Tootsie Frickensprinkles

Gordon is too fond of telling expensive lies and hiding the truth for my liking. I don't trust him as far as I could throw him!

The rhetoric sounds refreshing, he's clearly in tune with at least some of the more sensible general feeling of the British public. A number of good ideas have been sounded in the weeks following Blair's departure but I can't work out yet whether I'm just so glad to be rid of grinning Tony and his dipshit wife that its just anything else seems better. Problem is, even if it is better .... I still don't trust him.

Cape Blue

What are the expensive lies?

I found it amusing on the BBC HYS section where the same people complaining in the past about TB & Labour spin, were now saying how dull and dour GB was - not sure anyone can win.

I think that there is every chance he will do a good job - progressive social attitude combined with responsible economics in a globalised world. I doubt whether GB would have been so keen to head into Iraq as TB.

Tootsie Frickensprinkles

For a start ... Pension funds, PPP and PFI ... billions and billions and billions. Stealth tax hikes are a whole issue of their own.

I do agree there has been improvements in a number of things over the last 10 years, but, given the money they have had in one form or another .. I should bloody well hope so!

Serious consequences for this country have come out of his apparent successful management of this economy. There has been a downside to it all.


GB was not pro war.

Cape Blue

Can you tell me what the stealth taxes are - I hear a lot about them but am not sure whether they are just carefully targeted taxes to incentivise behavior such as landfill tax, petrol, fags etc (which I largely agree with) or are something else.

I am not sure i have fully understood the PFI deal - from what I can see the concept looks entirely sensible - basically building hospitals (etc) on a mortgage so that the cost of paying for them doesn't have to come out of todays taxation and that they can be paid for over the next XX years from the tax of the people that gain the benefit from their building - have I missed something when it comes to the concept?

I understand that the UK economy has benefited from China's suppresion of inflation (as have all countries) and a consumer boom over the past 10(+) years, however looking at comparable developed economies (that are not sitting on huge commodity revenues like Aus & Canada) such as France, Italy, Germany etc then the Uk has done pretty well in comparison - certainly we have ended up with young French workers coming to the UK to find work and wealthier British retirees being able to sell their UK property and move more comfortably abroad to European countries whose economies have been less successful and whose property is correspondingly cheaper.

On the pension deal, without knowing the exact details, it appears a bit of a cock-up to disincentivise pension saving.

Tootsie Frickensprinkles

Stealth (the hidden truth I was refering to) taxation is unnanounced raises. It includes things like the top rate tax band not moving with inflation/salaries. Another huge one, to the tune of billions is stamp duty. The tax has not directly increased but now that the average house price in the UK (let alone the SE) is not far off the 3% mark everyone now pays 3 or 4 % stamp duty whereas many paid 0 or only 1% a few years ago. There are multiple examples, they are just two very big and visable ones.

PFI is the biggest false economy the British taxpayer has ever had to fund imo. I do not agree in chosing the most expensive way to fund something just because you want to keep the costs off the books. The money is being spent, be up front about it and do it economically, it was a political move that has cost us billions until 2028.

PPPs have screwed up left and right and the tax payer keeps bailing them out, its a BAD policy. The pensions, well .. where does one start. And he lied, out and out. It will be a one off dip, yeah right.

Billions upon billions this mans had off us. The average tax payer was paying 5,300 more a year in 2005 than in 1997.

His economic decisions that have contributed to our house price situation, hmmm. London maybe reveling in foreign money but British people are in debt up to their necks in way they have never been before, it wont be 15% interest rates that cause the reposessions this time around, it wont take half that. House prcies (and loans) are running at 5-6:1 on salaries, record numbers of interest only loans raising daily. This is not good economics, something is going to give.

It's nearly the weekend now though, can we lighten up a little?