political commentator * author * publisher * bookseller * radio presenter * blogger * Conservative candidate * former lobbyist * Jack Russell owner * West Ham United fanatic * Email iain AT iaindale DOT com
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
PMQs Review & Open Thread
I have been a bad blogger again and wasn't able to see PMQs. Feel free to leave your analysis in the comments. Total Politics is moving offices today so I am afraid it's unlikely I will have time to blog.
Fairly typical PMQs - David Cameron banged on about spending, and Gordon Brown ducked the point. One splendid moment when GB attempted to call a 0% change in spending as a 'rise'. Nick Clegg made good point on Trident, and then it was the usual mix of Backbenchers either reading what the whips have given them (Labour), or banging on about spending some more (Conservative).
One very annoying moment, as GB was asked about healthcare spend 2011-2014, and answered a question about healthcare spend 2009-2010. It really winds me up when he doesn't even attempt to engage with question.
Gordon Brown - 4 David Cameron - 5 Nick Clegg - 6 Speaker - 4
The whole thing was very lame, Cameron once again failing to go for the kill.
I have a terrible feeling this period is going to go down in history as "Brown's poorer years". There doesn't seem to be any way to get the unelected, lying piece of shit out by conventional means, and until Cameron can come up with a convincing counter, Broon will continue to bang on about Tory cuts until it's burnt into the memory of the underclass.
A month ago, I was convinced, but now - just you wait and see Liebour's polls start to rise, come election time there is a real danger that the unthinkable will happen.
Mr Cameron, you are about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Cameron was on good form, Clegg was a stirrer but was played down easily, while Gordon couldn't answer a question directly. No change this week.
Brown did take every opportunity to stab the Tories, which made him look weak and afraid. It was also an abuse, since the Tories could not answer back on a one to one basis. Labour are an abusive government, and it shows in all aspects of their new proposed legislation, and their so called leader isn't setting the best of examples. The sooner they are gone the better.
Brown still as dishonest as ever. Cameron points out unemployment is going up and it suddenly becomes Tory Party policy. Brown is a twat. You look at the faces of the rest of the front bench apart from that smug get with the utterly punchable face and MILFISH wife, Ed Balls. The rest of the front bench, not just Darling as picked up by the Beeb, looked very awkward during Browns lies. Mind you we get a zero percent increase so that is still an increase. Cameron needs to move on and Clegg is doing okay and opening up an interesting front on the Tories. Brown 4 Cameron 6 Clegg 5
V difficult for DC when Brown either does not answer the question or lies.
Frankly, if I were Cameron I'd simply say next PMQs that since the PM can't be bothered actually to answer a question, I can't be bothered to ask one and sit down.
I didn't quite get Brown's point about the Tory plans. If you're coming out of recession, why would you not forecast for high unemployment? Prepare for the worst surely, and treat good news as a welcome bonus. He practically admitted that Labour's figures are based on pie-in-the-sky forecasts that unemployment will be low again in the next few years.
That explains why they don't want a spending review. It's a disgrace.
Might be a bad performance by Brown but he has another tag for the Conservatives, "The Party of unemployment". Each week he will come out iwht a different byline. That is the ploy by the looks of it. Politics Home are carrying it as their tag. It is just depressing that this man is the one that is running the country at the moment.
It's getting to the stage where Gordon's spinning is laughable. He even accused the Tories of wanting high unemployment. Laughable, shameful and downright dishonest spinning from the King of the spinners. And I thought Tony was the King of it?
PMQs has become a complete farce and is doing a lot to reinforce the public's perception that Parliament is dysfunctional and irrelevant to their own lives. Bercow has very quickly got into the habit of taking the line of least resistance. He's done nothing about the continuing practice of leaking news to the media before announcements are made in the House and he's done nothing about insisting the the PM actually answers the Qs. And, while I agree that the PM is deceitful, Bercow should have challenged Cameron's use of the word 'deceit' since it's unparliamentary language.
I wish we could end the farce of the Brown government right now and am more and more convinced that it is completely wrong that the PM controls election dates. We really do need an autumn election but there's diddly-squat we can do to get one.
One a different subject, I hope Iain's move goes well. But am I alone in thinking that his success in other fields is beginning to have a detrimental effect on this website?
Or Cameron could ask "Will departmental spending fall after 2011?"
Brown "bluster, bluster"
Cameron "So that's a yes, then. Will Schools Spending fall after 2011?"
Brown "Mrs Thatcher, milk snatcher etc"
Cameron: "So that's a 'don't know'"
etc
etc
Cameron can finish with "So that's one yes, one no, three don't knows , and one mind your own business. May I remind the PM that we don't object to cuts. As Mervyn King / Alistair Darling / etc says, we have to live within our means. But won't they be easier to discuss if we have a PM who is able to discuss them honestly?"
Brown never answers a question and merely uses the time as a soapbox to spout against the nasty tories.
A waste of 30 minutes of all our lives.
Interesting Mandy's threat never came to light (embarrassing Cameron over Osborne).
I won't be watching again Iain - it really is a waste of time, and disappointing that Bercow isn't stamping his authority on the house.
Given the BBF campaign where the public are going to be legally entitled to NuLab policies, I fear no matter who gets in at the GE, their hands will be tied.
weren't Darlings budget forecasts based on some form of recovery by July 09 ?
Well, here we are on day 1 of July 09, and as far as I can tell, we are not only still deep in the shit, but it's about to get deeper.
At the next PMQ, Cameron should time Brown and when he gets up, point out our debt is growing by what is it, 30 grand a second ?
Then he could say "During the time he diodn't answer the question, our national debt has risen by another 30 million, without heim telling us why or what he intends to do about it".
I live outside the UK but managed to catch PMQ time over the net.
Please, please tell me that someone has captured the 0% growth statement on video and has posted it on You Tube as the BBC iThingy block access from out side the UK.
The real cracker was watching Harriet Harpies face when he made the imbecility.
It was as if she was ready to go to the Ladies and when she heard Boon-Cloon talking his keich she nearly let go of her own anal sphincter and needed all her concentration to suck it back in.
For everything less there's Mastercard.
W V = BULSH ------------------couldn't make it up"
anonymous, I believe the Tories want to cut spending everywhere and increase unemployment.
That is what Gordon said. It MUST be true.
Clegg has half a point in that the Tories are happy not to tell us what they want to do. They are letting Brown fill in the gaps for them however Brown is so utterly thick and stupid he has no credibility.
Brown needs to take a lesson from Mr Roh in South Korea.
anon 1.24 "the torys have said they will cut spending in schools now...fact"
No - they have said they will not ring fence Education from cuts, not that they will cut it. There is a difference although probably not in Gordon "Mr 0%" Brown's mind.
WV = shiesse. My German's not great, perhaps one of you learned people could tell me if it's appropriate given the absolute bollocks from the PM today?
Anonymous, if Brown had let George Osborne have the info he wanted instead of stopping it and getting Mandy to do his dirty work for him we would get an answer.
Still perhaps when Gordon goes on about the record investment in new schools he could mention the govt has paid virtually squat towards it and it is all on PFI.
So Browns attack now is Tories 'The party of the unemployed' looks like he has admitted defeat on the 10% tag and now wishes to scare the electorate that vote Cameron=Unemployment.
This with unemployment a lagging indicator expected to rise throughout 2010 to 3.4 millions probably 10% of teh population if you add in the people outside the figures on some benefit or training.
You know what I hate Brown and feel dangerous that I could be arrested as I would surely love to meet him and do him some personal damage. I really have never experienced anything like my hatred for this imbecile.
I for one would welcome the spending of the education department coming under the spotlight.
My other half is a teacher and the things they waste money on makes my blood boil.
As a teacher in Tower Hamlets, my other half has to get involved in:
Teaching children Bengali as their modern foreign language.
teaching Somalian children their native language (as apparently it will help them learn English)
Surely the money spent on the above two things would be better spent learning English or Maths or some other subject that is useful in the UK.
Just because the education budget is being looked at doesn't mean schools will be cut.
Haven't NuLab just cut £100 million of the education consultancy budget by scrapping centralised curriculae ? (Sp?)
Sorry, I am so furious today. More so with myself. I haven't had a cigarette for two days now after a 25 year habit, and PMQ drove me to the shop for the inevitable.
I don't care who is in power as long as their policies are for the good of the country. NuLab's are not and I am sick of the smug faces of those career politicians.
I am just so so sick at what politics in this country has become. Petty points scoring and no substance. Cromwell would turn in his grave
Dont worry no party will cut public spending in schools and health,they will raise taxes instead.No party would want riots and strikes that would make the country come to a stand-still.
I hate to break it to whichever of the Anons want school spending protected, but we can't afford it. Gordon admitted today that his projections aren't based on rising unemployment and that the £175bn, £173bn, £140bn and £90bn that we will be borrowing over the next few years are actually going to be a whole lot higher.
We're going to default on our payments and the IMF will force us to make drastic cuts. There won't be much of a country left for your children to inherit. If you really care about them, you wouldn't saddle them with debt for the whole of their lives just so you can spend money on services now.
It is time for the unthinkable. We need to slash the NHS budget, reduce it to a core NHS that protects general sickness, accident & emergency, Children and pregnancy, mental health and elderly provision with emphasis on palliative care. With greater emphasis on pain reduction.
Then sell off the other parts of the NHS. We also need to slash the welfare budget and provide the basics.
The problem with the human race is giving them a health safety blanket and they will abuse it. People spend more on cars and home furnishings than making sure their health is protected. The above would enable us to reduce NI a tax on the employed and stimulate the economy.
Yes people die it is a fact, we cannot forever sink money into a black hole. I propose a sea change in the way we see the NHS it is and should never be a panacea for people to abuse their bodies. You would not put Tesco petrol in a Rolls Royce and this should be extended to the human body, you only have one so look after it and it will look after you.
Take away the net and the people will rise (not a reference to our Zero PM) The Purps.
Brown hurriedly moved past the question of the take-over of the East Coast rail franchise. Whose Government was it who allowed such a patsy of a contract - Gordon's methinks.
The only way to lower the budget on schools is to confirm a reduction in the total population in these islands is necessary.
I believe the optimum level is 30-40 million. So we will need to ensure 20 millions leave for greener pastures. Hopefully when the Scots get independance, we can send the hoards living in England back over the border, that includes the one eyed mental case in number 10
"millions of voters will not vot for any party that cut spending in schools.fact"
They might do if we suddenly found ourselves unable to borrow and those voters were told the level of tax we'd have to pay in order to afford that level of spending.
You do realise that if we weren't paying any debt interest that we'd be able to lower basic rate income tax by upto 9%? Think about that next time you get a pay slip.
PMQs was always knockabout stuff, but at least with performers of the calibre of Blair and Hague at the despatch box, you were guaranteed first-rate knockabout. What we are getting at the moment really is third-rate stuff.
For a start, the transparent dishonesty of it all lent the whole thing an air of unreality, with Brown looking for all the world a broken, bewildered, beaten man. And with the cabinet looking on more in sadness than with any great enthusiasm or support for him this really was a sorry show. Dismal, desperate and depressing stuff.
Why doesn't Brown cut the waffle and get to the point: if the Tories win the Election, it will rain for 40 days and 40 nights, the ice age will return within two years, none of us will have a job, the public services will shut down, and we'll all live on the streets under a canvass. Watching him at PMQ has just become embarrassing, but not just that, it's making me angry now. I have always been embarrassed at having him as my PM, now it just humiliates me. GET RID OF HIM. NOW!!!
"Havocman, i believe George Osbourne has spilt the beans on spending on schools. Good on him, I'm sick of paying for the state-sector."
Has he actually said that spending will be cut? I know that he has said that education spending will not be ring fenced. I stand corrected if he has mentioned cuts. If he hasn't though, I object to the Government line.
The cloning of Harpeople needs to be investigated, it was quite scary seeing them either side of Brown today.
On schools spending - surely what matters is the results of the spending, not the amount of spending itself? We've had an extra £90bn thrown at schools with little discernable result on educational outcomes, which suggests we could cut back a bit without making much difference where it matters. You've now got kids who've lived all their lives under Labour, leaving school with 28% not able to read and write at the standard expected of 11 year olds. Mind you, given the uselessness of the tests involved, it's anybody's guess what the real situation is - which government introduced equivalent tests at 14 in 1998 and then last year decided that they were a waste of time?
Incidentally Iain, I know you're away today, but can you fix your blogroll link to Political Betting? It needs a www. in front of it.
"It is time for the unthinkable. We need to slash the NHS budget, reduce it to a core NHS that protects general sickness, accident & emergency, Children and pregnancy, mental health and elderly provision with emphasis on palliative care. With greater emphasis on pain reduction."
That's not unthinkable. Cutting off health care to anyone over 80 - after all, they've already had a good innings, and the wealthy can support themselves, making access to the NHS dependent on National Insurance contributions (with the exception of lethal injections of morphine) introducing compulsory contraception, and government permits for all of those who actively want to reproduce; introducing an organ exchange, whereby we can buy in from China; making pregnant women give birth on an assault course so that only the strongest and hardiest babies survive. . .
That's unthinkable stuff - use your imagination, man!
One more point, did anyone notice the looks of Tessa Jowell and Harriet Harman hold down their heads? Probably in shame? Just watched the clip again on YouTube. They must be thinking to themselves: "Why did they not get rid of him when they had the chance?" Now it looks like they are stuck with him until the election.
Can anyone post a link to video footage of PMQs in full (on the day it has happened)? I am probably making a hash of searching for it, but all I can find is snippets from today, not the whole thing.
I would not punish smokers or drinkers as they pay TAXES on the products, I would however stop treating Drug related sickness on the NHS.
In my post, I said I would ring fence Mental- health care, elderly care and pain relief treatment.
I would not ban Fat People, however, I would use some of the budget cuts in the NHS budget to transfer to the Schools budget and ensure sports for all schools. I would use the additional transferred budget to ensure schools were opened up after hours to the public as well as free gyms and pools.
Cancer treatment would naturally come under general illnesses.
We could hold a referendum on spending the health budget left on what services and treatments it should concentrate. Then fix it at that level of funding for 5-years.
I would also sack lots of managers and doctors, while increasing wages for cleaning staff to ensure clean hospitals free of Labour MRSA and C dif.
I can tell you, as a former chairman of an NHS Trust (appointed by Conservative and re-appointed by Labour Governments) that MRSA has always been with us.
It is just that it became newsworthy! Cleaners are very important but I believe visitors should be given paper body suits and shoes, at cost,when they go through reception. + Wash hands etc. That will help to keep the incidents of MRSA down.
Just think of the hundreds of visitors every day- all day coming and going. It is a matter of education.
I like your suggestion on a referendum but it would have to be very carefully worded or it will be like a multi choice examination paper!
I found that the people wanted cuts. They could not understand why cosmetic surgery was given, (in cases other than clinically necessary). that vasectomies were given on the NHS etc.
That people were allowed to fly into this country, on holiday etc, and have treatment on the NHS!
I would not, as you suggest, sack some doctors. But I definately agree that the administration costs could, quite easily, be reduced dramatically. Plus, of course, the so many quango's operating within the NHS.
As for denying drug related illnesses. I do not agree.
I believe that drugs should be legalised and doctors prescribe them. Too many young people are criminalised and so much time and money is wasted on drug policies that will not succeed. Prohibition has never worked.
By removing drugs from the criminal law, allowing those idiots that take them to attend surgeries and get safe drugs, it will take pushers and suppliers out of the equation. The savings would be immense.
It will happen one day. I only hope a brave Conservative Government would bring in this great social change which will have so many benefits for us all.
GB: Typical. Can't ask a question about policy. I'll tell you what Tory policy is on days of the week. They want to cut them. They want to cut Thursdays now and if they get in power, they will cut Saturdays as well.
DC: What colour is the sky?
GB: The Tory party is the only party in the world that wants to cut the sky. We have invested in the sky. We have brought forward spending on the sky and increased it by 0% whereas he would cut it by 0% year on year adjusted for real capital spending inflation.
DC: What time is it?
GB: That is up to the Chancellor to decide. I had nothing to do with it.
DC: Should Freddie Flintoff open the bowling at Cardiff tomorrow?
GB: If the pitch, if the pitch, if the pitch takes off cutters and that is the Tory policy. To bowl off cutters, 10% off cutters, from Mr 10%. Yes, you may laugh, but it is his policy. And I ask him, would he prefer to have Ryan Sidebottom bowling his left arm swing up the hill and into the wind?
DC: Do bears crap in the woods?
GB: Bear crapping has risen under this Labour government year on year where it fell under the previous Tory administration. We have invested in crap while they cut it. The previous government, of which he was an advisor, cut crap year on year while we have increased crap year on year in real terms since 1997. The party opposite is the only serious party in the world that is opposed to us increasing crap.
DC: Are you a liar?
GB: Of course I am. Can't think why you didn't just ask that question in the first place.
I can't help feeling that if ever John Major had become so deranged as to scream at Tony Blair that he was increasing public spending by 0% you may just possibly have seen it on the BBC news when the subject was being discussed by Nick Robinson.
Hell, they probably would have made it a newsflash and trailered it from 12:30 onwards.
But all we got was Gordon Brown - who clearly had been administered a gallon of Valium - doing a con job on Nick R, if not in measured tones, then some way short of his confused hysteria at PMQs.
The government have ALREADY announced a 7% cut in the schools budget just like they have announced a 7% cut in every departmental budget.
Browns spurious allegation that the tories want and are planning high unemployment (why why why??) on the basis of Cameron referring to already planned govt spending on benefits must mark a low point of even this this mans dodgy moral compass.
As a former Medical Director let me tell you that MRSA has not "always been with us". Just for starters, Methicillin(heard of that?) has not always been with us! Not all Trust Chairmen take over the pseudo-science they have come across. During your tenure you should have spent more time with clinicians and less with managers.
One a different subject, I hope Iain's move goes well. But am I alone in thinking that his success in other fields is beginning to have a detrimental effect on this website?
I am sure Iain would love to devote all of his time to this website. As I would love to devote all my time to my own website/s.
But, sadly, I think neither Iain or myself make enough money from our websites to allow this to happen. So real life -in the shape of income generating work- can interfere with websites.
www.thatsnews.org is where I'd love to spend all my time (it needs a makeover, when I can spend the time) but work keeps on getting in the way...
If you can afford Sky TV then you can afford to cancel the service and pay for health insurance?
I send my kids to private school so why do I have to fund the state sector schools also. I should have a tax rebate - pay for your own kids or don't have them?
If you can afford sugary food and drink then you can afford to pay for a dentist. Why should I pay to fix the teeth that you've ruined?
The unemployed should recieve vouchers and not cash as benefits. Then they can't spend money on drink and cigarettes and nice clothes - stuff they can't afford.
89 comments:
Same as ever. Left me wanting to kill Brown. No change.
0% rise - hee hee
Fairly typical PMQs - David Cameron banged on about spending, and Gordon Brown ducked the point. One splendid moment when GB attempted to call a 0% change in spending as a 'rise'. Nick Clegg made good point on Trident, and then it was the usual mix of Backbenchers either reading what the whips have given them (Labour), or banging on about spending some more (Conservative).
One very annoying moment, as GB was asked about healthcare spend 2011-2014, and answered a question about healthcare spend 2009-2010. It really winds me up when he doesn't even attempt to engage with question.
Gordon Brown - 4
David Cameron - 5
Nick Clegg - 6
Speaker - 4
Wow Tory policy is to increase unemployment.
Will DC go round peoples houses sacking them?
GBs performance was a 0% improvement.
Brown has managed to render the whole exercise utterly pointless.
PMQs? Well the questions are there it's just that they give Brown an excuse to just rap on whatever he feels like.
If Bercow was a man sized shrimp he would either force the PM to answer the question as asked or just stop the whole shoddy affair.
In its current form it is just utter crap.
Brown was monumentally awful. Really.
It's like watching a hamster being mauled by a lion. In a good way.
It really is about time a backbencher directly calls Brown a Liar in the house. So what if he gets ejected for a while?
Possibly the worst Brown performance at PMQ's ever.
Kudos to the labour backbencher who asked that PMQ's be restored to twice a week. I'm sure Brown was itching to get his Nokia out!
For God sake! How often do you need to change offices- this must be the third time in a month??
I agree. Brown worst ever performance at PMQs.
"0% rise"?
O% rise
LOST THE PLOT
The whole thing was very lame, Cameron once again failing to go for the kill.
I have a terrible feeling this period is going to go down in history as "Brown's poorer years". There doesn't seem to be any way to get the unelected, lying piece of shit out by conventional means, and until Cameron can come up with a convincing counter, Broon will continue to bang on about Tory cuts until it's burnt into the memory of the underclass.
A month ago, I was convinced, but now - just you wait and see Liebour's polls start to rise, come election time there is a real danger that the unthinkable will happen.
Mr Cameron, you are about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Grow a spine, lad.
Cameron was on good form, Clegg was a stirrer but was played down easily, while Gordon couldn't answer a question directly. No change this week.
Brown did take every opportunity to stab the Tories, which made him look weak and afraid. It was also an abuse, since the Tories could not answer back on a one to one basis. Labour are an abusive government, and it shows in all aspects of their new proposed legislation, and their so called leader isn't setting the best of examples. The sooner they are gone the better.
Cameron - 8
Brown - 6
Clegg - 6
Brown still as dishonest as ever. Cameron points out unemployment is going up and it suddenly becomes Tory Party policy. Brown is a twat. You look at the faces of the rest of the front bench apart from that smug get with the utterly punchable face and MILFISH wife, Ed Balls. The rest of the front bench, not just Darling as picked up by the Beeb, looked very awkward during Browns lies. Mind you we get a zero percent increase so that is still an increase. Cameron needs to move on and Clegg is doing okay and opening up an interesting front on the Tories. Brown 4
Cameron 6
Clegg 5
IMHO
Brown looked an empty carton.
He is finished. He should be allowed to retire. Is there any person in that cabinet of the gutless with the courage to tell him to stand down NOW.
Cameron 8.
Clegg 2.
Brown -8
Labour will press forward with a 0% rise in public funding, whilst the Tories would savagely cut public finding by 0%
The choice for the electorate is clear.
Anonymous
V difficult for DC when Brown either does not answer the question or lies.
Frankly, if I were Cameron I'd simply say next PMQs that since the PM can't be bothered actually to answer a question, I can't be bothered to ask one and sit down.
Gordo has just shot his credibility to bits - 0% rise? What on Earth is that?
This was worthy of Monty python or perhaps a Two Ronnies sketch. Would heve been funny if it wasn't true!
I didn't quite get Brown's point about the Tory plans. If you're coming out of recession, why would you not forecast for high unemployment? Prepare for the worst surely, and treat good news as a welcome bonus. He practically admitted that Labour's figures are based on pie-in-the-sky forecasts that unemployment will be low again in the next few years.
That explains why they don't want a spending review. It's a disgrace.
Might be a bad performance by Brown but he has another tag for the Conservatives, "The Party of unemployment". Each week he will come out iwht a different byline. That is the ploy by the looks of it. Politics Home are carrying it as their tag. It is just depressing that this man is the one that is running the country at the moment.
It's getting to the stage where Gordon's spinning is laughable. He even accused the Tories of wanting high unemployment. Laughable, shameful and downright dishonest spinning from the King of the spinners. And I thought Tony was the King of it?
My review of PMQs here, http://www.plenty2say.com
Brown is simply trying to link the Tories to unemployment. It is unsubtle and rather embarrassing to watch.
PMQs has become a complete farce and is doing a lot to reinforce the public's perception that Parliament is dysfunctional and irrelevant to their own lives. Bercow has very quickly got into the habit of taking the line of least resistance. He's done nothing about the continuing practice of leaking news to the media before announcements are made in the House and he's done nothing about insisting the the PM actually answers the Qs. And, while I agree that the PM is deceitful, Bercow should have challenged Cameron's use of the word 'deceit' since it's unparliamentary language.
I wish we could end the farce of the Brown government right now and am more and more convinced that it is completely wrong that the PM controls election dates. We really do need an autumn election but there's diddly-squat we can do to get one.
One a different subject, I hope Iain's move goes well. But am I alone in thinking that his success in other fields is beginning to have a detrimental effect on this website?
The Tories as the party of unemployment - yeah Gordon.
Same way that Thatcher is responsible for the expenses crisis.
0% rise will be written on his gravestone.
Gordon Brown's best PMQ answer ever - 0% growth
Watch it here
http://tiny.cc/liar138
he is delusional
cherami 12:57
Or Cameron could ask "Will departmental spending fall after 2011?"
Brown "bluster, bluster"
Cameron "So that's a yes, then. Will Schools Spending fall after 2011?"
Brown "Mrs Thatcher, milk snatcher etc"
Cameron: "So that's a 'don't know'"
etc
etc
Cameron can finish with "So that's one yes, one no, three don't knows , and one mind your own business. May I remind the PM that we don't object to cuts. As Mervyn King / Alistair Darling / etc says, we have to live within our means. But won't they be easier to discuss if we have a PM who is able to discuss them honestly?"
Eric Martlew had the best point.
Brown was terrible,but the 10%Cameron jibe will stick and it will cost votes.
Its a waste of time.
Brown never answers a question and merely uses the time as a soapbox to spout against the nasty tories.
A waste of 30 minutes of all our lives.
Interesting Mandy's threat never came to light (embarrassing Cameron over Osborne).
I won't be watching again Iain - it really is a waste of time, and disappointing that Bercow isn't stamping his authority on the house.
Given the BBF campaign where the public are going to be legally entitled to NuLab policies, I fear no matter who gets in at the GE, their hands will be tied.
All a very sad future for this country.
weren't Darlings budget forecasts based on some form of recovery by July 09 ?
Well, here we are on day 1 of July 09, and as far as I can tell, we are not only still deep in the shit, but it's about to get deeper.
At the next PMQ, Cameron should time Brown and when he gets up, point out our debt is growing by what is it, 30 grand a second ?
Then he could say "During the time he diodn't answer the question, our national debt has risen by another 30 million, without heim telling us why or what he intends to do about it".
Same old Tories
"Rising unemployment and the recession have been the price that we have had to pay to get inflation down. That price is well worth paying".
Norman Lamont, Conservative Chancellor
Hansard, HC 6Ser vol 191 col 413 (16 May 1991)
Wouldn't it be a good idea to move the Total Politics office to Belize?
Anon 1:10
Every time Brown calls Cameron "Mr 10%", Cameron can call Brown "Mr 13.5%"
(not as snappy, though, pity.)
Cameron has said they will not cut on schools etc at this moment,why does Brown have to lie about this.
anon 1.19 the torys have said they will cut spending in schools now...fact
I live outside the UK but managed to catch PMQ time over the net.
Please, please tell me that someone has captured the 0% growth statement on video and has posted it on You Tube as the BBC iThingy block access from out side the UK.
The real cracker was watching Harriet Harpies face when he made the imbecility.
It was as if she was ready to go to the Ladies and when she heard Boon-Cloon talking his keich she nearly let go of her own anal sphincter and needed all her concentration to suck it back in.
For everything less there's Mastercard.
W V = BULSH ------------------couldn't make it up"
Why does Brown have to lie, as Avon said about Servalan, they do it naturally, like breathing.
spartacus is it true the torys want to cut spending in schools now???
anonymous, I believe the Tories want to cut spending everywhere and increase unemployment.
That is what Gordon said. It MUST be true.
Clegg has half a point in that the Tories are happy not to tell us what they want to do. They are letting Brown fill in the gaps for them however Brown is so utterly thick and stupid he has no credibility.
Brown needs to take a lesson from Mr Roh in South Korea.
billygoat, it took about 5 minutes for someone to upload the 0% video - rather amusing, the speaker is trying desparately to avoid laughing himself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Gi7qqvRlY0
thanks spartacus,i didnt think it was true.Cameron would not cut spending in schools and health.nasty lies from labour..
anon 1.24 "the torys have said they will cut spending in schools now...fact"
No - they have said they will not ring fence Education from cuts, not that they will cut it. There is a difference although probably not in Gordon "Mr 0%" Brown's mind.
Gordon Brown divided by zero.
Thanks havocman.i didnt think that they would ever cut money going into schools.i have 3 young kids and was worried by this cut talk on the radio.
Steve Expat
I re-watched it and am not sure now whether it was Harman or not.
There are two of them, either side of Brown
Brown has had Harperson cloned.
Was it Tweedledum or Tweedledee?
WV = shiesse. My German's not great, perhaps one of you learned people could tell me if it's appropriate given the absolute bollocks from the PM today?
Anonymous, if Brown had let George Osborne have the info he wanted instead of stopping it and getting Mandy to do his dirty work for him we would get an answer.
Still perhaps when Gordon goes on about the record investment in new schools he could mention the govt has paid virtually squat towards it and it is all on PFI.
Anonymous said...
spartacus is it true the torys want to cut spending in schools now???
I think you'll find that the "torys" [sic] aren't in government at the moment so are not in a position to do anything about spending now.
Schiessen is to shoot. What you need is "Scheisse" (the brown, smelly stuff), far more appropriate
So Browns attack now is Tories 'The party of the unemployed' looks like he has admitted defeat on the 10% tag and now wishes to scare the electorate that vote Cameron=Unemployment.
This with unemployment a lagging indicator expected to rise throughout 2010 to 3.4 millions probably 10% of teh population if you add in the people outside the figures on some benefit or training.
You know what I hate Brown and feel dangerous that I could be arrested as I would surely love to meet him and do him some personal damage. I really have never experienced anything like my hatred for this imbecile.
Brown Zero
Cameron 7
Cleg 2
I for one would welcome the spending of the education department coming under the spotlight.
My other half is a teacher and the things they waste money on makes my blood boil.
As a teacher in Tower Hamlets, my other half has to get involved in:
Teaching children Bengali as their modern foreign language.
teaching Somalian children their native language (as apparently it will help them learn English)
Surely the money spent on the above two things would be better spent learning English or Maths or some other subject that is useful in the UK.
Just because the education budget is being looked at doesn't mean schools will be cut.
Haven't NuLab just cut £100 million of the education consultancy budget by scrapping centralised curriculae ? (Sp?)
Sorry, I am so furious today. More so with myself. I haven't had a cigarette for two days now after a 25 year habit, and PMQ drove me to the shop for the inevitable.
I don't care who is in power as long as their policies are for the good of the country. NuLab's are not and I am sick of the smug faces of those career politicians.
I am just so so sick at what politics in this country has become. Petty points scoring and no substance.
Cromwell would turn in his grave
Dont worry no party will cut public spending in schools and health,they will raise taxes instead.No party would want riots and strikes that would make the country come to a stand-still.
I hate to break it to whichever of the Anons want school spending protected, but we can't afford it. Gordon admitted today that his projections aren't based on rising unemployment and that the £175bn, £173bn, £140bn and £90bn that we will be borrowing over the next few years are actually going to be a whole lot higher.
We're going to default on our payments and the IMF will force us to make drastic cuts. There won't be much of a country left for your children to inherit. If you really care about them, you wouldn't saddle them with debt for the whole of their lives just so you can spend money on services now.
It is time for the unthinkable. We need to slash the NHS budget, reduce it to a core NHS that protects general sickness, accident & emergency, Children and pregnancy, mental health and elderly provision with emphasis on palliative care. With greater emphasis on pain reduction.
Then sell off the other parts of the NHS. We also need to slash the welfare budget and provide the basics.
The problem with the human race is giving them a health safety blanket and they will abuse it. People spend more on cars and home furnishings than making sure their health is protected.
The above would enable us to reduce NI a tax on the employed and stimulate the economy.
Yes people die it is a fact, we cannot forever sink money into a black hole. I propose a sea change in the way we see the NHS it is and should never be a panacea for people to abuse their bodies. You would not put Tesco petrol in a Rolls Royce and this should be extended to the human body, you only have one so look after it and it will look after you.
Take away the net and the people will rise (not a reference to our Zero PM)
The Purps.
millions of voters will not vot for any party that cut spending in schools.fact
Cant wait till next year for the election,should be very interesting.
Brown hurriedly moved past the question of the take-over of the East Coast rail franchise. Whose Government was it who allowed such a patsy of a contract - Gordon's methinks.
The only way to lower the budget on schools is to confirm a reduction in the total population in these islands is necessary.
I believe the optimum level is 30-40 million. So we will need to ensure 20 millions leave for greener pastures. Hopefully when the Scots get independance, we can send the hoards living in England back over the border, that includes the one eyed mental case in number 10
Purpleline.
Please define 'general sickness'
Heart related illnesses?
Cancer?
Diabetes?
Mental?
ENT?
Aids?
Sexual Transmitted illnesses?
Ban fat people? smokers?
pay for food, pay for bed?
"millions of voters will not vot for any party that cut spending in schools.fact"
They might do if we suddenly found ourselves unable to borrow and those voters were told the level of tax we'd have to pay in order to afford that level of spending.
You do realise that if we weren't paying any debt interest that we'd be able to lower basic rate income tax by upto 9%? Think about that next time you get a pay slip.
PMQ's has become a waste of everyones time.
Brown livened things up this week announcing a 0% increase, but other than that, a waste.
Brown 2
Cameron 5
Clegg 6
Cameron can't get a killer blow in even when Brown and his government are so bad.
I think you're bored with blogging Iain.
PMQs was always knockabout stuff, but at least with performers of the calibre of Blair and Hague at the despatch box, you were guaranteed first-rate knockabout. What we are getting at the moment really is third-rate stuff.
For a start, the transparent dishonesty of it all lent the whole thing an air of unreality, with Brown looking for all the world a broken, bewildered, beaten man. And with the cabinet looking on more in sadness than with any great enthusiasm or support for him this really was a sorry show. Dismal, desperate and depressing stuff.
Anon at 2.23
"millions of voters will not vot for any party that cut spending in schools.fact"
Is there a party proposing cuts then? If so, can you provide a link?
Anyway, I suspect from looking at the spelling in your post that the current spending hasn't had much effect.
In the words of the 'The Fly', Brown is not getting worse... "He's getting BETTER!"
Why doesn't Brown cut the waffle and get to the point: if the Tories win the Election, it will rain for 40 days and 40 nights, the ice age will return within two years, none of us will have a job, the public services will shut down, and we'll all live on the streets under a canvass. Watching him at PMQ has just become embarrassing, but not just that, it's making me angry now. I have always been embarrassed at having him as my PM, now it just humiliates me. GET RID OF HIM. NOW!!!
Havocman, i believe George Osbourne has spilt the beans on spending on schools. Good on him, I'm sick of paying for the state-sector.
nasty torys cutting spending on schools?????
Anon at 3.37
"Havocman, i believe George Osbourne has spilt the beans on spending on schools. Good on him, I'm sick of paying for the state-sector."
Has he actually said that spending will be cut? I know that he has said that education spending will not be ring fenced. I stand corrected if he has mentioned cuts. If he hasn't though, I object to the Government line.
Given the BBF campaign where the public are going to be legally entitled to NuLab policies,
Laws can be repealed.
Fraser Nelson reveals that the 0% rise quote was preplanned - even if technically it is a 0% fall, not a 0% rise!
The cloning of Harpeople needs to be investigated, it was quite scary seeing them either side of Brown today.
On schools spending - surely what matters is the results of the spending, not the amount of spending itself? We've had an extra £90bn thrown at schools with little discernable result on educational outcomes, which suggests we could cut back a bit without making much difference where it matters. You've now got kids who've lived all their lives under Labour, leaving school with 28% not able to read and write at the standard expected of 11 year olds. Mind you, given the uselessness of the tests involved, it's anybody's guess what the real situation is - which government introduced equivalent tests at 14 in 1998 and then last year decided that they were a waste of time?
Incidentally Iain, I know you're away today, but can you fix your blogroll link to Political Betting? It needs a www. in front of it.
Oh and anyone see this cheery piece from Dominic Lawson at the weekend? According to the IMF "the fiscal impact of the credit crunch will be about a tenth of that caused by the demographic crunch".
"It is time for the unthinkable. We need to slash the NHS budget, reduce it to a core NHS that protects general sickness, accident & emergency, Children and pregnancy, mental health and elderly provision with emphasis on palliative care. With greater emphasis on pain reduction."
That's not unthinkable. Cutting off health care to anyone over 80 - after all, they've already had a good innings, and the wealthy can support themselves, making access to the NHS dependent on National Insurance contributions (with the exception of lethal injections of morphine) introducing compulsory contraception, and government permits for all of those who actively want to reproduce; introducing an organ exchange, whereby we can buy in from China; making pregnant women give birth on an assault course so that only the strongest and hardiest babies survive. . .
That's unthinkable stuff - use your imagination, man!
I like Cameron,but why do all other torys sound so strange,everytime i see a tory on the box like Fraser Nelson I cringe.
Your not alone,lol, they do sound a little strange.
One more point, did anyone notice the looks of Tessa Jowell and Harriet Harman hold down their heads? Probably in shame? Just watched the clip again on YouTube. They must be thinking to themselves: "Why did they not get rid of him when they had the chance?" Now it looks like they are stuck with him until the election.
Cameron worth over 20 million is this true???????
George Osbourne over 15 million??????what jobs did these torys do before they became Mps???
Gordon Brown:"I have always told the truth,"
Another lie
Can anyone post a link to video footage of PMQs in full (on the day it has happened)? I am probably making a hash of searching for it, but all I can find is snippets from today, not the whole thing.
Thanks!
Strapworld.
I would not punish smokers or drinkers as they pay TAXES on the products, I would however stop treating Drug related sickness on the NHS.
In my post, I said I would ring fence Mental- health care, elderly care and pain relief treatment.
I would not ban Fat People, however, I would use some of the budget cuts in the NHS budget to transfer to the Schools budget and ensure sports for all schools. I would use the additional transferred budget to ensure schools were opened up after hours to the public as well as free gyms and pools.
Cancer treatment would naturally come under general illnesses.
We could hold a referendum on spending the health budget left on what services and treatments it should concentrate. Then fix it at that level of funding for 5-years.
I would also sack lots of managers and doctors, while increasing wages for cleaning staff to ensure clean hospitals free of Labour MRSA and C dif.
Purpleline..Thank you.
I can tell you, as a former chairman of an NHS Trust (appointed by Conservative and re-appointed by Labour Governments) that MRSA has always been with us.
It is just that it became newsworthy! Cleaners are very important but I believe visitors should be given paper body suits and shoes, at cost,when they go through reception. + Wash hands etc. That will help to keep the incidents of MRSA down.
Just think of the hundreds of visitors every day- all day coming and going. It is a matter of education.
I like your suggestion on a referendum but it would have to be very carefully worded or it will be like a multi choice examination paper!
I found that the people wanted cuts. They could not understand why cosmetic surgery was given, (in cases other than clinically necessary). that vasectomies were given on the NHS etc.
That people were allowed to fly into this country, on holiday etc, and have treatment on the NHS!
I would not, as you suggest, sack some doctors. But I definately agree that the administration costs could, quite easily, be reduced dramatically. Plus, of course, the so many quango's operating within the NHS.
As for denying drug related illnesses. I do not agree.
I believe that drugs should be legalised and doctors prescribe them. Too many young people are criminalised and so much time and money is wasted on drug policies that will not succeed. Prohibition has never worked.
By removing drugs from the criminal law, allowing those idiots that take them to attend surgeries and get safe drugs, it will take pushers and suppliers out of the equation. The savings would be immense.
It will happen one day. I only hope a brave Conservative Government would bring in this great social change which will have so many benefits for us all.
Next week's PMQs
DC: What day is it today?
GB: Typical. Can't ask a question about policy. I'll tell you what Tory policy is on days of the week. They want to cut them. They want to cut Thursdays now and if they get in power, they will cut Saturdays as well.
DC: What colour is the sky?
GB: The Tory party is the only party in the world that wants to cut the sky. We have invested in the sky. We have brought forward spending on the sky and increased it by 0% whereas he would cut it by 0% year on year adjusted for real capital spending inflation.
DC: What time is it?
GB: That is up to the Chancellor to decide. I had nothing to do with it.
DC: Should Freddie Flintoff open the bowling at Cardiff tomorrow?
GB: If the pitch, if the pitch, if the pitch takes off cutters and that is the Tory policy. To bowl off cutters, 10% off cutters, from Mr 10%. Yes, you may laugh, but it is his policy. And I ask him, would he prefer to have Ryan Sidebottom bowling his left arm swing up the hill and into the wind?
DC: Do bears crap in the woods?
GB: Bear crapping has risen under this Labour government year on year where it fell under the previous Tory administration. We have invested in crap while they cut it. The previous government, of which he was an advisor, cut crap year on year while we have increased crap year on year in real terms since 1997. The party opposite is the only serious party in the world that is opposed to us increasing crap.
DC: Are you a liar?
GB: Of course I am. Can't think why you didn't just ask that question in the first place.
I can't help feeling that if ever John Major had become so deranged as to scream at Tony Blair that he was increasing public spending by 0% you may just possibly have seen it on the BBC news when the subject was being discussed by Nick Robinson.
Hell, they probably would have made it a newsflash and trailered it from 12:30 onwards.
But all we got was Gordon Brown - who clearly had been administered a gallon of Valium - doing a con job on Nick R, if not in measured tones, then some way short of his confused hysteria at PMQs.
The government have ALREADY announced a 7% cut in the schools budget just like they have announced a 7% cut in every departmental budget.
Browns spurious allegation that the tories want and are planning high unemployment (why why why??) on the basis of Cameron referring to already planned govt spending on benefits must mark a low point of even this this mans dodgy moral compass.
Shameless shameful Brown.
Can we ban anonymous posters again? The McBride smear corps appear to have been let off the lead again.
Strapworld:
As a former Medical Director let me tell you that MRSA has not "always been with us".
Just for starters, Methicillin(heard of that?) has not always been with us!
Not all Trust Chairmen take over the pseudo-science they have come across.
During your tenure you should have spent more time with clinicians and less with managers.
One a different subject, I hope Iain's move goes well. But am I alone in thinking that his success in other fields is beginning to have a detrimental effect on this website?
I am sure Iain would love to devote all of his time to this website. As I would love to devote all my time to my own website/s.
But, sadly, I think neither Iain or myself make enough money from our websites to allow this to happen. So real life -in the shape of income generating work- can interfere with websites.
www.thatsnews.org is where I'd love to spend all my time (it needs a makeover, when I can spend the time) but work keeps on getting in the way...
Thatsnews...
....I couldn't agree more.
Now July and just a couple of weeks before Brown leaves Downing St - remember where you read it first.
I am fed up having to pay for the poor.
If you can afford Sky TV then you can afford to cancel the service and pay for health insurance?
I send my kids to private school so why do I have to fund the state sector schools also. I should have a tax rebate - pay for your own kids or don't have them?
If you can afford sugary food and drink then you can afford to pay for a dentist. Why should I pay to fix the teeth that you've ruined?
The unemployed should recieve vouchers and not cash as benefits. Then they can't spend money on drink and cigarettes and nice clothes - stuff they can't afford.
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