To traditional Labour voters and those that care about workers rights and the NHS who have voted Labour in the past and are planning to vote Conservative at the 2010 general election. I don’t think Labour’s done a particularly good job in many areas of government, but they do have their successes as well like […]
Continue Reading Why I’ll Never Vote Conservative at a General Election
One thing we are not being told by any party is that what level are these policies, in other words what level is the bill they all want to pass as law because this tells the public how long it will take for a policy/bill to be brought into action if any one agrees in parliament that is. Till we know that how can we tell who’s deceiving the public and who’s not telling us the entire truth.
View Comment
I believe that so-called ‘Compassionate Conservatism’ is a myth and for that reason I could not bring myself to vote Tory any time soon. The party is still institutionally bigotted against homosexuals, single people and the unemployed. The latter makes me particularly angry. Welfare Claimants are arguably the most vilified and unfairly misrepresented group in Britain today. Rather than being judged as individuals- many of whom are honest, law-abiding and do voluntary work, society tars them all with the brush of being ‘lazy, dole scrounging criminals’ This tabloid-fuelled prejudice has been subtlely endorsed by David Cameron, Chris Grayling and the Conservative Party and I find that utterly reprehensible. Employment status IS NOT a barometer of personal virtue and the idea that it is is causing widespread discrimination against claimants in a way that would not be tolerated with other minority groups. Added to this is the soul-destroying, exploitative and counterproductive New Deal regime Labour forces people to go through. Bullying people into work is not the answer but unfortunately the reds and blues think it is. Labour is bad… the Tories will be even worse. I believe its time for a Hung Parliament.
View Comment
Ben
So you think being a married man makes you special?
Just for the record im not gay. What matters is the bigotry which I was highlighting and which you clearly endorse. It is a problem when a senior politician thinks it is acceptable for businesses to discrimate against minorities. Its not so much about his views on the matter, because he has a right to those views, its the fact that legislation will be involved.
Individuals have individual qualities. If some people are ‘workshy’ it is not strictly laziness (granted it may be in some cases) but other factors too such as not having qualifications for a particular job, not having a driving license and to put it bluntly, anxiety. It seems to be a taboo subject but the blunt fact is that workplace bullying is extremely widespread in the UK and few seem to care. The problem is that Britain is a nation of workholics- those who don’t like their jobs feel the need to take it out on the unemployed. A welfare claimant who refuses to do a certain job because of a negative previous experience in that job, such as bullying, is a lot more honest than ‘hardworking decent’ individuals who wouldn’t have the guts to go through a system that exploits them.
True laziness is those who stick to the same old self righteous record rather than daring to explore these issues. No dought you will dismiss the issues I have raised as excuses but I can assure you that for many people, they are real issues. Another factor, again never spoken about, is that many young people are going though a transition stage in their life which can be very challenging in terms of confidence and knowing what step to take. This ‘Quarter life crisis’ should not be underestimated in its effects on an individual.
Shallow individuals like you do not look at individuals… you look at job status to judge a person. Well I have more respect for an unemployed person who does not allow themselves to be forced into low-paid jobs, despite the unjust vilification of society than ‘some’ people in paid jobs who smugly think having an income somehow qualifies them as a ‘good person’ Its pathetic.
View Comment
Ben, no-one talked about sexual identity problems, just homosexuality.
I fear that may have been a Freudian slip. Your irrational anger, hitting out and feeling such a pathetic victim, combined with the notable abscence of the prefix “happily” from your marriages status, makes me suspect it is so.
Let it all out big man. None of us will judge you.
View Comment
To sum up,
Labour : Could, should and didnt do better
Conservatives : Still a bunch of liars
Lib Dems : Still speaking the most sense though will it still be a wasted vote?
David
Although much of what you say is true and I agree with the point that the previous Tory government deserved to be have been kicked out but I think you should have added one last comment:
Would we have the biggest budget deficit in living memory? Despite all politicians proclaiming otherwise (and Labour are worst for this) nothing is free, not even the NHS.
Charles
View Comment
“Would we have the biggest budget deficit in living memory?”
It’s a fair question and I agree we do have the biggest budget deficit ever in billions terms, but not as a % of our GDP. How would the Conservatives have prevented us going into debt while protecting the economy from free fall and a possible depression? All major economies have had to increase their level of debt because of the recession, so we are not unique in having more debt.
Also the actual amount of debt (the billion figure) is not as relevant as the debt as a % of GDP which is a measure of affordability or ability to pay it back.
An analogy would be considering two families, one with a low wage (£20K a year) and the other a good wage (£50K a year). Which can better afford a £20K debt? It’s the relative amount that matters not the exact amount and we are not in any difficulty in dealing with our current debt levels (it’s been much higher in the past).
Take Greece who are in real trouble right now, their debt is over 100% of their GDP, it was 108.10% of GDP in 2009 which makes it difficult for them to pay it back, hence all the news about Greece being in real financial trouble.
On the other hand Germany a very strong economy has their debt at 77.20% of GDP in 2009 and it’s coping with it.
Our debt is 68.50% of GDP which is lower than Germany and many other economies and for us under the circumstances (credit crunch/recession) it’s not a high debt (could have been a lot worse).
You can find the debt figures I’ve used at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_public_debt
If you check the Conservative manifesto they refer to Japan as a good example, yet Japan have a debt of 192.10% of GDP, so not an economy we should want to emulate when it comes to national debt!!!
What level of debt would you think we’d be at now if the Tories was in power when the recession hit? Remember we had a national debt of around 50% under the last Conservative government, so it’s not a case of the Tories had us in the black and economically stupid Labour took us into the red, the Tories had us in the red for their entire term in government.
And based on the economic stimulus package put forward by Labour (apposed by the Conservatives) is working, do you think we’d be better off as a country being in less debt, but still being in recession with mass unemployment with falling tax receipts and a higher welfare bill?
There’s a strong argument doing what the Tories wanted to do (let the recession take it’s course) would have resulted in a higher level of national debt long term since more people would have been unemployed which means lower tax receipts and more to pay on benefits.
David
View Comment
Although you are right that it is the overall level of debt relative to one’s ability to service AND repay it that matters but your comments imply that you think the UK government has not got a financial problem.
I am not suggesting that the Conservatives have all the answers but when it comes to the management of the economy, Gordon Brown’s record has been like a child in a candy shop choosing what he likes with someone else picking up the tab.
Gordon Brown’s stewardship has been immoral bordering on dishonest. He proclaimed he had abolished boom and bust, that was either naive or stupid. He preached balancing the current account over the economic cycle and despite the UK economy having had 14/15 years of continuous growth he failed to reduce the overall government debt despite having inherited a current account surplus from his predecessors.
Economics is not one of Labour’s strengths. The last time it was in power it required the IMF to bail us out. Having said that they deserved to be put in to power in 1997 but it is disappointing that they have promoted someone who has managed the economy as badly as Sir Fred Goodwin managed RBS. At least Goodwin was fired. It is time for Brown to go as well.
Charles
View Comment
I have always voted Labour but I am a married smoker with no children whose mum was left on a trolley in A&E for 18 hours two months ago.
So, tell me again, why shouldn’t I vote Conservative?