Derek Hatton Speaks

ILW

ruggedtoast wrote: »

Maybe if people like George Osborne stopped evading tax by doing things like squirrelling his 4 million pound trust fund away in an offshore account, there would be more public money.

Nevertheless, this government is running scared of the unions, the next government will be Labour. Public sector workers will do all right.

i believe that even Labour may have to face up to reality if they do get in again. They have been very quiet on the public sector front lately.

wotsthat

ruggedtoast wrote: »

Nevertheless, this government is running scared of the unions, the next government will be Labour. Public sector workers will do all right.

You're kidding right? I consider myself to be a bit left of centre (although more champagne socialist than Arthur Scargill these days) - the unions are embarrassing themselves, letting down their members and slowing progress.

I suspect DC is hardly quaking in his boots about Labour either. I know PMQ's is a bit of a p**s take but there was a shot of DC laughing at Milliband. Not just in a politicians way but genuine, unadulterated mockery - I thought he was going to follow through.

FTBFun

ruggedtoast wrote: »

Nevertheless, this government is running scared of the unions, the next government will be Labour. Public sector workers will do all right.

Not with Ed Miliband it won't. Seriously can anyone think of a worse leader they could have picked (except Ed Balls obviously)?

ruggedtoast

There are some (many of them in this awful government) who would love to see the unions shattered, the public sector decimated, and the bulk of Britain's vital infrastructure put in the hands of incompetent, unaccountable, free market thieves. Overseeing a demoralised army of unskilled minimum wage slaves, they would rob the tax payer blind.

Well that's not going to happen in the UK, and a decent pension is part of the bulwark against this neo-liberal regression.

FTBFun

"Neo-liberal"

What on earth does this mean?

Generali

shortchanged wrote: »

And have I not earned that if I have worked for 40+ years?

You've earned it, the problem is paying for it. Even Deggsy can see that.

RenovationMan

Rochdale_Pioneers wrote: »

As rich countries tend not to like teh sight of their elderly freezing to death en masse, that means more state aid - so the "we can't afford pensions" argument from the Tories now just means higher bills for the state later.

The public sector pensions that people are moaning about are funded from taxes when the state employee retires. Your 'just means higher bills for the state later' statement doesn't make any sense. The gilt edged civil service pension would be paid at the same time as any state aid, except of course the state aid would be less money and would be means-tested.

A huge step forward would be to make all of the public sector pensions fully funded, i.e. just like private sector pensions. At least then the burden will be on the current tax payer and not our children (seems fair as we are the ones receiving the 'service' from the public sector).

Generali

FTBFun wrote: »

"Neo-liberal"

What on earth does this mean?

Think George W Bush as depicted in The Guardian.

FTBFun

Generali wrote: »

Think George W Bush as depicted in The Guardian.

Neo-con surely?

I don't think liberal can be put in the same sentence as George W Bush!

Koicarp

ruggedtoast wrote: »

Maybe if people like George Osborne stopped evading tax by doing things like squirrelling his 4 million pound trust fund away in an offshore account, there would be more public money.

Nevertheless, this government is running scared of the unions, the next government will be Labour. Public sector workers will do all right.

Labour will NEVER win whilst the unions are making noise.