2010 budget

[Guest Yilmaz]

I was just putting it out there really. Lol @ the negs...

Come like Daily Mail comment section bare anonymous guys too dumb to argue points properly.

[Yuri]

*Salutes Labour for all they did to make it possible for man like me to go*

It could, and possibly should be argued that widening participation was not necessarily a good thing.

Of course everyone should have the chance to go, competition for the top jobs is and always will be strong, I don't necessarily believe the media hype.

And without meaning to be too cliche, uni gives a lot of people a lot more than just a degree.

/

I don't get how the graduate tax system would be any better than we have now.

As for our uni fees, I am unsure if we are given an unfair ride you know. I mean American fees are out of this world (although they offer A LOT of scholarships and such), don't really know the fees of other nations.

In France it's like 150 Euro for a degree, and in Russia a lot of people don't pay anything.

Fees are too high in the UK imo.

[Guest Yilmaz]

*Salutes Labour for all they did to make it possible for man like me to go*

It could, and possibly should be argued that widening participation was not necessarily a good thing.

Of course everyone should have the chance to go, competition for the top jobs is and always will be strong, I don't necessarily believe the media hype.

And without meaning to be too cliche, uni gives a lot of people a lot more than just a degree.

/

I don't get how the graduate tax system would be any better than we have now.

As for our uni fees, I am unsure if we are given an unfair ride you know. I mean American fees are out of this world (although they offer A LOT of scholarships and such), don't really know the fees of other nations.

In France it's like 150 Euro for a degree, and in Russia a lot of people don't pay anything.

Fees are too high in the UK imo.

We offer top top quality research that's internationally renowned. Hence the price.

Never going to change unless it becomes more attractive to employers/academic community to be anywhere but here and the USA.

[Yuri]

*Salutes Labour for all they did to make it possible for man like me to go*

It could, and possibly should be argued that widening participation was not necessarily a good thing.

Of course everyone should have the chance to go, competition for the top jobs is and always will be strong, I don't necessarily believe the media hype.

And without meaning to be too cliche, uni gives a lot of people a lot more than just a degree.

/

I don't get how the graduate tax system would be any better than we have now.

As for our uni fees, I am unsure if we are given an unfair ride you know. I mean American fees are out of this world (although they offer A LOT of scholarships and such), don't really know the fees of other nations.

In France it's like 150 Euro for a degree, and in Russia a lot of people don't pay anything.

Fees are too high in the UK imo.

We offer top top quality research that's internationally renowned. Hence the price.

Never going to change unless it becomes more attractive to employers/academic community to be anywhere but here and the USA.

That's true. Students don't always necessarily benefit from the university's research quality though.

[Guest Yilmaz]

That's true. Students don't always necessarily benefit from the university's research quality though.

Ummmm, they do when it comes to getting jobs. If your university has a good research base (i.e. is a Russell Group uni) then it usually means it's a half decent uni, which helps in the jobs market. Also, lecturers that are leading in their field usually hold weight as referees.

I know what you meant though.

[Guest Triple XXX]

The coalition government will reject the idea of a graduate tax to pay for university fees in England, suggests a senior Conservative source.

Last week the Business Secretary Vince Cable set out the advantages of a graduate tax as a fairer repayment system.

But now it is believed there are plans to keep the payment link between students and individual universities.

As such a "pure graduate tax" is described as an "unlikely" option.

In terms of bridging the university funding shortfall, there are suggestions that universities could raise money from some form of bond issue.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-10711568

[VENOM]

cant beleive i voted lib dem... useless

[Guest Yilmaz]

cant beleive i voted lib dem... useless

jajajaajaj

[Guest Triple XXX]

Tax credit repayments 'to soar'

Many more people will have to pay back some of the money paid to them as tax credits in the future, experts say.

At the moment credits are based on a family's own estimate of income for the coming year, with households allowed to earn an extra £25,000 before they have to pay money back to the government.

But over the next 18 months that buffer will be reduced to £5,000, meaning that many families could face repayments.

One expert warned the number of overpayments would "rocket".

The warning comes on the last day people can renew this year's claims for working tax credit or child tax credit, with a spokesman for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) reporting its claims helpline has been inundated with calls.

The HMRC has extra staff on its helpline, but the BBC has had e-mails and texts from people unable to get through.

The changes to the overpayments buffer were announced in the Budget and will be implemented from next April.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-10823283

[Drift]

disability benefits being cut

no way these people can be re-elected, beg labour get their sh*t together quickly.

Secret plans to slash the welfare bill by £2.5bn for people who are disabled or too ill to work are being up drawn up by the chancellor, George Osborne, documents leaked to the Observer reveal.

Details of the plan, spelled out in a confidential letter from Osborne to Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, sparked a furious row as Labour accused the coalition government of targeting "the most vulnerable people in the country" with "shocking, arbitrary cuts".

The letter, written by Osborne on 19 June to Duncan Smith and circulated to David Cameron and Nick Clegg, will fuel mounting concerns that the government's assault on spending – and particularly Osborne's determination to slash the cost of welfare – will hit those on the lowest incomes the hardest.

Despite official insistence that no decisions have yet been made on where the axe will fall, Osborne stated in the letter – written three days before his emergency budget – that agreement had already been reached to impose deep cuts on the budget for employment and support allowance (ESA) – the successor to incapacity benefit. ESA is paid to those judged unable to work because of illness or disability.

Osborne told Duncan Smith: "Given the pressure on overall public spending in the coming period, we will need to continue developing further options to reform the benefits as part of the spending review process in order to deliver further savings, greater simplicity and stronger work incentives.

"Reform to the employment support allowance is a particular priority and I am pleased that you, the prime minister and I have agreed to press ahead with reforms to the ESA as part of the spending review that will deliver net savings of at least £2.5bn by 2014-15."

In a further extraordinary development, sources within Duncan Smith's department turned their fire on the Treasury, insisting nothing had been decided and suggesting Osborne's department may have leaked the letter to bounce them into accepting the plan.

With under six weeks to go before Osborne's comprehensive spending review, senior ministers are growing increasingly sensitive to charges of unfairness. Last week, Nick Clegg sought to dispel anxieties by pointing out that the cuts would not fall at once, but over five years. And, in an article for the Observer, Cameron insists that the government's commitment to devolve power from Whitehall to the people is driven at least in part by the quest for greater "fairness".

"There's the efficiency argument – that in huge hierarchies, money gets spent on bureaucracy instead of the frontline. There's the fairness argument – that centralised national blueprints can entrench unfairness because they don't allow for local solutions to major social problems. And there's the political argument – that centralisation creates a great distance in our democracy between the government and the governed," the prime minister argues.

A spokesperson from the Department for Work and Pensions said Duncan Smith, who is battling with the Treasury over potentially costly plans to improve incentives to get people off welfare and into work, would agree to nothing that would hit the vulnerable. "We are looking at a range of options for welfare reform and any decisions will be made in the context of the spending review. Our reforms will ensure that the most vulnerable in our society are protected."

The leak provides an explosive backdrop to the political conference season, which opens tomorrow with the start of the Trades Union Congress in Manchester. The TUC will unveil a report on Monday claiming to show that the Conservatives have betrayed their election promise to introduce cuts fairly and protect public services, as the unions prepare a co-ordinated response to the measures.

Government insiders admitted that limits to the time that people could spend on ESA were being considered, as were plans to means test recipients. But they insisted nothing would be done that would affect those who were judged as having no potential future chance of getting into work.

Jim Knight, the shadow employment minister, said: "The budget was already going to hit most ESA claimants hard; according to government figures, by over £900 if they are also on housing benefit. Now we see the Tories and Lib Dems are conspiring to take thousands of pounds from the most vulnerable.

"This exposes George Osborne's rhetoric about living on benefits as a 'lifestyle choice', as being a smokescreen to hide vicious cuts on the poorest. It also shows that Iain Duncan Smith will cave in to the Treasury rather than deliver the sensible long-term reforms he talks about."

[Mr Q]

They really do not give a f*ck.

Hope Nick Clegg never has a job in politics after this.

[Bardissimo]

lol @ the crimewave coming soon

swear they cutting the amoun of real police officers aswell

lmfao

politicians<<<<<<<<<<<<

[Thun]

This is what happens when the government give our money to banksters

Gave our money to them so we can downgrade out health care, education etc

SMH at the list below how we was robbed

£850bn: official cost of the bank bailout

By Andrew Grice, Political Editor

Friday, 4 December 2009

Government support for Britain's banks has reached a staggering £850bn and the eventual cost to taxpayers will not be known for years, the public spending watchdog says today.

The National Audit Office (NAO) revealed that £107m will be paid to City advisers called in to work on the rescue because the Treasury was too "stretched" to cope with the sudden financial crisis which broke in the autumn of last year.

How to spend £850bn bailing out the banks... and £107.1m on financial advice

£76bn To purchase shares in RBS and Lloyds Banking Group

£200bn Indemnify Bank of England against losses incurred in providing over £200bn of liquidity support

£250bn Guarantee wholesale borrowing by banks to strengthen liquidity in the banking system

£40bn Provide loans and other funding to Bradford & Bingley and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme

£280bn Agree in principle to provide insurance for selection of bank assets

£671bn Total Government spending in the financial year 2009-2010

£32.9m Slaughter & May - Commercial legal advice

£15.4m Credit Suisse - Financial advice on a range of measures, including Bank Recapitalisation and the Asset Protection Scheme

£11.3m PricewaterhouseCoopers - Advice on APS

£8.7m Ernst & Young - Due diligence on APS, Northern Rock

£7.7m KPMG - Due diligence on APS

£7.4m Blackrock - Valuation advice on APS

£5.3m Deutsche Bank - Financial advice on a range of measures

£5m Citi Financial - Advice on Aps

£4.9m BDO Stoy Hayward - Valuation of Northern Rock

£4.5m Goldman Sachs - Financial advice on Northern Rock

£1.5m Morgan Stanley - Financial advice on Bradford & Bingley

£2.5m Other advisers - Financial advice on a range of measures and proposals to revive Britain's ailing economy

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/163850bn-official-cost-of-the-bank-bailout-1833830.html

[Dubby]

whallan... millions was spent on advice?

[Mr Q]

To cry or laugh.

[Dubby]

I don't understand how hundreds of millions can get spent on advice though, I swear banks give financial advice?

[Mr Q]

Not really sure how that works to be honest, banks clearly just taking the piss and the government being cool with it.

/

This whole university issue is pissing me off right now, so many people are going to be priced out of university. Which in turn, will surely only lead to a more hierarchical society. You don't fix broken "Britain like that", you tory c*nt.

Even if the lib dems haven't done anything else up till now, they surely have to stand up for one of their main manifesto points, Clegg can't be that much of a coward, surely!

/

WHAT.THE.f*ck.

He already owns most of our media, now control over schools. f*ck this country man.

Rupert Murdoch's News International (NI) is drawing up plans to sponsor an academy school in a move that is likely to trigger anxiety about the media mogul's influence.

The Observer understands that executives at NI, which owns the Times, the Sun, the Sunday Times and the News of the World (NoW), are actively discussing sponsoring a school in east London, close to the company's headquarters in Wapping.

The idea, which is being spearheaded by Rebekah Brooks, the former editor of the Sun, who is now chief executive of NI, has been under discussion for several months but is still at an early stage, according to sources.

The plan will alarm Murdoch's critics who claim the tycoon's media empire, which spans broadcasting, publishing and internet interests around the world, already wields formidable influence over the UK's political system and society.

Concerns about Murdoch's dominance resurfaced at the last general election when all four of his UK newspapers came out in favour of the Tories, an event that represented a considerable blow to Labour's hopes of clinging to power.

NI is currently under acute scrutiny, battling to deny allegations of widespread phone-hacking by NoW reporters while the paper was under the editorship of Andy Coulson, David Cameron's director of communications.

Coulson and NI deny the allegations. But the former Labour minister, Tom Watson – who led calls for an inquiry to be re-opened into the phone-hacking affair that saw a NoW reporter and a private investigator jailed – said NI's interest in the academies programme would cause further unease about the company's ambitions.

"Some people will say they are not telling people what they should think through their newspaper but teaching our children what to think in our schools," Watson said.

Paul Farrelly, another Labour MP, said: "It would be of considerable concern if the sort of bias we see in the Murdoch press was fed through to our children through the school system."

A spokeswoman for NI declined to comment. However, a source close to the company said the plan represented a "positive and conscious decision for News International to become involved in education".

It is expected that the academy would place a strong emphasis on journalism and multimedia training. The NI source said it would focus on "professionalism in journalism" and its curriculum would reflect a familiar Murdoch mantra for the need to "value content and investment in news".

The source said there was "reluctance" among NI executives to put "too much flesh on the bone" at the moment while they continued to debate how best to proceed with the plan, which would see the company link up with a school in either the London borough of Newham or Tower Hamlets.

Observers may be surprised a Murdoch company is keen to become involved in the UK's education sector. But Murdoch's US company, News Corp, sponsors several schools in New York and Murdoch himself is a supporter of Harlem Village Academies, the high- profile free schools project aimed at children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

NI also sponsors a visiting professorship of broadcast media at Oxford university and runs placement schemes to provide opportunities for undergraduate and postgraduate students to work on its newspapers.

NI's interest in sponsoring an academy will raise questions about the direction of the academies programme begun under Labour but enthusiastically embraced by the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition.

The schools enjoy far greater freedoms than other state schools, including the ability to set their own curriculums and determine the pay and conditions of staff. Unlike most state schools, their funding comes direct from central government, bypassing local education authorities.

However a recent report by the National Audit Office warned: "Sponsors have strong influence on the running of academies, which brings both benefits and risks to value for money."

Former Europe minister Denis MacShane said he was concerned the government was allowing the academies programme to be subjected to big business interests.

"The notion that Rupert Murdoch's values should infect our children is a real horror story," MacShane said. "It shows the extent to which the Conservative party is becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of News International."

There are 203 academies currently operating in England and Wales but the number approved is expected to rise to 400 within the next few months.

Education secretary Michael Gove has written to every school in England inviting them to apply for academy status.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education was unable to comment last night.

[Lofa]

In other news

IMO Boris has fared well and come through on many of his policies...not missing Ken so much.

[Guest Triple XXX]

HMRC whats direct access to bank accounts to pay us rather than the employer payin or sutin

like the employer sends it to them then they send it to you

[Mr Q]

http://gu.com/p/2k5cb

Another story about the potential hike in University fees.

Do people think this needs to happen?

[Grafter]

HMRC whats direct access to bank accounts to pay us rather than the employer payin or sutin

like the employer sends it to them then they send it to you

bad idea

[E.A.S.E]

HMRC whats direct access to bank accounts to pay us rather than the employer payin or sutin

like the employer sends it to them then they send it to you

bad idea

c/s

So what they want direct access so they can take what they want when they want?

f*ck off!

[Grafter]

when they make mistakes, we will have no one to complain too

an u kno if we dont have payslips, how will we see the mistakes, we wont know for a very long time

im tired of all these hair brained ideas

[Guest Triple XXX]

lol trust

cnt believe Clegg is f*ckin man over like that

im thinkin this wont happen though

[Grafter]

http://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2010/10/parliament-holds-bill-workshop-on-localism-and-decentralisation/

there are a number of chances to get involved in decision makin with this Government

Parliamentary Outreach is to provide a free legislation workshop in Birmingham for groups and organisations interested in localism and decentralisation.

The event, which is to be held on Friday 29 October 2010, is being run as part of Parliament’s efforts to encourage engagement with legislative scrutiny and will focus on the different ways to track and influence the progress of a Bill.

im jus stickin this here cos i dont kno where else to put it