Jeepers Ernie. What Johnson said was certainly not ruling it out. Not doing it is now. Never doing it is ruling it out
Kwartang of course was lying. Remember brittania unchained?
Kwartang of course was lying.
Why are you telling me that? It was me that drew attention to Frances O'Grady claim that Kwarteng had lied!
As for Johnson everyone knows that he is a liar. I am quite simply pointing out that he ruled out lifting the bankers bonus cap, and however much he might have wanted to he didn't.
What Johnson said yesterday means little to the Johnson of today. No bankers bonus yesterday, but bankers bonus today, no problem. Probably got a Churchill misquote he could whip out to distract, if questioned. I'm not sure Liz Truss comes armed with those, but as Continuity Johnson then doing the about face on any and all previous announcements will be de rigeur.
Lizzie track record on screaming, full 180 handbrake turns make Johnson look like a rank amateur
If you’re looking at people who’ve travelled the idealogical road from remain supporter to advocate of the hardest of hard Brexits then their number consist of Liz Truss, Lord Frost and… erm… no… that’s it.
These are my beliefs and if you don’t like them then I have others…
Just more Johnson. Not a single firmly held belief in anything other than their own advancement
In case you missed it today, in all your grief, Truss has reiterated that the UK will still not be instigating the customs checks required by the withdrawal agreement, so we’re still very much heading for a full blown trade war with the EU.
Oh and she’s sacked Zac Goldsmith as environment minister In whats expected will be an downgrade to UK animal welfare standards. A nodding dog will replace him who couldn’t give a shit about any of that green crap
Good old Brexit eh?
The cluster- that just keeps on *ing us!
means little to the Johnson of today.
Erm, Johnson isn't PM today. I'm happy to blame him for what he's responsible for but it's stretching it a bit to blame him for what the present PM is doing or is intending to do.
So far in the few days that Truss has been in office there is obviously little that anyone can go on, but going by the makeup of her Cabinet and little clues such as the suggested lifting of bankers bonus caps, it doesn't bode well for those who might have hoped that her premiership would represent an improvement over Johnson's.
Sadly imo it looks as if the opposite might be true. But next Friday's mini budget will obviously be hugely revealing in that respect.
I have long considered that Truss would be a significantly worse PM than Johnson, in terms of the effect of a Tory government on the lives of ordinary people, not in terms of integrity, but I am actually becoming even more pessimistic as I am starting to believe that she might be idealogically driven to some degree.
I had always assumed that as self-serving careerist like Johnson she would not in anyway be idealogically driven. Indeed even more than Johnson she appears to be a political chameleon who adapts to whatever surrounding she finds herself in - anti-monarchy/pro-monarchy, LibDem/Tory, anti-brexit/pro-brexit, even Johnson can't match that impressive record.
But the apparent economic direction of some of her policies seem to owe more to idealogical committment than a real evidence backed analysis, and even if they likely to be unpopular with voters. Banker's bonus a case in point.
She’s just an empty vessel for the ERG to shout their demands into.
They hold all the power. Brexit and Johnson saw to that. There’s isn’t so much an ideology, more a cult. Now they’ll tell Lizzie when to jump and she’ll ask how high. In exchange for the job title she’ll be more than happy to bring in hardline policies even her predecessor would have balked at
She’s going to make Boris Johnson look like a socialist
I had always assumed that as self-serving careerist like Johnson she would not in anyway be idealogically driven.
I think this is a widely held but unfair view. Mark Littlewood of the IEA was an exact contemporary of Liz Truss and fellow LibDem, he wrote an illuminating, and persuasive, article in the Telegraph on her explaining how her journey is pretty consistent with her beliefs and it is the LibDems that have changed.
She’s just an empty vessel for the ERG to shout their demands into.
Yeah I know that is a widely held view but what's in it for her? After all she's got the top job now and I'm sure that winning the next general election is what her ego now demands. Introducing unpopular measures such as removing banker's bonus caps during a cost of living crises isn't going to help achieve that. And it's hard to imagine that Johnson would do something that daft - I know that it's popular to dismiss Johnson as an idiot but the one talent he had/has is his ability to read the public mood, that is the only real reason for his successful political career.
Still none of that really matters - whether Truss is her own woman or an empty vessel for the ERG makes very little difference. The consequences of her policies is what matters.
Mark Littlewood, Institute of Economic Affairs, The Telegraph ?, sounds legit to me, move along now.
Mefty
Yeah much of what you say rings true to me - not in the telegraph but elsewhere I've read that she was very much a free market LibDem, until this bit : "it is the LibDems that have changed", which totally baffles me.
When Truss joined the LibDems it was a social democratic party, sure it had a right-wing but it also had a left-wing, overall it was social democratic.
Yes since then the LibDems have changed, but they have become far more Tory-like embracing neo-liberalism, ffs they even formed a coalition with the Tories!
it is the LibDems that have changed”, which totally baffles me.
I reread it and my recollection was faulty, I inadvertently misrepresented him.
I inadvertently misrepresented him.
Misrepresented who? Who is "him"?
I totally agree the LibDems have changed, but I don't think that is the reason why Liz Truss joined the Tories.
From the time Liz Truss joined the LibDems until 1996 when she joined the Tories the LibDems were led by Paddy Ashdown, nothing happened during that period which suggests the LibDems changed in any significant way. So presumably it was Liz Truss who changed.
Edit : Having reread myself I now suspect you meant that you had misrepresented Mark Littlewood. Confusing!
So presumably it was Liz Truss who changed..
A career politician with no ethics or morals ?
... Say it ain't so!
I don't think this has anything to do with the libdems or the conservatives. It's all about lizz truss..
Yeah I know that is a widely held view but what’s in it for her?
Well, she's nailed on for the lucrative speaking gigs after her PM job is over. And a nice cushy number at one of her 'sponsors' companies doing a couple of hours a year for miliions no doubt.
And I'm guessing she's so full of herself that she p[ossibly believes the country will accept the BS shes spouting and vote her in again next time as long as she chucks in a quick income tax cut just before the election. Tories have had all the luck recently being able to hide their disasters behind covid, Ukraine, Liz etc. so it might not take much to keep her in power, though you've gotta think all he spinning plates are going to hit the deck at some point.
Well, she’s nailed on for the lucrative speaking gigs after her PM job is over.
Hmm.. What's she gonna talk about...?
Selling yorkshire tea to China?
How disgusting French cheese is?
PMSL 😀
Maybe she'll talk about opening up new pork markets..
S****.
She could set herself up as a political escort, by all accounts she’s had enough practice throughout her career.
Ooooophh!
Hahaha 😀
Fracking Now Safe.
Energy Crisis Solved.
Hurrah For Liz.
It's okay... she's solved the problem of falling sterling as well... under $1.14... I can't remember it ever being that low before. Confidence inspiring...
(Bits of) Britannia Unchained?
We here seem to be included in this return to the Victorian era.
Truss has akso given up pretending that there will be a US trade deal finally accepting what was obvious to anyone with half a brain
It sounds like patience with the UK is coming to its natural end in Washington.
I would imaging that today Liz will be sat like a naughty schoolgirl while the Americans tell her, in words of less than 2 syllables so that even she can understand, to pack in all the shit with her weekly threat to trigger article 16 and instead sort out instigating the UK's legal obligations under the withdrawal agreement it signed. In short: stop ****ing about!
Obviously, having willingly made herself hostage to the ERG and having promised them she'll trigger article 16 and give them their longed for trade war, this leaves her (and us) in an impossible position. Like most things Brexit-related this will no doubt deliver the worst of all worlds
Like most things Brexit-related this will no doubt deliver the worst of all worlds
Leadership election next year?
Only if she disobeys or crosses the erg/ brittania unchained / Atlantic bridge loons but it looks likely that she won't from what we see so far. She looks like she is going to do as she is told
Looks like Mad Lizzies ‘plan’ is to borrow more and more money in order to give further tax cuts to people who don’t really need them, in the desperate hope that it generates some form of economic growth
It’s never worked in the past, but you never know… it might work this time
https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1572194418282594309?s=21&t=FnaMX_W4RY_ImVsw9Vjssg
There is no evidence of this having worked. Everyone knows the poor spend all their money plus a bit and the rich don't. To pretend otherwise is a bare faced porky. It really looks like shock doctrine, scorched earth, Thatcherite nonsense and squeaky Starmer says....?
We are now just being plundered by the ERG and their corporate backers.
squeaky Starmer says….?
There is nothing new about the Tory fantasy of trickle-down economics
[ at only PMQs Truss has held so far ]
Disappointed no one has mentioned the moment of genius when Australian news didn't have a clue who Liz Truss was when she arrived at the funeral yesterday. Can't seem to link at work.
She has an awful lot of presence and gravitas does Liz
Listening to an interview on the radio with her justifying scrapping the cap on bankers bonuses is like listening to that weird woman in accounts explaining why she's rearranged the stationary cupboard so that the post it notes are more accessible
Just saw the news where the Queen Vampire's economic plan is based on banker bonuses.
Phase 1: collect underpants
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: World domination
Looks like Mad Lizzies ‘plan’ is to borrow more and more money in order to give further tax cuts to people who don’t really need them, in the desperate hope that it generates some form of economic growth
It’s never worked in the past, but you never know… it might work this time
It depends.
Borrowing - for the hundredth time is not borrowing but increasing spending and then issuing bonds afterwards to match that the deficit. A normal operation.
The issue is Tories are shit at spending for the wider population.
If any government is to make a better job of the country they will absolutely have to spend which will mean (establishment illiteracy) they will have to 'borrow' (i.e issue bonds.)
The US has just run a monthly surplus and has absolutely put the stock market on the floor because money is being sucked out of the wider economy.
Trickle-down economics is linked to just about every large Western government. It's not going to work until the lower income levels get money to spend which means massive government spending (borrowing.)
Balancing the books needs to be off the table.
It's interesting that modern governments are feeding neoliberalism with more neoliberalism - but using the state more overtly.
The state is the tool, operated by tools.
There is no evidence of this having worked. Everyone knows the poor spend all their money plus a bit and the rich don’t. To pretend otherwise is a bare faced porky. It really looks like shock doctrine, scorched earth, Thatcherite nonsense and squeaky Starmer says…
He says nothing because he's linked to the same sort of economic model but with balancing the books on his plate which in my opinion will be way worse.
There will be no surplus money going into the economy. Just like your Uncle giving you no treat money.
Aunty Liz giving your rich cousin some money to spend or Uncle Starmer giving everyone nothing.
Labour need to pop up with a big big plan.
Here comes the little bounce which everyone prematurely thought wasn't going to happen.
https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1572254259042738177?t=xfXabeVldH_4gxbRKNzV1A&s=19
In the interests of fairness apparently there was an unrelased poll last week showing the biggest Labour lead since July 2017 of 46. So the swing back is immense - since the energy support.
I'd be very surprised if Dizzy Lizzy doesn't catch up in the medium term and then once we get some bad economic figures (because let's face it the BoE haven't a clue.) She will tank.
Medium term though inflation is going to correct itself (it always needed a couple of years) - and the BoE will claim they've fixed things whilst making everyone poorer.
It depends how the recession has taken hold by then though with people having to pay more for the economy to function because of debt slavery.
There's some big economic data coming out of the USA today. With a widely expected .75 fed increase. These increases are shaping economic decisions and creating havoc.
We tend to follow them in increases.
Just saw the news where the Queen Vampire’s economic plan is based on banker bonuses.
Fine line between "trickle down" and "pissing on"
Reports she's planning on cutting Stamp Duty to "aid growth by encouraging people to move". Surely this is some kind of elaborate joke?
It’s like 1980’s policy Tourette’s
Democratic nations! You too can replace your head of government with a brand new Margaret Thatcher Edition Speak and Spell (TM). Few voters will notice! Freeing up valuable time for your important ministers to continue funnelling government money to their mates with little to no scrutiny. Satisfaction guaranteed or your* money back!
* (technically, it'll be the voters money, so win win win)
Did she not learn that the Laffer curve says tax cuts only deliver positive results when taxation is at 50% (some say 70%) or above?
To have your economic model condemned by someone like Biden is quite something. This really does seem calamitous.
I'm still waiting for my trickle down from 10 years ago I assume it will result in my leg getting wet and slightly warm after being financially pissed on by the top 10%
Reports she’s planning on cutting Stamp Duty to “aid growth by encouraging people to move”. Surely this is some kind of elaborate joke?
I imagine her house building backers are getting twitchy?
She can cut what she wants, with interest rates rising and people starting to realise house prices 'may' drop back, who's going to move? Plenty of people I know are sitting tight, waiting to see how things develop, ourselves included. Oh, and selling of private lets (not us, far too skint for that!).
Reports she’s planning on cutting Stamp Duty to “aid growth by encouraging people to move”. Surely this is some kind of elaborate joke?
Unfair. It's not that elaborate.
Struggling with the cost of living? Why not pay thousands for conveyancing, surveys and moving costs? Don't worry, we'll cover the stamp duty.
Perfect timing for Liz to have to meet Joe Biden after he condemned trickle-down economics.
