Who's the worst government minister?

Tubby Isaacs · **Posted:** Thu Mar 08, 2012 7:31 pm

We haven't had the benefit caps yet either. They could make the current crisis look like the teddy bear's picnic.

new puritan · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:53 am

Fuck off, Grant Shapps.

Council tenants offered £75,000 discount in right-to-buy scheme

Quote:

David Cameron will try to breathe new life into the right-to-buy scheme by offering council tenants discounts of up to £75,000, arguing that the discount will help encourage "strong families and stable communities".

Families could receive a 35% discount after five years' residency, with an extra 1% for each additional year, up to a maximum of £75,000. It had previously been expected that the maximum would be set at £50,000.

Tenants in flats will get 50% off after five years, with 2% added yearly. The money raised from sales will go towards building more social housing.

The government is also announcing more details of its newbuy guarantee, designed to give would-be buyers access to mortgages even if they only have a 5% deposit. Names will be released of three high-street lenders and seven construction firms who have agreed to support the scheme.

Got to keep that house price bubble inflated at all costs.

Winegums · **Joined:** Fri Jan 15, 2010 11:04 pm **Posts:** 706

Honestly, who the fuck has money to buy a council house in the recession?

new puritan · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2012 11:43 am

Winegums wrote:

Honestly, who the fuck has money to buy a council house in the recession?

I don't think Shapps has thought that far ahead, frankly. Got to get everyone leveraged up to the eyeballs and voting Tory, that's the main priority. Well, that and scratching the builders' backs. Once again the Daily Mash nails it:

Government to become Northern Rock

Quote:

THE government is to turn itself into the defunct mortgage company Northern Rock, Downing Street has confirmed.

From today all the signs that say 'government' will be changed to Northern Rock and all government workers will have to wear a purple blazer.

Meanwhile, Number 10 Downing Street will be transformed into a branch of Northern Rock and a large photo of David Cameron, in his blazer, will be placed in the window accompanied by the slogan, 'My dream is to make your dream no longer a dream anymore'.

Bones McCoy · **Joined:** Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:08 am **Posts:** 7321

And on the same track

Quote:

Home-buying mortgage scheme dismissed as gimmick
A scheme to allow new-build properties to be purchased with mortgage deposits of as little as 5% has been dismissed by critics as a "gimmick" that will help the construction industry rather than hard-pressed home buyers.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/pro ... mmick.html

"Newbuy" Government underwriting 95% home loans up to £500,000.
Let's hear it for the self adjusting free market. Phhhhttt!

new puritan · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2012 12:42 pm

Some confused comments after that Telegraph piece. Apparently reanimating the right-to-buy zombie is 'left-wing' and 'socialist'. That's news to me and, presumably, to Margaret Thatcher as well.

Bones McCoy · **Joined:** Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:08 am **Posts:** 7321

new puritan wrote:

Some confused comments after that Telegraph piece. Apparently reanimating the right-to-buy zombie is 'left-wing' and 'socialist'. That's news to me and, presumably, to Margaret Thatcher as well.

There's a hardcore of Telegraph commentators that would consider Thatcher, Pnochet or even Verwoerd as being left wing and socialist.

new puritan · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2012 3:23 pm

Bones McCoy wrote:

new puritan wrote:

Some confused comments after that Telegraph piece. Apparently reanimating the right-to-buy zombie is 'left-wing' and 'socialist'. That's news to me and, presumably, to Margaret Thatcher as well.

There's a hardcore of Telegraph commentators that would consider Thatcher, Pnochet or even Verwoerd as being left wing and socialist.

There does seem to be a certain right-wing mindset that sees any form of state intervention (no matter who the beneficiary might be) as 'socialism'. The irony is, of course, that establishing a free market itself usually requires extensive government interference - it isn't the sort of natural evolution it's claimed to be. Bearing in mind that Thatcher was an acolyte of Hayek and Friedman, blaming the left for a reheated Thatcherite policy is a bit of a bleedin' liberty.

Tubby Isaacs · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:17 pm

Thatcher initially didn't like the policy because she thought it would be resented by her supporters. It's a freebie to poorer than average people, so, within the usual hyperbole, it's not that silly to think of the policy as socialist. Certainly a better fit than some of the New Labour stuff that the same people think are Marxist.

Without the supportive press, the policy could easily have been received badly by the public. Here are some immigrants who've just got £30k of your money etc. Except this time it would have been true.

Timbo · **Posted:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 12:35 pm

new puritan wrote:

There does seem to be a certain right-wing mindset that sees any form of state intervention (no matter who the beneficiary might be) as 'socialism'. The irony is, of course, that establishing a free market itself usually requires extensive government interference - it isn't the sort of natural evolution it's claimed to be.

I've always been a bit puzzled by this myself. Amidst cries of 'redistribution of wealth', we live in a corporatocracy where the system is rigged for money to flow upwards. That isn't really a 'free' market at all, and it's certainly not a meritocracy.

mattomac · **Posted:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 3:29 pm

Harold Wilson wanted to implement it but it was put down his fellow Labour collegues at the time, the idea was the money would be put back into building more council houses.

How history could have been so different

Tubby Isaacs · **Posted:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 5:16 pm

I didn't know that about Wilson. I thought Wandsworth Council and the Cutler-era GLC were the first people to look at it.

Why did Labour politicians oppose Wilson's idea?

mattomac · **Posted:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 7:37 pm

Tubby Isaacs wrote:

I didn't know that about Wilson. I thought Wandsworth Council and the Cutler-era GLC were the first people to look at it.

Why did Labour politicians oppose Wilson's idea?

I read it briefly in the new statesman I'm pretty sure it was the cabinet just previously before Callaghan.

It's those odd things apparently according to Google it was Frank Field who suggested it, but I'm pretty sure said article suggested Wilson was keen and wanted but Callaghan and others less so.

I wonder this was the start of the drift for Mr Field

Abernathy · **Posted:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 11:06 pm

Worst government minister:

Gold: Lansley
Silver: Gove
Bronze: Pickles/Schnapps (dead heat).

Bones McCoy · **Joined:** Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:08 am **Posts:** 7321

Abernathy wrote:

Worst government minister:

Gold: Lansley
Silver: Gove
Bronze: Pickles/Schnapps (dead heat).

Wot no Warsi?

Who's the worst government minister?

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