Conservative party members enjoying last years conference. Probably.
Politicians who can take supporters for granted will do precisely that, particularly when taking supporters’ issues seriously would require upending the status quo.
Yes Chris you still get that shiny fiver once you put in your donate button.
But lets look at these GDP figures closer:
Preliminary figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that in the first quarter the economy merely recouped ground lost from severe snow in December, growing by 0.5 per cent. With value added tax rising 2.5 percentage points to 20 per cent in January, economic weakness was always expected in the first half of 2011.
But the stagnant economy over the past six months will force another downgrade to official forecasts – unless the gross domestic product figures are subsequently revised upwards.
Current UK GDP is £1310 billion, making a 0.5% an increase in £6.55 billion over 3 months.
But compare this to the amount borrowed in March alone according to the ONS:
In March 2011, there was net borrowing (excluding financial interventions) of £18.6 billion, which compares with borrowing of £19.8 billion in March 2010.
£18.6 Billion.
So the government has spent the increase in GDP nigh on 3. times. over. in 1 month.
Yes I know that this isn't an exact comparison; no doubt someone will say the only comparitive is the rate at which we have to pay off the interest on this - life is too short to do those calculations.
But with spending like this, in comparison to the wealth generated cannot be good.
Stop spending our money Osbourne you annoying ass-hat.
In a tale which sounds like it could have come straight from a Yes, Minister script, Digby Jones, the former head of the CBI, reveals this weekend that he was so frustrated that he wasn't allowed to drive a British-built car he even offered to use his own Jaguar.
...
The book, serialised in The Telegraph, also reveals that inward investment opportunities were often squandered because civil servants were slow at responding to requests from businesses that wanted advice.
In one example the Canadian aerospace and engineering company, Bombardier, almost abandoned plans to invest £500m to build business jets in Northern Ireland because it had "heard nothing" from the Government's business department.
"If this was a microcosm of the true state of this nation, God help us. It was clear to me that the majority of people paid to run things efficiently weren't bothered, while a stream of useless or patronising information was constantly relayed over tannoy systems to frustrated passengers. In spite of being entangled in a nightmare of regulations, warnings and idiotic announcements, most people remained robust and resilient, laughing at officials who, bound by more rules and regulations, were unable to adapt flexibly to a bad situation."
Discovered today via the good Dr. North is this gentleman Jim Greenhalf. You could almost see an annoying British director putting Hugh Grant in as the lead and have all the train staff making merry about the decline of the rail network.
Ye gods.
