Philip

yeah as above: [pre][/pre]

right click and Copy Image URL. Im a big fan of Chrome and been using it for a year + now.

thanks, the more the merrier :D

fixed, as per PM its when you create your first Artist Page news and then delete this (so there is no news left). The system still believes there is some news so tried to display it and errors!

the banking crisis exposed HUGE flaws in our banking system and capital reserves. There is a global review of this currently, including in the US today. This has far reaching consequences and will mean banks are unable to be so highly leveraged and exposed in their books. So we know this will be looked into and actioned on. But this wont solve our budget deficit or national debt im afraid. We have been spending beyond out means for over 6 years now! Labour spent on the hope that we would never hit a drop in demand while continuing to expand the public sector. If a rational person sits down as the Chancellor did and looks at their books they will look for areas where they are overpaying. Public sector benefits and pay is by far the biggest, it is huge, 17% higher than any counterpart in Europe and 6% higher than it was in 1998... How do you expect a budget deficit to be cut without cutting the one thing that is massively out of control? I show papers, articles/ documents and they are called biased; stats show unequivocally that like for like we have public sector spending 17% higher than the Euro Zone and yet still the Public Sector growth is not the problem (again reverting to focus on the private sector). Also Economists always disagree and have differing opinions, that is because the choices are far reaching and complex. Even on interest rates the MPC often disagree, just because of this they are all inferior? The fact is that the public sector needs to be cut and cut deeply to fit in with the current economy.

you missed the following: So to simplify the discussion we are 17% higher than the main economies in the Eurozone. Not to mention spending on the Public Sector has increased from 18% to 24% of GDP since 1998. Suddenly fires got bigger and more frequent? This increase and the current state of the finances is inexcusable.

you know its so easy to focus on specific groups of people to explain away a macro problem. You get people involved at a different level and the papers do it all the time. But the fact is that the Public Sector is out of control and needs cutting back. The above are all separate independent articles/ reports. Im not projecting blame on the public sector im saying it needs to be cut back.

the real reason the deficit is so high is the massive fall in tax revenues. I find this article very interesting: http://www.parliamentarybrief.com/2010/03/...ficit-reduction. Now we can define the context of the discussion its clear that this will not be solved simply by selling shares in banks! Now coming back to my original point on public sector pay and benefits the article also states: This article states it, the independent paper of only 1 weeks ago states it and its time lefties understand that you need a balanced economy to be successful not one which is top heavy on public expenditure! Labour built the economy to be like this but when there is a significant drop off in the economy (recession) then your expenditure is nakedly exposed. We need to alter the fundamental basics and dependancies of the economy and that is going to be harsh for everyone.

sure this balances out for the very poor... so this is progressive in that the richer you are the more it hurts. For the economy sure there is concern but to put it in context it will be 5 years of THIS budget to even balance the books - never mind starting to reduce the deficit and the interest we pay on this. 5 years just to ensure what we spend is in line with what we receive, thats astounding and points to terrible management before this. I cant see what else could have been done apart from this, I still feel the poor will be no worse off and public sector spending needs to be reigned in. Cant start taxing the rich over 50% they have introduced now as they will just leave to places new which will be even worse for the economy (people are already leaving for this reason). The only additional thing I would add is there should be a tax levied on OTC derivatives which are off balance sheet financial instruments. Not sure why the size of your balance sheet should matter for tax it should be how you run your business.

blame me :P

yes sure but 2.5% on this value is hugely small... even negligible as cost of heating/ lighting is spread over many items, same as transportation. And even then this small marginal cost is only increasing by 2.5%. Still believe for a couple with kids the increase in the tax free amount by 1k will offset all of this... was having a discussion the other day with someone and this will prob effect the people in the 40k - 55k bracket (in London) the most as this is the level just above where the support drops off.

the old C + I + G + X - M... takes me back to my first Economics classes :D. not at work right now so cant get something off bloomberg so the below will do: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-2...g-s-p-says.html We are in a terrible situation right now with unsustainable public sector spending (already discussed above) and if people look and hear the language coming out of rating agencies they would have downgraded Britain if the budget was not like it was - cut spending but give business tax breaks. I have no time or wish to explain the consequences on sovereign debt and our economy but just to say it would be extremely serious. Also who are people kidding that a 2.5% increase in VAT but a 1k increase in the lower band (to offset) of income tax is going to destroy consumption? For a middle income family these cancel each other out - havent done a calc but seems logical? For me this budget starts to hit people with incomes > 40k and over those levels I still believe you can maintain continued consumption. Maybe buy less luxury goods but that wont kill an economy. The biggest concern for me centres around what's now happening in Spain and other areas of the EU. Everyone is pursuing austerity and no one will drive growth when everyone else is cutting belts (prisoner dilemma). Nothing you can do about that apart from get our own shop in order. I believe there is a review of the US banking system later today which will be interesting for direction.

this is obviously basic Economics... when you cut spending and peoples jobs they pay less tax and this then multiplies through the economy. The BoE decided to keep rates on hold for this very reason as they understand that the fiscal tightening will be sufficient to rain in inflationary pressures. What sector do you work in? Your last post says "doesn't just purely make stuff up to support his argument like you've done about 10 times here.". I give an independent report published 1 week ago proving the things I said was correct and still its insufficient. The public sector pay and benefits is massively out of sync with the real economy and needs to be brought back into line - thats a fact backed up by an independent published report. Also on VAT it is zero rated for food and kids clothes so the very poor will not be affected unless they go out and like to buy a new TV every 3 years. Not to mention the increase in the tax free allowance, VAT is not taxed on all goods and services and the zero rating benefits the poor! Dont get me wrong everyone will feel this but it has been weighted on the rich, as it rightly should be. We have a huge deficit which every year increases our national debt and desperately needs to be sorted out. On your export question which again is basic economics, if our country is going through structural reform this will most likely devalue sterling making it more competitive - hence driving exports. Also China deciding to remove the Yuan peg to the USD which will mean their own exports become less competitive. This will lead to a shift in world trade and with the reduction in the CT we should be well positioned to take advantage of this. Also to your point of 4% is nothing, its huge! A 4% reduction in tax for our biggest companies saves many millions of pounds. In addition something not mentioned is the tax on banks which will bring in another £2 billion. You cant constantly ignore these things and sound the drum on public sector pay and benefits - a study backs up the already agreed on information that these are far too generous and need to be cut back.

http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/ did a recent study on Public vs Private working and pay - study was on the 18th June. To add creditability they are: Their publication (http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/publications/pdfs/Controlling_public_spending.pdf) found that: On any measure, public sector workers are now, on average, better paid than private sector workers. The median salary in the public sector is 12% higher, or 30% higher on an hourly basis. This pay advantage is not evenly distributed. It is higher in lower grades, with the bottom 10% of public sector workers now 25% better paid than their private sector equivalents. This is a post 1997 phenomenon – theywere 4%lesswell paid in 1997. We do not believe that the public sector premium can be explained away by differing qualifications or age (although no-one has suggested it can be fully explained away). Paper qualifications are used in the public sector where informal CV experience tends to be used in the private sector. Using previously unpublished ONS data, we find that in two thirds of cases where people are doing the same job in both sectors, public sector workers are substantially better paid. This might be thought surprising in the case of private nurses or teachers, given the high cost of private healthcare or education. The list goes on but for brevity I have only pasted 3 points. Its all in fact summed up here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economi...eport-says.html. Also to your point now we are speaking about real facts not just generalisations: Danny you make fighting points but they are only that. I work in the market every day and am fully aware of Economics, impact of macro/ micro factors on the economy and any research notes that are published so my points do not come from a position of lack of knowledge but from one which has already carefully considered the options available.

you ask where the jobs come from but cuts had to be made, the govt plan for jobs comes from reducing the corporation tax for all businesses over the next 4 years. This will enable the economy to pick up which in turn will bring jobs. Also its very well known public sector pensions are a joke, final salary is extremely expensive and under Labour in some areas people had "wellbeing" officers. Not to mention the public sector sick days are MUCH higher than the private sector. Its hard to hear but this is the truth and needs sorting out. Also the welfare system is being abused by some and we need to be able to weed these people out. If the single mum is unable to get a job then she will continue to receive benefits - the important thing is at least she is looking! I would expect single Mum's to have a hard time but why should they have time off when their kid is at school? We live in such a PC society that everyone expects to have a good life. This is not the case and if life goes wrong for you then you will need to understand that you will find things difficult. Many stories of single Mum's running their own businesses and being successful. It happens and this should see more of it. Onto the public sector - I agree a union should be involved if you are underpaid compared to the sector - completely agree, no argument. But BA is the perfect example of what is wrong with all of this. Private company still on old public sector benefits and remuneration - unable to compete in its sector. It wants to cut benefits, pay and pension to be more in line with RIVALS and they still strike costing millions of pounds. Private sector take a pay cut or pay freeze so the company can continue to be operational - I hear now in the public sector people readying to strike when a pay FREEZE is instigated. Its absolute tosh and nonsense.

I believe disabled people need to prove they are disabled yes, seems logical to me. For other benefit reductions single Mums were able to stay at home until their kid was 10 years old, this is now down to when they go to school - at which time they look for a job. I agree with this also as when their kid is at school they are able to work and earn a living, contribute to the economy. So then the argument is with these cuts how do you drive job creation? They reduce the headline CT from 28% to 24% and to 20% for small business. This makes logical sense as you cannot have out of control public sector finances so everyone lives a happy life but the country goes every increasingly into a debt black hole. I heard under Labour some scary figures like a 30-40% INCREASE in public sector (or benefits cant recall which) costs over the last 10 years which by any means is huge. Also read the below: http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/politics/C...-pay.6372291.jp Public sector earn 30% more than private sector, have much better FINAL salary pension plans and yet want to strike if they receive a pay freeze from sentiment im seeing from the unions. Huge droves of people in the private sector have been sacked, taken pay cuts, benefit cuts etc and I fully believe the public sector needs to pull back on this 30% pay gap. For people in the higher tax band the rate you start paying 40% has been reduced by £2500 I believe (its in the small print) + the marginal 50% or so over 150k. Everyone who is unbiased will tell you categorically the public sector needs to be cut, salaries need to come down to be on par with the private sector, pensions need to be brought into line (scrap final salary), sick days need to be also managed better and finally all the added "extras" that Labour introduced including Wellbeing officers need to be scrapped. I dont agree you need to sack people to manage budgets you need to reduce the budget on the people you currently have.

thanks removed them now, never really worked. Will replace them shortly!

well one new development we had since the coalition won was the debt downgrade of Greece and potential downgrade of other countries. This is huge news and often overlooked; we could not wait another 6 months or so to cut debt and provide a clear path of deficit reduction or Fitch and other rating agencies would cut out credit rating!! This would mean we pay much more on our ever increasing debt and see foreign investment leave the country. So we had to act now, if people at least agree with this then the rest is easier to understand. The increase in the lower tax band offsets any VAT increases for low earners and the welfare system needed to be reformed. We had people with 8 kids living in a house claiming crazy amounts / year in housing benefit. A cap on this is an excellent idea. Other benefits, I dont see the problem in forcing people into work. If you cant work then now you have to PROVE it, a la disability allowances. We also need to stop people from other European nations using our welfare system for their own advantages, not sure if this was in the budget but it should be! On the flip side they had to drive the economy hence the cuts in corporation tax (headline + small business). Can people be explicit about what they don't like and then we can have a discussion...

for me im fine with increases in VAT etc but this really (as the topic describes) is not the problem. For months now the private sector have taken pay freezes, reduced work, lost jobs - crazy hours just to ensure you are in a job when they start cleaning out but the public sector have been relatively unscathed. We need to sort out the crazy public sector pay and benefits, "final salary" pensions when life expectancy is increasing all the time. Look at BA for an example, a privatised company with public sector benefits not able to survive in the real world. And thats an important point - we escalate the importance of doctors, nurses, teachers etc but in the private sector they get nothing like the benefits they have in the public sector. If they have a good pension its because THEY paid for it. Right now the govt doesn't put aside money for these vast public sector pensions so in fact its the private sector indirectly through taxes who fund it!!! Absolute nonsense and we need to sort this out.

excellent :D

can you advise if this is fixed?

thanks for this Ricky, missed this topic! Ive updated the banner image sections.

did some tidying up work on this. You can now see the last reviews on the left bar and can now successfully alternate between the Reviews and Comments tabs on the main page. Plan to integrate this with the front page next as well as add the ability to add YouTube videos.

not much competition to choose the Portugal song then...

really liked the Iceland song, same as last year definitely will be high up again!