around....

Re: UK Wide protests
 

Not on their pensions then?... ;)


Rather like many areas of our infrastructure, the whole place has been patched up and botched in a fairly ad hoc manner for decades and this has exacerbated the problem we now face and there's a massive bill to put it all right.

Re: UK Wide protests
 

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/at...8&d=1434960912

:D

Attachment 26178