Sponsored by
Social care
LINCOLN'S famous statement, 'You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you can not fool all the people all of the time' should continually resonate within a democracy.
Within an electoral climate that is beginning to take on a fevered and unreal state it is particularly relevant.
Locally, Henry Smith, leader of the county council, recites a list of Conservative pledges of support for pensioners in his latest offering in the County Times. The list does not bear serious scrutiny.
The following observation from an highly informed commentator is worthy of consideration, 'The 2007 Pensions Act provides for a restoration of the link with earnings inflation by 2015, yet even before this starts the Conservatives claim it may be unaffordable'. The link was severed, with disastrous effect, by the Thatcher Government.
Even within the political boundaries that circumscribe their activities, specialist charities have made obvious their irritation and distaste at the Conservative Party's absenting itself from attempts to forge a consensus in response to the pressing need for funding social care for the elderly.
The Conservative plans that Henry alludes to appear to be little more than tentative exploration of a choice of voluntary insurance schemes, poorly costed and seemingly far short of what is required.
Behind any consideration of this nature stalks the image of a party that is fixated on reducing public finance and the national deficit, irrespective of whether this prompts a further, devastating effect on the UK economy.
This is the party that heads the county council that has just savaged the youth budget, in spite of knowledgeable warnings by political colleagues as well as opponents, of perceived deleterious effects, including increased costs elsewhere.
ERIK SHOPLAND
Denne Road, Horsham
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Horsham
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Thunderstorm
Temperature: 14 C to 26 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
