The Labour Government

[Vic]

QED. The same old same old story. My previous post:
******
They all do it. The plan is always the same:
1. Blame previous gov for leaving bad finances behind.
2. Increase taxes and make other unpopular changes.
3. Wait 4 years for people to forget. Maybe cut some taxes.
4. Call election.
*******
Thanks Vic.

Except Cameron and Osborne came up with "we're all in it together" to disguise an ideologically-driven austerity that penalised the poor way more than stopping the winter fuel payment.

 

[Chippy_boy]

We haven’t given the Indian government money directly via the international development budget for 13 years. The only parts of the UK foreign aid budget that goes to India is for R&D on projects of ‘mutual financial benefit’ (that’s to secure our place in the rapidly growing internal Indian market - you know, bilateral trade) and via our multilateral contributions to NGO aid organisations like UNICEF and the International Red Cross and we don’t stipulate to them where they can spend their money, provided they’re not breaking sanctions.

Do you know how the UK foreign aid system works?

No, only the amount. Are you suggesting there is no scope to reduce it? That would seem very unlikely to me.

 

[Chippy_boy]

Didn’t the Tories do the same after the financial crisis ? And what about Tories / Brexit and sunny uplands how’s is that going by the way ?

You mean the Brexit sunny uplands. The Tory party - the Prime Minister in fact -campaigned for Remain, you may have forgotten. And actually, it's going a lot better than I expected it to. I thought it was going to be an unmitigated disaster and it has been far from that. I never in a million years expected us to get a tariff free trade deal. I campaigned for Remain, we lost, I got over it.

As to your point about the financial crisis back in 2010, no, it was not the same. The Tories didn't gain power and start saying oh my God it's so much worse than we thought. They said they would make spending cuts to begin to reduce the defiit, and they said this BEFORE the election, not afterwards. By contrast, Labour said nothing about increase to IHT or to pension-related taxes. They said repeatedly they would not increase taxes on working people. I cannot for one moment imagine that was anythig other than a bare-faced lie.

 

[stonerblue]

Did they X-ray your lungs?

View attachment 130118

20mins on a treadmill at highest setting.

 

[PPT]

Is it just me.....Rachel Reeves. the annoying smiley full of shit fucker

She's an evil woman, that much is for sure.

 

[west didsblue]

We haven’t given the Indian government money directly via the international development budget for 13 years. The only parts of the UK foreign aid budget that goes to India is for R&D on projects of ‘mutual financial benefit’ (that’s to secure our place in the rapidly growing internal Indian market - you know, bilateral trade) and via our multilateral contributions to NGO aid organisations like UNICEF and the International Red Cross and we don’t stipulate to them where they can spend their money, provided they’re not breaking sanctions.

Cutting money from foreign aid is a short-term benefit for long-term detriment. I’m not saying don’t do it, but at least know what you’re putting at risk by doing it. Incidentally, india will be the world’s most populous country by 2050. Favourable access to that market drives our foreign aid approach to India. Foreign aid is soft power, it’s not the international equivalent of £5 a month to Cat’s Protection League.

India’s already overtaken China as the world’s most populous country.

 

[Blue and true]

Which statistics? The one that said beer garden smokers clog up the nhs or just the general ones?

The millions that die each year as a result, directly or indirectly, of smoking. Those statistics.

If you've been smoking for 50 years then you can count yourself very lucky that you have a clean bill of health. You're not proof that smoking is a blasé pastime; you're an exception to a very grim rule.

Ultimately, I'm not really arsed if the new law comes into effect. I just think it's a sensible idea and shouldn't lead to indignant crying from smokers.

 

[Streetsweeper]

No, only the amount. Are you suggesting there is no scope to reduce it? That would seem very unlikely to me.

We already cut it by 30% in 2020. How low should it go?

The cut to the winter fuel allowance will save £1.4 billion - the equivalent of about 7.5% of our international aid budget, but it’s not an either/or situation. There are other places that 1.4 billion can be found. Tax evasion cost the UK economy £5.5 billion in 2022. Would you rather the money to offset the winter fuel allowance cut (which I agree with you is bullshit) came from some multi-millionaire scumbag trying to hide his wealth in the Cayman Islands, or from a polio vaccination scheme in Malawi?

People think of international aid in the same way as they view their own charitable donations, but that’s not what international aid is any more than the national economy works in the same way as someone’s bank account. It’s soft power - there’s a reason why China spaffs tens of billions of Yuan a year into central Africa and it’s not because they’re feeling charitable. It’s for the same reason we merged the old department of international development into the foreign office a few years back. International aid, international politics and international security are increasingly indivisible.

 

[Streetsweeper]

India’s already overtaken China as the world’s most populous country.

So they have and in 2022. Does underline the point, though.

 

[west didsblue]

You mean the Brexit sunny uplands. The Tory party - the Prime Minister in fact -campaigned for Remain, you may have forgotten. And actually, it's going a lot better than I expected it to. I thought it was going to be an unmitigated disaster and it has been far from that. I never in a million years expected us to get a tariff free trade deal. I campaigned for Remain, we lost, I got over it.

As to your point about the financial crisis back in 2010, no, it was not the same. The Tories didn't gain power and start saying oh my God it's so much worse than we thought. They said they would make spending cuts to begin to reduce the defiit, and they said this BEFORE the election, not afterwards. By contrast, Labour said nothing about increase to IHT or to pension-related taxes. They said repeatedly they would not increase taxes on working people. I cannot for one moment imagine that was anythig other than a bare-faced lie.

Why would you not expect a tariff free deal? The EU has tariff free deals with nearly 100 countries either directly or via other trading blocs. Why not us?