[Verbal]

Britain is no longer great, is defeatist and unambitious and needs to be more like China, the Chancellor has said.

In an astonishing trashing of his country’s attitudes, George Osborne added that Britain had lost its “can do” approach and had been relegated to the status of a “second-rate power”.

He was speaking at the end of a five-day trip to China in which he had been awed by the speed and scale of China’s economic development.

Dismissing suggestions that China has a “sweatshop” economy, he said he wished Britain would be more like the communist country.

“I also feel a bit like, my God, we’ve really got to up our game as a country, and the whole of the West has to understand what is happening here in Asia,” the Daily Telegraph reported him as saying.

He claimed, as he waited in Hong Kong for a flight home, that the positive attitude of the country during the Victorian era and while Margaret Thatcher was prime minister has been lost.

“I do think there’s an ambition in the country and a sense of optimism and 'can do’ which our country had in the Victorian age and had at other points in our history,” he said.

“Somewhere along the line in Britain there were bits that were great about British industry that we allowed to wither.”

He added: “There has been at times in Britain a sense of defeatism. You saw that in the late 1970s when everyone was resigned to the decline of empire and Britain being the sick man of Europe. Margaret Thatcher turned that around. You saw that three years ago when everyone thought we couldn’t tackle our debt problems and the financial crisis had relegated us to a second-rate power.”

While criticising Britain’s failures he maintained that, with the help of the Coalition, the country is beginning to improve and might one day be able match the energy shown by China and “be the best”.

In a week in which he has opened the door to China investing in new nuclear power in Britain, he said attitudes to the communist state must change.

The Chancellor described China as a country with an ancient civilisation and one that should be treated with respect. He said: “China is not a sweatshop. China is different. If we have just a black and white view of China as a communist country of cheap manufacturing, and the only thing we want out of them is access to their market, then we are missing out in a very big way as a country. China is what it is. And we have to either be here or be nowhere.”

Meanwhile the Chancellor expects to make a decision about breaking up Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) imminently.

The Chancellor said he was looking at hiving off weaker parts of the state-controlled firm into a "bad bank".

He told the Daily Telegraph the issue was "top of his in-tray".

"We are looking at the case for a bad bank and, if not a bad bank, what is the alternative strategy that really gets on top of the problems in that bank and goes on being what I want it to be which is a bank supporting the British economy," Mr Osborne said.

However, he stressed the Government was not currently "close to the stage of being able to sell RBS shares".

"RBS was a much more complex bank," he said. "To be fair to management past and present, it was a bank that was in a lot more trouble."

Mr Osborne also said he was considering offering state-owned shares in Lloyds to the general public.

"We are now looking actively at a retail offer for the next tranche of Lloyds shares," he said.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...e-8890558.html

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[user104658]

As I said in another thread: China is unconcerned about exploiting its workforce and committing endless human rights violations in order to build a strong economy for the benefit of the upper tiers.

It's George Osbourne's wet dream.

Of course he wants to emulate it. By a "can do" attitude, what he means, is that he wants a low wage workforce willing to work their fingers to the bone for very low wages, with no prospect of progression. He wants obedient "can do boss" lifelong drones to feed the wealth machine. And the underclass can simply starve to death.

Of COURSE he bloody love's the Chinese economic model.

[Verbal]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

As I said in another thread: China is unconcerned about exploiting its workforce and committing endless human rights violations in order to build a strong economy for the benefit of the upper tiers.

It's George Osbourne's wet dream.

Of course he wants to emulate it. By a "can do" attitude, what he means, is that he wants a low wage workforce willing to work their fingers to the bone for very low wages, with no prospect of progression. He wants obedient "can do boss" lifelong drones to feed the wealth machine. And the underclass can simply starve to death.

Of COURSE he bloody love's the Chinese economic model.

My thoughts exactly

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

As I said in another thread: China is unconcerned about exploiting its workforce and committing endless human rights violations in order to build a strong economy for the benefit of the upper tiers.

It's George Osbourne's wet dream.

Of course he wants to emulate it. By a "can do" attitude, what he means, is that he wants a low wage workforce willing to work their fingers to the bone for very low wages, with no prospect of progression. He wants obedient "can do boss" lifelong drones to feed the wealth machine. And the underclass can simply starve to death.

Of COURSE he bloody love's the Chinese economic model.

perfectly, and worryingly, put

[the truth]

George Gideon osbourne wants to go communist , I never would have believed it lol

[Kizzy]

Omg... It's the beginning of the end, get them out and get them out now!!!
They only have one party and that is exactly what the torys want.
The onus atm is to privatise everything and torys being the main shareholders in these companies, that way they control wages, workforce, and economy...
Infrastructure is dismantled as is society and community.
I thought the plight of the elderly took a chunk of the news last night, that's influenced by China... never before has a tory give a **** about the elderly!

[Scarlett.]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

Omg... It's the beginning of the end, get them out and get them out now!!!
They only have one party and that is exactly what the torys want.
The onus atm is to privatise everything and torys being the main shareholders in these companies, that way they control wages, workforce, and economy...
Infrastructure is dismantled as is society and community.
I thought the plight of the elderly took a chunk of the news last night, that's influenced by China... never before has a tory give a **** about the elderly!

Just a year an a bit to go until election, lets just hope they don't get voted in again.

[Kizzy]

That's far too long... look at the state we're in now!
95% morgages, unsecured loans, payday lenders, income tax, bedroom tax, council tax, VAT, fuel duty, 0hr contracts, temporary contracts, workfare, ATOS... It's a pressure cooker, something will have to give.

[Scarlett.]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

That's far too long... look at the state we're in now!
95% morgages, unsecured loans, payday lenders, income tax, bedroom tax, council tax, VAT, fuel duty, 0hr contracts, temporary contracts, workfare, ATOS... It's a pressure cooker, something will have to give.

I agree, I swear the Tories have actually lost it this time, nothing they do seems to benefit the majority.

[Z]

Originally Posted by Chewy

I agree, I swear the Tories have actually lost it this time, nothing they do seems to benefit the majority.

It's because they know that there is no majority support for them so they're going to drive the country into the ground to make it hard for the inevitable left-wing leadership that takes up the mantle after them. If they manage to ruin the country enough, the left-wing party that comes in after them will fail to turn it around, people will accuse them of being crap and the Tories will hope to storm into power after 4 years and continue where they left off with a more Tory-esque playing field (rather than the Labour-economic-crisis one they inherited)... I'm so sure of it.

Britain hasn't been a world power for a very long time, we've been America's favourite pet for decades but anyone who likes to think it's an equal partnership is sadly misinformed. The only difference between America and Russia is that America treats its satellite states (i.e. Western Europe) with praise and a facade of respect, but should any of us fall out of line, the response is cold, as shown by the Syria situation. Russia treats its satellite states with bullying tactics to get them to fall in line. Neither country really cares about any of the states on its side, they just use them to achieve greater end goals. China has sprung up as a major world power which Russia embraces and the USA doesn't, because the USA is terrified of losing its grip on world power. The UK is too, but British leaders don't want to accept that it happened decades ago when Europe was engaged in World War II and the USA became an economic powerhouse and took control of the world.

As Toy Soldier said, George Osborne is jealous because Chinese citizens offer total subservience to their leadership, for fear of the consequences. Britain has reached a plateau of equality and freedom of speech that, although there are a multitude of problems with it, basically means that people have become lazy and won't do things if they don't suit them. We can never be a world power again, unless by some miracle there is some kind of commodity that is found in large quantities on British territory that can be found nowhere else. It's how Russia became an energy giant and it's how China became a workforce giant because the sheer scale of those resources is staggering.

[Verbal]

Originally Posted by Zee

It's because they know that there is no majority support for them so they're going to drive the country into the ground to make it hard for the inevitable left-wing leadership that takes up the mantle after them. If they manage to ruin the country enough, the left-wing party that comes in after them will fail to turn it around, people will accuse them of being crap and the Tories will hope to storm into power after 4 years and continue where they left off with a more Tory-esque playing field (rather than the Labour-economic-crisis one they inherited)... I'm so sure of it.

Britain hasn't been a world power for a very long time, we've been America's favourite pet for decades but anyone who likes to think it's an equal partnership is sadly misinformed. The only difference between America and Russia is that America treats its satellite states (i.e. Western Europe) with praise and a facade of respect, but should any of us fall out of line, the response is cold, as shown by the Syria situation. Russia treats its satellite states with bullying tactics to get them to fall in line. Neither country really cares about any of the states on its side, they just use them to achieve greater end goals. China has sprung up as a major world power which Russia embraces and the USA doesn't, because the USA is terrified of losing its grip on world power. The UK is too, but British leaders don't want to accept that it happened decades ago when Europe was engaged in World War II and the USA became an economic powerhouse and took control of the world.

As Toy Soldier said, George Osborne is jealous because Chinese citizens offer total subservience to their leadership, for fear of the consequences. Britain has reached a plateau of equality and freedom of speech that, although there are a multitude of problems with it, basically means that people have become lazy and won't do things if they don't suit them. We can never be a world power again, unless by some miracle there is some kind of commodity that is found in large quantities on British territory that can be found nowhere else. It's how Russia became an energy giant and it's how China became a workforce giant because the sheer scale of those resources is staggering.

That is a very real and frightening thought. I hadn't thought of it that way.

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by Zee

It's because they know that there is no majority support for them so they're going to drive the country into the ground to make it hard for the inevitable left-wing leadership that takes up the mantle after them. If they manage to ruin the country enough, the left-wing party that comes in after them will fail to turn it around, people will accuse them of being crap and the Tories will hope to storm into power after 4 years and continue where they left off with a more Tory-esque playing field (rather than the Labour-economic-crisis one they inherited)... I'm so sure of it.

Britain hasn't been a world power for a very long time, we've been America's favourite pet for decades but anyone who likes to think it's an equal partnership is sadly misinformed. The only difference between America and Russia is that America treats its satellite states (i.e. Western Europe) with praise and a facade of respect, but should any of us fall out of line, the response is cold, as shown by the Syria situation. Russia treats its satellite states with bullying tactics to get them to fall in line. Neither country really cares about any of the states on its side, they just use them to achieve greater end goals. China has sprung up as a major world power which Russia embraces and the USA doesn't, because the USA is terrified of losing its grip on world power. The UK is too, but British leaders don't want to accept that it happened decades ago when Europe was engaged in World War II and the USA became an economic powerhouse and took control of the world.

As Toy Soldier said, George Osborne is jealous because Chinese citizens offer total subservience to their leadership, for fear of the consequences. Britain has reached a plateau of equality and freedom of speech that, although there are a multitude of problems with it, basically means that people have become lazy and won't do things if they don't suit them. We can never be a world power again, unless by some miracle there is some kind of commodity that is found in large quantities on British territory that can be found nowhere else. It's how Russia became an energy giant and it's how China became a workforce giant because the sheer scale of those resources is staggering.

Yup. This is my thinking too and has been for a while now tbh

Next party in will HAVE to spend money to sort the country out. And then the Tories can whinge on about all the money being spent, etc etc. And people will fall for it again, just like they fell for the line that labour caused the global recession.

[arista]

Originally Posted by Chewy

I agree, I swear the Tories have actually lost it this time, nothing they do seems to benefit the majority.

But you can say the
Same while under 13 years of New Labour

[the truth]

a relative of mine was overcharged £1200 on her gas/electric bill
I kid you now. she lives with another person. they still charged her the next month and said they let her have it back by giving her reductions over the next year. they refuse dot pay it in full up front. she has now gone overdrawn...theyre ffcking gangsters and I will help her fight the fight

[Z]

It's a very Tory thing to do. They inherited the country with a crap economic state of affairs, they're hardly going to deliver the country back to the Labour party in pristine shape.

[Verbal]

Originally Posted by Zee

It's a very Tory thing to do. They inherited the country with a crap economic state of affairs, they're hardly going to deliver the country back to the Labour party in pristine shape.

It makes me wish that there was a system in place that allowed any number of parties to gain power, i'm not politically minded so not sure of the terminology. It would cut all this crap out and the tories and labour would never see power again.

[Z]

Originally Posted by Verbal

It makes me wish that there was a system in place that allowed any number of parties to gain power, i'm not politically minded so not sure of the terminology. It would cut all this crap out and the tories and labour would never see power again.

Any kind of Proportional Representation system would be better than First Past The Post, which is the current system we have. It's not democratic if a party can be voted into majority power with 40% of the vote, e.g.

Tories 40%
Labour 30%
Lib Dems 25%
Other parties 5%

In theory, the non-Tory parties could gang up to veto all of their decisions, but that doesn't always happen. There was a particular election that something like this actually happened in the UK, can't remember which year or which party benefitted but it was in the mid 1900s if I'm remembering correctly. If we had a PR system rather than FPTP, there wouldn't be nearly as many wasted votes as there are just now. If you live in an area that you know will always vote for the Conservative party, but you're a staunch Liberal Democrat supporter, either you will vote knowing that your vote won't count for anything or you just won't vote at all. It's ridiculous.

[Verbal]

Originally Posted by Zee

Any kind of Proportional Representation system would be better than First Past The Post, which is the current system we have. It's not democratic if a party can be voted into majority power with 40% of the vote, e.g.

Tories 40%
Labour 30%
Lib Dems 25%
Other parties 5%

In theory, the non-Tory parties could gang up to veto all of their decisions, but that doesn't always happen. There was a particular election that something like this actually happened in the UK, can't remember which year or which party benefitted but it was in the mid 1900s if I'm remembering correctly. If we had a PR system rather than FPTP, there wouldn't be nearly as many wasted votes as there are just now. If you live in an area that you know will always vote for the Conservative party, but you're a staunch Liberal Democrat supporter, either you will vote knowing that your vote won't count for anything or you just won't vote at all. It's ridiculous.

Loads of people, me included will vote Labour in the next election purely to get the Tories out. In an open system I would not vote for either. Absolutely pointless voting for a party I would actually stand by because as you say it would be a wasted vote.

[arista]

"China is unconcerned about exploiting
its workforce and committing
endless human rights violations"


Yes TS
but we can not stop other nations.
There politics are Nothing to do with us.


Millions have iPhones and Ipads
in the China factory some workers
jump out of the window to their Death.
It does not stop Apple being Number 1 or 2
with Samsung (Korea and China) close to the top.



Life In The City.

[Kizzy]

I can't help but wonder how much better it would have been if there had been a labour/ lib dem coalition. Then Britain and the US would both be governed by intellectuals with a social conscience.
Talking of resources there was £12 billion worth of oil found in reserves off Scotland 2008/9.

[Verbal]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

I can't help but wonder how much better it would have been if there had been a labour/ lib dem coalition. Then Britain and the US would both be governed by intellectuals with a social conscience.
Talking of resources there was £12 billion worth of oil found in reserves off Scotland 2008/9.

What the Lib Dems did to the people who voted for them is absolutely disgusting. A large part of their voters were students and young people who would not vote Tory in a million years. I was a LD supporter until the last election.

[joeysteele]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

I can't help but wonder how much better it would have been if there had been a labour/ lib dem coalition. Then Britain and the US would both be governed by intellectuals with a social conscience.
Talking of resources there was £12 billion worth of oil found in reserves off Scotland 2008/9.

I pondered this at the last election and it was why I voted Lib Dem then.In fact what I follow on with was pretty much what the Lib Dems were saying too as well as Labour.

Labour had ambitions to halve the deficit over 4 years, which now seems to have been the better achievable option since this lot have been stuck at taking a thrid off it since 2010 for the last 18 months now.
Despite their savage and massive cuts.

Labout also planned to make no major cuts in the first year of office so as to nurture the growth that was already in place and secure a steady recovery.

Labour also planned to make 20% to 25% less cuts too, which would have gone a fair way to save some jobs and services too.

The Conservatives said that Labour's plans were unambitious to only halve the deficit by the next election, that the cuts had to made to ensure the deficit was all but cleared in 5 years.

Well look where we are now and this shower of Govt is daring to say it is going to expect to have to take another 4 years at least to achieve the clearance of the deficit.
I hope they will be sent packing and I also feel they will be too.

As to the comments in Osborne's article above, that man is so out of touch it is a wonder he is still Chancellor.
I wouldn't trust him with a single thing myself.

[Kizzy]

So was I, I feel responsible for my daughter being in over £30,000 pounds of debt when she graduates.

[arista]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

So was I, I feel responsible for my daughter being in over £30,000 pounds of debt when she graduates.

Its not Debt
unless she earns high amounts.


New Labour brought in Education Charges

[Kizzy]

It is a debt as it can only be deferred not removed, by definition that is a debt.
And yes they did not £9000 a year though!
Do you remember tutors protesting?... or just that one image of some guy swinging of a cenotaph?