As I was working from home today, I thought I would put the radio on to hear the lunchtime weather forecast that precedes Radio 4's World at One. However, when I switched on, instead of sunshine and showers, all I got was George Osborne. Today was the publication of the Government's spending review, which, so we are told, has forced all government departments to make substantial cuts.
However, all I seemed to hear from Georgie Boy was, "We will spend......We will spend..." He enthused about all the infrastructure projects - roads, railways and so on. George, dear boy, we're already up to our neck in debt, and it's us, the UK taxpayers, who are having to foot the bill. What I wanted to hear is, "we will not spend... we will not spend" and some sort of target for fiscal solvency. In the end, I turned it off without ever hearing the weather forecast. I couldn't take any more.
Those of us who believe that the role of government is to protect us from enemies without and within, to uphold legal contracts and to do very little else may be despised as misty-eyed claassic liberal romantics or rigid idealists, but we will be vindicated eventually. The last few years have shown in one country after another that "we will spend.... we will spend.." merely bequeathes a colosal debt problem to our children. Governments CANNOT solve our current financial problems by spending more money - especialy money that they don't have. One expects this sort of mickey-mouse economics from socialists, but surely not from the party of Margaret Thatcher, who famously said, "It is your tax which pays for public spending. The government have no money of their own. There is only taxpayers' money."
With 2015 looming, many Tories are nervous about their seats and in particular, concerned about the threat from UKIP. I have seen all too many letters from Tory MPs (including one sent by my local MP) trying to frighten would-be UKIP voters by saying that the choice at the next election will be between a Labour government and a Conservative government. In other words, if you don't vote for us, prepare for Miligeddon in 2015. The basic problem with this approach is that you don't win elections just by being less awful than your opposition. You need to offer something different AND to be positive.
Unfortunately, there is little evidence from George Osborne's performance today either of any difference between the Tories and Labour in many key areas, nor of anything positive. Both the Labour and Tory leadership suport our membership of the EU. Both the Labour and the Tory leadership support gay marriage. It is now apparent that both Labour and the Tory leadership want to spend far too much of our money, while paying lip-service to the need to make cuts. Would a Labour government really be that much worse than the present régime? One wonders at times............
However, all I seemed to hear from Georgie Boy was, "We will spend......We will spend..." He enthused about all the infrastructure projects - roads, railways and so on. George, dear boy, we're already up to our neck in debt, and it's us, the UK taxpayers, who are having to foot the bill. What I wanted to hear is, "we will not spend... we will not spend" and some sort of target for fiscal solvency. In the end, I turned it off without ever hearing the weather forecast. I couldn't take any more.
Those of us who believe that the role of government is to protect us from enemies without and within, to uphold legal contracts and to do very little else may be despised as misty-eyed claassic liberal romantics or rigid idealists, but we will be vindicated eventually. The last few years have shown in one country after another that "we will spend.... we will spend.." merely bequeathes a colosal debt problem to our children. Governments CANNOT solve our current financial problems by spending more money - especialy money that they don't have. One expects this sort of mickey-mouse economics from socialists, but surely not from the party of Margaret Thatcher, who famously said, "It is your tax which pays for public spending. The government have no money of their own. There is only taxpayers' money."
With 2015 looming, many Tories are nervous about their seats and in particular, concerned about the threat from UKIP. I have seen all too many letters from Tory MPs (including one sent by my local MP) trying to frighten would-be UKIP voters by saying that the choice at the next election will be between a Labour government and a Conservative government. In other words, if you don't vote for us, prepare for Miligeddon in 2015. The basic problem with this approach is that you don't win elections just by being less awful than your opposition. You need to offer something different AND to be positive.
Unfortunately, there is little evidence from George Osborne's performance today either of any difference between the Tories and Labour in many key areas, nor of anything positive. Both the Labour and Tory leadership suport our membership of the EU. Both the Labour and the Tory leadership support gay marriage. It is now apparent that both Labour and the Tory leadership want to spend far too much of our money, while paying lip-service to the need to make cuts. Would a Labour government really be that much worse than the present régime? One wonders at times............