David Dimbleby is joined in Birmingham by Baroness Warsi,{loose lipped chairperson of the Conservatives, and electoral fraud challenger, } Charles Clarke {Labour MP for nowhere, fierce Brown critic and serial Home office bungler} , Susan Kramer {Liberal democrat MP for nowhere, losing to Zac Goldsmith on what was described as a narrow victory, but was actually a big swing. Free tip Sue:Don't stand on a mansion tax platform in the place with the most expensive houses in England} , Max Mosley {former leader of the British union of fascists.or possibly that was his dad. Recently removed head of FIA and successful newspaper defeater. Still challenging the UK privacy laws.} and Rageh Omaar {journalist for Al Jazeera and interesting former Iraq correspondent for Al Beeb. }Usual rules ....Winner gets to try and do something about the Child Benefits fiasco that will dominate tonight's program.
- Child benefits withdrawal, middle class burden and 'unfair' government.
- Benefits cap of £500.
- CCTV in Muslim areas scandal and the terror threat.
- Big society is hot air.
- Election fraud
13 comments:
1. Evil Tory Thatcher cuts in low paid public sector essential services pensions.
2. Evil Tory Thatcher cuts in Child Benefit for low paid above £45k.
3. All UK countries leaders (except fascist England's Cameron) oppose evil Tory Thatcher cuts.
4. NHS heroes defeat evil Tory Thatcher cuts to make Alzheimer's drugs available to clients.
5. Evil Tory Thatcher cuts cause house price fall as prelude to 'double dip'.
Bonus question: Labour now lead evil Thatcher Tories in the polls; is anyone surprised?
Cameron's cuts.
1 - Child benefit
2 - Public sector pensions
3 - Cuts to numbers of children born {by benefits cap}
4 - Union planned strikes.
5 - Widdy's dancing.
Let's give this a go :-
1. Child benefit bungle. Why didn't the Tories think it through?
2. Defence cuts. In particular, cancellation costs for aircraft carriers. Why didn't the government think it through?
3. Sporting venue bungles - commonwealth games, S Korean grand prix, impending Olympics. Why didn't the relevant governments think it through?
4. there has to be some question about terrorists - why are there still so many british (and german) moslem terrorists running around swathed in Semtex. Is anybody thinking this through?
5. ...wow, this is harder than I thought.....should foreigners (esp Americans) really be allowed to own british footie teams ?
- Evil Tory cuts
- Evil Tory cuts
- Evil Tory cuts
- Evil Tory cuts
- Evil Tory cuts
and if time
- Really Evil Tory cuts
Is it right to claim benefits when one doesn't need them but just because one can?
Should minimum pensionable age rise in line with life expectancy?
Should OAPs be denied passports so that at least they fritter away their children's inheritance in the UK?
Should all welfare payments be stopped and all claimants required to re-apply under new rules that are less morally hazardous?
Should incomers to the UK be entitled only to the benefits a UK subject would be able to draw in the immigrant's country of origin (should he be unwise enough to settle there and throw himself on local mercies)?
Cameron's uninspiring speech. The big snooziety.
House prices falling, car sales fal
ling ..is this the double dip?
Cap on benefits
Should the private sector continue to fund the public sector's pensions
Is Lord Hutton a traitor to the working classes?
What exactly is 'in the public interests' in reporting.
Just listening to the radio today loads of talk about how unfair it is that people that have paid into a pension scheme their whole working lives are now having the terms changed retrospectively.
Well quite.
Yet when the private sector brought up this very issue when Gordon raided pension rules and so collapsed FS schemes, I remember public sector unions saying..'What's the problem?'
1.Should David Cameron dress up like a concentration camp victim and be whipped by Max Mosely live on Question Time?
2. Why did'nt the BBC move to Birmingham?
3. Ed Miliband, he's clever with his taxes, he'd must be a better Prime Minister material.
4. Why is Lloyds bank taking back ownership of most of Birmingham? How come all those property entrepreneurs turned out to be idoits?
5. Why does Birmingham have the highest level of electoral fraud in the country.
Hm.
1. Who do you think will be the next chairman of the Conservative party? (May be framed differently - like did electoral fraud really cost the Conservative party the election?)
2. Is it really fair I that I'm financially penalised by losing child benefit for something I didn't do? (Or, banker bonuses of £7bn this year/scroungers scrounging/I'm a hard working family man/woman, why am I paying for it, etc)
3. Why am I paying for some lazy, slacker unionised leftie's public sector worker's pension?
4. Would the Shadow Cabinet be stronger with David Miliband as Shadow Chancellor?
5. Should all X-Factor contestants be sent to Zimbabwe?
I suspect that Baroness Warsi's answer will be the same for all the questions - Labour did it, in kitchen, with a lead pipe.
QT
1 Red Ed -is he the future now
2 Hutton on pensions
3 Child Allowance reduction
4 NICE and Diabetes drugs
5 500 cap on benefits - driving families apart?
6 Delhi 2010 v London 2012
less interestingly,
@Bill,
One of the bases of the '92 EU barber v gre judgement was that pensions were deferred pay.
Given that and article N (cannot remember) on the right to not be robbed means it is v.v. difficult to not pay the pension promised - short of sponsoring company bankruptcy, and even then they can come after the parent company or the trustees or the directors or whoever bought the assets.
Retrospective change is nearly impossible, never mind the morality.
Prospective change is completely possible. It is the same as a salary cut, but much more invisible.
Basically all the public sector employees in DB pension schemes are paying £5 in and will receive £25-£40 later on, and losing this benefit upsets them.
It would upset me too.
Q1. Higher rate tax payers, child benefit and fairness. Charles Clarke thinks its unfair and clearly says why. {Secretly I always quite liked him as home sec. He normally sounds convincing..} Max Mosely agrees, and says its unfair, which it quite clearly is. Lots of things are unfair but Tories should have anticipated this one and had a bit better spin ready.its unpopular whatever the YouGov says.
Varsi says it can't be means tested. I wish I knew. It still sounds like a quick, rather than a clever cut. Susan Kramer is on much firmer ground attacking Labour who are defending a middle class freebie. Rageh Omaar is bang on the money with the Tory strategy here, to attack 'Tory heartlands' first. Paving the way for large cuts to poorer sections later. Its going to be difficult whatever they try and do. Sometimes Osborne can be a bit too clever. CC says as much and gets the big claps.
Q2 - has the gov gone too far or not far enough. Benefits cap question.
Rageh Omaar thinks government has gone too far. £35,000 gross in benefits seems pretty generous to me. Most benefit families get nowhere near that. Mosley answers with Trident.CC thinks its another unfair,gives good reasons why and he is right again. But at this rate the only thing that will get cut is I.D cards.
The largest expenditure are Health and Benefits and NHS is "ring fenced" so its benefits.
{ Need someone like Quentin Letts or Kelvin McKenzie on to shake this argument up.} SK also thinks its unfair, but also has to be done. Huge round of applause for the audience member defender of single mums.
SK then pretty much says what i said above.
Q3 - Big Society question. Does Dave mean we should all shut up and get on with it. {Actually a pretty good description of Big Society, and a good Q}
Max thinks BS is, erm ..BS!
RO believes it is a good idea, but is spread too wide covering everything from schools to policing to welfare. I think he's right.SW likes the vision and says why. But its all a bit THICK OF IT though isn't it? "Right monkey bums I want a brand new shared vision of a more equal and aspirationally prosperous society. I want it today for the 6pm news..Oh..and there's no cash for the project either. See you after lunch.."
The audience isn't convinced. Its a step to far Dave..leave it for now. Wait until you have some examples to show on Panorama. People do want better schools, but want YOU to make them better.
Q4 - Coulson question {damn! I guessed that was coming, but took it out for CCTV.}
MM wants him gone.
CC wants him gone
SW defends in an OK way
RO wants him gone
SK sort of wants him gone.
So he should be 'moved on'
Q5- Public Sector pensions cuts.
RO thinks its inevitable. CC kind of agrees, change is coming. He has been very good tonight. Max goes on about fairness again.
Wake up Max. Fairness is no longer on the agenda. The deficit really is that big.
Q6 - Immigration question. Immigration cap. MM is against arbitrary limits. CC thinks a cap is wrong. He also points out that Immigration capping was an election positioning strategy.
Without including EU its pretty marginal. Freezing out Asians and Americans.
SW corrects the question
RO also thinks a cut off is silly.
Panel scores
Dimbleby - 7 {much better. He must have been reading last weeks criticisms]
Warsi - 5
Mosely - 4
Kramer - 6
Clarke - 8
Omaar - 8
Winners.
BQ - 3
Budgie - 2 tonight.
Miss CD - 3
Hatfield Girl's prose had 3 [+ 1/2 for mentioning immigration]
Malcolm Tucker 3 + 1/2 for Hutton traitor.
CU - a disappointing zero tonight.
appointmetotheboard - 2 [+ 1/2 for Warsi's relentless Labour bashing. Good start]
Andrew B - 3 {well done]
Aren't pension changes, like increased contributions and longer working life from normally changed from 'x' date.
Pensions are effectively divided into what you have already at 'x' and what you will get in future at 'y'.
Winners are Malcolm Tucker and Hatfield Girl. If he can stop shouting and she can stop eyeing up the Italian workmen we should soon have this whole Child benefit thing sorted.
Should David Cameron dress up like a concentration camp victim and be whipped by Max Mosely live on Question Time?
He's got some balls hasn't he? If I'd been caught doing stuff like that I'd never show my face in public again!
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