The 1930′s unemployment lines… fast becoming replicated in the late Noughties!

Reflect on this….3 months.

March

April

May

……..Some 281,000 people lost their jobs. That is the personal cost of this recession.  Families under pressure now to pay rent, mortgages, feed families.  The social cost of pressure on families and the stress and humiliation of feeling worthless as work is so far and few between.   This is the biggest quarterly rise in unemployment since records began.  And Gordon Brown has the sheer audacity to call the Conservatives ‘the Party of Unemployment’.  What a hypocrite.

No doubt at PMQ’s Brown will be attacking the Conservatives and throwing about his ‘childsplay’ slogans….but the time has come that he needs to take this seriously.  This economic mismanagement is no slogan or insult to throw at the Tories.  This is affecting people’s lives and the morale and cultural fabric of this country.  Brown is doing nothing….just as he has the blood of the soldiers of Afghanistan on his hands, he has the tears of the unemployed on his shoulder!

Our economy really is in a mess….we deserve truth from Brown.  Public spending will have to be cut, deficit reduced, confidence installed in this faltering economy which really does stand on the edge of a double dip recession.  We are hanging on by our fingernails.  But what is being done.  Labour Party zealots may hate the truth but the Bank of England has temporarily haled Quantative easing, the credit cards have been cut up so no big spending plans.  We can see from a blog article earlier this week on TBB that lending to businesses is not getting through and is in decline….so Gordon, where is the oil to lubricate the engine of this economy?  What are your Government doing?  Pray do tell as we all sit here counting our pennies, fearing for our jobs.  Yes jobs, becoming rarer than red squirrels in our woods!

The unemployment rate now stands at 7.6% which is much higher than forecast.  And these are the Government’s Official Figures which we know have so many twists and turns and caveats that the actual figure is far higher.

Officially we have 2.38 million unemployed….this figure will smash 3 million this year.  Why will the figures smash 3 million?  Britain and this Government have been heavily reliant on the public sector, retail, housing and finance as sources of employment growth, but the money is no longer there to artificially balloon these sectors.

Meanwhile the number of employed people also fell at a record rate, with 269,000 fewer people in work dropping the employment rate down to 72.9%.

Now consider this.  To add to these figures:  Lloyds Baking Group is cutting 2,100 workers; Diaego is cutting 900 jobs;  Corus job cuts could equal 5,000.  More and more will be unemployment….the acceleration continues.

The number of people claiming job seekers allowance stands at 1.56 million, the worst since Labour came to power.   NB That is a 16 month in a row rise and over 700,000 higher than a year ago.

What is scary is that Graduates are just entering the job market, to face the prospect of Unemployment after studying hard for 3/4 years and getting themselves into debt to the average of £15,000 – £18,000.  These Graduates, in their prime, will be thrown to the scrapheap….or take jobs in supermarkets until they can find commensurate work to their abilities.   Youth unemployment has jumped to a 16-year high of 726,000 after a quarterly rise of 95,000, while the number of people out of work for longer than a year rose by 46,000 to 528,000, the highest for 11 years.

One thing is very true, if Gordon Brown was employed in the Private Sector, he would have been handed his P45 a long time ago for crass mismanagement and Gross Misconduct for lying!

What bad times for Brown.  Blood on his hands from Afghanistan, he now has more allegations in today’s newspapers of being a sexist and acting like a Mafia boss…..and these from his friends within the Labour Party!!!  Can anything go right for him?

Remember this is the man who but a few weeks ago promised to change and was a new man.   Leopards never change their spots!  

So again the Labour Women are lining up to have a shot at Brown….soooooo many to mention.

Former Environment Minister Jane Kennedy states: ‘personally he’s very warm, charming and friendly. But when dealing with his politics he engages with a darker side of himself and he believes the ends justifies the means‘.   Kennedy agrees that the PM behaves like a ‘Mafia boss’ who might not pull the trigger but knows who is getting bumped off.   She concludes;  ‘He has and has always had, a group of people around him engaged in undermining Labour people. We want our politics to be about policy and not personalities, but unfortunately we have it constantly thrust in our face. The way in which people are undermined is usually very personal. It’s a very personal attack and very distasteful’.  Blimey!!!  That’s not a character reference I would want!

 Brown has been accused of being Sid the sexist  with only 4 women in the Cabinet and all major Offices of State run by men.   Caroline Flint accused Brown of using women as ‘window dressing’.   She has again spoken out and stated female ministers were offered lesser cabinet roles to ‘give an impression that women are there and are equal, when they are not’.  Now more women are speaking up apart from Flint it is no wonder Brown feels under pressure….this is no way to win women’s votes Gordon.

Patricia Hewitt, ex health secretary is up next and has attacked the  ‘laddish culture’ within the Cabinet. She said; ‘ he’s Presbyterian, he’s very, very serious, and intellectual in his politics and his whole approach to life. He was never part of the 1960′s and 70′s social revolution — the women’s movement, gay rights, diversity, it’s just not really part of who he is’.  Well, what a dull guy he sounds!!!  So he is losing women’s votes…next gay rights voters.

Beverley Hughes, the former Children’s Minister has again started off leadership speculation: ’I really do believe that there has to be a demonstrable and marked improvement now, both in our position in the opinion polls and his personal ratings over the next few months, and I think if there isn’t the the questions about leadership will inevitably rise again’.

Former Lords leader Baroness Jay has confessed, ‘Personally I find him quite intimidating’.

But interestingly as more people complain of women’s rights, Sarah Brown has been elevating to the role of First Lady.   She is a regular on Twitter. She has her own charity for women in childbirth.  But key Gordon you have to remember is that Sarah is NOT ELECTED.  She is only on the radar because of who she is married to. If she was not married to you Gordon she would fade into obscurity.   Time to pay more attention to women Gordon….elected women.

Is this were evidence to a Judge & Jury then there is no doubt, based on the evidence of those close to him, Brown is not a promoter of women’s rights and there is a case that he is sexist………..

Immigration remains the issue voters worry about most. Yet despite the rise of the BNP, Conservatives have not played this issue to their strengths.  I have provided an in depth piece on how the Conservatives can turn this into a key election winning issue here:  http://tinyurl.com/mvvv2s 

MigrationWatch UK has provided an estimate that the population of the UK, (which is already the most overcrowded country in Europe), will hit………a massive 70 million in the next 20 years, (whoever is in power).

Yes that is 9 million more than today.

Immigration is an emotional issue…but this is not an issue about race as the media often position it….but an economic issue……why?….. well look at what overcrowding impacts:

-     Housing   (limited housing stock and depressed housing market, lack of money to build new houses)

-     Jobs   (rising levels of unemployment, not enough jobs to go round)

-     State benefit system  (already overstretched with unemployment benefit rising and depleted exchequer revenues)

-      Health service  (stretched to the bone, not enough beds, increasing waiting times)

-      Education  (already cuts in University funds are seeing students turned away, pressure on schools and classroom sizes)

-      Travel infrastructure  (Decrepit roads at a standstill with overwhelming traffic, trains creeking–need for money and public not incentivised to travel on any form of public transport as poor service and very expensive)

-     Environment  (building more houses in the countryside, growing pollution, more cars on the road, more wasteful emissions and wastage occurring)

-     Depleting energy resources  (more people using more and more resources, speeding their depletion)

-     Social Fabric  (how differing cultures seamlessly blend in stressful recessionary times and live harmoniously)

So when you travel back from work, crammed in on the London Underground, face pressed against a neighbours sweaty festering armpit, just take a look round……more will soon be joining you on that tube!!!!!

In the past 12 years the British military have seen more action than at any other time since the Second World War.   In that time Gordon Brown and New Labour have been savage in cutting back expenditure.

Our brave squaddies live in slum barracks which are often rat infested. They have been provided with shoddy equipment and we have even asked them to buy their own boots.  How does that sit on your conscience?  It sits badly on mine.

We have provided them in Afghanistan with flimsy ‘snatch’ Land Rovers instead of heavily armoured trucks and helicopters which could save them from lethal roadside bombs.  Our troops travel in road convoys, exposed to attack as our US friends travel overhead in helicopters.

And get this statistic.  America has EIGHT times as many helicopters for every serving soldier, compared to Britain.

Soldiers fight and risks their lives to drive Taliban out of villages and towns, only to hand captured territory back because they do not have the numbers or air cover to hold their ground.

If this war is so important Gordon….why have you not committed more troops to the campaign to ensure our boys gains on the battlefield are secure….not to be handed back to the Taliban a few days later because of lack of manpower?

If this war is so important Gordon…why have you not invested in protecting our troops and ensuring they have more helicopters and armoured vehicles?

Sending troops into battle, to die for our country, deserves whatever support we can provide them.

By not preparing our troops Gordon, you have blood on your hands……like Macbeth that will come back to haunt you…..

There has been much discussion on the phone tapping scandal and obviously vultures are hovering to try and take the scalp of Andy Coulson, (former editor of News of the World, now the Conservatives Director of Communications). 

David Cameron, when he discussed MP’s expenses, talked a lot of sense when he talked of the ‘public smell test’, does this feel right with the public?  He has been seeking to ‘detoxify the Conservative Brand’.  Now is the perfect moment to demonstrate this.

The best thing is for DC to be whiter than white….and this issue to be referred to the Conservative Party ethics & integrity committee.

If Coulson played no part in this scandal….then perfect.  DC would have gone through the right channels to demonstrate Coulson’s integrity.

If Coulson is not whiter than white, then again, all things come out in the wash…better to show leadership over this issue and do the right thing, than become a victim of events.  Leadership is all about doing the right thing…

Prescott…senses blood

If

The private sector isn’t working….the public sector is….!

As the private sector faces thousands of job losses each week, the public sector continues merrily recruiting away….especially roles with high salaries.  This is fast becoming a national scandal….that needs the oxygen of publicity….to show how we are wasting tax payers money recruiting so many BUREAUCRATIC red tape, pen pushing roles in areas like education and the NHS….if this doesn’t make your blood boil….!!!

Take a look at the Sunday Times Appointment section today and also delve online to www.timesonline.co.uk/jobs, here’s a selection of the roles being recruited….yes, only a selection—that’s the scary thing, the public sector and all those Government Quangos are busily burning OUR money:

East of England Ambulance service NHS Trust 

All these roles are stated to have:  Attractive Salaries + Pension + Relocation

Chief Operating Officer

Director of Strategy & Business Development

Director of Finance & Deputy Chief Executive

Director of Business Transformation

Director of Clinical Quality (part Time)

Clinical Director (Part time)

NHS Devon

Chief Executive c £140,000 plus more for an exceptional candidate

Kent County Council

Service Director Learning / Service Director Vulnerable Children – £104,000 plus excellent bens

Association of Police Authorities

Chief Executive Association of Police Authorities £115k – £130k

Department for Transport

Non-Executive Director Civil Aviation authority c £44,000 for 2 days a week)

NHS Borders

Executive Director of Finance - up to £87,366, plus on-call payment, benefits and relocation

Executive Director of Nursing & midwifery – up to £87,366, plus on-call payment, benefits & relocation

South London Healthcare NHS Trust

Director of Financial Operations (band 9 £80-£100,000)

Associate Director of Financial services * 4  (YES * 4)  (band 8d £68-£83,000)

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

CIO – £90,000 plus benefits

Department for Children, Schools & Families

Head, National Safeguarding Delivery Unit – c £100,000

DfT Shared Services – Head of Business Change £57,300 – £75,000

Department for Children, Schools and Families  &  Department of Health

Communications Champion   Attractive Salary  (Will no doubt be £90k & above)

Hillingdon (London’s second largest Borough)

Deputy Director: Children and Family services £92,000 – £125,000

Deputy Director: Learning Effectiveness & major Transformation – £92,000 – £125,000

Environment Agency

Head of Planning & Performance – £75,000 plus bonus + bens

Isle of Wight Council

Project Director for Schools Capital Programme – up to £100,000

Yes, the gravy train is merrily continuing on.  MP’s Expenses have been exposed….now it’s time to turn the spotlight on our Public services and how they are ripping us off.  This is a recession, we have a cancerous spiralling national debt and yet, we can carry on recruiting in the Public sector, for what seen as non essential roles…or in some cases roles that can be merged into each other to save costs.

If this was the private sector………well it would never happen and at least if it did it is not with OUR money.

I hope you agree this is a national scandal?

Andy Burnham & Ed Balls oversee two of the biggest spending Departments in Whitehall…with lot’s of exciting new jobs being advertsed….no wonder they have the time to have fun playing on a swing!!!

President Obama has conceded in an interview with Adam Boulton on Sky News that a fresh review of Afghanistan strategy will be needed….after planned Afghanistan elections.  Obama was full of praise for the British troops and Britain’s ‘extraordinary contribution’ and felt the pain of loss at their death.  But he stated that the UK were more at threat than the USA from the Taliban and terrorists.  He raised the prospect that terrorists would be at pains to cause atrocities in London and that this was not just a USA war but a world war that the British needed to play a critical role.

So let’s take a look at the regime we are defending with British lives….the presidential election is due to be held on August 20th. This will be the country’s 2nd democratic election. The previous 2004 Afghan election was held on October 9, 2004, whereby President Hamid Karzai won thus granting him a five-year term ending this October.

The elections are all set.  On March 11, 2009, NATO officials announced that 15.6 million voters had registered to vote, roughly 50% of the country’s population. 35 to 38 percent of the registered voters are women.

These are the women that many are currently being ‘raped’.  President Karzai only recently signed a law the UN states legalizes rape in marriage and prevents women from leaving the house without permission.  The law, which has not been publicly released, is understood to state women can only seek work, education or doctor’s appointments with their husband’s permission.  Opponents of this law governing the personal lives of Afghanistan’s Shia minority have said it is “worse than during the Taliban”. 

How can women be demoted to such second class citizens?  Political analysts state that President Karzai is electioneering at the expense of women’s rights by signing the law to win crucial votes from Shia swing voters in this year’s presidential poll.  While the Afghan constitution guarantees equal rights for women, it also allows the Shia community, (10 per cent of the population), the right to settle family law cases according to Shia law. 

So, nice start….women are demoted to ‘slave’ status….what about the rest of the Government and state of the country?  Sorry to say, Karzai’s government is corrupt, muddled, and feeble. It is rapidly losing authority both in the Pashtun regions of the country, where most of the armed opposition to the Kabul authorities and the coalition forces is found, and in the still relatively peaceful non-Pashtun areas.

As stated on this blog many times, drugs drive the economy.  After the Taliban were overthrown in 2001 there was a lot of confidence about planned agricultural and industrial projects. Some of the promised aid & help aid has never been delivered, and much has been just frittered away and wasted.

Now as Obama states this is not a US led war….for him it is important to be seen as the USA being a part of a global alliance.  The unity of the Nato forces tasked to defeat the Taliban is quite frankly a joke.  Most of the countries supporting the US and Britain have sent their forces to lurk and hide in uncontested parts of the country.  This allows their Government’s to show they are playing their part but remaining popular at home as they keep costs low….both in terms of money and casualties!

And there goes the problem…….war is expensive both in terms of cash and deaths of soldiers.  Britain has suffered 15 deaths in 10 days and that is a terrific price to pay.  The cost is also crippling, especially in a recession.  £2.5 billion.  Many soldiers are also questioning the military tactics employed…… especially by the American forces, (which Britain depends on).  Some of these tactics are highly dubious eg the use of an air arm that sometimes finds it hard to differentiate between the enemy gathering for an attack and ordinary people gathering for a wedding!

Most challenging of all is the question of geography and territory creep.  This war is spreading across different borders. At the start of this war al-Qaida and the Taliban fled Afghanistan to find sanctuary in Pakistani villages.   But fast forward to today and that very Taliban and terrorist groupings have been eroding Islamabad’s control of the tribal areas and today the possibility of the possible defeat, or at least the retreat, of Pakistani armed forces in their own country is a reality.  That is a scary reality….and far worse than the situation we initially faced at the start of this war.

So who is likely to win the Presidential election?  While Afghans on the street openly complain about Karzai’s rule, surveys show he is likely to win a second term….why?….because his opponents have almost no support. A May poll found that 31 percent of 3,200 Afghans surveyed said they would vote for Karzai if the Aug. 20 presidential election were held today — NB he won 55 % support in the 2004 poll….that’s a big drop in support.  But Karzai would be happier to know that the poll showed that: 69 percent of respondents had a favorable opinion of him, and 43 % of likely voters said he deserves a second term. Now here is the fascinating stat:  only 7 % said they would vote for Karzai’s closest competitor, Abdullah Abdullah. The next strongest opponent, Ashraf Ghani, had just 4 % support.

So, this interesting insight clearly shows that we face big issues and that the Afghanistani people also need to start putting their own house in order….they are a long way from doing that…..and we are a long way from removing our troops from Afghanistan…….what a mess!