Did you see the much hyped second debate between Lib Dem/Conservative Tea Boy Nick "Fame Seeker" Clegg and Nigel "Friendly Face of Racism and Sexism" Farage?
Those in the know are suggesting that Farage basically walked it, making Clegg look silly and lacking in any knowledge of what us, the electorate, want from Europe, and our continued place within it.
There was much of the expected usual fayre, with both men resembling two toddlers having a ruck- accusations of lying being the main point from both.
The thing is, I don't particularly like any of them. Don't get me wrong, I'm even less of a fan of Smugron and his Tory Eton Old Boys Club party, but I can't help think that it wasn't so much a win for Farage, but a case of most sensible, and former Lib Dem supporters, hating Clegg with a passion.
Why?
If you ask me, Clegg kind of resembles the kind of act you see on X Factor. You know the one, it happens every year. You get a band of spotty oiks, who have limited talent jump on stage, fronted by someone who is actually quite good (especially when backed by the less talented ones).
They sit outside talking to Dermot, about how they have been through so much together, how they are like family and no chance of fame and fortune will ever rip them apart. They are tight, they believe in each other and all they stand for.
Then, they walked out on stage, and of course, the quite talented one gets told to ditch their scruples and go out on their own to seek fame. They may even get told to join a bunch of other, supposedly talented folk. It then all goes wrong and they go out in week 3 as they weren't that talented after all, to be shunned by their mates.
How is Clegg like this, I hear you ask?
Well, think about it.
The Lib Dems have long been the third party. They had definite policies of being the party of the student, the disillusioned. My own parents voted for them. We always had a Lib Dem sign in our window come election time.
Then, Clegg got a bit bored of being in this party of losers, and on being told by Smugron that together they could lead the country, he jumped in with a party who are their polar opposite.
Straight away, all his promises, to support students against plans to bring in Fees went out the window. He chased fame and gave up everything he believed in.
Now, it's all going wrong, and whilst most of us are not fans of Smugron, he's just performing to type- greedy Tory who is only interested in his rich buddies and what they want- all of us who used to seek refuge with the Lib Dems are jumping ship.
Farage and his UKIP (BNP Lite for the Middle Classes) party of EU haters are no doubt going to hold the power if we get a hung parliament again.
As for the Lib Dems, well, they're losing seats left right and Middle England to even wacky independent parties, such is the drive to ditch them.
Who will end up worse off as a result of the ConDem experiment? Without doubt the Lib Dems and Clegg. Even Smugron is distancing himself from Clegg- when asked on BBC Breakfast who he thought had won the debate his answer was not to support Clegg but to remark he didn't have anyone in the race.
Clegg is about to find out what happens when you ditch your mates in favour of fame.
Its a very lonely place out there Nick.
Showing posts with label Cameron. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cameron. Show all posts
Thursday, 3 April 2014
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Comment: The Cull of the Classes
I am very cross.
Education, its important, right?
It should be available to everyone who wants it.
Sadly, I feel the Tories don't believe this is true. Not if it means they can claw back money wasted by banks and the Ministers from across the parties who helped themselves to it with little thought for the rest of us constituents.
Latest on their hit list, after Uni students, is EMA.
For those not in the know, EMA was available to college or sixth form students aged between 16 and 19. Its the tiny sum of between £10 and £30 a week, depending on your household income, but isn't affected by the student having a Saturday job.
It was brought in by the Labour party (who frankly seemed far more supportive of education than the current useless, Public School educated privileged yobbos we have now), and for the most part, Students used it for bus fare, books or food.
It wasn't handed out at random though- students had to have good attendance, and work hard, there wasn't the opportunity to turn up and get paid.
And now its been scrapped.
Inevitably, that will result in many students having to give up their courses as they won't be able to afford the bus fares or books they need.
Lets face it, the majority of those who received this money, especially the top amount of £30, come from the not very well off category. They can't really become reliant on their parent/s after starting their courses, and now they face the reality of either trying to struggle to college, trying to get a job without their qualifications, or worse, being forced into the unenviable cycle of signing on, and finding whatever work is available.
Worse, they will face giving up their hopes and dreams for a bright future with qualifications.
I know exactly what that is like, hence why I am so cross.
At 16, I went to sixth form. I worked hard. Bloody hard.
We didn't have the option of EMA back then, so I had a part time job and grudgingly lived at home with my parents. My £2.32 an hour working Saturday afternoons in my local Primark, resulted in £37.12 a month. This was for me to buy books, clothes and lunch with. I definitely had to be careful with my cash, but I managed.
I then couldn't stand to live at home anymore, and so I left.
That was the end of my sixth form, my A Levels, and why I am scratching around at blogging to try and achieve my original dream of becoming a journalist.
Why?
Because I had to find somewhere to live, and, at 17 wasn't old enough, at that time, to hold my own tenancy- I had to live in assisted accommodation. Before that, I slept rough- so the little Saturday job was also at an end too, as no one wants to be served by someone who has no washing facilities or means of clean clothing.
I had no savings either.
That £30 would have helped me so much, if EMA had of existed back then- I could have lived in the same accommodation, claimed Housing Benefit due to having the EMA income, so my rent would have been paid, and could have made that £30 last for food, and borrowed books. I could have gone to uni, and achieved my goals and absolute happiness.
Instead I gave up in general for a year, getting in with an equally disillusioned crowd, drinking constantly, not eating and being miserable.
I then went from one crap job to the next, hating every minute of them, wishing I could be like my old mates who would see me in town and tell me how great their lives were. Not to be mean, they just generally were enjoying their life after going to college and uni and getting the jobs they wanted all along.
I, on the other hand, felt like I had to settle.
Or take my Brother-in-law.
Unfortunately, what the upper class Cameron doesn't seem to understand is that by saving these small amounts, he is costing this country in the future. If people cannot afford to educate themselves past 16, then there will be a growth in unskilled workers trying to find an already limited amount of unskilled jobs. Is it not bad enough that we have to look abroad for Medical staff, due to a lack of home grown graduates?
Do we not all want a country we could be proud of, with as many well educated people who want to be?
We seem to be entering a society where the lower classes, or their offspring who wish to remove themselves from the hands of the breadline, to not end up as disillusioned as their parents, to better themselves from their class, are facing the fact that their government wishes to axe their hopes, their bright futures.
Will we really reach a stage whereby only the rich count?
It certainly feels as we are fast approaching it.
Education, its important, right?
It should be available to everyone who wants it.
Sadly, I feel the Tories don't believe this is true. Not if it means they can claw back money wasted by banks and the Ministers from across the parties who helped themselves to it with little thought for the rest of us constituents.
Latest on their hit list, after Uni students, is EMA.
For those not in the know, EMA was available to college or sixth form students aged between 16 and 19. Its the tiny sum of between £10 and £30 a week, depending on your household income, but isn't affected by the student having a Saturday job.
It was brought in by the Labour party (who frankly seemed far more supportive of education than the current useless, Public School educated privileged yobbos we have now), and for the most part, Students used it for bus fare, books or food.
It wasn't handed out at random though- students had to have good attendance, and work hard, there wasn't the opportunity to turn up and get paid.
And now its been scrapped.
Inevitably, that will result in many students having to give up their courses as they won't be able to afford the bus fares or books they need.
Lets face it, the majority of those who received this money, especially the top amount of £30, come from the not very well off category. They can't really become reliant on their parent/s after starting their courses, and now they face the reality of either trying to struggle to college, trying to get a job without their qualifications, or worse, being forced into the unenviable cycle of signing on, and finding whatever work is available.
Worse, they will face giving up their hopes and dreams for a bright future with qualifications.
I know exactly what that is like, hence why I am so cross.
At 16, I went to sixth form. I worked hard. Bloody hard.
We didn't have the option of EMA back then, so I had a part time job and grudgingly lived at home with my parents. My £2.32 an hour working Saturday afternoons in my local Primark, resulted in £37.12 a month. This was for me to buy books, clothes and lunch with. I definitely had to be careful with my cash, but I managed.
I then couldn't stand to live at home anymore, and so I left.
That was the end of my sixth form, my A Levels, and why I am scratching around at blogging to try and achieve my original dream of becoming a journalist.
Why?
Because I had to find somewhere to live, and, at 17 wasn't old enough, at that time, to hold my own tenancy- I had to live in assisted accommodation. Before that, I slept rough- so the little Saturday job was also at an end too, as no one wants to be served by someone who has no washing facilities or means of clean clothing.
I had no savings either.
That £30 would have helped me so much, if EMA had of existed back then- I could have lived in the same accommodation, claimed Housing Benefit due to having the EMA income, so my rent would have been paid, and could have made that £30 last for food, and borrowed books. I could have gone to uni, and achieved my goals and absolute happiness.
Instead I gave up in general for a year, getting in with an equally disillusioned crowd, drinking constantly, not eating and being miserable.
I then went from one crap job to the next, hating every minute of them, wishing I could be like my old mates who would see me in town and tell me how great their lives were. Not to be mean, they just generally were enjoying their life after going to college and uni and getting the jobs they wanted all along.
I, on the other hand, felt like I had to settle.
Or take my Brother-in-law.
He has done well in life from humble beginnings, and managed to gain a scholarship, through hard work and determination, to University. If he hadn't have gained his scholarship though, my parents-in-law would never have been able to pay his fees, or support him. That scholarship gave him chances in life, which he embraced into the successful man he is today.
Unfortunately, what the upper class Cameron doesn't seem to understand is that by saving these small amounts, he is costing this country in the future. If people cannot afford to educate themselves past 16, then there will be a growth in unskilled workers trying to find an already limited amount of unskilled jobs. Is it not bad enough that we have to look abroad for Medical staff, due to a lack of home grown graduates?
Do we not all want a country we could be proud of, with as many well educated people who want to be?
We seem to be entering a society where the lower classes, or their offspring who wish to remove themselves from the hands of the breadline, to not end up as disillusioned as their parents, to better themselves from their class, are facing the fact that their government wishes to axe their hopes, their bright futures.
Will we really reach a stage whereby only the rich count?
It certainly feels as we are fast approaching it.
Friday, 13 August 2010
What's Next Dave? Candy From Babies?
I really do not like David Cameron.
Now, I'm not great on my politics, so when I was asked ages ago to contribute to an article on Parents views of the election for the Inde (you'll find my post from the time here), I said that I didn't feel Brown could expect to be voted in again. So they just assumed I was voting Tory.
Not so.
He's a smug bugger is Cameron, in the same way as Tony Blair was. Which was why I didn't like him either. It takes a lot more than a strong personality to run a country, especially one which exerts an authority along with the USA which we no longer really possess.
I have to say, to be fair, I would not like to have taken over from Brown. Although I think he was a scapegoat and far from responsible for the mess we find ourselves in, I think its more the fault of countless leaders going back before I was born. But Cameron and Clegg. No, not really fans.
Clegg seems to me to have forgotten rather conveniently that his party hates everything which the Conservatives stand for. I imagine that, had Clegg been part of a group of school mates auditioning for the X Factor, and imagine further that Cameron was in the Cowell role, and told Clegg he was the best singer but to drop the group to get famous, he would drop them in seconds for a bit of recognition. Its the same as the coalition, just without the dodgy dancing and high waisted trousers.
So far, so typical. We've already had sleaze, people reigning and Cameron cocking up figures.
But now, well, he's gone too far.
Yes, we have a large spending gap to fill, I don't disagree, and obviously, cut backs are needed.
So, does Cam The Man cut spending on the Olympics (what were we thinking? We'll never out do Beijing, and we've already spent shedloads more than they did)? No.
Does he get rid of subsidising further and unwelcome immigration? No.
Does he stop areas like where I live from building more unnecessary flats as housing for low income families, when the figures show its houses we need to home people stuck in bedsits for years? No.
No, Cameron's idea is to stop spending on the upkeep of play parks. So if your town has more than one play park, then they'll close for good due to them becoming unsafe.
Great idea.
His people feel that parks cost lots with no return whatsoever.
Well, I beg to differ.
They do give back. Because kids from all walks of life, from the richest to the poorest all use parks, because they are free. This means they get much needed exercise. And that means they are less of a drain on the NHS.
You cannot complain that the NHS is struggling to care for the amount of unfit kids in the country, then padlock the parks that are there for them to get exercise in. God knows, enough of them have hardly a playground big enough to play football in as a lot of schools sold excess land off for housing.
Parks are one of the few things the whole family can enjoy for free- if you go swimming, just paying for the adults will cost £6.50 each (that's at my local pool). And that's if you can take more than one child if you're on your own. In a park, the adult to kid ratio isn't a problem. They are enclosed, so you can sit on a bench and watch the kids safe in the knowledge they can't run off.
Milk was bad enough (and I don't doubt that they will slide that one in when we least expect it).
Its just not on.
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