Bolitics The New Condem Government

[tonyh29]

So is Clegg right that people who don't approve of Gay marriage are Bigots or is his statement not very Liberal of him ?

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

He's retracted it, but I'd go along with it.

Whether one admits to it or not, saying one disagrees with gay marriage is just another way of saying 'they can do what they want but they can't do what we do'.

[chrisp65]

So is Clegg right that people who don't approve of Gay marriage are Bigots or is his statement not very Liberal of him ?

Well, I suppose bigot means intolerant, so in that narrow 'dictionary' way that anal types like, yes they are bigots.

In the informal world of words having more fluid meanings, bigot usually means small c conservative that likes things how they were when we were all male white and straight and butter was good for you. So again yes.

Of course, if we go in for 'dictionary' dead definitions, 'marriage' is a state between a man and a woman.

Tricky things dictionarys.

[bickster]

Tricky things dictionarys.

Clearly

[chrisp65]

Tricky things dictionarys.

Clearly

hoisted by my own pet leotard!

[coda]

Ad in today's Telegraph.

[bickster]

Good, hope my couple of quid went towards that ad.

[A.J.Rimmer]

The economy won't do anything miraculous because the nobwit in charge is making sure it can't by his actions, which are based around ideology rather than economics.

You remind me of the fellow who juggled his kitchen knives until finally getting one right through his hand. The doctor cleaned and stiched it all up for him; but when it didn't heal as the fellow expected, he told everyone the reason his hand was buggered was all due to the stupidity of the doctor.

[Jon]

So is Clegg right that people who don't approve of Gay marriage are Bigots or is his statement not very Liberal of him ?

Well, I suppose bigot means intolerant, so in that narrow 'dictionary' way that anal types like, yes they are bigots.

'Anal' types rarely get along with bigots, in my experience.

[Jon]

The economy won't do anything miraculous because the nobwit in charge is making sure it can't by his actions, which are based around ideology rather than economics.

You remind me of the fellow who juggled his kitchen knives until finally getting one right through his hand. The doctor cleaned and stiched it all up for him; but when it didn't heal as the fellow expected, he told everyone the reason his hand was buggered was all due to the stupidity of the doctor.

You remind me of the fellow who juggled his kitchen knives until they all fell to the floor.

But that didn't bother him, as he was standing on the poor, the sick, the elderly and the jobless, who had no future anyway, and so the knives just put them out of their misery.

[chrisp65]

The economy won't do anything miraculous because the nobwit in charge is making sure it can't by his actions, which are based around ideology rather than economics.

You remind me of the fellow who juggled his kitchen knives until finally getting one right through his hand. The doctor cleaned and stiched it all up for him; but when it didn't heal as the fellow expected, he told everyone the reason his hand was buggered was all due to the stupidity of the doctor.

You remind me of the fellow who juggled his kitchen knives until they all fell to the floor.

But that didn't bother him, as he was standing on the poor, the sick, the elderly and the jobless, who had no future anyway, and so the knives just put them out of their misery.

to be fair I'm on AJ's side.

The Chancellor has done everything he can, he's raised VAT, he's cancelled public capital projects, got rid of a few hundred thousand public sector jobs and put the frighteners on everyone.

I really don't see what more he could have done to get the economy going again.

[blandy]

You may think that AJR, but the people who cheered the nobwit on, when he first cam up with his plan have all either shut up, or reversed their positions - The IMF, the OECD, the credit rating agencies, bond markets, Institute of directors, BofE, some plums who wrote to the torygraph and all those types - what are they all saying now? - basically nothing at all, out of embarrassment, or "don't do that, George, instead do this" - he's made it all worse, not better.

The ones with the knives are the tories, blood letting to "cure" the patient.

[Jon]

You may think that AJR, but the people who cheered the nobwit on, when he first cam up with his plan have all either shut up, or reversed their positions - The IMF, the OECD, the credit rating agencies, bond markets, Institute of directors, BofE, some plums who wrote to the torygraph and all those types - what are they all saying now? - basically nothing at all, out of embarrassment, or "don't do that, George, instead do this" - he's made it all worse, not better.

The ones with the knives are the tories, blood letting to "cure" the patient.

:nod:

or kill.

[snowychap]

I've only been half listening to the news on the radio today and haven't bought a newspaper for days.

Am I right in thinking the govt has some wondrous new plan to make all benefits claims work via the interweb? An idea which does rather presume you have a computer and an internet provider, email address and online securitynd money for the pay as you go leccy meter.

The Graudiad"]

Job seekers are being kept hanging on the telephone for at least five minutes before they are connected to a member of staff in job centres – a deliberate move to encourage people to make online claims, internal documents obtained by the Guardian reveal.

The new policy, outlined in an memo entitled Job Seekers' Allowance Online Performance Improvement, means that an unemployed person calling a jobcentre call centre will be forced to wait for five minutes not because staff are too busy to answer the phones but so that they can listen to "the advantages of using the online service, ie will receive their entitlement decisions more quickly than those who use the telephone".

Even once claimants get through, the instruction to call centres is to talk them into claiming online. "Those who choose to remain on the phone will be able to use the telephony service to begin their claim".

Charities said that vulnerable people often do not have internet access. A spokesman for the Child Poverty Action Group said: "Claimants themselves are the best judge of whether they are able to make a claim online. The department should not be using this kind of tactic to push them in a direction which might not be suitable for everyone."

Underlining the new policy is the government's target that 80% of new claims for unemployment benefit should be made online by September 2013. By March this year only 20% of new claims were submitted online.

The problem for the welfare secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, is that the online flagship universal credit policy will only work if claimants not only claim jobseeker's allowance and other benefits online but also manage their benefits and job searches online.

"We need to achieve this (80% target) to support the delivery of universal credit next year," reads the memo.

A spokesperson for the department of work and pensions emphasised that the government did make efforts to ensure that the poor could access jobcentre call centres. He pointed out that "calls to the telephone claim service are free for all calls from landlines and for the vast majority of mobile users".

Official figures show that about 1.8 million people have already claimed jobseeker's allowance online.

In a statement, Duncan Smith added: "We are now encouraging people who wish to make a claim to jobseekers allowance to do so online. The Office of National Statistics shows us that 83% of the British population use the internet. Claims that are made online can be processed more quickly and efficiently. Claimants are still free to contact us by telephone to make a claim."

[TheDon]

The Chancellor has done everything he can, he's raised VAT, he's cancelled public capital projects, got rid of a few hundred thousand public sector jobs and put the frighteners on everyone.

I really don't see what more he could have done to get the economy going again.

Nothing you've listed has any logical connection to "getting the economy going again".

You've just said that he's increased costs, cut demand, and increased unemployment. If that's your idea of "getting the economy going again" I'm frankly bemused.

[LondonLax]

The Chancellor has done everything he can, he's raised VAT, he's cancelled public capital projects, got rid of a few hundred thousand public sector jobs and put the frighteners on everyone.

I really don't see what more he could have done to get the economy going again.

Nothing you've listed has any logical connection to "getting the economy going again".

You've just said that he's increased costs, cut demand, and increased unemployment. If that's your idea of "getting the economy going again" I'm frankly bemused.

Cue "That's the joke" pic.

[chrisp65]

The Chancellor has done everything he can, he's raised VAT, he's cancelled public capital projects, got rid of a few hundred thousand public sector jobs and put the frighteners on everyone.

I really don't see what more he could have done to get the economy going again.

Nothing you've listed has any logical connection to "getting the economy going again".

You've just said that he's increased costs, cut demand, and increased unemployment. If that's your idea of "getting the economy going again" I'm frankly bemused.

Cue "That's the joke" pic.

correct!

for clarity, I'm not his biggest fan, I was being ironical

[snowychap]

Cue "That's the joke" pic.

Good edit - I nearly posted esrlier directing you to the 'difficulty spelling' thread. ;-)

[mjmooney]

So. Call Me Dave vs. Barmy Boris.

Place your bets.

[Awol]

So. Call Me Dave vs. Barmy Boris.

Place your bets.

Death Match? Boris, easily.