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Protest march in York over Government cash cuts (From York Press)
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Protest march in York over Government cash cuts
11:12am Saturday 23rd October 2010 in News
A MARCH and rally against Government cuts was being staged in York city centre today.
The York Stop The Cuts –Right to Work campaign is staging the event, with protesters asked to gather in Parliament Street at 1pm for a march through the city centre at 1.30pm to defend jobs, services and communities.
Speakers will include Ben Drake of the union UNISON, Green city councillor Dave Taylor and Father Tim Jones, the parish priest of St Lawrence and St Hilda, who provoked worldwide controversy last Christmas when he advised needy people to shoplift from large national businesses in certain circumstances.
Comments(21)
Civil War II
says...
1:30pm Sat 23 Oct 10
Get-a-grip
says...
2:20pm Sat 23 Oct 10
Right to Work
What's that all about, what right? If you have sufficient skills, intelligence, ability, or whatever it is an employer wants, you might get employed.
You can't have a right to work any more that someone has an obligation to employ you.
JOHNYBOY
says...
4:15pm Sat 23 Oct 10
year in year out most private sector employers do exactly what is now happening in the public sector.....they make efficency cuts and make redundancies...look at aviva....they close lucrative final salary pension schemes and put people in pointless money purchase pensions (which work like all those endowment policies that failed to pay peoples mortgages)...look at aviva....they increase your retirement age...look at aviva....they review your terms and conditions of employment....look at aviva.....
public sector workers are being treated no differently to private sector workers...theyve just been lucky in the past that the public sector departments rarely have had to operate within budget or efficiently like a private sector company and live within their means....
OwenC
says...
5:39pm Sat 23 Oct 10
Johnnyboy - you are right, but this is not about public versus private sector. The public sector is obviously being slashed right now but there are private sector jobs that will also suffer as a knock-on effect. We will see redundancies in both sectors, therefore both sectors should be concerned.
The march had 200 people at the beginning and a great deal of support from people as we marched through the streets.
This was only the beginning, but it was a good beginning.
Civil War II
says...
8:14pm Sat 23 Oct 10
Zetkin
says...
12:35am Sun 24 Oct 10
`
it's certainly not about public v private sectors.
`
every public sector job that goes means the rest of us are getting a poorer service.
OwenC
says...
12:52am Sun 24 Oct 10
nathanjh13
says...
1:47pm Sun 24 Oct 10
The tories.. of all people! and they really are lousy.
Coalition governments are notoriously ruthless (look at the 1970's) but whoever fully gets in next will ramp the economy in the same way.
Look here at a bubble cycle (for anything) and what not. It's a long way down but the economy, long term, needs to get "back to normal" i.e down, whether we like it or not. Labour gladhanding the banks for years has lead to this.
http://www.housepric
ecrash.co.uk/graphs-
bubble-lifecycle.php
Look here at the effect political parties have had on the FTSE too.
http://www.talkcarsw
ell.com/show.aspx?id
=431
At the end of the day they'e ALL truly awful.
OwenC
says...
2:07pm Sun 24 Oct 10
Having said that, the FTSE is not (in my view) the best measure of a society - the FTSE may have climbed during the Thatcher years, but so did unemployment. The point is not necessarily how much wealth is generated but how many people actually benefit from that wealth.
FN: the captcha for this post was 'city-hate' - that about says it all really!
Pedro
says...
3:43pm Sun 24 Oct 10
Peter Cooke, Beyond The Fringe.
OwenC
says...
4:33pm Sun 24 Oct 10
Vic Mellons
says...
6:34pm Sun 24 Oct 10
OwenC
says...
6:48pm Sun 24 Oct 10
If you have a problem with your finances, you can reduce the amount you spend, but you can also increase the amount you are bringing in. Not doing so is a political decision being taken by a bunch of (largely millionaire) politicians who are ideologically opposed to such policies. The cuts are political, not inevitable.
To address the question of where else the money could come from:
If we got back the billions we lent to the banks, that would be a start.
If we put a tax on financial transactions (the so-called 'Robin Hood Tax') that would raise billions more.
(see video here http://robinhoodtax.
org.uk/)
If we raised income tax on the richest in our society, that would raise even more.
If we raised corporation tax (rather than LOWERING it as the ConDems have done) then we would raise yet more money.
Back on the issue of cuts: if we didn't replace Trident and pulled out of Afghanistan, I reckon we might be just about getting there.
Does that answer your question?
I hope that the ghost of Claire Rayner will be haunting David Cameron very soon.
petethefeet
says...
8:31pm Sun 24 Oct 10
Labour increased public spending to unsustainable levels. We have absolutely no choice.
OwenC
says...
8:41pm Sun 24 Oct 10
We don't want to continue down the path of neo-liberal economic policies that are being pushed by the Big Three parties at all - nor the IMF who are responsible for pauperising much of the rest of the world (look at Haiti at the moment if you don't believe me).
Try reading posts properly before commenting on them next time.
Oh, and calling someone an 'chump' merely shows the shallowness of your argument.
petethefeet
says...
11:21pm Sun 24 Oct 10
OwenC wrote:It's because I'm fed up to the teeth of head-in-the-sand commentators that seem to think we can have it each and every way. If one p1sses into a pint pot and then tries to pour it into a half-pint pot then one ends up with a mess and an 'orrible smell. The only solution for this disease is for us to take our medicine - there is no other. If we stop fooling ourselves then, just mebbe, we might just head-off history repeating itself in the future. Some hope!
pete - In my posts, I pointed out that there are other options and that they are NOT being pursued by Labour. We don't want to continue down the path of neo-liberal economic policies that are being pushed by the Big Three parties at all - nor the IMF who are responsible for pauperising much of the rest of the world (look at Haiti at the moment if you don't believe me). Try reading posts properly before commenting on them next time. Oh, and calling someone an 'chump' merely shows the shallowness of your argument.
OwenC
says...
11:38pm Sun 24 Oct 10
Your medicine metaphor (which you have taken from George Osborne) is patronising - it implies that 'doctor know best' when actually there are multiple ways to bring down the deficit - and the protest was about highlighting that fact.
As for history repeating itself - I suggest you study what brought us out of the Great Depression - government spending not public service cuts!
Wise up and think again Pete - many people are doing so already.
petethefeet
says...
6:05pm Mon 25 Oct 10
I will join with you on the idea of looking at all options for reducing the deficit but, it's so huge that we will need all of these. The previous lot were spendthrift and we can maintain service without having to replace buildings that are pretty young (schools, hospitals, police stations, etc). The money wasted on public service IT systems is incredible and borders on criminal (I've worked on the NHS patients record system). We're building 2 new carriers that we don't need, just to keep shipyard workers going. The list is endless. We need to do more work on tax avoidance/evasion, but this I'm afraid is a long term goal. It involves shutting down Monaco, etc, and we cannot work out of kilter with other states.
OwenC
says...
9:42pm Mon 25 Oct 10
petethefeet wrote:I'm sure you are right about most of this, Pete.
Owen. I fully understand the economic science that you quote and I also understand how labour have perverted it. If you trouble yourself to study the website of the institute of fiscal studies then therein you will find a study of Government spending, in terms of GDP, over the last 100 years. As a norm, the figure is generally 37% in the good times and 43% in the bad-times. Unfortunately, labour took us to 43% in the good times and gave nowhere for manouvre when the resession hit.
I will join with you on the idea of looking at all options for reducing the deficit but, it's so huge that we will need all of these. The previous lot were spendthrift and we can maintain service without having to replace buildings that are pretty young (schools, hospitals, police stations, etc). The money wasted on public service IT systems is incredible and borders on criminal (I've worked on the NHS patients record system). We're building 2 new carriers that we don't need, just to keep shipyard workers going. The list is endless. We need to do more work on tax avoidance/evasion, but this I'm afraid is a long term goal. It involves shutting down Monaco, etc, and we cannot work out of kilter with other states.
If anyone does want to discuss the options currently not being considered by the govt for reducing the deficit, there are two events tomorrow:
At 5pm, there will be a public debate entitled 'Cuts, Fees, Climate: What Does Your Future Hold?' in Room 223, Skell building (next to sports hall), York St John University.
At 7.30pm, York Stop the Cuts will be meeting to discuss future moves following the demo - meet at the Corner Pin pub.
deathpeneltyforall
says...
9:04pm Fri 29 Oct 10
Older Sometimes Wiser says...
12:07pm Sat 23 Oct 10