anti-cuts-march and everything else

[ecuworrier]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/mar/26/anti-cuts-march-police-rioters

i missed all the shannanigans and most of the march...

also missed that 57% folks don't disprove of the cuts and think they should be deeper and faster....

last night Radio 5 live were debating all this... apparently the gov... is listening..... those words do somehow not quite make me feel remotely listened to... but hey ...

not sure what happened at the outset..... seems one or two were hoping to mimic the middleeast....  and some complained about the violence agenda by a minority overtaking the point of the argument... now i have been paying attention best i can as to what is going on thuis week in the buildup to the march .... so ....

what though are the key issues here in your view....  for political debate?


GOD BLESS!

Peace and Love,

[AndyHB]

i missed all the shannanigans and most of the march...

Likewise - busy walking part of the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path with my wife over the weekend. 

... and some complained about the violence agenda by a minority overtaking the point of the argument...

driving to Pembrokeshire yesterday morning, I was interested to listen to an interview with Brendan Barber (TUC Gen. Sec.).  Rather than condemning the groups who are married to violent demonstration from the outset, he dodged the question by suggesting that that was their means of action, whereas it wasn't the TUC's.  Not overly clever, in my view.  I realise that some  Labour MPs have distanced themselves from the violence, while some others have spoken out against it.
 

what though are the key issues here in your view....  for political debate?

  The theme for the march was 'March for the Alternative'.  From what I understand, for some of the marchers, the alternative was no cuts at all; for others, it was cuts - yes - but applied slower.

So, just what is the alternative that the TUC are promoting? 

[tranchiebabe]

There is no excuse for violence or damage to property and I hope the offenders are crackeddown upon severely. The TUC seemed very mealy mouthed when asked about the violence, and almost commended the damage to property. Serve them right if there is a crackdown on their activities too!

[AndyHB]

Can anyone answer my earlier question: what was the alternative that the marchers were marching in support of?  Was it cuts, but slower; was it no cuts at all.  That is what seems to be the problem for the TUC and the Labour Party; no-one really seems to know what they stand for economically.

[ecuworrier]

well... there was indeed concern about the cuts as well as the speed of cuts..



what was said on the bbc ( and uncontested) ....was that someone/folks have come up with a figure of ?143 billion of tax owed to the treasury.....   that might make a difference to the overall financial situation....

there was though a question of ... the political indulgence of not sorting out the loopholes

and of course the whole issue about why is it the poor have to pay for the rich man's ... is 'activities?' the right word?  if that is or is not a moral and therefore a political issue

GOD BLESS!

Peace and Love,

[AndyHB]

what was said on the bbc ( and uncontested) ....was that someone/folks have come up with a figure of ?143 billion of tax owed to the treasury.....   that might make a difference to the overall financial situation....

Could you find a source for that sum, ecu?  If it is true, that is almost twice the sum the last Government spent propping up the banks (and would it be their 'activities' you were referring to?).  From what I understand, the hole in the national pocket is somewhere between 600 and 700 billion; whilst 143 billion would go nicely towards helping clear that, Labour's insistence that the while problem is down to the global economic crisis seems a bit thin when one asks where the other 500 billion or so has gone?

there was though a question of ... the political indulgence of not sorting out the loopholes

People have been pushing the politicians to close these loopholes for 15 or 20 years.  There was no political appetite for doing so under Blair or Brown; why does the Tory/Lib Dem coalition suddenly get lambasted for not doing so?  It is partly this hypocrisy that has Labour - in one breath - not just failing but, in some cases, point-blank refusing to act on this and other things and then, in the next, accusing their successors in power of pandering to the rich.