The Magic Money Tree in action

Fretwired

marantz1300 said:

So austerity was a con , there's loads of money to spread for the "right" causes.

Bangs head on table ...

equalsql

I thought bribary was a crime.

jpfamps

 
UK government spent £761 billion last year, so £1 bn is about 0.13% of one years spending (and the money is being spent over several years), ie within the margin for error on the numbers, and whilst sounds a lot of money to you or I, is neither hear nor there is terms of total spending.

Evilmags

Austerity never happened as any rational analysis of government spending shows. It has risen every year ffs. An absolute lie. 

Fretwired

Evilmags said:

Austerity never happened as any rational analysis of government spending shows. It has risen every year ffs. An absolute lie. 

^^

This is true, but ...

axisus

jpfamps said:

 
UK government spent £761 billion last year, so £1 bn is about 0.13% of one years spending (and the money is being spent over several years), ie within the margin for error on the numbers, and whilst sounds a lot of money to you or I, is neither hear nor there is terms of total spending.

It would probably pay for quite a few more nurses or police though.

djspecialist

Also, apparently the magic money tree fruits every two years.  Which will be nice, at least for its beneficiaries.

fields5069

CabbageCat said:

fields5069 said:

And Wales and Scotland will be left wanting, and rightly pissed off.

You missed one.

France? I didn't think we owned Calais anymore. Wouldn't be the Isle Of Man as they're far more independent than the bits that make up the UK. Or would it?

If the estimates related to the mooted £2bn NI bung are correct (£2bn NI = £4bn Wales = £7bn Scotland), that would mean £2bn for Wales and £3.5bn for Scotland. The Isle Of Man gets some more cats.

fields5069

Fretwired said:

fields5069 said:

And Wales and Scotland will be left wanting, and rightly pissed off.

Well they know what they can do then. N Ireland is a special case for obvious reasons.

NI already gets disproportionate aid. Which bits of the UK are still the poorest? The last time I checked it was the South Wales valleys.

Fretwired

fields5069 said:

Fretwired said:

fields5069 said:

And Wales and Scotland will be left wanting, and rightly pissed off.

Well they know what they can do then. N Ireland is a special case for obvious reasons.

NI already gets disproportionate aid. Which bits of the UK are still the poorest? The last time I checked it was the South Wales valleys.

And large parts of England .. been to Corby recently?

Bridgehouse

Fretwired said:

fields5069 said:

Fretwired said:

fields5069 said:

And Wales and Scotland will be left wanting, and rightly pissed off.

Well they know what they can do then. N Ireland is a special case for obvious reasons.

NI already gets disproportionate aid. Which bits of the UK are still the poorest? The last time I checked it was the South Wales valleys.

And large parts of England .. been to Corby recently?

I have to skirt round the edge of it in the car now and again, and that's frankly too close for comfort

marantz1300

i was in berkshire this wekend
looks absolutely splendid

axisus

A worm-infested DUP apple fell off the Magic Money Tree and hit May on the head. She didn't realise the gravity of the situation.

marantz1300

she's quite partial to maggots.

ICBM

marantz1300 said:

she's quite partial to maggots.

She's just invited one back into the cabinet...

jpfamps

axisus said:

jpfamps said:

 
UK government spent £761 billion last year, so £1 bn is about 0.13% of one years spending (and the money is being spent over several years), ie within the margin for error on the numbers, and whilst sounds a lot of money to you or I, is neither hear nor there is terms of total spending.

It would probably pay for quite a few more nurses or police though.

Indeed. And £350m of the money is meant to be going into heath care.

We can always question the wisdom of any government spending, and whether the money wouldn't be better spent elsewhere.

Pork barrel funding is a feature of realpolitik, and whilst there is much to criticise in this deal, profligate spending is not an issue here. 

Any politician who claims otherwise is exploiting the general public's ignorance of government finances.

Cirrus

jpfamps said: £350m of the money is meant to be going into heath care.

£350m you say? For health care? Where have I heard that exact number before?

Fretwired

jpfamps said:

Indeed. And £350m of the money is meant to be going into heath care.

That will keep the NHS going for about 36 hours ..... :-)

When the NHS was launched in 1948, it had a budget of £437 million (roughly £15 billion at today's value). For 2015/16, the overall NHS budget was around £116.4 billion.

If the NHS makes no savings as per government demands and funding rises only with inflation, the estimated funding gap will be at £30 billion by 2020/21.  In simple terms the NHS will need £30 billion to stand still and so what it does now. See the size of the problem?

robgilmo

Any one been to NIreland lately? Last time I was there just over a year ago it looked like 1billion wouldn't even touch the sides, it needs a lot more than that spending on it.

jpfamps

Fretwired said:

jpfamps said:

Indeed. And £350m of the money is meant to be going into heath care.

That will keep the NHS going for about 36 hours ..... :-)

When the NHS was launched in 1948, it had a budget of £437 million (roughly £15 billion at today's value). For 2015/16, the overall NHS budget was around £116.4 billion.

If the NHS makes no savings as per government demands and funding rises only with inflation, the estimated funding gap will be at £30 billion by 2020/21.  In simple terms the NHS will need £30 billion to stand still and so what it does now. See the size of the problem?

Absolutely, I'm fully aware of the problem.

The NHS was supposed to pay for itself as a healthier work force would be more productive. In fact within 3 years of its formation it was already having funding problems, which lead to the introduction of prescription charges.

Unless we are prepared to pay more tax, and quite a bit more tax, I can't see the problem being resolved, unless AI can increase productivity massively.

And that's assuming that health care inflation doesn't rise massively.