Baxter Parp Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Osbourne is actually a fairly smooth operator. I feared a complete disaster when he became chancellor, but he hasn't actually been too bad. Stopped reading there, laughed lots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Confidemus Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Osbourne is actually a fairly smooth operator. I feared a complete disaster when he became chancellor, but he hasn't actually been too bad. I've seen suggestions about him as a future Conservative Party leader after the budget was generally well received, but I can't see it at all. He's not charismatic and he's got one of those faces that everyone wants to hit. He could stand up and speak the biggest lot of sense in the world, but it still wouldn't make him any more endearing. Gove is the more likely of the two, I reckon. He's disadvantaged by his education policies being unpopular in many quarters, but he does sometimes come across well otherwise. Even then, I'm not sure I see him as a leader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael W Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I find Osborne to be unlikable but he really hasn't been a particularly bad chancellor. The economy is growing well, unemployment is falling, successive rises in fuel duty have been cancelled and the income tax threshold will have increased £4,000 by the end of this parliament. I'm not going to sit here and cheerlead his every move because I certainly don't think everything he's done was the right thing to do, but he really hasn't been that bad on the whole. I'm almost certain Ed Balls would've been a much worse chancellor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Confidemus Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I find Osborne to be unlikable but he really hasn't been a particularly bad chancellor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I find Osborne to be unlikable but he really hasn't been a particularly bad chancellor. The economy is growing well, unemployment is falling, successive rises in fuel duty have been cancelled and the income tax threshold will have increased £4,000 by the end of this parliament. How's the debt going? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thumper Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I find it difficult to believe that anyone who earns less than £60,000pa and can use words more than one syllable long would consider Osborne to be a "good" chancellor. He's carrying out his plan with a degree of competence, yes (although growth is utterly nowhere near his pre-election promises), but his plan is manifestly bad for nearly everyone in the long run. And Gove being "disadvantaged by his education policies being unpopular in many quarters" is actually somewhat of a problem given that it's his fucking day job. That he's manifestly about as competent as David Blunkett probably makes it a bad idea to give him even more power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ad Lib Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 How's the debt going? Compared to pretty much anywhere else affected by the global financial crisis, we are doing really rather well at deficit reduction. Anyone saying that Osborne has done a bad job because the national debt has gone up is showing a wilful ignorance of the nature and scale of the financial difficulties the Treasury faced in 2010. Of course the Coalition hasn't met the target of eliminating the structural deficit by the end of the Parliament. But when growth in the Eurozone and even China has spectacularly under-performed relative to expectations of their governments and those of independent observers, why should we expect the UK Treasury to be uniquely capable of an economic miracle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael W Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 How's the debt going? This is one of the areas where he really has failed. Not that it really concerns an apparently large section of the public who bemoan spending cuts, but the reality of it is that the UK is still in defecit is still spending above its means. Truth be told, I think this is a decision he completely bottled. There was a huge public showing of tax avoidance, but there would still be a lot of spending cuts coupled with significant tax rises required for the UK to break even if tax avoidance was zero. It's a very inconvenient truth to politicians, but some really crap decisions need to be made in order for us to break even. Osbourne has made baby steps in this regard and no more. As much as the failure to wipe out the defecit is a failure on his part, I really don't believe there is political will in the UK or even further afield to do anything about the debt. The Conservatives pledged to balance the books and haven't done so; probably because the crap decisions required to do this would hand Labour a landslide reminiscent of 1997. At the end of the day, they have failed to so what they promised like every other government out there, but this doesn't really make Osbourne a dreadful chancellor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ad Lib Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 You are clearly not disabled, unemployed, a single parent, homosexual or struggling to pay your bills. Please name me one thing that George Osborne has done in this parliament that has harmed the plight of homosexual people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sooky Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Please name me one thing that George Osborne has done in this parliament that has harmed the plight of homosexual people. I would also be very interested to hear the reasoning behind this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sooky Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 For what it's worth, I also can't see Michael Gove as leader of the Tory party any time soon. I've always thought of him as a very close ally to both Cameron and Osborne and it's more than likely that when Cameron goes, he will support a George Osborne leadership bid. Also, I'd agree with Michael W in saying that I think Osborne has been a reasonably competent chancellor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wee Bully Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Please name me one thing that George Osborne has done in this parliament that has harmed the plight of homosexual people. Agreed. I read that with my head in my hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayrmad Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Compared to pretty much anywhere else affected by the global financial crisis, we are doing really rather well at deficit reduction. Anyone saying that Osborne has done a bad job because the national debt has gone up is showing a wilful ignorance of the nature and scale of the financial difficulties the Treasury faced in 2010. It would be good if you could list all the countries deficits so we can see what you mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael W Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 As much as I respect other people's right to express their genuinely held beliefs (within reason), I find it deeply depressing and very sad that any decent human being can look at the devastation caused by the Tories and think they are doing a good job. To wilfully force already struggling people into further poverty and use the savings to boost your own finances is simply immoral and frankly disgusting. Osborne appears to be determined to finish the job started by Thatcher and is successfully demonising millions of struggling people across the UK. I honestly cannot think of one positive thing to say about him. Come on now, I said George Osbourne wasn't a particularly bad chancellor. This isn't an endorsement of the Conservatives 'doing a good job'. At any rate, it's a coalition government, and the policy of raising the income tax threshold was actually a Lib Dem policy. This is a reform that has actually benefited the low paid the most, including taking some of them out of paying tax altogether. That is a positive step, although obviously a lot more needs to be done in this regard. Raising the tax threshold is a positive move, but a lot more needs to be done, perhaps starting with a fairly significant increase in the minimum wage and the abolition of the under occupancy charge. George Osbourne's policies are only part of the story as to why some of the worst-off are in poverty. This goes back long before he was anywhere near No 11. I would be very curious as to how homosexuals have been disadvantaged by a government that actually legalised same sex marriage, though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeTillEhDeh Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Please name me one thing that George Osborne has done in this parliament that has harmed the plight of homosexual people. I might call Osborne for all sorts but that? Made me cringe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Confidemus Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Nice to see AdLib the "confirmed Yes voter" still talking one heap of shite. And for the rest of you "cringing" and "holding your heads" at the homosexual comment, hang your fucking heads in shame for zeroing in on that part of his argument. Idiots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeTillEhDeh Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Nice to see AdLib the "confirmed Yes voter" still talking one heap of shite. And for the rest of you "cringing" and "holding your heads" at the homosexual comment, hang your fucking heads in shame for zeroing in on that part of his argument. Idiots. The only eejit is you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Confidemus Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 The only eejit is you. That's genuinely the best you have? From a No voter, I can't say I'm surprised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sooky Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 And for the rest of you "cringing" and "holding your heads" at the homosexual comment, hang your fucking heads in shame for zeroing in on that part of his argument. Idiots. How dare we call out someone for telling a blatant lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Confidemus Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 How dare we call out someone for telling a blatant lie. Yeah, fair point. Focus on one word he used in an otherwise good point. Not pedantic at all. No siree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.