“"However, they were not bleating about lack of money, making drastic cuts or claiming 'We're all in this together'. If things are as bad as they make out, Gideon and his clueless chums would also be looking hard at maximising revenue collections. Not sure if they appointed quite so many tax-averse individuals as advisors, or were bankrolled by a lord of uncertain tax status."

It seems Labour were hiding the extent of the debt from the country whilst they continued to fund quangos and obscure minority groups with our money. As for the |Tory Lord? Didn't Labour relie on a certain Lord Mandy as a Business Minister, he who was accused of criminal fraud on more than one occasion and had to step down twice? Only to be made a Lord for his troubles? Labour have no room to criticise with the likes of him in the cabinet with his dishonest track record.
Had Labour tackled the problem of tax avoidance during their 13 years we may not have had quite the same level of debt that we have now. But as you said they did nothing so I don't think you can trully lay blame at the Tory/Dem doorstep for allowing it to continue. As for the "rich" benefiting from the situation? I don't think Tony Blair is crying into his champagne over the millions he and his wife have made since he was PM and Lord Kinnock and family have made a veritable fortune out of milking the EU cash cow so again Labour MPs aren't exactly down on their uppers. I still awit the three Labour MPs awaiting trial for fraud along with the Tory Toff. Mud slinging from either side of the political fence is not what it used to be unless you ignore the facts.”

“PJ - Nothing, which is marginally better than what Gideon has managed. And I was happy to similarly criticise Labour on this point.
However, they were not bleating about lack of money, making drastic cuts or claiming 'We're all in this together'. If things are as bad as they make out, Gideon and his clueless chums would also be looking hard at maximising revenue collections. Not sure if they appointed quite so many tax-averse individuals as advisors, or were bankrolled by a lord of uncertain tax status.”

“JC, Bath
"Dave - If the Country is so broke, why was a certain mobile phone Company not pursued more vigorously for tax avoidance? Why are the Tories not looking at plugging tax loopholes?"

I have heard this so many times recently so would you or anyone else like to tell me what the Labour Government did in the last 13 years to deal with this issue and put a stop to the people/companies responsible for tax avoidance?”

“The Turncoats helped draft the policy, but won't vote for it.
It does not apply to scotland or Wales.
Anyone else think it might be time for a re-think?”

“Of course we have read the Browne report, and it ridiculous to patronize us by implying that we do not know what we are talking about. The Browne report does not even have the full support of the person who wrote it. We will be paying off this debt for most of our adult lives. Those of us whose parents can bail us out will not have to. The Conservative policy of education quality over quantity is a barely concealed way of saying education for the rich, cut those who cannot afford it and say it is because they are not dedicated enough. We might be "left wing rabble" for believing that everybody should have the same chances in life, but if so I am proud of it. As one of the organizers of the protest I was very proud of how it went. Those of you who believe that we are children protesting for the sake of it are certainly in the minority. How can you justify passing the countries debt onto the youth who were not even alive when it started building up? And as for the Liberal Democrats, as I said to the chronicle, they made a pre election pledge to keep university fees from rising. Nick Clegg said ¿I believe tuition fees are wrong, I believe they need to be abolished, I want it done as soon as possible.¿ Ask yourself why we are protesting. It is ridiculous to suggest that we are protesting for the hell of it, do you think that we have nothing better to fill our time with?”

“Thanks Ian, I wasn't suggesting that your company was guilty of any favouritism to graduates, sorry if it may have sounded that way!”

“I wasn't having a dig Ian, was just interested to hear!!!”

“Mark, Bath - actually, yes. I never said I had a degree. I took my A Levels, then attended what was Bristol Polytechnic to take a one year foundation course in accountancy. I was offered a training contract with one of the "Big Eight" firms and undertook a four year training contract rather than the three year training contract applicable to graduates. So there you are, Mark.”

“Ian, may I ask if you offered your training contracts to applicants who did not attend university? As that brings me to another issue... graduate snobbery. A company I worked for had a 'secret' policy of employing graduates only, even though many of them had no work experience. Needless to say they got stung a couple of times.”

“"I know several university graduates, who have received degrees for subjects such as Geography, yet they work in finance."

"And what's wrong with that?"

Quite a lot etc......

Mark, Bath : there is certainly nothing wrong with studying for a degree that does not directly relate to your future career. I speak from experience and qualified as a chartered accountant with what was then one of the"Big Eight" firms of Chartered Accountants. They offered training contracts to applicants with a range of degrees not just accountancy and business related degrees. They actually limited the number of accountancy graduates recruited to achieve a workforce with wide ranging interests. As long as the graduates obtained a good degree from a good university and were able to pass the stringent graduate conversion course prior to commencing employment then the subject matter of their degree was not relevant.”