Just listening to Boris much trailed 'levelling Up' agenda speech
Far from saying anything about 'levelling Up', it seems to be mainly designed to reassure wealthy voters in the South East that they will continue to enjoy the wholly disproportionate amount of spending to which they've become accustomed, and it won't be diverted to the 'There Be Dragons' areas that just inexplicably voted Tory.
That last byelection loss to the Lib Dems has obviously really put the frighteners on him
He’s the ketchup of catchup that we need. Blobby blobby!
He just clutches @ straws and runs with whatever's flavour of the moment.
So he doesn't really have a plan for this build up better, bigger, brasher er bacon thing then.
I think we can say with some degree of certainty that there is no plan, no.
His ‘speech’ such as it was, was his usual word-soup
He’s like an over-promoted middle manager at a regional conference. Chuck in as many buzz-words as you can and just waffle, while actually saying absolutely nothing
Who wouldn’t want Blobby Blobby Johnson’s secret sauce in them after he’s made their dough rise?
'levelling up' is just Mark from Peep Shows 'Project Zeus'
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This is more apt, due to his dishevelled look
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I read the speech*, and TBH there's little in it that any sensible person would disagree with. I think the issue is going to be that. 1. it's not a workable policy, set of ideas, roadmap, or anything, it's literally a wish list. 2. It'll cost quite a lot and 3. Fiscally parsimonious conservatives will hate it.
* I've found if I don't have to hear him, I can bear it...
mainly designed to reassure wealthy voters in the South East that they will continue to enjoy the wholly disproportionate amount of spending to which they’ve become accustomed..........That last byelection loss to the Lib Dems has obviously really put the frighteners on him
Yes it must be a worry for him that the LibDems will become the party which defends the privileges of wealthy southeastern voters, I can certainly see that happening.
Btw London has the highest poverty rates in the UK. It's worth remembering that London is in the South East.
https://www.onlondon.co.uk/new-report-confirms-that-london-has-uks-highest-poverty-rates/
It’s worth remembering that London is in the South East.
It's not really though is it? Not for political purposes, at least. It votes labour so this lot couldn't give a toss about the majority of it, really.
It's only in the South East in the same way as Alderley Edge and Wilmslow are technically, geographically still in the north.
I think we all know what we're talking about when we refer to 'The South East'?
Well, we know what you mean when you say Johnson’s words were… “ designed to reassure wealthy voters in the South East ” … you didn’t mean those in poverty in London and mostly voting Labour.
Will his shtick ever wear thin with the public?
If it does, a bit of 'Labour will let lots of forriners in and give your money to benefits claimants and asylum seekers' and the Tory faithful (Old & Gammony as well as New, Northern and Nasty) will rally to the flag.
Stick a soundtrack of Land of Hope and glory over it for one mob on Facebook and 'Vindaloo-la-la' for the others and it is job done.
🇬🇧🍆💦🇬🇧
London is an island or an enclave - it is so atypical of anywhere else in the UK.
I think we all know what we’re talking about when we refer to ‘The South East’?
Well I thought I did. It turns out that whilst I technically live in the South East I am for all intents and purposes a Northern.
Sounds good to me. Should I buy pies and a flat cap now?
Btw is the correct protocol to take the ferrets out of your pants before you go clog dancing?
So much to learn!
Btw is the correct protocol to take the ferrets out of your pants before you go clog dancing?
No no no, it's the ferret down your pants that makes it look like you're dancing in your clogs...Honestly
I imagine that Johnsons advisors (and Rishis) are looking at the North and working out how much they need to spend to keep the redwall onside.
Any half decent economist understands the investment and the time scales involved to actually improve income and quality of life in the redwalls is beyond the finances or life span of this government.
It would take a least one probably two generations of massive investment in education, infrastructure and private business investment to make a change.
I have listened to arguments that the North of England with the exception of the big City's simple be written off as unfixable.
Its been over 40 years since the traditional industries have been dismantled and to be honest nothing of any significance has been done since.
Like climate change we (in the North) passed the point of no return sometime ago.
Regardless of what that fat **** says it will just gradually rot away.
I have listened to arguments that the North of England with the exception of the big City’s simple be written off as unfixable.
But that argument is equally applicable down south. I used to live just east of the Cotswolds, and on the surface it looks to be in rude health, but step outside of the bubbles of Whitney and perhaps Banbury, there's gigantic farms that employ maybe 10 people each...and that's it. The rural poverty hidden away in lush country-side is astounding, no public transport, no healthcare, nothing to do...left to rot. But it looks nice, so that's OK
The rural poverty hidden away in lush country-side is astounding, no public transport, no healthcare, nothing to do…left to rot. But it looks nice, so that’s OK
and yet they'd vote for a pig with a blue rosette.
how much they need to spend to keep the redwall onside
Zero.
Keep cutting the budgets of local authorities and decimating services, but let some of that money go to Metro Mayors to spend on planning some visible projects for local Conservative MPs to champion in their re-election campaigns.
how much they need to say they will spend to keep the redwall onside
FTFY
From our Local MP on Facebook -
Current figures show more than 3,500 people are claiming unemployment benefits in St Austell and Newquay - 1,300 higher than March 2020.
Yet almost every business I speak with says they are struggling to recruit the staff they need - not just in tourism and hospitality but across the board.
We need our local economy to recover from the impact of the pandemic. We will only achieve this if businesses can operate at full capacity. So after getting vaccinated the best thing anyone can do to help our local communities to recover as restrictions are lifted is to play their part and go out to work if you are able to do so. Plenty of jobs are available.
Get to work you lazy shits.
Should I buy pies and a flat cap now?
Only if you can afford it.
and yet they’d vote for a pig with a blue rosette.
No - its their neighbours will vote for that pig with a blue rosette
Get to work you lazy shits.
People always get lazy when there is a Tory government.
Most famously after Thatcher first got elected and within a few months a couple of million more people decided they didn't fancy getting up in the mornings.
People seem keener to work when there's a Labour government.
and yet they’d vote for a pig with a blue rosette.
Yeah they do...But it's changing. Witney's council is now Labour controlled, driven by votes of folk who can't afford to live in Oxford, and commute. As is the Chair in Banbury council...A lot of it is as hereditary as the Red Wall used to be though, there's a huge amount of "that's how my parents voted..." Plus, massive farms and farm-workers who are very much "don't bite the hand that feeds"
Thanks FB ATB... you are correct
It’s hard fighting a culture war with Vera Lynne, a painting of a Lancaster bomber and a few old statues as your ammunition when the other side’s got Stormzy and Banksy.
problem is, old uns do tend to vote more than young uns
the best thing anyone can do to help our local communities to recover as restrictions are lifted is to play their part and go out to work if you are able to do so
Come on plebs, serve us… we’re looking forward to eating out without hearing foreign accents.
I have listened to arguments that the North of England with the exception of the big City’s simple be written off as unfixable.
What Fatcha referred to as ‘managed decline’
Though there didn’t feel like there was any management going on at the time, just decline.
Sounds a bit better than ‘abandoned to their fate’ I suppose
the best thing anyone can do to help our local communities to recover as restrictions are lifted is to play their part and go out to work if you are able to do so
Marcus and Sebastian are visiting their holiday homes from London this weekend and I can’t find us a table at anywhere with an even half respectable wine list
I imagine that for an awful lot of people childcare costs are so prohibitively expensive that it's simply not worth their while to work. So much of Tory policy is designed like this. On the face of it giving people choice is a great idea but for a lot of the working poor they'd be so much better off if childcare and education was universally of good quality and freely available rather than throwing them a few scraps of benefit and directing them to their nearest foodbank. If you're trying to invest in a country's future what literally embodies that better than investing in children?
Yeah, the fact that closing down all the Surestart centres was literally the first thing Dave and Gideon did after being elected tells you everything you need to know about the Tory’s priorities on that score
They don’t believe in investing in people. They’re happy to spaff countless billions on white elephant vanity projects like HS2, but commit resources to actually making the lives of normal people a bit easier or more rewarding, with training, education, childcare etc? not a chance
There's an interview with Gordon Brown from ages back where he's quite upset about pollig in red wall constituencies, showing a drift away from Labour. (that rot set in a while ago)
He was complaining because they've 'poured billions into them' - sure start was v expensive, but one of the only things in the last few years shown to help actually improve life chances-
Yet all the polling were worried about was immigration, even when they had v low immigrant numbers.
Sadly weve got regions stuck in a cycle of poor education & poverty & the Tories know exactly how to exploit that
Which is why Johnson & co will keep fighting the culture war, because without it they've got nothing
Yeah, the fact that closing down all the Surestart centres was literally the first thing Dave and Gideon did after being elected tells you everything you need to know about the Tory’s priorities on that score
The night of the last general election, MrsMC was preparing a court report at 3am to get some poor kid taken into care, and she worked it back to a point where, had Surestart been in place, the family would have been spotted and supported years before it got serious enough to justify a care order. And the bastards got voted back in with a thumping majority.
The long term costs to social services, the education system, the Police, the NHS, the court system up to that point - and going forwards probably future costs to the benefits system, maybe the prison system, before it all gets repeated for the next generation. All for the cost of upfront family support.
But benefits to society in 20 years time don't win elections, because the politicians don't care about the long term future of the country, only their own 5 year cycle of personal gain
Tories know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
I imagine that for an awful lot of people childcare costs are so prohibitively expensive that it’s simply not worth their while to work.
In the real world people do in that situation is not pay expensive childcare but work opposite shifts and / or get family and friends to help.
This is what most of my ex colleagues did One works weekdays, their othe rhalf weekends or nights and days.
paid for childcare is simply too expensive for most but the don't sit on on their arses and have no money - they find workarounds.
Not all jobs are that flexible, me and the wife met at uni so we have no family close by. If we wanted to keep our jobs / careers then childcare was a must. At one point it was more a month than our mortgage.
Yeah, the fact that closing down all the Surestart centres was literally the first thing Dave and Gideon did after being elected tells you everything you need to know about the Tory’s priorities on that score
Surely the LibDems also bear some responsibility? Quite a lot in fact. Danny Alexander was one of the chief architects of austerity, and Sarah Teather was children's minister. Both of them are Liberal Democrats.
Why is it that LibDems always seem to get away with behaving like Tories but Tories never do?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12301690
"Children's minister Sarah Teather said there was enough money available to maintain existing children's centres.
She added that the new Early Intervention Grant gave local authorities the freedom to make the best decisions for the families in their areas.
But the level of this grant is 11% lower than the equivalent funding for the previous year."
Not all jobs are that flexible, me and the wife met at uni so we have no family close by. If we wanted to keep our jobs / careers then childcare was a must. At one point it was more a month than our mortgage.
woosh whats that flying over your head?
- many people do not have that choice 'cos they don't earn enough so they have not make their job flexible but find a job with opposite shits
to afford full time childcare for two children yo have to be amongst the richest in our country and that is a position of privilege not available to most. so they work around it instead.
Actually scrap what I wrote, childcare is expensive but you don't have to be among the richest for two kids, above average perhaps but not richest.
While I don't know everyone, I also don't know anyone who has changed weekend or evening shifts to avoid child care, in fact I know very few people who even have jobs where that's an option. I'm sure some people do and I'm sure on STW we all like to talk in massive sweeping generalisations but I think you're only talking about some.
If you're trying to make a point, try throwing in less random words.
Lots of people don't have close friends/family, or available flexible work that pays enough. Surprisingly Tory attitude TJ!
Surely the LibDems also bear some responsibility? Quite a lot in fact
And their fortunes since have reflected that (until a couple of weeks ago)
Looking at their time in coalition you can only draw one of two conclusions
1) dizzy on proximity to power they were happy to go along with pretty much anything in return for a ministerial limo
2) they were so utterly naive, useless and easily played that they were brushed aside by Dave and co and totally failed to rein in any of their excesses. Just hapless stooges
Neither of which makes you want to vote for them really, does it?
And then there was Jo Swinson
another woosh
the point is that for the vast majority of the country full time childcare is as affordable as a shot in Bransons rocket.
But IME unlike what Del claimed they do not sit on their arses bemoaning the fact - they get on with life and find workarounds
to be in a position to be able to afford full time childcare automatically means you are amongst the richest in the country.
It just really annoys me people complaining when they are in a position of incredible privilege. too much of it on here.
I have worked with loads of people who have to do this
sure some jobs are not that flexible - so you cannot do them. So you have to find one that is
Not all of us are office drones working 9-5, earnings in the top 10% of the country and able to afford childcare
I know professional people that never have a day off with their spouses because one is working while the other does cildcare but both work full or near full time
sorry I didn't spell check and it is rather incomprehensible
Its this quote that got up my nose
"I imagine that for an awful lot of people childcare costs are so prohibitively expensive that it’s simply not worth their while to work. "
Its a ridiculous lack of understanding how the majority live.
Why is it that LibDems always seem to get away with behaving like Tories but Tories never do?
That’s your memory of the legacy of the coalition? Really?
Its a ridiculous lack of understanding how the majority live.
No, he’s describing the position many people find themselves in. Many other people work insane hours either to work around their partner’s or other family member’s job, or to try and pay for the childcare… or both. But the people Binners Del describes exist as well. Of course they are not the “majority” though.
