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2012/01/13 17:09:27
Subject: Britain, seeking better bi-partisan cooperation, replaced politicians with robots
The deficit is a difference between expenditure and tax revenue. This is a very subtle definition.
It does not include income from loans to other governments but they have of late started including the debt payments. It seems the government wants us to think things are worse than they are. (I wonder where that money is going).
i.e. We have a loan from Ireland of 104 billion Euros but they owe us 113 billion euros (the intrest rates are also in our favour) so we have an effective income of 9Bn Euros plus from Ireland over the term of current loans.
It does not include income from council tax or expenditure by councils but it does include the central grant to councils.
It is to my mind DELIBERATELY complicated in order to obfuscate the fact that everyting is actually OK.
More have died in the name of normality than ever for strangeness. Beware of normal people.
He who asks a question is a fool for 5 minutes; He who does not is a fool forever. (Confucius).
We are arming Syrian rebels who support ISIS, who is fighting Iran, who is fighting Iraq who we also support against ISIS, while fighting Kurds who we support while they are fighting Syrian rebels.
2012/01/13 17:24:39
Subject: Britain, seeking better bi-partisan cooperation, replaced politicians with robots
AustonT wrote:I know Blair is no longer an MP but does that really mean hes not a part of the party anymore?
And if this man leads the Opposition....the Opposition is doomed.
The opposition is actually ahead in the polls. That's how bad our government are.
They can't be... are the public really so gullible to fall for a guy who spends the entirety of his time in the limelight slagging off anything the government do? Partisan politics is SO boring: you can guess what the opposition statement to any government initiative is going to be... At any rate, Ed doing what he does best:
Aren't schoolboy antics on the playground FUN? No difference from what they do at the end to yelling 'BOOOOOOOOOOOID BRUV!'
At any rate, I can't stand him personally... I just feel that when he's not chipping away at a government that has a job to do he's promising the British public everything and anything they could possibly dream for without accounting where the money's going to come from; if he follows through, that would be the attitude that earned us this deficit... if he doesn't then he's just another cynical politician exploiting peoples' base wants for personal gain.
Modern politics is a show. Ever since Blair, every government has courted the press literally on a daily basis. The government is on the national news at least a couple of times a week opening a hospital, visiting a factory, making a speach. We sitting at home watching the evening news snug and warm will then think "gosh aren't the government busy helping things, they may not be doing everything I want but by god they're doing the best they can". PMQs/"Partisan politics" is a part of this. The government say something, and the opposition oppose it.
There is a small amount of actual politics in our democracy, hence why Alex Salmond is quite popular, since he has an actual political aim and he's trying to acheive it. Similar with Nigel Farage, although he is a bit of a prick.
Anyway, your average citizen probably won't care about politics, but a 10 second soundbite followed by a 10 second rebutal they can understand.
Problem with the Labour party is that their leader is a useless gakker. All the interesting ones have left and the cabinet are mainly useless. Ed Balls could be charesmatic but his name is Balls. That's just too funny.
And the Lib Dems are castrated by government. I would be very interested to hear what Vince Cable had to say, for example. But he'd lose his job and his ministerial car so, not likely to happen any time soon.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Sonophos wrote:The deficit is a difference between expenditure and tax revenue. This is a very subtle definition.
It does not include income from loans to other governments but they have of late started including the debt payments. It seems the government wants us to think things are worse than they are. (I wonder where that money is going).
i.e. We have a loan from Ireland of 104 billion Euros but they owe us 113 billion euros (the intrest rates are also in our favour) so we have an effective income of 9Bn Euros plus from Ireland over the term of current loans.
It does not include income from council tax or expenditure by councils but it does include the central grant to councils.
It is to my mind DELIBERATELY complicated in order to obfuscate the fact that everyting is actually OK.
That's very interesting. I was aware that we were lending to Ireland at high interest rates but I didn't know the scale.
Any source on a total number of this income?
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2012/01/14 00:00:56
Ever thought 40k would be a lot better with bears?
Codex: Bears.
NOW WITH MR BIGGLES AND HIS AMAZING FLYING CONTRAPTION
2012/01/14 00:06:20
Subject: Britain, seeking better bi-partisan cooperation, replaced politicians with robots
Joey wrote:Giving a tv interview is not an easy thing. It's a very unnatural situation to be in.
I've done two, it's a piece of piss. You cant claim it's nerves when your the leader of the opposition.
Short answer, if your gak at interviews you have no business being in charge. The mans either got gak for brains or an enormously inflated opinion of his own ability.
Either way his brother should be in charge.
We are arming Syrian rebels who support ISIS, who is fighting Iran, who is fighting Iraq who we also support against ISIS, while fighting Kurds who we support while they are fighting Syrian rebels.
2012/01/14 04:23:09
Subject: Britain, seeking better bi-partisan cooperation, replaced politicians with robots
Ok fine maybe it indicates a certain degree of difficulty, but that other one where the toffee colored guy gets owned and has a stupid look on his face makes me think this wasn't a once in a life time brainless moment.
Avatar 720 wrote: You see, to Auston, everyone is a Death Star; there's only one way you can take it and that's through a small gap at the back.
Powder Burns wrote:what they need to make is a fullsize leatherman, like 14" long folded, with a bone saw, notches for bowstring, signaling flare, electrical hand crank generator, bolt cutters..
2012/01/14 09:50:32
Subject: Britain, seeking better bi-partisan cooperation, replaced politicians with robots
SlaveToDorkness wrote:So intelligent that he just repeats the same crap over and over in an interview?
If you read the blog post I linked by the guy who conducted the interview, he says that it was literally Ed trying to plug for a soundbite to appear on the news. The clip is an unedited version that wasn't supposed to go out (and make Ed look like a tit).
It was a very controlled interview conducted in a manner where the press is usually cooperative/polite. The PR guys were literally breathing down their necks and dictating where the cameras be positioned 'n' all sorts.
What Ed wanted was 15 seconds on the evening news where he was shown saying said soundbite. Fortunately some hero leaked this footage and made him look a total tit.
Serves him right for A. Trying to dictate to the press and B. So brazenly disregarding an interview.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/01/14 13:35:07
Sonophos wrote:More than you would know Ahtman, more than you know.
Ah, then you are well aware that it is a skill (either gifted or trained) and that not everyone equally adept at it. Just saying "Oh it is easy" doesn't actually make it easy, and for many people it is problematic. You would also know that just saying what you think without any preparation for large presentations is silly and in politics, but not solely in that realm, often leads to problems.
Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
2012/01/14 20:53:15
Subject: Britain, seeking better bi-partisan cooperation, replaced politicians with robots
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16562966 Ed Balls wants a pay freeze for public sector workers, essentially a pay cut of 8-10% over the next two years, on top of what's been done with pensions.
"Red Ed", indeed.
Ever thought 40k would be a lot better with bears?
Codex: Bears.
NOW WITH MR BIGGLES AND HIS AMAZING FLYING CONTRAPTION
2012/01/14 21:22:38
Subject: Britain, seeking better bi-partisan cooperation, replaced politicians with robots
Sonophos wrote:Speaking in public or on camera is easy you just say what you think/believe and don't give a feth what anybody else thinks.
Spend a lot of time addressing the nation do you?
Ah, I didn't say you shouldn't prepare. The difficulty for most people with public speaking is self consciousness, if you get yourself into the mindset that you don't actually care what people think of you then that problem goes away.
You have to not care what they think whilst you are talking not in general.
More have died in the name of normality than ever for strangeness. Beware of normal people.
He who asks a question is a fool for 5 minutes; He who does not is a fool forever. (Confucius).
Ed Balls has now promised a two-year pay freeze for public servents, with current inflation would amount to a 6-7% pay cut.
This on top of the pension reforms the government has imposed.
I'm waiting for the unions to cut the funding on these guys, why should they give money to people who want to make their members poorer?
The centre-left in Britain has no voice in politics outside of a handful of renegede Labour MPs.
Ever thought 40k would be a lot better with bears?
Codex: Bears.
NOW WITH MR BIGGLES AND HIS AMAZING FLYING CONTRAPTION
2012/01/17 18:42:14
Subject: Britain, seeking better bi-partisan cooperation, replaced politicians with robots
Joey: I'm a secondary school teacher. Coming from another country, I am consistently astounded by the level of political interference in the public service here. I mean, I'd say that "government's don't tell doctors how to practice medicine, so why do they tell teachers how to teach?" but in the UK you actually DO have political pressure on the NHS in all sorts of ways.
On the pay cut thing, I mean, one of the things I see in my little sector is expensive and pointless replication of structures and positions through turning things into "academies" where you end up with a bunch of higher paid admin staff doing what the old admin staff used to do for less money. I also see stuff like PAs for senior teachers and way more behind the scenes staff than I think we actually need. I'm not very senior though so maybe we do need them all, but most of them seem to be making up for lax parents. I cannot see a huge amount of benefit to me as a classroom teacher due to their existence, and they seem to mostly "baby" the kids along. I could be wrong though.
So I can see why they might need to freeze pay, because Labour grew the public sector big time. You can employ lots of people, or pay less people well. With britain's tax revenue, you can't do both.
I'd probably rather take the hit on pay for delivering a better service, but when I'm forced to work harder, jump through hoops for a new framework so that some politician can say he's reformed education and also face drastically reduced job security, I begin to feel a bit less happy. But everyone is in that boat, pretty much. I'm just planning on leaving the UK for greener pastures.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/01/17 18:46:02
More have died in the name of normality than ever for strangeness. Beware of normal people. 
