Well you can’t see my response as it’s still “awaiting approval”. Summary points :
falling birth rate.
housing boom trap
capitalist model
selective taxation and closing loopholes
NHS govt meddling costs us dear
increased regulation of nationalised industries
some of the above may reduce pension yields but overseas markets are alternative sources of funds
Except that argument doesn’t truly work, does it? If I posted on this thread some Social Worker (do they still exist?) policy then it would have no place here. So you replying to that post with an alternative Respect party policy cannot then work on this thread. Both posts are off topic. Otherwise to remain on topic we could only quote Respect party policies - and that would be too depressing.
Besides, the thread is more about the toad, sorry man, than the policies. Perhaps we need a new thread.
OGF we have a falling birth rate and an ever larger ageing population. The question you should be asking is why it’s mainly immigrants having children. The same is true in most of Western Europe.
The only reason we need new council houses is because successive governments sold off the original stock. Thatcher started off the chain reaction of the housing boom. If ordinary people could afford to buy new we would not have a problem. It doesn’t matter how many tax breaks or new buy schemes the government thinks of, the problem remains - house prices are ridiculously high.
Spending - every developed nation has debt. You have to keep the economy growing to pay it off. Debt/growth is how nations grow. Yes it’s an endless cycle but that is the capitalist model we are in. The problem we in the West have now is that wealth and growth is very quickly moving to Asian countries. I envisage a shift in economic might in that direction in future decades.
Tax - the point is to tax the organisation that should legally be paying tax in the UK, by closing loopholes. I think they should selectively tax. So for example tax vaping industries, tax takeaway businesses, tax coinslot/gambling chains but give tax breaks to manufacturers and essential businesses such as high street supermarkets etc. A more intelligent model with closed loopholes for re-classifications (e.g. no combination of coinslots with a food shop etc)
In terms of helping the NHS successive governments must stop constantly restructuring and creating a financial mess of the NHS. Staff retention is key as who knows how much of the funding is now spent on pensions of leavers. Droves of doctors have left early - where is their pension paid from?
I don’t think we have to re-nationalise water, rail or power. It’s not financially feasible.
Just have to introduce a far more effective regulatory system. If companies cannot cope with the regulations then they should be care-taken by government agencies and lose their profits. It’s about strict controls and oversight. There is too much emphasis on devolution of control, this is lazy and a mistake for essential services.
Unfortunately some of these approaches reduce pension yields from UK funds. But there are plenty of rich pickings abroad for anyone with an appetite for risk.
As expected, I get a swathe of negativity “oh that won’t work” thinking. Which is mostly unfounded (see below). But the principle, undisputable point is - 14 years of Tory austerity, on top of a 40 year experiment on privatising public services, has definitely not worked and not made the UK a better place. And its not brought down national debt either. So something very different is needed and that means investment to create growth. But maybe there is another way to generate growth, I’d be happy to listen. But more cuts, more privatisation, more tax cuts are not the answer.
Details:
You are accepting a lie perpetrated by the wealthy - that they will leave. They won’t leave. If the rich wanted lower tax they’d have left for low / zero tax locations already. Some have. But a few percent extra is not going to make all of them up sticks.
Immigration to fill key roles is essential, and people working in these roles delivers tax revenues - whereas roles left vacant simply reduce the productivity of that business.
There are hundreds of thousands in B&B accommodation because there are no social housing spaces for them. And you immediately think of immigrants - no, someone coming to the UK comes to work not to claim off the state (that readiness to give benefits needs to stop). Don’t you think B&B housing needs to stop?
I’m glad you didn’t go (but sorry if it was your health that caused that). You got to wanting to build more fossil fuel power stations and I think that backward step is the place to pack it in.
I look forward to Russell Howards contribution to politics when he releases his own manifesto.
Nothing but a left facing uni educated woke tosser who makes his money from taking the piss…
Thanks Annie, and I bow down to your superior knowledge of all things economic and financial. In my simplistic world I only ran to looking after the books and VAT of my one man band, self employed courier service, which I enjoyed doing very much and it provided a good living…But I digress… 
In my opinion, I think Nigel Farage is a fair and honest politician. The reform party tick some of my boxes, a lot more than any of the other parties. II would agree that their manifesto is not comprehensive, but sometimes one must vote for the politician/party that will deal with the main issues at the time being, and the finer detail can be sorted out later (hence most of the population voted for Boris when he said he would get Brexit done) nobody could foresee the damage that Covid19 would create except some conspiracy theorists and people in the know who were later banned from offering their expertise.
At the end of the day we all just have one vote, and although it may be considered by some to be a wasted vote, I will vote honestly and put my cross against the reform candidate, if there is one in my constituency…
I consider that this government and previous governments have a better understanding of economics than both you and me Annie (and Lincs 
) they have access to more information and statistics than we could ever have had, but don’t seem to have got it right yet. Perhaps they are all overthinking the situation and believe like I do that accountancy is just about, money in, versus money out… 
Economics isn’t an exact science OGF. It’s a bit like predicting the weather - too many variables. Nobody is a true expert because as with so many other sciences there are many conflicting schools of thought. There’s never a long term fix for the economy, it’s like trying to manage a jungle.
Businesses need a regulatory framework, political stability, ease of access to and affordable inputs and ease of transportation and exchange of outputs, easy access to markets, easy access to a ready supply of skilled and unskilled labour, a flexible workforce, access to utilities to provide their goods and services, a market place in which to sell goods or provide services and good market conditions (so no recessions), insurance, a legal framework, a fair taxation system. I could go on with this list.
You can imagine that anything that affects any of that will be detrimental to business. The government’s job is to make sure that both businesses and their customers are happy. It’s also the government’s job to look after anyone who cannot work and to look after those who have retired as they have usually contributed to the economy in some way (be it as customers, parents, grandparents, carers etc) or they are part of the social network of those who do.
How will Nigel Farage achieve this?
fair enough but what does he actually stand for in terms of deliverables? A lot of people just like him because of who he is rather than what he can achieve.
Close to one in ten candidates for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party in England are “friends” on Facebook with Gary Raikes, the British fascist leader, The Times has found.
Raikes, a former organiser for the British National Party, founded the New British Union in the image of Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists, with activists who call themselves “blackshirts”.
The New British Union has called for a “fascist revolution” and sees parliamentary democracy as an “obstruction” to be replaced with a dictatorship.
I think this is more a case of dirty tricks and the establishment spreading poison trying keeping things as they are. They know they will be up against it because Nigel Farage has a lot of support, especially in Yorkshire. I wouldn’t even be surprised if they didn’t find some sort of sexual scandal to link him to.
I don’t think anyone would believe that. 
He’s probably hated by a lot more 
I can’t believe they’ve charged that guy… for throwing empty paper cups!!
Isn’t that why we have Astrologers? to make economists and weather forecasters look good.
The only way to hurt a politician is to expose their lies if you can and don’t vote for them.No violence needed.
Farage has got to be better than the lame donkey’s that have been running this country for the last 20 years…
Farage says a lot, but like the rest of them…I do believe he would go back on everything he said if it benefited him. Its a shame really that we have all lost our faith in those who purport to be acting in our best interests.
Both of these have since been proven false.
Malicious or incompetent reporting?
