Unrest

[AndyP & Lenore]

We may bitch about the coalition government, the high taxes, the hospital waiting times, unemployment rising, inflation going up and confidence going down.

But at least we know when we demonstrate our unhappiness with the current government they don't send the army in to shoot us down with machine guns.

The current unrest in the middle east, Libya, Bahrain, Egypt etc is worrying to say the least. Where will it end?

A. :frown:

[Sheilz]

The government/police still use pretty strong arm tactics here. Ask the relatives of the murdered news vendor about that. I hope the gimps in Westminister grasp the fact that the UK public is being pushed to its limit and may result in many more demonstrations about some of the draconian policies they're introducing while bankers and *ankers in parliament continue to totally take the p*ss out of the public.
It is scary and shocking to be faced with how little life is valued if you're poor and not of the ruling elite in some of these Middle Eastern countries. I also wonder about where it will end.

[Hogman]

Dont worry about it, things will all come right when its judgement day!!

[Stewart]

Dont say that a guy with a board in Glasgow had it May the 21st I think it was...I even thought oh well should make the Highland tour then before it..:smilewinkgrin:

[Craig]

There will be a fair bit of unrest I'n the west of Scotland today after the pumping the Rangers took today... :lol:


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[N16SHP]

I think in all honesty, we're heading for a general strike. This is not the time or the place to start a he said she said, but all the people (not on NMS) but in general who was like boo get rid of this government, get a new government in...well, hope your happy now!!

[Sheilz]

One thing this government and its lackeys have done most astutely is set one social/economic group against t'other so that the general populous is too busy castigating each other to do what they ought to do which is combine forces against abuse of our civil liberties and destruction of society by the ruling and banking 'elites'.

[euan]

Taking the unrest in the middle east first, I'm amazed it's taken this long for it all to happen and I'm glad to see (not the deaths though - horrific). For too long in that region have people creamed the cash and not fed it back into society, my fear is that then nobody will agree how to ensure it's democratic going forward as it's been so corrupt for so long.

Here, well there are a lot of unhappy people. Cameron had an opportunity and was elected to deliver on that and so far seems to be talking a good game but then is backtracking when it gets a bit hard or public complains too much. Examples being the forestry sell off and hospitals competeting and undercutting each other, though the whole NHS policy they have is f**cked up if you ask me.

People still blame the banks for this, and in a way they have to take a lot of the blame but then so do the government in how they've spent the money we give them. The banks were given the opportunity to make more money (and as shareholder owned, that is what they should do) when the regulations were relaxed. They started lending more money, we all started wanting/needing more stuff and before you know it everyone is up to their eye balls in debt. The banks don't play fair though by not paying corporation tax (they're not the only ones who do this as loads of companies do it, the other industry where it's done a lot is big bands - U2 are based in Holland so they pay less tax from memory) and by taking the piss with their slary structure which adversely awards short term gains over long term stability. A city bankers career is typically short as they all burn out by 35 so they maximise the money they make at the time. A salaried role with a smaller bonus, or tied to shares with a 4/5 year minimum holding would be a much better option.

Secondly, the unions. Now I'm too young to really remember all the strikes in Thatchers time, I knew they were happening but wasn't sure of the politics. Looking back on it, times were harder then in terms of how people made their money, we were very much a manufacturing/heavy industry country still but now we're not. The union leaders have not followed the political changes (younger front man with charisma like Blair and Cameron) and as such don't come across nearly as well. They also pick daft arguments to support and most people i know have some sympathy but it wears thin very quickly for them. Pushing for guaranteed 3-5% salary rises and no redundancies when everyone else in the country may not hve had a pay rise or faces redundancy is a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people. They can make their case, usually very publicly via strikes, however the vast majority of people in this country can't do that as they are not in a union anymore.

So yes, I think we will see some kind of demonstrations, you can see the student ones that they made little change though. The cracks are appearing in the coalition as Cameron tries to split the lib dems and keep the spoils for himself. Cameron is an independently wealthy man who does seem out of touch, but then they all do. Will they listen? Not sure.