Cameron's attempt to re-moralise the economy

Grumpy Optimist

Give me strength

lola

Oh gawd. It's not people and businesses that can't tell right from wrong - it's the nannying bloody government and its fellow travelling coercive bureaucracy that have that problem.

Rhoda Klapp

Oh now bloody what?

and I'll go to bed at noon

Completely pointless. If he's introducing new taxes or regulation, there's another reason for his party to hate him. If he's not, then he is, yet again, proposing to change society by tutting at it. I have rarely seen a man more chronically short of ideas. Not since Gordon Brown, in fact.

Jayu

So will he be supporting the faithfulness matters campaign? Will he urge his party to sign the EDM set up in the campaign's name by Labour MPs? This is a campaign against some dating sites who advertise themselves as facilitators of extr amarital affairs. If this is a conviction issue for Cameron then this is the type of amoral business practice that he should be railing against, not chocolate oranges.

RCE

Completely detached from reality.

Verity

I wrote OH GAWWWWWWD! before I read Iola above.

Cameron, close your weak little mouth and either shut up or lay an egg.

Havena Clew

Remoralise? They say we only get the politicians we deserve - I must've done something pretty bad!
So I might as well as have my say. For starters, I'd stop the 12 billion plus going out in foreign aid to countries with space programs and use it to begin to fund an updated form of national service and thereby:
1. Gradually increase the numbers in our armed forces, something we will need very soon.
2. Offer hope to all our young people, say between the ages of 16 - 25.
Two years in the service of your choice, training, a vocation, perhaps a special diploma at the end of it, and who knows, quite a few might want to stay in the forces.
Now what has Cameron done to deserve the likes of me and my crackpot ideas!
I wouldn't say re-moralising is the way to go - we need to re-energise.

tonyb

Perhaps he should re moralise himself dirst

Man in a Shed

So will that morality cover selling our children into debt ? The parasitic state ? State sector gold plated pensions and the theft from the poor to pay for them ? Signing over billions to foreigners bypassing parliament ? Not for filling your manifesto pledges on referendums ? Lying about your expenses ? The green theft from the fuel poor ? Or is it just to save your career for a few more years by triangulating with brain dead Guardian/BBC consumers in the hope of a few votes whilst destroying the countries future by debasing the whole basis for wealth creation in this country ?

Rhoda Klapp

Re-moralising society. From the people who brought you the expenses scandal. James, you should have told the weasel who fed you this one it was far too daft to put your byline on it.

havena clew

Man in a Shed - very well said, with you all the way.

edgeplate

Will this be done in conjunction with a Happiness Survey or will the survey be done after to monitor its effectiveness?

Publius

This from the man that brought you the 'cast iron guarantee'?

Physician heal thyself!

Writeangle

The concept of re-moralising society coming from our politicians is laughable at best. Anybody remember the expenses saga? They were virtually all at it including most present MPS who are in office. Anybody considered the activities of MPs and lobbying? Morals lessons from politicians - whatever next!

strapworld

Mr Forsyth, will you write ANYTHING this lot ask you? This is so ridiculous. Cameron has proved to be a tool of the EU and, thus, opposes a free and democratic United Kingdom.
The man should be removed as soon as possible if the tory party want to be re-elected.

MajorFrustration

Can we stop all this moralising claptrap and just run the country. Sort out the Home office and MoD reduce overseas aid and no funds for Europe via IMF. The last supposed uplift in IMF "capital"in I think 2009 which Gordon Brown hailed as a world saver has still to be implemented - well certainly by the USA - proposal still to go before Congress,

Andy H

How about remoralizing Government?
Why do they harp on about employment, whilst taxing it and making it harder for employers.

The Government implements Social Security, so why does it need to interfere with the relationship between employer and employed?

Paul Danon

This is the socialists' attempt to blame capitalism for all our woes. If government had regulated properly, taxed moderately and borrowed sparingly, we'd not be in this mess.

teledu

Man in a Shed. You've said it all mate: spot on.

Noa.

"There'll be those on the right who don't like this..."

You obviously knew what the response from the Speccies posters would be and you won't have been disappointed.
But Saturday is of course the traditional day for those of a sporting temperament to kick a lot of balls about.

Olu Ojedokun

Lets allow David Cameron to keep on aping Ed Milliband. Ed leads, Dave follows….

RKing

"Moral Markets"???

Is this coded talk for some kind of Knocking shops
or can you buy it by the pound or kilo?

Right On

Thank heavens for a Conservative Prime Minister. Now if only we could find one. What a spineless joke Cameron has become.

Rhoda Klapp

Even TD isn't defending this one..or is he?

libertarian

Do shut up Cameron you utter utter utter spineless moron.

Please can we find a politician with some backbone a semblance of common sense and a willingness to get out of the way and let those of us that can, do .

Heartless P.

The H2B and Morality are so far apart as to be impossible to reconcile.

If he has any shred of understanding, he would grasp the need to get us out of the EUSSR market into which we are penned, awaiting slaughter.

Barry Bilge

"A country where individuals, or businesses, can't tell the difference between right and wrong has fundamental problems."

This is a problem of poor lawmaking, overlapping laws leading to confusion and poor law enforcement, not one of morals. Parliament, the Police, Government and watchdogs simply need to get their fingers out. We saw what a malign influence a toothless watchdog keeping its eyes closed did for the finance industry. Only after the freeze in money markets did the FSA happen to find plenty of dodgy goings on to prosecute.

Politicians are the last people you would pick to be preaching morality and the economy is not the plaything of Dave and his advocate campaigning NGO chums. I do wish Dave and Ed would stop trying to be NEF's bezzy mate, Oxfam's biggest fan, Greenpeace's number 2, etc. If Dave wants to introduce such wet nonsense let him put it in a manifesto and call an election.

Verity

Bring on Marine le Pen!!!!!!!!!!!! I think the French political class is going to be shocked to their orteils at the volume of votes she is going to draw.

And the heroic Geert Wilders will, I bet, double his votes in Holland at their next election.

Bring on Nigel Farage!! There is now no one else in Britain to vote for.

Time to change the rheumatoid, moribund political landscape of Britain and Europe.

oldtimer

"Remoralising the economy"...is this what taxing plastic bags was all about? Or is there something far more sinister being planned to control all our lives?

TomTom

Bring back David Laws to start a campaign of Moral Leadership and initiate an Order of The Wisteria to be given to persons of outstanding virtue !

xenophon

Since the modern Conservative party has espoused the moral relativism of New Labour and rejects the historic morality of the Christian faith which has largely undergirded our culture and legal system in the past, any talk of remoralising from them is completely vacuous.

ButcombeMan

All been said before (Yawn) & when Cameron was in short pants. Give me strength. I do not want gimmicks and playing to the gallery, I want good solid political management and a smaller state. Please get on with it.

"the unpleasant and unacceptable face of capitalism"
(Ted Heath)

Cynic

"One of the great challenges facing Britain is how to re-moralise society." Well, IDS has come out and said that it's wrong to say that living together is the equal of marriage, so that's a start.

2trueblue

Give us a break, go have a nice coffee, think and then speak. In the meantime we will just carry on living. Let us rest.

Roy

This moralising doesn't make sense. You are in business to make a legitimate pound or two. To make a living and if possible obtain some items of interest or luxury. Meanwhile you are taxed on your after expenses income, you supply work for others, and start a snowballing effect in your buying for the business. In what way can any moralising come into this? Bankers and bureaucrats alike are in it for the money to be made. Governments; who can't make a dime out of anything, should keep out of it, and above all, restrain from moralising.

FvH

This is getting desperate now

So Steve Hilton calls James F - "here's the line - moral markets - Dave making a lovely, lovely speech about ethics, morals and all those splendid things"

Things are clearly getting pretty desperate inside the No. 10 bunker if this sub-redEd s**t is the best they can come up with

I'm off to listen to Kate Hoey !!

Nicholas

Cameron, you fatuous booby, I suggest you go to a medium and channel any one of the Anglo-Saxon Kings of England who will give you better advice for governing England effectively than all this "I am modern man therefore I am" arrogant bullshit you peddle.

This country thrived pre-Cameron and will thrive post-Cameron. You are not the answer to everything. You are just a mortal man from a very privileged background and a pretty mediocre one at that. Enough with the finger wagging and tut-tutting already!

TomTom

""the unpleasant and unacceptable face of capitalism"
(Ted Heath)"

That pertained to Duncan Sandys, Tory MP and Chairman of Lonrho being paid in The Cayman Islands at the time of Pricves & Incomes policies....but the Cayman Islands are still a tax haven

bojimbo

DaveyBoy , none of the " marketeers " are listening . ( If they are , it's " up yours " ) .

Rhoda Klapp

I see James is still trying to flog this one on my telly right now. Blimey.

Verity

Andy H - "How about remoralizing Government?
Why do they harp on about employment, whilst taxing it and making it harder for employers."

Because they've never employed anyone except a foreign cleaner. They've never run a business. They've never run a team of Boy Scouts. They have never run a bloody thing. What have Cameron or clone Clegg ever actually run, as a manager? They don't have the discipline or the broad foresight or canny business sense to run anything, which is why they think the goverment of the UK is all about them.

Verity

Business leaders usually have strong personalities. David Cameron has, essentially, no personality, except of the condescending Notting Hill variety. His face is bland, with no character etched into it. He doesn't appear to have any personality. He cares nothing for our country, our history or our people. He is simply ambulatory greed. No wonder he couldn't win an election even after 11 years of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. This isn't mentioned often enough. He couldn't win an election after 11 years of the most destructive, disasterous governance in living memory.

michael

DC knows that the fastest way to re-engage moral (most ordinary) businesses is to deregulate.
Purely because the immoral ones circumvent these rules rendering them useless.

jon dee

Labour's re-moralising is underway, and as ever, it presents negativity wrapped in a confusion of sound bites.

First Miliband and now Alexander rolling out the bandwagon in favour of the St Paul's protesters, with their good friend, the BBC in strong support.

Of course neither miss an opportunity to talk the country down, while insisting the support of millions.

Perhaps its mean to suggest comparisons with Obama's support for Occupy, but the opaque messages and grandstanding seem suspiciously similar.

John Wrexham

Cameron is just recognising an obvious fact that most economic decisions have a moral component e.g. laying off workers or accepting lower profit figures is a moral choice as well as a business one. How we decide what our priorities are as individuals, families, businesses, and society is usually more than will this make me,us, the company or the whole nation richer, so can't see why everyone is getting so apoplectic and thinking the pm has turrned into a pinko guardianista.

Dimoto

Is Cameron trying to reinvent "moral rearmament" (circa 1938) ?

All of this, because the same small group of tosspots who formed a "camp" and were eventually ejected, from Parliament square, have continued their witterings at St Pauls.

Something is certainly deeply rotten in Downing St. Who comes up with this crap ?

Jon K

This is why Cameron should definitely urge his party to get behind the Faithfulness Matters campaign which is standing up against websites which encourage people to have affairs. So far labour have made all the running on.

He should have a word with George Osborne who is speaking at the National Business Awards on Tuesday night - an event where one of the finalists is Global Personals, who run websites like Marital Affair. Surely this is not legitimate business for a responsible company?

For more check out www.faithfulnessmatters.net

Maurice Gosfield

Actually, Guido has a really good piece on this over on Order-Order. The whole post is worth reading but this extract encapsulates his argument:

"Capitalism with the risk being taken with Other People’s Money has the same fundamental problem associated with socialist governments spending Other People’s Money. Why worry if it isn’t your money?"

There's a serious and necessary debate to be had on this and it's not going to happen if the usual suspects above allow their antipathy to DC to dismiss it the idea out of hand.

Sir Everard Digby

Politicians and morality -a tenuous relationship at best. I thought we had spent 1997-2010 being moralised by New Labour? That should give us all a very clear idea of what the political solution for morality is like.

Perhaps Cameron etc would like to review their own take on morality which appears to be along the lines of 'It is legal,unless you get caught'

Based on their expenses claiming activities alone, they have no right to direct anyone in moral amtters.

David Holmshaw

"David Cameron is planning to start talking about..." A man of action, clearly!

HenBroon

As he stabs Scotland in the back. Cameron is a treacherous little posh boy, who the Scots will never forgive. He joins Thatcher in histories sewer.

Oliver

Cameron has to go soon

Martin

Get the state out of the way and there it is: a "moral" economy.