Ken Clarke warns middle class over cuts

Ken Clarke warns middle class over cuts

www.bbc.co.uk

The middle classes are unaware of the scale of government spending cuts that will hit them this year, Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has said.

Mr Clarke said the coalition should be prepared for political difficulty when Middle England feels the full impact.

"If someone says it's not as bad as all that, I say [they] just don't realise the calamitous position we're in."

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So are we going to see a lot more protests?
Is the UK going to go the way that Egypt has just gone?

Is Egypt the second roll of the massive ball that has just started to roll again? The world is currently eagerly watching as to who will be next and we all now have a role model as to how to do it.

Even the trade unions have plans for a protest march very soon in the UK;

Trade union leaders agreed on Friday to coordinate action, including staging possible strikes, in protest at the government's austerity measures, with public sector pension reform set to become a trigger for mass walkouts.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Are we on the verge of something bigger.. How far will people be pushed before the strain starts to take its toll?


www.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

of course it would have been much easier if we cut things like foreign aid, spending of which is going up!? We could just leave the EU and pull out of a pointless war, all of which would save us 10's of billions a year

Originally posted by Extralien


So are we going to see a lot more protests?
Is the UK going to go the way that Egypt has just gone?
.

In my opinion no, well not in the UK. We are so sedated by what we have in this country, what we own, the freedom that we have and why wouldn't we be? We do not live in poverty as some people do in Egypt and many other countries, we are able to vote, able to buy what we want, we don't walk outside and see an army tank driving down the street. We have clean water and medical care. There are people across the world that would give their lives and have done for what we have. The students protested about fees, what about in countries where they protest just to have to right to an education?

With regards to the middle class, so they are only going to be able to eat out just once a week. If there is going to be any protests it will come from people on benefits but hasn't that system of free money for nothing gone on long enough? My fear is that the more benefits that are cut the higher our crime rate will rise.

Originally posted by MissTiger

In my opinion no, well not in the UK. We are so sedated by what we have in this country, what we own, the freedom that we have and why wouldn't we be? We do not live in poverty as some people do in Egypt and many other countries, we are able to vote, able to buy what we want, we don't walk outside and see an army tank driving down the street.

While it is true that many Britons own material wealth, it is also the case that merely living in this nation costs well above what it ought to, and costs enough that many people reach a point where they can do no more to better thier position. I myself work for a family business, and I am looking at the prospect of not being able to afford to move out of my mothers flat, until I am thirty five/forty , dependant on how well our business goes.I am currently 25. If I were in regular employment with another firm, I would be looking at having no prospect of leaving home whatsoever, since prices where I live are so high that a whole months salary couldnt rent a single bedroom flat, and since if I moved elsewhere in order to benifit from cheaper prices, I would have to leave the job I am currently doing for my family, removing my ability to pay rent at all. Even with the aid of government housing benifit, I would still live in what amounts to poverty just in order to pay bills and a smaller share of the rent. This is not acceptable. A person should not have to rely on government to pay thier rent, yet my situation is not unusual in this nation.
You mention also freedom. What freedom do we have when all the leaders of all the big parties went to basicaly the same schools, Eaton and so on, had affluent beginings, and all went to the highest universities in the land? If there is freedom, where are the street sweepers in Parliament? Where are the dockers, the pizza delivery boys, the volunteers who can afford nothing , but the time they spend helping people?Where are they represented in government ? The answer is they , we , are not. Government is full of incredibly wealthy people, who either have never known actual hardship, or forgot what it felt like WELL before they attained any measure of power. I want to see a Primeminister who thinks a slap up meal is having cheese on his beans on toast not through eccentricity, but because thats all he knows. Where are my people represented? They are not.
We get to choose which suit is screwing us next, and little else in this country. Its either Labour spending money like its going out of fashion, or the blasted Conservatives trying to kill off the old and the poor and the weak with a murder weapon shaped like austerity measures. Its always the same, it never changes no matter which bunch of liars you vote for, and it stinks and needs to change.

We have clean water and medical care. There are people across the world that would give their lives and have done for what we have. The students protested about fees, what about in countries where they protest just to have to right to an education?

But we ARENT other nations. This is Britain and to put not too fine a point on it, we expect, nay demand forward progress from government in all things , at all times, and we pay enough in tax and revenue that we ought to expect that demand to be fulfilled. The students protested for the rights not only of themselves, but more accurately for future generations. Hell, they think there WILL be problems with social mobility in the future, but when I was leaving school I had no HOPE of going to University , even though I had the nouse, simply because even going back 9 years I wouldnt have been able to afford it. I dread to think about how off putting the frankly insane debts that one saddles oneself with these days must be to less well off kids of this new generation!

With regards to the middle class, so they are only going to be able to eat out just once a week. If there is going to be any protests it will come from people on benefits but hasn't that system of free money for nothing gone on long enough? My fear is that the more benefits that are cut the higher our crime rate will rise.

The middle class can look after themselves quite frankly, they usualy do. I do however, find your remarks about those on benifit to be slightly crass and insensitive. The system of "free money for nothing" doesnt exist. Its not free. I was on unemployment benifit, or Jobseekers Allowance, for one whole year.
I can assure you , that the errosion of ones self respect that comes with being in that unfortunate position is actualy completely devastating to ones confidence. One might think that going to a box in a wall, stating your name, number, and intent to seek work is easy, but when you are actualy doing it, with barely enough to feed yourself for a week, supposedly meant to last you a fortnight, you realise that the money is not "for nothing". This is money paid to a person who is unable to find work. I am not a lazy man, I searched high and low for work, initialy work that payed a decent salary , but eventualy anything, just ANYTHING to not be on JSA and not to feel like crap about myself all damned day. There was nothing out there , nothing.
I was one of the lucky ones, my family had begun a business during this time, and offered me a position, one I have taken to with some aplomb and flair though I say it myself, and that has been the case for 6 years now. However, due to my expiriences, I can tell you that it is NOT the norm for people to be on benifits for the kicks, or because its easier than making an effort. It isnt . Life is ten times easier now (though still difficult what with the ecconomic climate and so on) than it ever was when I was on JSA, and you know why? Because I dont wake up wishing I was dead, I dont walk around with red rimmed eyes and bags under my eyes because I have been inconsolable and despondant any more. I do not spend my days running myself RAGGED around town looking for crappy jobs that would make me worse off than I was on benifit, because I was lucky.
There arent enough jobs for everyone, and until they are, people who are happily employed may feel free to shut the hell up about the unemployed, and the benifits recipients, because evidently they know NOTHING about these people, or how "easy" they have it.

Too right about the negativity when on J.S.A and the depression of not being able to get off it for many people is massive, thats where the protests will come from if any, middle and lower class on the J.S.A being peed off.

We are due something, a modern day robin hood ?

reply to post by thecrow001


I dont pretend to know for a moment, what it is that needs to happen to make this nation right . All I do know is that most of what it does, who it pays, and who it chooses to take from, is wrong, utterly wrong. I know this for sure: Our government pays millions too much on things as simple as stationary and office products, which they buy at massively inflated prices from massive companies , very many of whom are the biggest tax dodgers in the land. While skimping on thier tax payments, these companies are also scamming our government in terms of contracting our government to pay whatever they are told to , for the products I am refering to.
Look up the name Mapeley, and thier contract with the HMRC. Then, if you are fussed, make a Freedom of Information Act request for details on exactly what that company charge our government for simple office supplies. Add it all up, take a good look at the figures, and tell me what you think!
While this nonsense is happening, I cannot understand how ANY cuts are justified, when it should be toxic contracting like this that gets nipped in the bud before any other action is taken. That would at least give a true account of what government SHOULD cost, before any further reductions are even planned, let alone enacted.Maybe Im too simple to even be thinking these thoughts, being as I am , a man of low birth. But I tell you this, we do NOT have a government which cares for its people, and that HAS to end.

I dont know if your having a go or not there , could be your writing style, but i agree with you on your points, i for one know about over inflated goverment contracts. All is requires is some simple common sense on some changes to help England and even the UK.

Now i'm young so i dont know much about the history of my government but has it always been so in your face, we do what we want, whilst we make different rules for you ?

reply to post by thecrow001


Im really sorry thecrow001. I didnt mean for my post to come across as confrontational at all! I just get damned passionate about the top down rape of my nation, as Im sure you can understand. This is an issue which in its various guises and facets has been top of the list of things that make me extremely angry, and I cant help getting vocal about the factors which play into that.
No offense meant !

reply to post by TrueBrit


Thats ok, i feel everyone should be passionate about the place they are born and live, i just wanted to check which one is was possitive or negetive so i could reply in the right manner.

I do honestly think, we need hard times to get the cotton wool from our eyes and see how it could be better and not just sit back and enjoy what we have blindly, if that means my generation protests and fights to be heard so be it,
Whilst many people love to see that the youth are lazy and have no manners, i see it as doing what they choose and not being able to sit by and be told what to do and think by generations who have ruined the place they live.

but i know its not all black and white ..

slightly off topic i think lol

Just like in Eygpt, our leaders take way way too much. The rewards for power are way out of kilt with what they deserve. Until the American people make a stand it will just get worse for the middle and lower classes. We need new government with a new paradigm.

reply to post by thecrow001


I know what you mean about the younger generation being accused of all sorts of lazyness and what have you, and Im more than aware that all that talk is bogus, and is only ever said to cover the fact that older generations have failed entirely to enact positive change to the broken system we have here.
However, I must say that these issues are not off topic at all. When the topic is the dire circumstances we find ourselves in as a nation at this time, then the issues raised in this segment of the thread are absolutely key to the topic at hand!

reply to post by TrueBrit


thanks, i thought i went off topic.
I think its ony a matter of time till something breaks the camels back, be it petrol prices, food prices or just plain jobless numbers, they really do have to think about what they are doing...

If only i was stupid and blind to the mess, life would be a dream right ?

I dislike it when people 'compare' countries, they look at their lives in the UK and say people in 'insert country here' would kill to have what we have etc etc All they are doing is diluting the simple fact that we have now in no way represents what we should have in such a country, and as these standards and expectations continue to decrease because of successive governments policies, the countries they point to and say how much better we have it than them will worsen and the list will grow increasingly shorter.

That post made sense to me, apologies if it didn't to anyone else.

reply to post by BarmyBilly


Whilst I agree wholeheartedly with your post, we could go much further and look at the huge amount of unpaid/avoided taxes that people like Philip Green owe to the country. Of course I realise that this might be a tad inconvenient as he is currently advising a cabinet made up of many millionairs!
Its probably just easier to take more from the poor and the sick - afterall, who cares about them right?

reply to post by Solomons


Made perfect sense to me! I know exactly what you mean when you refer to comparing nations as if what happens in one, ought to effect the aspirations of the people in another. Its true that in Egypt for instance, the people have just had to take to the streets for 18 days just to secure thier rights and attain democracy, but that does not mean that people here in Britain ought to allow the plight of the Egyptians to alter thier attitudes about wether or not we feel we are being sorely dealt with by our government.
The fact that Egypt is now free to an extent of the monsterous behaviour of its former president is of course wonderful, but it doesnt detract from the fact that our nation has been passed around the political class of this nation like some cheap whore for decades, and until that cycle of one cheating dishonest scumbag after another is broken, I dont see how it can change.
For the change we need , to actualy occur, it will take an awful lot of reality checks on the part of content and utterly ignorant people.

Originally posted by thecrow001
Too right about the negativity when on J.S.A and the depression of not being able to get off it for many people is massive, thats where the protests will come from if any, middle and lower class on the J.S.A being peed off.

We are due something, a modern day robin hood ?

Robin Hood robbed the TAX COLLECTOR and returned the money to the people who earned it. I'm all for that revolution!

reply to post by sara123123


i'll do that job seeing as i am best suited, its in my blood being a local
i am surprised its not happened yet or am i just crazy to think that ?

internet supplys the knowleadge to the people, some one needs to to the wealth part ..

reply to post by TrueBrit


Initially I would like to apologise for any offence caused by the comment you found "slightly crass and insensitive". I admit that maybe I should have expanded.

Solomons..... Yes I was comparing but what I was trying to say was that some of the British people would not think things are bad enough in this country yet to do anything about it. Crow001 was right when they said "we need hard times to get the cotton wool from our eyes".

reply to post by MissTiger


Thank you. For my part, I apologise if my response to those comments seemed disproportionate . Issues affecting the poorest in this country are ones very close to my heart, and comming from small means myself, I can have a tendancy to be overly passionate in defence of people with whom I have commonality of origin.