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how much more they are earning than a garage
Autocorrect delivering again. If you're earning more than a garage, then you clearly have shedloads!
I see that Liz Truss is also on about amending or scrapping the Northern Ireland protocol, good to see that the tories are showing that if the DUP have a tantrum then they'll back them over the majority decisions in NI, i'm sure this'll do wonders for the continued peace over there.
In fairness the DUP did funnel a decent amount of money to the brexit campaign using the special laws designed to keep donors safe from terrorists so deserve some reward for their stupidity/shortsightedness.
didn't want to start a new thread but WTF is Gove doing on BBC Breakfast? He's even doing Harry Enfield type impressions!
didn’t want to start a new thread but WTF is Gove doing on BBC Breakfast?
Came here to ask this very question. He seems somewhat 'animated'.
https://twitter.com/JimMFelton/status/1524300250130882560
Meanwhile, in Suffolk:
🙂
good to see that the tories are showing that if the DUP have a tantrum then they’ll back them over the majority decisions in NI, i’m sure this’ll do wonders for the continued peace over there.
The only hope is that good old Boris does what he always does. Gives them a load of old flannel and then sells them down the river.
They're not a bright bunch, are they? They're like a particularly needy dog that gets repeatedly kicked but keeps coming back for more because he doesn't know what else to do. And after the elections they're even less relevant to him than ever. One day the penny will finally drop that the Tory party in Westminster doesn't give a flying **** about them.
Useful idiots
Another Tory - Lee Anderson - with his finger on the pulse. Apparently there isn't any actual need for food banks in this country. The reason people are struggling as they can't budget and they can't cook properly. He thinks you could survive on 30p a day for food
Last year Lee Anderson claimed £215,000 in expenses
https://twitter.com/PoliticsJOE_UK/status/1524394648831156224?s=20&t=ZHXzTy6W2uq3f8i8pefT0w
UsefulUseless idiots
LMFTFY
How much of those expenses is for food? I'm guessing that amount will cover salaries for staff? If it is just for food then absolutely agree he has no idea about costs for food and living...
Not work safe
DB it will be to cover the expenses of running an MPs office, however it will also include a lot of expenses the rest of us would pay ourselves, the rest of us have to pay our living expenses from our wages, many MPs pay for their living costs from their expenses and what they claim would be considered excessive in many cases, well beyond what most would consider reasonable for working away from home a lot.
Lee Anderson is a former Labour Party member who defected to the Tories because he claimed that he was being hounded by Momentum.
Momentum obviously had him well sussed out.
and what they claim would be considered excessive in many cases, well beyond what most would consider reasonable for working away from home a lot.
I’m thinking of Iain Duncan Smith saying he could easily manage on universal credit (53 quid a week at the time), then the Daily Mirror exposing he’d claimed 40 quid on expenses for his breakfast that morning at a London eatery
They’re utter *s who haven’t got the first *ing clue about how hard life is for a lot of people.
That’s understandable, to a degree, when you come from unbelievable privilege, but the bare faced front to then dismiss that hardship and lecture them from your lofty, well-feathered perch is quite something
They’re utter *s who haven’t got the first *ing clue about how hard life is for a lot of people.
That’s understandable, to a degree, when you come from unbelievable privilege
As well as being a former Labour Party member Lee Anderson is also a former coal miner, as was his father before him, so I wouldn't exaggerate his alleged privileged background.
Mind you they were Notts miners and many Notts miners were not exactly noted for their understanding of working-class solidarity - with their Thatcher loving scab union the UDM.
So yeah, just another mouthy git from North of the Watford Gap who once claimed to be a Labour Party member but had no understanding of the need for solidarity and radical change, you know the type.
We had years of governments of all flavours talking about increasing efficiency in the NHS, which sounded great. Then a pandemic hit and we realised that increasing efficiency is just another phrase for removing spare capacity, which is actually quite useful in a health service.
All flavours from Tory to Conservative. There was a step change in the direction health policy took after 2010, prior to that increasing efficiency largely involved increasing capability.
Lee Anderson is exactly the sort of chippy thug that the modern Tories are designed to appeal to.
🤷♂️
Momentum obviously had him well sussed out.
When are they getting around to sorting Kate Hoey out?
Lee Anderson was in parliament simultaneously making the case that the food bank in his constituency is doing lots of great work, and that it isn't needed. He was also claiming that it is Labour MPs who are out of touch... because they want people to be able to afford to buy food, rather than rely on food banks. 🤷🏻
50 more fixed penalty notices for Covid breaches for the PM's team. Unlikely to be headline making? We're all still talking about Starmer and his team not breaking the rules, yes?
The tension mounts, I for one can't wait for the next apology.
Mind you they were Notts miners and many Notts miners were not exactly noted for their understanding of working-class solidarity – with their Thatcher loving scab union the UDM.
As a son of a Notts Miner and a resident of Nottinghamshire - I'd mostly agree - myself and father are very much socialist outliers in our community!
But they've paid the price ever since - they just blame socialism (not in existence in my working life) instead of neoliberalism (40 years of), and foreigners of course. And they all read the Sun way back.
Lee Anderson was in parliament simultaneously making the case that the food bank in his constituency is doing lots of great work, and that it isn’t needed. He was also claiming that it is Labour MPs who are out of touch… because they want people to be able to afford to buy food, rather than rely on food banks
Lee Anderson also wanted some poeple to live in tents. He's a low-baller of the gobby type. He has no idea how to elevate a community.
I've done a lot of community work in Ashfield and take into account that just like neighbouring Mansfield these communities are by-products not causes of deprivation.
Labour was always in a difficult spot with this ex-coalfields and Brexit.
To be fair, Lee Anderson is right in saying "poor people can't cook".
Largely because energy and food prices are so expensive.
(obviously it's not laziness/lack of budgeting that he implied)
Hope Jack Monroe tears him a new one.
Jack Monroe
Her lifestyle makes her an easy target for the culture war thugs.
blame.... foreigners of course
Labour was always in a difficult spot with this ex-coalfields and Brexit.
That's a roundabout way of saying that many of the Red Wall constituents harboured xenophobic (at best) or racist (at worst) tendencies. Labour idealists tend to get a bit touchy about that sort of thing.
🤭
That’s a roundabout way of saying that many of the Red Wall constituents harboured xenophobic (at best) or racist (at worst) tendencies. Labour idealists tend to get a bit touchy about that sort of thing.
It's not exactly unknown, "working class" and "socialism" are not automatically connected, despite what those with a red flag blocking their eyes may want to believe. And don't forget what happens if you put "National" in front of "Socialist".
That’s a roundabout way of saying that many of the Red Wall constituents harboured xenophobic (at best) or racist (at worst) tendencies. Labour idealists tend to get a bit touchy about that sort of thing.
For some and I can speak from first had experience.
Anti-EU sentiment came in many forms, and some thinking they were being led by an anti-democratic elite club was a strong narrative around here too.
Oh lot of the working class are cross breeds politically. There's a lot of anger.
And given they've not really known socialism certainly on the last 40 years - you'd have to go back further to connect the dots.
Anti-EU sentiment came in many forms, and some thinking they were being led by an anti-democratic elite club was a strong narrative around here too.
So they voted for a movement fronted by Alexander Boris De Pfeffel Johnson.
😂
50 more FPN's issued to No 10 / Party attendees.
Mind you they were Notts miners and many Notts miners were not exactly noted for their understanding of working-class solidarity – with their Thatcher loving scab union the UDM.
But they did understand the law. The 1984 strike was based on a ballot in Yorkshire (only) from three years before in 1981. It was made a national official strike by Arthur Scargill in 1984 but a national ballot of NUM members was never held.
"In the book a case is put that far from being the blacklegs of "Spencerite mythology" it can be argued that the majority of the Nottinghamshire Miners in 1984-85 adhered to time honoured custom and practice in line with moderate traditions within the NUM and their stance taken during the 1984-85 strike was a rebellion against what was considered an unofficial and unconstitutional strike not in line with traditional and understood past practices." A History of the Nottinghamshire Miners Vol. 4 (1980-1985) by David Amos
As a son of a Notts Miner and a resident of Nottinghamshire – I’d mostly agree – myself and father are very much socialist outliers in our community!
During the miner's strike Croydon was very active in the support structures, we had a couple of Notts striking miners billeted in Croydon for the best part of a year. They weren't too impressed with Notts working miners raking it in whilst they relied on charity for food and shelter.
Notts working miners made the obvious and classic mistake of trusting the ruling class to look after them. Thatcher assured them that their future would be secure if they turned their backs on the NUM and trusted her.
She would simply close a few uneconomical pits but "superpits" like Selby would be garranteed a bright future with job security and high wages. It was of course, and very predictably, lies which bought Thatcher time as she planned the wholesale destruction of an entire industry and the communities across the UK that supported it, but they fell for it.
And still people fail to understand the irreconcilability of class antagonism, as they repeatedly place their faith on those whose interests are completely at odds with their own.
Anti-EU sentiment came in many forms, and some thinking they were being led by an anti-democratic elite club was a strong narrative around here too.
So they voted for a movement fronted by Alexander Boris De Pfeffel Johnson.
😂
and ironically ignoring the wishes of the majority is exactly what Johnson is desperately trying to do in NI!
meanwhile
https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1524786031383482376
see also
https://twitter.com/jane__bradley/status/1524647337557172225
Every time you think this must surely be the straw that breaks the camels back, it isn't 🙁
And still people fail to understand the irreconcilability of class antagonism, as they repeatedly place their faith on those whose interests are completely at odds with their own.
...and follow a union that didn't hold a national ballot.
I live and work in a mining area and have heard both sides of the story, including that of George Spencer who led a non-political union in Notts that didn't follow traditional dogma during the 1926 lockout. This tradition possibly influenced thinking in 1984
Asfordby was the new Leics "superpit". It cost £340mn to sink in the 90s and my neighbour worked there for several years until unexpected geological problems caused its premature closure
To be fair, Lee Anderson is right in saying “poor people can’t cook”.
Largely because energy and food prices are so expensive.
Also if you're working 2 jobs/long hours the time for cooking from scratch is somewhat limited if one has a family to feed.
Well if time is limited to cook a meal from scratch then perhaps what is needed isn't food banks but sandwich banks.
The irony is that the government are saying that some sort of early intervention program is needed, that can help people with all aspects of life, from cooking to education, health, budgeting etc
You could call them Sure Start Centres or something
Nah, the reason some people end up without a meal to eat is because they don't have any money. Often they are condemned by the system, as the film 'I Daniel Blake' illustrated.
What we need isn't cookery lessons to be provided but a social security system that provides security.
And yes, before someone mentions it, when your life is ****ed up because you are skint sometimes spending the little bit that you have on a bit of roll-up tobacco and a can of drink is worth it, just to make you feel better, even though you might still feel hungry. Actually nicotine is an excellent appetite suppressant.
You could call them Sure Start Centres or something
A more catchy and all-encompassing name might simply be "school".
This Government has actually achieved absolutely **** all (other than Brexit and it's debatable what they've actually achieved there other than completely screwing the country).
OK, I know Covid got int the way a bit but they've done NOTHING. There's been a few grand plans, a few re-announcements of already allocated money, some wild and clearly bollocks promises but ZERO measurable achievements.
The irony is that the government are saying that some sort of early intervention program is needed, that can help people with all aspects of life, from cooking to education, health, budgeting etc
You could call them Sure Start Centres or something
The night of the 2019 election MrsMC was up till 3am preparing a court order to get a kid placed into care after a gradual spiral of neglect that she reckons could have been spotted and reversed if the Surestart centre had still been operating.
Austerity ****ed up that poor kids life.
Schools.wont help unless they are allowed to educate for life as opposed to league table position and pass rates.
It's about stats education doesn't care what you do after, as long as the second you leave it is noted that you have a "positive destination" after that it's someone else's problem what you do or don't have the skills to do.
I’ve not read this yet… she deserves the right to be heard though… with so many people trying to use her name and work to defend the comments made by Anderson and other Conservatives…
https://twitter.com/bootstrapcook/status/1524781698893893633?s=21
https://twitter.com/bootstrapcook/status/1524809241655185409?s=21
As before, Jack Monroe is an easy target for the gammons.
If she goes on too much they'll get Priti Nasty to revive trial by ducking stool as a way to test for alternative lifestyles witchcraft.
So they voted for a movement fronted by Alexander Boris De Pfeffel Johnson.
People vote for Tories and get the opposite of what they think they're going to get.
And still deny it.
And still people fail to understand the irreconcilability of class antagonism, as they repeatedly place their faith on those whose interests are completely at odds with their own.
Ah what’s that old adage of not learning from history
Or the one about the devils best trick 🙂
Every time you think this must surely be the straw that breaks the camels back, it isn’t 🙁
Ah but they all do it,be worse under labour you know the drill 🙂
Still enough apologists out there defending them, still willing to ignore what is in front of their eyes.
Economic stupidity reaches new heights as Johnson sacks 60,000 civil servants to 'save' money and then effectively has to pay them to claim benefits.
A currency issuing government can't or doesn't need to save money.
Talk about giving the frustrated Tories something to enjoy.
Sack some 'useless' civil servants
Make some 'savings'
Make departments more 'efficient'
Tory playbook
To 'pay' for things in the economy. Whilst 60,000 have to find jobs that aren't really there.
It's the reverse of a job guarantee.
My dog understands economics in a better way than most Tories.
The free-market only scales downwards until the government spends into the economy.
Every time you think this must surely be the straw that breaks the camels back, it isn’t 🙁
I'm pretty sure the Tory camel is an invertebrate..
If Whitehall is anything like the part of the public sector I work in it's already on it's knees.
The private sector is resolutely failing to fill the void left by a shrinking public sector.
Economic stupidity reaches new heights as Johnson sacks 60,000 civil servants
Beeb says it's 90,000, 20% of the people who try to keep this shit government's shit policies from immediately falling flat on their face.
Coming up to 19 years now and frankly wondering where I sign up for the (generous but much reduced) redundancy deal. The loss of experienced staff in the last 4-5 years has crippled us, targets aren't being met, NAO won't sign us off due to the poor results from not enough experienced staff, I'm the 8th from a team of 10 to be signed off in the last 18 months.
Yes, I know its worse in the private sector. But I never thought of the death in service benefit as being a valid choice in the private sector.
I’m pretty sure the Tory camel is an invertebrate..
Spineless?
Have they just announced sacking 1 in 5 civil servants!? The DWP locally had just had a huge recruitment drive because they needed more people!
What we need isn’t cookery lessons to be provided but a social security system that provides security.
Disagree, what we need is a system where both tax & benefits are crunched into one single system.
Universal Income is the only real solution to ensure that citizens get the protection they need AND pay the taxes they should. And it'll be a damn sight cheap than the utter chaos & complexity we now have.
And remember, if anyone is relying on charity for basic needs, society has failed*.
* - failed to protect its citizens
Unfortunately it'll never happen as too many people are selfish, both rich & poor - the rich you can see why, it's to their benefit. But the poor? Just idiots.
There was me thinking all the new jobs in the civil service created since 2016 were just another Brexit bonus, silly me, just another thing Brexit has failed to deliver if we now don't need those extra jobs.
I agree that we should have more universality intheborders. The current approach where politicians get to say they are “targeting most in need” (often chiming with ideas about the deserving/undeserving poor) really worries me. There was a Conservative on the radio yesterday (forget what on, or which one, sorry) proud that there is a scheme for paying pregnant women some money so that they can eat. Obviously it’s vital that pregnant women can afford to eat… but surely, in a working society… EVERY woman should be able to afford to eat!
Have they just announced sacking 1 in 5 civil servants!?
To be followed by more contracts for Serco etc to provide the functions that fail due to understaffing.
Unfortunately it’ll never happen as too many people are selfish, both rich & poor – the rich you can see why, it’s to their benefit. But the poor? Just idiots.
Well, gullible at best. The current 'Hypernormalisation' state of the UK psyche has 'the poor' constantly focused on those who are slightly worse off than them and fearing them. Not the cynical shits at the top who nicked billions in the early days of the pandemic.
It has been remarkably effective, bit it does rely on a fair bit of stupidity on the part of those being duped. It wouldn't work otherwise. Sigh.
I read that with interest and it's quite a shocking number. I wonder how many are Brexit and COVID response roles and what other departments could be targeted. Sounds like a return to the Cameron Osborne years of public sector austerity.
Meanwhile Truss has got her Poundshop Thatcher outfit out of her dressing up box and is going to 'get Northern Ireland done'. 😂
What a bunch of tossers.
Would like to know where (geographically) the jobs are to go as well. Recruiting outside the South East was one of the few bits of “levelling up” happening at the state level.
Truss is a real danger, she needs to shut up about both Ukraine and Northern Ireland. She is sabre rattling about both in her own narrow political interests, without seemingly any consideration of the people directly effected.
To be followed by more contracts for Serco etc to provide the functions that fail due to understaffing.
No doubt servo can set up remote offices in India .
This country is now like watching an ex kissing a complete arsehole.
Someone you love deeply but being a complete idiot just to **** you off.
Truss' sole interest is the ugly person she sees in the mirror every day. Politics is just a way for her to feel better about herself even though we all know she's an idiot
Ahh… good old Mogg on Radio4 Today claiming that none of the increase in food prices is due to Brexit.
After explaining why austerity is needed right now to help people with the rising cost of living “long term”.
Depressing. With him, you can never tell where the lying and uncaring bullshit ends, and the lack of basic understanding and insight begins.
Oh, he’s moved on to reducing regulation on the financial sector. Funny that.
The Haunted Pencil is on R4 now. Trolling his supporters and the grownups as usual.
What a ****.
The private sector is resolutely failing to fill the void left by a shrinking public sector.
That won't stop them paying dividends, paying exec salaries, and taking exec bonuses in the interim, though.
The Pencil has also said the EU might commit an act of 'self harm'.
How the **** can most people not see this shit for what he is?
It does seem the Tories have gone into wrecking mode: austerity, shrink the state, force down incomes, privatise. I do hope the civil servants are preparing to fight back, they'd be lucky to get more than a squeak out of Starmer.
An ex-Tory states the obvious, citing supporting report:
https://twitter.com/rorystewartuk/status/1524665279338496002?s=21
Ahh… good old Mogg on Radio4 Today claiming that none of the increase in food prices is due to Brexit.
Or that he needs any civil servants to negotiate these wonderous new trade deals that are coming.
He claimed that the CS will just be going back to 2016 staffing levels... But we're not in 2016 we're recovering from a pandemic, dealing with a cost of living crisis, a healthcare backlog, broken international relations and trade deals loom (ahem, minister for "Brexit Gains" ahem). I imagine those that have had a note left on their desk by the ghost of Christmas cancelled while WFH will be first to get the chop...
I really wish the interviewers would point out that JRM's made up cabinet post didn't exist back in 2016 so perhaps that should go as well?
Just epic scale bastardry, at least they've not use Cameron's "we're all in it together" line yet, because we're clearly not.
An ex-Tory states the obvious, citing supporting report:
Yeah, Rory was one of the sensible ones who fought against a lot of the bad stuff over the last few years, then got chucked out of the tory party with a few others when the lunatics took over the asylum. The above point again is just the tories looking at ways of not having to provide to the bottom, there's no profit or gain from that for them.
The 91,000 potential civil servants who will be cut away as the first wave of a recession is about to hit will be happy that the £3.6 billion potential savings will cover almost 10% of the predicted annual losses the UK has due to Brexit!
The 91,000 potential civil servants who will be cut away
Willing to bet that a lot of that won't happen. Or, worst case, it will happen, they'll move into the private sector, contract their services out to Government and be doing the same job but Government will be paying a lot more for it.
It sounds good to the masses but unfortunately it also sets up the narrative of "efficiency" and "cost savings" which they'll then use to beat councils with (again) in the next round of swingeing cuts.
Unfortunately, his impression of a Victorian mill owner goes far beyond his ridiculously contrived appearance and mannerisms.
He's no doubt hail the re-opening of workhouses as a good thing for society as it demonstrated christian compassion or some such bollocks
I wonder how many are Brexit and COVID response roles and what other departments could be targeted.
There was the threat of the Passport Office being privatised, iirc the Land Registry is the only government dept that makes money.....
Let's not forget that quite a lot of the CS were "key workers" in the pandemic - those government saving schemes didn't administer themselves, those existing benefits still got paid, the NHS didn't just run itself
An ex-Tory states the obvious, citing supporting report:
maybe this is more evidence for something like the Universal basic Income/citizens income. not sure what the outcome of the trials was in scotland though.
Le Carre: "He was a barmaid's dream of a gentleman."
He claimed that the CS will just be going back to 2016 staffing levels… But we’re not in 2016 we’re recovering from a pandemic, dealing with a cost of living crisis, a healthcare backlog, broken international relations and trade deals loom (ahem, minister for “Brexit Gains” ahem). I imagine those that have had a note left on their desk by the ghost of Christmas cancelled while WFH will be first to get the chop…
Also in the BBC article it said that 2016 was actually the lowest civil service staffing level since WW2.