Thanet Life

Ladyman always votes with the Government. Look at his voting record...

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/stephen_ladyman/south_thanet

That is dreadful!!post offices are a lifeline for many people and they help keep rural villages alive.to lonely people they are places they can go and have a chat and see familiar faces and collect their pensions etc.Ladyman as usual wont see the large picture it is so sad..

I do not go to the post office for a natter, I want service, So I use Tesco extra all the time , no problems and they have everything at hand.

I see 6.09 is an 'urban man/woman' who seems quite happy to let Tesco's grab everyone else's piece of pie. You might not remember JacK Cohen's original Tescos in the mid 60s that were very similar to our local Londis shops today. Not satisfied with just grabbing the larger share of the UKs food spending, Tescos today wants the lot: white goods; hardware; clothing; chemists; petrol; insurances; banking; florists; gardening ; post office services etc etc. As the most voracious trader in the market place, Tesco will not rest happy with their business until every pound spent in the Uk is at one of its stores! The surviving village shops/post offices cannot compete on a level playing field with such a set up and will disappear into yet another closed shop/converted to home and another nail gets banged into the coffin of rural life and services.

Typical of Ladyman, I have never managed to like him, I was a Labour voter but not any more, too much spin, too much taxation, too much craziness.
Anyway the chances of me being in UK to vote are now remote, I've left UK and just keep in touch via this website amongst others.
Sad to see it just getting steadily worse.
My advice would be to leave if you can while you can.

Are you in the States? if you are, what are the rules about retiring over there and buying property. I assume you can't work and medical expenses are high aren't they?

Buying property - you just buy it or get a mortgage like anyone else - as far as working or retiring it is not a problem if you have enough money behind you you can get a green card, and us citizenship after 5 years easily if you want it.
Medical expenses can be high if you need complex treatment, there are however ways and means to get free treatment if you really need it. Also you can insure against it at a fairly reasonable cost.
If you are part of the system all your working life I don't know that it would be more expensive than paying NI contributions and higher taxes in UK.
Taxes are MUCH lower here on income and expenditure.
Houses are MUCH cheaper.
Energy costs are MUCH cheaper.
However life for the less well off is harder, many people have 2 jobs just to pay the rent.
Holiday entitlement is terrible, imagine being in a job 10 years and still getting only 1 week per year.Not uncommon. Others do get more but its not good by UK standards.
Believe it or not its a much more English way of life in many ways, any immigrants where I live are hard working Spanish speaking which I don't find a problem, no refugees, mosques or other eastern european immigrants looking for handouts.
Not all areas are the same in the US, I just happen to have picked a spot where the weather is nice and living is congenial for me.

Thanks.. I may join you there soon!

Mr Maskell, as a Government Minister, it is rather obvious that Dr Ladyman will always vote with the Government.

Anon 1211, health insurance in the US is far from "reasonable", which is why so many people crave employment where health insurance is provided by the employer. And if you have no insurance you do NOT get the full range of treatments and services; you get a much reduced level of care. They let you die.

Bit like being old and sick in Britain if you haven't got BUPA then One Voice?

anon again!

If you do not like the way Mr Ladyman has voted, then vote against him at the next apprpriate occasion. Easy!

I entirely disagree with you, Anon 926. It is oh so easy to trot out spun stories from the Daily Mail and other similar rags about NHS failures, and I would not argue that everything on the system is wonderful. But set that alongside its undoubted benefits and achievements, and the stories of praise and thanks that come in from so many quarters and you get a more balanced picture.

The NHS treats more people than ever, with a vast range of procedures and techniques, and does so with a high degree of success. There are occasional blunders, and those rightly get highlighted, but they need to be kept in perspective. The media rags of this country do not allow that.

As for BUPA, let's remember that they do not provide a full range of healthcare. Most especially they offer only limited emergency care and hardly any trauma care. Even the wealthy rely on the NHS then. BUPA take on only the more profitable work.

Turning to the original subject of this post, why are the likes of Gale and Sandys making such an issue of post office closures?

Firstly, much of the traditional business of the Post Office is now done in different ways - through other organisations, via the Internet etc. That has nothing to do with Government; it is how the commercial/business world has developed. This is as true for those in rural as those in urban communities. Even Gale and Sandys must surely recognise this.

Secondly, the payment of welfare benefits has been made more efficient and more secure by improvements introduced by the present Government - granted this has reduced work for post offices. Given Tory interest in efficiency and security, Gale and Sandys should be welcoming this.

The consequence is CHANGE. The consequence is that some post offices are no longer viable. Tory policy of long-standing is not to prop up non-viable businesses. Look at the Tory attitude towards, and decisions on, such industries as mining and car manufacture, which were allowed to go to the wall in the face of stronger foreign competition.

Why take such a different approach to post offices?

Because those affected are the core of Tory Party financial and electoral support, those in rural communities - the shires. It is also why Gale argues so strongly for the continued subsidising of farming and farmers, whereas his ideology has led him, historically, to oppose subsidies for other types of industry - as above.

You either support intervention, subsidy and State support, or you do not. Trying to have it some times and not others is hypocritical.

In reply to 12:00am regarding Tesco, I remember Jack Cohen very well, pile em high and sell em cheap, it certainly broke the reconmended retail price monopoly. Thanks to Tesco living costs of working people in Thanet have dropped in real terms. The trouble is with small business they like competion provided they are in the driving seat. There is no such thing as a level playing field in business in capitalist society.

anon again!

Tesco makes Billions, their workers gain little financial benefit, but, they do have a Post Office.
The roof started parting company with the walls at Westwood Cross yesterday, bringing its nicknames WC or Windy City into context. Hombase sounded like its lid was about to depart, but was quite safe, whilst I was in there.

"Mr Maskell, as a Government Minister, it is rather obvious that Dr Ladyman will always vote with the Government."

Of course its obvious. However first and foremost hes MP for South Thanet. His first concern should be those of his constituents, not of his extra responsibilities as a Minister. He wouldnt be a Minister if it werent for the votes of South Thanet residents.

Mr Maskell, you seem not to understand the principle of collective responsibility, which applies to the Labour Party in Government, just as it always has to your own Tory Party.

I understand the principle of collective responsibility perfectly fine. His primary role is that of MP for Thanet South. On an issue like Post Offices, that primary role overrules the collective responsibility principle. If theres a conflict of interest then the fair and reasonable thing to do is abstain and explain why he is abstaining to the Whip. Voting with the Government and hiding behind collective responsibility is cowardly. The principle of collective responsibility is very much to ensure the impression of strong and united government, something which the political process attempts to portray, as opposed to say the more coalition-forming governments in say Germany. The truth of the matter is that Ladyman has yet again failed to perform his duty in representing his constituents. People should come before the Party.

Then there are many cowards in both of the parties that have formed a Government in the UK in recent times. I hope you are, and will continue to be, as damning of your fellow Tories as you are of Steve Ladyman.

In the meantime, perhaps you will condemn all your fellow Tories - both those who were Ministers and those who were just back-bench MPs - who solidly supported the Poll Tax and who have since said how much they disagreed with it and thought it was ill-advised. History, now, yes, but many of those "cowards" are still in elected positions.

As for post offices - the subject of this strand - perhaps you will explain Tory Party policy on the points I have made. Or does cant and hypocrisy sum it up?