Politics in Newbury; which way to vote at the forthcoming election Options

[Exhausted]

We were supposed to be a high tech economy and that means training. Would you rather we become just a sweat shop? Who is going to pay your pension on the money they earn in McDonalds or Starbucks?

It would be great if all the university turn outs did get jobs which had value and were good for the economy but as a lot of them never have the opportunity to use their new found knowledge in the workplace, not the best result.

Generally experience over qualifications in my opinion.

To a certain level of expertise, that may apply but one has to accept that a university degree in the appropriate skill level will get the cream of the jobs. I accept that experience in a job counts but an employer in the skills sector will want people who have ability to progress with an appropriate degree under their belt.

I know that this sounds like it negates my earlier assertion but I am talking here about skill degrees, Engineering, Computer science, Electronics, architecture etc.

[Simon Kirby]

It would be great if all the university turn outs did get jobs which had value and were good for the economy but as a lot of them never have the opportunity to use their new found knowledge in the workplace, not the best result.



To a certain level of expertise, that may apply but one has to accept that a university degree in the appropriate skill level will get the cream of the jobs. I accept that experience in a job counts but an employer in the skills sector will want people who have ability to progress with an appropriate degree under their belt.

I know that this sounds like it negates my earlier assertion but I am talking here about skill degrees, Engineering, Computer science, Electronics, architecture etc.

Yes, science and engineering, along with medicine, law, and plenty of jobs in the humanities need degree-level qualifications, but there are plenty of technical jobs that don't, and a couple of years into a job it's very much more about the individual and their experience than it is about their degree.

[Exhausted]

Precisely so. As a wise man once said, a graduate can tell you the square root of a jar of pickles, but they can't get the lid off.

Which wise man was that. Sounds a bit like sour grapes to me.....

[Andy Capp]

Edited for the sake of decorum.

[The Hatter]

Sadly the the electorate are as thick as you; what chance has this country got with someone like you being eligible to vote.

The country is a mess because grumpy old geezers like you screwed it up. I might be thick but I'm not gullible.

[On the edge]

It would be great if all the university turn outs did get jobs which had value and were good for the economy but as a lot of them never have the opportunity to use their new found knowledge in the workplace, not the best result.



To a certain level of expertise, that may apply but one has to accept that a university degree in the appropriate skill level will get the cream of the jobs. I accept that experience in a job counts but an employer in the skills sector will want people who have ability to progress with an appropriate degree under their belt.

I know that this sounds like it negates my earlier assertion but I am talking here about skill degrees,[b] Engineering, Computer science, Electronics, architecture etc.[/b]

I suppose that's exactly the reason why we don't need so many universities or domestic students. With the foreign take over of our industry and infrastructure we don't actually need these skills any more. So perhaps the plastic universities turning out graduates in beauty therapy or golf course management are right - at least these 'skills' are useful in today's UK job market. The real issue is labelling all further education institutions universities. That makes it like claiming the Co-op and John Lewis are the same on the basis that they are both cooperatives.

[Biker1]

Here's some interesting reading from Britain's "fastest growing party"
Might help you in some decision making Spider??

[On the edge]

One of my colleagues who always likes to see things as a diagram came out with this in an attempt to discribe where the parties fitted against the political spectrum. It's quite hard to argue against!


LEFT- Communist, Green, Labour, LibDem, Conservative, UKIP, BNP, -RIGHT

[Andy Capp]

The country is a mess because grumpy old geezers like you screwed it up. I might be thick but I'm not gullible.

So we can assume you won't be voting, because to do so will mean a certain amount of faith involved. I'm not sure it is in a mess as such; I see responsibility as a shared matter and has a lot to with the global economy.

Here's some Lib Dem gumpf on tuition fees.

http://www.libdems.org.uk/get_the_facts_student_finance#

"The new system is effectively a 30-year graduate tax, in that graduates repay 9 per cent of their income over £21,000. If they lose their job or their income falls below £21,000, they will not pay anything."


BTW - Sorry for calling you thick, that was both unfair and unjust, I have therefore deleted it.

[Biker1]

One of my colleagues who always likes to see things as a diagram came out with this in an attempt to discribe where the parties fitted against the political spectrum. It's quite hard to argue against!


LEFT- Communist, Green, Labour, LibDem, Conservative, UKIP, BNP, -RIGHT

What about The Apolitical Group, The Patriotic Socialist Party and Spoil Party Games?
All of whom we have a chance to vote for this time in West Berkshire

[On the edge]

What about The Apolitical Group, The Patriotic Socialist Party and Spoil Party Games?
All of whom we have a chance to vote for this time in West Berkshire

Where do you think? As at the highest level, politics is seen to be a fight between left and right, then have a look at what's being said and fit them on the matrix.

My view is that the Apolitical Group are likely to be centrist left leaning, Patriotic Socialist right of Labour, and Spoil Party Games between UKIP and Tory. The really interesting one is Apolitical because it demands a structural change and that would make it a rainbow coalition which matches the consensus view in each constituency.

BUT it's simply a model to encourage your own interpretation, rather than just following the media blandishments.

[Andy Capp]

I put Apolitical as centre right I think, although their name is somewhat of an oxymoron in its purest definition.

[Simon Kirby]

What about The Apolitical Group, The Patriotic Socialist Party and Spoil Party Games?
All of whom we have a chance to vote for this time in West Berkshire

Apoliticals aren't a party in the usual sense because they have no unifying policy at all, they are an umbrella for independents of all political persuasion and their only commonality is that they are prepared to listen to people and decide issues on their merits according to their own personal morality and experience. You'd need to know the individual candidate to understand what they think about any particular issue, but then at the local level that's no different from any of the other parties, except with the established parties they're generally not allowed to express their personal opinion and certainly not if they don't entirely agree with their respective glorious leaders.

[Simon Kirby]

LEFT- Communist, Green, Labour, LibDem, Conservative, UKIP, BNP, -RIGHT

That's perfectly true on that single dimensional axis, but national politics is a multi-dimensional world with those on opposite ends of the left-right spectrum capable of having perfectly compatible views on many issues.

I don't even think leff-right is a particularly helpful decomposition. For me I'm much more interested in where someone lies on the libertarian-authoritarian, selfish-caring, and trusting-hating spectra.

UKIP at times have a refreshing honesty, but they sit at the wrong end (for me) of those three political axes, being generally authoritarian, selfish, and hating. The Lib Dems are supposed to be on the libertarian, caring, trusting octant, but they're not, most especially so at the local level where they sit indistinguishedly close to the Tories, and most everyone else in politics for that matter at the present time.

[Simon Kirby]

What about ... The Patriotic Socialist Party

I like the party emblem of the Patriotic Socialist Party, it looks like a posidriv head, which is handy if you have a screw loose.

[blackdog]

I like the party emblem of the Patriotic Socialist Party, it looks like a posidriv head, which is handy if you have a screw loose.

Lol

[Don]

Howdy,

I've been a Tory voter all my life and will continue to be one. The Tories have been very good to us pensioners. This year I should be able to get free TV license and of course heating. The economy is improving and I am concerned with Labour, if they should get back into power and cause havoc like they did under Blair and Brown. UKIP just want us to pull out of Europe and the Greens have lunatic policies. As for the Lib-Dems, they've disgraced themselves and are not really the answer to anything, unless you are a weeding smoking non thinker.

Don

[Simon Kirby]

As for the Lib-Dems, they've disgraced themselves and are not really the answer to anything, unless you are a weeding smoking non thinker.

I completely agree that the Lib Dems locally, and to a degree nationally, have sold out their values (if in fact they ever shared the professed values of their party), but I am still proud to be associated with those values, for standing up for the rights of the little man, and I'm ever hopeful that I will find other like-minded souls who want to build "a fair, free and open society on the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, in which no one is enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity." Not many of us around though.

But I'm intrigued to know what a "weeding smoking non thinker" is.

[Andy Capp]

I'm not sure Labour, nor Tories have done much for people on fixed incomes, like pensioners, seeing that interest rates are practically zero. However, Lib Dems claim to have helped take people on low incomes out of paying tax.

Here's what the Tory/Lib Dems claim to have done for the old farts:

http://www.libdems.org.uk/get_the_facts_helping_older_people

[Andy Capp]

Unintentional double post.