Reply to: Coronavirus: Jeremy Corbyn says he was proved 'right' on public spending

[SueEllen]

Do you think Labour would have talen pandemic report seriously? No chance

Labour under Korbyn? Or Labour under a more centralist leader? Remember Sars?

[Scoobos]

Do you think Labour would have talen pandemic report seriously? No chance

I think they probably would, if only to serve the rhetoric of highlighting how woefully prepared we are.

I thought the Conservative vs Labour argument was always that one 'wastes' by spending on stuff we might not need, trying to increase SoL for the populace as a whole / and one that 'believes there is no need for state public services' by only investing in things that improve GDP, or personal wealth for the 5% ?

It's surprising to me that people are even using this as a political slagging match; I'm upset at the hardline tories and labour supporters for trying to point score.

That said, just trying to observe with no bias, I can't really accept anyone pro Conservative who's trying to argue that we wouldn't be in a better place, if it weren't for 10 years of austerity; or by trying to justify 300bn to essentially prop up the economy , as 'having the money due to austerity' - we don't we are printing and borrowing it.

It's unwise to spend based on a political alignment at a time like this. We cannot have our cake and eat it , we need global co-operation and GOD FORBID, we need to start listening more to people with expertise on world subjects , rather than politicians, who sadly have very little SME at all.

<climbs down off soapbox>

[Old Greg]

Do you think Labour would have talen pandemic report seriously? No chance

That's the spirit.

[AtW]

The Tories were happy to blame Blair / Brown for over-borrowing in advance of the 2008 crash.

This time round, the Tories ran down the NHS they inherited from Blair / Brown, leaving it less prepared for the global pandemic.

Do you think Labour would have talen pandemic report seriously? No chance

[Old Greg]

We don't have any money to spend now.

It's your own fault for forgetting to expense your Thistle Hotel Heathrow stay.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g191261-d253629-r118208904-Thistle_London_Heathrow_Hotel-West_Drayton_Greater_London_England.html

[Old Greg]

The Tories were happy to blame Blair / Brown for over-borrowing in advance of the 2008 crash.

This time round, the Tories ran down the NHS they inherited from Blair / Brown, leaving it less prepared for the global pandemic.

[BR14]

gadge

[scooterscot]

No money, no taxes - it's the way we wealthy people roll, dint you know?

[BR14]

We don't have any money to spend now.

wot? sh1tcoin gone bust??
Germany has imploded?
why dont YOU have any money?

[scooterscot]

We don't have any money to spend now.

[OwlHoot]

How come he is 'SO' right on the money?

Coronavirus: Jeremy Corbyn says he was proved 'right' on public spending - BBC News

If Labour had won, they'd have pissed away hundreds of billions last year, and would have none left to spend on the Corona virus crisis!

[Scoobos]

I'm planning on doing a public sector rant tomorrow, it'll be based on my many tours of duty in the public sector over the last nearly 30 years, so make sure you tune in. We can have some fun. There's no proper sport happening, and I'm not blaming the government for that either. You can play along at home, including having a go at "guess how much the Royal Navy wasted on computers which were purchased for a software application which was delayed by more than 4 years?" After which point the computers didn't even have any scrap value. This was in the late 1990's. Closest guess wins a prize. Afterwards we can discuss the funding of public services. If you give them a fiver, they will spend a tenner, and ask you to lend them another fifty.

I'm biting already, I've done 6 years public sector and 14 years private.

Whilst i get that, hows the private sector any different? I worked at a key bank for 2 years prior to the crisis and also with one of the best software companies in the world. I could tell stories about how much money was wasted , or farmed off to friends businesses, left right and centre. I've also worked in the Public sector but I think that the concept of 'taxpayers money' gives everything much more gravity than , say , Microsoft throwing billions (of stockholder money) on Nokia for windows OS, or Alphabet for G-Suite.

My view on a problem in the public sector is they are TOO protected by archaic unionistic terms and conditions , people are almost impossible to fire after 20 years service. Here's something that probably supports your view on Public Sector , I posted a few days ago about the DWP:
"DWP is 80% cretins burning money trying to implement & migrate ridiculously over complicated systems (a.k.a BPDTS) 5% front line and 15% actual claim workers."

but...

I could say the 80/20 thing about many Private Sector too. It's just a human failing maybe?

I think making mistakes , and bad leadership is a common theme, in the public and private sector.

[Scoobos]

On the 24th January the Lancet editor tweeted:



Tweet tweet


So he aint exactly Nostradamus.

We've all got 20/20 hindsight.

Good post, I think the context would be important , if its saying its got the mortality of SARS or ebola or something. Also that's in January not February, when we saw it was coming. To be fair to the bloke, he did say from mid February when he made his attack. The picture I added above though, is pretty inexcusable and we were in trouble with the NHS due to excessive cutting and losing staff from overseas due to Brexit. (This has nothing to do with brexit, right wrong , just making the point that the sequence of events happened during leadership. We should have hired far more.)

But, I can't say anything with any authority on the guy as the first I heard of lancet was late last year ; but it is a very well respected and peer reviewed publication according to wikipedia.

I've been posting a Bill Gates podcast around, where he also makes this point - that it ISNT anywhere near as bad as it could be, but that doesn't mean it isnt serious because of it's contagiousness. If it were something with a 30% mortality rate - which may have been what he was countering.

[Mordac]

I think this is very harsh, he does have a point. We are well behind standard with our public services compared to many European countries. It is Conservative policy to wind down the public sector as much as possible, and it is what our government has been doing for 10 years.

I'm planning on doing a public sector rant tomorrow, it'll be based on my many tours of duty in the public sector over the last nearly 30 years, so make sure you tune in. We can have some fun. There's no proper sport happening, and I'm not blaming the government for that either. You can play along at home, including having a go at "guess how much the Royal Navy wasted on computers which were purchased for a software application which was delayed by more than 4 years?" After which point the computers didn't even have any scrap value. This was in the late 1990's. Closest guess wins a prize. Afterwards we can discuss the funding of public services. If you give them a fiver, they will spend a tenner, and ask you to lend them another fifty.

[tomtomagain]

The Lancet editor in chief is totally right.

On the 24th January the Lancet editor tweeted:

A call for caution please. Media are escalating anxiety by talking of a “killer virus” + “growing fears”. In truth, from what we currently know, 2019-nCoV has moderate transmissibility and relatively low pathogenicity. There is no reason to foster panic with exaggerated language.

Tweet tweet


So he aint exactly Nostradamus.

We've all got 20/20 hindsight.