The Tory way of governance

Meant divided not decided , sorry

'Implementing far right policies...'? Realy? How Far Right?

I don't believe that for one minute JessM none of those things are done deliberately at all.As for sending more people to prison and keeping them longer.....just the opposite,as my police officer SIL often complains, people are kept out of prisons as long as they possibly can be, sometimes to the detriment of society.

this morning in the house of commons the Tory minister for transport John Hayes told the assembly that the Tay and Forth Bridges were closed in 2008 when the SNP stopped bridge tolls in Scotland.....THAT is really news to all the hundreds of thousands of people who have crossed over them in the years since then.Surely the first job of ANY minister is to be informed ...not only have these bridges not been closed we have brand new crossing due to open in May ,on target ,under budget(so far) ,funded BY Scotland Whether this was a genuine mistake or was said to undermine the devolved government is irrelevant BUT he must be made to retract the statement as so many clowns will believe everything he says .. . simply because he's a "minister"If they can get something like this wrong what other misinformation is being given to WM daily?

JessM I agree that it IS deliberately done,Austerity is and never has been a necessity its a political ideology meant to keep the peasnats down and the ruling classes thrive ...and by whatever god you believe in...it certainly works!!

Peasants ...

Well roses the alternative hypothesis can only be that they are not very bright and grossly incompetent at their jobs. I prefer to credit them with a malign intelligence.
Or perhaps there is a third explanation - maybe that they are all intelligent and well-meaning but somehow other forces are prevailing that are somehow closing libraries, provoking doctor's strikes and reducing school budgets etc.

Are you saying that only Tory MPs have this 'malign intelligence' JessM?

The dismantling of local authority has without any shadow of a doubt been totally deliberate. Gove stated as much when he became Education Secretary.

I can't confirm the other areas of public service, but it certainly looks deliberate.

No, I don't think people will feel better after having a moan and the people most affected certainly won't feel better.

If all Labour supporters have the same values, annie, why do you object to Corbyn so much? I'm afraid I disagree with you anyway. Traditional Labour voters don't have the same values as my daughter and her friends, who are also active Labour members, have.

I omitted the word "education". It should read "local education authorities".

Lack of finance to repair rundown schools while financing free schools is definitely Tory policy - obviously not noticed by those who think news is bad for their health.

There is news and very old news

www.theguardian.com/education/2017/feb/22/government-spending-billions-on-free-schools-while-existing-schools-crumble

The Guardie is way behind with news, nothing new about that

Ana it's a thread about them.
The Tory party have always stood for conserving wealth. Hence the name Conservative. They have never stood for taxing the rich to look after the poor and vulnerable. Or equal shares in anything.
During the last 7 years the extremely rich have got a lot richer, while the poor have got poorer and most ordinary working people have seen their incomes stagnate or even fall. More people are in insecure forms of work, like zero hours.
There was a time when Conservatives were reasonably compassionate and seemed to support the welfare state. Thatcher was less compassionate and by the end of her "reign" the dreadful state of school and hospital buildings around the country was a testimony to that.
Most people thought Thatcher was quite right wing (compared to, say, McMillan). This lot are much more extreme in their policies than she was - hence it is obvious that they are further to the right. By far the most right-wing government since the war.

Each of the items mentioned by the OP and by Jess are worthy of their own a thread, so no point in trying to deal with them individually. Clearly the govt. must bear some responsibility in each case, but it's far too simplistic to suggest that all the problems with each of them are entirely the govts. fault. But, to respond specifically to paddyann's point, I can't see the "austerity" badge is valid any longer. The govt. is spending a great deal of money, which, in the context of what is available, stacks up reasonably well with expenditure in other countries.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-39043733

www.constructionenquirer.com/2017/02/22/cost-of-free-schools-building-plan-soars/

Where do you get your news from, Annie?
Mine's just one day old.

NAO report on capital finance for schools only came out yesterday.

Crisis in school building as well as academies.

Jen, are you claiming rundown schools and opening and running of free schools only made the news yesterday ?

This morning on the radio, there was an item about the cuts being made to academies by this government. The result being that they will have to cut hours and staff. Sounded quite up to date to me annie

Javid announced the new business rates, and has within a day had to back peddle because of the reaction he got. Pity they don't back peddle so quickly when they hit the poor. Oh! Silly me they don't matter do they.

Or the disabled. Or the jobless. Or the homeless.

Refugee crisis.
Tory MP says we have got to stop being sentimental about child refugees.

www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/23/stop-being-sentimental-about-child-refugees-says-tory-mp

All heart, these Tories. I was watching the debate, and couldn't believe what I heard.

Amnesty has criticised this government for its attitude to child refugees. Embarrassing isn't it?