Prime Minister's Question Time - Northern Rock

[Raybanmonster]

UNBELIEVABLE. The government sold Northern Rock AT THE BOTTOM OF THE MARKET!! JEZUS CHRIST BRITAIN.

[TheDottybotty]

The reason GB wanted to bail out Northern Rock was actually something nobody has even thought of..it was personal.

GB knew the Baker family personally - the family had done a lot of favors for him, and he returned the favors to them.

[TheDottybotty]

@ 3.02. 'The loans are secured against the loans of Northern Rock' . I wonder what could go wrong with that banking model?

[BobTheMillipede]

In my opinion, it's always been a vote for bad (Labour) or worse (Tories), and I know which one I prefer.

[ToaJoe]

Brown performed well here.

[mellowNdark]

@ToaJoe That's because Cameron is a hypocrite with no back bone!

[peterwimsey1]

I don't see what Prime Minister's Question Time achieves, we're no further forward at the end of it than at the beginning

[Baseballschaap]

cameron's like Filip de Winter here in belgium, opposition, opposition, opposition... making a lot of noise, going personal and below the belt when needed and instead of offering solutions, just nags on... it's easy to comment on the policy of the ruling governement... EVERYONE is doing it!! what some don't get however is that plans can fail or succeed... and you're to take the fall for it, and as politics show, there's NO 100% certainty... ever

[cafe1984]

such an irrelevance now!!!! 55bn pounds, fuck all now!!!!!!!!!!! if only it was just northern rock.....

[Fondmemories13]

God - how big a wanker is David Cameron. I cannot stand him.  He stand's for nothing. No policies. No solutions. What a waste of space.

[murderman585]

@Fondmemories13 better than gordon brown, he won't borrow an ass load of money

[Scooterez]

@Fondmemories13 may i ask who it is that you think has worth while policies in this economic period

[johnmonkeysidaway]

gordon brown is a paki loving prick...recieved?

[Mickmars90]

Labour has legacy of taxing anyone with the balls to work for a private company, but grand old socialists like Lord Tony Benn have fiddled the system so his son Hilary avoids inheritance tax on Benn's country estate in Sussex... YES, isn't it amazing that a redistributive and nationalising socialist has a multi mullion pound fortune, a country estate and two houses in Notting Hill and Holland Park, which are two of the most exclusive areas in London, not exactly Hackney or Croydon.

[willyrobinson]

waiting for mel gibson to stroll with braided hair and slam and axe down on the table.

[bacaca88]

In the face of record losses and zero confidence in this company (because of 'nil' Government control over financial institutions) - though Mr G Brown was touted as the best Chancellor of the Exchequer, who can the British people trust?? Now he is PM (by default), is this right??-no way. The Uk is now a 'hellhole' to live and work - Gordon Brown is mainly to blame. He will understand this later.

[HollowsRus]

yes gordon brown is Prime Minister by default because he was the only person who stood for leadership

[oewinnie]

hear hear! this is the man that wasnt elected, that just took over an already doomed country and did nothing for it!

[hay0506]

you don't get elected, your party does and then your party chooses a party leader. You only vote for the person in your constituency.

[mrblujet]

I really do hope that Gordon Brown is not your definition of leadership. If this is the case, than your country really is desperate.

[jhendr411]

I wish that we held George W. Bush at question time here in the United States to see what he would have to say.

[HrNb]

After the nationalization of the 2 banks recently or before?

;)

[oewinnie]

if he had been questioned in the house of commons he would of been teared apart!

[mrblujet]

The American media did that for 8 years.

[mikexxxxnolan]

Perhaps the auditors of Northern Rock Plc should have foreseen the problems. The trouble is that Northern Rock auditors PriceWaterhouseCoopers seems to be immune.

They should have closed the bank instead of wasting money and allowing scam artists to buy shares and be bailed out.

There is a Northern Rock bank in Dublin which are caught up in this mess. They have been treated badly also. Change the auditors.

Michael Stephen Nolan - Dublin - Eire

[NWSMEAT]

Last time I checked, Michigan was part of the USA. Who cares about Britain. Our military covers their backside.

[Medeasbiggestfan]

How does the US military cover Britain's backside?

[zaber789]

Last time I checked the UK's military was one of the worlds strongest. Second only to the US, though that is changing fast with China's rise to power.

[bigman25plus25]

what do you cover? we created your ignorant little country you fucking redneck

[im2fast2catch]

I believe that Gordon Brown is someone who sold out the country without even being voted into that roll. Gordon Brown why dont you do us all a favour and step down? We DONT want you!!

[bigman25plus25]

i dont love him. why does everyone hate him so much? he's perfectly competent. would Cameron be able to stop any of this? not bloody likely.

[zaber789]

He robbed the pension funds of a lot of people when he was chancellor, who are now going to be a lot worse off in their retirement.

[bigman25plus25]

he also installed a national minimum wage which will make a lot of people better off NOW.

[zaber789]

"minimum wage law is, at best, a limited weapon for combatting the evil of low wages, and that the possible good to be achieved by such a law can exceed the possible harm only in proportion as its aims are modest. The more ambitious such a law is, the larger the number of workers it attempts to cover, and the more it attempts to raise their wages, the more certain are its harmful effects to exceed any possible good effects."

[zaber789]

"for example, when a law is passed that no one shall be paid less than $106 for a forty-hour week is that no one who is not worth $106 a week to an employer will be employed at all. You cannot make a man worth a given amount by making it illegal for anyone to offer him anything less. You merely deprive him of the right to earn the amount that his abilities and situation would permit him to earn, while you deprive the community even of the moderate services that he is capable of rendering."

[zaber789]

Economics in one lesson - Henry Hazlitt

But most people aren't just pissed off with him - they are just disillusioned with the labour party altogether

[bigman25plus25]

i think its fair to say they're mostly pissed off with him. the opinion polls put him (and thus the labour party) above Cameron when he came in. Well all i know is that employers, many of whom are total greedy bastards, simply have one opportunity to exploit people cut off.

besides this is an hourly minimum wage i'm talking about, not a weekly one.

its not economics, its morally right.

[zaber789]

Please re-read the quote; it makes no difference to the statement as whether the minimum wage was weekly or hourly.

If someone isn't worth the minimum wage to ANY employer for whatever reason, they are denied the right to earn a living and as a consequence are therefore put as a burden on the rest of society. i.e. go on to benefits. Is it morally right to denny a person the right to work and contribute to society?

[zaber789]

"Well all i know is that employers, many of whom are total greedy bastards, simply have one opportunity to exploit people cut off. " Some are for sure, but if a person is being paid less than they are worth, they are free to quit and change jobs for someone who pays a fair wage

[bigman25plus25]

anybody who's not massively disabled has the ability to earn £5.50 an hour. if there not psychically able to earn that amount then they shouldn't be working, that sounds dangerous. and this min wage doesnt apply to part time jobs (eg paper rounds) just full time jobs. no body in ANY full time job should be earning less than 5 quid an hour.

[zaber789]

Does that apply for under 21s who work full time, as i thought it didn't? I agree most people should be able to earn over £5.50/hr, so why have a law? Anyways going back to Gordon, this "Prudent" PM/Ex-chancellor so intelligently sold over 1/2 of the UK's gold reserves at rock bottom prices to fund his lavish spending.

[bigman25plus25]

because without the law the employers will screw them over. some people dont have the luxury to go job jumping until they find the right pay.

i'm not doubting some dodgy stuff went on but at least he DID something to help poor people. which is more than certain other chancellors could say.

[zaber789]

As I quoted, it's a limited weapon for combatting poor wages. My point is that they could go look for another job while working for that company. If they feel they cannot then it is they that is holding themselves back.

[bigman25plus25]

listen, never NEVER be snobbish enough to assume that poor people 'hold themselves back'. somebody working 6 day weeks for 2 pounds an hour trying to look after his family as well could not go job searching! fact! especially if they have little skill. (and yes, unskilled people deserve to eat as well)

if you think its a limited weapon that fine. but you still admit its a weapon for good.

[zaber789]

People IN GENERAL tend to hold themselves back - in all areas of life - they fear loosing their position of comfort. I'm not talking about being reckless, but risk-management, they have to access the risk/reward then decide. If someone does not want to leave a job, because of any commitments, thats fine but it's the realization that they do have a choice that's important.

& we're Lucky that we live in a country where we have safety nets in place to pick people up if they fall.

[bigman25plus25]

well yes, but that's a far deeper issue. the point is someone with a degree and a nice accent would be taking a far smaller risk than someone without. and they would have real choices. choosing between one factory or another is no choice.

i agree. and i say let minimum wage remain something to prevent people falling in the first place.