Next Tory idea? Pay subscription to fire service?

[Gwylan]

Could be? It's happening in America

ww.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8039814/Tennessee-Firemen-ignore-burning-house-over-unpaid-subscription-fee.html

I bet it's being discussed. Or you could have a premium fee for police - if you want them to investigate your burglary quickly, cough up a £100 a year and you get the Platinum Service.

I can see it now, dial 999 - press 1 for Platinum, 2 for Gold or 3 for Standard ...

 

[Tricky Dicky]

I

Could be? It's happening in America

ww.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8039814/Tennessee-Firemen-ignore-burning-house-over-unpaid-subscription-fee.html

I bet it's being discussed. Or you could have a premium fee for police - if you want them to investigate your burglary quickly, cough up a £100 a year and you get the Platinum Service.

I can see it now, dial 999 - press 1 for Platinum, 2 for Gold or 3 for Standard ...

If I have a ticket stub from the West Ham cup game, do I get an extra CID officer ?

 

[Pot noodles for everyone]

Could be? It's happening in America

ww.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8039814/Tennessee-Firemen-ignore-burning-house-over-unpaid-subscription-fee.html

I bet it's being discussed. Or you could have a premium fee for police - if you want them to investigate your burglary quickly, cough up a £100 a year and you get the Platinum Service.

I can see it now, dial 999 - press 1 for Platinum, 2 for Gold or 3 for Standard ...

I bet they aren't. What next for your scaremongering? Tories to slaughter every firstborn as a sacrifice to the Sun gods? A tax on breathing?

This demonisation of the Tories does you no favours.

 

[El Presidente]

This demonisation of the Tories does you no favours.

I'm not arsed about demonisation, it's their incompetence that worries me.

First of all the farce about which schools were having their capital spending budgets aborted, and then the very poorly thought out changes to child benefit.

If they cannot get relatively simple things right (such as reading and writing a list of schools), it calls into question their ability to get the main spending cuts correct, and that's before the bureaucrats and incompetent public sector management get their fingers in the pie too.

 

[beorhthelm]

a tory policy might be to replace the centraly paid fire service with a voluntary one, or allow the local authorities decide how they will provide and pay for fire services. hang on, isnt it paid for out of council tax anyway?

 

[Gwylan]

I bet they aren't. What next for your scaremongering? Tories to slaughter every firstborn as a sacrifice to the Sun gods? A tax on breathing?

This demonisation of the Tories does you no favours.

Jeez, it was a joke. I don't really think we're going to have a platinum subscription police force.

However, I do bet that the idea has been discussed in Tory think-tanks but I don't think for a second that any serious Tory politician would suggest it. For a start, the rural population is the bed-rock of its support so it would be madness.

What is interesting to me is that the fire-service started as a private service and each insurance company had its own fire engines. So, you'd have situations where a Sun fire engine could pass a Royal house on fire and let it burn. It was decided a long time ago that this wasn't a good idea but it's fascinating to see the American variant on it.

 

[Pot noodles for everyone]

Jeez, it was a joke. I don't really think we're going to have a platinum subscription police force.

However, I do bet that the idea has been discussed in Tory think-tanks but I don't think for a second that any serious Tory politician would suggest it. For a start, the rural population is the bed-rock of its support so it would be madness.

What is interesting to me is that the fire-service started as a private service and each insurance company had its own fire engines. So, you'd have situations where a Sun fire engine could pass a Royal house on fire and let it burn. It was decided a long time ago that this wasn't a good idea but it's fascinating to see the American variant on it.

Blah blah blah. f*** me, you do like to waffle on.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

I am just glad we won't have a labour government spending more money we can't afford really.

The Labour Party can use the scapegoat of world recession as much as they like but the British public really know who F*cked this country for years.

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

Could be? It's happening in America

ww.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8039814/Tennessee-Firemen-ignore-burning-house-over-unpaid-subscription-fee.html

I bet it's being discussed. Or you could have a premium fee for police - if you want them to investigate your burglary quickly, cough up a £100 a year and you get the Platinum Service.

I can see it now, dial 999 - press 1 for Platinum, 2 for Gold or 3 for Standard ...

We already do this through the Council tax system - why do we need to pay for it twice ?

 

[desprateseagull]

will all these cutbacks (benefits, NHS, education etc) mean lower taxes..?

i mean, just where did all the money go??

 

[Brovion]

Could be? It's happening in America

ww.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8039814/Tennessee-Firemen-ignore-burning-house-over-unpaid-subscription-fee.html

I bet it's being discussed. Or you could have a premium fee for police - if you want them to investigate your burglary quickly, cough up a £100 a year and you get the Platinum Service.

I can see it now, dial 999 - press 1 for Platinum, 2 for Gold or 3 for Standard ...

Well the fire service always use to be privatised. Originally it was run by the insurance companies as a service to their clients and if the Sun Alliance Fire Brigade (who I know where one of the companies) saw a non-Sun house burning - they'd just let it burn. The houses used to have little metal logos attached to them so that the Fire Brigades knew which was which.

Basically everybody agreed it was a shit system and I really can't see the Coalition bringing it back.

EDIT: D'oh - you've already said all that later! I see 'pot noodles' doesn't take kindly to losing!

 

[SULLY COULDNT SHOOT]

Terry Pratchett will be laughing his head off.

In Sure Inks anyone? The Fire service do a really good one!

 

[Pinkie Brown]

Obviously Hastings Pier never paid for a premium fire service?

Interesting that the owners of Hastings Pier are an organisation called 'Ravenclaw' who are registered in....Panama! Will the Tories be pursuing these kind of tax evaders with the same kind of keenness that they want to pursue people trying to survive on £60.00 a week?

 

[ROSM]

I am just glad we won't have a labour government spending more money we can't afford really.

The Labour Party can use the scapegoat of world recession as much as they like but the British public really know who F*cked this country for years.

Do you think so? Despite the amount of statements thrown out by the coalition and taken up by the tabloid press, I'm not sure it has universal acceptance.

The issue is that the new obr has said that debt isn't as high as labour had forecast and isn't growing as fast as the treasury had predicted in march. SO for the coalition to say it's worse than feared is either a show of incompetence or a downright lie and shows their u turn on the universality of child benefit to be a result of a cynical vote grabbing lie.

 

[Pot noodles for everyone]

Well the fire service always use to be privatised. Originally it was run by the insurance companies as a service to their clients and if the Sun Alliance Fire Brigade (who I know where one of the companies) saw a non-Sun house burning - they'd just let it burn. The houses used to have little metal logos attached to them so that the Fire Brigades knew which was which.

Basically everybody agreed it was a shit system and I really can't see the Coalition bringing it back.

EDIT: D'oh - you've already said all that later! I see 'pot noodles' doesn't take kindly to losing!

Losing? All I said was that Gwylan was talking crap. He acknowledged there was no basis for his assertion and that it was all a hilarious joke. Oh, my aching sides.

He the bored me into a near coma witha potted history of the fire service.

 

[Soton Seagull]

During a year living in Australia, i was alarmed to find out you needed Ambulance membership (similar to AA membership over here about $40 per year). If you weren't a member and were taken by Ambulance you'd normally ended up with a bill running in to several thousand dollars. Scary.

 

[Surrey Seagull]

post deleted

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

I hear the nut roasts in Coldean are delicious.

Gonna start a revolution from my bed...

 

[AMEXican Wave]

a tory policy might be to replace the centraly paid fire service with a voluntary one, or allow the local authorities decide how they will provide and pay for fire services. hang on, isnt it paid for out of council tax anyway?

Indeed, we already pay a compulsory subscription as part of the council tax break down, so not sure what the benefit is of separating it out of this??

 

[Scampi]

I am just glad we won't have a labour government spending more money we can't afford really.

The Labour Party can use the scapegoat of world recession as much as they like but the British public really know who F*cked this country for years.

Thatcher?