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Who's about to open a pothole repair company, is my immediate thoughts. No experience needed, and where it's urgent, normal procurement rules won't apply. Should be able to clear about £70M for yourself if you follow protocol.
Sorry, not for yourself, for your trust fund I meant.
Your are no doubt right there. Patch up the potholes, give it a another winter at most and they will have reappeared so you can patch them up again building up your trust fund nicely.
Well, got into a heated debate with my sister over the Tories.
Immigrants get to see GP’s and dentists first apparently, they get priority. I don’t doubt immigrants might be given a general health check on arrival for TB etc etc but that’s not the same as walking into a surgery and having a vip lane straight to a GP’s door. I don’t know why I bother though, it’s not about appointments really, it’s about race/ colour.
What did amuse me though? My sister chats to a fellow dog walker on their walks but recently politics came up. My sister made it clear what she thought about immigrants and since then this guy with the dog won’t talk to her anymore. Totally blanks her.
What is it do you think that makes your sister have racist opinions? What triggered such a mode of thought in her, considering you seem to have opposing attitudes?
If they carry on in their usual style then that 235 mil will be spent in very specific London areas. The 20 with Tory MPs. The rest will be getting the same as the North. Nothing!
Kensington and Chelsea should be pot-hole free. Tower Hamlets, not so much
I'd say you're spot-on. This is after all the typical pattern for spending in London. We're still seeing the negative legacy of the London Olympics, where public money was diverted to covering the spiralling costs of the sports facilities and 'redevelopment'. Roads to nowhere built to benefit Westfield shopping centre, whilst long-needed improvement projects for social housing were scrapped. Right now, billions is being spent on removing unsafe cladding from any buildings; cladding that is unsafe because cost cutting led to the wrong materials being used. And we all know where that led. And that was in Kensington and Chelsea. This isn't about any mythical north/south divide, but much more to do with class and economic power. You will find equal examples of spending disparity in places like Wilmslow in Cheshire, compared to say Toxteth or Cumbernauld. The tories always find money to win votes.
What is it do you think that makes your sister have racist opinions? What triggered such a mode of thought in her, considering you seem to have opposing attitudes?
That's a really good question.
She's older than me, I'm 55, she's in her late 60's. She worked with eastern Europeans for a while years ago, she refers to them as "Russians" though they were obviously not. Though I think her bias predates that period of her life.
She, as do I, live in an area of Kent that until the late 90's you pretty much never heard a foreign accent or even saw a black person... Though people of Asian heritage were certainly here.
What I can say for certain is that she and her husband read the Daily Mail and have done for years.
So... I think she is a product of the right wing media, almost total lack of interaction with those from other cultures and pure irrational racism.
Rather than blame the Tories for the state of the NHS for instance (she's always complaining about that, she's in her late 60's and has a fair few health issues) because she can't get a quick appointment with a GP or a dentist "due to immigrants having priority."
You can't reason with her, she goes full on Daily Mail and throws out generic "facts" that she can't back up at all when pressed or challenged.
So… I think she is a product of the right wing media, almost total lack of interaction with those from other cultures and pure irrational racism.
Yes, a typical case, sadly. For me, the key is in socialisation. A lack of which can be the basis for irrational fear. And of course we know about the right-wing press being only too happy to stoke those fires. It's so sad. But then it's exacerbated by people's insecurity; we've seen on this very thread, how a simple comment on someone's lack of insight can lead to an explosion of defensiveness and an attack on those they perceive to be some kind of 'threat'. It's often very hard, but proving to someone they have nothing to actually fear, can help to change their minds. But for me, this can be achieved through solidarity with others, to show people that yes, you can interact and have relationships with others, and they can be positive. I feel sorry for your sister, and people like her, I genuinely do. Because they are missing out on so much in their lives. Very sad.
because she can’t get a quick appointment with a GP or a dentist “due to immigrants having priority.”
Tell her to put on a foreign accent the next she wants a GP or dental appointment.
It's tough being British in Britain, you need to get cunning.
Tell her to put on a foreign accent the next she wants to a GP or dental appointment.
It’s tough being British in Britain, you need to get cunning.
Yeah, that's about the level of logic going on in her mind.
It's sad in all honesty.
The phrase 'Thick as Mince' is banded around a lot on this forum, generally directed at Rishi's cabinet. Sometimes I feel its not actually deserved as the MP in question is clearly not thick, just a grasping opportunist for instance like Gove.
Then on Today this morning enters stage left Victoria Atkins the Health Secretary.
It was so painful Amol basically just gave up trying to get any meaningful words out of her and treated her as you would a child.
Incredible.
What is it do you think that makes your sister have racist opinions? What triggered such a mode of thought in her, considering you seem to have opposing attitudes?
I have a similar problem and although my sister is not out and out racist she is gullible enough to be taken in by Daily Mail, Tory party and the like. Simply down to genetics - I was lucky enough to be born with a high level of intelligence and she really wasn't!
Maybe intelligence is the wrong word but it may be required to be able to (and have a desire to) want to question what you are being told but then ultimately it may be because she doesn't care and is happy enough to go along with it being the fault of immigrants. My mother who was more reasoned years ago has also fallen for the immigration BS.
Simply down to genetics – I was lucky enough to be born with a high level of intelligence and she really wasn’t!
Plenty of very highly intelligent people who are very racist. Nobody is ever born racist, or becomes racist because they're of lower intelligence. Racism is the product of their experiences and influences in life. Many are xenophobic because of bad experiences/trauma they've suffered in life. And many go along with groupthink because they find comfort in that 'community'. Nothing to do with 'genetics'. And you might want to have a think about your own perceived level of intelligence. It's an assumption that has been the undoing of many arrogant people.
Nobody is ever born racist
“No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite”
- Nelson Mandela.
Plenty of very highly intelligent people who are very racist. Nobody is ever born racist, or becomes racist because they’re of lower intelligence.
I said she wasn't actually racist but buys the BS about immigration (which admittedly has a very racist element in it) but it is more acceptance of the bullshit and ignorance around the positives/negatives of immigration. A level of intelligence is required to be able to question it, think about it, look at numbers, real impact etc,.
The differing levels of intelligence between us are totally genetic.
And you might want to have a think about your own perceived level of intelligence.
No need, it is not perceived, it is measured and measures can be used comparatively where my level of intelligence is high. It is that matter of fact to me because I am also autistic!
I don't think it's a lack of intelligence - it's a lack of critical thinking that isn't taught in schools.
People are outraged at things that are perfectly reasonable to be outraged at. The issue is that the outrageous things are either entirely fictitious or grossly distorted. As Prince John points out it's not really an issue of intelligence but more a lack of employing intelligence in forming views. And in happens in all directions.
The Mash on form today
Sunak dreading in-laws' questions about when he will achieve something with his life
The differing levels of intelligence between us are totally genetic.
I don't think you understand genetics.
No need, it is not perceived, it is measured and measures can be used comparatively where my level of intelligence is high. It is that matter of fact to me because I am also autistic!
It can be quite dangerous to overestimate your own intelligence. And really not a wise move to make such proclamations on the internet.
I don’t think it’s a lack of intelligence – it’s a lack of critical thinking that isn’t taught in schools.
Totally. Successive generations grow up without such learning, and therefore lack shared insight and awareness. Points to the many significant flaws in our education system.
It’s almost as if they just pulled an arbitrary figure out of the air and scrawled it down on the back of a fag packet?
Their paymasters will have informed them that they need imported labour and they have no intention of paying them anywhere near that amount
They really are utter morons, aren’t they?
Have we done the latest Honest Government Ad?
Seriously NSFW
Brilliant. Can we have that on prime time BBC as an information broadcast, please?
It can be quite dangerous to overestimate your own intelligence. And really not a wise move to make such proclamations on the internet.
Dangerous sounds a bit dramatic, interested to know what you think is going to happen to me as an anonymous person on the internet claiming to be more intelligent than the majority of people. My intelligent assessment of it is nothing will happen...
You don’t have to be an economist to know the economy is ****ed.
Its been a mess since Liz Truss took a sledgehammer to it and Rishi has just made things worse
Lizz Truss was not the catalyst for the economy being screwed. At all.
Where are you getting that from?
Interest rate decisions were being made to target inflation long before that. And growth was on a downward trend ages ago. Flat Line just pre-pandemic 2019/20 for instance.
Of course you don't need to be an economist but you have to check out the data and look around a bit more than just the Truss situation.
Everything that Truss was responsible for mostly rectified itself pretty quickly. The BoE did its job. In fact we should be bothered that markets can dictate policy whether you like them or not. The real issue here was pension markets showing how wobbly they are when working with leverage. Maybe private pensions subject to leveraged trading environment shouldn't be grounds for your retirement pot?
What you should also be concerned about with the Truss situation is using the GBP/USD as metric for a ruined economy. It's not - it's a floating currency that is designed to go up and down and make a few people rich. Again recovered quickly.
The bigger picture is the transfer of interest income to the few currently and lack of motivation for investing in public services - neither of which have anything to do with Truss, and are still entirely doable.
The economy doesn't need to be screwed - it just needs the correct party to start fixing all the damn societal infrastructure issues and target all the areas of inadequate funding - find the resources and labour, crack on.
That then generates growth in the economy, money swills through from the public sector - then to us.
Front door state financing instead of back door syphoning public money to private friends.
It's a choice for it to be in a mess.
I know it's meant to be satire but that Honest Government Ad is just telling the truth. I very much doubt any satirist could come up with anything more deranged than what the Govt are doing on an almost daily basis.
has bridgen accidently let slip that an election will be in May ?
(tbf he IS nuttier than a squirrels turd so he may well be talking bobbins)
has bridgen accidently let slip that an election will be in May ?
I would be extremely surprised if Rishi Sunak has already decided the date of the next general election. I am not sure why so many people believe that he has.
It would no sense at all if he has, beyond deciding that it will be some time next year, as it will surely be dependent on the state of the economy, something which is notoriously hard to accurately predict and is often affected by events beyond his control.
Four days ago the prediction for next year was 0.5% growth
https://kpmg.com/uk/en/home/insights/2018/09/uk-economic-outlook.html
This morning it was claimed that the UK was at risk of recession
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67799713
Add to that the unpredictability of the consequences to the global economy of Israel's wanton destruction of Palestine
Although that would be something out of Rishi Sunak's direct control it would surely poetic justice following his unwavering support for the Israeli terrorist state as it continues to kill 300 civilians every day.
as it will surely be dependent on the state of the economy, something which is notoriously hard to accurately predict and is often affected by events beyond his control.
Are people around the PM really telling him that it's possible that the economy will be in a better place at some point in 2024?
The revised GDP figures probably offer a more positive slant on the economy when compared with what voters are actually feeling. And they have another winter with even worse energy prices (no government support) to get through.
His failure to read the economic and political runes and call it a day last autumn means that the public will associate any coming recession primarily with Conservative rule, rather than Labour getting in and running out of its post-electoral 'grace period' squarely in the middle of it.
I would be extremely surprised if Rishi Sunak has already decided the date of the next general election
Well he's already decided that 2024 is going to be an election year So I'd be very surprised that he's (along with the party advisors who're paid to think about this stuff) not got a date in mind already. They'll need to get the election strategy planned and ready for roll out to the associations around the country and all the printing done and so on and on; and all that will need careful timing. The Tories are probably resigned to the fact that there's not going to be much that'll move the polling so its either going to be a Thursday in spring (May) or autumn (September) and that's a grand total of 9 days...Pick one Rishi...
Yeah, there's no deciding about it.
Well he’s already decided that 2024 is going to be an election year
Well he really hasn't got much choice, and there was never any realistic possibility that he would hang on until Jan 2025. He has simply ruled out what everyone already knew.
You must have more confidence than me that Rishi Sunak has a plan and is more or less in control of the situation, if you think that he has already decided when in the next 12 months the general election will be.
IMO he is no doubt playing it by ear and constantly responding to changing situations. If he's not then he is even more inept than I imagined.
IMO he is no doubt playing it by ear and constantly responding to changing situations. If he’s not then he is even more inept than I imagined.
I reckon it'll be the spring for no other reason than him and the rest of them will want to put their feet up over the summer once they've lost their jobs.
Economy contracting again.
What a bloody suprise! No change until £££ spent into the economy.
Numbskulls.
Strap in - they're only just getting started with the economy.
Wait until inflation* pops up again too.
*Speculation.
I reckon it’ll be the spring for no other reason than him and the rest of them will want to put their feet up over the summer once they’ve lost their jobs.
My thoughts exactly. He'll be in California by June
Surely by now the real brains behind the tories will have realised that it's probably best to write of the next GE, and concentrate instead on causing as much irreparable damage as possible, which will prove impossible for Labour to fix. Thus ensuring an easy slide back into power at the following GE, as they can then rewrite the narrative that Labour have 'failed' the nation.
Well, we have that already with the abandoned rail plans... plenty of scorched earth policy taking place there.
It isn't in the "backers" interest to destroy the economy, they want to make as much money out of it as possible. A labour party that continues neoliberalism and throws a few more crumbs from the table to the peasants to give the impression that the system works is what they want.
You must have more confidence than me that Rishi Sunak has a plan
I think they've probably just read the room, and realised that's the gig's up and they're out. Once you've made that decision it just down to the either one of the tradition dates, as there's no real reason to look at something else. I reckon it'll be the earlier date just to do the decent thing and put them all out of their misery, it's pretty clear the parliamentary Tory party have all but given up already. After all; no-one wants to be job hunting in the run up to Xmas do they?
Surely by now the real brains behind the tories
I see the massive flaw in the plan there...
It isn’t in the “backers” interest to destroy the economy
Plenty of people still grow their wealth in a down turn (whether self inflicted or not)... just not the vast majority of us. Stability might be good for me, you, and the UK as a whole... but there's money to be made by some from the mess we're going through this decade, just like in the last one. Sunak being a great example of how it's done.