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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted -  14/11/2010  :  06:26
NEW VERSION TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR MEMBERS WITH SLOW CONNECTIONS TO CONNECT.

Follw this LINK for last version.


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk
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belle
VIP Member


6502 Posts
Posted - 28/03/2011 : 23:49
Perhaps bus passes should now carry restrictions, beyond those that forbid travel at rush hour, they could be something like, no one who has ever claimed benefit should be allowed bus passes, those with bus passes musn't travel on any journeys that may be fun, or travel such a distance that may feel like a holiday or day out, anyone wishing to protest to Her majesties Govt must pay for travel whether they are in full posession of a bus pass or not, bus companies must only use delapidated stock for transporting bus pass users, and where a vehicle contains broken or ripped seats the bus pass users must fill these first. In boarding and alighting a vehicle the bus pass user must remain at the back the queue untill all paying passengers have entered or exited the said vehicle. The bus driver retains the right to evict bus pass users at any stage of their journey, if he feels it might profit the company to do so.
I'm getting quite good at this!


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thomo
Barlick Born Old Salt


2021 Posts
Posted - 29/03/2011 : 00:05
Its amazing how when this country needs its people to stand firm with it, so many revert to personal mud slinging. I come from a working class background and through a lot of hard work and study, attention to the detail of what I was doing and a desire to be good at it has given me a degree of satisfaction, The only state help I have had was in the way of basic education, everything else I have either paid for or contributed to. The only obstructions to progress being a lack of ability on my part to understand instantly what was being said at the time, but I was only twelve, and this was soon resolved by better teaching methods. "Rise up" meant go out and better yourself, and not rise up and protest. I accept that the unions have had a major part in life. and that they still have a role in it, but life goes on and it is constantly evolving, yet the people who support their activities appear at times to be stuck in an earlier period of time and cannot address the need for readjustment in their approach. It is futile to sit on the sidelines and howl derision, far better to try and help to make a difference, even if it is only by shutting up.


thomo Go to Top of Page
Bradders
Senior Member


1880 Posts
Posted - 29/03/2011 : 00:36
YES Belle , got it in one ! .....and before "WW III" breaks out again , I would ask all paying bus users and bus-pass holders (except those who have had a sense of humour bypass -no names , no pack drill-...  ) to have a listen at this wonderful story about a bus journey....

http://monologues.co.uk/Anonymous/Arthur_and_Sam.htm

I spent 30 years living within 5 miles of Horsley and Horsley Woodhouse  (pronounced Ostley Wuduss)  in Derbyshire and heard my friend ,and Erewash Valley dialect specialist , the late Rick Scollins deliver this monologue many times.......!

 

Edited by - Bradders on 29/03/2011 12:40:53 AM

Edited by - Bradders on 29/03/2011 01:27:04 AM


BRADDERS BLUESINGER Go to Top of Page
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 29/03/2011 : 04:01
I heard an interesting comment yesterday about the economists and commentators not only missing the fact that the bank crisis was coming, but that they got the effects wrong as well. 18 months ago the talk was all housing markets, negative equity and repossessions, funny thing is that this hasn't happened. The reason is of course the ridiculously low rates of interest, itself a product of the failure of the banks to manage their affairs.

The focus has switched these days to international standing, credit ratings and the stability of currencies. Incidentally, when did you last hear the phrase 'Sterling Zone'? It's 'Euro Zone' now, and not in terms of a Reserve Currency but an artificial club. The US dollar reigns supreme but again, there's a strange reason for this, it only holds steady because of the enormous amount of investment by China into the US in order to keep their currency rate low enough to subsidise exports. Don't ask me how that works, I don't understand it but my economist friends tell me that this is the case. The bogey man of our Moody rating is being used to inject fear of total financial collapse and therefore keep wages and consumption down.

The change in exchange rates and the effects of inflation have always puzzled me. I can remember when the rate was $2.40 to the £, handy because it meant a penny was worth a US cent. I don't watch rates but it's probably $1.40 now. In 1959 my mortgage was £15 a month, 50% of my total income. 15 years later when I paid it off it was still £15 but my income was about ten times higher, never could understand that, why hadn't the banks put it up in line with inflation?

So how did we manage? We soldiered on through interest rates nudging 25% if I remember rightly at one point, and survived.  That's what is going to have to happen now. We are all going to have to spend less but the driver now isn't interest rates but inflation. Leaving aside the golden top 10% of the population who don't have to worry, we are all going to have to spend less and this is where the danger lies. The most important driver of the national economy is domestic spending and the present economic policies will drive this spending down putting an automatic drag on recovery. Any first year economic student knows this so why is our present government doing the opposite of what classic economic theory demands?

I believe it is for purely political reasons, they want a good set of budget figures before the next election and will concentrate on screwing the maximum amount they can out of the economy to get this. So how can they achieve this? By screwing down what the mass of the population takes out of the economy to live. So hold back wages, allow inflation to increase the numbers in the tax take and cut back on consumption. Classic 19th century 'sound money' economics. 

Our first year economics student will tell you that this is the correct solution, having spent the money unwisely we have to claw it back. Like the unions, I have no problem with this, it is the correct strategy, attack disposable income. But this is where the inequity comes in. The mistake the ConDem government is making is that it is doing it too fast and not spreading the pain. As a percentage of disposable income it is the poorest who are worst off. It's the old story and that's why I believe that ConDem economics are wrong. It's a gamble because it may be that they have taken too much out of the wrong place, slowed down growth and rendered us more liable to a downturn under external economic shock.

On an entirely different note I see that Mission Creep is alive and well in Libya. We are now aiding one side in a civil war. At the moment this means the anto-Gadafis rebels but under the terms of the UN resolution, if the rebels are killing pro-Gadafi civilians, guess who we are supposed to attack?  The real agenda is the one they aren't talking about, to wipe out the Gadafi regime by whatever means, stabilise the country and keep the oil flowing. At the moment this is being done by destroying Gadafi's military capability. What happens when they have done this and Gadafi is still there?

Oh, by the way, Cameron et al seem quite cock a hoop about progress so far. Watch for attacks on BBC coverage. As soon as you see that you'll know they are worried. 


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk Go to Top of Page
HerbSG
Senior Member


1185 Posts
Posted - 29/03/2011 : 08:00
Belle. my comment about bus pass users going to a demonstration was tongue in cheek for Frank.  I have said somewhere above  that I believe that freebies should be handed out based on need, so I guess that means a means test of  some kind..very easy really...based on income tax returns.

In Canada we have school taxes based on property values, which means everyone pays, if you have no kids you still pay... I guess this is the good part of socialism.


HERB


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belle
VIP Member


6502 Posts
Posted - 29/03/2011 : 09:22
Herb, you should have ducked, I was aiming at Frank not you, i heard the tongue in cheek nature of your post!


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belle
VIP Member


6502 Posts
Posted - 29/03/2011 : 09:35
Thomo I applaud your sentiments but one f the problems with what are termed good old fashioned values is that in the past many who were wealthy and free were only that way on the backs of the oppressed and the starving. We don't want a return to that. Yet in a very small way that is what is happening.
I choked in disbelief when hearing an interview on a programme about how the middle income people in this country were being penalised, the 'very nice' lady was horrified at the cuts the Govt were making because it would affect the family holiday and the second car! This is so typical of the way the masses are portrayed, no wonder people like Frank can't believe there are any really needy folk out there. No one discussed how it would affect those of us who already don't  have family holidays, or a second car, and have done what you did Thomo, lived without help for as long as possible.


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belle
VIP Member


6502 Posts
Posted - 29/03/2011 : 09:38
On an entirely different note: What attracted my attention today? The bumper sticker on the car in front which read
"No wars have ever been fought in the name of Wicca!" Now I have seen it all!


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catgate
Senior Member


1764 Posts
Posted - 29/03/2011 : 10:29


quote:
belle wrote:
On an entirely different note: What attracted my attention today? The bumper sticker on the car in front which read
"No wars have ever been fought in the name of Wicca!" Now I have seen it all!
I saw a nice one on the back of a driving school car.  It said "No pupils kept in this vehicle overnight".



Every silver lining has a cloud.


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frankwilk
Senior Member


3975 Posts
Posted - 29/03/2011 : 11:45
" no wonder people like Frank can't believe there are any really needy folk "
" Really Needy Folk "  Belle please define Is that Before or After State Welfare Payments??



Frank Wilkinson       Once Navy Always Navy Go to Top of Page
belle
VIP Member


6502 Posts
Posted - 29/03/2011 : 11:49
Frank I think we have all covered this ground with you several times over, so I won't go back over it.


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frankwilk
Senior Member


3975 Posts
Posted - 29/03/2011 : 13:40
You have never covered the ground simply because you can't . It is so subjective, my needs may be help to keep my 4 bedroomed detached house someone else may need help obtaing a Social House.
What I do know is that no one in this country is starving our Welfare State/System makes sure of that.   I really  would like to understand the definition of need/needy, in todays context. 



Frank Wilkinson       Once Navy Always Navy Go to Top of Page
Bradders
Senior Member


1880 Posts
Posted - 29/03/2011 : 14:16
I understand that  "La la Land " has just made it into the Oxford English Dictionary....How long before "Frankworld" gets there too ?...(Not that I would dream of suggesting that Frank lives in the former)


BRADDERS BLUESINGER Go to Top of Page
belle
VIP Member


6502 Posts
Posted - 29/03/2011 : 14:59
This link might help you Frank: http://www.vhscotland.org.uk/library/vol/bpcsum.pdf


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Bruff
Regular Member


479 Posts
Posted - 29/03/2011 : 15:07
There is absolute poverty and relative poverty.  Absolute poverty is essentially destitution and there are very few people like that in this country, though there are plenty world-wide (about 1 in 6 of the global population).

 
Relative poverty is about having fewer resources than others in a society to the extent that this may prohibit you from fully engaging in activities that are considered the norm in that society, or make you more susceptible to outcomes commonly avoidable by others in the society.  So it is not, repeat not, about income alone.

 
So whilst there are few people in absolute poverty in this country, there are plenty who may fall into relative poverty as defined above.  And quite a few of these people will be working, or be pensioners who have worked all their life.

 
Richard Broughton



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