490,000 jobs to go - count 'em!

[Rum]

So Osborne does his magic.

# About 490,000 public sector jobs likely to be lost
# Average 19% four-year cut in departmental budgets
# Structural deficit to be eliminated by 2015
# £7bn in additional welfare budget cuts
# Police funding cut by 4% a year
# Retirement age to rise from 65 to 66 by 2020

And the private sector is going to pick up the slack? Don't make me laugh. This is going to be a drab five years.

[RuleBritannia]

FUBAR

[Clinton Huxley]

As long as the Tories get to offer even a token tax cut just before the next election, it is a price worth paying.

[beige]

This is why learning foreign languages is a good idea. When everything goes tits up, I can abandon ship and flee to a slightly more sensible country.

[Rum]

The whole country is in the process of 'downsizing' I fancy. Poverty beckons for many, whatever language they speak here.

[Pappa]

My job ultimately relies on public money... even worse a large proportion of the income my company earns is from S4C (which is facing a 25% funding cut)... so the company is in a potentially precarious situation. I really want to jump before it sinks.

[JimC]

This is why learning foreign languages is a good idea. When everything goes tits up, I can abandon ship and flee to a slightly more sensible country.

Have you learned Australian yet?

[Rum]

My job ultimately relies on public money... even worse a large proportion of the income my company earns is from S4C (which is facing a 25% funding cut)... so the company is in a potentially precarious situation. I really want to jump before it sinks.

I really do wonder if they have factored this in enough. Close to 40% of the economy is public sector and it is higher the further away from London you go basically. Just where I work there are small shops, from newsagents to sandwich places which rely on people in my office block for their living. If we cut our workforce by 15%, which I think is likely, and people are making their own lunch to save money etc. the knock on effect will not be marginal.

In addition I don't see any strategy in place to encourage the private sector to develop and 'fill the gap' employment wise.

[Rum]

This is why learning foreign languages is a good idea. When everything goes tits up, I can abandon ship and flee to a slightly more sensible country.

Have you learned Australian yet?

Linguistic skill far beyond my capabilities would be required Jim lad!

[Mr P]

Well thanks to the defence cuts I'll be having a lot mre free time soon