“But the Future Jobs scheme is to be axed in the Coalition cuts. It is by no means all. Liverpool City Council has been told its Area-Based Grant budget – the money local councils get from central government – is being cut by £9.28m for the current financial year. And that is before the Coalition cuts proper start next year.
Already being axed are funds for a project to help unemployed people in the most deprived areas of the city set up their own businesses. A project to speed the rehousing of people made homeless by mortgage repossessions will go. Free sports and recreational facilities for young people have already gone. Free fruit and vegetables for primary school children have been reduced. A keep-fit programme to help the elderly stay active has been cut, which will almost certainly send some of them into residential care earlier than need be the case.
Quit Smoking and Cut Down on Booze projects have been cut. So have handyman services available to help the old and frail cope. Grants available for families with children with Special Educational Needs have been cut. So has a scheme to provide free smoke alarms for the old and vulnerable. “
The above piece is cut from the Independent (linked to the story).
It gives some idea of the kind of things that are being cut in the interim. And all this is before the real cuts start to happen next year.
We are told that we must have cuts so that the UK government can replay the massive borrowing undertaken by the last government. By my recollection at least half of that borrowing was done to secure the future of the banks, which are now, according to The Telegraph are making excess profits for loans....... and which as we all know have returned to the champagne and oyster lifestyle that they were enjoying in the run up to the crash that they created.
Don’t you just think that it’s wrong, plain wrong, that the old and the frail, the unemployed, the sick and the poor are paying back the money these ...erm... bankers..... gambled and lost?
I’ve been here before with this story and I make no apology for highlighting it again. It wasn’t these people’s fault, and although at least some of them wouldn’t mind sharing some of the pain, this kind of cutting is disproportionate.
Lack of some of these things will kill people, of that there is no doubt. For others it will just mean lives, already unhappy, will be made a bit more miserable. And in some cases, as hinted in the story, it is short-termism staring them in the face. If old people’s services are reduced, some will have to go into homes and that, in t
he end, as well as being totally miserable for them, will cost more money.
If this is only the start, what will we be left when the real cuts start? And David Cameron, for whom, and for whose family, none of this is even vaguely relevant, tells us that when the crisis is over the cuts will not be restored (but of course the 50p tax rate will disappear).
And we're all in this together?
Aye right we are.
Already being axed are funds for a project to help unemployed people in the most deprived areas of the city set up their own businesses. A project to speed the rehousing of people made homeless by mortgage repossessions will go. Free sports and recreational facilities for young people have already gone. Free fruit and vegetables for primary school children have been reduced. A keep-fit programme to help the elderly stay active has been cut, which will almost certainly send some of them into residential care earlier than need be the case.
Quit Smoking and Cut Down on Booze projects have been cut. So have handyman services available to help the old and frail cope. Grants available for families with children with Special Educational Needs have been cut. So has a scheme to provide free smoke alarms for the old and vulnerable. “
The above piece is cut from the Independent (linked to the story).
It gives some idea of the kind of things that are being cut in the interim. And all this is before the real cuts start to happen next year.
We are told that we must have cuts so that the UK government can replay the massive borrowing undertaken by the last government. By my recollection at least half of that borrowing was done to secure the future of the banks, which are now, according to The Telegraph are making excess profits for loans....... and which as we all know have returned to the champagne and oyster lifestyle that they were enjoying in the run up to the crash that they created.
Don’t you just think that it’s wrong, plain wrong, that the old and the frail, the unemployed, the sick and the poor are paying back the money these ...erm... bankers..... gambled and lost?
I’ve been here before with this story and I make no apology for highlighting it again. It wasn’t these people’s fault, and although at least some of them wouldn’t mind sharing some of the pain, this kind of cutting is disproportionate.
Lack of some of these things will kill people, of that there is no doubt. For others it will just mean lives, already unhappy, will be made a bit more miserable. And in some cases, as hinted in the story, it is short-termism staring them in the face. If old people’s services are reduced, some will have to go into homes and that, in t
he end, as well as being totally miserable for them, will cost more money.If this is only the start, what will we be left when the real cuts start? And David Cameron, for whom, and for whose family, none of this is even vaguely relevant, tells us that when the crisis is over the cuts will not be restored (but of course the 50p tax rate will disappear).
And we're all in this together?
Aye right we are.
There is another in fact only way out of this.
ReplyDeletehttp://newsnetscotland.com/economy/632-would-an-independent-scotland-have-a-viable-economy
I really urge everyone to read the article CH linked to there.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant Cynical, and yes, as it says at the end Alex has smelled the coffee. For the first time in a while we are hearing Independence writ large.
As the guy says it's no longer a case of Scotland's viable economy or not...
The UK is broke and will stay broke. So anyone who thought that life would be terrible without london's helping hand can think again. It's going to be terrible anyway.
There's an awful lot of waste in the public sector. Especially in councils. Liverpool are about to employ a new Chief Exec at £200K plus expenses. There are 9,000 council employees on over £100K a year.
ReplyDeleteWhy should schools be feeding children ?
Why can't folk do their own exercise ?
Like go for a walk ?
Are we so feeble minded that we need 'Quit smoking and cut down on booze projects'. How many non jobs and fake charity jobs did that scam have to pay for ? And why if we're so skint are we trying to keep folk alive longer ? Won't that just cost more money in pensions / homecare etc ?
Oh and the 'children with special needs ' is just another scam thought up by Labour who trashed our education system and can't even get kids to pass dumbed down exams. A million kids in 'special needs' are perfectly capable of normal needs according to last weeks Ofsted report.
I agree that the banks are to blame for the mess in conjunction with labour but until we remove their guarantee against failure and 0.5% interest rate then it will happen again. Only worse next time.
I see we are not cutting back on pointless shows to celebrate the Battle of Britain where we can trot out the usual royals and make it seem like they are worth the enormous amouts they cost. And we are not cutting back on International aid in order for David Cameron to stay at the top table and be in the G8.
ReplyDeleteI guess that things like help to stop smoking and making sure poor kids get some fruit are not that important to people who have plenty money and either don't smoke or think they have it under control. That's always they way with so called libertarians, it's just the worst form of organised selfishness. What they really want is the liberty to do what they want but heaven forbid that anyone elses liberty should intrude on their own!
Munguin said..
ReplyDelete" pointless shows to celebrate the Battle of Britain "
I don't think you understand the meaning of liberty if you make such a crass comment.
You wouldn't have any liberty if the 500 young pilots hadn't laid down their lives for you.
You worry about people not getting help to stop smoking. Why should we pay to help people to stop smoking ? it's supposed to be a free country so why can't people be free to smoke as much as they want. It's no wonder we're in such a mess when our schools have to feed our kids because their parents are too feckless to do it themselves and we have to nanny people about smoking and drinking.
I tell you what would save us billions. Abandon the global warming scam, get out of the EU, stop all foreign aid and stop all 3rd world immigration. That should do it. It would force businesses to pay workers a proper wage rather than the pittance of the minimum wage which only the immigrants can survive on.
Ah Grumpy, I see that your version of liberty includes high profile fly pasts with all the trimming to say thank you, and that unless we subscribe to that kind of showiness we are ungrateful and crass. Whereas I think it’s perfectly feasible to say thanks with quiet dignity without the need to have David Cameron and the HRHs there. See what I mean about different liberties for different people. Mine doesn’t totally accord with yours so that’s fine for the name calling etc
ReplyDeleteMunguin..
ReplyDeleteIt's the 70th Anniversary for goodness sake. Most of the folk involved in the battle will be dead soon. They certainly wouldn't think it was pointless and would have wanted to mourn their friends. An hour of pomp isn't much for them to ask for after they gave 6 years and their friends gave their lives.
Is your version of Liberty to ban all memorials and hope people remember ? How will we learn from history if we do that ?
Well hello Grumpy
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Munguin’s Republic.
Of course there is waste in the public sector. Not nearly as much as there once was, but still waste. But there are many jobs that are necessary. Once we start shedding them and things start closing down, or becoming so expensive that no one can afford them, we will see how much we rely on the councils, Civil Service, NHS.
One of the errors I think that we make is that we assume that everyone is as capable as we are to cope with things; or as fortunate, in some cases, to have been born with the proverbial silver spoon so that they can pay someone to cope for them.
Shaking our heads at the poor and tut tutting because they are less capable than us may be satisfying, but in the end it gets us nowhere.
I stopped smoking with no help. I said “I won’t smoke again” and 6years later I never have. I was only tempted once. Not everybody is that lucky. Projects to help people stop are long term cost effective, but have to be paid for up front. Drink is the scourge of the country. Some people can just stop like that! Others have problems that bring untold misery to their families and neighbours and cost to society, as the story on the news suggests tonight. Again they are long term cost effective. The same can be said of weight reduction classes. Some people can manage alone and others need help.
School dinners go back a long way. Frequently the free school meal is the only meal a kid gets. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a mother or a father that cooks.
I completely agree that the people who work at the top in the public sector seem to be paid inordinate amounts. Scottish doctors get more than twice their French counterparts. Council chiefs, Civil Service heads, headmasters, police chiefs all get paid way too much.
So do politicians. The House of Lords will soon have 1000 members at £350 a day, or thereby, plus subsidised restaurants and bars. The UK has 650+ MPs for a tiny country. The US has 435. Their upper House is a tenth the size of ours.
These people will simply have to take substantial cut in their wages, and the management tier of the Civil Service will have to be thinned down.
But keeping people alive is what we do. What do you suggest? We kill them all off at 60? 65? 70? At the first signs of illness? Who would decide? The kids wanting to get their hands on the money 5 years early?
Personally I’d bring in voluntary euthanasia but I don’t imagine it will happen any time soon.
I have half way house feelings on the memorial thing.
ReplyDeleteIt’s true that some of these people went through hell, and many died. And I have no doubt that we should be grateful to them for what they were prepared, or ordered, to do. But why does it have to be so elaborate. Does respecting something always have to be done with such show?
The most effective and sincere tributes are not done on anniversaries. Anniversaries are crass. Oh we can remember on the 20th and the 30th and the 50th and so on... and if we put on a bigger display than anyone else it will look good. What about preserving the memory of these lads every day by maintaining the liberty that they fought for?
Why does Britain only think they have done a proper job of something if they have spent a fortune on it? Is it because Britons only measure the value of something by money?
It reminds me of the principle that lies behind the family funeral that people go to out of duty rather than a genuine caring about the person, but still get dressed up in black and the women have to have new frocks and coats and shoes and think that that does it. You can care without being showy.
It's only pointless in as much as I think that given our current circumstance I don't think we are in a position to afford these never ending memorials, with royals to left and right. There are young men currently dying for this so called liberty. Don't you think their lives are equally as worthy of a royal junket? But we certainly can't do that can we? Or it would be a never ending stream of fly pasts and the royals would not get their holidays all over the world. We have set aside a day to remember those killed in wars, a day at which royals and big wigs can get together and be seen to be doing the right thing. I think these anniversaries should be a quiet time for those involved or for those students of history to mark the occasion in their own way. Tell me grumpy do you still run the flags up on Trafalgar day?
ReplyDeletetris..
ReplyDeleteHi
I don't think we should kill people off but I don't think we can afford all the programmes and fake charities that constantly try to get people to stop smoking etc. It was ok during the 'boom' years but we're skint now so it has to stop.
Let people smoke and drink and eat as much as they want. It will boost retail sales and help the economy. It will also mean they will die earlier and save us paying them pensions etc. Do enough healthwise to relieve their pain but don't do liver transplants etc if they destroy their liver through excess. There's already a rule where certain criteria are required before transplants are carried out. Stopping smoking and drinking etc. A certain weight or whatever. So it's nothing radical. Just expanding the rules due to the country being broke.
munguin..
I don't run up the flag on Trafalgar day but I do remember on the 11th November.