HearFromYourMP

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• Posted by Alastair Ramage, 17:52, Mon 15 September 2008: (Is this post abusive?) #

  I think it is time that we give up on the Labour Party. Its an old banger destined for the scrap heap and even a dose of viagra or testosterone in the bum won't have any visible effect . None of us believe what the PM and the current cabinet members have to say . We all know that they are all motivated by self interest. Listening to them on TV it is clear that they never give a direct answer to questions posed -instead they reply with noticeably similar phrases and words which when analysed actually say nothing at all.

  All solutions eventually released by your great leader are and will be short term and trivial. There is no real long term planning to get this nation out of the hole it is in . In fact where we are now is due to lack of preparation for the future. You spent so much time passing trivial laws that you missed the big picture . So we now have a country with no investment in its future with a shortage of trained engineers,qualified technicians and scientists( we have to import them ) , no money saved for a rainy day ,no real controls on the banks ; and no positive long term plan for the future in terms of investment in processes , people and markets . The PM and Cabinet are paid to run the country like a business looking to the future as well as the present . In this they have failed. Excessive bureaucracy has strangled all the public services to meet party ends .

  Gordon Brown is no Joseph saving up stock for the 7 lean years. He and the Labour party are more like Aesop's grasshopper playing in the sun and ignoring the coming winter.

  Oh!It maks me greet to think what great opportunities have been missed in the past 10 years or so

  On another matter great and famous leaders led their troops from the front and not from the rear as our "Great Leader/s " did/does.That way they know what it is like to be short of equipment and faced with a resourceful enemy . Why is his friend Tony not in front of the troops leading the charge in Afghanistan against the Taliban ? At least he would get more respect if he even did this once.

  Your coming conference will be a farce because you have nothing to offer . You have spent all our money and all you can do is spend more unwisely and tax a long suffering country. I hope you lose the next election . I will be voting Scottish nationalist .

  Slainte

  Alastair Ramage

• Posted by Richard Saunders, 06:34, Tue 16 September 2008: (Is this post abusive?) #

  To Alistair all I would say is ...Rubbish!

  Gordon Brown certainly doesn't have the charisma of Tony Blair (or Milliband/Balls) what he does have is the strength and wisdom to steer the UK through a GLOBAL downturn.

  The labour party is -I agree- in need of an injection of new thinking, however, looking at its record since 1997 it's performed pretty well in comparative terms. i.e. interest rates at their lowest sustained level EVER, hundreds of new schools, thousands of new nurses/doctors, major investment in transport, lower crime rates etc, etc.

  The shortages you refer to (Engineers/Scientists) is again a worldwide phenomenon and not peculiar only to the UK.

  What I would say is, middle britain is hurting, principally because the wealth re-distribution plans of labour have gone slightly (massively!) awry. We now have the middle classes bearing the brunt of all the stealth taxes imposed over the past 11 years, while people like Richard Branson and Paul McCartney pay a disproportionately lower amount by comparison.

  Good luck at the Conference!

  Richard

• Posted by Alastair Ramage, 12:31, Tue 16 September 2008: (Is this post abusive?) #

  The problem with you answer is that it is again short sighted . Don't make excuses .Where did they save for a rainy day or make a far sighted investment in expertese ? The fact is that nothing positive was done to correct the trend When you build your house on sand and try to control from the top by throwing money at builders to prevent it falling down spending your inheritance then you should expect the structure to collapse no matter how much money you throw at it .

  Socialism cannot cope with change and with top down policies and as any economist will tell you that is why the soviet union collapsed.

  Its OK in a stable economy but not in a changing environment . What we need is a strong, practical and far seeing leader prepared to let those at the coal face do their jobs responsibly. Unfortunately there is not one around. We just have an indecisive perfectionist who leads from the back .

• Posted by Alastair Ramage, 20:43, Tue 16 September 2008: (Is this post abusive?) #

  A further comment - I recall that a considerable amount of money was lent to the Britich Government recently no doubt at what was then a reasonable rate even if the move was unwise . What now with the current banking failures? Will all the creditors be coming to collect ?? Where will you be Mr Brown or more realistically the front man Mr Darling ?? Up the proverbial creek without a paddle I suspect leaving Mr Darling with the Brown stuff

• Posted by Richard Saunders, 06:47, Wed 17 September 2008: (Is this post abusive?) #

  Alistair

  "Socialism Cannot Cope with Change"? What are you advocating? More Communism? Greater Laissez Faire? Liberalism? ... Your post is quite coherent -to a point- but then you make sweeping statements like that!... Ridiculous.

  You cannot say that the 4th Richest nation on the face of this planet hasn't saved for a rainy day. If that was the case, how did we manage to bale-out Northern Rock?

  Borrowing from the IMF and others is an International practice that most -if not all- democracies practice, the example you give is a bit like saying to someone don't buy a house as the interest rate may fluctuate.

  I refer to my previous posting vis-a-vis the longest period of financial calm the UK has experienced. The failure -and consequent after-shocks- of entities like Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, along with AIG, Lehmans & our own Northern Rock is the result of irresponsible banking practices aimed precisely at ensuring the capitalists receive adequate returns on their 'investments, NOT government policies!

  Gordon Brown is doing one helluva job in the current climate, but -somewhat typically & Ironically- the great UK media and the doom-sayers such as yourself, cannot see the wood for the trees. Richard

• Posted by Alastair Ramage, 12:22, Mon 29 September 2008: (Is this post abusive?) #

  Unfortunately we can see the wood for the trees . The current government couldn't or did not choose to !! They may have had a pot of money for Northern Rock but if that was the case why is our debt so high . Was this money financed from the inland revenue or was it like the banks did borrowed from others without looking at the risks ?

  Seems they were all at it

  If the country was a business then it its directors would have been forced to resign long ago . In a changing environment decision making should be at the front line because responsible front line people were better able to judge what was best for their particular interface and act accordingly .Top management should then monitor , audit, support and modify their polices as necessary The NASA organisation which led to the moon shot is a well quoted example . Communism failed because being top led it could not cope with change and human inefficiencies.

  In the case of the Gordon Brown and the current government their eyes were off the ball for 11 years being content to rake in the money as revenue from the big gamblers as long as it continued, borrow where revenue was less than expenditure ; and also to continue passing trivial legislation and satisfy various pressure groups to stay in power.

  In managing and governing they should have looked to the future, analysed trends and identified risks by SWOT analysis or better , cut costs , improved procedures , tightened belts and looked for additional sources of income . They apparently failed and were caught with their pants down . I note that Gordon has now stated that it is Government's job to ensure the stability of the banking system . This is an admission of failure closing the door after the horse has bolted

  Thus Gordon has done a good job as an experienced failure . Experience of the workings of an internal finance group and political knowledge are not the only attributes of a good leader . In the old days heads rolled . Perhaps that is the answer

• Posted by Richard Saunders, 08:00, Wed 1 October 2008: (Is this post abusive?) #

  There's more to life than a banking sector. While they were "Raking in the mmoney", they were also spending it for the benefit of all. Ask yourself how many new schools/hospitals have been built since 1997. Then ask if children are still having to ask their parents to hold fund raising events in order to buy books for their school. Further, how much additional investment has been ploughed into the NHS. Is healthcare now better in Britain than it was between 1979 & 1997? Then go on to examine the national crime statistics to see if the UK is in a better position in 2008 than it was in 1997.

  The financial disaster we're experiencing is not peculiar to the UK, it's a global phenomenon, your continued comments about the worldwide global market downturn being the fault of Gordon Brown et-al display the characteristics of a resident of Cloud-cuckoo land. For example you say "In managing and governing they should have looked to the future, analysed trends and identified risks by SWOT analysis or better , cut costs , improved procedures , tightened belts and looked for additional sources of income" .... If you could perhaps enlighten institutions such as the Bank of England, US Treasury & Bundesbank as to how they could have foreseen current events, I'm sure they'd be delighted to hear your views for future reference.

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