A few days back, the Government produced figures which suggested that most people in employment have seen at least a modest INCREASE in their living standards over the past year, as inflation falls and wages rise. The BBC was not happy about this at the time since it directly contradicts the Labour narrative about “cost of living crisis” and I recall them bringing on an economist to challenge what the Coalition was suggesting. This morning, they give blazing headlines to a claim by the The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) that average UK living standards have fallen “dramatically” since the recession and will not reach pre-crisis levels by the next election. The IFS is just another front for Labour left wing philosophy and have been moaning for years now that austerity doesn’t work. They got that wrong but when they say what the BBC wants they get an east rid
“The IFS is just another front for Labour left wing philosophy and have been moaning for years now that austerity doesn’t work.”
Really!!
This is the same IFS who on the subject of the 50p tax rate said:
“But at the moment, the best evidence we have still suggests that raising the top rate of tax would raise little revenue and make, at best, a marginal contribution to reducing the budget deficit an incoming government would face after the next election.”
http://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/7066
Yep – those Labour lackeys!! How dare they point out what is obvious to any fair minded person with even a modicum of intelligence:
http://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/7068
” * Real median household income in 2013–14 is more than 6% lower than before the economic crisis hit in 2007–08;
* The fall in median income has probably come to a halt in 2013–14;
* Better-off households have seen bigger proportionate real falls in income than poorer households if – as is usually the case – one assumes that all households face the average inflation rate;
* But this equalising effect is largely undone by the fact that poorer households have in fact experienced significantly higher rates of inflation.”
I totally agree. David, with whom I concur on so many issues, seems to have got this wrong.
I would say that the IFS was one of our more independent organisations.
The BBC has repeatedly misrepresented Tory claims about the economy. All that is being claimed is that we are at the beginnings of a recovery, but it will still be a long time before we get back to pre-crash levels of prosperity.
The BBC has portrayed this as meaning that everyone should be feeling much better off immediately – they go out and interview “the man on the street” who not surprisingly isn’t feeling the benefits of a recovery, and this is then presented as proof that all Tory claims are false. The BBC line is there is no recovery, or it is the wrong kind of recovery, in the wrong place benefiting the wrong people. It is dishonest biased reporting of the worst possible kind. No more than a political attack.
Hold politicians to account by all means, but we never ever see Labour claims subjected to the same biased relentless on going criticism.
Like mentioned in a previous post you would be one of the first to be hung from a crane in Trafalgar Square you useful idiot.
That is no way to talk about DV!!
Oh the wit ,you are a star turn of a clown albit ! do you do children’s party’s? [not in a BBC employee way I mean !]
I am puzzled by this issue around the cost of living. If you have the deepest recession in living memory wouldn’t you expect that household disposable income would fall?
If we examine the depth of the recession in various countries we find that the UK suffered the biggest fall in GDP, at over 7%, compared to say Germany of France which were both less than 4 %.
Of course Labour were in power when the Great Slump hit and for the 12 years before that. Surely the BBC should be asking why did the UK suffer so much more than other comparable economies, and why the government of the day hadn’t done a better job at increasing the resilience of the economy.
But we all know why they don’t. The BBC are Labour’s mouth piece, as long as it doesn’t take the country into a war that the liberal left don’t support, and so they don’t ask Labour any of the difficult questions, no matter how obvious they are. But they jump on anything, no matter whether its true or not, they may damage the Tories.
Every single Labour administration there has ever been has left the country’s finances in a shambles. The BBC are doing their best to cover up Labour’s utter incompetence on all economic matters. Let us all hope that they don’t succeed and we don’t get Mr E Miliband as the next PM and WALO ( what a load of) Balls as the CofE.
The hapless Chris Leslie was having a chat with that Montague woman on Toady this morning, he waltzed through the encounter telling us all it was the global banking crisis, nothing to do with Labour’s mismanagement or debt addiction at all (the latest mantra being building schools and hospitals didn’t cause the crisis – Lehman’s did).
Of course Leslie got away with this tripe, nothing about the points that Doublethink made above, nothing about the budget deficit that Brown and Balls went into the recession with – and unlike other countries was unable to weather the storm, nothing about the world markets’ judgement of the state of the British economy, nothing about the fact that our currency collapsed (remember Brown once said that the strength of our currency was a measure of the strength of our economy), nothing about the fact that Brown corrupted the benefits system, nothing about the fact that those schools and hospitals that Leslie spoke of, were financed ‘off balance sheet’ through PFI.
What a piss-poor, pathetic, perfunctory attempt at holding someone to account.
Leslie was at his most confident this morning, no doubt, as he sat down, comforted in the knowledge that he was amongst his BBC friends.
We are back to the old ‘world banking crisis’ game. Even Philip Collins, liar Blair’s former speechwriter (‘liewriter’?) gets in on the act in today’s Times with this –
“An Ed Balls speech last Saturday inspired the tax-and-spend abuse that will greet Labour from now until May 2015. This proceeds from a fabricated version of the 2008 crash and leads neatly to the accusation, which requires only a little bit of deliberate stupidity to believe, that a secret spending spree, in conjunction with a top rate of tax of 50p, will visit ruin upon the national finances.”
I know that he is lily-livered but Boy Dave really must start sticking this to the Miliband clique pretty damn soon!
PFI – another “lefty” conspiracy!!
Really!!!
PFI was implemented for the first time in the UK by the Conservative government of John Major.
PFI continued and, in fact, expanded under Labour, resulting in criticism from many trade unions, elements of the Labour Party, the Scottish National Party (SNP), and the Green Party, as well as commentators such as George Monbiot.
Proponents of the PFI include the World Bank, IMF and (in the UK) the CBI.
Despite being so critical of PFI while in opposition and promising reform, once in power George Osborne progressed 61 PFI schemes worth a total of £6.9bn in his first year as Chancellor.
“By October 2007 the total capital value of PFI contracts signed throughout the UK was £68bn, committing the British taxpayer to future spending of £215bn over the life of the contracts.”
Brown never released these figures – it took Little Georgie Osborne to do so.
This is the Grauniad’s take on it.
“£301,343,154,097. That is the total that the UK’s public sector will pay in existing Private Finance Initiative repayments.”
From its introduction in 1992 to 2007 PFI contracts of £68bn (from your own figures) were signed. The simple average over that 15 years is therefore £4.53bn. Yet, that great opponent (whilst in opposition), George Osborne, progressed £6.9bn of contracts in one year which is over 1.5 times the average for the 15 year period 1992 to 2007.
The difference being that Osborne has announced these figures, rather than covering them up as the mega-fool and liar Brown did, and that hopefully there are no 70% IRRs in Ossie’s PFI deals as there were in those signed up to by Brown’s economic illiterates. The latter were only too glad to do their master’s bidding whatever the cost as long as he could announce he had done the deal and the cost was kept secret As with everything Brown and his cronies touched, it turned to shit rather than gold! Socialism, the greatest Ponzi scheme ever imagined!!
Oh well, at least Albaman has finally come out of the closet as a purblind Labourite.
Anyone who didn’t automatically dismiss his tiresome blathering in the past can safely do so now. Of course he doesn’t think the BBC is biased. What Labour fact-strangler does?
Yes, what a coincidence – Albaman has sympathies to both BBC and Labour.
Well I never .
And a BBC Panorama special a couple of years ago blamed City spivs for taking advantage of the wildly generous terms on offer under PFI contracts. Nothing to do with Crash Gordon, of course. Even by BBC standards, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
the average? oh dear Albaman you naughty boy. What would the difference be if say, you compared GO to the average of 1997 to 2007?
After the 1992 election Major did go ahead with PFI however very few projects actually happened because the Treasury retained the very sensible
rules about there being a genuine transfer of risk between the public and private.
HOWEVER, after 1997 rules and tests governing risk transfer to the private sector was abandoned…hmmm, 1997, that rings a bell.
‘Proponents of the PFI include the World Bank, IMF and (in the UK) the CBI’.
I would guess not under the terms on offer from Gordon and his free-spending friends however. 90 quid to replace a light bulb at one hospital was it?
Well I have switched off Radio 4’s You and Yours special about the cost of living crisis, after 20 minutes, I could stand no more. From the Labour elected mayor whose library will be paid for over the next 20 years to the people at the community shop where they can buy cheap dog food for their pet in the town that turned its back on the day Mrs Thatcher died (I may be wrong about how this place demonstrated against Mrs T because by this time I was seething and lost the will to listen); it could not have been a better party political broadcast if it had tried. The bias was truly astonishing even for those of us who come here.
Well spotted Deborah.
I too noted that this Labour Mayor was “elected”…Peter White said so to prefix Mr Anderson each time the title came up.
Can we now expect Boris to be “The Elected Tory Mayor of London” whenever the BBC introduces him…if not, and they scorn him as “Johnson” in comparison…will White and the BBC be held to account for this perp besmirching of Tories.
(Perp as in perpetual-but it being the Godless BBC, it`s ll be perpetrator in the Savile sense).
Noted too a couple of asides from White
1. They cut out the woman who-far from fishing foodbins to scrape a Scouse stew together-was about to go on a cruise. White said so, as the Poly Pedlar of Bad News (John Moores Uni, no less) had his pre-arranged flat pack BBC script and agenda to stick with. Hardly include the cruise lady now can we?
2. The thriving doughnut and burgers salesman did tell White that “they would not like/want to know of his doing well throughout all this”,,,but told White he was doing well anyway.
White would have pursed his lips at this…junk food dealer flogging sugar and fat, and not flailing about for more mentors and counsellors.
And some worrywart from the BBC later on taped a mum worrying about not being able to get her sugary treats if prices go up any more…oh dear, this one upsets the BBC does it not?
Do we include cheap food(bad for Labour agenda) or do we harp on about its unhealthiness*good for the Labour Party)?
White also gave space to Jenni Murrays day trip to Timperley-so we got a seamless robe to wipe the brows of the poor as they touch the BBCs garment of Labour Lavender loveliness.
Imagine how many posh new libraries we could build if we got rid of the compulsory knowledge pool tax that is the BBC License.
One day I`m SURE that they`ll discuss this one….but until then?…
Oh…by the way….Liverpool also voted for Degsy Hatton and Eric Heffer…so it`s hardly a clean bill of health White is it?
Well I have switched off Radio 4’s You and Yours special about the cost of living crisis, after 20 minutes, I could stand no more. From the Labour elected mayor whose library will be paid for over the next 20 years to the people at the community shop where they can buy cheap dog food for their pet in the town that turned its back on the day Mrs Thatcher died (I may be wrong about how this place demonstrated against Mrs T because by this time I was seething and lost the will to listen); it could not have been a better party political broadcast if it had tried. The bias was truly astonishing even for those of us who come here.
Apologies for multiple posting, the computer seemed to freeze and I hadn’t a clue whether I was posting.
Well I have switched off Radio 4’s You and Yours special about the cost of living crisis, after 20 minutes, I could stand no more. From the Labour elected mayor whose library will be paid for over the next 20 years to the people at the community shop where they can buy cheap dog food for their pet in the town that turned its back on the day Mrs Thatcher died (I may be wrong about how this place demonstrated against Mrs T because by this time I was seething and lost the will to listen); it could not have been a better party political broadcast if it had tried. The bias was truly astonishing even for those of us who come here.
Didn’t even listen to the cost of living crisis I know what’s going to be said before they say it. Sadly the BBC caught me out last night. I was watching a programme about Easter Island when the presenter slipped in the words Global Warming, I looked at my watch it had taken him less than 4 minutes into the programme to get the phrase in. I bet the BBC are running a sweepstake somewhere for the number of times Global Warming can be inserted into a programme and the quickest insertion into a programme
Is this just more “leftie” propaganda from the BBC and Labour?
An Examination of Falling Real Wages
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/index.html
“Real wages have been falling consistently since 2010, the longest such period since at least 1964. This observation is robust across a range of estimates of real earnings.”
Kind of puts into perspective “the Government produced figures which suggested that most people in employment have seen at least a modest INCREASE in their living standards over the past year.”
But surely , as pointed out above , you would accept that during and after the deepest ever recession in living memory wages would drop. So what is the point that you are making?
Wages for most have stagnated since 2003!
A Labour legacy, but dont expect Alba of the Beeb to mention it.
Caught out again Albaman….
‘Recent ONS publications have noted that households’ real wages have been falling following the 2008-09 economic downturn. Nominal wage growth below the rate of price inflation has resulted in real wages falling for the longest sustained period since at least 1964.’
Fish in barrel comes to mind with you old son.
Really!!
The quote in my post comes directly from the ONS report. I guess the ONS is wrong as well then and that only you and David are correct.
And where do you think that quote came from?….from the link provided by you.
Games people play eh?
Given up on Scottish independence campaign as a lost cause and time on your hands?
Yes Alan, the link to the actual ONS report!!
Your point is exactly what? Are you suggesting that the ONS are incorrect?
Methinks it is you who is playing games!!
This is the ’actual ONS report’…you know, the one you linked to…..strange but not unusual how you manage to miss out the relevant first line of the report:
‘Recent ONS publications have noted that households’ real wages have been falling following the 2008-09 economic downturn. Nominal wage growth below the rate of price inflation has resulted in real wages falling for the longest sustained period since at least 1964. This trend is robust to several possible measures of the real wage. ‘
Kind of puts into perspective who is to blame for the ‘living standards crisis’ doesn’t it?
Unfortunately for you even the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Labour’s New Statesman magazine both agree that the ‘living standards crisis’ began in 2003/4.…no coincidence that that was when mass immigration really began to effect the pay packets of British workers as they were undercut and dumped on the scrap heap by Labour’s imported cheap workers.
Did you not get as far as the conclusions then Alan. If you had done you would have seen that was the source of my original quote.
Oi Albie!
I`m still waiting down below…wakey wakey!
I make no apology for nudging you onto the Happiness Index.
I certainly did….way way down at the bottom of the report…didn’t the first line suit your purpose? What ever that was…I still haven’t worked that out.
“……………….. way way down at the bottom of the report……………”
You seem shocked that the conclusions drawn by the ONS were at the end of the report!! Why does this not surprise me.
You also seem to have difficulty in understanding that the report I linked to supersedes the “recent reports” that you (and the ONS) refer to in the introduction to the report!!
Again, your failure to understand does not surprise me.!!
Riddle me this Albie boy seeing as neither of clearly have anything to do….
If you listen to Montague talking to the HMRC woman this morning( just after the 7a.m news as I recall); do you not detect a certain “interest”…a certain “need to cause mischief/flouting of the law” by our preppy Montessori Madame?
1. She said that 100,000 people are “oblivious” to the need to registered and pay up for taxes due after the rules for £100,000 salaried types (whoever might they mean Monty?). This despite them having been notified last October?
Clearly Montys Occupy agenda has blinded her-obviously these vulnerable “poor people(er)” would just LOVE to have paid as Occupy likes them to…but they haven`t done so.
2. Monty then spends the rest of the interview trying to get our HMRC woman to give her(and therefore assorted drug barons, scammers and others who forgot to ditch the child benefit four months ago, and now don`t want to pay the legal penalties) all those excuses and exemptions that would stymie the tax offices…and allow the likes of Sarah and her tax-efficient frauds, the reasons to put up in court.
Like “the floods”(remind me…it IS online these days, and not reliant on attachment to a passing duck?)
And on went Sarah-excuses, exemptions, sticking it to the PinStripe and otherwise doing a Duggan in creating ferment and trouble…sly and nasty…as the BBC do it.
Next up-Occupy to tell us why fat cats need to pay their taxes , and then Margaret Hodge to denounce the HMRC for not getting their full whack from Big Business.
Until then-let Sarah do a bit of phishing for you-so you don`t need to pay what you owe,and here are some excuses you might like to try.
Whole shabby few minutes show the BBC just what they`re doing…what they`re up to…and all you do Albie is limewash it all.
“Riddle me this ………………… ”
If you send me a code book which will allow me to decrypt your post I will be happy to respond.
I`ll keep it simple then
1. Listen to Today this morning( I know that might be a bit odd in terms of syntax, but it`ll be on iPlayer)..7a.m news bulletin, just afterwards I think
Reiteration Mr Gove?…tick!).
2. Listen to Ms Sarah Montagues “interview” with the lady from Her Majestys Revenue and Customs(they used to be Inland Revenue, but that need not detain you at the moment).
3. Would you perhaps agree that Ms Montague is rather hoping to seek exemptions and flying some potential excuses that tax-avoiders (thus far) might gainfully use to confound the tax authorities?
4. Do give it some thought, and let me know.
Apologies to confuse you, they`re closing Bletchley Park and Jimmy Saviles BBC Annuals seem to have become mixed up with Tusings sketch books here at the BBC.
A Happy Responderer?…welcome to the cubs!
‘I`ll keep it simple then’
Also write, very, very slowly.
Seems a sudden bout of narcolepsy may be in process.
the only cost of living crisis that is affecting the poorest in society is this illegal poll tax off £144.50 on the poor called the tv license that is you dont pay up you get the bbc thug enforcers turning up on pensioners doors harrassing and bullying them with threats of imprisoment if you dont pay up,you disgust me bbc,you really do.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has provided a launchpad for the careers of several high-profile economic experts, including Andrew Dilnot, and the BBC’s Evan Davis and Stephanie Flanders. Rupert Harrison was a research fellow there between 2002 and 2006.
According to the Daily Mail, the Bible of correctness, Real wages have been falling.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2549345/Its-official-Real-wages-HAVE-falling-longest-period-50-YEARS.html
Look forward to the Alan explaining why this is all nonsenses.
Don’t expect an answer.