f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Is the Lord Rennard affair the final nail in the Lib Dem's coffin?

Clegg is handling it with his usual expert aplomb.... i.e. making matters worse by the day and for a party already perceived by many to have sold its core principles to the Tories in exchange for a few seats at the high table of UK politics for a few years this maybe the last straw.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

We can but hope.........

TBH, the best thing Cameron did was to go into coalition with this lot, who have now been found out, big-time. They have been promising the moon for years, yet have now reneged on nearly everything they said.

Can't wait for Clegg to get his Portillo moment either.

warrenm2

Hehe I was about to say the same thing before I got beaten to it on the second post!

A man almost universally deridied and despised even by his own party. A pretty safe bet that he'll be gone in 16 months time, but I wonder if he'll go back to the EU for a job?

pslewis

The LibDems could promise the world as they would never have to deliver.

What they have done is limit the worst excesses of the Tories ... who would allow 'sack-without-rights' - the privatisation of the NHS - and other pleasures which basically **** on everyone except the rich.

Whereas the rich milk the system dry by not paying their taxes .... the Tories do nothing about it.

We don't need inherited multi-millionaires running the country ..... as they simply do not have a clue how 95% of the population have to live.

I 'should' be a Tory ...... but I'm not.

On topic - yes, the LibDems have lost their sheen .....

Ant

i thought you would be all for the tories pal?with all the money you have

dpb

It's all insignificant though .

Look at the growth, and consider what kind of idiot would let labour back in

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

The growth could well have been greater under Labour, but borrowing would be higher too of course.

The growth has something to do with the goverment, but a lot more to do with the global financial crisis easing particulalrly in the US.

It will of course get written into SN folklore that Labour caused the World recesion of 2007/2008 and that the Tories fixed it, but fortunately I can see past simpleton style political bollocks like that and recognise mainstream party UK politicians for the feckless idiots they are no matter which party they pin their colours to!

hodgy0_2

yes amazing this myth persists, but as the great George Orwell said in 1984

"He who controls the past, controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.” "

^Qwerty^

So Choose and Book, introduced under a Labour government has nothing at all to do with Private Hospitals being able to bid for work from the NHS then?

Let's just suppose you're at the GP's and need an operation, looking at Choose and Book it offers you the choice of five hospitals, one or more which is private; which would you choose? From a cost POV, they are on the list because they all charge the same, so would you prefer a shared ward or a nice private room in a MRSA free private hospital?

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Shared sex ward.

Hopefully NOT geriatric, though...........

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Whilst I agree wholeheartedly with your last sentence, I'm intrigued as to who you blame for our economic woes, if NOT Lying Labour?

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

I am not saying they are not in any way to blame, but it is simplistic at best to accuse them of being solely responsible for the problem. Many other countries are or were worse off than the UK as a result of what happened in 2007/2008 and of course many were also better off.

Ever since I have been old enough to take notice I have seen a succession of governments and chancellors yank the UK this way and that trying to make short term gain yet bringing a lot of long term pain.

I have never experienced a government yet that has a genuine long term vision for the UK as of course it doesn't suit their own political agendas that are always put before the likes of you and I.

It seems to be SN folklore that the Tories manage the economy better than Labour yet under 18 years of Thatcher/Major it was only in the last 4 that the economy was remotely stable.

No government has ever really taken a long term view on things like education, the NHS , public transport etc. The reason our railways are so poor now is a basic lack of investment since the end of the Second World War for instance.

Our economy is tied to a lot of things and a lot of those things have major problems caused by governments of the last 50 years at least!

The global financial crisis of 2007/2008 laid bare a lot of the failings of our system and of course Browns borrowing was then exposed for the danger it was..... but find me an economist who had anything but good words to say about the UK's finance prior to 2007!

The fact remains that the financial industry (that much of SN NSR hold in such high regard) had a lot of faith in the UK for 10 years under Brown's chancellorship... and if they didn't see it coming how was Brown or anyone else supposed to?

cster

Maybe they did see it coming.
I can only speak of Brown in how he invested in the sector I work in. He basically threw loads of money at mediocre middle level management.
Result -demotivating the workforce and wasting public money.
What a complete waste of space and utter failure this man was.
Disloyal to his party's leader and then stupid enough to step up to the plate when the **** was about to hit the fan.
He may be a hero to some on here, but more of a laughing stock than much else to me.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Just decided to say nothing and do nothing ... just let it happen. Okey dokey then

paulr

It's a coalition, meaning you have to compromise. As Pete says, the shine has gone, but in hard practical reality, they have put a brake on the natural excesses of the Tories.

6/10.

paulr

Read the analysis by the Economist.

Dingdongler

Labour did not cause the banking crisis but they did destabilise the economy such that we were in poor shape to handle the shocks.

If you think this is just me being a blinkered Tory boy then look at my sector. To keep the books in balance ie to make borrowing look less than it was (off the books) they gave the go ahead to massive hospital PFI projects.

These have been a disaster, they are a scandal that I'm surprised don't get as much press as they should. To get the hospitals built they signed up to crippling contracts that are unsustainable.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...pfi-cost-300bn

http://www.demotix.com/news/2904773/...#media-2904551

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...itten-off.html

As a consequence

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

It's like the Jeremy Thorpe Affair, that nailed them down for years after, SDP etc etc.

Dingdongler

I think he had something in common with the OP.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Grow up FFS

Dingdongler

I bet you say that to all the boys

RS_Matt

And delusions of self-enlightenment.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Whatever, at least I'm not a hypocrite like you!

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

cster

And collect their bonuses whilst the taxpayer coughed up.
Why not?

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

My dad's bigger than your dad!

I was actually reading a topic with interest for a few minutes there.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Really? Well thanks for sharing that with us and I expect a few minutes is all your attention span can manage.

Funny how you get on my case rather than that of your mate Ding, but then are you one of those who, like him, still think calling someone gay is a good laugh and a great way to insult someone as you see being gay as a weakness?

If so that basically makes you a homophobe! Nice!

If not then may I suggest you edit your post and quote your mate's posts instead of mine. If you don't then we probably know where you stand!

daveyj

iTrader: (1)

Table for two. Saucer of milk.

But yes, they are looking a lot like the AbLib Condemned at the moment.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Yeah I see where you're going, but it seems unlikely to me!

Dingdongler

Chillax bruv, it was just a joke.