Emergency Budget

As the nation awaits the first ConLib emergency budget, we've already seen their main targets in terms of spending cuts. These include a new hospital in the North East; however, particularly alarming are the cutting of projects to help young people find work and subsidies to help employers with the costs of recruiting new employees.

At the centre of any reform, has to be getting people into work, as unemployment is again on the rise after many years of high employment. With cutbacks expected in the public sector, any growth to get the economy out of recession has to be driven within the private sector. However, the economic conditions are not yet attractive enough at present in the private sector to encourage growth and investment. That is why, this is a time for investment in training and education in order to create wealth in the medium term as opposed to cutting budgets in the short term.

Cutting funding to help people find work, including the JobSeekers Guarantee and the Young Person's Guarantee is extremely dangerous to the economy and is the first step towards plunging the economy back into recession with the end result of creating a new generation of people who want to work, but are unable to find suitable employment.

The proposed rise in Capital Gains Tax is a sensible method of beginning to balance the books as is the means testing of some of the current benefits. However, investment in jobs, training and education is the only way the UK economy can remain in positive growth in the long term, whatever the short term political pressures.

"New politics"

In today's News of the World, Cameron directly stated "I think people are finding it refreshing to see politicians putting aside their differences and actually listening to each other instead of arguing all the time". And in the next paragraph but one he commented "Labour have left a catastrophic legacy. They used up the Government cheque book, maxed out the country's credit card and left us deep in debt.... But there has been no apology, no shame".

So much for "refreshing to see politicians putting aside their differences!"

Classless society?

Melissa Massey, a"high flying student" from Oxford University (who was expected to gain a first class degree this summer) was sentenced to just eight weeks, for a vicious and brutal attack on Miss Sumner, a paramedic in Manchester City Centre giving over 20 years of public service.

The press even ran sympathetic stories towards Massey, saying how it was questionable to sentence such a "bright prospect" to a custodial sentence.

It begs the question, why should being a student at Oxford University decrease the sentence? Why should being a member of the upper classes be rationale for a lighter sentence to be passed? Attacking a public servant should carry a stricter sentence than eight weeks. If the offender was a working class shop worker, factory hand or warehouse worker, a "single mother" or even worse, someone who lived on a council estate, then the sentence would have ran into years. The press would have ran yet another "Broken Britain" story.

Classless society? Doesn't look that way to me.....

Cameron and Clegg aka Chuckle Brothers.

How on earth can Cameron and Clegg aka the Chuckle Brothers work together? Cameron's "I've always been a Liberal Conservative" is a complete contradiction in terms.... How on earth can opposing views on Europe, immigration, the welfare state, the NHS and so on possibly be considered as compatible ideologies? What a farce.

It didn't take Cameron long to show his true colours however; already he has "amended" his pledge that he would scrap the National Insurance increase, however, surprise surprise, the scrapping of this will now only apply to employees, rather than employers. The Conservatives have already acted to protect their own to the detriment of everybody else.

As for Clegg, his complete betrayal of the British people and his own party members will be seen in future years as desperate actions of a desperate man. How on earth can his own left of centre liberal views, be considered genuine, when he is getting into bed with the leader of a party that still celebrates Thatcher as demi-god....

Actually, after consideration, maybe these power hungry charlatans are not so different after all. Apologies to Barry and Paul for any offence caused.