Beoz

are you saying he and the OBR are wrong in expecting a black hole in finances and a major slowdown in growth

Are you feeling any effect of lower household wealth?

Simple question that needs answering.

Futures are futures. We can discuss that if it arises.

OzTennis

Have you no insight? What happens when the government has reduced revenue (or a bigger borrowing requirement) as a result of the slowdown and the further spending cuts are introduced. My council is being asked to shed over 20% of its current budget this year so yes, I'm seeing the effects in cuts in local services. I'm a fund raiser for our club and I'm finding there are fewer sources available due to government cuts. The interest rates on offer at institutions are derisory so we find it's hardly worthwhile not spending money (i.e. saving) and you'll know that if households save less then businesses have to borrow less. So yeah, the effects are already being felt.

Sir John Major and Tony Blair have called yesterday for a second referendum on the single market. This is due to the uncertainty surrounded the Brexit and that most people weren't sure what the result of the first referendum meant. Now, you've praised Trump for changing his mind to suit conditions so logically you would support this move.

Beoz

The age of entitlement is over. Your local government should know that.

OzTennis

Why do images of Marie Antionette crop up whenever you post?

You pose the question of whether I'm noticing the effects and I tell you yes which you turn into some meaningless crap about the age of entitlement is over. Do you really think the services delivered at local level by councils are some sort of famine relief or handout? Councils in the UK are responsible for the provision of most essential services. For a long time central government has banned them from rate rises and capped their spending and then cut their budgets. Do you see businesses being banned from putting their prices up by central government and capping their revenue?

'My local government' realises how hard times are Einstein. For the last 3 years their grant has been cut by 1.6% p.a. but for 2016/17 this was raised to a cut of 4.6% and they've had to find £20 mill savings from the budget they originally set when expecting a 1.6% cut. If the UK was the land of milk and honey you imagine in your mind why is this happening?

OzTennis

Britons could pay to keep EU citizenship after Brexit, top negotiator says

OzTennis

And papers released yesterday under the 30 year rule show Thatcher secretly tried to dismantle the welfare state:

Margaret Thatcher secretly tried to press ahead with a politically toxic plan to dismantle the welfare state even after a “cabinet riot” and her famous declaration that the “NHS is safe with us”, newly released Treasury documents show.


The plan commissioned by Thatcher and her chancellor Sir Geoffrey Howe included proposals to charge for state schooling, introduce compulsory private health insurance and a system of private medical facilities that “would, of course, mean the end of the National Health Service”.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-a7438196.html

Beoz

So what? Your point is?

OzTennis

You never respond to most bits of evidence and facts and just make right wing sound bites . On Thatcher I posted it because it was the main item on the news here last night (probably not in Sydney or Adelaide). She actually was even worse and more devious than we thought and we can see more evidence of why her party ditched her. As per 'Pictures of Lily' I imagine you have her photo above your bed to help you sleep at night.

Beoz

Yeah you keep posting Guardian articles and we all know they need to be taken with a shovel worth of salt.

So when is this Brexit disaster going to kick in and the crash property market? I'm looking to pick up some bargains.

GarryP

Yeah, it's an interesting idea for twisting the knife.

Suppose the EU said "you could keep the free travel, work rights, etc. for £150 a year - how many do you think would take it?

And what if they did similarly with companies - access to the EU market for a chunk of money per year.

Seems like a good deal on both sides - the EU gets the money with no need to fund anything in the UK, and the UK gets to dump any EU rules it likes. Of course, and company would still need to hit those EU rules anyway, so the impact of the UK laws lessens.

OzTennis

Did I post a link on Thatcher? Every paper reported on the release of the 30 year papers but you ignore.

The Brexit disaster is already happening - what's happened to the pound, what's happened to Government finances (you did get the autumn statement didn't you)? There is so much uncertainty in the UK at the moment and yesterday one of the top EU officials indicated he can see no reason why individual UK citizens can't take out EU citizenship and rights on the payment of an annual fee (and you have that for any passport). 2 former PM's have called for a 2nd referendum on the single market, in or out. We do not know when Article 50 will be triggered, how long it will take and what terms will be involved and top EU officials said yesterday there's no way it can be done in under 2 years which was written into the Lisbon Treaty. Break up of the UK is still potentially on the cards as Sturgeon isn't going to back down on calls for a 2nd Indy referendum. 'It's all happening' as Bill Lawry would say but you can choose to ignore it if you want.

You keep on posting crap about the property market because when the pound plunged after Brexit some opportunists overseas bought UK property because it was 20% cheaper USING THEIR OWN CURRENCY.

Beoz

When you demonstrate some balance, then we can talk.

OzTennis

You have diverged from Brexit and its effects to another issue about the political standing of UK newspapers but since you raise it:

I posted links from the Telegraph, Independent etc in the previous pages - you keep coming up with the nonsense about the Guardian. Are you too lazy, stupid or blinkered to check out the Tory papers for what the other papers report on to check the veracity of Labour leaning papers? I can assure you the Telegraph etc don't report different exchange rates, budget black holes, Scottish independence, Major and Blair calling for 2nd referendum etc. The Tory rags like Express and Mail will put minor things on the front page like a raft on the beach at Dover or a Muslim committing a crime I'll grant you but that's just to appeal to their narrow minded readership.

Beoz

So get neutral then and leave the Guardian and the Mail alone.

GarryP

Now that's a VERY strange methodology. The number of follows by MPs of particular papers? Seems like it would match the interest in twitter much more than it would match political hue. An out of touch old Conservative duffer is much less likely to be a twit (at least in these terms), screwing the whole thing up.

I think most people would accept that until recent times Labour has been a lite-right party. Most people would also accept that the guardian is a centrist/liberal newspaper (in the true sense of the word). Most people would also place the Times, the Express, the Mail and the Torygraph on the extreme right. Sometimes you'd place those papers further right than even the tories, particularly in the case of the Sun and immigrant hating/UKIP loving side of things.

Thus what we have is situation where the median of papers is far right (as most would accept following the we-hate-immigrants Brexit debacle), a few are centralist, and virtually none are leftish (you could make something of a case for the Mirror and the Record).