Comments on: Tax and waste http://www.johnredwoodsdiary.com/2007/10/20/tax-and-waste/ Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Wokingham Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:02:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: simon c http://www.johnredwoodsdiary.com/2007/10/20/tax-and-waste/#comment-8804 simon c Sat, 20 Oct 2007 19:54:35 +0000 http://www.johnredwoodsdiary.com/2007/10/20/tax-and-waste/#comment-8804 I have a feeling that Middle England has stopped listening to Gordon Brown and his acolytes. - the Tories inheritance/stamp duty proposals appealed to Middle England because they were *simple*. Everything Gordan Brown does seems very convoluted. - "our nhs". People are terrified of going into an "our nhs" hospital and catching some strange disease. They want to know after billions of pounds of expenditure where has the money gone. - schools. Similarly, when looking at core results in Maths, English, Sciences and Foreign languages, the results have not risen as fast as they should have - given the expenditure. The Tories are right to look abroad for inspiration. Swedish schools, Wisconsin welfare and even, how do other countries manage health care. Compulsory social insurance? Heres an idea for a *simple* Tory policy on schools. Every secondary school student is alllocated I have a feeling that Middle England has stopped listening to Gordon Brown and his acolytes.

- the Tories inheritance/stamp duty proposals appealed to Middle England because they were *simple*. Everything Gordan Brown does seems very convoluted.

- “our nhs”. People are terrified of going into an “our nhs” hospital and catching some strange disease. They want to know after billions of pounds of expenditure where has the money gone.

- schools. Similarly, when looking at core results in Maths, English, Sciences and Foreign languages, the results have not risen as fast as they should have - given the expenditure.

The Tories are right to look abroad for inspiration. Swedish schools, Wisconsin welfare and even, how do other countries manage health care. Compulsory social insurance?

Heres an idea for a *simple* Tory policy on schools. Every secondary school student is alllocated

]]> By: Ed http://www.johnredwoodsdiary.com/2007/10/20/tax-and-waste/#comment-8787 Ed Sat, 20 Oct 2007 12:29:50 +0000 http://www.johnredwoodsdiary.com/2007/10/20/tax-and-waste/#comment-8787 Actually, Blair claimed to have understood it in 1997. He said something along the lines of "it's not how much you spend but how you spend it". He forgot by about 1999 and then Brown took charge of domestic policy. Back to the EU for a moment if you don't mind: I think people would be a lot more happy about EU integration if there was some mechanism for voters to have a say on EU policy. At the moment it's the national governments who can push to change direction but if actual voters could kick out the Commission or at least if the Parliament could veto proposals it would feel a lot more democratic. Actually, Blair claimed to have understood it in 1997. He said something along the lines of “it’s not how much you spend but how you spend it”. He forgot by about 1999 and then Brown took charge of domestic policy.

Back to the EU for a moment if you don’t mind: I think people would be a lot more happy about EU integration if there was some mechanism for voters to have a say on EU policy. At the moment it’s the national governments who can push to change direction but if actual voters could kick out the Commission or at least if the Parliament could veto proposals it would feel a lot more democratic.

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