General Chat

Quite.

Even if the 10 DUP MPs vote with the government on all major issues, eg the Queen's speech ( what there was of it lol) and brexit plans, it will only take 10 dissenting Conservative MPs to negate the advantage which has cost £1bn.

At best Mrs May has 2 years in which to not only get a good deal re exiting the EU, and show that it's going to work, she's also going to NOT have to put a foot wrong in every domestic policy that makes it to the H of C.

I could almost feel sorry for her ;-)

There has not been such flagrant disregard of the law and the constitution since before the Great Reform Bill in 1837. that is quite apart from brexit.

The fire safety review remains unissued.
The govt still refuses to comply with Supreme Court ruling re the environment esp air quality, no action against Volkswagen.
Conniving with large scale tax avoidance by large corps and very high net worth induviduals while at the same time heavy handed action against SMES.
Supplying arms and experts for Saudi's illegal genocidal war in the Yemen.
All kinds of financial shenanigans re the NHS.
More financial shenanigans at the dept of Env.

No, it is not the normal state of affairs. Caroline should wonder why the government is losing highly experienced experts at a huge rate which it is unable to replace. The ppoor Ge campaign and the amateurish antics of DDavis are one symptom of this. The tragedy of Grenfell Towers is another.

( tho McDonnel is quite wrong, giant cock ups by definition are not pre planned.. Arrests for manslaughter of some of the contractors would not surprise.)

I've never denied that Rollo nor did I say the deal was a good idea.

What I said was they are doing exactly what every party does.

With a state using a fiat currency all "money" including cash is debt.
If the govt reduced its borrowing to zero there would be no money and the economy would disappear into a singularity.

The usefulness of a fiat currency unsupported by assets depends totally on confidence. Lack of confidence in sterling has cost all those holding cash and assets in sterling about 20% of their wealth / income over the last year against the major counter party currencies. Euro dollar Us and Yen. There have already been political consequences to this which can only worsen. The most extreme visible dying fiat currency right now is the Venezuelan bolivar.

Allocation and use of money aka tax and spending is another matter. In the case of the D.U.P. May's govt is using money it does have (because it is sovereign) for spending which may be illegal and is for sure unwise.

Bribing, poss illegally, a bunch of Orangemen with no mandate of any kind in the rest of the UK in order to force through major const change is political stupidity of a high order. As a bonus for 10 there is also the potent risk that it will destroy the Good Friday Agreement.

Given that the House seems unable to provide rational govt of any color the EU residents should not worry too much about May's lame and insulting offer but flee while they can.

Scotland is to be envied its two fine ladies who do know what they are doing. Ruth Davidson has warned May about the Dup deal. as is her wont May refuses to listen.

Exactly Rose :-D

If I'd paid someone to vote the way I wanted them to in the EU referendum or the election, it would have been illegal.......

Oh okay then so no money is borrowed at all silly me ....

and no money is promised and never delivered....

and to get elected no party ahs ever said sure I'll give you free this and reduced that etc and never delivered......

It would be quite something if Caroline did her homework before posting. The UK has a set of Treasury rules for ensuring equitable tax and spending in the devolved
Countries. These rules have never been broken before. Lack of such rules is what caused the Yugoslav war

A government cannot spend money it does not have in a state such as the UK which has a fiat currency. That is because it is the government which creates the money. The credit card anology used by Osbourn is nonsense as he well knows.

Caroline may do well to consider the endorsement on a bank note, the manner by which the UKGovt financed the Napoleonic wars, the 2009-14 financial crash. Good beginner's ref are Lipsey "Positive Economics" and Paul Einzig "Monetary Policy Ends and Means".

Oh that'll be a nice change a ruling party that promises money they don't have or takes from other places or even borrows....that's never happened before now has it..... :-)

Don't worry spreadsheet Phil will take a little here and a little there ensuring that all the geese hiss even the Scots Tories.

Are you aware that the D.U.P. have already skimmed £ 450 M of taxpayer's money into bogus energy schemes which is why power sharing collapsed.

What I want to know is where did the government magically find one billion pounds? :-(

and a Red Right Hand.

So the evil deed is done confirming that we live in a regime of blood.
Many Tories to be fair are much against paying danegeld to the D.U.P. They see endless trouble resulting from it. Too bad the goats will all be judged together and the sheep taken into the fold.