The Con - Dem nation!


Number2Fan

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I was just wondering how it's been affecting you so far.

I was already on the bread line but I did have hope in me that I do a bit better with a few extra hours here and there. However I'm amazed at how quickly things have got worse.

Now spending £50 on petrol that used to be £30 not long ago. Making no trips that weren't to or from work. Got rid of my little 1 ltre run around car so I can no longer drive my kids anywhere in school hols, like a nice park or castle in the next town. We're imprisoned on the estate for their entertainment. Great. My food shop has gone up 40 quid a week also and so has gas and electric.

I rarely by clothes anyway but shoes for kids and school uniforms are necessary, they now forgoe their hair cuts. As do i. My council tax is frozen at last years price woo-f****** -hoo, coz my rent went up by 10 quid a week.

I got a 5p per hour pay rise after 3 years without a rise.

All in all in a week I HAVE to spend nearly £100 per week more on the cost of simply living and am earning about £1.00 more per week.

My children no longer get any school outings. (a vital part of learning and experience, particularly for kids whose families cannot afford to take them any where special)

Like when Thatcher was in children born in working class families are doomed to this exsistence forever whereas during Labour at least my eldest daughter has the chance to be whatever she wants.

Though now Cameron has priced her out of the uni Market, also no ema if she decides on college as an alternative. So maybe, I've worked on her good education for f*** all purpose anyway.

There are also less jobs for everyone so ..... and with the cuts and job losses on the increase... this isn't going to improve.

How much better off are you?

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Petrol prices are discgraceful at the moment.

I really have a gripe with the oil companies for whacking a few pence on the price of petrol regardless of how appropriate it is.

Libya contributes less than 2% of the world's oil yet prices rise by 5p per litre due to the troubles there, go figure? The government proposes a 1p per litre levy increase so the petrol rises by 2 or 3p per litre!

For once (and I know that this is idealism) can't the mega rich oil companies take one for the team?

I do an awful lot of driving in my job and though I do get expenses back at the end of the month I find myself paying more and more out and there's only so long I want to wait before being reimbursed.

The Tories' NHS proposals are another one of my key gripes. They aim to 'save' the NHS (which was doing just fine) and to revolutionise it to make huge cost savings by giving GPs control of the budget and eliminating Primary Care Trusts (which currently commission services and spend the money). If the spiel (i.e. shit) that Andrew Lansley is spouting is correct we can save so many billions in seven (yes f****** seven!) years time.

Well lets look at this objectively:

We are in a recession, with the threat of a double dip recession looming. Why spend £9billion (yes 9 billion pounds) reforming something which was working reasonably well when we are in such dire straits?

By the time these reforms save us any money we could be back to (somewhere close to) financial prosperity meaning that the unecessary hardship suffered now is all for nothing!

Call me old fashioned but I always thought when you didn't have much money the best way to rectify the problem was to cut down spending, not piss away 9 f****** billion on something which was not in need of repair?!

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The country is in a mess - but its hard to know who's to blame really.

We definately needed Labour out because they'd gone as far as they could go - they had wasted money and were carrying on regardless - which is why we ended up in the mess we did. I think the current government mean well - but they came in and did it all too "gung-ho". They wanted to make instant changes - and by doing so, they've made severe cuts far too suddenly and drastically. They should have came in to power, discussed things in-depth for 2 months, and then taken action in the most appropriate areas first - and at a slightly slower pace.

What amazes me is that whilst all these cut-backs are going on, we still waste money on silly projects. Coventry is having a £7m facelift because we're hosting two mickey-mouse olympic football matches at Coventry Citys football stadium next year - and now today, further news has been announced that Coventry City Council are allegedly funding the building of 2 new hotels in the city for "tourists" to stay whilst those olympic matches are being held. Coventry Railway Station is also rumoured to be having a £1m facelift to create a good impression of the city when supporters of those Olympic teams visit Coventry. What a waste of money when we're only hosting 2 football matches.

The government are also proposing spending billions of pounds of a new high-speed rail link from London to Scotland (as an alternative to a line that already runs from London to Scotland...)

Sure, those ideas are great when we've got money to burn - but we haven't! A £8 million spend for the sake of two football matches just isn't practical. How many jobs could that keep. How many new hospital beds could that buy?

Sort the wastage out first - we're throwing money away on too much political correctness, the compensation culture, and silly jobs (such as Police Community Support Officers that have next to no powers).

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The town hall staff got an 11% pay rise in our town.

It's practically obscene!!

Yep, that needs sorting out - and so do all of these bankers getting millions of pounds in bonuses when they're operated at a loss. Bonuses are supposed to be awarded on success - yet these get away with earning huge sums of money for failing. How is there any incentive to succeed when they get paid bonuses regardless of what they do.

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Gonna have to bite my tongue a bit in this thread, as I don't want to fall out with anyone, but it's not like Labour are angels is it. I understand why so many northern people dislike the Tories cause of the whole mining & Thatcher thing, but look at what the Tories & Lib Dems have had to pick up since they came into power. I'm glad to be rid of Brown, Darling, and the rest of them. Not gonna lie but most politicians are the same :/

And yeah, things are getting worse and worse, petrol is a fecking joke right now, and will continue to get higher no doubt.

What REALLY annoyed me was that there are some heads of councils who are on MORE money than David bloody Cameron, who's in charge of the country, how can anyone justify that? Also don't get me started on banking bonuses.

AODGPAGOQDPKOBKCZO:BKOQGK:QODG <--rage

Edited by Simcut
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I'm not saying Labour were angels either, but I do believe the way they were dealing with the deficit, albeit very long term, was in a way that we 'the working man' suffered least.

Also despite what some may say, schools, ordinary schools were important, education for the masses not just people who have money.

I do agree with the Tories idea to put a cap on benefit, and for long term unemplyed to have to do something voluntary in order to get thier benefit. Many people I know earn more on benefit than our working household gets. That's ridiculous. When they're perfectly capable of working SOMEWHERE!

If my council has had to make cuts, surely they should start by forgoing their massive payrise. I had to for two years in a row and then when I got one I barely noticed!! Why Isn't this being stopped!! It's like we're mere peasants again just here to pay taxes to keep the gentry in a life of Riley.

It's all Bullshit!! We really are being treated like mugs!!

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I'm not saying Labour were angels either, but I do believe the way they were dealing with the deficit, albeit very long term, was in a way that we 'the working man' suffered least.

I agree with Simcut entirely. I'm 'a working man' - and felt no benefit from 'the working mans party' at all. They wasted billions of pounds looking after foreigners and teenagers with umpteen kids. The spongers were looked after, and the pensioners were slightly better off - but 'the working class' (who they claimed to represent) were screwed over to fund it all.

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I agree with Simcut entirely. I'm 'a working man' - and felt no benefit from 'the working mans party' at all. They wasted billions of pounds looking after foreigners and teenagers with umpteen kids. The spongers were looked after, and the pensioners were slightly better off - but 'the working class' (who they claimed to represent) were screwed over to fund it all.

Always easy to attack minorities in difficult times and to blame them for all the ills.

If I remember correctly you said before you had debt problems in the past. The easy availability of credit is what has cause this mess. It was always going to happen no matter what party was in power.

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It was always going to happen no matter what party was in power.

This is true - because most politicians have never experienced 'real life'. Politicians should be given an incentive to perform. As someone else mentioned earlier, its wrong that top councilors are paid more than the leaders of our country. Instead, politicians should be paid a 'flat rate' salary - and then paid bonuses if they perform, and penalised if they don't. Instead, they earn £100,000+ regardless of how they do - and most of the time, when you see them on the TV having debates in the houses of parliament, etc - some of the politicians are asleep on the chairs! If any of us slept at work, we'd be sacked - the same should apply to these guys!

Always easy to attack minorities in difficult times and to blame them for all the ills.

I'm not just blaming them - but common sense says you can't keep paying more and more out of the system when less and less people are paying into the system. I'm not getting into the spongers and foreigner debate though - thats another discussion.

If I remember correctly you said before you had debt problems in the past. The easy availability of credit is what has cause this mess.

And your point is? I don't really see the relevance of peoples debt problems and the government failing? people with debt problems get penalised with higher interest rates, etc which then goes back to the banks, which goes back into the economy.

Yes, there are those that take the easy route out and go for bankruptcy - but thats the governments fault for not making that route harder to go down and making the penalty much more severe. I could have done that years ago - then after 7 years (when your credit rating re-starts again) , carried on as normal again. I didn't though - I got myself into that mess, and I got myself out of it by paying it all off.

And not all debt problems are caused by 'credit being too easily available'. Some people have debt problems because they've tried to do something with their life - by getting a mortgage, and then losing their job - or having joint finances and then unexpectedly having a partner die - so before you go on about attacking minorities, have a little think yourself ;)

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True.

I had debt issues when I couldn't pay my council tax and my partner hadn't paid our rent for months and I only found out after I'd thrown him out, at the same time I missed payments on my store card and had bank charges coming out my ears, in fact over 3 years I paid over 2 and a half grand in bank charges alone. With the bailiffs adding to the amount I owed in council tax it was a f****** nightmare. But i struggled and paid it off. Took a long time, but I done it.

And I have absolutely no idea why I wrote all of that.

I think it's this medication!!

Now I don't owe anybody anything and I never went bankrupt.

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This is true - because most politicians have never experienced 'real life'. Politicians should be given an incentive to perform. As someone else mentioned earlier, its wrong that top councilors are paid more than the leaders of our country. Instead, politicians should be paid a 'flat rate' salary - and then paid bonuses if they perform, and penalised if they don't. Instead, they earn £100,000+ regardless of how they do - and most of the time, when you see them on the TV having debates in the houses of parliament, etc - some of the politicians are asleep on the chairs! If any of us slept at work, we'd be sacked - the same should apply to these guys!

I'm not just blaming them - but common sense says you can't keep paying more and more out of the system when less and less people are paying into the system. I'm not getting into the spongers and foreigner debate though - thats another discussion.

And your point is? I don't really see the relevance of peoples debt problems and the government failing? people with debt problems get penalised with higher interest rates, etc which then goes back to the banks, which goes back into the economy.

Yes, there are those that take the easy route out and go for bankruptcy - but thats the governments fault for not making that route harder to go down and making the penalty much more severe. I could have done that years ago - then after 7 years (when your credit rating re-starts again) , carried on as normal again. I didn't though - I got myself into that mess, and I got myself out of it by paying it all off.

And not all debt problems are caused by 'credit being too easily available'. Some people have debt problems because they've tried to do something with their life - by getting a mortgage, and then losing their job - or having joint finances and then unexpectedly having a partner die - so before you go on about attacking minorities, have a little think yourself ;)

I wasn't having a go at you about debt problems. I just feel people borrowing and living beyond their means was a far bigger factor/cause of the current situation than anything you previously mentioned.

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True.

I had debt issues when I couldn't pay my council tax and my partner hadn't paid our rent for months and I only found out after I'd thrown him out, at the same time I missed payments on my store card and had bank charges coming out my ears, in fact over 3 years I paid over 2 and a half grand in bank charges alone. With the bailiffs adding to the amount I owed in council tax it was a f****** nightmare. But i struggled and paid it off. Took a long time, but I done it.

Now I don't owe anybody anything and I never went bankrupt.

Exactly! Everyones circumstances are different. Fair play to you for not taking the easy way out :)

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Exactly! Everyones circumstances are different. Fair play to you for not taking the easy way out :)

Bankruptcy isn't always an easy way out. Sometimes it is forced on people by their creditors or it is really their only option.

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I wasn't having a go at you about debt problems. I just feel people borrowing and living beyond their means was a far bigger factor/cause of the current situation than anything you previously mentioned.

This is true - however, with the way things are going, people have no option other than to borrow these days. The cost of living is increasing far quicker than peoples salaries are increasing. If that trend continues, I dread to think what state the country will be in in 10-20 years time.

The UK's finances are in such a state, I don't think anyone actually knows, deep down, how to deal with it properly.

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Bankruptcy isn't always an easy way out. Sometimes it is forced on people by their creditors or it is really their only option.

I realise that - and thats fair enough. That would come under the deaths and unexpected situations circumstances I talked about.

There are some knobs that knowingly spend beyond their means on purpose knowing full well that they can, fairly easily, be declared bankrupt - and then a few years later, start from scratch with a clean slate.

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