£1,000,000,000,000 plus National Debt.

Re. the article by Gary Streeter MP entitled .... "We need

to face up to the reality of our national debt".... Today's Western Morning

News page 13.

 

Following a deluge of questions from worried constituents airing

their concerns about the economy, Mr. Streeter has asked George Osborne to promulgate

the magnitude of the national debt onto a big screen. He also uses numerals (as

per the headline of this article) to illustrate the current rate of debt which

stands at more than £1trillion and rising.

 

He goes on to quote other mind boggling figures before

stating that if everything goes well, we should be on an even keel again by the

year 2022. It's worth the cover price to buy a copy of today's Western Morning

News just to read the article in full.

 

It has been well documented that Labour got us into this

mess and the Tories pledge to get back into government was that they had the

tools to get us back on track after Labour had failed us. They talked the talk,

but now they have a very wobbly walk. Recessions have been part of the roller

coaster of life  and none of the

politicians saw this one coming. They are quick to blame Joe Public for

borrowing beyond their means but who was regulating the banks? Joe Public look

to their leaders and if money is being "given away", then with false promises

of better things to come, why not have an advance on the better times ahead.

 

It has always been a case of "Us and them" but no more so

than it is today. Perhaps they should refrain from watching the Jeremy Kyle

show and thinking that those who appear on it are representative of Joe Public

at large.

 

In parable form, two little yarns spring to mind to just

about sum up the divide between the those at the top of the pile and the rest

of us.

 

A naval ship runs aground and there are three survivors on a

desolate island. An admiral, a captain and an able seaman. The admiral suggests

pooling the food and water and dividing it into three equal portions. ""Today

we are all admirals and we are all able seamen, we will work together so the

three of us have an equal chance to survive this predicament".

 

A plane crashes in the middle of a desert. There are three survivors,

a leading politician, an oil mogul and a child. The leading politician says,

lets pool the food and water into three equal portions. The oil mogul bribes

the child with a £1m for its portion and says, "Look David, I need us both to

survive as I have some favours to ask when we are back in London and the child

can survive on any crumbs that might be left".

 

If, like the Titanic, Britain is foundering on the high

seas, the cry of "Women and children to the life-boats first" will no doubt be

reversed.

 

They tell us to be prudent and face severe cutbacks and in

the same breath......How much public money have they just spent on Police

Commissioners nobody wanted which, depending on twists of fate within the

political zone could lead us towards a police state. I saw the mind boggling

figure but can't believe it's not a misprint.

 

One even wonders how many Tory MP's will jump ship to UKIP

come the next general election.