Government spending cuts.

Is anyone feeling the pinch from the spending cuts yet? Although the new budget isn`t until October, the public sector are already making drastic cuts in some areas. I dread to think what a state this country will be in in a few months time.

I honestly believe that a lot of organisations, including councils,who wanted to make drastic cuts in staff and resources and who hesitated to do so because of how they would be perceived have now jumped at the chance of being able to blame the recession and the government. No way could Government cuts have got to the stage where they could be implemented in such a short period of time unless the cuts were in the pipeline in the first place. I think one thing that annoys me is that the current opposition are shouting the loudest and it was their disastrous policies that got us in this smelly brown doodah in the first place.

I totally agree Alan that they couldn`t wait to start cutting and cutting quite deep too. My husband works in the public sector and by June had had his hours cut by over a third. Considering this lot didn`t get elected until May I think they were a bit quick off the mark.
What gets me so annoyed is that they are concentrating on the lowest paid. If you`re on a huge salary you can afford to lose some of it, when you`re on a low wage it gets really frightening. To some extent we`ve been lucky inasmuch as I`ve been able to find a part time job but that doesn`t cover what we`ve lost. We`ve always struggled with low pay simply because both of us are guilty of having no ambition. Neither of us wanted careers but always thought that hard work at least kept your head above water. In our naivety we thought that once the kids were grown and had flown the nest things might get easier. Now I think we are going backwards. God alone knows how people will manage when the full strength of the cuts come into force in October.

Spot on, the council have been trying to privatise its public responsibilities for a long time. This has been on going in the health care section for some time. I also wonder how making people dependable on the state by taking away their taxable jobs and entering them into the pool of unemployment will benefit the economy.

This would appear to be a dream come true for the Tories. They can now go ahead with privatisation of everything in sight and blame it on "The other lot". I am quite surprised that the Lib-dems appear to be going along with it as easily as it would appear. When the coalition first appeared as a done deal I was the first to say that we should give them a chance to prove that a new form of politics might not be such a terrible thing for this country since the last three decades had been a disaster. I hope I am wrong now when I think that back-door privatisation is the intent. It seems to me that what Maggie was unable to do with bully boy police squads Dave and Nick are doing with the threat of bankruptcy which I honestly feel has been exaggerated for their own ends. Please someone tell me I am wrong and prove it to me because I am watching my country going deeper into the famous slough of despond than it ever has before

If you think about it, privatisation through the back door has been going on for a long time. I`m not an expert in any field but I know that Maggie decided in the late 80`s that all council work had to be put out to tender. The council changed the name of their cleaning dept to DSO and won the tender but things have moved on since then. The cleaning company that has the contract for Humberside Police is a multi million£ business and schools will go the same way. This costs the tax payer much more as the company charge almost double what they pay a cleaner in wages. Can anyone explain the why`s and wherefore`s to me because it doesn`t make sense?

What annoys me Tigerlilly is soon as the Tories got into power,the first thing they targetted was the lower classes again! Not the corrupt Bankers and Politicians which they seem to have forgotten about and swept under the carpet.They will not be satisfied until they have emptied our pockets,closed all our pubs,wrecked what's left of our social lives and systematically pounded us into the ground.! Focusing on benefit cheats is understandable, but removing the benefits from a disabled solder who lost a leg in Afghanistan- telling him he is fit to work is nothing but disgusting and highlights how far they they are prepared to go.

I had to laugh at a statement made by the President of Iran who said:- " Britain is full of thick people run by the Mafia!" What a cheek!, saying we are thick. When you come to think of it, we must be thick to vote these people in and let these bandits control our lives and ruin the future for our kids!

I couldn't agree more, Harry. Unfortunately these bandits control our lives because the great British Public, in its wisdom, continue to stay away from the polling booths at election time and thus the same type of people get in year after year riding on the crest of the wave of apathy which the electorate are almost drowning in. So, if you think about it the President of Iran (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) is probably not too far off the mark when he describes the british as thick and having regard to the expenses and other financial scandals of the last few years he isn't too far off the mark about who rules this land of ours. The only answer is to reduce the number of MPs to 500 and make it a criminal offence not to vote. I hate the idea of forcing people to do anything but it is the only way we will ever get the government we need to put this country back on an even keel.
As for the soldier episode, it is happening all the time with the disabled whether they be soldiers or not. When they are asked to fill in a new claim for some reason if they have the stupidity to be truthful and tell the DWP that they occasionally get reasonable days then their financial support is either reduced or taken away altogether. That won't happen with the benefit cheats because they are usually clued in as to how to fill in the form by their equally corrupt and disgusting mates and they don't make the mistake of being stupid enough to tell the truth. What a country we live in! makes you want to bloody well weep, doesn't it?