[Admin - Rethink]

Hi all,

For those new here I'm Chris, the admin of RethinkTalk - and sadly not a policy expert, they will be here from about 12.30 to read and react, live, to the announcements made today.

(By the way, please Register in the top-right if you haven't joined the site and want to reply)

But although the Comprehensive Spending Review - which is expected to reveal the biggest cuts to state spending for many years - hasn't been delivered yet, we do know a few things, such as: Social housing will be cut "by 50%", NHS funding is said to be 'safe' (though the Independent disagrees).

See the BBC News build up to the announcement here.

I also wanted to find some interesting 'tweets' from Twitter land - but searching for 'CSR' seems to break the site! I guess other people are having the same idea and it might be causing a bit of overload.

I will be popping back here up to and during the CSR announcement to give some highlights on what other people are saying online and via news sources- if the internet can take the strain.

What is the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR)? - page on Rethink's website.

And here's another more detailed explanation of Spending Reviews from the HM Treasury website.

[alienpresence]

Never in the course of human history has so much been taken from so many by so few. It'll stall the recovery. They should never have that much power over people. They were elected as a minority government. Their mandate is not the mandate of the people.

[ghost]

The question these privileged few don't want people to ask or understand is 'Who does the world owe 3 trillion pounds to'? Thats the question people should be asking.

Quote

Never in the course of human history has so much been taken from so many by so few

Very true.

[Admin - Rethink]

"Britain is embarking on a highly risky experiment" - Joseph Stiglitz, professor of economics at Columbia University

'The sober decade to come' - Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England

[Admin - Rethink]

Some Tweets... will try to be balanced but there isn't a lot of optimism out there:

@michaelomh‎: Not a cloud in the sky. Lovely day to sack half a million people, isn't it.

@savechildrenuk: Poorest families & kids shouldn't pay the price for economic crisis

@Pat_ElanHealth‎: Not a good start, we can't agree on the hashtag! #csr #spendingreview #csr10

[Admin - Rethink]

A word from Phil, a Rethink e-activist:

"I am concerned at the negative effects the government is planning. I only hope that this will be a stimulus for a grass roots movement for people to start building community support for those that need it."

Sign up as a Rethink e-activist- make quick campaigning actions, like easy ways to send messages to your MP.

[Admin - Rethink]

@bbcuknews‎: Health Minister Michael McGimpsey warns that his department could have a £1.4bn black hole in its budget due to spending cuts.

And just to show that not everyone is against cuts...

(anonymous Twitter user): "Makes me so angry: Govt spending - benefits £194bn, health £122bn, education £89bn. Borrow £149bn. Cut benefits now!"

'These cuts aren't enough' - Simon Heffer in the Telegraph

[alienpresence]

Chris - Rethink, on 20 October 2010 - 10:36 AM, said:

A word from Phil, a Rethink e-activist:

"I am concerned at the negative effects the government is planning. I only hope that this will be a stimulus for a grass roots movement for people to start building community support for those that need it."

Sign up as a Rethink e-activist- make quick campaigning actions, like easy ways to send messages to your MP.

In times of fear and uncertainty people have historically sought safety in extremes and the activity of scapegoating.

[Admin - Rethink]

alienpresence, on 20 October 2010 - 10:57 AM, said:

In times of fear and uncertainty people have historically sought safety in extremes and the activity of scapegoating.

Hi Alien P, you're not the only person looking to the past as a measure of how not to react to bad economic times - here's Bank of England Governor Meryn King on the dangers of replaying the 1930s.

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BBC News: "An intriguing development at the Home Office. It has apparently cancelled a press briefing scheduled for 1400 BST on the impact of the Spending Review on the department. Something significant, or did someone just forget to order the biscuits?"

[Admin - Rethink]

BBC News: "Former Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell says it is not just a difficult day for his party but for everyone and that it would be unfair on future generations to delay severe cuts." (our emphasis)

Do you agree with this? What do you think is a fair way of dealing with the financial crisis?

[alienpresence]

Chris - Rethink, on 20 October 2010 - 11:07 AM, said:

Hi Alien P, you're not the only person looking to the past as a measure of how not to react to bad economic times - here's Bank of England Governor Meryn King on the dangers of replaying the 1930s.

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BBC News: "An intriguing development at the Home Office. It has apparently cancelled a press briefing scheduled for 1400 BST on the impact of the Spending Review on the department. Something significant, or did someone just forget to order the biscuits?"

What worries me is that genocides could be organised in a fire storm of mass-hysteria movements using new technology in a way that would have been impossible even a few short years ago. The tinderbox of modern communications only needs a few false signals from on high, such as Merkel gave last week, and it will become the greatest horror show on earth. This isn't going to be a repeat of the thirties I think but it could easily be much worse.

[alienpresence]

Chris - Rethink, on 20 October 2010 - 11:19 AM, said:

BBC News: "Former Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell says it is not just a difficult day for his party but for everyone and that it would be unfair on future generations to delay severe cuts." (our emphasis)

Do you agree with this? What do you think is a fair way of dealing with the financial crisis?

The old currency needs abolishing, this is not soluble by paying a small fraction(120 billion but we'll still owe a trillion) at great pain back to the people who'll lend it out again at interest fueling a second worse crisis. We need a one world currency to supercede the dollar and peg the value of the new pound to that. A single world currency is necessary. Paying back money on a exponential rising debt is like King Canute...good luck with that one!!!

[I am an Aardvark]

alienpresence, on 20 October 2010 - 11:20 AM, said:

This isn't going to be a repeat of the thirties I think but it could easily be much worse.

I'm going to Imagine that none of this is happening -
Eva Cassidy Imagine video

[ghost]

The truth is we owe the deficit to ourselves, we can't trust the central banks. Government borrows money from the central bank in the first place to create the deficit, if we owe the money to ourselves then thats a lot different to the majority of peoples understanding. The government levy that debt with the sale of government bonds, whoever owns those bonds, the rich, corporations, hedge funds etc, owns this country by decree of our credit rating. When people go on about this countries 'credit rating' being downgraded, the upshot is our self created debt might be harder to sell. In truth billions of people will have to suffer worldwide because of debt owed to a few thousand mega rich people.

The problem is the people making the decisions and giving advice have a vested interest in supporting this system, the IMF being one such vested interest.

[alienpresence]

Depeche Mode video

[Admin - Rethink]

Apologies for this but we are going to be making video links into text links rather than embedded media, just for this occasion. This is just to conserve space for news content and discussion so people don't have to scroll through lots of videos.

[I am an Aardvark]

Money is an Illusion

The Circle Of life

Mankind has a poor understanding of life. He mistakes knowledge for wisdom. He tries to unveil the holy secrets of our father, the Great Spirit. He attempts to impose his laws and ways on Mother Earth. Even though he, himself, is part of nature, he chooses to disregard and ignore it for the sake of his own immediate gain. But the laws of nature are far stronger than those of mankind. Man must awake at last, and learn to understand how little time there remains before he will become the cause of his own downfall. And he has so much to learn. To learn to see with the heart. He must learn to respect Mother Earth-She who has given life to everything; to our brothers and sisters, the animals and plants; to the rivers, the lakes, the oceans and the winds. He must realize that this planet does not belong to him, but that he has to care for and maintain the delicate balance of nature for the sake of the well-being for our children and all future generations. It is the duty of mankind to preserve the earth and the creation of the Great Spirit. Mankind being but a grain of sand in the holy circle which encloses all of life

[alienpresence]

I think something like LETs for the MH community might be something for the Charities to try?

http://www.transaction.net/money/lets

[Admin - Rethink]

We've now got a TV on in the office (a rare treat), and George Osborne has left the Treasury, heading for the House of Commons, where he will make his address.

Andrew Neill on BBC News: "You know it's an important day, because there are helicopters in the air!"

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Interesting tweet:
@ET_Reville I'm interviewing Andrew Lansley MP at 3.15pm about cuts. Message me any q's you want to ask the government Secretary of State for Health!

[Admin - Rethink]

Screengrab from BBC News