expected to work endless hours and live in squalor to finance the opulent lifestyles of their ‘betters’.
Untrained, uneducated useless people treated as disposable. Big surprise there!
Compare and contrast to Japan, highly trained, highly educated, worked like dogs but still have decent job security and whilst the jobs for life thing is dying, their companies still bend over backwards to prevent redundancies and lean much more heavily towards internal recruitment.
With 75 tories now having promised to vote it down, we are almost at the point at which corbyn couldn't whip it through if he tried - he hardly controls that many labour MPs.
Exactly dogbone! And thats with the employment rights conferred through EU legislation. What do you think this lot have got lined up once they're free of that?
A good article on our dystopian Brexit future from todays Guardian
An entire rotten political-corporate regime is crumbling away – and its replacement threatens to be even worse. It will be worse, specifically, for those parts of the country, like Llanelli and Plymouth, that voted leave as the ultimate kick against the pricks of a hollow economy and a deaf government.
That line could be used against labour for decades decimating their voter base in the North. A great concern.
I wouldnt rate the Maybot as being competent enough to come up with a trap deliberately (especially given her clear hatred of some parts of the EU system) although it is an accidental one from the word go.
The problem is the "moderates" in Labour are too frothing with hatred towards Corbyn to see the problem and just want him to sacrifice Labour to save the tories. Although then again they also probably see a political opportunity that if Labour got decimated after saving the tories then they would use it as an excuse to drag the party rightwards and help set up the next crisis.
With 75 tories now having promised to vote it down, we are almost at the point at which corbyn couldn’t whip it through if he tried
If all the Tory MPs who said they'd sent their letters, some of whom even tweeting photos of said letters, actually had done, May would have survived 16 no confidence votes by now.
Its all posturing for consumption by whichever section of the electorate they're presently trying to lie too
Dissonance - you really do need to take your tinfoil helmet off for a bit, and get some fresh air outside the bunker
“**** business”
Her Majesty’s Government
As I understand it:
AstraZeneca accounts for 1% of our GDP.
Our contribution to the EU is 0.37% of our GDP.
Fishing is 0.04% of our GDP.
But yeah, **** business, it's all about the fish.
Pet insurance is a bigger business than fishing.
That line could be used against labour for decades decimating their voter base in the North. A great concern.
What on earth makes you think that?
On the other hand, I don't see them voting tory so perhaps another party would fill the void, which if the current voting system continues to prevail, will probably mean the tories cling on to power for a good while yet.
Pet insurance is a bigger business than fishing.
Stop everything, I have the solution:
Let's insure all the fish!
40 years of Neo Liberalism my arse...
We live in a country where education up to and including a degree is freely available to all.
We live in a country where Health Care is free at the point of delivery.
We live in a country where its very easy to start a business and a tax system that supports this reasonablly well.
We live in a country that has created and continues to provide a minimum wage/living wage.
We have a business environment that on the whole is free of corruption.
Its not perfect but it does provide opportunity- why do immigrants thrive here?
I was in school on the 1970s and went down the CSE route so no opportunity for A Levels or a Degree- it took me nearly 20 years after leaving school to get a Degree cia apprenticeship HNC etc
We live in a community (EU) which we can travel and work freely.
How much opportunity do you *ing want!
Sorry i forgot the "left behinds" don't want opportunity they want their "entitlement" and instant wealth.
I am a socialist and always will be but * sometimes its hard work.
binners, about 25 tories have said publicly that they have sent letters. IIRC. What is your list or are you just making up stuff?
This is my problem with Brexit i understand what JRM and his like want, but it will not be the "left behinds" who dig us out of the shit - they will sit on their fat arses and wait for the £36k manufacturing jobs to roll in and when they dont it will be the neo liberal middle classes fault.
Hard rain needs to fall.
Captain - If you missed it on Sunday its worth listening to Pienaars politics on Five live. It had the bloke on who's the head of the 1922 committee (Graham Brady?). He seemed quite affable but was really honest. He said that every time this happens he just laughs. He was saying how some MPs will tweet a photo of the letter they've apparently sent, yet he never receives them. Apparently they're all at it. Hence Rees Moggs humiliation (is everyone enjoying that as much as I am?)
What he was saying is that just because some MP says he's/she's written a letter, maybe even supplying a photo of said letter, don't assume they actually have. Its all political posturing.
I suspect that MPs very publicly saying they'll vote against something is more of the same. Whether they actually will or not...?
We live in a country where education up to and including a degree is freely available to all.
Only if your definition of "freely available" is "saddled with very large debt".
Made my heart glad to see JRM and his collection of sweaty gammons being compared to Dad's Army in the media.
How anyone can be "anti-elitist" and think that JRM is their ally is beyond me.
Debt that you only pay back when your income rises.
Debt that you only pay back when your income rises.
Thats still debt. Also the value of the degree has been devalued. As more people get one then the minimum qualification for a lot of entry jobs gets moved upward. In the past it was a subset needing degrees and most with A levels or whatever the equivalent was. Now it is masters vs degrees. So now you have to spend the years studying and not earning just to be in the same position as someone without that investment was in the past.
There are of course exceptions but look at many jobs which ask for degrees now. No actual need but if you dont get one you will need to be a lot more lucky.
There are of course exceptions but look at many jobs which ask for degrees now. No actual need but if you dont get one you will need to be a lot more lucky.
To be fair, laughable job requirements are nothing new. Back when I was looking for my first IT job I saw job ads for minimum-wage helpdesk roles that were asking for an MCSE (Microsoft accreditation which is a considerable amount of work and several exams). I'm convinced that most job specs are written by people who have no clue what the requirements actually are and just make stuff up, doubly so if a recruitment agency is involved.
I agree its not perfect but there is little excuse for not trying tp improve your lot.
We have a problem in thu6s country that is hidden by a lot of hard working immigrants. That will soon be in plain site.
Mate of mine runs a groundworks business (JCB type stuff) he needs lots of folks who only need to "drive" a shovel he pays £10 an hour and guarantees 48 hours so £25k a year in the North of England and provides all the safety gear and overalls, waterproofs etc. Most young lads last a week (unless they are Eastern European) and most of his regular crew is over 40. It drives him nuts.
As more people get one then the minimum qualification for a lot of entry jobs gets moved upward.
I have it! Make everyone leave school at 14, then employers won't be be able to insist on any academic qualifications, and everyone will get a job.
Alternatively, a modern ecomony requires a more skilled and educated (granted those two things only overlap, rather being the same thing) workforce.
It's the same as the immigrant argument… anger that the people wth the right skills, qualifications, education, aptitude or just damn work ethic are taking jobs off of "our lot"… no… if the British workforce aren't able to do the jobs, the jobs won't exist, or will be sited in another country where those workers are available.
Fewer kids going on to further education (including technical training as well as academic courses) mixed with making the country less appealing for immigrant workers, won't open up job opportunities for kids born here, it will drastically reduce them.
Wait, AZ contribute 1% of GDP?
What is U.K. GDP, £2trillion?
I think you need to check your sums!
AZ turnover is what, ~£20billion then?
The problem is that we've had successive governments who are quite happy for schools sited near sink estates to churn out unemployable semi-literates as long as the middle class kids carry on getting the grades to get them into uni and keep paying the fees. Selective education, dependent on postcode.
Until we address that, we're *ed. The only time I've worked with a large group of recent immigrants they were all highly skilled, and had been recruited from Eastern Europe due to total absence of suitably qualified UK born staff.
Theres a huge disconnect in our society between education and employment. And Brexit sure the * isn't going to fix it!
I think you need to check your sums!
You may be right actually. I need to find a canonical source for current figures, but in 2004 AZ's contribution to the UK GDP was £2.5bn and our overall GDP was £1.31tn. So that made it about 0.2% back then. 14 years later, 1% doesn't sound all that implausible but I can't immediately back it up as it's second-hand information.
This is also the third largest industry in the UK, contributing 10 per cent of the country’s GDP, with an employment of 73.000 people and a trade surplus of €3.3 billion.
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2017/07/17/the-pharmaceutical-industry-is-at-risk-from-brexit/
AZ turnover is what, ~£20billion then?
2017 revenue : $22.5bn
https://www.astrazeneca.com/investor-relations/annual-reports/annual-report-2017.html
That’s global revenue, only their U.K. revenue could sensibly be used to compare to U.K. GDP.
Unless you want to look at the size of AZ relative to global GDP?
What on earth makes you think that?
You go on to agree with them. Its not that they switch to tories but that they switch to UKIP or someone else and so the tories get in (although there is a possible case to be made for people going to UKIP and then to tories)
Until we address that, we’re ****ed.
Sounds to me like we need a radical progressive govt who will invest massively in the education system, industry and infrastructure, free of the shackles of EU neoliberal anti-growth policies 🙂
Seriously though, you're right. But the centrist (both left and right) consensus is that we shouldn't raise taxes or borrow to provide that investment. The brextremists don't want any investment at all because they believe the magic of the market will solve it, which leaves...?
Debt that you only pay back when your income rises.
...to not very much. Add in unaffordable housing, low job security and crappy pension provision, there's little doubt that today's young people face significant challenges when compared to my generation.
Looks like a combination of May seeking late changes that go against Ireland's interests, plus France and Spain both wanting new carve outs, means no signing summit this weekend. May might as welll push meaningful vote into January now. Merry Christmas!
I think that suits her, gives MPs time to come to terms with deal & leaves even less time to call it off so they are forced to accept it rather than catastrophic no deal
With this deal am I going to be paying extra tax on my chocolates or is it business as usual?
Under the new laws, all brown chocolates will be sent back where they came from.
zippy, in theory according to this deal it's business as usual for another couple of years, no idea beyond that.
In reality brexit is dead so it's business as usual indefinitely.
With this deal am I going to be paying extra tax on my chocolates or is it business as usual?
Well, the deal not only includes the transition period, but the chance for that to be a lot longer than was previously muted (EU concesssion), and after that there is a backup plan of the whole of the UK keeping the current tariff regime for a long period of time (another EU concession)… so you could have the current tax level for another four or five years, rather than a cliff edge change next year. So MUCH better for your company than no deal.
Of course, that's all just (welcome) can kicking… the political uncertainty about what happens when we move out from under the EU's wing still makes longer term planning tricky.
Moggs humiliation (is everyone enjoying that as much as I am?)
Happy happy, joy joy.
<h1 class="headline">Theresa May threatens 'no Brexit at all' as senior Tories put new referendum on table</h1>
Take it she's going to do this unilaterally then?
"Take it she’s going to do this unilaterally then?"
29th March 2019:
The T1922 Maybot Brexitator smashes down the door of the ERG "High Command" Euro bunker.
Extending a bloodied, mechanical hand it speaks to a quivering JRM - "Come with me if you vont to dance..."
The self serving will continue to keep their end up and ensure that the critical industries / finance houses won’t lose out. The rest of us will be collateral damage. There’s always things that no ones thought of until someone shouts ‘what about xyz’ The people pushing this farce will be able to ride it out. However I could be wrong and it may be another ‘millennium bug’
The people pushing this farce will be able to ride it out. However I could be wrong and it may be another ‘millennium bug’
What you mean millions of people working tirelessly to make sure that the impacts of a change were caught and kept clear of critical systems.
The millennium bug is a great example of getting hold of a problem and dealing with it and putting enough resources to it so that nothing bad happens. This is not what is going on with Brexit.
No one knows what’s going on as it’s a game of brinkmanship by both sides. There will be winners and losers if it goes through, hopefully only in the short term until we cash in our ‘Special Relationship’ chip.
4 decades of integration with the EU to be reversed in 2 years with no consensus on what we will replace it with & certainly no plan on how to get there.
Damn right no one knows wtf is going on !
Cameron & Farage have a lot to answer for