JFZ90,
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I thought I would offer the following comments in response to your statement that "cuts" are going to be "too quick, too deep, too fast".
First of all these cuts are made by a coalition government, two of the 3 main political parties are putting the package together. In addition, even the Labour party admit (at least most do) that the budget deficit needs to be tackled, it is the "when and how" they disagree on.
In Oct 2010 the UK public sector debt was £850 odd billion. Taking figures from the BBC news report for the June 2010 budget (which may not be totally up to date), the coalition aim to reduce public borrowing to £149Bn 10-11, £116Bn 11-12, £89Bn 12-13, £60Bn 13-14, £37Bn 14-15, £20Bn 15-16. Presumably they aim to have it down to zero by the financial year Apr16-Apr17. Measures will mainly start to take effect from Apr 2011 onwards.
So by 2016 the overall debt will be 850+ (part of 149, the Oct-Apr part) + 116 + 89 + 60 + 37 + 20 = approx. £1,250Bn! Which will be over 100% of GDP.
The following link gives a graphic representation:
UK National Debt — Economics Blog
You will note that we have not owed over 100% of GDP since 1960, when we were still paying off WW2 debt.
Yes there are countries out there that owe more money as a % of GDP than us,
List of National Debt by Country — Economics Blog
but it is not an inspiring list we can take comfort from, and the more sensible are trying to reduce their debt.
If you think the actions taken in this country will be too severe than you should consider what will be forced upon us if the IMF have to bail us out, look what is happening in Greece to avoid this.
Finally, I fully realise that cuts will impact unfairly on the poorest in UK society, I myself was born and raised in a council estate, escaping through the social mobility provided by the now defunct Grammar School system.
However, consider the following facts, readily obtained through Google:
The UK population is approx 62 million.
There are approx 27 million households in the UK.
There are 31 million cars in the UK (on average 1 per household)
There are 10 million subscribers to Sky in the UK (some will be pubs/clubs, but overall nearly 1 per 3 households)
85% of adults in the UK own a mobile phone.
In 2007 UK residents took 44 million holidays overseas and 67 million holidays in the UK (111 million holidays for 62 million people, nearly 2 each).
So in general, every houshold in the UK has a car, mobile phones, 2 holidays a year, 1 in 3 watch Sky, and I never even bothered to check on such things as broadband connections, money spent at Xmas etc....
While cuts for the very poorest will no doubt be significant, and should be cushioned by a "progressive" government approach (but will they be?) for many people in the UK what they will be complaining about is their "unwillingness" to accept an enforced reduction in a "living standard" that is actually pretty bl**dy good by world standards.