Er Yes, No or Maybe, Prime Minister?

The Tory-led government in just 11 short months have messed about with all departments and tried to introduce major policies, without having the ability or the experience to replace them with a functioning model fit for use. This government's top ministers do not possess the ability to see or understand the "knock-on" effect their meddling is causing and the serious gaps in policy which are leaving people and organisations hopelessly exposed as a direct result of government interference.

Currently there are unprecedented reviews taking place in the NHS, Education, Defence, the Police, Welfare and the Economy. Bearing in mind these reforms are being undertaken by ministers who have had no previous experience of running a sweetie shop, let alone a country. Experts from world leading economists, to highly skilled clinicians, and military chiefs have told the government they have got it all wrong, that the government is going too far, too fast and too deep, yet David Cameron (Dave to his mates) refuses to listen and is ploughing arrogantly on. George Osborne is busy ruining the economy, Andrew Lansley is busy ruining the NHS, Michael Gove is busy making mistake after mistake in the education department, Iain Duncan Smith is busy terrifying people and making them feel like parasites, grant Shapps is busy making good decent people homeless and terrifying them in their own homes, William Hague is busy making bizarre mistakes and statements on foreign policy. Liam Fox is busy down the pub with his mates having given up on defence altogether, David Cameron is busy doing nothing, that is when he is not touring the Middle East selling arms with his arms dealer mates, and the Deputy prime minister is busy weeping all over the place and trying to tell us that he has feelings too, that is of course when he remembers he is supposed to be in charge of the country and hasn't buggered off on holiday leaving the country adrift and rudderless!

It is simply not good enough to plough ahead at breakneck speed ignoring all the warnings of thin ice and attempting so many unprecedented reviews of major departments and then when they meet serious and dangerous problems simply stop and say perhaps we have it a bit wrong, we will "pause, listen and reflect". The dangers were there, they have been seen by virtually everyone, expert or not, yet apparently David Cameron and George Osborne &Co are completely oblivious to them.
People must understand, that the reason we keep finding ourselves in these difficulties is not because labour bailed out the banks to stop the country going under, it is not because this country was hit and suffered like so many others did by the global financial recession, it is not because we have a deficit, it is not because we were nearly bankrupt, because we were not and never were anywhere near bankruptcy. When this government took over from labour, the country was in growth and it was strengthening, unemployment was falling, industrial output was picking up and exports were rising, the housing market was recovering and consumer confidence was rising, now in 11 short months this government have taken all of these positives and turned them into a thumping great negative and the question must be asked - why? I believe the answer is simple, it is because David Cameron lacks judgement, he and George Osborne simply have no idea what they are doing or what they can now do to stop the rot they started with their certifiably insane decisions.

Every single major decision this government have take since coming to office has ended up steeped in controversy and complete incompetence, OK everyone makes mistakes, especially new government's, but this government's mistakes have turned from a frightening habit to a foregone conclusion and complete and utter farce and each time it all comes down to the competence and ability [or lack of] of three men, David Cameron, George Osborne and Nick Clegg. However, Cameron is the prime minister so the buck stops with him, it is him and his judgement and ability that are now in serious question. Just a cursory glance shows the muddles this government have created in all areas;

• The Economy
• Threatening Oil companies investments
• Allowing bankers who caused the mess to get away with it
• Tax breaks to their rich company owning mates paid for by us.
• Foreign policy
• NHS reforms
• Defence review
• Education
• University Fees charges in total shambles
• The police
• Foreign policy
• Welfare
• Child Benefit shambolic and remains in chaos
• Housing benefits leading to homelessness of families
• Attacks on Disabled people
• Pensioners winter fuel payments
• Axing free free books for very young children (U-turn)
• Axing free books for toddlers (U-turn)
• Axing the highly successful School Sport Programme (U-turn)
• Scrapping NHS Direct (still happening by stealth)
• Selling off Britain's forests (still continuing by stealth)

The mistakes and incompetence just goes on and on and on and each and every one of these major mistakes in all these departments could have been avoided if this government had done what they said they would *always* do and listened. Listened to the experts, listened to the people experienced who are working in these areas, but they have comprehensively ignored everyone, that is not just incompetence, that is not even just bad judgement, that is pure arrogance and the point is that it is David Cameron is making all of these mistakes.

It leads to the asking of a very important question which can be applied across the board to all this government's mistakes, if there was not such a public backlash and outcry, then this government would have gone on totally oblivious to the brick wall they would crash the country into if they were not stopped. For example, the NHS, the government would have continued along the path of total destruction of the NHS is we had not made such a fuss, they would have totally destroyed it, the same with defence, the same with education. Every single thing cameron does he shows complete lack of judgement and ability to do the job, he is not fit for the high office he holds and that is now a fact and the facts prove this to be the case and this country is in serious danger from this dreadfully, inexperienced arrogant over privileged government of millionaire play boys, they simply do not have a clue, they are clueless.

This whole country is at grave risk from the most ineffectual, bungling, incompetent government that I have ever seen in my entire life, but they are not just feckless, they are also more dangerous, they are behaving in a criminally reckless fashion, their arrogance is breathtaking and it is us that will suffer, but more than this, it is our youngsters and children who will be left to clean up the tatters of our social fabric and the smashed and fragmented infrastructure that allows this country to function competently.

This Tory-led government cannot be allowed to carry on like this, it is obvious they are completely out of their depth, it is like being governed by a load of feckless marauding kids let loose and who have got hold of their parents booze supplies, it would be funny if it were not so bloody dire for us and this country!

David Cameron the Prime Minister of Britain does not just suffer from lack of judgement, he does not have any judgement at all, none whatsoever, not only this he is also one of rudest, bullying, ranting arrogant men in modern politics - it's past time he went. he is putting lives at risk in the NHS and our troops, Cameron has proved himself to be a dangerous arrogant prat.

Remember also at the bottom of this mess this government are making of this country, this complete shambles they are creating where none of them know what they are doing, or when they are supposed to be doing it, are the Liberal Democrats.  They should ask themselves about the impression they are giving to the country of blindly backing everything this government says, does and wants (except AV) because now people are realising just why it is the Liberal party has been kept out of power for over 60 years.

Whatever is left of this country after this government has finished and the appalling mess and shambles in the making will forever tarnish the Liberal Democrats too because without them this government would not be able to continue, they should ask themselves is their five minutes of fame and power worth wrecking the UK for?

The indecisiveness, the dithering, the backtracking, the U-turning, the total lack of judgement, the inability to see the bigger picture, the breathtaking arrogance, the chaos and confusion and the total farce this country is now becoming, is down to David Cameron, he is simply a numpty in charge of a team of numpties and they are cutting the oxygen and lifeblood of this country.

Pausing Or Breakneck Speed Towards NHS Privatisation? Why Should We Believe A Word Cameron Says Anymore?

Oh Dear Mr Cameron someone that tells as many lies as you should develop a better memory. This video clip shows the extent of lies and hypocrisy of Cameron.

Second Relaunch of Tory NHS Reforms

After months of this Tory government trying to bully medical professionals and the public into submission over the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley's NHS reforms, we are now being told by Prime Minister, David Cameron, that the government are listening and now apparently they are now going to take a further 2 months to listen some more!  They are trying to relaunch their NHS reforms package for the 2nd time, someone tell them when attempting this with a very sceptical electorate it is not a very good idea to start off with a blatant deception. Cameron, Clegg and Lansley are selling this "listening exercise" as something they have conceded in order to listen to the concerns expressed over this bill, don't be fooled, this so-called listening period is not something that the government have conceded it is in fact a "natural break" in the bill's passage which would have occurred anyway. Obviously you can take the man out of public relations, but you cannot take public relations out of the man! This is is no listening exercise, it is just another cheap and nasty PR stunt from the ex PR man Cameron, yet again this government are deliberately misleading the British public.

What is the point in "fan-faring" this "listening" deception anyway? Cameron has already declared they will listen to our concerns but the reforms are going to go ahead anyway, so what is the point of the whole lie? Perhaps I am cynical but his whole listening misconception has precious little to do with wanting to take on board our concerns over these reforms but more to do with the growing revolt in the Lib Dems over the NHS and Clegg's ever dwindling popularity. Not forgetting the little matter of the May elections and the AV referendum, that this little pointless listening exercise will cover, all this is doing is deferring the inevitable. I wonder if most people realise that the government is already in the process of  privatising reforming the NHS? If David Cameron is going to keep lying to us and keep deliberately misleading us, he should do something about his memory and stop assuming that we do not have one and are too stupid to understand the profundity of his innuendos, lies, half truths and misconceptions.

The process of NHS Reforms already started in 2010 in at least three significant ways, which I will attempt to explain.

1. PATHFINDERS: In his first speech on the launch of Lansley's white paper, Mr Cameron argued new powers for GP consortia to take control of NHS budgets and directly commission services were a vital act of modernisation and sticking to the ‘status quo’ of PCTs and SHA’s was not an option.
   ‘People said there would be no appetite for this,’ he said. ‘Far from fearing new commissioning arrangements, over 140 GP-led consortia have now come forward, covering over half the country.’
   But Dr Chaand Nagpaul, GPC lead negotiator for commissioning, said the reason GPs were responding was in a desperate bid to save the NHS from collapse.
   ‘The term pathfinder has become a misnomer,’ he said. ‘Many GPs are acting only because they see PCTs imploding before their eyes and are worried that unless they accelerate their plans the NHS will collapse.’ The government know this but Cameron chose not to tell us, instead he chose to totally misrepresent most GPs taking part in the "pathfinder" so-called trials. They are NOT trials, this is a bid by the government to get as many on board as they possibly can to stay on course for the reforms completion year of 2013. The only crisis in the NHS, are those this government are introducing.
2. NHS DIRECT- Privatisation is already underway: The news first broke of Lansley's  plans for NHS Direct because he himself let it slip.  Until Lansley's apparent indiscretion, the official government line was that a new free telephone service, NHS 111, would not replace existing local telephone services or NHS Direct but might do so in the longer term if a pilot scheme is successful.
   Well of course it turns out that we have been lied to and deceived again as NHS 111 is to take the place of NHS Direct and it is not just a change of phone number. The Department of Health has confirmed that NHS 111 would replace NHS Direct within three years. The new service is undergoing trials in County Durham and Darlington and now in Nottigham with further pilots in Lincolnshire and Luton.
    Would it surprise you to learn that the scheme was actually put forward to Andrew Lansley by a think tank called 2020Health, in June 2010 and just barely 2 months later with virtually no consultation the scheme was underway? By coincidence  2020health have their offices just up from parliament at 83 Victoria Street and Andrew Lansley has described the think tank 2020health saying; “I have been very impressed with some of the discussions and documents that have emerged from 2020health. They are looking at serious issues and providing valuable impact on future policy”, those "policies" that Lansley casually mentions include giving more NHS work to private sector companies.  The news that suggested NHS Direct was to be axed caused a public outcry, however, Lansley got out of it by explaining that it was just being trialled and piloted. Of course what Andrew Lansley did not tell us was that he had been fed this idea by a think tank that has close ties to the Tory party and is run by someone called Tom Sackville who was a previous Conservative health minister. www.2020health.org describes itself as an independent grass roots think tank, funded by people like you, for people like you. It takes a lot of money from pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, Novartis, Lilly, in order to push their agendas, it also takes money from companies looking to get into tele-health market like BT and *VODAFONE* and 2020Health's connections to Tories like Lansley and Sackville put it in an excellent position to influence government policies. 2020health chairman is ex Tory health minister Tom Sackville. ( George Osborne recently wrote off Vodafone's £6 billion tax bill it owed to the British Treasury) In the areas where NHS 111 is being piloted they have got rid of most of the trained experienced medical professionals and the phones are being manned by people who have not had any medical training. The new call centre operators have only been given a nominal 3 day briefing before being put on the phones to field calls from the public over health concerns. Since the government have reduced the number of trained staff in these centres, more callers are being referred straight to accident service by operators who lack experience and confidence to make the correct decisions. Not only is this dangerous because for every person being referred to hospital emergency departments incorrectly, there will be many not being referred to seek urgent treatment when they should. The scheme is also self-defeating as the whole idea is to decrease the workload on accident and emergency departments not increase it. 
   In Lincolnshire 30 triage nurses who assess calls to out-of-hours GP services have been told they could lose their jobs due to a pilot scheme for the 111 service in the area.
   From April their role will be performed by the new non-emergency helpline, which is run by NHS Direct and staffed by non-nursing call handlers.
   Lincolnshire is one of the areas to test the 111 number in a year-long pilot, which was announced in November.
3. PRIVATE CONTRACTS:  A London authority became the first to award the first *PRIVATE* contract. The KPMG Partnership for Commissioning has won one of the first contracts to support development of the early waves of pathfinders across London, to help GPs become the commissioners of healthcare in the very near future. The partnership claimed to be the first of its kind and sees KPMG teaming up with a company called UnitedHealth UK and The National Association of Primary Care (NAPC), Healthskills, NHS Primary Care Commissioning and the legal firm Morgan Cole. Incidentally UnitedHealth UK is affiliated to the US UnitedHealth company UnitedHealth has faced accusations of overcharging and malpractice in a series of legal suits.
   In 2008 it agreed to pay $50m after the New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo sued the company "as part of a broad probe into how insurers pay doctors and hospitals that aren't in the companies networks". According to Cuomo, UnitedHealth's Ingenix unit operated a "defective and manipulated database" to set charges for medical services. Its California subsidiary was fined a record $3.5m in the same year for mishandled claims against patients and doctors. In 2006 The UnitedHealth chief executive William McGuire resigned after an investigation "concluded he had received stock option grants 'likely backdated' to allow insiders to maximise financial gains." During his tenure as chief executive, McGuire was granted more than $1.6bn in stock options. In 2007, McGuire avoided trial after he agreed to repay $468m. This is the kind of company that the Conservative government is encouraging to bid for parts of the British NHS under the "Any Willing Provider" scheme.

None of the above could be called "pilots or trials", not by any sense of the imagination. They are NOT pilot schemes, they are the REAL thing. The NHS is being privatised by the Tory government under our very noses. I have used just three examples there are a great many more examples that clearly indicate the path in which this government is taking the NHS.

Don't be fooled, the government have not just launched a listening campaign, what they are doing is launching a TELLING campaign, at the end of these 2 months we will be told that they are making concessions, which will turn out to be minor concessions and adjustments that would have been made in any case and that the reforms will be going ahead.

This Tory-led  government is hell bent on inflicting their ideology on the NHS and us and they are hell bent on privatising it and all the bluff and bluster I heard coming out of Frimley Park Hospital by Cameron, Clegg and Lansley is just flim-flam and complete lies, and once again this feckless government and this supercilious trio of Cameron, Clegg and Lansley are deliberately misleading the British public. It does not matter how many times they utter their soundbites and tell us they are going to "pause, listen and reflect" or whichever words they choose, they are NOT pausing, in fact if you read above you will see this government is going at breakneck speed to privatise our NHS and it is happening right under our noses and has been happening ever since this government assumed power. The proof of it all is all around. they want their reforms completed by 2013, I assume because they feel if this government runs its full term, in 2015 they hope people will have forgiven and forgotten that they took a wonderful and functioning health service one of the best in the world and totally ruined it, causing mayhem and disruption with the inevitable loss of life - they should think again.

Remember that once the NHS has gone, it has gone, there will be NO turning back, no government will be able to undo the harm that this government are already inflicting upon the NHS, like the trains, the NHS will be broken up and fragmentised so much it will be impossible to put it back together again and like the trains fiasco, there will be very little accountability, no one will know who is responsible for what and when, private health companies will be cherry picking all the bits they can make money out of and leaving the rest for cash strapped NHS Trusts to deal with. Since this government came into power and abolished targets:

• NHS hospital waiting lists are rising alarmingly.
• Waiting times for out patient appointments are rising.
• Waiting times to see specialist are rising.
• Waiting times in Accident and Emergency Departments are rising.
• The number of patients on trolleys waiting for hospital beds is rising.
• The number of hospital beds available is falling.
• Bed blocking is rising as patient care in the community is affected by Tory cuts.
• Bed Blocking is also happening because the government are trying to fine hospital doctors if a patient is readmitted within a certain time for the same ailment, doctors are now scared to discharge a patient.

Incidentally Lansley's proposed 3 month pausing and listening scheme has, in the space of 2 days, already been reduced to 2 months!

Also bear in mind, that this government would not be in a position to do all of this if it were not for the backing of the Liberal Democrats, a cursory glance at the way Clegg enthusiastically has backed these NHS Reforms is a testament to how far on the right of his party he actually is, Clegg is not a Liberal Democrat, he is a Tory and a true die in wold blue Tory at that!

No matter what fancy language the Tory government chooses we know what they are up to with our NHS, neither "coalition" party had this in their manifesto, neither told what they were going to do with the NHS if they got their hands on it, if they did then they would never have been given the chance, this government know this, which is why they practiced the deceit they did. This government has NO mandate to do this, forget the ridiculous total waste of money on AV referendum, it is the NHS reforms that should have been put to a referendum, so grave and so far reaching are the changes. One further lie that Cameron exposed of himself, in his speech on Lansley's white paper, Cameron let slip that these reforms were being cooked up by Lansley for some time, in fact we now know that Lansley has been working on these NHS reforms for the past EIGHT YEARS!  So why was Cameron touring the country telling every one that there would "no top down re-organisation of the NHS" when he knew fully well that Andre Lansley was working on the biggest reforms of the NHS since its conception over 60 years ago? Once again Cameron exposed for the liar he is. Why should we believe anything David Cameron says?

The Tory Government should "PAUSE, LISTEN and REFLECT" upon this:

Hands OFF our NHS, it is NOT for sale, you touch it at your peril! Insist on this and it will end with the early demise of this lousy government - see you in the ballot box!

What Planet Are The Tories On?

Chris Grayling

Today the government is announcing that it plans to assess the half a million people that currently claim Incapacity Benefit, with a view to getting them back to work. On BBC Radio Five Live today I heard a lady called Margaret, who is partially sighted and has no feeling in her left arm, she was left this way after suffering a brain hemorrhage a couple of years ago. Margaret has been assessed in the government's pilot scheme as fit to return to work. She told her story of her assessment the doctor held his fingers up in front of her eyes and asked her how many, she kept telling him she was blind in one eye and she could not see, he ignored her and kept asking her. This lady broke down in tears on the radio and said she had the awful feeling the doctor thought she was lying, she was obviously very distressed. The next person to talk was Tory minister responsible for this reform and what did he say? "We are doing this to help people like Margaret who want to return to work". Chris Grayling may just as well have been  in the same room as the doctor that refused to listen to Margaret and in my opinion neglected his duty and as a physician by not listening to what Margaret was telling him and neither did Chris Grayling. Margaret was NOT saying she wanted to return to work, she obviously finds the whole thing extremely frightening and she is now riddled with anxiousness and feels totally insecure. How is she going to get to work? She obviously cannot drive, can she use public transport adequately with a hemiplegia affecting one side and her arm after her illness? That is doubtful too. How many people like Margaret are going to be taken off of one benefit and put onto another and classed as fit to work unfairly? It is not just a case of putting her onto another benefit, it is also a case that she may lose other benefits that help her with daily living since her illness. It is one thing to get people back to work who want to go and who are actually claiming incapacity benefit incorrectly, it is quite another bullying sick people that already have enough distress to contend with in their lives, not to mention having to cope with a disability. Here is the example of another human being caused terrible anxiety, the case of "Ben". Ben is in his early 20's, he is severely autistic, doubly incontinent and has severe learning disabilities and the mental age of a child and does not speak, in appearance Ben looks like anyone else, Ben has just been classed as fit to work under the government's pilot scheme. Ben now stands l to lose all the benefits that help with his care and help his parents care for him at home.

How many Bens and Margarets and their families are going to be caused immense distress and unnecessary suffering to appease this totally inept minister and his totally inept Tory government and for what reason?

Iain Duncan Smith

Also today Iain Duncan Smith the Tory minister for Work and Pensions has made the glib and general comment that people coming up to retirement age of 65 do not want to retire, they want to carry on working, no doubt some do, but many do not, are they going to be forced to carry on working maybe with failing health issues? Maybe some 65 year olds work on because they have to for financial reasons, but this is not the same as "wanting" to. Iain Duncan Snith lives in a RENT FREE  country mansion, complete with extensive grounds, swimming pools and tennis courts.

Apart from all of this, can this Conservative government who are in the middle of radically reforming everything in sight, from privatising the NHS to pensions, to welfare, to education to the police and sacking nearly all our armed forces and whose policies are causing soaring inflation  and escalating unemployment actually tell us where all the jobs are going to come from to employ all these people they are bullying and shoving around like cattle? This Government are making hundreds of thousand redundant from the public sector, yet it is the public sector that was the largest equal opportunities employer, if an elderly or severely disabled person is going to find work, then it would probably be within the public sector, how can they now if those jobs have been destroyed by this government and other companies that employ disabled people are not employing or laying off or going out of business?

I would like to know where all the companies are that are going to hire disabled people and go to the expense of providing adequate facilities for them, from access to hygiene to the specialist chairs they may require to sit on. Will these employers not mind when disabled people may suddenly feel unwell and have to go home of find a place to rest  until they regain their strength not to mention their composure? Will employers not mind the sometimes erratic life of how a disabled person or chronically sick person's health can fluctuate often from hour to hour? Can the Government guarantee that employers will not get angry with a disabled person when for the 6th week running has had to take time off from work because of ill health or doctors or hospital appointments?

All that withstanding, just where with unemployment currently at 2.53 million and rising rapidly are the jobs to employ over half million extra people hitting the workplace all being forced to look for work? And where are the employers all falling over themselves to offer jobs to the long term unemployed, chronically sick and disabled?

Once again this government is found wanting and has not thought a policy through yet is forcing it through without understanding the problems it is creating. Once again they are found arrogantly bullying people and are refusing to listen to concerns from disabled groups.

I have noticed something else about this arrogant government, everytime they get into difficulties they attack people who cannot fight back, people such as the long term unemployed, those on incapacity benefit and those on disability living allowances etc. They make comparisons between able people fit for work and set them against others who are not working through no fault of their own.

Bullying...Bullying....Bullying!

Osborne's Insane Gambles Are NOT Working!

Osborne Cannot Even Add Up
Repeatedly Gets his Sums wrong

I disagree with most things this supposed "coalition" government  are trying to do, will do and have done it is totally bewildering, chaotic and confusing.  I am a child of the 60's and am not in the least antipathetic to change and progress.  I have seen much change some of it good, some very good and some excellent, but a lot of change has also been bad and detrimental to people and their lives, it has hurt and often caused confusion and deep anxiety and in some cases has put innocent law abiding citizens in prison simply for having no money, I cite former Conservative pm Margaret Thatcher's fatal poll tax as a prime example of how government can seriously damage the people. However, even for allowing for the fated poll tax,  I have never witnessed such radical change being carried out like this and in such an extensive and reckless way. We are currently witnessing ideological change that will end up suiting no one except the self-aggrandisement of those in power who are inflicting it, who in this case happens to be David Cameron, George Osborne and Nick Clegg and the rest of the Tory-led government.

Most things this government say and do should carry some sort of warning - Buyer beware; Grave risks attached; Purchase at your own peril; Sold as seen, in fact this Tory government should carry a serious physical and mental health warning. I could go on to list but this time I will resist the temptation to tell you in detail about the serious harm this government is about to inflict upon the disabled, chronically sick, the young, the elderly, and the unemployed etc. See my roll of Conservative Broken Promises for some kind of idea what the ordinary person in Britain today is up against. To read the shocking truth about how this Tory government are a brutally attacking  the rights of disabled people read Diary of a Benefit Scrounger.

Everything it appears that this Tory-led government are doing carries serious risks and is a reckless gamble with our lives and livelihoods. They are driving a coach and horses through peoples "lounges" and lives with absolutely no regard for the distress, pain and damage they are inflicting. If anyone gets in their way either by accident or design they simply try to bull-doze them or bully them into submission. We are currently being led by a prime minister without a conscience, a grossly inept man struggling with his competence and brief as  prime minister of Britain, he so wanted this job, he lusted after it but when somehow he managed to get it he has turned out to be totally unfit for the post and high office . David Cameron is a man who is clearly out of his depth and his comfort zone and is systematically incapable of answering questions if he has not first been supplied with the answers. The question of exactly how competent David Cameron is, is beginning to reverberate, not only in the "corridors of power" but in the country as a whole. I now believe that it has reached the stage where it could have a long-term impact on him and the Conservative party, the Liberal Democrats, as well as the coalition as a whole, but more importantly the ordinary people of this country.

Cameron is constantly struggling to answer questions and appears unable to work extemporaneously, this is a failing of some magnitude for someone in Cameron's position and already people have begun to notice, the whispering campaign has started and there are dark and worried "mutterings" from local newsagents who are put out about how much less people are spending in their shops, right through to the City where there are increasing jitters about Cameron's competence and Osborne's [in]abilities.

It is impossible to include each and every risk, gamble and failing of this government, who seem to u-turn at the drop of a hat and then when the fuss dies down, they try to u-turn on their u turns, it really is quite extraordinary. Currently they performed a u-turn over the sale of forests and now last week it starts trickling through that the Government may still go ahead with plans to get rid 15 per cent of UK woodland - the maximum allowed without changing the current rules! This government is proving to be undemocratic and profoundly duplicitous, whatever it says and promises to the contrary it remains insistent on getting its own way, even if that way is deeply flawed and seriously problematic.

The NHS, welfare, the police, defence, the economy, unemployment, education, university funding, social housing, housing benefit, not to mention we are due to vote on the AV referendum that most people do not want and could not care-less about to the tune of £100 million, and are now being forced into yet another war costing us upwards of approximately £50 million per day and this government has not been in power for a year yet!

The Government are attempting to carry out massive reforms in every department vital for the welfare, safety and health of our people, they tell us we have no money, yet the chancellor borrowed £10 billion to loan to Ireland (which we will never get back) Osborne appears to be creating a little "toxic debt pool" of his very own, knowingly borrowing money for a third party that he knows they will never be able to repay. This Government are spending millions per day interfering in another country's civil war, wasting a £100 million on a referendum and on top of it all the prime minister David Cameron has commissioned a report costing further millions where we are all to be asked how happy we are!

We are told that ministers are working on watering down their promises to wipe out child poverty, it beggars belief because this Government are actually in the process of increasing child poverty (and old age poverty). The UK Conservative government have actually become the cause of the problem and are making plans to get out of solving.  A new law says child poverty in this country must be eliminated by 2020, but instead Barnardo's say it will rise! The government's excuse for this beginning to sound like a stock response to everything they are challenged over "we are changing the system so it will be easier to target those in need of help". This Government are doing too much of changing the system, they are changing the system on everything, whether it needs changing or not! They would have us believe they are doing it for the greater good, but are they? How does it help already greatly disadvantaged children to be impoverished more by their very own government?
From the 1st January this year, the Government abolished the child trust fund ISA savings account (Child Trust Fund) for every child in the UK. The CTF accounts matured as young people turned 18 and the loss of this nest egg was a particularly painful blow for those children in the care system.

The Government has saved £500 million pounds per year by abolishing the child trust fund ISA and have instead replaced it with a voluntary ISA scheme for parents to pay into if they wish. For the majority of children in care who have little or no contact with their parents, they are likely to receive nothing. Yet this is the government that wants to empower people to stand on their own two feet? If this is so it would be a good idea if they stopped kicking out the legs attached to those feet, because without help children in our care system who already have next to nothing thanks to the Tories will now have even less.

This Government are inflicting cuts that will have a savage impact on homelessness. The Tories and the Lib Dems are starting off a whole chain of events that will see thousands of people pushed out onto the streets where they will have no choice but to sleep rough, having done this Westminster Tory council has decided to fine people that operate soup runs for rough sleepers in their borough. Conservative-controlled Westminster council is to outlaw charity-led "soup runs" for homeless people at the same time as fresh evidence has emerged that spending cuts will have a savage impact on services around the UK aimed at keeping homeless people off the streets.

We have a Government that is totally incapable of understanding that their actions have consequences, if they scrap one policy, scrap one law or change it, or take away red tape, they find they either have to fill the gap with even more regulation or they simply ignore the problems they have caused and hope they will go away appearing completely incapable of understanding the knock on domino effect of their very own actions.

How can a government that almost every day proves itself incapable, be allowed to endanger the safety and well-being of the British people? Not only is it showing an inability to govern, this government is displaying breathtaking arrogance, if it is not David Cameron at the dispatch box being rude, arrogant and disrespectful towards others, it is one of his key cabinet advisers Oliver Letwin sneering that the people of Sheffield should not go on holiday by saying; "we don't want more people of Sheffield flying away on cheap holidays", the insult came in a row between Letwin and London Mayor Boris Johnson over the building of new airports. Once again showing the complete disarray and chaotic cabinet splits over another major government policy. Letwin thinks people from Sheffield are from the lower classes and they should not have the chance to take cheap holidays. This is not a smear released by a Labour spin doctor, it was revealed by the Conservative London Mayor, Boris Johnson. It is ministers who think like this who are slashing the incomes of half a million people on sickness benefit.

Each time the prime minister turns up at the dispatch box he acts like he is doing us and the House a big favour and he is barely able to disguise his contempt at being there and being forced to answer questions about his government's actions and effects of those actions. He was annoyed last week because he was dragged away from playing war games with his new bestest friend President Sarkozy, I heard the two of them watched the PMs favourite film "Where Eagles Dare", making it about the 20th time Cameron has watched it, in English of course as Cameron cannot speak French like his alter-ego Tony Blair.

How will the country fair under this Tory regime of hatred for us and hatred of anyone they deem as weaker and insignificant than they? How are we going to stop this certifiably insane government privatising the NHS, privatising education, putting university education out of the reach of us "lower classes", totally gutting welfare forcing  sick people off of the register and back to work to find jobs that simply do not exist? How do we cope with the fact that this government are taking great delight in bullying and scaring genuinely disabled people, taking their DLA away from, taking their ILA away from them forcing them to lose what little independence they had? Not mentioning the fact that they are also taking away the mobility component from people who reside in homes, which means in many cases they are taking their motorised scooters and electric wheelchairs away from them. What do we do about this government's insistence on making youngsters and whole families homeless by taking away their  housing benefits? Or cutting funding to the hostels that housing vulnerable youngsters? Is it too much to ask this government to slow down the pace and depth of these cuts because all the evidence is pointing to the fact that they are making the economy worse? Do they not understand that everyone of those jobs lost since the Tories came to power is like a wrecking ball crashing its way through the lives of individuals and families? Do they not "get it" that the Tories brutal cuts are killing off our high streets as consumer confidence reaches and all time low with record job losses, growing job insecurity,  record food and fuel costs, soaring utility bills, rising inflation and plunging standards of living are all causing a record low in consumer confidence. sales in the high street and in corner shops in villages alike are being hit hard by families reigning in thier spending as they struggle to cope with all of this as well as government cuts and frozen wages. The retail sector has fallen off a cliff since January. M&S, John Lewis, Argos, Dixons, Laura Ashley, Mothercare are all expected this week to show a drop in profits. Strangely enough, these shops are amongst those who signed up to the Tories misleading round robin letter over national insurance contributions during last year's general election. When the Tories promised that they would not impose a NICs rise, what they did not say however was that they would not impose it for their mates the Tory financial backers who signed the letter, they have however raised national insurance for workers, which in turn along with being clobbered by all of the above AND the rise in VAT, will further dent their pockets and their ability to spend in the shops, just when we need it the most.

Latest figures show that a record one on seven shops are standing empty with a further 10.000 due to close their doors this year!

This ladies and gentlemen is George Osborne economics at work!

Osborne has already damaged the British economy more than any chancellor in living memory and he has only been in the job 11 months! His budget 2 weeks ago which Cameron billed would be the "most pro-growth for a generation - wasn't" in fact the chancellor opened up the budget debate by actually downgrading growth. The Nationwide Consumer Confidence Index is now even lower than it was in 2009 at the depths of the banking crisis credit crunch and the deepest global recession since the 1930's. In addition to all of this real household income fell by 0.5% last year, which is the worst reading in 20 years, all the signs are that consumers are feeling the pinch right now and this is even before the real cuts start to bite. What is even more worrying is that besides all of this dreadful economic news, manufacturing has showed a sharp slowdown in the new order of growth. while mortgage defaults also rose more than expected last week.  Remember that manufacturing is where George Osborne is taking the unprecedented gamble with our economy, livelihoods and children's futures. He (Osborne) has gambled on manufacturing growing at an unprecedented speed and outstripping all growth records before it to help the UK out of this economic gloom, now manufacturers are saying they can no longer absorb the rising costs of fuel, gas and electric and raw materials etc, and that they will have to pass this rise on to the customer, this will inevitably lead to fewer orders and less inward investment into the UK.
So perhaps the chancellor will now tell us where all of these private sector jobs which are to take up the numbers this Tory government are throwing out of their public sector jobs are going to come from?

All this and a collapse of spending on the high street is inevitable going to push the UK back into recession, it is now not a case of 'if' but 'when' and this is what you get when you hire business leaders to advise on how to run a country. By comparison the States which is by and large following the Gordon Brown model is slowly climbing out of recovery, their unemployment is falling, manufacturing increasing etc, just like Britain's was when the Tories took over from Labour last year, unemployment falling, inflation low, growth accelerating and consumer confidence rising, now unemployment and inflation are rising and growth is negative. I hope all those Tory backing business leaders that did much to persuade the people of this country to vote out the only chance we had of full economic recovery realise what they have done, not only to themselves but to all the people who work for them.

How much more proof of Osborne's gambles are not winning do people need before we stick together and insist this feckless and criminally reckless government calls a general election? How long before the Liberal Democrats stop messing about and stop propping this government up because what they are doing now is NOT helping the country, it is not working and if they really do want to help this country and the people they need to pull out of this coalition now. Osborne keeps gambling, betting with our money and our livelihoods but he is not winning. how are we supposed to have faith in a chancellor that cannot add up, that tries three times to guess the price of fuel and his very own tax take and fails? This chancellor has now managed to alienate the oil industry who are now threatening to halt further investment, simply because Osborne did not bother to consult with them BEFORE he made up policy on the hoof, when he was panicking over his budget. So much for the party of business.

The Tories Are NOT Working!

The Tories Get Sleazier and Sleazier

Having seen the footage from the Guardian, it appears UK Uncut were tricked into being arrested by the police and as the story unfurls like one of Uncut's banners, we are beginning to see why they targeted Fortnum & Mason's.

The Company behind Fortnum and Masons alleged tax problems, actively supports the Conservative party and has donated over 900.000, The company, Garfield Weston was censured for links to  the Conservative party.

The Trustees of the Garfield Weston Foundation (GWF)  were once reprimanded reprimanded by the Charity Commission for allowing an associated company to make political donations to the Conservative Party.

The Commission launched an investigation after Charity Finance revealed in July last year that Wittington Investments Limited (WIL), a company which is 79.2 per cent owned by the Foundation, had made donations totalling £800,000 between 1993 and 1999 and another of £100,000 in 2004.
This Tory-Lib dem government just keeps getting murkier and murkier and sleazier and sleazier, no wonder Nick Clegg wants to completely rebrand his party, they are becoming bogged down in the mire and being seen as complicit with Tory sleaze!

Government Forces Us Into Debt To Pay For Mad George Osborne's Insane Plans!

First a bit on the so-called closures of tax-loopholes. (I could go on to expose all the Tories that get up to this game, but I'll leave this for another day).

In last Wednesday's Budget Conservative chancellor George Osborne muttered something about tax dodgers and tax avoiding, it was hard to understand what he was saying because most of the time he was looking down and muttering and the rest of the time coughing and spluttering.

The chancellor highlighted plans to scrutinise “the taxation of very high value property, where evasion and avoidance are widespread and some of the wealthiest are found not to be paying their fair share”, along with plans to close down three forms of stamp duty land tax avoidance. However, absolutely nothing was done about the avoidance of stamp duty by companies buying residential  property - why has the chancellor not taken this opportunity to close down this tax-loophole? It is a massive loophole which allows these companies to avoid paying their correct taxes. (I am not going to cover why I think this is happening in this blog but it is something I will be exposing very soon!)

So in event of all the bluster and " tough talk" by the chancellor, it turned out as usual to be just that -*talk*, and Britain's 120,000 "non-dom" overseas taxpayers having escaped a full-blown government crackdown on their disingenuous tax affairs all breathed a collective sigh of relief!

In fact all the chancellor has done is promised to collect just £1 billion out of  approximately £120 billion per year of the tax due to the UK Treasury, that means that approximately £119 billion is going uncollected by HMRC. Multi-national companies like Vodafone have personally been allowed off of paying £6 billion in back tax to the UK Treasury by George Osborne. It should be noted that politicians of all colours promise to save this "mythical" £1 billion in tax loopholes, but strangely none of them ever seem to manage it!

George Osborne said that those who are resident in the UK but domiciled elsewhere for tax purposes will have to pay an increased levy after living in Britain for 12 years.Under the current system, non-doms are charged a £30,000 annual levy after living in Britain for seven years, in return for paying tax only on their UK earnings and monies brought into the country. The fee will now increase to £50,000 after a non-dom has been resident for 12 years. However, non-doms will pay no tax on funds remitted to the UK that are then invested in British business. (Another government manufactured tax wheeze in the making)

Not only has Osborne's move done virtually nothing to worry the non-dom status in this country, or the widespread abuse of the tax system by non-doms and multinational companies or wealthy individuals, the move is expected to boost the appeal of London as a place of residence and the new tax relief now offered by the chancellor could open up possible money laundering opportunities! Nice one George! I mean do look after your billionaire Tory financial backing mates, God forbid they ever have to put their hands in their pockets and pay their fair taxes for the good of the country that has made them rich, affluent and all powerful. Why shouldn't their miserly voices be heard in corrupt political circles over and above the ordinary citizen in this country? After all it's true money does talk, especially in rich political Tory party circles, think tanks and lobbying companies!

Whether it is intentional or not and despite announcing a so-called crackdown on tax avoidance abuse, the chancellor looks to be opening up nice comfortable tax avoidance opportunities for mega rich people. Osborne's crackdown which is predicted may raise just £1bn a year (if implemented) is just a fig leaf, really this chancellor has done non doms, tax avoiding companies and individuals a huge favour. George Osborne seems totally lacking in brain power, ability and flair and is simply unable to understand the complexities of the tax system and what his changes may mean, invariably, whenever Osborne tinkers about with something it ends up making things a lot worse, he just doesn't possess the ability o to see or understand the knock-on effect and chain of events he sets off when he messes about with something.

Bizarrely non-doms had a further reason to be cheerful as Osborne confirmed that the 50% top rate of income tax was considered a temporary measure, giving hope that this may be reduced before the end of this parliament. This tax break will be paid for by millions of people being hit hard by VAT increases, fuel increases, utility bill increases and the poorest people having their benefits cut and frozen, from pensioners winter fuel allowances to family's working tax credits, to disabled people's allowances and to the detriment of spending on health and the NHS and education. yet again another Tory chancellor is taxing the poor to pay for the rich. Individuals like Philip Green and his wife pay very little tax in relation to the billions they make in this country. Philip Green once described giving his wife (who resides partly in Monaco)  £1 billion as "a bit of housekeeping", yet Philip Green was personally asked to by David Cameron to advise the government on making cuts!

While Osborne allows his Tory friends the non-doms and leaders of multi-national companies to avoid paying their taxes, he has given a personal directive from the Treasury to all collectors of taxes to pursue relentlessly all the small businesses who are late paying their tax! Now these businesses as Osborne should know virtually all have cash flow problems caused mainly when large multi-national companies (sometimes owned by the chancellor's buddies) are months late in settling their accounts with small and medium sized businesses, it can make or break these businesses and has put many of them out of business causing them to go bankrupt and then the debts are striked. The chancellor could have done something about forcing these companies to pay their bills immediately to the smaller businesses thus easing one of their biggest problems "cash flow" but he did nothing!

In 2009 Barclays bank made billions in the UK but paid just £113 million in corporation tax! Yet a small business with a very small turnover is stung by a £33.000 tax bill, where is the fairness in the UK tax system?
According to 38 degrees George Osborne could have helped claw back some of the taxes owed to the UK by three simple measures.

1. Transparency - By forcing companies to publish their accounts for every country they operate in. (This is done in the US)
2. General anti-avoidance principle, forcing people to act withing the spirit of the law and not just the letter of the law.
3. To close the loophole that allows large UK companies to run their Treasury Functions outside the UK and therefor dodge paying billions of pounds in tax.

The chancellor did none of the above, which shows he is simply uninterested in making these large companies pay - I'll go into why at a later date.
Last week's budget we all saw not for the first time this chancellor practicing sleight of hand and a blog called sturdyblog explains how we are going to be forced into debt to pay for the chancellor's plans to reduce the deficit. I hope they do not mind but this needs to be widely circulated.

Ahead of Osborne’s emergency budget, the forecast of the OBR for household debt (i.e. the money an average UK household owes, incl. secured loans like mortgages) had been:

This showed a predicted decrease of household debt as a percentage of household income, from 150% in 2010 to 143% in 2014. This had to be revised for Osborne’s emergency budget:

The decrease is now less sharp between 2010 (151%) and 2014 (146%)  and actually flat-lines in the last three years of the forecast. Ahead of Osborne’s recent budget, however, as the cuts bite and growth stutters, the OBR had to issue a correction, dramatically revising their forecasts to: 

Not only are they no longer looking at a decrease in household debt. They are looking at a STONKING 14% increase over the next five years. In money terms, almost £500 billion is being added to MINE and YOUR personal debt. And this doesn’t even take into account the inevitable, approaching interest rate hike.

Tax Research UK Says:  "So the government is going to cut its debt. And as I noted they’re going to do that by increasing taxes at way over the rate of inflation, whilst cutting services.
And how is the equation squared? Why, they’re now predicting we’ll go into debt to pay for it.
I guess that’s one way to prepare RBS and Lloyds for privatisation.
But make no mistake - what this really means is that the groundwork for the next crash is being laid out in the government’s  own plans as borrowing becomes the only way people can feed and house themselves and their families. Irresponsible lending will follow, and we all know where that leads.
I am sickened at their sheer gall. So should everyone else. And full marks to Sturdyblog for spotting this. "

Put this in simple terms  we seeing here compelling evidence that the government is relying on large swathes of the population to borrowing money to stay alive to help get the country out of debt. In which case, we in this country are heading helter skelter towards another banking crisis with mad George Osborne at the wheel! Who will he blame that on? Don't tell me Labour!

Britain's Involvement In Libya - Is It "Mission Creep"?

Libya
What Next Mr Cameron?

There has been a lot written about Britain’s involvement in Libya, I do not entirely agree that we should be there, however, we are where we are so now I believe questions must be asked about what we do next, especially as the US is handing over control of the mission over to Nato.

I am alarmed by some of the comments emanating from the Tory government. We now seem to be embarking on “mission creep”.  At the beginning of this venture the prime minister, David Cameron said that our only aim in taking part in the implementation of a no-flight zone was to protect the Libyan civilians from the threats of mass slaughter from Libyan leader Col. Gaddafi.  However, the government now seems to have surreptitiously crept from saying we are in Libya to protect the Libyan citizens, to being there to “help the rebels”. This is concerning, how exactly will we be helping the rebels? Who are these so-called “rebels”? What do we know about them? From what I can see at the very best they can be described as a bunch of militia, with very little if any plan for when and if they do depose of Gaddafi. They ride about in trucks with heavy weaponry and seem to shoot off their guns into the air at a moment’s notice and for no particular reason, are our special forces already in Libya on the ground helping these “militia”? If this is so then David Cameron is misleading the country over a grave matter such as war when he told us we would not be entering ground forces in Libya. Are we helping to depose of a leader when there is absolutely no infrastructure of democracy to take his place? If so just what are we condemning the Libyan people to and to whom? Mr Cameron has said how Libya is run is a matter for the Libyan people, of course it is, who in the democratic West could argue with that statement? However, is it right to help rebels depose of a leader when there is absolutely no plan for who takes his place? Libya cannot run itself, our wish to help the Libyan people could turn into the worse of nightmares for them, having helped depose of Gaddafi, can we in all honesty just walk away and leave them to the almost certain continuation of a civil war in a divided Libya?  To stay in Libya would mean occupying another country and we would be in for the long protracted haul and almost certainly we would not be welcomed by the Libyan people as an occupying force, even if it were because we were worried about events post Gaddafi – this is why I thought we should not have become involved in another country’s civil war. Once again I feel we have rushed in to “help” with no exit strategy in place and whether Gaddafi is eventually overthrown, or he stays in Tripoli, our involvement looks to be for the foreseeable future.

Which brings me neatly to the cost of the mission, if we stay for the long haul the cost is open ended, even if we stay for a shorter time the cost of being in Libya is colossal. Perhaps the time to exit gracefully is now we have apparently “helped rebels” push Gaddafi back, before we become to bogged down and get to a point where we are simply unable to walk away?

Regarding the cost, we are constantly being told by this Tory-led government that labour left the country’s finances in a mess, they use dumbing down phrases like “the country’s credit card is maxed out”, however, the government know, as we all know this is totally untrue, again this government are guilty of deliberately misleading the British people in order to make their ideological cuts, they found £10 billion to give to Ireland, they will now find further billions to help bail Portugal out, £10 billion to international aid, £100 million to waste on a voting reform referendum, more millions for Mr Cameron to pay pollsters to ask us all how happy we are etc. and now we are just expected to believe that we have billions kicking around in special reserves to help us fight other people’s civil wars, at present it is costing upwards of £5 million per day to “help unknown gun toting militia rebels” and £900.000 each time we fire off one single missile in Col. Gaddafi’s general whereabouts. How dare this government even imply this country was bankrupt or even near bankrupt when we obviously were not? Once again we have this Tory-led government deliberately misleading the British people, what we do have in Britain however, is a “morally bankrupt” government that thinks nothing of lying to and misleading its own people.

While we are in Libya spending millions per day “helping unknown rebels” to do goodness knows what to the Libyan people in the future, our own people are beginning to suffer back home. We are expected to swallow the medicine of these Tory born ideological cuts as necessary for all our futures, while each and every day our government is firing off missiles into the Libyan night somewhere in the vague direction of Col. Gaddafi at £900.000 per time and zooming over the heads of terrified Libyan women and children in jet fighter planes. If we can find billions of pounds at a moment’s notice to fight someone else’s civil war, then we can find money to fund our children’s Sure Start Centres, pensioners Winter Fuel Allowances and build new school buildings, charge students a fair price for their tuition and STOP the privatisation of our NHS and halt the selloff of all our public services and stop the degrading despicable assault on those unfortunate enough to have to claim disability benefits, stop attacking the unemployed as if they are somehow unclean and stop constantly picking on, demoralising and demonising our public servants.

Yesterday in London the government had a wake-up call when over 500.000 people marched to peacefully demonstrate against the government cuts, the government ignore us at its peril. This government ought now to come clean about what it is actually doing in Libya and what it actually hopes to achieve.

Nailed The Great Tory Lie On Labour's "Cuts".





The Hapless, Hopeless, Clueless British Tory
 "Tax Dodging" Chancellor
On His Ultra Expensive Skiing Holiday

We hear, see and read it several times per day from various "Tory mouthpieces" that Labour's cuts which also would have been due to start next April  are only marginally smaller than the Tories. Does anyone see the obvious here? Once again we are seeing this deeply duplicitous, deeply dishonest Tory-led government intentionally misleading the British public.
If this is so concerning Labour's proposed cuts, then why do the Tories on one hand accuse Labour of having no plan for reducing the deficit while on the other, and in direct contrast, accuse them of planning cuts only marginally smaller than the Tories and Liberals efforts? The actual truth is that of course Labour was going to introduce cuts to tackle the deficit and no doubt there would have been pain, no cuts are painless, no matter what the Tories and their buddies like columnist Stephen Glover in the hysterically right wing Daily Mail will try to convince you about, however Labour's plan was to halve the deficit in 4 years, making for a much smoother less painful deficit reduction. Following labour's plans the deficit would have been reduced by half and we would have seen employment steady. If Labour's plans were followed we could also have expected to see growth  probably at least 3% higher than it will be under the Tories, indeed if we have a further continuation of last quarter when growth under this Tory-led government stalled and went into reverse and contracted by 0.6%. The Tory excuses are coming thick and fast, it's the weather, the wrong kind of snow, the snow was deeper than expected, it was too cold, too wet, too icy (it was winter, what did he expect?) if that is so then why did consumers refuse to put their hands in their pockets well into February? There was no snow then, however, now it is the fault of fuel costs and mainly the fault of col Gaddafi in Libya. this reckless government have not only take the generous support offered by the leader of the Labour opposition, they then turned around and even tried to blame the problems in Libya on the last Labour government!  this Tory-led government has no class, no style, it is brash, ignorant and arrogant and not only are the public beginning to realise this, the British public are now also realising that with this Tory government when things go wrong it is always someone else's fault, but it isn't, the blame for the way the British economy is in decline right now lays firmly at the door of the Conservative party, Cameron, Osborne and Clegg and their certifiably insane policies.

The VAT rise will cost families with children £450 this year alone, how will empty purses, wallets and pockets help to boost the flagging British economy?
Tax credits and child benefit will be frozen from April, this going to have a serious effect on local economies, as people receiving these benefits traditionally spend a larger proportion of their income and that gets spent mainly in their local economy.
Families are also struggling with soaring petrol prices and with the VAT rise adding 3p per litre, people are struggling to move around and more significantly people are struggling to get to work, the cross-over where work becomes totally untenable for many is fast approaching, what does George Osborne have to say about this?
Utility bills are soaring and are set to get higher still and not only is this going to be a struggle for the elderly to keep warm in the coming winter months, so it will for the disabled and chronically sick, as well as having a disastrous effect on families once again.
As consumers reined in their spending our economic growth stalled and contracted by 0.6% last quarter, with world events as they are the UK growth is now under serious threat. Unemployment is rising again it is now at a 17 year high at over 2.5 million and on budget day the chancellor tried to bury bad news when he purposefully omitted to mention that his own supposedly "independent" newly formed Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) released figures that it is expecting a further huge increase in unemployment as all the public workers start losing their jobs as a direct result of this government.  The last time unemployment was this high was in fact when the Tories were last in power. 
Almost one million young people are now out of work and with the cuts to youth services that this government are making, this figure is set to keep rising.

When Labour were still in office in 2010 and the country was just emerging from almost a global depression we were just coming out of certainly the worse recession since the 1930s, coupled with a banking crisis that also affected many other countries, however due to Labour policies things were actually improving. We were following a plan devised by Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling and it was working.

The great lie the Tories have been putting out is that  this *GLOBAL* recession and banking crisis is somehow the fault of one man - Gordon Brown and the Labour government. It is not just politics to blatantly lie and put out spurious comments like this, it is deliberately misleading the British people and the Tories and their "friends" like Rupert Murdoch of the rabid right wing press were actively pursuing a programme of disinformation and a personal vendetta against Gordon Brown! However, it turns out that out of the three leaders taking part in those leadership debates prior to the last election, only one man was telling the truth -  Gordon Brown.

At that time:
Growth - was stronger than expected and growing stronger.
Unemployment - overall was falling.
Housing market -  beginning to pick up.
Construction - picking up.
Government borrowing was expected to be £20 billion LESS.

Under Labour the truth is that things were beginning to improve, now barely 10 months into this new Tory-led administration and since Labour's policies and economic measures have been stripped out of the economy by  George Osborne, our economy is in reverse, this should tell the government that their policies are not working and that they should ease up, and ease up quickly, but they are ignoring all the signs, this from the government that made much out of saying they will listen to the people.

By contrast the US economy which adopted a similar strategy to the last Labour government grew faster than first thought in the final months of 2010, according to their Commerce Department.

Growth figures for the fourth quarter of 2010 have been revised upward to 3.1% from the 2.8% previously reported.
These are all encouraging and positive signs, although the economy is expected show slower growth in the first quarter of 2011, in part due to higher oil prices.
For the final three months of 2010, consumer spending grew at an annual rate of 4%, the strongest quarter for four years.
Residential construction was growing at an annual rate of 3.3% in the final three months of the year after plunging at a 27.3% rate in the July-September quarter.

Taking the US economy in consideration there is absolutely no reason to believe that labour would not have been successful, after all they did have the recovery underway using their policies before they lost the election and were forced to hand it over to the Tories and their little Liberal orange fig leaves. Now it is indisputable that the British economy is not only faltering it is now in reverse and as usual the Conservative chancellor is trying to blame  labour for his own mistakes, but the facts above show a completely different picture.

Last week city economists said the British economy 1.7% forecast for 2011 looked realistic but warned that the chancellor is relying on a sharp pick-up in growth in future years to bring the public finances into balance. In 2013 and 2014, the OBR is expecting growth of 2.9%. given this chancellors policies and their epic fail, how likely is that to happen?

I have long since been predicting that if Osborne's crazy policies do not work and the deficit is increasing not decreasing, his only plan B will be to come back to the British people and present yet another budget of cuts. Osborne once famously said that he was going to Ireland to "look, listen and learn about their economy", I sincerely hope he has learned the Irish lesson of cutting too much from corporation tax and cutting too far, too deep, because if he tries the same here 9and all the indications are that he will) then our economy will not only be in recession but in danger of slipping into depression.
(I am still puzzled as to why Osborne borrowed £10 billion to loan to Ireland to bail their banks out, but when he was in opposition he opposed the bailing out of British banks?!) Incidentally the UK's likelihood of ever seeing that money returned from Ireland is virtually nil. It now looks as if this government has now pushed us into the position of being forced to help bail Portugal out to the tune of billions as well as fighting a war in Libya which is costing us upwards of £5 million per day and firing missiles at the cost of £900.000 per time, how did our government get us involved in this fiasco which will end up costing Britain billions? Meanwhile our government is taking away up to £100 winter fuel allowance from Britian's pensioners!

Howard Archer, of Global Insight, said that could mean more tax rises or spending cuts in future years if the economy underperforms and there is every sign that the UK economy is not only going to underperform, there are signs of a complete disaster, which this hopeless, hapless chancellor is ignoring, It is almost as if this government is a government of Tory economic failure deniers!

If this government will not listen then it is time we made them listen. They should be reminded they are not a majority government, they are only being propped up by the hapless Liberal Danny Alexander and his Tory mouthpiece leader Nick Clegg. They have forced their MPs into a position where they feel they have no alternative but to back this feckless Tory government. You get the sense that Clegg has done this for his own personal agenda, and last week when he was still wearing his mic after speaking with David Cameron at a Boots somewhere in the Midlands (another secret location) he was overheard saying "keep doing this and we will have nothing to bloody disagree about in the bloody leadership debates", which speaks volumes about how far Clegg has merged with the Tories, add to this the fact that he allowed the orange Liberal bird logo to become blue at the Liberal's spring conference, remaining Liberal Democrats should be very worried indeed which direction their party is now heading.

Thanks to the Tories and the Liberals, the UK is now on a collision course of complete economic disaster to say nothing of fully privatised public services and a privatised NHS - who gave them a mandate to do this?

Time for a general election and if this government are so confident they have the will of the British people then they will stop trying to hide behind the Liberals, stop trying to gerrymander the electoral boundaries and parliament trying to fix themselves a full 5 years in parliament and seek a proper working majority.

There is misery being caused by this  Tory-led government's dogmatism and incompetence and it is completely unnecessary and yesterday hundreds of thousands of people sent a clear unambiguous message to the government.

You Are A Snivelling Coward George Osborne

George Osborne Pay Your Taxes You
Greedy Snivelling Coward!

George Osborne has often been called a "Courageous Chancellor" by David Cameron and the Tories "mates" in the right wing press, but reducing "The Cold Weather Payment" from £250 back to £200 for people aged  60 and reducing by a £100 for those pensioners 80 years and over and hiding it in the small print and not mentioning it in his Budget Speech was the act of a coward. Osborne could not face his own shame, he knows this and is why he coughed and spluttered all the way through his duplicitous and dishonest budget.
Add into the mix that Osborne is introducing all these disastrous cuts that will inflict real pain and devastating change on so many millions of people, while hiring a team of accountants for himself and his siblings in order to find them ways of NOT paying the full inheritance tax due, shows that Osborne is not only a coward but he is a greedy and selfish coward.
When Gordon Brown was chancellor he did not just award 80 year olds £100 extra out of the goodness of his heart, he took advice from age concern groups and geriatricians etc and was told this particular age group is more vulnerable to the perils of hypothermia.

George Osborne should not only pay his taxes to his own UK Treasury department, he should also hang his head in shame - he is a greedy snivelling deceitful coward.

Pensioners Winter Fuel Allowance Docked

George Osborne
Cuts Pensioners Winter Fuel Allowance
Yet FAILS to Pay His Own Taxes!

What George Osborne did not mention in his sleight of hand budget is that he is cutting £100 off of pensioners winter fuel allowance for 80 years old and over. What a great way to thank the people that have worked a life time for this country.

George Osborne you have no shame - pay your taxes!