I agree Marg 100%

Agree, Growly.
The suffragettes didn't go through all that, just so I could sit on my arse and moan without doing my bit to try to change things.

Cool, me too.

 

I'm with you two. although I will be watching and listening to all the debates and keeping an open mind ....................can't really see me changing my colours though.

The business fraternity really do think we are stupid then. The so-called tax on jobs is a red herring sans pareil. It's a tax on them and their business like any other tax. Basically they don't want to pay up even though it was their, even richer, pals who messed up the economy.
Have you guessed who is going to bear the brunt yet?

Nick Clegg's convinced Camerons going to put VAT up to 20.5% and so it begins  I hope he's bloody well wrong, I'm seriously pissed off at the thoughts !

Well if he is - surely he has to make it known. Can't see that being a vote winner though ...............personally I'd be pretty peed off if I voted for him (extremely unlikely)
only to find him putting two and a half percent on VAT .................if that's his plan - he's gotta come clean surely?

Lol
I'm not sure if that kinda thinkin' is the reason we live in such great society or the reason that we aren't living in a better one?!?

Seriously though, if I thought for a second that I was voting for Tim Farron as an MP at the next election simply because he was the 'best of a bad bunch' , then I wouldn't bother!!

*voting^^

I see that my constituency has been changed so that instead of a straight fight between Labour and Conservative, it is a straight fight between Liberal Democrat and Conservative with Labour likely to lose their deposit. So for once my vote really will count.

Reading through this thread there seems to be a consensus that Labour is the best of the alternatives so I thought I would share this letter that was in my paper this morning for an alternative 'take' on it, which is how I feel.

"Gordon Brown playing the class war card in the run-up to the General Election sickens me.

I was brought up on a council estate in the Sixties with good, hard-working people.  Through sheer effort, I own my own home outright, and have had held good positions in decent jobs.

At least so-called Tory toffs love this country, while the Labour Party has spent the past 13 years denigrating the British people and trying to destroy our way of life."

This is what they had to say, and I think most of the countries baffled as to where the shortfall is going to come from. Don't know if it's just speculation, but the money will have to come from somewhere and as it's not going to be the business sector it will likely be down to us.

 

For the past week, the Tories have been decrying Labour’s plans to raise National Insurance, pledging to reverse the rise but with a startling lack of clarity about how they will pay for it – beyond vague talk of ‘efficiency savings’, the kind of fantasy finance David Cameron and George Osborne would be quick to scorn if other parties tried it on.

Today Nick Clegg is showing that NI cuts may be popular with business – but they have to be paid for by someone, and the most likely people to pay the price of the Tories’ cuts will be ordinary voters through increases in VAT. Here’s the press release (and accompanying billboard poster) which the party has just released:

William Hague has today denied that the Conservatives plan to raise VAT.  Looks like just another smear to me, we have seen so many now.

We get loonies writing rubbish like that in my local paper too, squiggle. Thanks for giving us that example. The Tories love this country so much that they don't like paying tax and then they shift all their money to far away lands of which we  know very little..

We all have our own opinions GJ, I thought maybe it was time that another point of view was introduced into this thread.  You may think this woman is a looney, I don't.  Lord Paul and the secretive income of Tony Blair (part from Iraq) is another thing worth mentioning when talking about people not liking paying tax.

It's going to have to come from somewhere Squiggle, we heard all their denials before over the council tax and that was horrendous.

Poll Tax PMSL, Losing free school milk, wrecking the mining industry, fast spending the North Sea Oil revenue, who was that again? ............................. Oh yes the Conservatives

The Tories plan to save £12bn by:

1.Cancelling IT projects (which, although expensive, are meant to deliver savings in the long term, and people involved in such projects will be losing work),
2.Renegotiating contracts (lower pay, or job loses, for contract workers),
3.Not filling job vacancies in the public sector (basically more job losses),
4.Cutting back on discretionary spending such as expenses, travel, consultancy and office consumables ( fair enough, but less money will still be going to all these businesses supplying such services - could lead to more job losses),
5.Reducing public sector property costs by vacating space and cutting the running costs of buildings (obviously, if you've cut loads of jobs, you'll need less office space )

As James Caan said on Newsnight, people like Stuart Rose, whose average employee is on about £15,000 a year and will therefore not even be affected by the increase in NI contributions, are talking out of their bottom.

(He may not have actually said those exact words)

It's not my opinion. Tax avoidance is a multi billion pound industry-fact.

I was referring to your opinion on whether the woman who wrote to the paper was a looney for believing that this Government have treated this country and its people with contempt for the last 13 years.

Well let's say I think that she is a tad misinformed. Those of us who take different periodicals are annoyed and vexed at the way that  those at the top of the tree have ruined the economy but found time to shovel all their cash elsewhere. They then expect the honest hard working families to pay for their mistakes. They are the people who treat us all with contempt.

And who do you think has been 'at the top of the tree' and ruining the economy for the last 13 years?  I tell you what, lets agree to disagree.  If you want to vote for 'more of the same' and another dose of Gordon Brown and his stealth taxes then of course you will.  Lets just remember that most of those MP's that are actually facing prosecution for their illegal claims are Labour MP's.

Roger on that. Just remember that this government, because they are frightened of the Daily Mail, spent one million plus investigating expense claims of one million plus. This is peanuts compared to the amount that has gone missing overseas.

Cameron comes across as someone full of energy, motivated, enthusiastic, up for the job in hand.  He reminds me of Tony Blair on the run up to the 1997 elections.

As a result of the rapid procedures adopted by the government to wrap up proceedings before the election, the Digital Economy Act was rushed through and has become law with many of its more controversial clauses enacted with little discussion. See BBC article.

This includes measures such as the requirement for all ISPs in the UK to actively monitor all users use of the internet and to clamp down on anyone who is seen to have downloaded any material seen to be in breach of copyright. This part of the Act also covers the houseowner even if it is someone else who has downloaded the materialm for instance a youngster or a visitor. So it is now a requirement for the houseowner to monitor everything anybody downloads on a computer in the house.

Oh, by the way, if you are using a wireless connection without adequate firewall, and someone from elsewhere hacks in and downloads such material, you've got problems. As you do if your computer becomes subject to a virus permitting external control. As you do if you run an internet cafe and a customer downloads such material.

If you (or someone else) is found to have downloaded such material you will be sent a warning letter. A subsequent occurence will you losing your internet connection.

There are other measures but this is the one which is a direct attack on every computer user in the UK and is a major step in the process of the Labour Government to stifle free speech and everyone's use of the internet. The Act has been introduced to counter piracy. Fair enough, but the way it has been enacted is proof, if anyone wanted, that this government has not been democratic. It's enactment bears similarity to the way the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act (see my earlier psot) was enacted - major legislation brought in without giving an adaquate opportunity for debate.

So I urge everyone to vote for a party which is prepared to be democratic, and hopefully, once elected, to repeal this Act as a matter of urgency and to bring in a replacement Act once it has been properly considered and debated.

. . . and relax 

Interesting post El Loro, there have been many many sinister encroachments like this, increasing over time.  There are very important considerations to bear in mind when casting your vote this time, more than usual.

The Tories were in agreement with the act, and I doubt it will change...

"8th April 2010 - ISPA is extremely disappointed by the agreement between the Labour and Conservative front benches to push through the Digital Economy Bill despite serious concerns remaining about some clauses of the Bill, which have been recognised by MPs on all sides of the House. The decision to accept the Government amendment to clause 18, which enables the Secretary of State to make provisions about the granting of blocking injunctions by a court, is unacceptable given the lack of consultation on the impact of the clause.

Despite the inclusion of some safeguards that have improved the clauses on unlawful P2P filesharing, the case for the technical obligations contained in clauses 11-17 is yet to be made. It is with much regret that the majority of parliamentarians, with some notable exceptions, have been persuaded by copyright owners to forego the necessary parliamentary scrutiny in order to rush through legislation that in many ways is disproportionate, unworkable and will serve only to preserve failing business models and prevent new innovative lawful models of distributing content online."

and I don't like the idea of having my medical records on the internet either ! 

The Conservatives apparent support for the plan could be seen to be at odds with the party’s plan to cut government spending on public services through more widespread use of the Internet. In August, Tory leader David Cameron said that the technology could be used to revitalise the NHS and improve care. “As patients, we want to know we’re getting the best possible care; as taxpayers we want to know we’re getting value for money: technology, well-applied, can create opportunities for both in a decentralised NHS,” he said.

The Conservatives’ NHS plan involves using technologies such as Google Health to allow patient’s to manage their own records which the party claims would be a cheaper and more efficient alternative to large-scale government-backed IT projects. However the Tories have been criticised by some commentators for backing the search giant due to the fact that Tory advisor Steve Hilton is married to Rachel Whetstone, Google’s vice president of global communications and public affairs

Cameron is a wolf in sheep's clothing, a typical Tory.  Fall for it at your peril and don't say I didn't warn you

Let someone else have a go at messing up the Country.  Labour's had 12 years.

It was a mess when they took over - at least now people get a minimum wage what will the wolf do with that I wonder?  Perhaps it will go the same way as milk for children

Some of the election communications are entertaining and just the ticket for a bit of analysis. My favourite so far was one addressed to Mrs Joe, who is a socialist of the Old Labour school. Coming from the Tory Candidate it describes one of the independent candidates as being a socialist of the Old Labour school and how we musn't vote for her because it might keep the Tories out of power. How's that for an attempt to split the Labour vote? They must think we are daft.
Meanwhile the traditional New Labour, of the Thatcherite school, sitting MP concentrates on what she has  done and what she will do with no mention of her Tory rival.

Oh heck... Please no..... if there is anything likely to make me not vote Conservative it is that