Euro definitely ruined our beloved contry. I'm just 20 years old but I can recall my mother buying me toys with the lira and I remember those days as very charming. The very years after joining euro were very disappointing: I and my family used to have week-long ski holiday, Christmas and new year's day holiday (mainly visiting relatives, but still something) and two week-long summer holiday. Now we can't afford ski and Christmas holiday, nor can we afford buying a decent car (e.g. my father recently sold his 15 years old Citroen xsara picasso for a 20 (if not more) years old Fiat 500 young).
Don't count on Italy too much, Italian people don't take politics seriously. Most of the people just don't care. And yes, Grillo won't become the next Hitler, but I expect him not to be as good as he promises. He's clever, but his party got very..."colourful".
Yeah left vs right doesn't exist! Not anymore.
That Italian decision made me happy, yay! Unfortunately, though, Austrians weren't as smart…
Congratulazioni italiani! e un giorno di gioia per tutti i poveri e onesti della nostra Europa popolare (l'autentica).
Ti amo Italia!
"No...!"
I wish you well for the next crisis...
Voting against 'austerity' is a good thing. In the UK Farage claimed much credit, seemingly forgetting that much of the Left were also campaigning 'out' in favour of democracy, as did the media.
Populist leaders, especially people who claim they are neither Left nor Right usually tend to be on the Right but seem shy at saying so.
Farage claims to be a man of the people but attracts predominantly Tory voters, being a stockbroker and multi-millionaire, it's the class he comes from and represents. Ironic that these same leaders who claim to desire democracy would actually reduce it.
Ukip would privatise the NHS and would act no differently to the Tories in that area of the economy, but instead use skin colour and immigration to divert attention from the economy. An old trick. There is a difference between Left and Right but agree that the people who just pretend to be on the Left (likes of Tony Blair and chums) will soon be shown the door.
#16 This seems a very confused picture.
In fact, Farage was one of the big faces of Brexit - he didn't need to claim any credit. While he attracted (no longer leader of UKIP) a number of former Tory voters, let's not forget that UKIP received nearly 4 million votes in 2015, and the Conservatives still have a majority government. The demographic is just as much the working class former Labour voter who was betrayed by the likes of Blair, as it is the rich.
It was Blair who began introducing private companies into the NHS in 1999. The NHS is a black hole, an insatiable cuckoo chick - because as the population ages and medicine improves, the need for its services increases. In the end we will reach a tipping point where central government can no longer afford to pay for it - and National Insurance only pays for the equivalent of a single varicose vein removal per person per year.
What the NHS needs is actually to be transformed. I would do this by introducing National Health Insurance and running the NHS as a German-style Krankenkasse. It would simply be more efficient - yet still free at the point of delivery.
Most people now recognise that the unfettered immigration and ridiculous notion that people from every race, creed and background can just be chucked together and live happily, are pipe dreams. Mr Farage is not a racist, but he is a patriot and wishes to put first those who live in this country. That may or may not be a good thing - a matter of opinion - but it is wrong to call him a racist. Racists don't get minorities like me voting for them :)
I miss the good ol' days when Benjamin Disraeli's 'Splendid Isolation' was in the Tories radar. Britons should've listened more to Enoch Powell when they got the chance… Anyway, I do have a heart, believe it or not, and I think the NHS should *not* be completely privatised (the feeble-minded and the invalid should be taken care of), however, when it comes to Education, y'know, PRIVATISE IT ALL, PLEASE!
In reply to post 17, we already pay National health insurance and have done since the nhs was founded. I'd love to know how much is collected via this payment and how much is actually spent on health. I think the simplest cure would be to take the pharmaceutical Co's into public ownership, as part of the NHS, as it appears they're sucking the blood from the patient. The three hundred Co's currently making a fortune from the privatised services won't help either. Why should people make huge profits from other peoples' sickness? The current attack on the nhs is ideological, nothing more
It's true that Blair's LP has betrayed working people and no wonder some vote for the stockbroker class, especially given the free publicity that UKIP receive. However, UKIP would privatise the nhs. Their new leader once stood as a Tory candidate, but failed.
I don't think anyone is saying that the borders should be removed but to blame immigration for the woes of the economy is wrong. It wasn't immigrants who caused the economy to collapse, it was the corrupt financial world. It's not the fault of immigrants for a million zero hour contract jobs or a million people relying on food banks.
To blame different nationalities for the problems of the economic system is an old trick of divide and rule, scapegoating minorities. Many have done it, Hitler of course being the most infamous. If the borders were closed tomorrow the UK would still have the same financial problems.
Neither should we forget that about five million Brits live abroad. After years of 'austerity' the Govt have failed completely. All's that's been achieved is a wealth transfer from the poor to the rich. We should remember why health and education were taken into public ownership. To go back to millions of uneducated or poorly educated people creating a huge underclass won't benefit the economy as a massive police force would be required to prevent crime and civil unrest.
Maybe the Govt should collect the estimated £130 billion + in taxes that are currently owed. If that was done and the corporations paid their taxes then there'd be no need for 'austerity', and no need for scapegoating of minorities.
#17 The latest figures for National Insurance are from 2010/11. They show a breakdown of NI payments for the average person on a £26,000 p/a income.
Income tax and NI payments: £6,134; of this, £1,109 went to the NHS. This is - as I stated above - approximately the cost of the removal of a single varicose vein each year.
This is a ridiculously small percentage. As the population ages and medicine improves, we need to spend more each year on the NHS. It is a bottomless pit.
That's why I suggest a National Health Insurance. This would mean that people would pay competing companies for insurance, which in turn would pay for healthcare. Those who smoke 60 a day would obviously be considered a higher risk and pay more insurance. Those who live healthier lifestyles would pay less. It would pay for the NHS, there would be (overall) low premiums due to competiton between insurers, and instead of government trying to encourage healthy lifestyles, those who didn't adopt them would be hit in the pocket.
I certainly didn't blame immigration or different nationalities for the economic problem. I'm from an immigrant family myself! The problem is by overstretching resources - too MUCH immigration in a small amount of time.
I disagree that a million people rely on foodbanks, There may be a million USES of foodbanks, but the numbers of different individuals is not recorded - check and you'll see. In fact, foodbanks fuel the black economy, and become a lifestyle choice for many people, who use the free food to help free-up income. If I didn't have to buy food for my family, I could free up money for a new TV quite easily!
Yes, 5 million Brits live abroad - usually retired people whose UK pensions are paying into the desolation that is the Spanish economy, for instance. Of all the EU countries, only the UK and Germany have good economies. Everywhere else is in trouble, especially with youth unemployment.
