Germany is a different culture to the British and what is this fixation with privatizing the trains? The dreaded ticket inspectors are relevant they embodied all that was foul in the old nationalized railways.

Anyway, I see the leader of the Bakers Union has indeeed declared his hand in wanting to bring down and topple the Tories through coordinated strikes. Cameron must be quaking in his boots! This will get very interesting very fast.

Lazy is what it is... its because if you take away all the pantomime surrounding Corbyn look at what he sights as working in countries we can all agree are doing well...then there is not much left to argue with...Heps arguements shadows the same old tripe Ive read time and time again in the press from papers that dont benefit for Corbyn being there. The difference is now that people communicate to each other via social media..and the message got out and now the establishment/system..whatever you call it are trying desperately to close the lid on their Pandoras box. Whether Corbyn is successful or not what it shows is that there is nothing more eagerly fought for in politics than public opinion..

Nice talk from him about taking in Refugees yesterday. I wonder if he'd be prepared to stop arms trading? You'd have thought as a member of CND and chair or vice chair of a lot of anti-war groups he'd have mentioned something about it.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/23/britain-champion-democracy-arms-trade-tyrants-russia

Last edited by Chet (2015-09-14 11:26:49)

What utter tosh, the Netherlands has a lot of problems for those now unfortunate enough, not already to be employed i.e. the young. The bosses in the Netherlands because of the bureaucratic nightmare, get HR departments and lawyers to do the discipline. The bosses are as ruthless, or as supportive as anywhere else. The market is also relying very heavily now on the Indian knowledge export across several industries which makes it ever more difficult for youth to get their chance of training.

And don't forget the Arbo system, brought in because at any given time, across all organisations, the Dutch would have between 15-20% absenteeism. Constantly. These are private health insurance bodies that manage a persons return to work, from the moment they phone in sick. They can be quite intrusive with personal visits, constant phone calls and invites to see the dreaded Arbo doctor. You can also suspend payments to a person who does not communicate with the Arbo.

Also the socialist paradise of the Netherlands has private medical care. Everyone has to cough up the bucks three times: one in direct taxation from your salary, the company also pays an Insurance which inevitably reduces your wage and then you have to pay private insurance. The Netherlands is the second most costly health care system in the developed world after the US.

The so called socialist welfare system is paid for through private medical Insurance companies. It is not socialist in anyway or form.

Also note that the very generous unemployment benefit reduces over time and after three years, also if you are on permanent sick, you will reach the end of the line and you will get just enough money to live in a doss-house and have bread and lard for sunday dinner.

Meanwhile Finland is in an ongoing three year recession and Sweden's largesse with asylum seekers is destroying the economy whilst in Malmo the grenades are being lobbed almost every other day.

I know of no one in the Netherlands in a Union. The workers councils are nice little organisations where ideology is not included and it is more of a forum for the dissemination of information each way.

We now see the shadow chancellor in Corbyn's cabinet, he is a socialist and has traded his realigious zeal for world socialism and revolution. He will likely usher in a socialist state in the UK, but don't think you're gonna' get what the Netherlands has got, because everything here is paid for and earned.

Meanwhile in good ole Blighty..

From the Barnados website..

Child poverty statistics and facts

There are currently 3.7 million children living in poverty in the UK. That’s over a quarter of all children. 1.7 million of these children are living in severe poverty. . In the UK 63% of children living in poverty are in a family where someone works.

These child poverty statistics and facts will help to give you an idea of the scale of child poverty in the UK and the affect it can have on:

a child's education
a child's health
the day to day lives of families.
Does child poverty affect children's health?
Three-year-olds in households with incomes below about £10,000 are 2.5 times more likely to suffer chronic illness than children in households with incomes above £52,000.
Infant mortality is 10% higher for infants in the lower social group than the average.
Does poverty affect a child's education?
Only 48 per cent of 5 year olds entitled to free school meals have a good level of development at the end of their reception year, compared to 65 per cent of all other pupils. 
Less than half of pupils entitled to free school meals (just 34 per cent) achieve 5 GCSEs at C or above, including English and Maths, this compares to 61 per cent of pupils who are not eligible.
How much money do families living in poverty have?
Families living in poverty can have as little as £13 per day per person to buy everything they need such as food, heating, toys, clothes, electricity and transport.
How does poverty affect families?
Poverty impacts on what families can spend, one in ten of the poorest families can't afford to send their children on school trip, compared to one in a hundred of the richest families, 58 per cent of the poorest families would like to go on holiday once a year but cannot, only 5 per cent of the richest families cannot afford this luxury
The Government has a statutory requirement, enshrined in the Child Poverty Act 2010, to end child poverty by 2020. However, it is predicated that by 2020/21 another 1 million children will be pushed into poverty as a result of the Coalition Government’s policies.

There's something not quite right here, all these successful states you refer to, with decent welfare, schooling and health services don't seem to be quite socialist enough now do they? We need to look at the real socialist states out there to see what Corbyn's argument is all about.......oh dear!

I think Labours gonna really be up shit creak with Corbyn. While people like his anti-austerity talk and the fact he has claimed the least in expenses out of a load of grabbing bastards, inside the commons he has little support, fewer than 1 in 10 M.Ps voted for him. This may well be the final swan-song of the left in a party that has moved center.

For all the talk of different issues there is only in mind the week of a national election...how is the economy doing? UKIP had support in the polls by playing the migrant card. In the end it mattered not. After  the Labour party left the last few coffers in the tin the Tories have at least been seen to grow some recovery.  Corbyn is playing the austerity card. It all sounds great now but when the time comes...those working for a wage who can't claim tax credits will be worried about higher taxes and their mortgage. I think he'll become alienated in the polls and his party  before the next election.

Corbyn may have difficulty running the show rather than protesting against specific policies and he will have the media against him.

However, he may see off Blairism which is no bad thing. If there is a vacuum something will then have to fill it. Labour are deluded if they think their previous offerings will win them power again. Would also be nice to say goodbye to the likes of Tristram and Chukka, amongst others.

I agree with Peter Hitchens that it would also be nice to see a proper Conservative party as well as a proper Labour Party.

"Do not underestimate Jeremy Corbyn. Labour’s Blairites lie dead and dying all over the place because they made that mistake.
Tory Blairites such as David Cameron might be wise to learn from this, especially given last week’s dismal, shrinking manufacturing and export figures, which were pushed far away from front pages by other stories, but which cast doubt on the vaunted recovery.
If (like me) you have attended any of Mr Corbyn’s overflowing campaign meetings, you will have seen the hunger – among the under-30s and the over-50s especially – for principled, grown-up politics instead of public relations pap.

Mr Corbyn reminds mature people of the days when the big parties really differed. He impresses the young because he doesn’t patronise them, and obviously believes what he says. This desire for real politics isn’t just confined to the Left. Ken Livingstone is right to call Mr Corbyn Labour’s Nigel Farage. Ukip appeals to a similar impulse.
Millions are weary of being smarmed and lied to by people who actually are not that competent or impressive, and who have been picked because they look good on TV rather than because they have ideas or character.
Indeed, ideas or character are a disadvantage. Anything resembling a clear opinion is seized upon by the media’s inquisitors, and turned in to a ‘gaffe’ or an outrage
Actually, I dislike many of Mr Corbyn’s opinions – his belief in egalitarianism and high taxation, his enthusiasm for comprehensive schools, his readiness to talk to terrorists and his support for the EU. Oddly enough, these are all policies he shares with the Tory Party.
But I like the honest way he states them, compared with the Tories’ slippery pretence of being what they’re not.
My hope, most unlikely to be realised, is that a patriotic, conservative and Christian equivalent of Mr Corbyn will emerge to take him on, and will demonstrate, by his or her strength of conviction, that there is an even greater demand for that cause than there is for old-fashioned leftism. In any case, I think any thoughtful British person should be at least a little pleased to see the PR men and the special advisers and the backstairs-crawlers of British politics so wonderfully wrong-footed by a bearded old bicyclist."

My main concern is Corbyn will pay attention and allocate too much to the usual suspects in the victimhood lobby.

I feel your pain Bop. I was in the same boat before I started selling fruit and veg on markets. I was always broke, then I thought I'd best apply myself to do something to ensure I wasn't. After 15 years of that I decided I'd go to college part time; 2 days a week for 2 years and apply myself to studying plumbing. Mainly because I was fed up with getting out of bed at 3am. If you can apply yourself to go to night school and learn a trade I'd recommend it. You can do more for yourself than Corbyn can do for you, but you will have to apply yourself. I wouldn't do your dough on Brioni suits if you do get yourself into gear, might as well go bespoke, I can vouch for their cords though. €89 off ebay, love a bargain me.