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Budget 2010

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Looking forward to reading this today, over a plate of undercooked chips in a noisy canteen. Hell yeah!

Because my life is so great. :razz:

Soooo what do people think?

I looked over a guy's shoulder last night and kind of half read an article in the Evening Standard about first time buyers.

My Mum said they are cutting thousands of civil service jobs too.
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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ooh, greasy spoon -jealous!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Meh, it has little bearing on me.

    They're not going to change the tax rates so I'm still paying 40%, I'm not married, have no dependents and don't plan on buying a house anytime soon, though the removal of stamp duty for first time buyers under £250k was quite a nice touch.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    My take-home's still going to be the same. I presume fuel, fags and alcohol went up?

    Completely off topic: I'm sure I heard that a law about banning smoking in cars was going to be brought in, can anyone confirm or deny this?

    EDIT: LOL @ The Daily Mash's report on budget .
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    A group of top doctors were asking for it, backed up by some flimsy study but it certainly hasn't got past that stage. They were moaning that childhood asthma would be cut as a result. It's the same old "won't somebody think of the children" rhetoric that people are so loath to oppose lest you be branded an uncaring dick.

    Interesting fact: in the past 100 years or so, the amount of smokers (and smog) has massively decreased yet the number of children with asthma has massively increased. Kinda blows the doctors' arguments out of the water.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Looking at the press reaction, I love it how the Telegraph thinks people being able to buy million Pound plus houses are "middle class". :D
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    That said if they're not middle class what are they?

    Tax on cider has gone up significantly, don't quite understand that one.

    Fuel duty rise has been postponed........
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Tax on cider has gone up significantly, don't quite understand that one.

    Because tax on cider was very low, compared to beer and spirits. When i used to work in an offy, our biggest earner was cider.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    That said if they're not middle class what are they?
    Middle-upper if not upper class- or certainly, "rich". The point is that the majority of middle class people couldn't afford a million Pound-plus home, and thus the Telegraph's (and other papers) thunderous ramblings about Labour robbing the middle classes, certainly as far as the stamp duty goes, are utter bollocks.

    I think on the whole it's a very respectable budget. Things are slowly starting to recover, and the last thing we want is anyone to come along with aggressive cuts.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    NOOOOOOO, my beloved cider.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Is it right that along with thousands upon thousands of job losses the pensioners are going to get 25p a week extra heating allowance?
    While ministers trouser five grand a day for lobbying ...Willam Hague gets a thousand pounds an hour for advice the bankers hoover up millions into their back pockets.
    Freedom aye ...don't ya just love it.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I have a similar view to Peter Oborne regarding the financial state of this country. He believes there are two types of Chancellor - the first is one that makes decisions in the interests of the country and is prepared to make deeply unpopular spending decisions. The second is the type that puts narrow political party interest ahead of what the country needs. I was of the view that Darling would be the first kind.

    However, I am very saddened to discover that I got this wrong. I used to believe that Alistair Darling was one of few New Labour politicians who hadn't been totally discredited. No longer. It was reported he wanted to start cutting state spending earlier than planned. Watching the budget yesterday, all I could see was a puppet on a string, trotting out a speech written almost entirely by his boss. It seems that the Prime Mentalist won the turf war on this occasion. Not that you could see it from him in the Commons yesterday - he looked like someone who'd just had a large red poker shoved up his arse.

    The budget itself was the most boring I have ever heard. Instead of making massive public spending cuts, massive sackings in the public sector, vowing to destroy the unions and pledging to deal with the deficit more quickly, all we got were lies and obfusication. We also got an example of New Labour being its utterly vindictive and mendacious worst - by announcing the closure of a tax loophole which was being taken advantage of by a certain Lord Ashcroft. Other than that, there was nothing of any substance or surprise in there.

    It was, quite honestly, the darkest hour for the badger in Number 11. Oh well, at least Mandelsnake, Whelan and the other shower of New Labour cunts won't be unleashing the forces of hell against him now...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    As for banning smoking in cars ...when my new car arrived ...two years ago ...it had no ashtray so It struck me then that this was in the pipeline.
    The doctors reports are just the bullshit propaganda to bring it in now.
    I'll just have to break yet another law then ...along with the vast majority of truckers who carry their own ash trays now.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote: »
    I The budget itself was the most boring I have ever heard. Instead of making massive public spending cuts, massive sackings in the public sector, vowing to destroy the unions and pledging to deal with the deficit more quickly
    Something that many millions of people in this country, including, make no mistake, countless conservatives, would see as a monumental mistake and disaster.
    We also got an example of New Labour being its utterly vindictive and mendacious worst - by announcing the closure of a tax loophole which was being taken advantage of by a certain Lord Ashcroft.
    Who, that lying, corrupted, tax dodging fuckwit? Well, my heart bleeds for him. How terribly unfair of Labour to ensure tax payers are not ripped off by tax avoding scumbags. :rolleyes:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote: »
    I have a similar view to Peter Oborne regarding the financial state of this country. He believes there are two types of Chancellor - the first is one that makes decisions in the interests of the country and is prepared to make deeply unpopular spending decisions. The second is the type that puts narrow political party interest ahead of what the country needs.

    I laughed my ass off when I read that. I don't think I have see the former in my lifetime, Tory or Labour.

    What I suspect what he meant is those that look after people like me and those that don't.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote: »
    Looking at the press reaction, I love it how the Telegraph thinks people being able to buy million Pound plus houses are "middle class". :D

    The weren't alone. There's an article on the Mail today where a chap ie bemoaning the fact that changes in Stamp Duty means that he will have to pay an additional £30k on his new house which he is buying for £3m. He also suggested that this would kill the housing market. Yes, seriously.

    To give them their due they also had a story underneath of the first time buyer who benefits. Shame the first chap doesn't realise that the housing market depends on first time buyers.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote: »
    The budget itself was the most boring I have ever heard. Instead of making massive public spending cuts, massive sackings in the public sector, vowing to destroy the unions and pledging to deal with the deficit more quickly, all we got were lies and obfusication.
    Us lot in the public sector know they're planning to cut our jobs. They think that by attacking the Civil Service Compensation Scheme, that we won't realise they're trying to find a cheaper way to get rid of us when the time comes.

    I was talking to somebody today who shares my office, but works for MoD. Their jobs are already going.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Namaste wrote: »
    Us lot in the public sector know they're planning to cut our jobs.

    I don't actually have a problem with the concept. I'd be shocked if anyone working in th epublic sector couldn't support the idea that some roles aren;t necessary and could be cut.

    However, part of the quid pro quo if for politicians to accpet that they cause many of these jobs to exist in the first place. If you want something measured, so that you can claim the politicial capial from the service having "improved", then you have to accept that someone needs to do the measuring.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    MoK wrote: »
    I don't actually have a problem with the concept. I'd be shocked if anyone working in th epublic sector couldn't support the idea that some roles aren;t necessary and could be cut.

    However, part of the quid pro quo if for politicians to accpet that they cause many of these jobs to exist in the first place. If you want something measured, so that you can claim the politicial capial from the service having "improved", then you have to accept that someone needs to do the measuring.
    Edited because I dun wanna break no civil service codes...

    I work in a very busy department, where if the jobs are cut, then people who are in disadvantaged positions are really gonna feel it.

    I don't believe that we are most at risk currently, I just know that certain nests are being feathered ready for redundancies where I work.

    I worry that redundancies are going to really hurt the public sector and the people who use it. I don't think that many of us are simply surplus, sitting around all day drinking tea. We have a role to play... Whether we're processing claims, providing services to students, answering council tax enquiries or other stuff.

    But the services people like me deliver are really important. I don't see why we should suffer, whilst the bankers get their bonuses and penis extensions like Trident are being built.

    I work with young people who are unemployed and really struggling in an already competitive market. It's going to get worse and people who have mortgages, families, or other important financial commitments are going to suffer. And I'm not writing out of fear that I'll lose my job, but that if or when I do, who the hell in all the understaffed offices is going to process my JSA claim, housing benefit, education courses and so on...

    I don't know if you have to work in the public sector to really get what I am talking about. But I think it's a bit harsh to assume that because I am paid by taxes, that I will just lay down like a saint for the government to take away my job when I can see full well how much I am needed.

    I haven't read the full report yet... I have just worked in the public sector and I fear job cuts where I work will be awful. :(
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    .
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Namaste wrote: »
    Edited because I dun wanna break no civil service codes...

    I work in a very busy department, where if the jobs are cut, then people who are in disadvantaged positions are really gonna feel it.

    The question is always, busy doing what?

    Are we, in the public sector, actually being effective? I'd say that we aren't as effective as we could be. Being busy isn't an indicator of anything other than our ability to fill our time with tasks.

    Done your Equality and Diversity training? Do you think that private sector does? What about appraiser/appraisee training?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Labour isn't going to do anything about the public sector. They'll talk aplenty about sacking thousands of people, but they won't actually do it. The public sector (now consisting of 6.1 million people in the UK) are increasingly a client base created by the Scottish sociopath to make sure people vote for New Labour. Besides, Labour aren't going to want to risk upsetting Unite - the union that has saved their arses from bankruptcy at least once to public knowledge. The Tories won't dare promise anything on this front either, for fear of upsetting this client base. People ain't gonna vote Tory if they think they'll be out of a job if they do, are they?

    I'm fed up of these cunts treating us as fools. This was a fantasy budget which took no account whatsoever of the situation this country is in. Most of it will never be enacted, no matter who gets in after this election.
    Aladdin wrote: »
    Who, that lying, corrupted, tax dodging fuckwit? Well, my heart bleeds for him. How terribly unfair of Labour to ensure tax payers are not ripped off by tax avoding scumbags. :rolleyes:
    And what about Labour's very own lying, corrupted, tax dodging fuckwits - Lord Paul, for instance? And as for the LibDems - one of their donors is now in jail! How's that for honesty?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    MoK wrote: »
    The question is always, busy doing what?

    Are we, in the public sector, actually being effective? I'd say that we aren't as effective as we could be. Being busy isn't an indicator of anything other than our ability to fill our time with tasks.

    Done your Equality and Diversity training? Do you think that private sector does? What about appraiser/appraisee training?
    Done E&D training, we have a rep where I work and I am hoping to get in to a role involving it in the summer.

    I don't know what you mean by appraiser training. I am in a customer service job... Maybe we have some other name for it?

    Are we being affective?

    I don't agree with everything I do, but yeah, I have seen progress with the people I work with. :) Most of it isn't so much quantifiable (apart from job starts), but changes in people's morale, success stories for sure.

    I can't speak for other roles in the whole of the public sector, but yeah, I am seeing a difference my section, a genuine difference.

    No system is perfect. The public sector has a lot of issues, but I don't see how cutting jobs is going to improve services. Yes, we have targets to meet government figures too.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Namaste wrote: »
    Done E&D training, we have a rep where I work and I am hoping to get in to a role involving it in the summer.

    But that's, to an extent, my problem. Why do we do it? Why only the public sector? Is it an effective use of our time, do we actually do things differently as a result? I'm not sure.
    I don't see how cutting jobs is going to improve services.

    If the only goal is to cuts jobs then it won't go far. We'll just hire them again when the focus is off.

    If it's to cut unnecessary tasks and this in turn results in job losses then I have no issue with it.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Thing is though, whilst a lot of jobs/roles may seem pointless there is obviously a demand for them or they wouldn't have been created (talking frontline here).

    Just because the editor of the Daily Mail doesn't need smoking cessation services, lots of other people do.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Whowhere wrote: »
    Thing is though, whilst a lot of jobs/roles may seem pointless there is obviously a demand for them or they wouldn't have been created (talking frontline here).

    Just because the editor of the Daily Mail doesn't need smoking cessation services, lots of other people do.
    Most jobs were probably needed when they were created. It becomes a lot harder to cut them later on though when they're not. You get a situation where politicians think twice about cutting services based in marginal constituencies. You're not going to win an election in Swansea by cutting jobs at the DVLA, for example.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The £250k stamp duty threshold for first time buyers is just smoke and mirrors IMO. It may have some impact up north, in traditional Labour strongholds, where house prices are generally lower. But in the south, I can't see it having any significant impact on the housing market. While interest rates are at rock bottom, benefitting those already on the property ladder, banks are far more cautious in their lending and 100+% mortgages are a thing of the past. The first time buyer now has to stump up at least 10% deposit which, in the south, means finding around £20k. And the days of the banks lending extra to cover existing debts (student loans etc) are long gone.

    The only people who are really going to benefit from the raised stamp duty threshold are those who can turn to mum and dad for a sub.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Namaste wrote: »
    Edited because I dun wanna break no civil service codes...

    I work in a very busy department, where if the jobs are cut, then people who are in disadvantaged positions are really gonna feel it.

    I don't believe that we are most at risk currently, I just know that certain nests are being feathered ready for redundancies where I work.

    I worry that redundancies are going to really hurt the public sector and the people who use it. I don't think that many of us are simply surplus, sitting around all day drinking tea. We have a role to play... Whether we're processing claims, providing services to students, answering council tax enquiries or other stuff.

    But the services people like me deliver are really important. I don't see why we should suffer, whilst the bankers get their bonuses and penis extensions like Trident are being built.

    I work with young people who are unemployed and really struggling in an already competitive market. It's going to get worse and people who have mortgages, families, or other important financial commitments are going to suffer. And I'm not writing out of fear that I'll lose my job, but that if or when I do, who the hell in all the understaffed offices is going to process my JSA claim, housing benefit, education courses and so on...

    I don't know if you have to work in the public sector to really get what I am talking about. But I think it's a bit harsh to assume that because I am paid by taxes, that I will just lay down like a saint for the government to take away my job when I can see full well how much I am needed.

    I haven't read the full report yet... I have just worked in the public sector and I fear job cuts where I work will be awful. :(

    I'm not sure that cutting the public sector will hurt people as hard as not cutting. We are overstaffed, too many people doing 'non-jobs' and with too many people who just think that being in the public sector is a sinsecure which allows them to do very little work and get a pay check.

    We also have too much bureacracy, especially on the transactional side and with proper planning it shouldn't lead to any loss of services.

    I personally don't have any fear of loosing my job, because I work hard and am good at what I do. I'm also good enough that if I made unemployed I'd be able to get another job. More people in the public sector would be in the same position if they realised that their job is to serve the public in the most efficient way possible, not to grab any perks going whilst doing the least possible.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Someone mentioned that it was only the super strength cider that was effected, but I can't find anything to back that up. Anyone know?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm not sure that cutting the public sector will hurt people as hard as not cutting. We are overstaffed, too many people doing 'non-jobs' and with too many people who just think that being in the public sector is a sinsecure which allows them to do very little work and get a pay check.

    We also have too much bureacracy, especially on the transactional side and with proper planning it shouldn't lead to any loss of services.

    I personally don't have any fear of loosing my job, because I work hard and am good at what I do. I'm also good enough that if I made unemployed I'd be able to get another job. More people in the public sector would be in the same position if they realised that their job is to serve the public in the most efficient way possible, not to grab any perks going whilst doing the least possible.
    It depends on the department that's cut?

    I'm not saying my dept is perfect, just that we can't afford to cut more staff. We already struggle when people are off on holidays in the summer!

    I DO fear losing my job. I have a disability and many employers will not touch me. I've seen it in interviews, when I bring it up, how the tone changes (or I need to do IT tests and I struggle because of the time frame and I can't read so fast, despite typing fast)... But I need extra support with learning and have to be honest about it.

    I'm good at what I do, I'm a people person and get a lot of praise from management for being good at dealing with sensitive issues... But people don't see past the label a doctor gave me. It pisses me off because I am such a proactive person and can work well once I get past the barrier of all the reading in training.

    Saying that, now I have some public sector on my CV, I may be more employable.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    MoK wrote: »
    Do you think that private sector does? What about appraiser/appraisee training?

    I work in the private sector, and have had equality and diversity training in the last six months.
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