Should Gordon call an election this year?

[rypt]

It seems that GB is weasling out of having to actually call an election this year (and follow the tradition of a 4 year term rather than a 5 year term) by saying that "it would be wrong to have an election in the current economic climate is there are better things for him to concentrate on".

So the question is, should he call an election this year?

 

[rypt]

Thing is though, I've always supported Blair's ideas up to the Iraq war, foundation hospitals and the crussade against private schools (appart from those I liked most ideas) I find current Labour policy to be lacking.
The Tories and Lib Dems are a mixed bag, they have some decent, and some really silly policies.
I wouldn't mind Clegg as PM, however I do not think that the Lib Dems have a full serious manifesto on how to govern really.

However, while I think that "Dave" is just a worse-copy of Blair, I'd rather have him than GB.

 

[rypt]

So trying to get us out of a giant mess caused by debt, by getting into loads more debt is a good idea?

Our debt, even after all this new spending, will still be less than current French and German levels (we are currently at 40% of GDP, both of them are in the 60s).

Spending is something that is required right now in order to sustain the economy, though a better alternative would be to simply setup a government bank (hang on, we have that already with Northern Rock) and out compete the main banks by offering to lend people money.

Now, I'm not saying that the spend spend culture is good, infact I agree it is not, but just like with a druggy, you slowly take them off, not suddenly.

 

[rypt]

Woah.

Back that up please.

I can only go by official figures, which are from 2007 unfortunately so a year out of date.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2186rank.html

Germany 64.90
France 63.90
United Kingdom 43.60


Here are some IMF figures:
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft...3,474,917,754,544,698,941&s=GGD_NGDP&grp=0&a=

France 65.191 67.468
Germany 76.379 76.994
United Kingdom 43.389 44.323

That's 08 and 09 estimates.


World bank do a similar list, but I'm too lazy to find it

 

[rypt]

And his measures have had no effect, none of the measures any of the world leaders have taken have had any effect.

No-one has a clue what we need to do.

 

[rypt]

Sure you would notice if something is done right, things will fix themselves, banks will stop being tight ******** and so on

 

[rypt]

What's wrong with private schools?

And isn't it the case that many labour ministers send there children to private/selective schools?

Nothing is wrong with them, that's my point.

Labour and Blair policies however were were anti-private school.

 

[rypt]

I say Boris for PM

 

[rypt]

Good to see my 15 year old thread revived


Also interesting to see how things have changed. The below was accurate at the time, but has now become:

Labour = Crap ideas, good leader, poor cabinet.
Tories = Crap ideas, very, very poor leader, poor cabinet.

Labour = Good ideas, poor leader, poor cabinet.
Tories = Crap ideas, very, very poor leader.