And remember rugby league fans, those of you who said franchising wouldn't work, we were within thirty seconds of the World Cup Final after a highly successful World Cup. Where are those snivelling bring back promotion and relegation types....I bet they can't bear to see the recent England success.

<shoots off at a tangent quite unexpectedly in search of God knows what>

Darling is much criticised from Labour and Tories alike for a lack lustre performance so far and there are calls to replace him as leader of the "Better Together" campaign. Labour has just realised that if the Scots go independent they would lose all their Scottish seats and with it any chance of forming a majority at Westminster. One good reason to vote Yes!

You are side stepping the issue. The discussion is not about borrowing it is about Osborne's much critcised recovery plan now clearly seen to be working which Labour said couldn't happen without spending (and borrowing even more)

If you want a separate discusion on why the borrowing is higher than expected then there are plenty of reason to explain this which I have already done. eg North Sea revenues down, Our World leading financial sector down, our main export market down. Three factors that were not apparent when this government came to power.

But back to the main debate. Are you a recovery denier? Are you pleased the country is on the road to recovery? Are you able to give credit when due?

Take 41 away from: 179 (1997); 167 (2001) and 66 (2005) and tell us how many GEs Labour would've lost

Nope, its part of the issue - the "austerity plan" is nothing of the sort, as a country we are borrowing more money now than we were three years ago whilst at the same time cutting public expenditure for whatever reason the PR merchants in Whitehall spoon feed us this week (usually by blaming someone else).

In truth Osborne could have done this three years ago, in truth this is fairly similar to what Labour had as their recovery plan, spending in certain sectors to assist home buyers and loosen the grip on personal credit is a proven way out of recession, it worked in the early 1990s and it worked again around 2000/2001 when in fact it saved us from recession, the problem for Osborne is that he didn't really want it to happen this way and he didn't really want to borrow this much to make it happen but with time running out on this parliament he had to release the grip sooner or later - as I've said before, it was bound to happen in a five year employment contract.




Not sure what a denier is, google references state that its a unit of measure for fibres so I'm not one of those. If you are asking me if I am happy that a recovery, albeit a small one (by government admissions), seems to be underway - the first quarter of 2014 will be the main pointer - then yes of course I am and I have never said otherwise, feel free to show where I have, also feel free to show where I have stated that I'm a Labour party supporter, you'll struggle.

Do I give Osborne credit for this ? I give him credit for finally realising that austerity doesn't work even if he won't publicly say it, I give him no credit for continuing with the cutting of expenditure in public services and the selling off of public assets despite election promises that those public assets were safe in his party's hands - whilst all the time increasing the country's debt.

Would those lies include cutting funding for [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25331644#TWEET982197mental health care[/url?

Any recovery is to be welcomed.

It'll be nice when the majority of the British people see it and not just a few. It'll be nice when unemployment falls and vacancies rise – and when underemployment falls too.

It'll be nice when ordinary people see their incomes grow rather than decline.

It'll be nice when food banks close their doors through lack of anyone needing them and then the Red Cross no longer need to hand out food parcels in the UK.

It'll be nice when this government stops telling lies about benefits claimants as well as those lies about its policies.

A significant reason for the reduction in real wages in recent years has been the fact that an increased proportion of the wage bills of employees and employers alike is going on national insurance and pensions. Labour aRe largely responsible for the former and as government tries to address the latter people moan about having to work longer.

It ain't over yet, not by a long way [urlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/12/12/george-osborne-welfare_n_4430917.html?utm_hp_ref=uk[/url.

In order to sell the idea of swingeing cuts to the benefits bill in the next term he is going to have to start telling some whoppers in order to get the Murdoch press reading public onside, which is basically all he has to do to get re-elected, stand by for some epic "scroungers" tales to come in the next 15 months so that white-van-man and you taxi cab drivers convince themselves that its the crippled and insane that are robbing tax from their wallets (when they pay any).

It's a sound strategy, as Rachel "tougher than the Tories" Reeves has decided. Still, no doubt in 2015 the "Big 2" will be cast into the wilderness by the voters aghast at these policies.

I genuinely wouldn't know who to vote for now. Maybe it's time for a new Guy Fawkes (a more successful one). Clear the lot out and start again. Mind you there are still plenty of public schoolboys with an over inflated sense of entitlement out there, we will never run out of those. The party they join depends on how wet or dry they are 1. had your lunch money stolen, know your place, bullied mercilessly, fagging for the big boys but still an arrogant little S4h!t with a superiority complex over the masses - LibDem: 2. cardigan, in a band, smoke a bit of weed, Daddy a bit of a leftie, not allowed into any secret societies, Labour: 3. stole lunch money, had a fag, regularly vomit on an underling after consuming too much champagne and fois gras, wear rediculous Voctorian era clothes, member of secret society, Tory.

As above - If there was an election tomorrow, I would not vote, simple as, and that would be for the first time in the 26 years I've been eligible to do so.

The Tories are rotten to the core, always have been, always will be.... The Lib Dems are just useless chancers - They know they are a pointless minority, an irritant on the political landscape, yet are constantly looking for a way to wheedle themselves into some sort of power, even being prepared to sell all their principles so as to being able to cosy up with whoever is in power..... As for Labour - For a party that should be the voice of those in the most peril from such an uncaring government, they are totally inept... Ed Milliband is hopeless. The majority of his shadow cabinet are equally awful - I don't know a single one of them who appeals in the slightest to me.

We all know that Tony Blair wasn't the messiah that many of his initial worshippers hoped he would be, but UK politics desperately needs somebody of his charisma to bring some vision and hope back to the political scene.... Democracy is slowly dying in this country, simply because the public don't care any more about charisma-free monotones offering nothing fresh or nothing that offers any hope to the vast majority.