Then as a matter of fairness you would also have to say that the Labour party (new and old) will always be the party of financial incompetence having played as big a part as the bankers in getting us all in this mess with no plan to sort it out other than higher taxes!

Back to the thread....

I always remembered Wilf Rosenberg as the "Flying Dentist" I suppose now he will be thought of as "the Flying Don"

The Tories were seeking an even lighter touch re-regulation of the city and backed Labour's spending plans right up to the global crash that started in the sub-prime market in the USA. The major difference then being that the Tories would have probably seen the likes of Northern Rock and the Halifax go under and their depositors left penniless, with unempolyment and home repossessions hitting the heights of previous recessions under Tory rule.

I think you will find the Tories did not agree with the flawed system of regulation introduced by the Labs which split responsibility three ways and totally failed to regulate the banks. "Oh I though you lot were going to check that!" "Ooo..No we thought that was your job"

The US sub-prime mortgage market may have been the start of the crash but the cause of the problem was the long period of low interest credit based overspending by both governments and consumers alike which ran up debts that we now have to pay back.

In the UK the New Labour Government after promising "an end to boom and bust" went along with a spending spree which as a country we simply couldn't afford and was gross financial mis-management. You can speculate all you like about what the Conservatives may or maynot have done had they been in power but you have to accept the fact that it was on the Labour government's watch and therefore their responsibility.

The UK as a very wealthy country had enjoyed a sustain period of growth based on a world boom, yet its Labour government failed to save anything for the rainy day that they never saw coming. Like Viv Nickolson, we went on a binge of "spend spend spend" but whereas she used her own pools winnings Labour borrowed the money for our binge.

With regard to the bank bail outs. Mr Brown showed us with his handling of the Lloyds episode why he is a politician and will never be professional manager.

I think we need a period of "nasty" government to fix the "nasty" problems left by that "nice" Mr Blair and that "naive" Mr Brown!

In Halifax or Dubai ?

In Halifax they still consider the electric kettle as witchcraft.

one of the best years i had was temping - the agency knew i wanted to work, so they kept me busy

flogging pop for Britvic
Security work for the council around some of the Leeds 'Ghettos' we hear of on here
Lugging calor gas bottles around for 12 hours per day in the snow
Picking & Packing (that was a bit kin boring tbf)

brilliant brilliant year - earned some reasonable cash - met some great people - and gave me an insight into some other jobs which helped me clarify what i wanted to do (and what i didn't), it probably didn't look bad on my CV either when i started appying for full time jobs.

And yet the Tories still advocated a lighter touch on regulation while in opposition. I expect they'll change their tune now in coalition government.



I speculate it would have been no different except the hospitals and schools would have been left to crumble.



Labour invested in the infrastructure and public servants effectively ignored over the previous 18 years of Tory rule where public services were deliberately starved of resources and left to wither and die before (oh so unfortunately - yeah right) having to be privatised.



He also led the world in the need to protect the individual investor and the need to re-capitalise the banks to prevent a recession becoming a depression.



We'll see who is being naive when Mr Cameron realises the voluntary sector isn't really there ready to fill the holes in his 'big society' idea as public services, the poor, the elderly and women in general pay the price for the bankers greed which likely as not will carry on regardless.

And to return to your earlier claim re-Labour's answer will always be to raise taxes the most regressive tax going has always been VAT and it's always the Tories tax of choice ever since they introduced it under Heath.

The only time I can recall it being reduced was by Labour on domestic fuel and last year as a stimulus to the economy, on the other hand I can recall it rising under Thatcher, Major and shortly Cameron.

this big society idea is not new, its something like in the 1926 general strike ,plenty of volunteers for the big society there .
They all the upper class types like cameron ,ex public school boys and girls manning the public transport while the miners were being hammered and starved into submission.
"i say spot of good fun old boy " "oh yes quite topping"

it's a kick in the old man bits when see Cameron telling us about cuts and services being hit

then you see in the papers today the Tory's quaffing VERY expensive bottles of Champers all last week at their little week in Brum

You are quick to speculate and run down the Coalition Government before they have had chance to even try and get us out of the mess that Labours left us all in, yet not a word of criticism of Labour's proven financial failure over many years.



That is one way of putting treacle on what others recognize as an uncontrolled expansion of the public sector using borrowed money which has shown little gain in real public services and with no thought of how this loan was going to be paid back. Good move for Labour to win some votes - bad move for the rest of us.



Utter rubbish. Do you really believe his boasting about saving the world? Mr Sarkosy and other vain leaders around the world also make the same claims and think Brown is something of a joke for pretending it was his idea. More than anyone Brown got us in the mess. Having sold off all our gold reserves for a pittance he then robbed the pension funds earlier in his time as Chancellor. How you can pretend he protected the individual investor is to ignore the facts.



Oh pass me the violin and a hanky! The new government has to get us out of the serious financial mess that the last government were responsible for... and yes this is going to be painful for everyone as we can now only have the public services that we can afford.

Sure the bankers played their part in this dissaster but they did nothing illegal. The bankers greed and behaviour was allowed by the rules and to only blame them is to distort the main responsibilty of the government who allowed it.

Most other countries have had the same bank problems but because they had the forsight to have kept large reserves they have not gone into debt as seriously as we have, to solve the problem. The Labour governments legacy is to relegate us down the leagues into Greek and Ireland territory. Unless the UK makes these terrible cuts we will lose our credit ratings which will lead to a raising of interest on the billions of debt. This in turn will mean we take many years longer to repay.



Ok what are Labours plans to reduce their enormous debt and keep out credit ratings?

I didn't realise there was a coalition. Considering the subject of the day is the way Universities are to be funded, on April 27th 2010 Nick Clegg said

But, as an example, not so bad if you've been on a waiting list for a NHS operation or presenting with the early symptoms of cancer in the GP's surgery. Try telling them there has been little to show for the long overdue and much needed investment in public services.



What was the Tory response to the banking crisis? Would they have stepped in to shore up the banks in danger of collapse (which eventually incidentally will be returned to private ownership - at a profit to the taxpayers.)



And by choosing to impose draconian public spending cuts and a regressive tax policy they risk sending the economy back into recession or as a best case scenario years of low growth. While you critisize the levels of personal debt, without it where is the growth going to come from - it's not going to come from this government?



Was the British government responsible for Lehman Brothers? Did the Tories demand tighter regulation of the financial institutions in the UK when they were in opposition? Isn't it interesting that the Tory party was bankrolled at the last election by a non-dom and choose Philip Green to advise them on how to save money in Whitehall while he 'legally' limits his UK tax liability.



The UK is neither a Greece or a Ireland. Austerity measures alone without a credible plan for growth will also extend the repayment period and who is it that will pay the price? Those who are least able to avoid it and those unfortunates that rely on public services, who, unlike the Tory government can't afford to go private. Not that I'd expect any different from the toffs but to think a Tory government would cut the armed forces (at a time of war), police numbers, magistrate courts, prison places ...... I never thought I'd see the day. The only area they ever got any credit for from me thrown on the bonfire of cuts.



To halve the deficit over the course of this parliament, to invest and grow the economy.

Whether the Tory cuts work or not there will be a price to be paid by those least able to cope and as per usual coming from their ideology it will be a price worth paying to them while they sit in their ivory towers.

If I may intervene with a couple of points...

Greg Mulholland (LibDem Leeds NW) has just gone on record today to state that he is absolutely opposed to the coalition plans to increase university tuition fees to the proposed levels - and I don't think he'll be the only LibDem who won't stand behind that one either.

The poster known as Juan Cornetto is starting to scarily sound like Norman Tebbit now, I fully expect his next post to be on the lines of "High unemployment is a price worth paying...etc etc" I knew they hadn't gone away, they were at the back of the broom cupboard with the evil witch all that time...

vince cable was described as a lefty liberal he didnt sound like the Vince Cable of 6 months ago ,the next 6 months will be very interesting

The number of Lib Dems left with any shred of integrity on this subject won't be sufficient to defeat the 'likely' proposal put before the house as 23 of them are also part of the government and bound by collective responsibility (if they wish to hold on to their jobs that is.) Even if every one of the remaining 34 join Labour in the NO lobby (rather than abstain - and assuming Labour oppose and I've no idea if they will) the coalition still win a vote by 15.

The Lib Dems have been royally stitched up and while I understand what the Tories will get out of the Coalition I'm still struggling to see what is in it for the Dems. I expect they will hold on until the AV Referendum next May but after that all bets are off, especially if it's defeated, and even if it isn't it's not much more than a sop.

(Hurry up Chile, I need to get to bed ...... Vulcan spotting at Sywell in the morning ..... fingers crossed.)