Are the Conservatives broken or loving this !

[vinceayre]

As long as Milliband and Balls are at the top of the Labour tree the Conservatives are fine and dandy.

[thomastillingthe3rd]

They will be fine, u watch. As for the conservatives they will only ever be Dandies.

[Townleygreen]

Milliband is hopeless. Wouldn't even win an election if unemployment was at 20%. Nice chap, clever, I'm sure, but comes across so poorly. Maybe they can find someone to re-do him in some way?

Balls is better, but he comes across as a bit of a strop, seems intolerant? Though I see signs that he is moderating, maybe hoping to take over from dear Ed before next election.

[sagatelsagouni]

Is it true that some Tory of party standing has been found dead, backstage in a VIP area at Glasto by am aide and inside a portaloo? Apparently there was some delay in calling for security, but no suspicious circumstances, it does get hot in those loo's I suppose.

[Undisputedtruth]

It still early days for Milliband and has plenty of time to forumulate his policies. It's worth mentioning that Margaret Thatcher had a very poor start when she became the opposition leader for the Tories.

[Marmora Man]

UDT - to misquote an American politician "I knew Thatcher - Milliband ain't no Thatcher"

[Undisputedtruth]

Marmora Man Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> UDT - to misquote an American politician "I knew

> Thatcher - Milliband ain't no Thatcher"

And that's a good thing.

[sagatelsagouni]

sweet mother of Mary.....a Thatcherite? or have i misundertood.

She double unemployement from 1.5 to 3million in 18months 79 -81. Flogged all the council houses and put a ban on building anymore, decimated uk industry and she bought a house in Dulwich Village ! her house in belgravia is registered under an offshore company, she pays no coucil tax , no capital gains. certainly was not a liberal so maybe one positive.

[Undisputedtruth]

no, I'm not a tory because they have no sense of social justice whatsoever.

I remembered her house which was off Dulwich Common. Land was taken from the sports ground where I used to play football and used for developments.

I do not affiliate myself to any political parties and didn't vote in the last election as all the political parties were not worthy in my opinion.

[Undisputedtruth]

What is the Tories' latest excuse for another recession?

[DJKillaQueen]

Indeed. Time they accepted their policies are making things worse.

[Huguenot]

Conversely a pursuit of free government spending may have resulted in a collapse of market confidence on a par with Greece or Spain, resulting in interest payments that trashed public spending far in excess of the growth of public spending that we've actually experienced in spite of 'austerity'.

Is there a right answer in that one? Probably not, but I'm also pretty sure that if either DJKQ or GormlessTruth had control of the exchequer we'd be in a worse situation ;-)

[Undisputedtruth]

The UK is nothing like Greece or Spain when it comes to public debt, Huguenot. Are you really that dim to believe the UK is? Apparently you are. This Tory scaremongering excuse is tiresome and downright dishonest. Just like you, Huguenot. :))

[DJKillaQueen]

I'm also pretty sure that if either DJKQ or GormlessTruth had control of the exchequer we'd be in a worse situation.

Why? I have always argued for growth through investment in people prepared to work hard for themselves and in turn employ others and that people in work paying tax is better than people out of work taking benefits. This government, not unlike the last conservative government believe that higer unemployment is a price worth paying. It makes no economic sense to me or many extremely bright economists who think the same way. Pretty much every prediction the coalition have made regarding the impact of their policies has been wrong. Hard to champion that level of miscalculation I'm afraid.

[Marmora Man]

This "double dip" is a technical creation - good to beat up the coalition gov't about but, in reality, a half percent growth / lack of growth is within the margin of error and this position is neither a triumph of gov't policy nor an indictment of it.

The simple truth is that as a country GDP is flatlining - and government indebtedness is still growing - only very slightly more slowly than Alistair Darling and Labour would have done. This is a world recession - it would have hurt UK whatever the state of gov't finances. It is tougher to climb out of in UK because of the debt fuelled spending spree of 2004 - 2009.

There is no magic bullet - there is and will continue to be pain for the economy and UK, I plan to retire in 3 years time and don't expect the country to be in a markedly better position by then. If individuals were prudent, didn't have massive debt, have a tracker mortgage (tho' watch out when bank rates rise) and if they remain in work then it's not so bad. For those whose jobs have vanished it is really tough. Politicians of left, right or centre pretending that it can be otherwise if Gov't simply spent more money that it doesn't have is misleading at best and a downright lie at worst.

[LondonMix]

Undisputed Truth, you're right but not for the reasons you think. Spain's debt as a percentage of GDP is much LOWER than the UK's... In 2010, the UK budget deficit was HIGHER than Spain's and in 2011 it was about equal. If the UK didn't have control over its currency and wasn't taking measures to reduce the deficit it would be much more affected by the sovereign debt crisis. People are largely ignorant of how dire the UK's financial situation really is...

[Undisputedtruth]

Everyone seems to be worried about Greece and Spain. I'm more worried that the UK may turn out to be like Japan where the austerity measures caused a slump that lasted a decade.

Not entirely sure UK's financial situation is in dire straits. At the end of the second world, UK's debt levels were far higher than today and yet it was manageable. However, I do recognise that the credit raters, the same people who failed to do their jobs properly on sub-prime mortgages, may, at some point, perversely downgrade UK's outlook. Subsequently causing an increased budget deficit.

[LondonMix]

Yes, maybe everyone is over reacting to the debt levels. Greece was clearly insolvent but despite the challenges facing Italy and Spain, if they like Britain had control over their currency, the situation would be very different.

I share your concern that a situation like Japan is rather probable but it the current environment, continuing to borrow without making efforts to reduce the deficit would be suicidal

[Undisputedtruth]

To cut the deficit you also need growth to raise the income tax revenue. That is something the Tories are not good at doing. Making cuts alone means you're not gaining as much revenue and just end up borrowing more.

[LondonMix]

Agreee! Too much austerity too quickly can be counterproductive if it leads to a recession. We are getting close to that breaking point...