I've been monumentally fucked over by a bunch of dishonest bastards.
I voted for Labour in 1997.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 10 Jan 2008, 14:23, 12 replies)

I'm not a huge fan of the govt., either...
But in what sense are they thieves?
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 10 Jan 2008, 14:30, closed)

But don't you remember, "Things can only get better"
I bet you sang along as well, go on, admit it...
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Thu 10 Jan 2008, 14:31, closed)

Name a govt that DOESN'T fuck you over
That's their job. If they ever told the truth about how government really works, they know nobody would vote for them. And in America it doesn't matter whether you vote or not - Bush just steals the election.
(frankspencer, Thu 10 Jan 2008, 14:53, closed)

Short memories some people have got
e.g. remember what the Tories did to the NHS ? I'm not saying the govt have fixed it but they certainly didn't break it in the first place.
( Ramsay Tupper, Thu 10 Jan 2008, 15:15, closed)

Ramsay
Well said. Spending money on schools and hospitals is hardly theft, now, is it? Even a monumentally stupid foreign policy isn't theft - it's just monumentally stupid.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 10 Jan 2008, 15:27, closed)

Edited for pedants
Have rephrased to "dishonest". Surely no-one can argue against that.

[rant]
I don't mind extra spending on education and health, but £36bn a year disappearing into the QUANGO state which we were promised would be dismantled in 1997 would approximate dishonest to me. Yes, I know it was the Tories who instigated the QUANGO state, but I hate those bastards too.
[/rant]

Ooooooh, little bit of politics!
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 10 Jan 2008, 15:32, closed)

Erm...
I work for a Quango...

Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that.
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Thu 10 Jan 2008, 15:59, closed)

Me too. The shame...
And we genuinely did believe the grinning twat as well...

Enzyme - spending money on schools & hospitals isn't theft. Wasting staggering amounts of cash in the process isn't theft, just sheer incompetence (PCT re-organisation, GP salary negotiation to name but two). In fact there was a B3tan on a previous QOTW who's friend enjoyed a lucrative job in a very well funded dept and had no idea what she did.

However, what really gets on my man-tits isn't the incompetence and endless spin. It's almost de rigeur for a govt, although the current mob are excelling themselves.

It's the way that the "Schools and Hospitals" mantra is wheeled out every time: it's almost as good as the race card for stopping all debate, and hides the massive black hole that is the Benefits budget.

Elton mode off.
(osok Rebel without a clue, Thu 10 Jan 2008, 16:21, closed)

Davros Grandad
Don't sweat it, haha.

It's not the fact that people work for QUANGOS I resent, its the fact that so many unneccessary QUANGOs exist as non elected government bodies that pisses me off.

For example, we have a QUANGO which relieves the taxpayer of £70,000 a year in order to advise on which wines are appropriate for state occasions.

Okay, a certain number of bodies which bridge the gap between government decision making and the public are a good thing, ie the Audit Office. However, both this and the previous government have gone QUANGO crazy, with far too many MP's croneys sitting on a great many committees with no regulation.

The fact that our 2001 QUANGO budget of £36bn is roughly equal to the cost of the welfare state for the same year is frightening.

[edit]

OSOK is right.

It's the mismanagement and the fact that whenever anyone complains about the fact we're being raped in the wallet we're rewarded with "how many schools & hospitals do you want us to close?" and another penny on fuel duty.

Take their environmental policy for example. I'm being taxed to the eyeballs because I drive a car. Some fat cunt in the government keeps repeating "Global Warming" and "carbon footprint" every time anyone complains.

However, the same government that's so keen to slap a tax on anything that emits carbon is also very, very reluctant to stop the rampant expansion on air travel. The environmental damage caused by air travel is massive, given that the carbon is ejected at 40,000 feet. I did the maths a while back, a 747 flying to New York from London will burn the same amount of fuel as my car will in 144 years.

If the government truly gave a fuck, they'd be doing something to lobby for greener air travel, but because international flights are exempt from carbon emissions statistics, it's chosen to subsidize the environmental damage done by transatlantic businessmen by clobbering the middle classes journeying to work. If that isn't cynical then what is?

Moreover, the rail network is still a shambles and escalating in costs every year. Busses are getting more and more expensive as rural services are slashed. Where is the legislation to prevent this?

And one final example, it's a lesser known fact that MPs are encouraged by central government to take three "exotic" holidays to foreign climes a year, ostensibly to "broaden their horizons" (this was the terminology put to me by a local Tory MP). Now I fucking pay for that and I'm very fucked off.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 10 Jan 2008, 16:22, closed)

Quangos
Of course, I used the term 'work' in its loosest possible sense...

Kidding (honest). I'm up to my eyeballs at the moment...

Quangos are fine if they have a purpose. Unfortunately a lot of them don't (not mine I hasten to add). Mine's lovely. But not as lovely as a previous one I worked for, which was so fluffy in its lovliness I could have happily spent the rest of my days there. If only it hadn't been subsumed into a bigger Quango and become shit... *sigh*
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Fri 11 Jan 2008, 10:03, closed)

Compared to the government that preceeded it, Labour were pretty good...
...right up until the moment those planes hit those towers.
(Musuko, Fri 11 Jan 2008, 12:25, closed)

^^^^This
Mucho applauso, in a "question time" stylee.
(MrC. Having the most boring username on b3ta since 2004, Fri 11 Jan 2008, 14:49, closed)