221 replies to this topic

[John Drake]

Stuff like this really annoys me.

Lord Young apology over 'never had it so good'remarks

A politician says something that they clearly mean, then when they realise it has gone down like a bag of cold sick, issue some pathetic, insincere retraction. If they didn't mean it, they wouldn't have said it in the first place. The original comment just shows how divorced from reality some of them truly are, and the apology isn't worth the breath that was used to utter it.

Grrr.

[ckn]

Stuff like this really annoys me.

Lord Young apology over 'never had it so good'remarks

A politician says something that they clearly mean, then when they realise it has gone down like a bag of cold sick, issue some pathetic, insincere retraction. If they didn't mean it, they wouldn't have said it in the first place. The original comment just shows how divorced from reality some of them truly are, and the apology isn't worth the breath that was used to utter it.

Grrr.

Last night I was interviewing for bar staff for the Parish Council's community hall bar. Three of the five candidates had degrees, all five were experienced at other things that would earn them substantially more money if they could get a job in their field, none of them were your stereotypical "unemployables", all were desperate for money to pay bills, all had been unemployed for more than six months. A couple of them had genuine fear in their eyes that we'd say no.

The effects of the recession are hitting hard on many people but it's not a blanket effect. If you have a job, and it's secure, then you probably never have had it so good due to low interest rates and companies cutting prices in an effort to persuade you to spend your money.

Many of those sitting in the House of Lords will never have to meet unemployed people and could easily believe that the world is going along perfectly well with no real problems.

[tim2]

Sadly that's the true face of the Tory party being shown, no matter how much Dave and George want to show that they care.

As it happens in my case Young is right. I've got a good job, our business has survived the recession and we're making record profits - in 2006 I got some very good (or lucky) mortgage advice and have been paying £300 per month less on my mortgage for the best part of 3 years.

However I don't think I'm in the majority and calling it a "so-called" recession flies in the face of the definition of the word and is an insult to the people who have lost their jobs and will be losing their jobs in the coming months and years.

[marklaspalmas]

What's the fuss? Everything he said was true. Lord Young and his mates have never had it so good.

[timtum]

And as the next line has it

"...the favourite phrase of those who've always had it better".

[bowes]

Won't be saying that when there's no longer unsustainable deficit sending masking the real extent of the problem. Plus with the state of Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Italy I think we may see major knock on effects

[shrek]

Not defending what he's said or agreeing with him on a wider scale, but my personal circumstances over the last few years have been about as good as they've ever been.

Self employed, for most of it, was tempted into the "safety" of a permy role but it wasn't for me, availability of work has been on a par with any time in the last ten years, rates have held up, if anything rates up north closer to home have risen whilst those in the south have stayed static.

The wife was made redundant, whilst on maternity with our first child, but got a reasonable pay off. landed a part time job that suits her around child care issues and allowed her to persue qualifications in tennis coaching that she's always wanted to do, got her level 2, now working towards level 3 but was able to pick up loads of work to the point she was turning it down to fit everything in.

Plus my mortgage was a tracker with interest rates at 5.5% when taken out has dropped down now, but because the bank only reviewed payments annually we got to pay a decent chunk off that we were not expecting to.

Now I appreciate I live in my own bubble and may well be one of the fortunate few, but when you see folk queing for iPhones, walk past shops selling high value goods like the Apple store and they are rammed full and listen to people talking about paying 40/50/60 quid a month out on luxuries like Sky whilst still taking there annual holidays I do often wonder if the countries financial mess has actually filtered down to joe public in quite the manner the tabloids would have us believe.

[getdownmonkeyman]

Last night I was interviewing for bar staff for the Parish Council's community hall bar. Three of the five candidates had degrees, all five were experienced at other things that would earn them substantially more money if they could get a job in their field, none of them were your stereotypical "unemployables", all were desperate for money to pay bills, all had been unemployed for more than six months. A couple of them had genuine fear in their eyes that we'd say no.

The effects of the recession are hitting hard on many people but it's not a blanket effect. If you have a job, and it's secure, then you probably never have had it so good due to low interest rates and companies cutting prices in an effort to persuade you to spend your money.

Many of those sitting in the House of Lords will never have to meet unemployed people and could easily believe that the world is going along perfectly well with no real problems.

Not wanting to sound flippant, but, MPs and sports people under contract, who has job security?

[Futtocks]

He's resigned. Presumably he'll return once the fuss dies down.

[westhuller]

The face of the old tories shows its face again. There are possibly a lot more old school tories advisors who served under Thatcher still in the background who agree with him. Stuff likes this just shows how far two parties in the coalition are. This has put the work Cameron over the last few years to rebrand the tories years back.

Edited by westhuller, 19 November 2010 - 01:45 PM.

[chuffer]

Not defending what he's said or agreeing with him on a wider scale, but my personal circumstances over the last few years have been about as good as they've ever been.

Self employed, for most of it, was tempted into the "safety" of a permy role but it wasn't for me, availability of work has been on a par with any time in the last ten years, rates have held up, if anything rates up north closer to home have risen whilst those in the south have stayed static.

The wife was made redundant, whilst on maternity with our first child, but got a reasonable pay off. landed a part time job that suits her around child care issues and allowed her to persue qualifications in tennis coaching that she's always wanted to do, got her level 2, now working towards level 3 but was able to pick up loads of work to the point she was turning it down to fit everything in.

Plus my mortgage was a tracker with interest rates at 5.5% when taken out has dropped down now, but because the bank only reviewed payments annually we got to pay a decent chunk off that we were not expecting to.

Now I appreciate I live in my own bubble and may well be one of the fortunate few, but when you see folk queing for iPhones, walk past shops selling high value goods like the Apple store and they are rammed full and listen to people talking about paying 40/50/60 quid a month out on luxuries like Sky whilst still taking there annual holidays I do often wonder if the countries financial mess has actually filtered down to joe public in quite the manner the tabloids would have us believe.

really happy for you.......but yes, you do live in your own little bubble.

[sam]

Not defending what he's said or agreeing with him on a wider scale, but my personal circumstances over the last few years have been about as good as they've ever been.

Self employed, for most of it, was tempted into the "safety" of a permy role but it wasn't for me, availability of work has been on a par with any time in the last ten years, rates have held up, if anything rates up north closer to home have risen whilst those in the south have stayed static.

The wife was made redundant, whilst on maternity with our first child, but got a reasonable pay off. landed a part time job that suits her around child care issues and allowed her to persue qualifications in tennis coaching that she's always wanted to do, got her level 2, now working towards level 3 but was able to pick up loads of work to the point she was turning it down to fit everything in.

Plus my mortgage was a tracker with interest rates at 5.5% when taken out has dropped down now, but because the bank only reviewed payments annually we got to pay a decent chunk off that we were not expecting to.

Now I appreciate I live in my own bubble and may well be one of the fortunate few, but when you see folk queing for iPhones, walk past shops selling high value goods like the Apple store and they are rammed full and listen to people talking about paying 40/50/60 quid a month out on luxuries like Sky whilst still taking there annual holidays I do often wonder if the countries financial mess has actually filtered down to joe public in quite the manner the tabloids would have us believe.

your bubble's remarkably similar to mine!

mortgage payments have fallen through the floor thanks to a +0,49% above base rate tracker.

[markleeds]

really happy for you.......but yes, you do live in your own little bubble.

During the peak of the recession, when I had my own business I would cold call Hair Salons and try and sell them web marketing or a new website (and believe me some of them needed a new site). They would complain about the recession and say that all hair salons were having a hard time, except for the salons that were still doing well. They never realised that if they spent money on some marketing then they could be doing well as well. Its no great suprise that the companies that do well are the ones who market them selves, whilst the ones who struggle believe and repeat what the papers tell them.

Edited by markleeds, 19 November 2010 - 02:15 PM.

[Bedford Roughyed]

2 million plus sales of iPhone4's at £200-£300 a pop.

Record sales of video games.

Its a big bubble.

[westhuller]

During the pea of the recession, when I had my own business I would cold call Hair Salons and try and sell them web marketing or a new website (and believe me some of them needed a new site). They would complain about the recession and say that all hair salons were having a hard time, except for the salons that were still doing well. The never realised that if they spent money on some marketing then they could be doing well as well. Its no great suprise that the companies that do well are the ones who market them selves, whilst the ones who struggle believe and repeat what the papers tell them.

What's that got to do with thousands of public sector workers who are going to lose there jobs in the " never had it so good " times we are going through at the moment.
Another 111 joblosses anounced in my area lastnight, I bet they don't agree with lord young.

Edited by westhuller, 19 November 2010 - 02:20 PM.

[shrek]

really happy for you

Thanks.

your bubble's remarkably similar to mine!

mortgage payments have fallen through the floor thanks to a +0,49% above base rate tracker.

I knew I wasn't alone, couldn't be the only one left out there with a mortgage!

2 million plus sales of iPhone4's at £200-£300 a pop.

Record sales of video games.

Its a big bubble.

Agreed, its not just the 200-300 quid a pop that got me, it was the fact you could get people to que up and it wasn't just on the day of release to buy the thing. Right product, marketed in the right way and people will still find the cash.

What's that got to do with thousands of public sector workers who are going to lose there jobs in the " never had it so good " times we are going through at the moment.
Another 111 joblosses anounced in my area last night, I bet they don't agree with lord young.

I don't think anyone could argue with that, I've worked in organisations in the past that have been going through phases of redundancy and its not pleasant for anyone, including those left behind as despite reduced numbers the end expectations will still have to be met of any company/organisation. But the key word missing from your quote is "majority" and I guess it could be argued if anyone stood by anything they said these days that for those who have kept a job and do have a mortgage they probably have more disposable income now than they did 2/3 years ago.

I heard Camerons criticisms of the comments earlier and couldn't help but wonder if he was genuinely upset with the content of the comments or the fact they were said in public. Afterall if you want to trim down the size of the public sector the excuse has never been so good, just as on the flip side if Brown had been using the present circumstances as an excuse to increase public spending as a stimulus I'd be saying the same thing (in reverse of course!), probably a measure of the respect I currently have for politicians inside this bubble more than anything!

[sam]

I knew I wasn't alone, couldn't be the only one left out there with a mortgage!

i only changed to the tracker a few months before. cue lots of phone calls to the c&g double checking that as interest rates plummeted my payments would fall and there wasn't a 'collar'. those monthly letters from them were ace!

I don't think anyone could argue with that, I've worked in organisations in the past that have been going through phases of redundancy and its not pleasant for anyone, including those left behind as despite reduced numbers the end expectations will still have to be met of any company/organisation. But the key word missing from your quote is "majority" and I guess it could be argued if anyone stood by anything they said these days that for those who have kept a job and do have a mortgage they probably have more disposable income now than they did 2/3 years ago.

I heard Camerons criticisms of the comments earlier and couldn't help but wonder if he was genuinely upset with the content of the comments or the fact they were said in public. Afterall if you want to trim down the size of the public sector the excuse has never been so good, just as on the flip side if Brown had been using the present circumstances as an excuse to increase public spending as a stimulus I'd be saying the same thing (in reverse of course!), probably a measure of the respect I currently have for politicians inside this bubble more than anything!

it's the generalisation that's the problem. plus why do they never come out with this sort of gubbins in the middle of a boom!

the day after they announced the redundancies at our place a notice went up congratulating another member of staff on their promotion. the notice was swiftly removed!

[Bob8]

I am also in the bubble. I earn a much larger salary than a couple of years ago, I own a posh flat and have plenty of money.

On the other hand, I went to the USA as there was work there. My company is effectively almost half the size at my home site and many of my friends are unemployed (I spend plenty of time writing references). I am aware I have wlked through the raindrops.

[waistline expansionist]

What's that got to do with thousands of public sector workers who are going to lose there jobs

Well here's the Tory idea as far as I can make out:

In the short term those made redundant will go from costing £500 a week and producing nothing to costing £60 a week and producing nothing.

Which means £440 per week per sacking for the private sector to spend on something else.

Given that we have inflation rather than deflation, that £440 will be spent or invested rather than stuffed under the mattress, which means private-sector jobs will come available for ex-public-sector workers.


Whether it'll happen like that is another matter.

[sam]

toynbee beat him to it!

Even if unemployment reaches 3 million, that still leaves 90% in secure jobs. Most people will suffer not at all in this recession: on the contrary they will do well as prices fall and the real value of their earnings rises.