Motorists, Equity & Unity Party
Opinion Column Archives
No. 36 The Credit Crunch and the Aftermath (UK Government)
The British government under the direction of Gordon Brown (PM) bailed out the Bank of Scotland and HBOS (with the added assistance of LloydsTSB). The chief executive of LloydsTSB has since had to resign due to the pressure of the shareholders ! This rescue has required the borrowing of billions of pounds which has to be paid back some time in the future, the main burden being upon the work-force of the next 20 years ? This obviously means that today’s school pupils and the current university students, assuming they continue to live in the UK, will be providing the government of the day with the necessary funds. A figure of £6000 per head of the population was suggested as the cost of the bail-out.
The question that springs to mind is ‘Where has the money gone ?’ Someone, somewhere must have the money that we have had to bail the banks out for. Presumably this money has been taken out of the US economy, together with the bank's involvement in the Sub-prime mortgage markets of that country. Money, by itself it not worth anything at all unless it is exchanged for goods or services. Where has that money gone and where are those persons that have benefited from this bleeding of the world economy ? Are they waiting in the wings, rather like someone waiting for a business to go bust, in order to buy up the assets at a bargain basement price ?
It seems very strange that nobody appears to be accountable for the situation that we find ourselves in. Even the boss of the Bank of Scotland appears to have got off (pardon the pun) Scot-Free.
CHANGE OF SUBJECT - Council & EU (MEP) Elections
Any government in power with few exceptions loses seats at every subsequent election. The council and EU elections which have taken place this June (2009) have followed an expected pattern of the governing Party, i.e. Labour, losing seats around the country. What is different this time is that the traditional Labour voter has been given an excuse not to automatically vote for the Party that they, and their father, and his father before him have voted for. The reason being, they have discovered that in this time of financial difficulties their M.P.’s have been lining their nests, indulging in the property market, and more importantly in some cases avoiding paying their tax obligations. This knowledge has enabled them to think what they are doing, rather than voting automatically, as they have become accustomed to, and either abstaining or voting for another party in protest. The resignations of some members of the cabinet has made this action even more justified since if members of the cabinet, dipping into the expenses trough are quite happy to leave the Prime Minister holding the baby, not wishing, in the case of Hazel Blears to have to face the cameras after the results of the election, explaining the possible causes etc… and hoping that their constituency voters will have forgotten their misdemeanours by the time of the next General Election. It should be realised of course that we are talking about a position that receives £64,000 per annum plus expenses ! The question becomes, ‘Will the electorate have such a short memory that they vote for the likes of Hazel Blears and co. when the opportunity arises for electing the next government of the UK. The usual expression for such actions is ‘Leaving a Sinking Ship’.
The fact is that the damage is done; the traditional Labour voter has been given that excuse to think before automatically voting Labour. That excuse will remain in the minds of voters for a very long time and, hopefully the next time that they vote they will be reading the manifestos of the various parties and not automatically voting RED, or BLUE, or GREEN, or any other colour. The people we put into the House of Commons are there to help improve the lot of this country including businesses and individuals. When they have their hand in the till and don’t give any consideration to such things as the House Price Spiral phenomenom that we have experienced over the last 10/15 years, simply taking the opportunity to top up their bank accounts then clearly those that are guilty of such practices don’t deserve to be in British politics. Whenever human beings and money are involved there will always be temptation to abuse the system and for this reason the Expenses for MP’s needs to be addressed at the earliest opportunity so as to remove such temptatiion that has clearly damaged the present government. Ever since Tony Blair became Prime Minister we at the Motorists, Equity & Unity Party (M.E. & U. Party) we have argued that the New Labour Party (never listed as such on the voting papers) was the Blue Rose variety rather than the traditional RED ROSE. Strangely, until now, the traditional Labour voters didn’t seem to recognise this difference in the Parties approach to various issues and continued to vote for Blair regardless of the Party’s policies.
From that point of view, what has happened can only be for the best since it will undoubtedly make tomorrow’s voters more selective in their choice which must result in a better, healthier House of Commons.
*******************************************P. Sayers, secretary, M.E. & U. Party
****************************************************8th June 2009
The question that springs to mind is ‘Where has the money gone ?’ Someone, somewhere must have the money that we have had to bail the banks out for. Presumably this money has been taken out of the US economy, together with the bank's involvement in the Sub-
It seems very strange that nobody appears to be accountable for the situation that we find ourselves in. Even the boss of the Bank of Scotland appears to have got off (pardon the pun) Scot-
CHANGE OF SUBJECT -
Any government in power with few exceptions loses seats at every subsequent election. The council and EU elections which have taken place this June (2009) have followed an expected pattern of the governing Party, i.e. Labour, losing seats around the country. What is different this time is that the traditional Labour voter has been given an excuse not to automatically vote for the Party that they, and their father, and his father before him have voted for. The reason being, they have discovered that in this time of financial difficulties their M.P.’s have been lining their nests, indulging in the property market, and more importantly in some cases avoiding paying their tax obligations. This knowledge has enabled them to think what they are doing, rather than voting automatically, as they have become accustomed to, and either abstaining or voting for another party in protest. The resignations of some members of the cabinet has made this action even more justified since if members of the cabinet, dipping into the expenses trough are quite happy to leave the Prime Minister holding the baby, not wishing, in the case of Hazel Blears to have to face the cameras after the results of the election, explaining the possible causes etc… and hoping that their constituency voters will have forgotten their misdemeanours by the time of the next General Election. It should be realised of course that we are talking about a position that receives £64,000 per annum plus expenses ! The question becomes, ‘Will the electorate have such a short memory that they vote for the likes of Hazel Blears and co. when the opportunity arises for electing the next government of the UK. The usual expression for such actions is ‘Leaving a Sinking Ship’.
The fact is that the damage is done; the traditional Labour voter has been given that excuse to think before automatically voting Labour. That excuse will remain in the minds of voters for a very long time and, hopefully the next time that they vote they will be reading the manifestos of the various parties and not automatically voting RED, or BLUE, or GREEN, or any other colour. The people we put into the House of Commons are there to help improve the lot of this country including businesses and individuals. When they have their hand in the till and don’t give any consideration to such things as the House Price Spiral phenomenom that we have experienced over the last 10/15 years, simply taking the opportunity to top up their bank accounts then clearly those that are guilty of such practices don’t deserve to be in British politics. Whenever human beings and money are involved there will always be temptation to abuse the system and for this reason the Expenses for MP’s needs to be addressed at the earliest opportunity so as to remove such temptatiion that has clearly damaged the present government. Ever since Tony Blair became Prime Minister we at the Motorists, Equity & Unity Party (M.E. & U. Party) we have argued that the New Labour Party (never listed as such on the voting papers) was the Blue Rose variety rather than the traditional RED ROSE. Strangely, until now, the traditional Labour voters didn’t seem to recognise this difference in the Parties approach to various issues and continued to vote for Blair regardless of the Party’s policies.
From that point of view, what has happened can only be for the best since it will undoubtedly make tomorrow’s voters more selective in their choice which must result in a better, healthier House of Commons.
*******************************************P. Sayers, secretary, M.E. & U. Party
****************************************************8th June 2009
