fantasy manifesto....

[blueboyno1]

i have no problem with anyone coming to this country to better their life as long as they work and contribute to the system and economy .It is the millions who claim all sort of benifits and get everything that is going that gets up my bose .The tax payers are paying for these peopl. Have you ever been for a night out with say three others and one of them is not standing his round ,you soon get fed up with it and either say something or dump him at the first chance ,so why do we tolerate these people who are doing the same .There is plenty immigrants who stand their round in this country .They are not the problem.

[hoochykoochy]

Immigration is a Europe-wide problem, which has seen an uprising in right-wing political parties across the continent!

The continuing growth of the worlds population is, I feel, the real issue here. 6 Billion mouths to feed and only half those number of jobs inevitably leads to migration. The question is how to tackle it! The Chinese were widely panned for their Birth control / population measures, but when you consider that 6 Billion will become 7 Billion by 2025, third world countries becoming more developed and employment becoming more and more self-automated, the harsh reality is that the world community is at some point going to have to take really difficult decisions in order to resolve this issue.

[Hume]

I'd tax earned wealth less and inherited wealth more

i.e (I havn't thought this through yet) raise the tax free personal allowance for all, extend the basic rate tax band.

Then pay for it by removing the IHT Nil Rate Band for all assets but the Main Residence.

[blueboyno1]

With such a wealth of financial wizards on this forum it amazes me why the country is in the mess it's in

[LANDROVER ROGER]

With such a wealth of financial wizards on this forum it amazes me why the country is in the mess it's in

And welcome back Speaker`s Corner!

[£3.73]

There seems to be a general misconception that this current financial crisis happened out of the blue & needs fixed.
That's not how these things happen.

[blueboyno1]

There seems to be a general misconception that this current financial crisis happened out of the blue & needs fixed.
That's not how these things happen.

Does it not need fixed.

[£3.73]

if you're one of the many who possesses fairly crap skills, but have found yourself in a well paying "management" position ... then this is probably going to hurt a lot. To understand that, you need to follow the transition from a manufacturing, to a service based, to a credit based economy. (It was the credit based economy that just went tits up).

Basically, people are traditionally cautious about borrowing what they cant afford. So somehow you have to pay them a lot more than what they're worth ... and at the same time dangle lots of temptations in front of them. The hope is, they will buy into tempatation .... and take out loans accordingly ... hence .. pretty much since New Labour (lol) came to power ... that's been the order of the day. Get people to boost the economy by getting in debt.

Obviously that cant last forever. So now, all the debts have been burdened onto the taxpayer.

Frankly, I can't see why anyone is surprised at this.

The Prime Minister isn't elected, the decision makers are mostly unelected (yet they are attendees at things like Bilderberg) ... and who elects (or what are) think tanks. britain is fighting 2 illegal wars, and is now part of Europe an area of the world ... to be governed by a world government.

And the big laugh is ... all this happened because no-one was interested. No-one cared. Did you consent to any of this ?

Did you actually bother that you weren't asked to consent to any of this ?

The game has moved on. It makes me laugh on here that anyone still thinks voting for this or that makes a blind bit of difference.

[ionnsaigh]

The continuing growth of the worlds population is, I feel, the real issue here. 6 Billion mouths to feed and only half those number of jobs inevitably leads to migration. The question is how to tackle it! The Chinese were widely panned for their Birth control / population measures, but when you consider that 6 Billion will become 7 Billion by 2025, third world countries becoming more developed and employment becoming more and more self-automated, the harsh reality is that the world community is at some point going to have to take really difficult decisions in order to resolve this issue.

Of course there is a much more frightening scenario - that the population peaks - then begins to diminish to the point of extinction. So I would guess that environmental conditions, are healthy in terms of growth. Nature usually has a way of trimming off excessive numbers. However the other way has at it's kernel - critical mass - below which lies the death of the Human Species - remembering Dinosaurs. The profit of self automated work ( the freeing of manual labour to produce food ) should reduce the cost. We can and will produce food - for next to practically nothing. Genetic engineering will mean that we control growth cycles and abundance. I really can't see a major problem. The number of spoons will have to be increased - the size of the spoons - should be relative to the overall size of the pot.

See for the lovers of Democracy on this thread can we define what we mean. I was under the impression that in a democracy the majority holds sway. So why do we allow a rich minority - to rule the non rich majority.

[£3.73]

No Ionns !

You must be aware of the 7/84 theatre company.

7% of the population own 84% of the wealth (a bit outdated)

Government is by the 7% ... to keep the 93% in their place and chip away at the 16% of the wealth they own.

Since pre-biblical times, all you have to do is put your own people at the head of each political party (and who elects think tanks that formulate party policy ?).
The populous vote "freely", but the outcome is pre-determined because one interest owns every horse in the race so to speak.

Let's be pretty clear about things here. At this time, there is no economy to follow on from the credit based one.
The pension funds people paid into are gone.
Social security will soon be gone.

And unfortunately, it doesn't matter if people vote Conservative, Labour, Liberal,SNP,BNP, John Smeaton .... or for the man in the moon.

The only people who could easily grasp this are farmers ... because all this is ... is farm management ... but on a far greater scale.

[Tom B]

I look forward to hearing from you Tom B.

Hi Deirdre

I like a lot of what the Solidarity talk about - "against social injustice and poverty, for a decent living wage and pensions for all, against hospital closures and local service cuts, for empowered communities and trade union rights, in opposition to racist discrimination and bigotry and all forms of oppression, for our civil liberties...."

...it's hard not to, but I think overall my views are split across a wide range of parties, so it's hard to choose any one party to vote for. (I did like what the Jury Team proposed, an alliance of independent candidates - but they then they blew it by having Smeato' as their candidate in Glasgow East).

I think socialism is a great idea, but I can't see it ever working in practise - people just aren't like that. That's not to say that I don't think collectively we should do more to protect 'the weakest in society' to a greater extent than we do now - the amount of the state pension is the no.1 disgrace I think. However, we need to pay for that and everything else.

My objection to the privatised railway is that when I travel by rail I do it at short notice and (my company) gets completely fleeced. I often end up driving because it's cheaper, and that's not good. I'm quite happy for the government to outsource the running of aspects of the railway (e.g. the east & west coast mainlines to London), so that it is run efficiently, but overall control needs to be centrally controlled, and run for the benefits of society (not just the rail workers). If this mean an overall loss, and collectively we think that is a price worth paying to have an efficient rail service, so be it. It should be a service not a profit centre. Government has been subsidising the rail operating companies by funding network rail for years.

I do think we need one more generation of nuclear power stations to last us until 2050, when renewables and other sources of' clean' energy are fully available, otherwise we're going to run out of electricity in 10-15 years.

Not sure on the terms of the recent postal strike, but support you in being against closing post offices last year for financial reasons - that was a big crime. It's not just about profit, it's about communities and when you lose that everything else starts to go too, and we all end up paying in other ways.

You may also remember my letters to encourage the SNP Govt to be brave and set up a publicly owned renewable energy company to research, develop and manufacture renewable technology for domestic and industrial use. I don't think you can leave such important jobs to the 'free market'. If private companies are successful, with the use of graduates from the state funded universities, the richest line their pockets. If they are unsuccessful.....we foot the bill and the people of our planet suffer.

Unfortunately not everyone shares your altruistic views, and by nature some of the best engineers are driven by the competition (with its financial gains). Working for a state company where everyone will benefit equally from your endeavours is not universally appealling. I think the UK & Scottish governments are excellent in terms of making it possible for new technologies to be developed in the capitalist society, but with plenty of government support (financial and otherewise). However, I would be interested to see a publicly owned renewable energy company too - why not?

Worth noting that successful private companies and businesses are the biggest employer in Scotland and the UK.

The 'free market' will always serve the needs of the few over the many. It can never give you equality or fairness. It is always greed over need.

The least bad option is a capitalist system, with a conscience to look after those who need it, but also with a stick to stop the system being abused.

[Sunny Kintyre]

There are Two sides to the coin - what comes in - and what goes out. Scotland has a long history of migration, yet do we think that they went to live off the backs of the particular country - they happened to settle in ? That they where a drain on the resources - no we don't. So lets apply the same set of moral rules - when it comes to Stanislaw or Mohamed.

You have to ask yourself - why people choose to immigrate in the first place. Economic necessity or choice, is I suspect the root cause of people leaving the country of their birth. Your labour is sold to the lowest bidder, out there in the big bad world - that compelling fact is not in the best interest of any worker - regardless the country of birth.
Lets take a completely xenophobic BNP stance - and blame Paddy or Mick - rather than examine the set of circumstances that drove them away from their home in the first place.

Wait a wee minute, Paddy and Mick came over here to work, there was no one meeting them off the boat and giving them money , houses, new furniture. And the same goes for Scots that go to another country, no one will give them a penny when they arrive, they will have to have enough money on them to get in, and then work to keep themselves.

[ionnsaigh]

Over one Million Britons ( for want of a better term ) emigrated to Australia, safe in the knowledge that housing and work would be provided ( Assisted Passenger Scheme )
If they can do it ( Australia ) then why can't we ? at least without someone screaming " they get this, and they get that ".
After all isn't there a strong moral argument, to help and prevent need. Destitution in the West Highlands and Ireland drove Millions to emigrate from our shores. Least we forget a debt of gratitude, to those who fed and clothed our emigrants. I may not be a Christian - however I could never turn the poor away from my door.