'We did get things wrong' - George Osborne INTERVIEW and DISCUSSION - BBC Newsnight

[@harryjones3821]

The only reason he protected OAPs from austerity was because he needed to make sure he got the votes of the category of people who voted most.

[@markramsden5101]

well if your lot had money in the bank when the markets arounf the world collapsed we would be in this shit idiot get your facts right labour always and will fuck everything up like always spend and tax until its all gone and with this Marxist clown who want to get in power hell take us over the cliff

[@theLukedishwasher]

mark ramsden what is it you don’t like about equality, fair distribution of wealth and investment in the nations’s future rather than a zombified economy of rich bankers and elite property owners surrounded by indebted, poorly housed, poorly paid paupers with no stake in society? Don’t let the “Marxist” label fool you - it’s a scam you know to keep things the way they are. Honestly, it’s true and they are delighted to have you on board.

[@harryjones3821]

@@markramsden5101 what's that got to do with my comment? I was just commenting on a policy choice, not reasons for the 2008 crash?

[@mango4ttwo635]

@@markramsden5101 Jesus, learn to write

[@mango4ttwo635]

Spot on! When Labour offer free uni tuition that previous generations took for granted, it's a bribe, when Tories shower the old with money and artificially pumped up house values, what? Not a peep from the press. Let's be frank, not from the BBC, either

[@shamanahaboolist]

Didn't do anything to address wealth inequality did you Osborne.

[@lordlogic3190]

shamanahaboolist inequality is currently at its lowest level for 30 years

[@shamanahaboolist]

@@lordlogic3190 False

[@shamanahaboolist]

@Stouffer The 70's saw the greatest increase of wealth and opportunity for the working classes we've ever seen.

[@lordlogic3190]

shamanahaboolist lool you need a history lesson

[@miraclmaker]

Stouffer half that decade was tory rule, labour has lowest unemployment ever during that decade too. Last I checked it was the banks that crashed the economy, not the nhs or welfare state. Also the tories have tripped the national debt.

[@fellovergen]

Smugness and arrogance personified

[@mhl8396]

What's he got to be smug about?

[@jfulton6338]

Don't be so hard on Polly Tuscany Toynbee!

[@sbor2020]

Did you notice Mr Osborne's sneaky distortion of Marxist economics? Referring to 'extending capital' through wages and pensions; try telling someone on zero hours contracts that they are capital investors.

[@jasonosborne3602]

Where's his crack pipe

[@markshirley01]

George Osborne simply made the poor pay for rich people's greed.

[@fatrick5004]

How can the poor pay anything? They are poor, they have nothing. You can't rob people who have nothing

[@markshirley01]

@@fatrick5004 they paid with austerity?

[@LabRat6619]

So true.

[@fatrick5004]

@@markshirley01 austerity being less handouts? All austerity means is living within our budget. Or trying to. So the only people who suffer are those taking from the system. Now, some people deserve help. Others ponce. The ponces take away resources that we could be spending on those who really need it. Hopefully austerity will force the ponces to get off welfare and thus free up cash for others.

[@markshirley01]

@@fatrick5004 genius - I didn't think of that well done.

[@mango4ttwo635]

I remember the last week tweet of Cameron before Election 2015. Either choose stability and strong government with me, or chaos with Ed Milliband. What happened Mr Cameron?

[@benusmaximus3601]

The British people voted to leave the European Union against his advice, their fault, not his...

[@gethcreator751]

@Slater Slater he might be spineless but I have to give cameron credit for delivering the referendum he promised

[@gethcreator751]

@Slater Slater oh it was a shambles but he promised us a referendum if we voted him in and he delivered and we chose freedom from EU tyranny

[@J03fifaFTW]

The tories were shit and are still shit, but labour, fucking labour has turned socialist under a sick man that hates our country.

[@mathieuleader8601]

I'd take Miliband

[@Hoodoo123]

Reptile makes my skin crawl.

[@TheGava4]

Hoodoo why reptile??.....not tosser?

[@Hoodoo123]

@@TheGava4 - i can think of many, many words for him...

[@jasonosborne3602]

I agree repellent

[@jasonosborne3602]

@@Hoodoo123 crack head drug addict

[@GreenerHill]

Very funny, but a bit unfair to reptiles!

[@AaronJCassidy]

If anyone, at any point, thought that the Tories are in politics for anything other than themselves, you're a fool.

[@tokeytowells]

tories always take a hardline, non-compassionate view regardless of who gets in their way, including the disabled. They have no concept of real life on the streets. They're a despicable lot and Cameron and Osborne have proved perfect examples of that. I remember Jeremy Paxman saying that Cameron has been the worst PM Britain has ever had.

[@geesus77]

George Osborne's name will be written and remembered for the disgrace he's inflicted on hard working British people.

[@rasputinswalloper475]

Really? Just wait till you get Corbyn ... you'll be buying bread with a large bag full of money ... Venezuela revisited.

[@seankelly3713]

Rasputin's Walloper yes because we are all doing so well under the tories, national debt up to almost 2 bn, more food banks thn ever before, along with brexit austerity killing off any feeling of togetherness as a country, worst health service by some distnace in the G7 and 19 in the G20, yep we are so happy under the tories. Not saying labour is the answer but the tories have made a complete mess of things and turn us into a basket case

[@seankelly3713]

2 TN

[@rasputinswalloper475]

@@seankelly3713 Did it ever cross your mind that the Tories inherited a mess from Gordon Brown's government? Policies regarding lax City regulation was a contributor to the free-for-all that led to the crisis. My observation is that Labour leaves a mess and Tories have to put in place unpopular measures to clean it up, leading once again to Labour ... a cycle that rinses and repeats like a washing machine. But Corbyn's policies are like no other in recent times, they hark back to the bleakest period in the UK's economic history. If you don't like it today, you ain't seen nothing yet. Then you'll understand what a basket case really looks like.

[@seankelly3713]

Rasputin's Walloper well not sure if you want to go back that far but M Thatcher deregulated the banks from the straight jacket the investment banks were put in after the 1929 crash and successive governments has continued to deregulate and we had a crash. The tories were pushing for more dereulation when before the crash. National debt was actually fallng under labour but many people buy the tories story that labour caused all this debt. Little story, banks crash we bail them out and forget who have we bailed out, the banks.? Well no, the rich as they have pretty much all their savings and investments in these banks and where do we get the money back from, oh yes the poor. AGAIN not saying labour has the answers and they probably dont but your arguments just dont stand up to any scrutiny and to take a position that this is all Labours doing is just wrong. Both parties have got us here and another little history story no country has ever got out of this level of debt without hitting the reset button. I know I work in banking I am afraid to say

[@dan_dorjay]

Well done Polly! Osborne blushed as you delivered your critique.

[@AnEnemy100]

They know they are wrong.

[@rasputinswalloper475]

Polly is a critic ... the easiest job in the world. You never have to deal with real issues or face difficult choices.

[@dan_dorjay]

@@rasputinswalloper475 not true, she's a journalist and if you read her column she proposes lots of positive policies too. Primarily she was arguing that you cannot cut your way out of a recession (austerity) and instead you have to grow your way out with investment in the real economy.

[@lennylaa1686]

Can't spend money you haven't got! ''SORRY! THERE'S NO MONEY LEFT!'' Labour 2010. Labour fucked the economy.

[@ja19ke82]

Tories supported labour spending right up to 2009.Google it.

[@theLukedishwasher]

George Osborne is oblivious to his unpopularity.

[@GreenerHill]

He's had therapy to make him forget the booing at the Paralympics. :)

[@GreenerHill]

@@davelong9055: Says the pub bore. Yawn.

[@GreenerHill]

@@davelong9055: That's not going to affect you, is it? You live in a rented bedsit which stinks of leaking gas. Walter Mitty twit.

[@GreenerHill]

@@davelong9055: Profound. Now would you like to borrow some money? Your landlord isn't going to fix that gas leak, you know.

[@GreenerHill]

@@davelong9055: Without wishing to be rude, you and the word "great" don't seem to go together.

[@roadend78]

Tories and empathy ?

[@sephwatson340]

empathy's overrated

[@roadend78]

@@sephwatson340 Tories only empathy is for their tax avoidance super rich chums ?

[@roadend78]

@@davelong9055 The NHS ?

[@roadend78]

@@davelong9055 The workers pay for it The rich dont use the NHS they pay NO tax with all their dough offshore ?

[@SirAmicVarze]

And of course he's still utterly clueless. I don't even know why I ever expect a Tory to be able to learn anything.

[@lindaharris6091]

Well done Polly xx

[@DONTSASSMEBOI]

Austerity was a disaster and didn't do anything for the economy. Awful politician.

[@johnmitchinson9577]

How the hell did Gideon Osborne become Chancellor of the Exchequer when he was so clueless on economics?

[@billgowland3250]

The old school tie .he has a second class degree in modern history in the real world he would just about qualify for a job as a supply teacher to infant schools

[@the_9ent]

Lol Polly obliterated him!

[@mark-shane]

haha she couldnt obliterate a flower, Left wing fantasist

[@bertiescunsbutch9323]

she's a smug well heeled marxist from a posh part of islington, a god awful ugly woman.

[@jfulton6338]

Polly is a champagne socialist who pre-rehearsed her little speech. It had all the effect of a damp fish!

[@paulbanks223]

Taking back control was not just about taking back control from the EU but also from the UK government too. The fact they worked against the British people constantly, put so much effort into the economy whilst dragging the country into now two trillion plus debt and failed to tackle any, any of the issues that brought about Brexit. Osborne took us to this two trillion debt (from £850 billion) whilst telling us how bad the Labour party borrowed and spent. I will say at least the Labour party rightly or wrongly pumped what they borrowed into welfare, public services etc etc , where did George spend his trillion plus? He did nothing but make cuts to welfare and services so where did the borrowed monies go? He also sold public property (without consultation or permission) so had even more in the kitty, so where did it all go? Brexit was not only about taking back control it was also about a once in a generation chance to stick two fingers up to the likes of Osborne. Yes we do need another referendum, a referendum on whether to abolish Westminster and replace it with something that actually does act in the countries interests.

[@iman2341]

I mean, didnt taking back control backfire pretty hard by giving the UK government control over the Brexit negotiations?

[@MellorDR]

Osbourne didnt suffer

[@jonathonjubb6626]

Did that nob insinuate that they changed the banking system????

[@michaelgardner5696]

Is that why they went bust,

[@sephwatson340]

They did separate parts of the UK banking system from international corporate structures, but widely agreed little systemic change occurred.

[@GreenerHill]

But never wrong for Osborne's own bank account!

[@GreenerHill]

@@davelong9055: You think I want to look like a bad Action Man? Go fuck your boring self.

[@benwarnock]

This was an awesome breakdown of the situation. Bravo to the producers and editors on this one.

[@ja19ke82]

He was the first hate speaker: "Shirkers' 'Hiding beheind curtains.' He set the tone and that wasn't necessary.

[@KIIXI]

So whats the penalty for it??....people usually get fired with a bad reference in normal working life...what about you Mr Osborne?

[@kazzimiareeve4882]

The education system is bad in England

[@Jackthesmilingblack]

You only have to look at the submissions of Internet correspondents. Forget grammar, no one below age 70 can spell.

[@gethcreator751]

Good enough that we can see the EU is a dictatorship

[@xtrahandz]

@@Jackthesmilingblack For me, as a 75 year old, that is so.

[@phildobson8705]

Problem with British education is Private education: children have *own desk & taught to best of their abilities* (even stupid ones can become politicians or CEO paid 140 x production worker just so they can communicate with other privately educated). State education: class goes by speed of slowest crowded table style, most destruptive rule & "so nobody gets jealous" no winning sports ( even most intelligent children end up needing mental health help)

[@phildobson8705]

@Aze Fan strange how private schools are called public school. But state schools comprehensive Which type of school did you mean?

[@nsoper19]

He's getting a lot of flack here in the comments section but I thought he did well in this video. I thought this was a lot more honest and real than most political interviews

[@Bullfrog377]

Many years ago I was travelling to Tuscany and got talking to a very attractive girl. She told me she was Polly Toynbee's nanny - on her way to Polly Toynbee's holiday home there. A woman of the people...….….

[@33Crazydude]

What a pathetic comment! 22:56

[@theLukedishwasher]

33Crazydude did you take her comment literally?

[@33Crazydude]

Nope, I took her comment as classic lefty dogma that’s often regurgitated by these imbeciles.

[@jasonosborne3602]

Where's his crack pipe

[@cosimocub]

Evening Standard is pure tack. Osbourne lacks class

[@anthonysteel6877]

Sickening hypocrisy.

[@LukeThompson28-A]

Come back George!!

[@more7861]

Three years of divisive downward spiral was due to the poor drafting of a referendum. The catch-22, over-simplified, wording of the referendum assisted Leave but created a poison pill. Leave was free to overstate benefits and ease of implementation to gain a temporary majority. Those benefits via mutually exclusive promises would inevitably split the majority into minorities. The requisite ease of implementation is only available with agreement. Crashing out causes chaos and doesn't fulfil "Leave the EU" without complex WTO participation.

[@jasonkingshott244]

Wonder why it has taken so long for Osborne to crawl out of the woodwork. Bit like the useless John major.

[@lindafisher3356]

Goodness me, what has got into Ewan Davis,? he is actually behaving like a proper journalist and not following the usual BBC bias of slavishly following the government line. I am almost sorry he is going now, but let's hope the trend continues of interviewing politicians properly!

[@laxeystu8096]

If you watch his leader interviews on here, and others besides, he tried hard to get admissions out of them. Without sounding like he was aping a Paxman or Neil...

[@JAMAICADOCK]

Pensioners might have been ring fenced, but they are hardly living-the-life. High energy bills eat into most of their money, plus the cuts in home help and the NHS defeat the purpose of ring fencing pensions. And what do pensioners worry about the most? Their grandkids and kids. They see their kids and grandkids struggle and end up giving them money. They also worry about rising crime-rates, or getting burgled, or mugged. They've also seen libraries, post offices and banks close. It's not like the Grey Vote lives in splendid isolation from the rest of society. They have felt the Tory cuts more than most.

[@zsht]

Spent their entire tenure allowing the EU and Labour to take the blame for the fallout of their Tory policies.

[@fulloftruthguardian5420]

George Osborne didn't want the referendum. The decision to hold the referendum is what split the Conservative goverment and the nation.

[@targetedwhelm1042]

FullofTruth Guardian should not have ever been called. Far too complicated for the average person understand and vote on and too important to leave these kind of decisions to those individuals

[@gethcreator751]

@@targetedwhelm1042 ofc it should of been called, the people spoke, we are leaving

[@fulloftruthguardian5420]

@@targetedwhelm1042 well it just became an opportunity to kick the government didn't it?

[@targetedwhelm1042]

FullofTruth Guardian you’re absolutely correct. As much a referendum on Westminster than Europe

[@fulloftruthguardian5420]

@@targetedwhelm1042 The referendum result ended getting the existant government to resign, it made the HOL relevant again (despite it being the biggest unelected body in the world it would seem) and has changed nothing in Bruxelles.

[@redword2007]

Osborne is certainly despicable, but so is Toynbee for her constant undermining of Corbyn and Labour, which are the only solution to all the Tory damage.

[@lordlogic3190]

George Osborne was a very competent chancellor. People on both the left and further right are losing it.

[@theLukedishwasher]

Lord Logic very competent for the few, disastrous for the many.

[@steveclayton4249]

Why do we have career politicians as chancellor of the Exchequer. Osborne was the worst of the lot. Get somebody in who's financially qualified to be there.

[@billgowland3250]

In the real world people who use aliases (George instead of his birth name Gideon ) usually turn out to be con artiste's

[@Jamie_Johnson]

Well said Polly this man is vile

[@tidbit1877]

Austerity is always the slowest way out of recession. It hurts the poorest people, lowering their wages; and helps the rich with corporate tax cuts and new loopholes for the rich elite so they pay less tax. The result of austerity in the long term will be a second, much much larger, recession.

[@AdamSmith-de5oh]

That's just... not how economics works. When you have a recession it's due to business not performing well enough to sustain the population. To fix the economy you need to help businesses. One way is through tax cuts. When businesses have more money, they can invest more money, which usually means employing more people which means more money for working people.

[@DONTSASSMEBOI]

time hasnt been kind to this view smh@@AdamSmith-de5oh

[@rosscom2272]

George Giddeon Osborne is The Goat of Mendes. A ghastly man.

[@jasonosborne3602]

Where's his crack pipe

[@gkelly34]

The working class areas of the north and wales will suffer more than anyone else after Brexit as we all know, but this time, because they generally voted for it, no one will care. Britain is now home to the top 10 poorest areas in Northern Europe. Sad

[@gethcreator751]

Nobody cared anyway. We would rather be poor masters than rich slaves, fortunately we can be rich masters once we leave, don't know if you've checked but simce the brexit vote jobs in the North have increased a lot

[@gkelly34]

Geth Creator stop spouting Tory propaganda bullshit. They are just laughing at you. There will be winners in this game mate, and trust me, it won’t be you!

[@jfulton6338]

We don't "all" know: stop thinking you speak for everyone. The EU has created poverty in Southern Europe and those Northern areas became poor during our membership of your "wonderful" EU. FOM just moves poor migrants from one struggling country to another slightly better off country for the benefit of multinationals: why do you think Corbyn is a Brexiteer? We are better off OUT.

[@mango4ttwo635]

Mr Osborne, history evens things out after a shock? What happened after the Wall Street Crash created Great Depression?

[@CBfrmcardiff]

Well, the Great Depression was the Great Exception. Throughout the whole thing, politicians and pundits were announcing that the economy was about to rebound... any moment now.... until of course WW2 pumped up demand - and America's economy has been broadly OK ever since. There's no agreement on why the Great Depression lasted as long as it did, or what would have happened had there been no Rooseveltian intervention or world war.

[@mango4ttwo635]

@@CBfrmcardiff There is never agreement on anything. But we can see parallels with pre 1929 crash to now. The extremes of wealth inequality within major nation states is higher than anytime since the 1920s - in fact, today it is worse. The 1920s stock boom (read bubble) was based largely on credit. Today, it is FAR worse thanks first to the deregulation of credit markets in the decades up until 2008, and since due to co-ordinated central bank money printing/negative real interest rates. There have been two great period shocks in the past 100 years. the first started in 1929, and ended with the fall of Nazi Germany. In the meantime, in many many countries, the "centre ground" was vacated, and it (that particular centre ground) did not return for generations. The next great shock came with economic recession/slump in the 1970s. Again, the "centre ground" - a different one - was dumped by voters, most famously in the UK and the US. We recently have the 2008 economic shock. The elites (which include the likes of Farage and Bo Johnson, but that's another story) have responded by pretending it never happened. Banks can't dole out huge loans, then central banks will do it: "money printing", ie central bank creation of digital money - negative real interest rates, bailouts. This has boosted asset values. How clever! Except, valuations of property and stocks are based on thin air. And people have yet to fully realise the mess that this "centre ground" has created. But even what we have noticed has resulted in Brexit and Trump. When the shot really hits the fan (when bond markets rebel or inflation means rates have to rise, when stock market and property bubbles pop sending valuations down by half, and the ensuing recession makes 2008-9 look like a cakewalk), then we will see what people's reactions can become.

[@deanl1108]

2 words universal credit

[@kamarulsaifulyazan7517]

economy or economics is never stupid, but the man in the economy or economics is!!

[@luihinwai1]

Osborne has hit the nail on the head. The problem is the return on capital is increasingly higher than the return on labour. The population think the root cause of this problem is globalisation, but in fact it is technology and automation. Machines are replacing humans for their jobs. If national governments attempt to redistribute wealth from capital to labour, by raising corporate tax and capital gains tax, then capital will just cross the national boundary and go to a nation with a lower tax rate. The only way to solve this problem is to have a global tax system and global wealth redistribution. This is in fact a global problem that can only be solved by a global solution.

[@WhateverMan35]

Who the hell is blaming technology and automation? There is no evidence that technology and automation have having a severe impact at this point in time. Christ, I even work in a semi-automated factory and in my department alone over £100K is spent every week on parts and repairs.

[@luihinwai1]

@@WhateverMan35 And how many people were working in the factory 50 years before the factory is semi-automated?

[@oliveroliver8720]

@@luihinwai1 How many years do you think it will take for the world to be any where near the position of creating a political and economic system that can offer a global tax & wealth distribution apparatus?

[@luihinwai1]

@@oliveroliver8720 As many years as it takes AI to perform all human tasks. So this is the scenario in the extreme, all human tasks can be performed by AI, and hence the share of income by capital is 100%. In this scenario, everyone gets an equal share of the wealth. Of course, this is just an extreme illustration but every year as AI gets better, the more there is a need for redistributing income generated from capital. As for the question of how humanity can work together as a whole to tackle this problem, I believe it will happen out of necessity, as the alternative will be so dire.

[@xtrahandz]

@@luihinwai1 One as heard this argument in the post-war period, the 1950s and 1960s,, with factories being fully or partly automated, automated, robots assembling motor cars, and with the rise of consumerism, any jobs lost to those machines could be balanced by te new jobs of repairing, servicing and maintaining all these extra consumer items. The problem is that the Government has very little interest in educating its citizens for their increased leisure,, They can't even manage to produce an educated and adaptable workforce. I do take issue with your original premise, for in my view there will always be the need for human intervention. Or do you forsee AI as being able to program itself? .AI will never be able to perform all human tasks, for example like giving birth - a strictly mamillian task.

[@frmcf]

This is a really interesting feature on how the BBC has understood and sculpted the news agenda in recent years. I'm not sure how well it represents reality. The first few minutes before the interview, I mean.

[@dembydish]

Did he say this is his last night as Newsnight presenter? Small mercies.

[@phildobson8705]

I'm so glad we made our own minds up about EU Champagne yacht party Remainer George Osborne, his predictions of instant Doom & voted to *LEAVE EU*

[@tommychuckles3227]

I will never vote for a mainstream political party ever again. I will vote UKIP or For Britain from now on.

[@ajp8941]

The idea was Osborne was ‘right wing’ is absurd. Osborne was simply a centrist compromiser.

[@nil_db]

More populism incoming

[@TooManyBrackets]

27:55 Ah yes, 2012 the Olympics Opening Ceremony.......Happy days!

[@Dissident82]

Everything this guy says the opposite happens. He’s a good marker if you want to know how the country is feeling.

[@maccagrabme]

I'd say they got almost EVERYTHING wrong, nearly every policy has made ordinary people worse off unless being reckless loading themselves up to the eyeballs with debt and capitalising on that. Those that are prudent have been absolutely shafted by the Tories. House prices doubled since they took office and almost zero affordable house building, mass immigration higher than the last party and illegal immigration out of control along with crippling cuts to every major public service to the point that they are almost completely ineffective, reckless quantitative easing and allowing wages to stagnate for a decade and the High street to be decimated! All this and lies from Cameron about being able to reduce EU immigration! Now they want to ignore the brexit vote and morph it into something we didn't vote for! They will find out the hard way at the next election just like Labour.

[@MarkJVSomers]

He sits there like a weasel, as if he doesn't realise you people think about him.

[@billgowland3250]

Er excuse me sir as a life long weasel I recent that remark .it is profoundly upsetting to myself and other weasels .to be cast in the same light as a turd like Gideon

[@cottingleybaby]

Great example here why Newsnight well shut of this presenter.

[@ianbetts4435]

George Osbourne did a good job. Remember Labour left to the country broke.

[@paulrichards4452]

Yes George did a great job at killing off the disabled.

[@hungarianpartyanthems9334]

They followed an economic policy which the Tories would have followed twice as zealously, and they had to deal with a massive economic recession from 2008 onwards. It was the Tories who destroyed British industry.

[@MrC-yh8yx]

All politicians should be forced to be responsible & accountable by law, I am, you are, and so should these poor examples of humanity.

[@miraclmaker]

I honestly think Gideon is less sleazy than this presenter

[@doubledragon1978]

Thank you to Polly for speaking up so passionately and eloquently or all those who have been unjustly and disproportiontly affected by Torry policies.

[@michaelwells7792]

Perhaps Evan stayed too long. Gideon ran the interview. He had no real come back on Polly’s points about austerity and although always a very good speaker, he should have been able to try to justify his actions as Chancellor. Very disappointed with the two women arguing instead of quizzing Gideon. Again, Evan should have been running the show instead of keeping Gideon out of the firing line.

[@kamarulsaifulyazan7517]

the imperialist govt can't even give fair cut to native britons, how could they be so generous and kind to give non-native origins royal treats!!!!

[@andyking7621]

Mark, a straw poll seems to support your view.

[@andrewspyrou9856]

Nosferatu interviews Hammer Horror Dracula.

[@lenno15697]

I would vote for George over any of those three clowns.

[@coderider3022]

For David and George, their failing was not appreciating New Labour media / marketing machine used to deliver policy. Idea of cuts were Seared to to the nations minds. George dispensed the financial medicine country needed but didn’t explain to the patient why it was important. Years later, disease was forgotten but legacy of cure lingered.

[@mango4ttwo635]

Osborne: Helping people own homes? What a fucking nerve! Home ownership is falling and any wonder. YOUR policies artificially inflated an already unaffordable housing market. Thanks a fucking bunch!

[@BarcombeBoy]

God, all that moving background stuff is a bit distracting, not to mention irritating.

[@Hydrocarbonman147]

Mark Dugan! The criminal with a gun that got shot by the police? well isn't life just so unfair!!

[@ramatgan1]

Now 'editor' of a down at it heels 'free' 'newspaper' that offers it's editorial for sale. A metaphor for the UK really.

[@cydoman8014]

Is the House of Commons a representative body or is it not? Has the UK been suckered into believing elections do more than decide who gets the job of representing all the people in the Constituency? Have they been deceived into thinking the person elected gets to choose who is heard and who is ignored? Do the citizens of the UK believe an elected official gets to decide who has a seat at the table when government takes an action that affects everyone, but only listens to the lucky few? If that is the actual legal case - that elected officials, once elected, have no obligation to represent ALL THEIR CONSTITUENTS, regardless of their party affiliation, wealth status, race, faith, gender, sexual identity, class and educational status - then the people of the UK have been bamboozled every bit as much as the Germans were about the intellectual fitness of Adolph Hitler. Citizens are either fully, completely, honestly represented or they are deprived of their rights. Not only are they deprived, but they are deprived in full view of the Nation. Watch for the ones who say their election has delivered a "mandate". This is an attempt to silence people from engaging in their rights. Watch for the officials who say "Elections have consequences" and then try to tell you that means you get no representation. Watch for the ones who want to "vote their conscience", vote their religious belief, vote their party line, vote the will of the people and yet cannot tell you what the will of their constituency is. Votes can and often are rendered useless, but only if the voters don't show up, don't insist on informed engagement, don't insist on being heard AND represented and don't watch their representatives like a hawk. A good person will do his or her job: represent all their constituents, not just those who voted for them. Maybe the people who get the job should only get that portion of the job consistent with their voting percentage? Who says that a winner take all approach is better than several winners of the vote get the job, and share the salary, share the staff, share the benefits, and share all the information? I suspect incumbents and those who use money and influence to obtain over representation in government may have hissyfits at the thought of sharing the power based on the vote tallies, but would it be worse than being strangled by idiots who, once in power, forget who put them there with a vote.

[@Jamal-Ahmed786]

austerity needs to happen. And that is on pensioners. Pensioners have had it too good for too long

[@1loubec]

you will be a pensioner one day just think on

[@gethcreator751]

No, they deserve what they paid in to

[@Jamal-Ahmed786]

@@gethcreator751 Pensioners are disproportionately getting more than what they paid in, while the working age folks have to suffer

[@gethcreator751]

@@Jamal-Ahmed786 idc, I'm working age but I'm not gonna see people suffer who have paid in all their lives and made the country what it is for people like me to live in. I do hate how politicians pander to the elderly for votes but I don't want to punish the elderly for what politicians do. We definitely should stop things like free bus passes and heating allowances to those elderly that are well off but majority aren't.

[@jimjoerobinson]

No one needs to suffer austerity except the ruling class. The top 1% own the majority of our wealth and they need to be brutally assaulted.

[@PeppyOoze]

Bring Paxo back.... or give Gavin's job to Osborne.

[@TooManyBrackets]

The OAPs looked at the austerity their children and grand children were experiencing and feared for their futures....hence Brexit. People wanted security for their families in the future.

[@RonWylie-gk5lc]

Time for these people to properly take the blame for what they have done, especially when it has cost a group of people already suffering a great deal more suffering, but when it comes to these people actually dying for the decisions they made so sweepingly their "get out of jail free" card should be revoked and they should be held to account. This awful public schoolboy and his classmates simply did what their masters wanted and made the rich richer while telling the rest of us we had to be poorer

[@kamarulsaifulyazan7517]

london today is like old delhi 5 decades ago!!!

[@Bullfrog377]

The returns to capital increased, at the expense of the returns to labour, due to the over supply of the latter, due to Free Movement. (How difficult is this to understand?)

[@HydroSnips]

Worth watching to see Osborne’s smug grin slip from his face as Toynbee pulls him to pieces, so he ends up looking rather nervous. Wouldn’t describe myself as a Polly Toynbee fan, but Osborne is absolutely loathsome and everything Toynbee says is spot on. If there were any justice in this country, the likes of Cameron, Osborne, IDS, Hunt and the rest would be in prison for a very long time for what they did to people - assisted of course by those scummier elements of the public who caped for them; the meek, obsequious, bootlicking ones who said “oh yes sir, thankee sir, more please sir” as the government took everything they have, and crippled their livelihoods (and probably fucked their wives).

[@cydoman8014]

How can citizens force government to work when keeping it dysfunctional carries no punishment to political parties and good decision-making via elections is mired in propaganda generated to influence emotional voting versus rational engagement? What motivates people to think rationally about the decisions they make in a democracy as they go about engaging in a government premised on the consent of the governed? The Brexit vote is an example of a Referendum based on faulty information, poorly constructed terms and poorly understood consequences. The "winners and losers" concept of that type of citizen vote is a big part of the flawed wording. The winner-take-all type of vote leaves no room for the citizens to constantly engage with their government's work on the decision. That builds in a loss of control by citizens over their government, which is a serious breach of citizen control and certainly not one which is compatible with a free people. It is the opposite of how modern businesses operate. If the modern car manufacturing business introduced a new car model, with an extreme departure from all previous models, the business, if correctly run, would maintain careful contact with everything to do with that model change, from start to finish. The greater the change in a business offering, the more care concerning that new product is needed. Why did the Referendum not have the same ingredients? When the Referendum was described as a decision to remain in the EU or leave, the choice was not paired in equal terms. The EU represents a trade agreement. It essentially defines how trade among historically separate nations could be based upon a collective agreement to remove barriers of trade and thereby, hopefully, produce an environment conducive to shared prosperity and shared wealth production. The Referendum pitted a choice for citizens which compared a current trade agreement, with known positives and negatives, with nothing except "Departure". The new trade agreement - which essentially did not exist, and still does not exist, is missing in the Referendum language. Brexiters did not vote for any trade agreement at all. They cannot possibly be considered to have voted for any course of action except to leave the EU, the current known trade arrangement, with no new trade agreement even promised. The choice was between stay with the established agreement or leave. Just leave - the way South Carolina in the US, decided to leave the Union and become a self-proclaimed nation on its own, recognizing no jurisdiction over its acts or actions. In that case, the voting citizens of South Carolina had a constitutional template readily available and South Carolina used It. It adopted the existing Constitution of the United States, modifying it to make slavery a permanent part of the Constitution. Everything else remained the same. The UK had no such template available for citizens to use even to think about what a new trade agreement would look like. The campaigners for Brexit claimed many things in the existing trade agreement with the EU would stay the same, but had no authority to make that claim as an existing component of the new trade agreement, for there was no agreement. Wishful thinking, opinions, hopes, were offered as if they were actually an existing reality, when they were not. How do citizens in the UK hold themselves and the campaigners responsible for producing a misleading Referendum? What are the consequences citizens must accept for not requiring further citizen engagement in this drastic change condition? And what are the citizens prepared to do to correct those who placed false choices to them to vote on? I read a research paper on the areas in Great Britain voting to leave which had been identified as having something called "bots" inundate and saturate the social media used by residents in that area. It surprised me to hear the May government said it could find no evidence that Russia had influenced the Brexit election. If that conclusion is based on rigorous investigation, who is responsible for that bot swarming and how truthful was the digital message conveyed?

[@jonathanwor]

Evan Davis, your contributions have been appreciated!

[@gokursx123]

I like the video.😊

[@neilpye6089]

Yes I am better apart from damaged tendons thanks for asking

[@dc3189]

Did Gollum actually save the Ring!

[@arthurpewtey]

The only good thing about being retired is that I know I won't have to put up with all this crap for too much longer. Jesus H Christ on a bike, these kind of people are the people we listen to and elect to positions of power? God help us all.

[@kamarulsaifulyazan7517]

stop comparing you with other nations or people, honey!! focus the real things in the UK!!! you have 4 seasons, brazil doesnt..they dont eat your food or speak english and think english, and vice versa....

[@benusmaximus3601]

The Iron Chancellor! Love him or hate him, at least he has the balls to tackle the huge problems Labour left us head on, no bullshit...

[@theLukedishwasher]

Benus Maximus are you aware of why the 2008 crash occurred and who ultimately benefited from the subsequent austerity measures? Both events resulted in a MASSIVE redistribution of wealth to the very top of our economy. Don’t let them fool you into blaming the very people who want to redress the balance, that would be a tragedy beyond belief.

[@Beliefish]

i dont agree wit the argument that austerity didnt helped brexit. first of all, without that minority of voters you cant get a 52-48 result. without them brexit simply wouldnt happen... second, the goverment may have not lower pensions, but the strong inflation in the past dacade did decrease them in real terms. so we can correctly assume, that austerity was the main reason for brexit if you had evro and you would properly tighten your belt at the begining of the crisis, like we did in the euro-area, your austerity would be finished much before brexit vote (and not whith this weeks budget :) ).

[@giovannaliviana505]

#LearnMMT

[@kazzimiareeve4882]

Chailey school is racist

[@mark-shane]

Ah Evan Davis off the screen .. maybe joining Corbyns Economic team

[@eddieb8337]

Usual BBC pro EU bias... 3 remainers v 1 leaver on the panel (4, if you include the presenter)

[@sleati4911]

Lots of strong opinions. What's the solution people? Let's hear your ideas and more importantly are you voting and working hard for your families under the current rules?

[@VIVABELLAVIVAHERMANO]

I would do Ash

[@maggieb9597]

I was one with blinds down because I was on nights.tories; lower than vermin

[@Carl-im9gh]

Now that leave won, Evan wishes he voted for Labour Hahahah.

[@heliotropezzz333]

How is Osborne progressive except in the progress of profits towards his wallet and the wallets of his wealthy fellow co-conservatives. I don't think he experienced any austerity personally.

[@heliotropezzz333]

@@davelong9055 Sorry to hear you are so rich you have to fear being taxed out of existence. Actually the rich are very good at avoiding tax. If he just stops some of the avoidance that would be good.

[@heliotropezzz333]

@@davelong9055 He's worked as a politician. He earns his money as leader of the opposition. Why aren't you calling similar Tory politicians parasites? Cameron also earned his money this way and has far more inherited wealth?

[@Tom_murray89]

He a Cameron didn’t care about the sick or disabled