People's Assembly Against Austerity

Sorry for the repeat there.

I really don't like the sound of that organisation. How is returning to strikes and demonstrations going to help the government sort things out? Cuts will always apply to some people. Where would the striking end?

I really don't like the sound of that organisation.

No. I know it's not that simple. But it would help. The underprivileged poor are often the under-educated ones. The opportunities in education are there for the taking. Not all poor people are thick. Some are lazy and therefore unemployable.

J08, education is not always the answer to many of the problems we have today. A young person can knuckle down as hard as they like, they may still find they do not have a job when their education is completed. Throw into the mix a dire shortage of housing, especially here in the overcrowded South East, not enough school places and a lack of decent hospital care, particularly with the elderly.

Having said all that it's quite clear that not nearly enough cuts are being made as the deficit is still scarily high. Greece, Cyprus and other economies teetering on the brink bear this out and are a clear warning that bankruptcy will inevitably follow if bail outs cannot be found. Sometimes I think quite a few cuts could be made without causing too much pain I read somewhere equality monitoring costs us 1 billion p.a. I have also read about the ridiculous number of press officers that he NHS now employs. Surely among the great strata of over paid managers within the NHS, occasionally one or two could put out press statements as and when they are required to do so, and then that money could be better used to employ more doctors and nurses and give the patients the care they have a right to expect. I'm sure if the general public were asked what they would rather have press officers or medics, bet we all know what the answer to that would be and after all it is our NHS. These are two examples, there are undoubtedly loads more. I would rather cut backs on things that we don't really need were implemented, than the petty punitive bedroom tax which I imagine will cause hardship to many.

Oh goodness - that simple eh?

It's probably one and the same thjing. These organisations are usually about the people heading them.

If more people would only take proper advantage of the excellent education available to all in this country, we would not need to go back to the demos and strikes of the seventies.

And that could start with the parents of present day school children making sure their kids knuckled down and tried a bit harder.

j08 Do you mean that a movement for social justice – presumably such things as narrowing the overgrown pay gap between the highest paid and the rest (not just the lowest paid) – sounds left-ish in the extreme or that the list of supporters sound left-ish in the extreme.

Btw We have been told off more than once by Sel for our old-fashioned attitudes to left- and right-wing politics. It's about time we all smartened up.

Ok, perhaps not communist, but it sounds left-ish in the extreme.

Sounds interesting. I worry that we are returning to "Victorian values" , eg deserving and undeserving poor, workers versus scroungers. The welfare budget is of course a matter of great concern but so is the money lost through tax evasion. I don't have any answers but I do worry about what sort of society our grandchildren are inheriting. . I don't think that makes me a communist.

Are you communists?

Thanks Eloethan - sounds like an interesting conference to me

Eloethan I asked questions - I am interested, what social justice? Don't we have Human Rights via the European Court - what more do you want?

Sel OK, I get it, you're not interested, you think it's rubbish - that's your prerogative. It's a shame though that you have to be so confrontational.

Social justice? I must be missing something. What are you hoping to achieve...and by what means? Perhaps a spell in a less comfortable country would be an education.

Thanks