It doesn't matter whether people are happy. It doesn't matter whether their quality of life is better or worse. What matters is squeezing every last drop of blood, sweat and tears out of them for the enrichment of their wealthy masters.

What's next? Perhaps we'll finally see long-needed legislation to remove the barriers that currently prevent young children from gaining valuable work experience in the chimney-sweeping industry? Perhaps a new law to require anyone who is on benefits for more than six weeks to be incarcerated in a workhouse?

THIS is why I say to the likes of Octavious that a class war is taking place, here in the UK, at this very moment in time. It is a war being waged on ordinary people, on the masses, by the Conservatives on behalf of the privileged and wealthy interests they represent.

It's worse than you think Jamiet99uk - the introduction of the so-called national living wage (NLW) whilst decreasing tax-credit support also means a huge cut in spending on public services such as the NHS. The NHS is a huge employer and many people are on the national minimum wage - by increasing their wages to the NLW means money reallocating resources from equipment to wages. The workers end up with no more - and in many instances less, and the public end up with a poorer service.

Win-win for those who want to cut living standards and services - lose/lose for everyone else.

"What's next? Perhaps we'll finally see long-needed legislation to remove the barriers that currently prevent young children from gaining valuable work experience in the chimney-sweeping industry? Perhaps a new law to require anyone who is on benefits for more than six weeks to be incarcerated in a workhouse?"

Not at all, Jamie. All youngsters from single parent families will be given free compulsory apprenticeships with reputable badger cullers, with the most talented given full time employment in the Peace Squad. The PCs being, of course, a special branch of the SAS, funded by the international development fund, dedicated to reducing global conflict by removing foreign undesirables before they can join terrorist organizations.

Also, we eat babies.

I'm glad you can see the funny side of a wealthy man who once had to pay back over £9,000 in falsely-claimed expenses telling struggling families they need to work harder for reduced pay and conditions.

Your link and entire argument that followed was a joke, Jaime. Nothing in it warranted a serious response. At least Maniac managed to bring something thought provoking to the table. All you did was take a sentence and twist it so far from its intended meaning it might as well have been written in ancient Greek.

I dispute that. Let's take it apart, bit by bit:

In the context of a cut in tax credits, Jeremy Hunt said:

"are we going to be a country that is prepared to work hard....?"

Does this imply that British people do not currently work hard enough? Yes, or no?

Do you believe that British people need to have their tax credits cut in order to encourage them to work as hard as the Chinese?

Do I believe it is better to be paid an honest wage for an honest day's work, rather than paying a load of tax so that the government can give it back in the form of credits and expect you to be grateful for the privilege? Yes I do. Do I think that the system should be simplified to the extent that people have at least a chance of understanding it? Yes I do. Do I think those willing to put in extra effort should be rewarded for it rather than carrying those willing to coast along doing the bare minimum? Yes I do.

Do I think we are anywhere near getting there? Probably not. But at least we're moving in the right direction.

"Do I think those willing to put in extra effort should be rewarded for it rather than carrying those willing to coast along doing the bare minimum?"

What evidence do you have that this is not currently something that happens?

I see it every day.

Your reference to "those willing to coast along doing the bare minimum" appeals to a myth that the Tories and their right-wing media allies love to perpetuate - that most poor people are lazy scroungers. It is a myth, and a socially divisive one, at that.

Your contempt for those less fortunate than you is shameful.

Vote JC

"This weekend I cried.
I cried because as a mum to a 2 year old, that I had only briefly seen in 3 days, I missed her and my heart ached.
I cried because I am a nurse. Not because I hate my job but because I love it so much and we are stretched beyond breaking point. Not just us nurses but health care assistants, midwives, doctors and paramedics.
We have been told far too many times lately that we are being greedy by wanting more money or that we don't want our enhancements cut. We are told we need to be 24/7 by people who do not work 24/7, when that is exactly what we do.
In my role I have seen every hour of the day and in doing so I have missed family occasions, missed aspects of my daughters growth, missed friends birthdays. But I love being a nurse. I love providing people with basic care. I love giving comfort to those in their scariest moments. I love holding families hands reassure them that I am doing my very best to care for their loved ones. I love sitting and chatting with the little old man who has no one else to talk to, who also likes a cheeky flirt with his nurses.
The NHS is being cut and reduced and broken down every day yet the ever demanding needs of patients does not reduce in fact it increases, as does the amount of paperwork to go with it. This increase in demand will a lot of the time take me away from doing the aspects of my role that I love... Patient interaction.
Please protect our NHS. Please protect me so I can carry on holding the hands of those leaving this world or simply helping someone walk to the toilet and back so that they can retain some of their dignity.
Today I am smiling. Today I will give 110% to my patients."

- Stacey Williams, NHS Nurse
(Posted today on the "I'm In Work Jeremy" Facebook page)

Presumably Octavious thinks Stacey is "willing to coast along doing the bare minimum", since her profession is one of those under greatest attack from his hero, Mr. Hunt.

When you have something interesting to say, jamie, I'll respond. But as all you seem to want to do is froth at the mouth in an orgy of self-righteous anger I don't see the point.

Good night.

You're damn right I'm angry.

"Even now many people fail to grasp the true meaning of the word "austerity". Austerity is not eight years of spending cuts, as in the UK, or even the social catastrophe inflicted on Greece.
Austerity means driving the wages, social wages and living standards in the West down for decades, until they meet those of the middle class in China and India on the way up."

- Prof. Paul Mason
(University of Wolverhampton - also Economics Editor, Channel 4 News)

^ And the Tories are achieving this.

FACT: British workers have experienced the longest sustained decline in average earnings since records began. (Real earnings between 2007 and 2014 fell by over 8%).

FACT: While the Government has overseen a long-term decline in the living standards of the many, they handed the UK's income millionaires a tax cut of, on average £100,000 a year. At the same time they fought to defend the huge bonuses of their chums in the banking sector, against EU measures to limit bankers bonuses. That shows you where their priorities really lie, and who they really represent.

FACT: Chancellor George Osborne has failed, dramatically, even on his own measures. He claimed austerity measures would "completely eliminate" the UK's public deficit by 2015. In fact, he couldn't even cut it in half *despite* painful, vicious cuts to public services. Osborne missed every single one of his 2010 economic predictions.

The Tory Government's REAL economic plan is to transfer as much wealth as possible from the majority to a super-rich minority - a programme they are pursing with gusto.

You know this thread is not suitable for posting when Jamiet is the only one saying anything.
Have you no shame? No one wants to hear you rant.

Mute the thread if you don't want to read it.