Election Year or Fear!

[ramAnag]

I share GP’s reluctance to raise taxes/throw money at ‘it’UNTIL two other things happen - firstly, serious efforts at process improvement (my normally placid manner ALMOST cracked at the lazy inefficiencies I came across relating to a medical appointment I had last week) and secondly efforts relating to my mantra ‘help those who can’t help themselves not those who won’t help themselves (or only help themselves to benefits/riches unfairly). I think you’ll find the latter is pretty much on the MA manifesto.

I agree with GPs comment that opinions are widely drawn rather than personal

With respect Andy this is what you do. You personalise situations and then apply the lowest common denominator. You ‘share GP’s reluctance to raise taxes’ because yesterday/last week/six months ago you personally witnessed some inefficiency that annoyed you. You don’t like the idea of migrants from Asia/North Africa because they’re likely to be Muslim and a tiny minority of Muslims are involved in terrorism.
I’m surprised you actually attend football matches because a larger minority of football fans are hooligans and as for those bands you go on about and gigs you attend…they’ve got a fair proportion of smackheads and dope smokers amongst them you know.

We all have our prejudices. It’s easy to condemn Catholics because of the behaviour of a minority of priests…or the police because of half a dozen recent rapists…or even accountants because a minority are crooked, but you can’t set policies according to the lowest common denominators.

At the moment nobody, other than the Greens who aren’t going to get in anyway, will actually be brave enough to support tax rises but I think that’s what has to happen if our schools, surgeries, hospitals, roads and emergency services are going to be funded appropriately and fairly. I don’t want to fund wastefulness any more than you do, but about a month ago I had the privilege of watching one of my grandsons play cricket for a visiting representative U11 side at what is probably Derbyshire’s premier public school. The facilities were amazing…it didn’t make me jealous, it just made me think, shouldn’t we aspire to all kids having such opportunities? Shouldn’t we aspire to all people having access to the same cancer treatment as the King and his daughter in law and if not…why not? I think it’s called levelling up and probably the only way of doing it is by paying for more and better trained teachers, more and better trained nurses and doctors etc with those who can most afford it carrying the biggest financial burden. It might make you and I a little worse off in the short term. Then again we’re all getting older and I quite like the idea of my grandchildren not talking about yet another poor supply teacher, the queue for any medical treatment we may need being shorter and our roads not being pothole riddled death traps. Properly targeted taxes might achieve that.