Friday, May 09, 2008
Everything's fine, honest
Guardian: We're not like John Major, says Harman
"I absolutely do not accept that we're in the same situation as the Major government was," she went on.
"Just remember back: the economy was an absolute disaster, with high levels of unemployment, really high levels of business failure, [and] record levels of people losing their homes."
Whereas now, we have high levels of incapacity claims, really high levels of business failure, and record levels of people losing their homes.
Posted by jonb @ 07:29 PM (862 views) Add Comment
21 Comments
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1. enuii said...
Just goes to prove how clueless these people really are after 10 years detached from reality.
2. shipbuilder said...
Can anyone remember the last statement this government made that did not smack of desperation, spin and arrogant lies?
3. plato said...
flim-flam
4. Ingermany said...
No, be fair.
This time all the problems have come from America. They did it. It's their fault.
5. bilko said...
We have the worst possible type of government at the moment that is driven purely by public opinion and not by substance and conviction. Everything they do at the moment is based on how they think it will show up in the polls. It's potentially very damaging to this country and we've got the best part of two years of this.
6. plato said...
Harriet Houdini
7. it_is_going_with_a_bang said...
Thats right. Things were bad then and interest rates were all over the place. Interest rates are historically low and the s***t is hitting the fan. Not something to brag about really is it?
8. plato said...
Harriet Harmdone
9. Mytimeisnigh said...
What a bleeding cheek.........The economy's screwed now, low unemployment = thousands on incapacity benefit (we all know some, but for some strange reason don't feel like we can dob them in), interest rate levels = bullsh*t, inflation really running out of control, pensions sold down the river, gold sold off cheaply at the wrong time (due to lack of insight), house prices inflated by the greatest consumer credit bubble of all time, the largest government debt in the developed nations, no manufacturing left....an inflated and unsustainable public sector...characterised by waste followed by more waste and a financial sector in dier straights. What a mess....god help us all...cause the chickens (or should I say cocks) are coming home to roost! And all we get from them is...... ten years of hooray henry, the financial genius(!) has put an end to boom and bust???? NOT. Come on Dave!
10. Lierbag said...
At this point in its fortunes, New Labour would probably be more popular fronted by Joseph Fritzl.
11. Lierbag said...
Labour will not be able to reclaim popular support, because the electorate now regards it merely as a suitable target via which to vent its general, unspecified, discontent. Deep down, they also know that the Tories won't be much different - or fare any better. Without North Sea oil/gas revenues, and with global oil prices forecast in some quarters to reach over $200 per barrel before the end of 2008, government of any Western nation (i.e. high energy consumption/high infrastructure maintenance costs) is going to be like inheriting the poisoned chalice.
12. Bananasplit said...
Harriet Harman and the rest of them have not got a clue whats round the corner, they are all full of s#it and I do not think the tories or the liberals are any different they are all full of s#it. I think a working class women, married with children and a disability should be running the country. She would fully appreciate the consequences of unfair taxes and deliver a fairer society.
Get rid of these apathetic bums.
I am loving every minute of the house price crash but if the financial whizz kids like Gordon had any common sense house price inflation would track wage inflation and thousands of people would not be stressed out and forced into insolvency.
13. str 2007 said...
Love your headline Jonb LOL
14. sold out said...
it really does take something special to make John Major's goverment look GOOD,and New Labour have delivered.Well Done everyone, all their expiereince from the student union days is really showing now.
15. renting2 said...
Heard Ivan Lewis (Jnr Health Minister who wants party to apologise) this morning say that the public would still want GB/AD to run the country as opposed to the Tories as the former are experienced and the latter 'schoolboys'.
I remember when Labour came to power they had virtually no-one who had any experience at all but still won.
16. Cstanhope707 said...
I get fed up with these guys trotting out the same "TOSH"
1) Interest Rates were 15% under Major and now they are around 5% true BUT 5% on a 200k mortgage ain't much different from 15% on a 60k mortgage now is it!!!
2) Record number of people in work well sure 1 million people come into the country then more minimum wage jobs will be created.
3) Sound economic fundamentals built on unstustainable House Price Inflation and reckless lending
Oh yes and just one other thing Harman!!!! Major did actually get a mandate from the electorate!!!!!!
17. bfskinner said...
I feel the need to chip in here and offer a counter to what appears to be a Tory election manifesto.
What exactly have this government done to harm all of you and make your lives so unbearable? Let’s look at some history. The last Troy government was not that long ago. How on earth was Thatcher or Major so much better?
I am not saying this government has been perfect, but comparative to the Tories since 1997:
We have a minimum wage (not as good as it should be, but the Tories opposed it)
A reduction in child poverty
Sure start programmes to give children in deprived areas a better start in life
Better child benefits and tax credits for working parents
A better NHS which has just about recovered from the mess the Tories left it in.
More doctors, more nurses, more occupational therapists, clinical psychologists, counsellors and other therapists.
Better access to mental health services and better mental health services
Better pay for public sector workers than they ever had under the Tories
Lower unemployment
Lower interest rates
The Tories on the other hand destroyed the social and economic fabric of this country by crushing and eradicating industry (which is now needed given the end of North Sean oil and Gas), they privatised energy, water and the trains and didn’t we all get a good deal from that? They had soaring unemployment, abandoned the weak, the vulnerable and the needy and ran the NHS into the ground by sticking in obscene levels of middle management who knew nothing about nor cared for patient welfare while cutting funding for direct patient care.
If you want no protection if things go wrong job wise, or you think its fair to pay people in crap hard physical jobs £2 per hour, if you want to wait longer in hospitals or pay for your medical care then by all means vote in the Tories and ponder the wisdom of your decision while you die waiting for an operation you cant afford because you only earn £2 per hour!
rant over!
BFS
18. waitingfor hpc said...
bfskinner .. you need help!
I work in industry the Toreis never killed .. Labour did. Minimum wage way to high and used as a tool. Tories SAVED money that Labour SPENT.
I could go on and on ..... life under Labour is like buying a hooker - you get f**ked and pay for it!!!
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20. Samscam said...
Hmmm... What have the romans done for us?
Ultimately I'd have to say that there are limits to the direct influence the government has over the economy... Harman by the sounds of the little quote above is just doing some party political arm waving in a weak bid to make people _think_ everything is all right.
There is almost some strange wisdom in her actions - the economy depends far more on socio-cultural mood than it does on anything the government does. But it's so pathetic an intervention that even if people believed her it just wouldn't register over the noise of everyone else saying DOOM DOOM DOOM. Oh we like doom!
Bobbins to you all anyway - I vote Green....
S
21. Mytimeisnigh said...
If people are prepared to work for £2 an hour when they could have a comfortable life on benefits...then more fool them. Children are still in poverty and will continue to be so, especially given the ever growing underclass, what's more due to the housing situation we have lone mothers forced onto the streets by greedy private landlords. Labour has spent an awful lot on the public sector, but this has only been possible because they inherited a good balance from the conservative party and they have since borrowed very heavily. Therefore it is not sustainable. Further, Psychologists are usually a waste of money...All of us who have enjoyed public sector pay rises are about to see them wiped out by inflation and some of the public sector worker (especially the add ons), will lose their jobs when the recession starts. Labour have enjoyed a ten year international boom, but when the going gets tough...this is the true test and they have set themselves up to fail.