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| Subject: Lib Dems are worthless! | |
Author: Paddy (Scotland) | [ Next Thread |
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] Date Posted: 20:45:09 11/12/04 Fri In reply to: David (Australia) 's message, "Next British General Election" on 09:38:54 11/12/04 Fri Charles K is deeply offensive. He changes his policies from doorstep to doorstep just so as to get more votes by ANY methods. He is also in favour of the E.U. constitution no matter what it says. His party is so frighteningly to the left that if the Lib Dems were in power we would see another flight of capital that could well push this nation into total bankruptcy. The ONLY way to get Blair out is to vote Conservative at the next election. The Lib Dems have no principles, just tactics to get themselves into power. If you do not trust Blair the ONLY way to deal with it is to vote Conservative. If people cannot bring themselves to do this because of their miserable prejudices that make them blind to the obvious they may just as well not bother to vote but that will only give the discredited Labour party 5 more years. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| [> [> [> Subject: Yet... | |
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Author: Roberdin [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 22:10:51 11/12/04 Fri Just as the Conservatives were winning my favour, they decide to go back to their 'low tax' policies. This can only mean more privatisation and less public services. *Sighs* Let's hope that the Conservatives win by a very small minority so that they don't have wide sweeping powers. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> Subject: Well | |
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Author: Paddy (Scotland) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 22:33:41 11/12/04 Fri All the evidence actually points to low-taxes being considerably better for the economy as a whole. Anyway, this is not a forum on economics but if you are interested in finding out about the benefits of low taxes in a society I suggest looking at the Adam Smith Institute's website. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Lower Taxes | |
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Author: Dave (UK) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 23:15:56 11/12/04 Fri I don’t know what age you are Roberdin, but I don’t understand your stance on privatisation. Most privatisations have been a great success. BT, British Gas, British Steel (now Corus), British Airways etc. These were all lame duck companies when the Government were running them. Are you a tax-payer? I always find that it’s non-taxpayers that complain about lower taxes. Surely we ought to know by now that lower taxes need not affect the public services. It is financial management that is the key - or mismanagement as the case may be. Labour has created so many non-jobs in the public sector, which is where all the money is going. People who say lower taxes will degrade the public services, by definition, argue that higher taxes will mean better public services. The last seven years have shown beyond any doubt that this is not the case. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Privatatisation... | |
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Author: Roberdin [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 23:39:41 11/12/04 Fri No, it's not privatisation in general that is a concern; it is privatatisation of industries that by definition work better under a single operator, primarily transport. British Rail was a respectable insitution that delivered, for the most part, trains on time. Since its mismanaged privatisation, train delays have increased by 11%, track upgrades have fallen hopelessly behind schedule, prices have rocketed, connecting trains no longer wait for each other, jobs have been lost, and public funding has increased three-fold. This is a case of Labour's mismanagement; it is clear that these half steps forward and back Labour is taking with the service are merely balancing it on an equilibrium between complete financial liquidation and government control (= government forced to buy it), and profitability and government relaxation of controls. No-one, aside from Richard Brandson, has made much of a profit from the Railways between 1900 and now; and it is clear why - shareholders are not interested in investing large amounts for projects that may take 10, 20, or 30 years. The government however, will be. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Railway Privatisation | |
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Author: Dave (UK) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 00:04:33 11/13/04 Sat Yes, the privatisation of the railways has been a bit of a shambles. However, we must realise that passenger numbers have increased vastly since privatisation. If I dare say it, I think the reason it has not been as great a success as all the others, is because it was not a true privatisation. There is still too much Government control and interference in the running of the railways in this country. I reject totally that a good railway system has to be publicly owned. During the heyday of the railways in this country, the famous names of LMS, LNER and Great Western were competing, which resulted in the great speed races of the 30s. This was the golden age of the railway, and was completely based on private enterprise. Japan has a private railway, and is arguably the best in the world. The French railway is public, but only the TGV is world-class. The regional lines are as bad as ours. The Conservatives did make a mess of it. The rushed it through and created the franchise system, which has not helped. Private companies cannot be expected to make huge investments when they are only guaranteed a return for 10 years max. The Conservatives knew that to improve the railways, they needed to introduce competition. However, they failed to realise that the competition was the motor car, and the low price airlines, not other trains in different liveries. Sorry – I’ve gone off-topic again! [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: French local lines are much worse than they are in the U.K. | |
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Author: Paddy (Scotland) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 09:51:34 11/13/04 Sat [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Taxes | |
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Author: Ed Harris (London) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 00:37:16 11/13/04 Sat 1) Transportation is not an industry, it is a public service, and 2) in any case, the Labour Party has proved that increased spending on public services does not necessarily make them any better! Every single public service has had more and more money thrown at it under this Government, and every one of them has got worse... except for the military, which has had more and more money taken away from it and still performs at a level of which we can all be proud. Increased taxation and more spending is almost never the answer; indeed, often it just serves to mask the root causes of the inefficiencies in the services, and perpetuates institutional corruption. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Quite so. | |
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Author: Ed Harris (London) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 12:28:27 11/14/04 Sun I understand that the privately-run bullet trains in Japan are posted "delayed" even if their arrival is LESS than a minute late. Moreover, they have had one accident in forty years. By contrast, we are only refunded if the train is more than an hour late, and virtually every other train is involved in some hideous accident. A Frenchman told me a joke a few months ago... "How do you find a train in Britain? Follow an ambulance." I remember being very cross at the time, but, frankly, given recent events, I'm inclined to consider the 'joke' as sad rather than irritating. After all, we invented the bloody things, and now the French - whose ability to organise public services has a tradition which makes Yugoslavia look civilised - are making fun of our ability to run a train service. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Private/Public ownership of railways | |
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Author: David (Australia) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 05:27:03 11/14/04 Sun If you believe that railways must be publicly owned in order to be efficient, I encourage you to visit the two cities of Sydney and Melbourne. Melbourne's public transport was privitised in the 1990s and is world class. Trains almost always run on time, are safe and are always clean. If train companies fail to meet minimum standards, then they are given heavy fines by the Victorian government and they are able to compete effectively with cars. In contrast, Sydney's publicly owned rail system is a joke. Regulary in Sydney, less than 5% of trains in peak hour run on-time and increasingly there are instances where no trains run on time during peak hour (the definintion for on-time is within 5 minutes!) In October, about 3.5 million people were late to their destination because of our publicly owned rail system. There have also been two large scale train crashes in recent years killing many people. It should also be remembered that both of our countries have political parties which are run by trade unions, this complicates industrial relations disuptes between government owned companies and unions. If unions are not happy with the boss of the railways in Sydney, they simply have the government remove him. There is absolutely no respect for customers in government owned companies and all they do is bow to union pressure, expecially when Labour governments are in power. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Alright, Alright! | |
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Author: Roberdin [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 12:31:52 11/14/04 Sun I just meant that in this case, it was better publically owned. Selling London Underground off isn't going to help things either, as they are a world class service atm. Just renationalise the Railways or release government control, either will suffice for me. No more privatisation is neccessary in the UK. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Um... | |
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Author: Ed Harris (London) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 12:57:37 11/14/04 Sun How can you renationalise the railways AND roll back government control? Seems hard, to me. Get hold of a book called The New Enlightenment by Graham and Clarke. SHould be a cheap copy on www.abebooks.co.uk. I read it when I was at school and it has had a profoud affect on the way in which I see things. Full of sprightly things by Hayek and Adam Smith and all those laissez faire herberts. Highly recommended in the context of this debate about rail nationalisation! [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: I didn't mean AND, I meant OR | |
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Author: Roberdin [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 13:44:51 11/14/04 Sun [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Fair enough! | |
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Author: Ed Harris (London) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 16:44:49 11/14/04 Sun [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |