Is the ruling coalition totally out of touch with the British population?

	Is the ruling coalition totally out of touch with the British population? Cameron's advisor and Tory Peer Lord Young claimed recently that "Britain had never had it so good" this is inspite of the worst economic recession since the early 1970s - does this contribute to the impression that the ruling coalition is run by toffs totally out of touch with the British population ? Asked By: Arthur W - 11/20/2010

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I think he made a fair comment. I don't mean any disrespect to those who've been made redundant and are struggling to find jobs and pay the bills but the modern generation has life pretty good. Just look how many people own the latest mobile phones, the mount of music they can afford to purchase on iTunes, the fashionable clothes they wear, the number of times they can afford to eat out. Life it good... it was labour that tried their best to stuff up the UK economy. Answered By: Jason - 11/20/2010

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What British Population? is there someone out there? Planet Westminster is the whole world surely? Answered By: rogerglyn - 11/22/2010

The government have never had it so good normal rules do not apply to the elite , they can even smoke in the houses of Parliament , we cant have them nipping out for a ciggy and catching a chill can we the ruling coalition have plenty of money, houses , cars , foreign holidays and have never had it so good . the government are turning over houses on expenses and earning millions of pounds from our taxes They are totally out of touch and patronizing as always if a working class person has a takeaway ,a mobile phone or a minimum wage job they are expected to be eternally grateful EDIT Jason many people in third world countries have the internet mobile phones and fashionable clothes now as we have globalisation Answered By: kerry anne - 11/21/2010

Of course Lord Young is right. Compared to Thatatorship, recession under Gordon Brown, was easy going. Unemployment, liquidations and repossessions are way down on the recessions of the eighties and nineties. Benchmark interest rates are low ( 0.5?and repayments are less than before the recession so everybody with a mortgage and a job is better off now than they were before the recession. Compare this to interest rates of 17?n 1980 or 15?n 1990. The unemployment rate is still below 8?compared to 11.9?n 1984 and 10.7?n 1993. In the eighties and nineties, unemployment claimants were TWICE what they are today at just over and just under 3,000,000 claimants and overall unemployment is still about 1,000,000 less. Peak claimant count in the eighties was 3.42 million. This has been the worst recession and financial crisis since the 1930’s but proportionally has hit the country the least compared to other recessions. This is entirely due to Gordon Brown’s management of the situation, but the Labour Party isn’t going to give him the ‘credit’ for this or the Tories would spin it so it was them who was “crass and insensitive” and not Lord Young. Looking at the figures, just imagine what would have happened if the Tories had been in power and that they had gone along with the “let nature take it’s course” mantra ( all references to this have now been ‘wiped’ by the Andy Coulson spin machine. You used to be able to find loads of them about a year ago, fortunately after much searching I found the one below.) Yes, the debt would be less, but the population would be a lot worse off and there would be little hope of recovery for decades. Just a pity Lord Young is about eight months too late to say it. I wonder will he be saying it in six months time. I disagree with him in the context of the poor. The poor have never had it so bad and it's about to get alot worse. It's alot more difficult today to live on JSA today, than say 20 years ago. Utility bills and travel take up a higher proportion of JSA today than then. 20 years ago. I could save a little money each week but I doubt I'd be able to do today, in fact I know I couldn't and would more than likely be falling deeply into debt. It’s good to see some of the Tory old guard like Lord Young and Lord Heseltine out in force. Hopefully they’ll knock that young whippersnapper David Cameron into shape and show him the Tory manhood ropes in ‘How To Have A Recession Properly’. Unemployment Rates 1971 - 2010-11-19 http://www.statistics4u-uk.com/html/unemployment_rate.html http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/Unemployment-rate.aspx?Symbol=gbp UK Interest Rates http://www.tradingeconomics.com/economics/interest-rate.aspx?symbol=gbp Let Nature Take It’s Course – Andrew Marr Show http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/andrew_marr_show/7984096.stm Repossessions since 1990 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10620980 Answered By: Vote Stevie O Jay – Silver or Peace? Peace or Silv - 11/21/2010

It will hurt the poorest in the country, Although we realise it is a world economic crisis our coalition government is using it to get rid of a lot of stale expenses. The problem is there will be a lot more people sent into the poverty trap when the wave of new redundancies and cuts come into play, home owners could lose their homes, mean while the rich will be buying up the property a knock down prices and make a mint on the rents they will be charging. Nothing new there then. Answered By: Sunny Day - 11/21/2010

If you don't feel that you never had it so good, let big mama give you hug to cheer you up Answered By: u 2 can have a body like mine - 11/21/2010

Most politicians (now days) are completely out of touch with the people. They live in luxury and don't have to cut back on their spending as normal people do & have. They don't worry about paying the electric or anything else on that level. When our president Obama goes on a trip, he takes a small town of people with him. when he went to India he took 3,000 people and the tax payers footed the bill. After his trip the treasury decided to print 1 trillion dollars of new money. P Answered By: † PRAY † - 11/21/2010

What he said was insensitive and has, surprise surprise, been used out of context. He was actually talking about people with large mortgages. It was correct he resigned, something no Labour Minister did. As for the toffs, I think you will find the majority of all the 3 main parties Ministers are from an exclusive background, not just the Coalitions. Answered By: John D - 11/21/2010

ALL governments are out of touch with reality. Answered By: Fred Smith - 11/21/2010

Labour were far out of touch more to the point of being arrogant rude and insensitive to what the people needed, they didnt need mass immigration. were a credit nation thats for sure, if being up to the eyeballs in debt for crap we can live without is having it good then maybe lord young is right. this is nothing like the days of mum pretending not to be in when the rent man came. you cant get tick for the things we need to survive, like paying the breadman next week or the butchers. Answered By: sodding chips - 11/21/2010

They are out of touch and acting like King Canute trying to beat back a rising tide. In a democracy where we choose our government, it is crazy to think that had we known they were going to cut spending, especially benefits, and public sector jobs, they would have been elected. The state sector accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity for the whole of the UK and most of the people who vote are on some benefit and depend on the state for jobs. It's like asking Turkey to vote for Christmas. It would never happen (they are muslims I think). We will have Labour back the next time round because they will restore all the benefits we richly deserve and create all those nice council jobs again. Answered By: The Circus Bearded Lady - 11/21/2010

Of course they are. The elite does not have any common sense otherwise they would live in the real world and be struggling like everyone else is. However people are fighting back and they can't cope with it, ride on power to the people! Answered By: musicrulesok - 11/21/2010

Jason i would agree with you but the fact is he said the poor had never had it so good, now the poor despite what you see on tv do not have the latest gadgets and clothes in fact they can barely afford food also yes i would agree they are out of touch completley but at least clegg is going to get destroyed next election me thinks cameron might just have planned this Answered By: Daniel - 11/20/2010

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