Drunken Bungle Whore

Having read through various threads lately I notice that many NSR posters have very clear ideas about where the government is going wrong and just what they should do to fix it. So here are my questions:

1. If you hate it all so much and think they are doing such a bad job, what are you actually trying to do to change things? (apart from typing "witty and knowledgeable" posts, generally trying to put others down)

2. If you were in charge, what exactly would you do? And I mean the big picture here - not just transport, but everything. It's very easy to fix one small part of the economy - it's keeping all the plates spinning that's the trick.

3. If there were one big perfect solution - why has no-one done it?

I'm not a Labour supporter - I'm just intruiged by all the armchair political warriors. Do they actually have any substance, or are they all wind and p1ss?

Geezer

....every day would be the first day of spring!

Geezer

warrenm2

1. I joined a political party and am on one of their policy groups

2. Ban socialism and make people responsible for their own lives - ie abolish NHS and make people take out their own health insurance, abolish state pension, make them save for themselves etc

3. Because socialists deny 100 years of experience that says socialism is crap and doesnt work

HTH!

PeteBrant

Brilliant.

Just out of interest, when was the last time this country, or any capitalist democracy for that matter, had full employment?

How are you going to ensure everyone has a job in order to provide for them selves?

What about people that cannot work?

What about people that cannot afford to pay insurance fees/pension contributions?

Unless of course your political think tank haven't quite thought through the full effects of what you are suggesting

OllyK

1. I frequently write to my (Labour) MP with about a 2% success rate for actually getting a response.

2. Ban party politics, all MP's become independant and report to the local community that elected, they then represent those view in parliament. If at any time the public think they are not doing their job, they are sacked and somebody else elected. No more stuck with somebody useless for years.

3. Greed.

OllyK

Use them as an alternative to fossil fuel

PeteBrant

This.

I effing hate party politics.

LG John

Coming up with 'solutions' for all the various aspects of running the country is like fine tuning a f*cked engine. You need to get back to basics and sort of some of the guiding themes and principles thus if I was in charge:

* Stop letting every tom, dick and akbar into the country
* Stop all this PC nonesence; if you choose to move here then you choose to adapt! I'd not move to Austrialia and moan about dangerous spiders to the government!
* Stop supporting lazy scum. If the end up on the streets and die then natural selection is doing its bloody job.
* Through removing a large proportion of this social care burdern we can stop ripping money out the pockets of motorists.
* Get tough on crime. Proper tough! It's about time that the country rewarded hardworking, honest people that want to better themselves and making a good living and punish jobless, thieving bums.

All of the above can be summerised into one ethos. "Stop helping scum through the taxation of the hardworking honest british citizen"

I have NO issue at all when I read that 19yo jobless Donna from an inner city council flat was found dead amoungst her 4 kids after an O.D. She chose to take drugs and paid the price - tough.

I do have an issue when I read things such as "hard working 40 year old shop keeper beaten up by teenagers defending his business is charged with assualt on a minor" when he defended himself.

Joke country! God, you got me ranting again

j4ckos mate

ive gont one simple policy that would tutn it around


if you are between 18-65 only people in fulltime work can vote,, ie the ones like us that pay for the scroungers

PeteBrant

I think this policy suggestion quite nicely sums up the almost embarrasingly low level of intelligence prevalent in NSR

Longjing

Scroungers and scum. If only they had badges eh?

There's an argument to be had about the extent of our welfare state in my view, but I'm proud to live in a country that treats most people with compassion, or tries to.

For those of you that think individuals should rely on themselves alone - America's not far these days. What's wrong with that option? Nice place, they speak English, plenty of army jobs going.. what's not to like?

LG John

The problem is you can get a gun in trade for a big mac so rather than getting a job the bums just shoot the working citizens and take their stuff. At least here they have the whole unsavoury task of stabbing you and getting their hands dirty or at the very least jumping on your head. In america armed robbery is pretty much a job.

Longjing

Ironically gun control is presented very much as an issue of personal freedom and responsibilty there. You take responsibility for yourself, including your personal safety. Which I tend to agree with actually... at least there's some logic to it. There's an argument that the lack of social safety net contributes to the level of personal violence in the US, but maybe that's a better way even so.

LG John

But it's like arming every country to the hilt with nukes!! All it takes is someone somewhere to get a little trigger happy and you can spark a whole chain reaction - probably better to just not have nukes!

There's logic in that as well - how many UK bums that are surviving on hand outs would, if faced with the prospect of getting a real job, turn instead to crime? As I said what is required is grass roots culture change - we need to get the message across that as a society we are no longer going to tolerate crime and we are no longer going to carry stragglers that are too lazy to sort themselves out. I think we need to get the message across that if there is no good reason for the state to do so (disability, genuine illness, etc) then you look after yourself and that you are expected to conduct yourself in a social manner.

It seems that the current system views pumping the rear out on a public roundabout in a sports car as highly unsociable and yet smacking someone you don't know the face on a saturday night and doing the bouncy on his/her head is just 'normal'. HELLO!?!?

FWIW I handed in my notice on friday and get my last pay cheque at the end of the month. After that I play poker for a living. If I fail I expect to lose my car, my house (and probably my g/f ) and have to scale waaaaaaaaaaaay back. I may even become homeless. I accept this risk and if I fail my failure is my own; I do not expect the government to bail me out!!

PeteBrant

So you'll be refusing NHS treatment should you fall ill, presuambly.

In fact you'll be staying away from anything that is subsidised or paid for with the public purse, I should think.

LG John

No because that service is currently there for everyone but I'd happily see it abolished because I'd have the foresight and financial savy to take out adequate health insurance.

I love your counter arguement that because I disagree with the welfare state I should refuse the very walfare my NI and taxes pay for. Hmmmmm?! Syntax Error

PeteBrant

Great, what about those that can't afford to? Or those that cannot work, or those that canwork but can't get a job.

Surprising as it may seem, not every single person relying on benefits is a scrounging workshy layabout.
I was replying to "what happens if you fail" ...

If you do fail, you wont be paying taxes, therefore should not be enjoying the benefits of a tax system that provides for the common good (under your beleifs)

Of course, even if you are successful in your poker career - will you be even paying tax?

LG John

No, and this is one of the greatest appeals. I'll no longer fund scum.

I agree there are geniune cases and I alude to that in one of my posts above. There should be a system in place for those in geninue need and I'd have no problem in funding that through taxation.

I'm an honest person; if I fail and my chips are down with no place to live and I can't get work (highly unlikely in my profession) then yeah I'd probably turn to the benefits system for help. I'm not so dillusional that I think I'd ride it out on the streets through some sense of pride when my back is against the wall - that fact doesn't mean I can't disagree with the system which almost encourages you to try and abuse it!

PeteBrant

Amazing scenes.

So on the one hand you are effectively opting out of the tax system by your own admission by not paying tax anymore.

And on the other you'll continue to take advantage of the facilities and benefits offered by the tax system...

Tell me, in what way, will you be any different to the scrounging scum you despise?

lordretsudo

Without a shadow of a doubt, the biggest problem in this country is the welfare state - the whole system needs totally rebalancing and reforming. Until this is done, there's never going to be the money to sort out all the other problems with the NHS, transport, etc. Other things I would like to see:

Ban political correctness from politics - this might not be very practicable but would help tremendously in many aspects of life I think. When you start to look at most social problems they can be traced back to stupid PC decisions taken at some level IMO.

Proper sentencing of criminals (in proper prisons, none of this softly, softly crap) - OK, this requires building more prisons, but it completely beats me how any government thinks it's going to reduce crime by releasing more and more criminals early, most of whom haven't received a proper sentence in the first place. It also really annoys the hell out of the law-abiding, tax paying majority.

Reintroduction of corporate punishment in schools - this might not be popular, and I know it will never happen, but without getting back discipline in schools then all the other stuff about better teachers, better course content, etc, is just a pointless waste of time. We're never going to be able to compete on a global stage in 20 years time with the quality of education in our schools and colleges.

Withdrawal from the European federal superstate - a personal bugbear this one. I realise not everyone feels strongly about the EU, but for me it represents everything that's wrong with politics today. Unelected morons wasting vast sums of money, total incompetence, the human rights act, corruption running riot, meaningless PC rulings about everything that isn't important and nothing that is, etc, etc. I utterly, utterly loathe the EU.

The depressing thing is that none of this will ever happen. We'll just continue down the road we're on as there's effective no difference between NL and the Tories any more. I've always thought what we could really do with is something like they had in Holland with Pym Fortuyn to really shake politics up, but then look what happened to him...

Luan Pra bang

1. Charge people £5 for NHS appointments with follow up visits to be free at the discretion of the doctor this would disuade the time wasters.

2. withdraw from Iraq and Afganistan completely cut military spending by 50% but retain invesment in nuclear land, air and sea based technology to maintain a position of strength.

3. Opt out of the european union constitution but remain a part of the european free trade agreements and bring in domestic laws to to counter any Messing by the EU in UK affairs. Refuse funding from Europe but cut contributions by the same amount.

4. Pressure Israel to act responsably in the middle east and take a pro palestinian view point.

5. Double prison spaces and increase sentences for padophiles and all violent and sex crimes.

6. Allow low density housing across greenbelt land at a fixed rate of 1-2 houses per acre. Builders and developers carry the cost of water/sewage/electric connection

7. Abolish child benefit.

8. single parents to get fixed amounts of benefits no increases per child.


9. Establish a hostel system for long term unemployed where reasonable accomodation is provided and 2 meals a day included but no money. Appoint a careers worker in each hostel to get jobs for the people and a professional child care system to enable mothers to go out and work.



10. Reduce all MP's pensions to give them only what they decide to pay themselves no tax payer contribution.



First ten things I would do loads would follow.

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

Hmmm i must be as tolerant and ignorant as a number of other people on here too then.

As part of my job i've written to a campaigned against/with several MPs and they represent the views of their party, very rarely the views of their constituents.

Still, immigration, massive tightening. Anyone given asylum and committing a crime taken straight from court, put on plane back to where they came from along with the rest of their families.

Everything in english. Want to live here? Speak the language.

End special interest groups and awards. You are either a British citizen or you aren't. No reference to any 'community group' there is no need for anyone to make themselves different if they want to integrate.

Want healthcare? Get a job

Want free money? a house? get a job. In fact i would bring back the victorian style workhouses. Lets face it these run down estates weren't built like that, they were shiney and new it is just the scrubbers that live there wreck the place then complain about it. Save a fortune if they were put into group shelters. These would not be places that people would be happy to go - the last resort.

Everything else - not got a job? I'll give you one. Cleaning pavements with a toothbrush if necessary but no free dole money. Work for it or go to the workhouse and live on porridge you idle git.

Pervs like that one that raped and killed his two year old niece - reintroduction of the death penalty. Then i'd have him cremated and use the ashes to fill a pot hole in the road. That way at least his life will have been of some use to the rest of us. Likewise the peace loving terrorists we are currently having problems with, whoever they may be.

few to get going with!

5t.

Hol

iTrader: (1)

So who is your local MP in my area??

j4ckos mate

what would you do peter?

LG John

Actually, if I am successful I fully intend to go private for health and dental. You'll have to excuse me if I'm knocked unconscious and am unable to tell those helping me that I don't wish to be taken to A&E!

What would you have me do? Volunteer to pay tax that I'm not due to pay? Would you do that?

I'm not saying we necessarily need to abolish the tools of social care but we do need to get seriously tough with those that are ripping the **** out of them!

FWIW I've never scrounged a thing in my life - I deliberately avoid my doctor unless I feel its really bad for fear of wasting his time, I haven't drawn doll once in my life, I paid back my student loan with interest and on time, I pay for my dental care and I've never had a council house in my puff. I'm happy that when in taxable employment to pay for these safety nets but I view them as exactly that - nets to catch me in my time of need or when my life chips are down. Not something to be relied on or drained relentlessly for all I can get. That's all I'm getting at: I'm not having a go at people that need genuine help and assistance just those that are working the system deliberately to their advantage through either greed or lazyness.

PeteBrant

Well without wishing to sound patronising, that's a far better reasoned response.


The problem, as far as I see it, is that it is extremely difficult to seperate the genuine need from the system abuser.

So what do you do? Do you make it harder for everyone to get the help they need? Or do you find ways to make it harder for people on the take to do so.

I don't think you can muck around with the Health system. A National service, free at the point of delivery, based on need and not ability to pay has to be the way it is. If the sacrifice for having such a system is that there is the odd abuser of the system, then so be it.

As it is you can take out private health care plan, if you want health care above and beyond what the state offers, then you can have it.


In terms of income support, the system is far, far stricter than it used to be. If you are on the dole you have to actively seek work. If you are a single parent you have to report every 6 months and explain why you aren't working. Yes, there are the usual Daily Mail "Workshy man with 15 children gets holiday to Disneyland in 5 star hotel with daily meals cooked by Gordon Ramsay" stories, but the reality is that these situiations are few and far between, and there is almost always far more to the story than the right wing gutter press would have you know.


I beleive in the common good. I have done well enough in life to be in a position where I pay tax and NI - And I feel it is my public duty to do so in order to help those less fortunate than myself.

Those claiming that there are two kinds of people (not necessarily you) ; Those that work, and those that scrounge, have obviously lead very sheltered lives and need to get out and experience what hardship truly is before amkign this kind of statement.

Holy Ghost

**

1. i joined a political party for the first time ever last year out of frustration. now i organise fund-raising social events for my electoral ward that generate campaigning cash. this also has the happy benefit of giving me the ear of my grateful local MP, who is also a shadow cabinet member. i've stopped shouting at the telly now, because i'm involved, albeit in a very very small way. that having been said, i worry increasingly that cameron has lost the plot - if indeed he ever possessed it.


2. depoliticise, re-size and re-skill the civil service; recruit senior and middle managers from the private sector into the civil service who understand how to scope, spec and deliver the integrated (capital) projects, services and policies tabled by government and approved by parliament.

if we can gather the right people to send man into space, we can gather the right people to run any government efficiently. it's all about sound management and organisation by people who have the right experience. people who are made responsible for success and accountable for failure. today, that is patently not the case. it explains why the national 'big picture' is more like something lashed together by tracey emin after a night on the pull and the pi55 - than something crafted with inate skill, thought and care by a charles moore or a david hockney.


3. there are better solutions. but inertia, political cowardice, incompetence and inexperience defeat them all. national attitude and expectation will inevitably change to demand the opposite but such wheels crank slowly without inspired leadership and honesty - of which there is currently none.

j4ckos mate

the reason i would only let working age people vote isnt a twisted logic,
the idea behind it is that the people in employment would vote for parties that had policies aimed at working people,
i look at a family next to my dads,
the grandad never worked, the son never worked all the time i lived there, niether did his wife or when the wife died his new partner. the daughter never worked
the son didnt becasuse he was disabled(fair enough).
the daughter went onto have two kids neither of them worked.
my mum and dad both worked from 15 - 65 and are no better off than them. how can it be right. they claim for motability cars, the lot.


also as a final note the house is now empty as he died, its been left a right state gas cylinders in the garden (5), totally uninhabitable, and will take weeks and several thousand pounds to make ok again. all coming out of the pot and not one of them has paid a penny in (other than the taxes on ****).

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

And that's why incapacity benefit has rocketed to nearly 3m

These people have shifted themselves off the job list by going to the doc and saying "i'm depressed" and bagging the cash or by claiming a bad back etc etc.

I'm sorry but as far as i can see there are far more people abusing the dole/job seekers etc system than are actually using it properly.

The claim is always the same too "deprived areas" deprived of what exactly? We are told, in countless appeals for money for Africa that money provides education and education provides a way out of poverty. Everyone in this country has access to education which means everyone has a chance to do something. For those that waste it and then complain that the council hasn't provided them with XYZ while sitting about all day is a disgrace. They have no one to blame but themselvews and the sooner they are made to face up to that fact the better.

5t.

LG John

This post is perfectly fair and I don't disagree with much that you say. This is why I have no interest in politics.........because you can't win. One way or another someone is going to suffer or be disgruntled by your actions and finding a balance is near on impossible. I do feel we need a stronger central ethos in dealing with scum, scroungers and criminals.

In my field of work (planning) once an issue is set a priority at the top level it starts to filter its way down. You can see this with renewable energy/sustainability now which is a central government priority across the board and is slowly influencing and changing everything below it. I want to see a real drive from the top to deal with these problems.