They've got the same old show on my radio

[la_marquise]

Now it's official.
The public sector are paying for the bank bailout. 1% pay cap over the next two years. Because public sector workers -- mostly on relatively low pay to begin with -- are easy to punish. Even though this is not their mess.

Comments

[a-d-medievalist.livejournal.com]

I keep thinking that, "it would be worse under the Tories" doesn't work for me anymore.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

But no better, either. You can't get a cigarette paper between them these days.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

To be fair, on crap like ID cards, the database state and some civil liberties issues there is a difference, but not on economic policy.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

I disagree, Dave. Do you really expect Cameron to scrap the ID scheme if he gets into power? Blair made many of the same promises back in 1995-97, and look what happened the moment he became PM.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

Yes I do. They've stated it will be a manifesto commitment and it's a quick, easy and popular way of saving several billion from the budget which will play well with the public. I'm a little surprised that Osborne hasn't been mentioning this particular cut in discussions on the pre-budget report, but I guess he has some rather larger fish to fry there.

What similar promises from Blair in 95-96 didn't come off, at least at the proposal level? We got devolution, FoI (of a kind) and a number of other things before they got absorbed into Whitehall think...

[armb.livejournal.com]

> quick, easy and popular way of saving several billion from the budget which will play well with the public

I'm slightly surprised the current government haven't decided being seen as listening to public opinion and saving money would be worth admitting it was a mistake. But only slightly.
(See also http://armb.livejournal.com/244696.html)

I'm not expecting the Tories to reverse the trend of relying on secondary legislation though.

But overall the size of the current Tory lead isn't depressing me. (The LibDems remote chances of doing anything are, but no change there.)

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

Most governments, and especially the current one, are highly allergic to say that they've made a mistake. Hell - if 2 million people on the street can't persuade them to stay out of Iraq, then they're not going to listen to a bunch of digerati about the practical and in principle problems with the ID database!

Overly broad legislation and over-reliance on secondary legislation is certainly a problem of the current government. I'm not sure that the conservatives would improve on this record, but a new NL government certainly wouldn't be any better (and would probably be a lot worse) in this regard. I think its something that happens to all governments as they stay in office.

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

But, you see, marquise, it's important we continue to recruit and retain the worst people in the public sector and keep reminding them how little we value them.

Personally, of course, I'm happy to work for peanuts. Literally.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Oh, how silly of me, I forgot... And they enjoy their misery so much, too!

[inamac.livejournal.com]

I keep wondering why no one has pointed out to (a) the Chancellor and (b) the bank employees that they are now part of the public sector and therefore subject to the same crap pay and emloyment rules as the rest of PS.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I wish!

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

Hurrah! I now feel motivated to perform slightly under the rate of inflation. Well, actually I still feel pathetically grateful to have a job, but that doesn't stop me feeling resentful.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Precisely. Everyone I know in the Public Sector works hard and is good at their job.

[timill]

It's just something they can do that looks vaguely connected.

This sort of thing is why, after 32 years in public service, I'm in Tennessee.

[glass-mountain.livejournal.com]

This is just too depressing...

[ci5rod.livejournal.com]

Plus, as Vince Cable pointed out, the windfall tax on bankers has so many holes in it (apparently the LD front bench came up with half a dozen while they were still listening to Darling Alistair drone on) that the bankers aren't actually going to pay anything unless they have criminally incompetant tax accountants.