Political Crossfire Forums

[Lord Hargreaves]

Quote: The Sun Says

A HUGE and unyielding burden has been heaped on the back of taxpayers by this Government.

It is the vast and ever-increasing army of state employees.

Despite promises of a cull, 23,000 more state jobs earning £800million were advertised this year.

This is money which was promised for schools and hospitals.

Amazingly the average state salary is now £35,000 — that’s £10,000 MORE than the private sector.

Many of these jobs are Mickey Mouse positions that contribute very little practical help to anyone.

Huge sums of taxpayers’ money are being s*cked away from real investment in the wealth-earning private sector.

And many of our brightest young talents are tempted away from life in business or industry by the state’s cushy jobs, fat pay packets and gold-plated pensions.

A monster problem is building up – and a great deal of pain for all when the day of reckoning dawns.

This, ultimately, is the New Labour legacy. Heres to a Conservative government at the next election, so help us.

[Pebble]

1) "The Sun Says" Oh please, not that paragon of virtue the Sun! Incidentally is this another political flip flop by them, last I heard they were supporting labour.

2) What are these Mickey Mouse jobs?

3) What would the conservatives do to change this?

[Lord Hargreaves]

Pebble wrote: 1) "The Sun Says" Oh please, not that paragon of virtue the Sun! Incidentally is this another political flip flop by them, last I heard they were supporting labour.

They did at the last election, although it was more of a "lesser of two evils" thing

Pebble wrote: 2) What are these Mickey Mouse jobs?

Stuff like "Diversity Officer" or "Cultural Awareness Co-Ordinator" - y'know the deal

Pebble wrote: 3) What would the conservatives do to change this?

Knowing them, probably nothing - but they'd probably be slower in making the situation worse

[Lord Hargreaves]

If you'd prefer a more intelligent analysis of this than "The Sun Says", you can read this article on it in the Telegraph:

Quote: They want it all, these public sector fat-cats: big salaries, job security, 35-hour weeks, long holidays and guaranteed pensions. And, what's more, they're getting it. Don't take our word for it: look at the Society section in the Guardian, which has become so engorged under this Government that it is now longer than many Russian novels.

There you will see page after page of vacancies on the state payroll: outreach workers, diversity co-ordinators, policy advisers, liaison officers. Some of them come with six-figure salaries. Indeed, the average annual pay for the posts advertised in Guardian Society this year is £10,000 higher than the mean private sector wage.

Remember this the next time you hear Tony Blair chuntering on about "investing in schools'n'hospitals". For these are not recognisable jobs we are discussing: not nurses or classroom assistants or municipal gardeners.

Although there has been a slight expansion in the numbers of front-line workers, the real bonanza has been in administration. Our public services resemble a South American army, where a handful of miserable conscripts sustain hundreds of self-important generals. The NHS, for example, uniquely in the world, now has more officials than beds.

The TaxPayers' Alliance, which deserves a medal for having trudged through an entire year's worth of Guardian appointments sections, estimates the total cost of these non-jobs in 2005 to be £787,319,556.31. This is bad enough. But think of the opportunity costs. Imagine if these battalions of bureaucrats were making or selling things, instead of plaguing the rest of us. How much more freely Britain would breathe.

The grim truth is that these positions are, in the main, not merely useless, but actively malign. There might be some sort of warped Keynesian argument for spending £800 million to keep a few thousand unemployables off the street, harmlessly sending each other memos and suing each other for sexual harassment.

But many state workers have a tangible and deleterious impact on public policy. A racism awareness counsellor needs to justify her salary by constantly finding instances of racism, so ensuring that her employers are distracted from their main business. A police force that hires diversity directors is not concentrating on catching scoundrels.

By bloating the state in this way, Labour has created a caste of people with a vested interest in pursuing certain policies. It doesn't much matter how we vote, nationally or locally, as long as decisions are in the hands of strategy co-ordinators and policy directors.

Mr Blair himself has run up against the immobilism of the public sector; how much more would a Tory administration. The sad fact is that, whoever is in office, Britain will still be run by overpaid jobsworths

[Lord Hargreaves]

wow its seems i'm the lifeblood of the UK forum :lol:

[Pebble]

4 am? No contest there :lol:


You have a fair point with the jobs, I was merely wondering if you could name a few. Many positions such as that exist because of the government's attitude to problems in servicesm they bring in management teams which recommend further organisational and extranesous positions.

What the conservative party or indeed any party would do better to do would be to campaign on the 'cut the crap' side of things, say that they will rid the government of unessecary expenditure and beurocracy. However you and I both know that they'd never get voted in, the ammount of civil servants and other people who would object to a 'we're going to slash your jobs stance' would make that impossible.

Instead they'd have to find some way of creating new jobs for those people, the best practical terms would probably be public transport, real need for improvement there.

Anyway...i'm rambling.

Quote: They did at the last election, although it was more of a "lesser of two evils" thing

Judging by past form (Murdoch endorsing the winning side in every election) are you more optomisitic about your chances? Mass media is very importatn in any campaign...

[antonio62]

Lord Hargreaves wrote: Knowing them, probably nothing - but they'd probably be slower in making the situation worse

Letwin when he was Chancellor did pledge that if they got into government they would cut 80000 unnecessary jobs in the civil service. Knowing political pledges your4 right they probably wont do anything.

[Cyber Gypsy]

Lord Hargreaves wrote: This, ultimately, is the New Labour legacy. Heres to a Conservative government at the next election, so help us.

Here's Hoping :crsd:

[thundertaker]

Quote: This, ultimately, is the New Labour legacy. Heres to a Conservative government at the next election, so help us.

How would that be any better? From what you have been suggesting lately (and in your own signiture) is that the conservatives have been seduced by socialist principles themselves, and they have been cutting back on the 'tax cut' rhetoric of late....

[Lord Hargreaves]

thundertaker wrote: Quote: This, ultimately, is the New Labour legacy. Heres to a Conservative government at the next election, so help us.

How would that be any better? From what you have been suggesting lately (and in your own signiture) is that the conservatives have been seduced by socialist principles themselves, and they have been cutting back on the 'tax cut' rhetoric of late....

I doubt they'd be much better, but they would be better - even if the growth of government is just done in a more common sense style.