As the MPs fiddle their expenses the Economy Burns !!

Today the UK has lost its positive credit rating for the first time since records began in 1978. That is a prediction that our economy is in danger of COLLAPSING under the weight of BROWN'S DEBT in their view.

This is incredibly serious for a G8 country. Almost unheard of.....

MORTGAGE LENDING fell......9% in APRIL which is a massive drop in home buying. It shows that the "green shoots" have been lies by those working in those companies to try and keep their jobs.

RETAIL SALES despite Easter only rose .9% in April which is far less than hoped for by retailers and today loads more chains are heading into Bankruptacy including BIRTHDAYS ( owned by Clinton Cards )

MANUFACTURING more factories are laying off people especially in the West Midlands where around 10% of the workforce has been laid off in the last month quietly under the radar of the media.

The MEDIA continues to try and create silly stories to cover up the crashing economy before GORDIE's election - Swine Flu ( What a joke ) MP Expenses ( A non story if there ever was one GURKHAs ( the big issue of our day and vital for all our jobs and futures ) and so on and so on. They lack a decent terror story or a celeb paedo story ( Where is a GLITTER when you need him to play the Panto Villain )

THE UK is in deep trouble as a business. We need a General Election urgently in order to cut public spending by 20%.

I would cut public spending as follows : Freeze benefits for 3 years for all of working age. Cut all PCSOs and TEACHING ASSISTANTS. Employ more real POLICE and TEACHERS. Cut the ID CARD Scheme. Cut the DATABASES and CUT 50% of all CCTV provision in the UK ( silly thing and total waste of money unless you are a dictator ) CUT Olympic buildings and move the games into existing venues in London as far as possible. Sell the OLYMPIC village off before the GAMES and house the athletes in a tented city in VICTORIA PARK.

It is time for a GOVERNMENT to say NO to luxury spending. Our country is broke but our GOVERNMENT can splash BILLIONS on silly vanity projects and plastic police and plastic teachers. These things MUST GO and reality restored to life where people work for their money and do a job that the community needs.

I would cut the pay of POLICE by 20% because of the G20 fiasco. If they moan then they can leave the job and find another one - they wont because they are overpaid.

I Would tax the wages of Premier League footballers at 50% and all people earning over a million a year. But leave it alone for anyone else.

I would tax all IMPORTS to the UK a handling charge - this is like at AIRPORT TAX. I believe the airports charge it on people - so why not charge it on goods. Yes it is illegal according to the EU - but so is holding our DNA and we have broken the law on that for 5 years. It would only be a short term measure to help our own farmers and factories in any case. By the time it went to court we would have seen the benefits.

We are going down the pan - anyone who cant see that is closing their eyes.

Whisper that you want a GENERAL ELECTION now to save our country - everywhere or we will be broke by next Christmas whatever party gets in.

you'd freeze benefits, BR??

That's just punishing some of the weakest members of society.

I am on benefits due to a chronic health condition and believe me it's no party. It's tough getting by on the miserable amount of money the government says you need to "live" on.

anyway, cheers, BR- it's nice to know you care

rather than cut spending which we know what be aimed at the poorest and least able to cope, the government could actually chase the 100s of billions of pounds in tax avoided by the largest corporations.

Brown was behind schemes, as treasurer, to allow the richest to claim living abroad status whilst making their fortunes in Britain and paying a derisory £30K total whilst earning hundreds of millions.

Some glaring examples-the Harmsworths , former owners of Mail newspaper chain who claim French domicile whilst living in the English countryside where their children are educated.

One of the largest tax avoiders in Britain-Rupert Murdoch who pays no personal tax in any country despite a wage of $30M a year and more in bonuses.

It's pretty clear to me-if you earn your profits, in say the UK you should pay the appropriate tax no matter where you live, but under Nu Labour corporations have been able to claim their head office may be in Litchenstein and channel profits through there..just as the giant Tesco chain does.

For a party once reputedly claiming to care for the working man's interest, Nu Labour has made tax avoidance a hundred times easier than it was under the Tories and shifted the burden to wage earners.

There is enough money generated to pay for all of the UK's social benefits if it was actually collected.

Quite simply the situation is so bad that if we dont cut spending and freeze some things the economy will crash and then there will be NO benefits at all and the weak will actually then go to the wall. So my suggestions protect the weak.

I certainly would not lend anymore money to the banks or to big business either. They should have not been given taxpayers money.

If we can cut inflation down and wages and so on - then everything becomes affordable again. We need to stop spending.

At the moment Brown and Co are like alcoholics let loose in a brewery - drinking more and more to try and obliterate the facts and the pain.

Disaster is around the corner for everyone and especially the weak if public spending is not cut back drastically.

Too much money is being wasted on vanity projects and on "plastic" public servants. Instant savings can be made there. Lets get the unemployed and those on Disability benefit back into some min wage public jobs that have an effect on society rather than let them be on benefits and feel worthless.

Time to restore respect to everyone in society and stop the extremes which are polarising our country and leading to such unhappiness.

BR you say those on Incapacity Benefit should get jobs on the minimum wage...

firstly, the reason I am on Incapacity Benefit is that I am unable to work. so how would getting a job help me or society?

secondly, if and when I am able to get back to work, why should I be given a job on the minimum wage?

david wrote:
you'd freeze benefits, BR??

That's just punishing some of the weakest members of society.

I am on benefits due to a chronic health condition and believe me it's no party. It's tough getting by on the miserable amount of money the government says you need to "live" on.

anyway, cheers, BR- it's nice to know you care
He's also going to recruit more Police and cut their pay.

With brilliance like this he how could he not be right?

they tried these "working for the dole" type schemes (including the disalbed) in Australia over the past 10 years and they were a catastrophe.

They actually cost more money to implement than is saved.

There isn't a brave poitician around at present to state the obvious-there will be less and less jobs in the future and a combination of job-sharing must happen or a living wage paid instead of using demeaning words like "disability" and "unemployment benefits" so that people can actually enjoy liesure time which in turn creates employment. The 'guilt' factor needs to be removed.

Britain, like the USA is plagued with a Victorian puritan work ethic..except for those at the top. The MP's expenses rorts should have taught people that, at least.

I disagre with BR-there is as much money around as there was 5 years ago. It's just been shifted into other hands in the most gigantic fraud ever perpetuated and the guardians of the purse-politicians have either been asleep or complicit.

A agree with Veritas that there has been a massive fraud which has stolen the money from the ordinary people in the last 2 years by those in banking and big business.

But in order to protect the weak we need to take more action not just pretend it is not happening ( Like BROWN is doing )

Sad to say without cuts in Public Spending INCAPACITY BENEFITS wont be paid at all in 5 years time unless we reign in the silly public projects that New Labour have introduced. The Country has been robbed ( us ) of TRILLIONS of money.

The strong must look after the weak in any civilised society - but there are millions on Incapacity Benefit and other benefits who would love to work for a decent wage. They are being written off by successive Governments.

If we carry on then the people working will ALL be paying 50% tax to carry the burden of debt and ever growing unemployed. That is not sustainable. Already many people are looking to move overseas where tax is lower and countries do not have the "chav underclass" that exists in most of our cities and towns.

The UK has become an awful place in many areas - the police sirens wail all night in London as they rush around breaking up violence and many other things. I expect this Bank Holiday will be no different.

PS The Police need their pay cutting - their OVERTIME should be stopped and MORE police recruited. That will provide 10,000 extra police and 10,000 out of unemployment. It is ridiculous that they can earn £100,000 ( for a constable) by working overtime which is often paid at double and treble normal rate. That is a total waste of public money.


We can all disagree on the best way to save the economy - but the current way is disastrous - it is a short term fix leading to long term disaster. It is the WRONG way to solve the problem.

Let's face it - guaranteed to whip the stoopids into a frenzy is 1) Righteous Indignation (I used this every time I'd run out of ideas for my weekly Sun column - in 10 years it worked every time) and 2) have a go at people making money when the stoopids aren't (Ross, MPs).

They fall for it every time.

Whilst the vast silent majority feel like good old Stephen Fry - they don't give a damn.