I saw a simple illustration of the effects of the Tory's and Lib Dems Spending Review and Browne Spending Review in my local Indian take away. Talking to the owner I asked how things were. He said something like, since the Tories brought in their new policies, people don’t want to spend their money.
The Spending review is terrifying, Have the people who thought this up ever been unemployed? Have they tried to live on £63.50 a week. I have tried it recently and its tough, imagine what it will be like if 500,000 public servants are on £63.50 and then another 450,000 workers from the private sector join them. Madness, deperate madness.....
So a little illustration of what happens when the government blithely decides to cut its funding.
As you may know I am the lollipopman at Alfred Sutton. I have a manager who is responsible for improving road safety in Reading. This member of staff manages the lollipop people and makes sure that we are safe and looked after. She also organises cycle training for children and I am sure has lots of other duties that make fewer people are killed on the streets of Reading. Maybe its quiet work, maybe its not on the TV everyday.
This job has been cut, the woman who's job it is is being made redundant. Immediately no one will see the cut but as the number of people hurt and killed crossing the road in Reading rises and there are fewer and fewer lollipop people as the conditions we work under get worse and worse then we will ask why isn't Reading Borough Council doing more to protect vulnerable people in the streets.
The answer to this question will be "oh yes the Tories and Lib Dems cut the job and abandoned the children of Reading to save money." Thats what the Spending Review will do on the streets of Reading.
The Browne review is the same, the Tory/Lib Dem coalition are looking for all sorts of fig leafs but their acceptance of doubling or trebling of undergraduate fees, will simply put young people off coming to uni. If you were faced with £7,000 or more fees before you even thought of living costs, you would probably think twice about Uni. Imagine a £21,000 debt before you have bought a curry, drunk a beer or attended a lecture. Add to that concern about interest rate charges and the fear you might not get a job because of Nick and Dave’s double dip recession.
So as my friend at the curry house says, people don’t want to go out anymore because of the Tories and Lib Dems...
