Cameron's Christmas message

Oh do wander off Jings - do you think that the people in Cumbria whose houses are saturated and uninhabitable were feeling very Christmassy? Or the soldiers and firefighters who were sent to the north to help? They didn't get much of a Christmas either. This is not a forum in which queen Jingle is the all-powerful editor who determines that all threads should suit her royal mood. You could always start your own forum you know.

Oh dear JessM you make "soldiers and firefighters being sent to the north" sound like a fate worse than death !

We are slightly civilized up here you know.

And this is a thread about Cameron's Christmas speech...

Well you know how things go Ana we do have a tendency to wander off a wee bit.

Oh I know, I was just wondering whether Jess was on the right thread.

Cameron's Christmas speech was all about caring and compassion! surely those suffering the flooding of their homes come in the list of needing Cameron's Christian compassion

I would imagine he is to blame for the rain as well as his apparent lack of compassion, so probably the right thread after all Ana.

No way can Cameron be blamed for the rain, I understand some think he is God but he isn't

Perhaps some on here ought to read the OP. In no way was ayse praising Cameron for his Christmas message.

www.theguardian.com/environment/live/2015/dec/28/uk-floods-thousands-evacuated-after-unprecedented-crisis

Lots of links in this article.

The thread seems to have split into little chats Jen, so friendly. Pity Cameron's Christian compassion didn't extend to visiting just one family who had suffered from the floods , he just thanked people who are paid for being there , most odd

"Queen jingle"! . Oh, I love it.

Will fuck "wander" off now.

(Using my best wooden spoon for this ab)

" THE 999 services have been working tirelessly this week, but the Fire Brigades Union say they will be unable to respond as strongly in future due to cuts.

Earlier this month, plans to downgrade six stations – including those in Malton, Ripon, Tadcaster and Northallerton were approved.

Steve Howley, Fire Brigades Union (FBU) brigade secretary for North Yorkshire, said: "We have seen some of the worst floods in North Yorkshire's history and it paints a really bleak picture for the future.

"For those who are affected at the moment, it's grim and it's bleak, and we've got to do what we can to help get their lives back to normal as quickly as possible.

"Looking forward, with these cuts, what is clear is that we will no longer have the ability to respond in the way that we have in the last couple of days, because we will simply not have the resources.

"It's not scaremongering or dramatising; it's reality." "

Right wing government's fault again, I think. Cameron's Christmas message?

Quoted from www.yorkpress.co.uk

Are there cuts coming to Berkshire ?

Or indeed any of the home counties.
Does anyone on here know?

I'm sorry Annie and Jen but it's really pathetic to be musing if there are cuts 'coming' to the home counties.

Of course there are effin' cuts - there are cuts everywhere!

I live in London not the HC but like the rest of the country, our libraries, social centres, adult education, etc are all being cut.

Enough of this 'them and us' north/south divide

The 999 services have been working tirelessly this week......

As good a reason I've heard for a strike.

Too much them'n'us altogether. Smacks of paranoia.

But there is a North South divide, no use pretending it doesn't exist

The north-south divide has existed for a very long time. It's not the fault of the current government, nor of the Labour government that came before the coalition, etc, etc, etc, as far back as you like.

As well as it being no use denying it, there doesn't seem much point in going on about it either, especially with respect to floods in Cumbria, one of the wettest parts of the UK always, not just this autumn/winter.

Dredge the rivers.

Yes, of course there is a north/south divide in terms of overall wealth.

However, the average person in the south suffers just as much if they live in a flood area or has to rely on social services, public housing, refugee services, or are homeless.

The idea that we are living it up at the expense of others in different parts of the country is so misleading.

Just as not all in the north are wearing clogs and rearing whippets, not all southerners live in Chipping Norton!

Yes I was "on the wrong thread" but probably just as well or I'd have been even grumpier. But whichever way you look at it, this is not a "christmassy" thread

Not odd Anniebach at all - anyone spot a single pic of him on his visit that is commiserating with flood victims? I said to DH "the photos will all be of him talking to soldiers etc" and sure enough... Too much risk for him getting photographed or filmed talking to angry northerners.
Nothing wrong with the north Gillybob - my abode is northerly rather than southerly.
Is the rain the PM's fault. Well after promising "the greenest government ever" he's done a bit of a turn around hasn't he, shrugging off advice that the weather trend is going to be towards more flooding, and cutting back support for energy efficiency and low carbon generation.

A couple of things, ab you live in Wales, so neither the North or the South.?
the South gets flooded too! only a couple of years ago around the Thames Valley, and what about Tewkesbury and also Somerset? Lots of places, North South and middle get flooded from time to time.Somerset much better since the dredging.So let's not hear any more about the North/ South divisive stuff.Also, so what about Cameron talking to soldiers working?If he had talked to a family there I expect there would be cries of 'hypocrite! he doesn't really care' etc.
Lastly, here in Oxfordshire, there have been the same cuts as everywhere else.

The same here in Wiltshire, nowhere is immune to cuts or floods. In 2013 Somerset was virtually under water for weeks on end, as was a lot of the Thames Valley. I seem to remember the then leader of the opposition to his credit, visiting these stricken areas, which, correct me if I'm wrong, the current one has not, owing to the fact that he is holidaying in Malta, or maybe he just doesn't want to. Nothing wrong in that, but as D.C. is coming in for so much criticism, I think perhaps some of us might raise our eyebrows just a little at this seemingly lack of concern by this particular leader who hopes, as we understand it, to form the next government. The Prince of Wales has visited and seemed extremely concerned, but no doubt he's a subject for criticism too!!!