and Gideon suggests this as an exoneration of his economic policy!

Surely the worst chancellor of the worst government the UK has endured in its entire history. Every day is a black Wednesday with this clown at the helm

T'was Labours fault.

A slow start to what will become a huge issue over time. It won't be too long before interest rates start to rise and inflation. If interest rates rise significantly in the next couple of years it'll be chaos.

Well they were in power when the credit bubble inflated and despite being a government full of pricks didn't manage to burst the bubble before it got too big.

Put the wine down.

Hope that wasn't aimed at me? A coffee and a raspberry and cranberry juice are all I have had sunshine.

if only we'd have Gideon at the helm prior to 2010 the US led banking collapse wouldn't have occurred.

I can vividly remember Gideon calling for restraint and regulation in banking and decrying the Irish celtic tiger as being built on sand.


oh hang on

Always wondered why a company that is interested in making profits (e.g. Moody's, Standard & Poor) is allowed to be in a position to make this sort of decision/announcement? And why their view makes such a difference?

The UK's rating should be way less. It has only held up because we have had a history of getting out of messes, the government talked a good story when they came in, the government and Bank were given the benefit of the doubt and as everywhere else looked dodgy sentiment said the UK was a relative safe haven (purely for historic reasons). As reality gradually outs - that despite efforts things are getting worse at an alarming rate the markets have to face facts. When they do they will be brutal to the UK and we'll all be in the brown stuff. If you are under 35 emigrate now.

money will pour out of London to New York. Barack obamas US has adopted a strategy focused primarily on growth and a measured approach to deficit reduction which is now paying dividends. Osbourne was alone in the world in adopting a strategy based on slashing spending and depressing demand and consumer consumer confidence and his clueless policies are going to take decades to recover from. The only upside is that this shower have taken 2 years to toxify the tories whereas thatcher took 9. A whole new generation will both hate and distrust the tories forever.

I think you underestimate how many voters blame Labour. I think the Tories will get a modest majority at the next general Election. Ed M is unelectable. The electorate distrust and distrust Ed Balls. Labour represents no-one and nothing. I am afraid they are a joke and for that reason alone the Tories will win by default.

yes the polls are consistently pointing towards a tory majority at the next election and Dave and Gideons personal approval ratings are blasting ever skywards.

In other news pigs have been sighted flying serenely over Dallys planets

Opinion polls don't factor in the effects of the two Ed's being on TV every night during a GE campaign.

But they do factor in 2 clueless posh boys who are sending us to hell in a handcart.
Or are you suggesting that when it comes to voting time the folks will just forget their kids have nothing to eat because they don't like the scary mr Milliband.

I'm afraid that I concur, politics at election time is all about personalities and persuasion and so far Cameron and Osborne are doing a remarkable job at pinning the blame on everything and everyone other than themselves, they are as slippery as greased piglets in a fairground and have consistently failed to be brought to explain themselves without recourse to "its not our fault".

I fear that with Murdochs support over the next two years (expect to see no further action from Leveson) then the wool will be pulled down even further over the electorates eyes and without an effective opposition they could easily win a workable majority - and they don't have an effective opposition at the moment, its like Thatchers realm all over again.

Sadly I'm another who can easily envisage the useless incumbents getting another shot in office.
They've successfully nurtured the devisiveness card, ala Thatcher.
Optimism is at a minimum.
Middle England willl batten down the hatches and look after itself, as much as it deems possible.

So, Moody's downgrade the UK's credit rating. They cite one of the main reasons as being our high levels of debt. People blame the Government.

In other parts of internetshire, or perhaps even on the same messageboard, people are moaning about cuts. Which are ultimately being implemented to try and reduce the national debt. People blame the Government.

You can't really have it both ways, can you?

I'm similarly pessimistic, largely because voters nowadays rely on the media to tell them who to vote for and the broadcast media is relentlessly anti-Labour. And that includes the BBC. They've even managed to turn our loss of our AAA rating into an attack on Ed Balls this morning.


I have news for you. 'Middle England' is also suffering under this bunch of incompetents - it's only 'Upper England' that's benefiting. These folk you think will 'batten down the hatches' were better off under the last Labour Government. Trouble is many of them are too daft to realise it or too ready to believe what the media tells them.

I am not massively impressed with what we have at the moment. But the prospect of an Ed and Ed double act is simply too frightening to make me vote Labour.

It maybe suffering, but I doubt it's suffering enough, [ior,[/i has the appetite for change at present.

Cameron is a far more polished operator that Miliband.
Osbourne is a waste of space.
Balls, like him or loathe him, has far more sustance than Boy George.

I don't even know what they have to offer yet, which is frightening when they have two years maximum in which to make an impression and come up with a plan of action - and possiby just a few months if the coalition ever collapses.

Ed Balls was interviewed for a while on Radio Leeds yesterday, its a fetaure they do every Friday where they drag on a local MP and get his constituents to call in and quiz him - "Ballsy" as he prefers to be know (its his email address) spent half an hour speaking to people about their blocked drains and litter picking on their estates, which is all admirable in a local MP and it sounds like he spends a lot fo time in the constituency but really thats what your local councillor is for, this bloke is "supposed" to be the shadow chancellor FFS, and no-one asked him about his national policies or what he would be doing if he were in government right now, and frankly I don't think he has a plan.

Which will be obvious if the Tories declared an election right now.

How much suffering is enough?

The issue isn't how much suffering is going one. The issue is that people of [iall[/i classes are far too easily conned into thinking it would have been or would be worse under Labour. See TVR's post for an example of the type of knee-jerk response typical of the gullible masses.

People can just as easily be conned into thinking it would have been better under Labour. That's politics.