tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4093786175732250309.post3037817862216514403..comments2024-01-23T15:48:45.566+00:00Comments on Books, Time, and Silence: The Comprehensive Spending ReviewAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12140995911854334790noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4093786175732250309.post-81952587860040463652010-10-21T12:02:00.372+01:002010-10-21T12:02:00.372+01:00Thank you for your generous comment, David. I appr...Thank you for your generous comment, David. I appreciate the time you have taken to reply. I think I agree with everything you have said. Its an ideological decision, rather than a necessary one. I was reading only this morning that Vodafone have just had a £6million tax bill cancelled which would have paid for almost all the benefits cuts anounced yesterday.<br /><br />I think my grounding in current affairs was shaped in the early 1990s with all the complaining about underinvestment and so I can't understand why anyone would want to return to that situation. <br /><br />For the record, I have never voted Labour either. I'm not really a fan of party politics as it seems to me it entrenches an us and them attitude that is counter-productive and wastes time in petty squabbles.<br /><br />This situation is not about colours or badges or murmerings in the house of commons. It is about how you perceive the role of the state. Cameron and Osborne have an ideological aversion to the state. This will be our weight to bare over the next five years.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12140995911854334790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4093786175732250309.post-73633990112309487032010-10-20T20:12:07.402+01:002010-10-20T20:12:07.402+01:00Sam, I've never voted Labour in my life, not e...Sam, I've never voted Labour in my life, not even in 1997, but I agree with everything you say here - and not just because I already knew my public sector job was going.<br /><br />Note that they are not just blaming "the last government" or "Brown" but "Labour". This is deliberate. The new government do not just wish to discredit a particular administration but a whole school of thought. In one fell swoop they seek to discredit the opposition and cover up the spectacular failure of a particular brand of free market capitalism that has been predominant in this country for the past three decades. The worrying thing is, so far, they appear to be getting away with it.<br /><br />Well done for being brave enough to post this, because political blogging can turn unpleasant. Some may see this post as a diversion on a book blog, but we cannot stay buried in our books all the time. Books are as much about engaging with what is going on around us as they are about providing us with an escape.David Nolan (David73277)https://www.blogger.com/profile/16898875181095358216noreply@blogger.com