Predictable that a government minister was slaughtered attempting to defend more crass incompetence? Yes, I agree. Good to see you've finally realised this government are incredibly amateur.
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Paxman On Fire
- Thread starter Pavilionaire
- Start date
I've never liked Paxman. He's just an arrogant bully.
Well, we could be in a plane flown by Milliband and Balls; that would have crashed in flames by teatime today!
Tooting Gull
Well-known member
- Jul 5, 2003
- 11,033
There's truth in that...but if he wasn't he would (like many other so-called interviewers) just sit back and let the other arrogant bullies from the political parties say what they want rather than answer the questions. His style is the only one that works with politicians that are desperate not to admit stuff, don't want to answer the real question, and are just hell-bent on setting their own agenda.
Beach Hut
Brighton Bhuna Boy
No worse than the other lot, at least we haven't gone to war yet
Ernest
Stupid IDIOT
Libya you stupid boy and what a success that was
the war that freed a country from a murderous dictator and gave women more rights than they have had in years. . . yeah shocking !!
been done to death though so not getting into
Beach Hut
Brighton Bhuna Boy
Agree not interested in another debate on a war
Joe Gatting's Dad
New member
Why are you lefties always so cynical when the Government decides that it would now be better not to adopt a LABOUR idea of increasing the fuel duty.
Is it better for the Government to react to events or to stick to pre-conceived ideas all the way from 2010 to 2015?
Is it better for the Government to react to events or to stick to pre-conceived ideas all the way from 2010 to 2015?
mikeyjh
Well-known member
Possibly because they said they were going to do the opposite a few weeks ago? Or because the minister in question said she saw no benefit in doing it 4 weeks ago? Or maybe because they don't actually know how they're going to pay for it? Or because they keep changing their mind about how much it would cost? Or because is the 5th episode of the (generally agreed by most observers now) omnishambles budget? I'll let you choose.
Seagull58
In the Algarve
Brown crashed the plane 3 years ago. They're trying to rebuild it.
Although I'm sure you'd have lapped it up if it had been a Labour minister he was destroying. Yes, he is arrogant, but as has been said by [MENTION=47]Tooting Gull[/MENTION], this really is the only way to deal with some issues. He started off asking a very simple, non-leading question: "when did you find out about the decision?" That in itself was a straight forward question. If she is going to start off by answering that basic question with the answer for an entirely different question (five times) then his mind is made up on how he is going to deal with her.
You always answer questions of Tory incompetence by referring to the Labour party. It's very feeble, as it's completely unproven.
To clarify, the Tory party believed the national debt was too high, and they convinced more of the electorate than any other party that they were right and that drastic measures needed to be taken to reign it in. (This position was slightly different from the Labour party's.)
As an electorate, surely we want decisive action and evidence of a coherent plan. So far, that is NOT what we're seeing.
GNF on Tour
Registered Twunt
Probably best that you watch the interview. This policy of raising fuel duty has been in place since 2010 and was backed by this government, and the point here is that this minster was quoted as being in support of this policy on 23rd May, only a month ago. And now all of a sudden, they've backtracked.
Seagull58
In the Algarve
Do you want the fuel duty rise or not?
The fuel tax escalator was introduced in 1993 by Major's government.
And, even if it were a Labour policy, as Simster points out, it's one that's been supported by this government since it took power and was being supported just a few weeks ago. That's a hell of a U-turn, right out of the blue
The Large One
Who's Next?
You don't have to be a 'lefty' to be cynical. This isn't about policy or decisions per se (or even about whether the fuel duty rise is a good or bad thing) - it's about how these decisions come about, and that's an issue for any party. It's not good form for the relevant Minister (Transport, in this case) to be kept in the dark about this sort of thing.
Even the Editor of the Spectator (a generally Tory-sympathetic publication) was on the same Newsnight programme criticising the government's handling of it.
That's a leading question. Personally I'd rather they tried to tackle some of the tax loopholes as a number 1 priority. Secondly, I'd prefer income tax to be a priority source of tax income, not things like fuel duty that clobber businesses that can't rely on public transportation because of 50 years of cronic underinvestment.
I don't see what any of this has got to do with a policy that had been in the pipeline since the coalition got into power, a minister was quoted as being for it's implementation only last month, only to backtrack at the very last minute, without justification but instead hanging a junior minister out to dry.
Bognor Bystander
Looking for a new job
Politicians are merely puppets for the civil servants at Westminster who crunch the numbers so I don't believe any of them have any sincerity whatsoever - what did Paxman actually learn from his inane questions? - square root of FA as usual and that would be true if he was asking anyone from any party. This Government is trying to do a difficult job and I'd hoped the LibDems would give some balance to the austerity measures but it seems they are as bad as the rest. Labour before them when 'in charge' did nothing to lessen our burden so no-one is blameless ... well except Gus ! 
Tubby Mondays
Well-known member
Well with the 'we havent got a plan B for the economy' they are choosing the latter, proving what clueless fuckwits they are.
And if youve got an ounce of sense you dont have to be 'a lefty' (how very 1980's) to realise it.