462 Responses to “Oxford West and Abingdon”

1. richard

   Wouldn’t those areas have degraded in any case because of the general economic and demographic changes in London?

   Although perhaps at a slower rate.

   After all haven’t many privately owned middle class areas in adjacent areas followed a similar path?

   January 26th, 2013 at 12:52 pm
2. H.Hemmelig

   Yes that’s a fair point.

   If councils in the 1980s had at least been able to use profits from council house sales to build more houses, we would not have the astronomical housing benefit bil we have today, to the huge benefit of private landlords, who themselves greatly contributed to the property bubble.

   Despite nominally losing out somewhat myself, part of me hopes the government will let the interest rates rise so these people get what they deserve…..but unless they are so convinced of losing that they don’t care, they won’t.

   January 26th, 2013 at 12:59 pm
3. THE RESULTS

   ”Are there many middle class areas in Bootle or do you stick out rather?”

   Parts of Crosby that are in the Bootle constituency are still rather middle-class, but alas I now live in Waterloo which is categorically working-class. But my roots lie in a comfortable road of Crosby (Which ironically lies in the Bootle constituency) so therefore I am not what you could call blue-collar.

   The most middle-class ward in the constituency is undeniably Victoria. The next most affluent is probably Church, and then you get the safe Labour working-class wards- Ford, Litherland, Derby, Linacre, Netherton and Orrell, St Oswald. Simply put the only areas of anything approaching affluence in the seat Joe R are places outside of Bootle itself.

   January 26th, 2013 at 1:01 pm
4. richard

   Results

   Do you know RodCrosby?

   January 26th, 2013 at 1:41 pm
5. richard

   “to the huge benefit of private landlords, who themselves greatly contributed to the property bubble.

   Despite nominally losing out somewhat myself, part of me hopes the government will let the interest rates rise so these people get what they deserve”

   Be careful HH you’re sounding too much like me 😉

   January 26th, 2013 at 1:44 pm
6. THE RESULTS

   Can’t say I do know him Richard, no.

   January 26th, 2013 at 2:49 pm
7. H.Hemmelig

   Richard

   I personally wish Cameron and Osborne had been more honest about the scale of mess we are in before the 2010 election, then they wouldn’t have had need for so much lying and misinformation. I fear however that they would have been slaughtered in the election had they stood on a proper austerity platform so you can kind of understand where they are coming from.

   It does however mean that lies are going to come back and bite them hard on the arse. I fear the worst one will be that hideous airbrushed poster “I will cut the deficit not the NHS”. That is two lies rolled into one – he isn’t cutting the deficit and he is cutting the NHS. It was very foolish to have made that promise IMO because it was impossible to keep.

   January 27th, 2013 at 12:10 am
8. swanarcadian

   With respect, HH, isn’t is more a case of Cameron and Osborne not knowing the scale of the mess we were in until they got into office?

   “There’s no money left.”

   January 27th, 2013 at 8:43 am
9. Merseymike

   Being partisan, though, as you are, the economy was starting to recover and Osborne’s policies have seen it flatline at best, and potentially triple-dip into recession at worst

   January 27th, 2013 at 11:42 am
10. H.Hemmelig

    “With respect, HH, isn’t is more a case of Cameron and Osborne not knowing the scale of the mess we were in until they got into office?”

    The horrendous ticking timebomb of private debt had been ballooning since around 2002 and was there in black and white in publically-available data for many years before 2010. I can only conclude that, like the Labour party, the Tories didn’t think it mattered very much and that consumers paying their debts off wouldn’t severely impede growth in the coming years.

    The scale of government debt and the unstoppable rise of the PSBR was a matter of public record since the end of 2008.

    January 27th, 2013 at 12:17 pm
11. richard

    “There’s no money left.”

    There always seems to be plenty of money for Cameron to spend on his pet projects, give to any foreigner he meets and throw at any temporary political problem.

    January 27th, 2013 at 12:40 pm
12. richard

    “the Tories didn’t think it mattered very much and that consumers paying their debts off wouldn’t severely impede growth in the coming years.”

    Osborne’s 2012 budget was based upon an increase in household debt of £500bn by 2015.

    He merely assumed that increasing household borrowing would replace decreasing government borrowing.

    The common theme though is that none of the political overclass – Brown, Ball, Cameron, Osborne et al – sees nothing wrong with the country living £100bn+ beyond its means each and every year.

    That they’re now doing it alongside their austerity machismo rhetoric takes the madness one stage further.

    The question now is merely under which government it all falls apart. The Cameroons before 2015 or the Eds by 2020.

    It’ll be fun to watch but not so much fun to experience.

    January 27th, 2013 at 12:46 pm