Major Sunday Doom

[VectraMan]

Anyone else watch John Major on Andrew Marr this morning? I know some would say asking John Major's advice on the economy is a bit like asking Tony Blair's advice on the Middle-East peace process, but I thought he expressed it quite well:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...ow/7504074.stm

SIR JOHN MAJOR: They certainly can't cut taxes because they, in terms of increasing consumer choice because they have such a big fiscal deficit. They can't increase public spending because they've already spent the, the money that we would normally use. So they have cut off the solution to this problem just as the problem has arisen.

And it's quite extraordinary that over ten years in which the world has had the most benign economic circumstances for a very long time, that we have run up such a huge fiscal deficit. We have increased taxes to the extent that we've increased taxes. And we have a trade deficit that's about between fifty and sixty times higher than it was in nineteen ninety seven. So the problem is although there is a problem the traditional solutions to that problem are not practical at the moment.

ANDREW MARR: Are not available. So what can they do do you think?

SIR JOHN MAJOR: Well I think to a certain extent they're going to have to sit this through. It's going to take a couple of years to work its way through. Nobody's quite certain how serious it's going to be. I think it is a very serious problem. Some of the talk of Armageddon I think is overdone. I don't believe that.

Also when asked about the true rate of inflation:

SIR JOHN MAJOR: I would think for most people on average incomes if you look at what's happening to food, you look at what's happened to heating, you look at what's happening to the expenditures that most people cannot avoid, I would say inflation is probably double the RPI figure so we're between eight and ten percent.

[BrilloPad]

Who cares what John Major thinks - he was a total failure.

To think I voted for him twice!

[xoggoth]

We have increased taxes to the extent that we've increased taxes.

He really said that? What a wise chap.

[HairyArsedBloke]

The New Labour government are already planning massive cuts in public spending. It is in the only area they can without much of a fight: welfare benefits, and to a lesser extent, pensions. They have been manipulating public opinion, with the aid of the opposition parties, for ages. The vilification of the sick and unemployed has been growing more strident with every round. The main stream media has willingly, even if unwittedly, jumped onboard and run with it. Nearly every week we get some story or other.

That is not to say that there isn’t any malingerers or other unworthy recipients and that nothing should be done. However, when you think, “make the bastards work”, remember that you are being tricked into thinking that by the government. While people think that way, they can make as much of a cut back in such spending as they like.

However, once they have eliminated as much spending as they think they can get away with there, they will have to turn to other areas to be cut back. You could be next. Nobody is safe from the drive-by mismanagement of this evil government.

[Cyberman]

Basically, New Lie do not have a hope of turning the situation around. They have spent 11 years creating a total mess out of a very positive situation that they inherited from the Tories.

They became complacent with spending and stealth taxes and have created a massively wasteful state system. If they cut spending they will only alienate the few voters that they have left, and raising of Vehicle Excise Duty is yet another own goal whereby those least able to afford it are hit the hardest.

It's time for a tough government that will 'take a machete' to the Welfare and Benefits system. New Lie came to power in 1997 promising to do that via Frank Field but did not have the guts to follow it through. They have proven always to be weak when coming to make the really big decisions. Their latest ideas on knife crime sum them up and the sooner they are gone the better. Not too long now.

[OwlHoot]

They'd save countless billions of pounds if they cancelled or suspended a few big projects, like the ID card scheme, National Health service revamp, and even the olympics.

I mean FFS, when you land on the bench unexpectedly you don't just plough on regardless with ambitious but dispensable spending plans. So why should a country be any different?

[Ruprect]

Was an interesting (and depressing) watch. He did speak some sense, even if it was a little removed. And as for Jacqui Smith...she epitomises this government: full of bad ideas and out of touch with the people she is purported to serve. Election please.

[OwlHoot]

.. And as for Jacqui Smith...she epitomises this government: full of bad ideas and out of touch with the people she is purported to serve. ..

One could understand all these cock ups if ministers had to rely on their own limited wits and imaginations. But don't these people have small armies of Cambridge graduate civil servants and consultants, with Rolls Royce brains whirring away non stop, advising them at every step? Or is the Yes Minister image hopelessly outdated, and all the suave cynical Sir Humphrey types long gone?

[RichardCranium]

They'd save countless billions of pounds if they cancelled or suspended a few big projects, like the ID card scheme, National Health service revamp, and even the olympics.

I mean FFS, when you land on the bench unexpectedly you don't just plough on regardless with ambitious but dispensable spending plans. So why should a country be any different?

The solution to the Olympics is just obvious: outsource it to Paris. Duh.

[expat]

Basically, New Lie do not have a hope of turning the situation around. They have spent 11 years creating a total mess out of a very positive situation that they inherited from the Tories.

They became complacent with spending and stealth taxes and have created a massively wasteful state system. If they cut spending they will only alienate the few voters that they have left, and raising of Vehicle Excise Duty is yet another own goal whereby those least able to afford it are hit the hardest.

It's time for a tough government that will 'take a machete' to the Welfare and Benefits system. New Lie came to power in 1997 promising to do that via Frank Field but did not have the guts to follow it through. They have proven always to be weak when coming to make the really big decisions. Their latest ideas on knife crime sum them up and the sooner they are gone the better. Not too long now.

With the brazen fictions that you tell about the glowing record of the Tories vs the disaster of Labour, you have a nerve calling them New Lie.