well it makes for a good headline but actually a city and a town. Having spent the last week watching the citizens of Paris and other french cities take to the streets in opposition to the plan to increase retirement age to 62, I went to Chelmsford to attend the demonstration against the Cuts in the public sector in Britain. For the three million in Paris, twenty five in Chelmsford.
Yesterday Osborne announced his so called Comprehensive Spending Review. His speech cleverly overplayed the small parcels of money given to certain politically sensitive areas such as the NHS and Schools, meanwhile the blunt of the cuts is destined to hammer those least able to afford them.
Councils revenue slashed by 7% per annum for four years, public sector workers already on a pay freeze asked to pay an extra 3% of income in pension contributions. Rail fares likely to soar, welfare benefits cut, women's retirement age raised to 66 by 2020. And so it goes on.
Sadly in Britain, there is still a sense of resignation. The main opposition party offeres little in terms of a political alternative. Their attack is simply to argue that the cuts are too deep and taking fast. There's little doubt that had Labour won the general election earlier this year, a scaled version of the same would have been introduced. The real difference is that they wouldn't have attacked working people with such a smug smirk on their face.
Five hundred thousand public sector workers to lose their jobs, plenty of private sector companies will be adversely affected as contracts from the public sector dry up. There is a crying need to leadership but the Labour movement is ill equipped to offer it.
In recent days news leaked out that Thatcher has been hospitalised with what has been diagnosed as flu, she might not be in good health but her ideas are flourishing inside the Tory Party. Those who have harboured the desire to cutback the role of the state are having a field day, while spouting that there is no alternative and "we all in it together." Hopefully soon an alternative will be heard.
Key Quotes
"Anyone who believes that exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist."
(Kenneth Boulding)
"Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. "
(Raymond Chandler)
"Live simply so that others can simply live." (unknown)
"I cannot live without books" (Thomas Jefferson)
"Sport is war without the shooting" (George Orwell)
"New York is a great city to live in if you can afford to get out of it" (William Rossa Cole)
The secret of a happy ending is knowing when to roll the credits (Patterson Hood)
(Kenneth Boulding)
"Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. "
(Raymond Chandler)
"Live simply so that others can simply live." (unknown)
"I cannot live without books" (Thomas Jefferson)
"Sport is war without the shooting" (George Orwell)
"New York is a great city to live in if you can afford to get out of it" (William Rossa Cole)
The secret of a happy ending is knowing when to roll the credits (Patterson Hood)
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