New Labour - New Levels of Incompetence

[Troll]

So then all of us who have been posting doom and gloom on here for the last few years were right - ok who's up for forming our own party and challenging the worm Bliar?

Only if our manifesto includes:
Re-introduction of Hanging
Forced repatriation of all fuzzy wussies, Ruskies, Australians,Scots, Irish & Welsh

[pisces]

I have never understood why the first reaction to any problem is to take someone out of work. Surely the worse thing that you can do especially in the medium to longer term is to give someone the opprtunity to stop work.
If they are suffering from depression then not working is going to make them even worse.

The truth is however is that so many people in this country have power and livelihoods built around the unemployment/welfare industry that the last thing that they would want is to make people independent of the state.

It's just an exuse to get out of work. One of the permies where I work has been using it for the most part of 18 months much to my dismay and extra workload.

[DodgyAgent]

I saw an article today that said 1.1 million people are on sick benefit for depression and other minor mental health issues.

I have never understood why the first reaction to any problem is to take someone out of work. Surely the worse thing that you can do especially in the medium to longer term is to give someone the opprtunity to stop work.
If they are suffering from depression then not working is going to make them even worse.

The truth is however is that so many people in this country have power and livelihoods built around the unemployment/welfare industry that the last thing that they would want is to make people independent of the state.

[ImNotFromIndia]

I saw an article today that said 1.1 million people are on sick benefit for depression and other minor mental health issues.

ahhhh ... that explains why the unemployed rate going down every month

[expat]

I saw an article today that said 1.1 million people are on sick benefit for depression and other minor mental health issues.

Hello? Anybody else out there working?

[John Galt]

So then all of us who have been posting doom and gloom on here for the last few years were right - ok who's up for forming our own party and challenging the worm Bliar?

[wobbegong]

You know, we joke about it, but this government seem to get so much more wrong than any of their predecessors.

True, and the 'opposition' are woefully lacking in capitalising on it!

[pisces]

I saw an article today that said 1.1 million people are on sick benefit for depression and other minor mental health issues.

[expat]

You know, we joke about it, but this government seem to get so much more wrong than any of their predecessors.

I think part of the reason is that they ride roughshod over the House of Lords.

I think it is because they do things the Andersen way (no surprise if you look at the cabinet): lots of documentation, targets set by themselves and assessed by themselves, most targets apparently achieved - success! System works? What an obsolete non-measurable notion!

[wendigo100]

You know, we joke about it, but this government seem to get so much more wrong than any of their predecessors.

I think part of the reason is that they ride roughshod over the House of Lords. That place used to rein in excesses, and glaringly bad and ill-thought-through legislation.

Now this government (especially the Treasury) propose any old tulipe, in copious quantities, and are prepared to use the parliament act willy nilly to overcome any objections. The Lords know this, and just try to make the best of a bad job, knowing that the tulipe will get through whatever they say.

[DimPrawn]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6320737.stm

Fraud and error led to benefits worth about £2.6bn being overpaid in 2005-06, according to estimates from the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP).
The figures are similar to those published by the National Audit Office in November last year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6311629.stm

The jail system is in "serious crisis" with overcrowding affecting rehabilitation of offenders, the chief inspector of prisons has warned.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6306807.stm

Police forces across the UK have lost track of the whereabouts of 322 convicted sex offenders, a newspaper has reported.
Using the Freedom of Information Act, the News of the World asked all 50 forces in England and Wales how many sex offenders are missing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6304745.stm

The Identity and Passport Service has failed to enforce overseas travel bans imposed by the courts on nearly 150 convicted drug traffickers.
The service is still trying to trace 15 of the 147 traffickers who have left jail and may have gone abroad.

The government said there had been "no risk to public protection" and that most of those handed bans were in jail.


What a shower.