Cameron: "Cuts will change our way of life"

[Strontium]

Today on tv they where saying only 7 percent of people go to private schools yet that 7 percent end up in over 50 percent of all places of power and money, the suggestion being that its not smarts or talent making it to the top roles as much as it is those who can afford expensive education.

You seem to be denying any correlation between how much money people have and how intelligent they are.

[Skidfingers McGonical]

The High Court has ruled emergency laws underpinning a government back-to-work scheme are "incompatible" with the European Convention on Human Rights.

 

The ruling stems from a case brought by Cait Reilly in 2012, who said being forced to work for free at a Poundland store breached her human rights.

 

The government brought in new rules in 2013 allowing unpaid work schemes to continue pending further legal appeals.

 

Ministers said they were "disappointed" by the ruling and would appeal.

 

But lawyers for Miss Reilly claimed the government owed about £130m to people who had fallen foul of the retrospective legislation and ministers should admit they made a mistake.

 

The 24-year old graduate challenged the legality of an unpaid work placement she undertook in 2011, part of the government's "mandatory work activity" programme.

 

She said that she was told that if she did not agree to take part in the scheme, which she said involved stacking shelves, she would lose her Jobseeker's Allowance.

 

'Minority of cases'

The government was forced to pass emergency legislation amending the scheme last year after Court of Appeal ruled that the regulations underpinning it did not comply with existing laws giving the Department for Work and Pensions the power to introduce the programme.

 

The legislation was designed to reinforce the rules to make it clear that claimants must do all they can to find work in order to claim benefits and to ensure the government did not have to repay money to claimants who had not complied with the conditions of their benefit claim.

 

But Mrs Justice Lang, sitting at the High Court in London, ruled on Friday that the retrospective legislation interfered with the "right to a fair trial" under Article Six of the Convention on Human Rights.

 

The Department for Work and Pensions said it was "disappointed" by the ruling - which it said applied to a minority of claimants - and would launch an appeal.

 

"We disagree with the judgment on the legislation and are disappointed," a spokeswoman said.

 

"It was discussed, voted on and passed by Parliament. While this applies to only a minority of past cases and does not affect the day to day business of our Jobcentres, we think this is an important point and will appeal."

 

She said the legislation remained "in force" and the government would not be compensating anyone who had been docked benefits pending the outcome of its appeal.

 

'Admit error'

But Paul Heron, a solicitor for Public Interest Lawyers, said it was a "massively significant" ruling and the DWP's decision to appeal against it would be a further blow to the "upwards of 3,000 cases sitting in the tribunal system waiting for this judgement".

 

He claimed people were owed anything from four weeks benefit, about £250, to several thousand pounds and were having to mostly represent themselves at tribunals.

 

He told BBC News it was "about time the DWP just held their hands up, admit they made an error, and pay people the money they were entitled to at the time. That is what a responsible government would do."

 

The back-to-work schemes have been condemned by critics as "slave labour" because they involve work without pay but are seen by supporters as a good way of getting the unemployed back into the world of work.

 

The Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeal's ruling on the regulations last year although the judges also rejected claims that the schemes were "exploitative" and amounted to "forced labour".

 

Ministers said that the most recent legal judgement had upheld this view.

 

"We're pleased the Court recognised that if claimants do not play by the rules and meet their conditions to do all they can to look for work and get a job, we can stop their benefits," the spokeswoman added.

 

Poundland, one of several employers which took part in the scheme, withdrew from it in 2012.

 

Zero hour contracts need to be challenged now.

[Jairzinho]

You seem to be denying any correlation between how much money people have and how intelligent they are.

 

There certainly isn't that level of correlation.

[Stu Monty]

None of the parties want to be honest about the cuts.

 

Although the recession was a global phenomena, Balls and Brown spent when we should have retrenched leaving us with about the largest public sector deficit in the Western world. Our deficit as a percentage of GDP is about 6%, France's is 3%, Germanys is about nil.

 

The next Parliament will se the National debt hit £1.548bn, £60k per household. Interest payments alone will be around £50bn, the same that we spend on education, twice the defence budget. The Lib Dems Paul Burstow wants an extra £15bn spent on the NHS, the equivalent of 3p on income tax, an extra £480 pa for the average wage earner.

 

Whoever is in power the next round of cuts will be fearsome. There is no way around it. Spend more and the debt goes up, tax more ( Milliband) and the public will protest that Labour can't be trusted, cut more and he message will be that the Tories don't care.

 

Someone needs to come up with a plan

 

Our debt to GDP ratio at the start of this government was better than Germany, France, Japan and The US. As far as I'm aware.

 

The idea is that if you spend well then you increase tax revenue as you have people earning. The idea that this lot give a shiny fuck about the health of the economy other than to be able to shine it well enough to get in again is something I simply won't buy.

[Stu Monty]

You seem to be denying any correlation between how much money people have and how intelligent they are.

 

Some of them will no doubt benefit from the expensive education they have been given. Some of them will come from very clever households who used their smarts to get to be in the position where they have money and will be very smart. Many more will remain unexceptional intellects promoted way above their ability due to connections and money.

[TheBitch]

[RedRazor]

Our debt to GDP ratio at the start of this government was better than Germany, France, Japan and The US. As far as I'm aware.

 

The idea is that if you spend well then you increase tax revenue as you have people earning. The idea that this lot give a shiny fuck about the health of the economy other than to be able to shine it well enough to get in again is something I simply won't buy.

According to worldbank 2010 figures Germany was way lower at 55% (UK & US 85% France 89% and Japan 175% - but they've been fucked for decades)

[lifetime fan]

A Conservative Party donor is reported to be among contenders to become the new chairman of Ofsted.

 

David Ross, who co-founded Carphone Warehouse, has been named by the Independent as favourite for the role.

 

As well as having donated thousands to the Conservative Party, Mr Ross has a charitable foundation which supports more than 20 academies.

 

The Department for Education (DfE) said the chairman recruitment process was "ongoing".

 

Mr Ross resigned from Carphone Warehouse in 2008 following a share-selling scandal, when he used 136 million of his 177 million shares as security against personal loans without telling anyone in the company.

 

As a result, he was also forced to step down from his position on the board of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and as chairman of the Legacy Board of Advisers along with other roles.

 

The Ofsted chairman's role became vacant earlier this year after Education Secretary Michael Gove decided not to keep Labour peer Baroness Morgan in the job.

 

According to the Independent, Mr Ross has donated about £220,000 to the Conservative Party.

 

The DfE spokesman said: "The recruitment process for the new chair of Ofsted is ongoing. The successful candidate will be announced in due course.

 

"As with all public appointments, the appointment process is being conducted in accordance with the requirements set by the Commissioner for Public Appointments and the guidance issued by the Cabinet Office Public Appointments Unit.

 

"An independent panel decides who is long-listed, short-listed and interviewed. After this process is complete, they recommend to ministers a list of appointable candidates."

[Bobby Hundreds]

You just know his name is being bandied about to make another shit cunt who will get the job seem more palpable.

[lifetime fan]

You just know his name is being bandied about to make another shit cunt who will get the job seem more palpable.

 

I doubt Gove is that bothered, the twat will just plough on with his first choice and not care about public opinion.

[Jairzinho]

Would you be surprised if Sepp Blatter got the job?

 

They're a gang of bent kleptocrats. They know it, we know it, and they know we're doing fuck all about it. Why would they give a fuck about, well, anything?

[Moctezuma]

 

Whilst that turnout may look disrespectful and ludicrous, if they were all there then somebody would be sticking up a picture with every constituency office not being occupied by their sitting MP, nobody being present at their select committees etc.

 

Sometimes they just can't win, I think if people gave MPs a bit of leeway with regards their past voting record and comments it would allow for a healthier political debate as it would mean they could move away from party dogma and PR spin.

[Moctezuma]

I doubt Gove is that bothered, the twat will just plough on with his first choice and not care about public opinion.

 

The level of corruption and farce in the Department of Education right now is one of the biggest disgraces of this current government. I note that Tristam Hunt is being pretty pathetic as the opposite to the education secretary, which I'm starting to think is a ploy by Labour to keep Gove in office as he's such a vote loser (almost everyone in the education sector hates the guy).

[Pidge]

The tories obviously think working class children are only good for manual labour and sexual abuse.

[lifetime fan]

The tories obviously think only working class children are good for sexual abuse.

That's completely unfair mate. They send their own to private schools to help out.

[Strontium]

The tories obviously think working class children are only good for manual labour and sexual abuse.

Working class children like John Major?

[Pidge]

Hahaha... fucking hell.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Tory politcian today, we need to totally change the striking laws and how easy it is for people to strike and disrupt people's lives, there should be a higher vote percentage for striking its wrong RA RA RA .... But you yourself where voted into your position by exactly the same percentage of your constituency 26 percent.... Well you can't not have a politician. Don't you think its a double standard you can gain power on the same percentage and that's perfectly fine but no other groups using the same democratic principals can. Noooo its not now fuck orrrrffff.

 

Fuck quotation marks too,

[Stu Monty]

Working class children like John Major?

 

Sorry, when did we go back to the fifties? Major is in his 70s now. The government weren't born when he was a working class child. 

 

The initial point was obviously a daft one but using Major as a response to this lot of neoliberal knobends? Come on.

[Strontium]

Sorry, when did we go back to the fifties? Major is in his 70s now. The government weren't born when he was a working class child. 

 

The initial point was obviously a daft one but using Major as a response to this lot of neoliberal knobends? Come on.

I was just making the point that Tory politicians being so heavily weighted towards those with a privileged upbringing is a rather recent phenomenon, and the idea of Tories being the party of the wealthy similarly recent. Liverpool had Tory MPs (plural) until 1983. I think we should resist attempts to airbrush history.

[stringvest]

Coincidentally, Tories have become much more explicit in marketing, designing and implementing the war on behalf of big business and vested interests against what used to be called the common man.

[Section_31]

I don't think the same class divisions exist in modern politics. I imagine traditional Tories feel as alienated from the likes of Cameron and Clegg as Labour stalwarts do from Miliband and Balls. They're professional politicians and the main job requirement seems to be dressing in a suit and being able to outmaneuver your opponents in the media.

 

Say what you want about traditional Tories in Cabinets gone by but many of them were intellectual heavyweights compared to these clowns. Cameron is just empty clothes with a sharp tongue and a quiff, there's nothing more. Miliband is just a borderline autistic oddball with probably some moderate understanding of his dad's politics but with seemingly no idea of how to convey them to other human beings or of even why he'd want to.

[stringvest]

That is largely true Mark, the only thing I would add is that your traditional Tory voter is not the same as they were three decades ago. They have been conditioned, as we all have; desensitised, brutalised, polarised and those essentially human qualities that used to provide some common ground are now dismissed as weak or irrelevant.

[Section_31]

What's these shenanigans? The taxpayer lost a billion quid in the undervalued Royal Mail sell off, with some people making a 70% profit by selling them on. Government was 'badly advised' apparently and the investment arm of one of its advisors made £8 million. I'm shocked and appalled I tell thee. Can't wait until they get their teeth into the NHS if and when they get reelected, it's gonna be a party! 

[Pidge]

 

Great prioritisation by the BBC yesterday. Inform, Educate and Entertain.