MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Comparing the campaigning slogans isn’t ridiculous though, is it.
You damn well know that I am talking about is this comment which was made on the previous page:
the current Conservative part had implemented the entire 1970s National front manifesto except capital punishment.
The Tories have not deported people married to non-whites, or denied all non-whites equal access to healthcare, housing, etc
The Tory Party might not appeal to you but it is not a neo-nazi party. Get a grip FFS.
No, they are not. But the campaigning points can be compared…
Close up…
And it’s not just the Tories… it’s all quite mainstream English politics.
As someone pointed out… it’s only capital punishment that stands out there as odd and not yet being used by mainstream political parties… but it is being used by a few very visible Conservative MPs.
Edit : Actually no I'll delete. It's obvious that a sensible debate isn't possible with you Kelvin
No, I do not and have not made that claim.
[ edit: the claim was that I said the Conservatives were a neo-nazi party ]
No. It was down to some lively interventions from all sorts of politicised people. The Clash were only OK, they bored me in Victoria Park. Red Saunders did a great job, brought together all sorts of disparate groups. We marched with skins, rastas, dockers, and all we were were very expressivive and balletic in our engagements with the Nazis. There was people in Manchester who did time for this. As with Cable Street, many aspire to claim involvement after the events. Billy Bragg happened to play at my mate's 21st at that time, he was an ex-army wannabe folkie at the time.
So anyway the latest opinion poll "only" gives Labour a 21% lead:
https://redfieldandwiltonstrategies.com/latest-gb-voting-intention-12-february-2023/
Pretty consistent polling from R&W there:
Polls seemed to have settled into a steady pattern with Sunak as PM… no further to fall, but leaving Labour quite a buffer. They’ll need all of that mind, when campaigning proper kicks in.
Political correctness, which both distorts the issues and further alienates played no part, thank heavens.
Political correctness is a linguistic theory
It does make me laugh when you use far right tropes - thats another one there
I think your love of brexit does cast some dust in your eyes over racism - your constant denial that racism is a huge driver of brexit does not stand examination
Mote / beam?
Political Correctness is just middle class desktop nonsense, nomenclature as a vehicle for maintaining a sneering superiority over the working class. Polite words don't deliver change.
Political correctness is a linguistic theory
It does make me laugh when you use far right tropes – thats another one there
Well I can't say it makes me laugh but your suggestion that the term "political correctness" is far-right terminology is obviously ridiculous. It used extensively by people who claim that it is "a linguistic theory".
The average voter isn't far-right, knows exactly what political correctness refers to, uses the term, and is generally pissed off by the whole issue.
Still, you have made it clear that in your opinion approximately 50 percent of the electorate are racist, so I guess we are not going to ever agree about this issue.
The far right trope is
Political correctness, which both distorts the issues and further alienates played .
I have nevet said this tho. find me a quote saying so?
Still, you have made it clear that in your opinion approximately 50 percent of the electorate are racist,
What I do maintain is that a large driver of brexit was racism something you deny or ignore in you love of Brexit
The far right trope is
Political correctness, which both distorts the issues and further alienates played no part, thank heavens.
LOL! I have never heard the far-right complain that political correctness distorts the issues and further alienates people! 😂
its merely a variant on the " political correctness gone mad" trope used by the right to blame the left and was used in almost exactly that form by jambourgie
That's the second time that you have mentioned him. How about not criticising someone who isn't even on the thread and hasn't made a comment? 💡
its an observation that amused me that you and him used a very similar form of words and the same sentiment. Strange bedfellows 🙂
Not seen that campaign poster for the National Front before.
It could almost be a current campaign poster for the Tories and DEFINITELY for Reform or whatever they are called.
Wow.
It could almost be a current campaign poster for the Tories and DEFINITELY for Reform or whatever they are called
And the Labour Party, if we are going to go down the road of pretending that the NF of the 1970s was a mainstream political party, and not a neo-nazi party which wanted to strip all non-whites of their British citizenship and deport them all.
To go through the poster:
Immigration - there is no fundamental difference in immigration levels between Labour and the Tory governments, often it has been higher under the Tories, they certainly haven't stopped it. Before the pandemic over half a million immigrants were entering the the UK per year, a figure which Labour would be proud of.
Common Market - The Tories took the UK into the EEC and the Tories then took the UK into the EU. Today the Labour Party's position is the same as the Tories's - remain outside the EU.
Restore capital punishment - the Labour Party's position is exactly the same as the Tories's - oppose its reintroduction.
Make Britian great again - Labour are no less committed to the UK than the Tories and no less patriotic.
Scrap overseas aid - Both Labour and Tories have similar policies, neither want to scrap it although the Labour want it at 0.7% of GDP and the Tories at 0.5%
Rebuild our armed forces: Labour are currently highly critical of Tory government cuts in defence spending and are demanding that the government re-arms the UK. Labour likes the ability to fight foreign wars. From two weeks ago:
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/labour-calls-for-uk-rearmament-and-end-to-military-cuts/
"Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey has called for Britain to rearm, reinforce Ukraine, and put an end to military cuts."
So that poster is pretty much as applicable to the Labour Party as it is to the Tories.
Pretending that the NF, which was openly racist and indisputably neo-nazi, was no different to today's mainstream political parties helps no one, expect those who fancy a cheap shot for their own agenda.
Blimey. Rock Against Racism, ANL etc. I was there (how a 15 year old was able to get to punk gigs in Leeds poly, down the back stairs after meetings). Partly accounts for my lasting cynicism about the egos these things attract, see above.
The ANL stand in the middle of Leeds shopping precinct where NF tried to leaflet was more about show, the ones at Elland Rd were for the lads who really did want a scrap (absolutely on both sides). Not for me.
went to the Stockwell park carnival in the middle of my o levels, 1978. Sham 69, total shite. Elvis was good, as were misty, Jumpers/goalposts.
The extent to which this curbed the NF is moot. Thickiepedia gives a straight bat account:
In the 1979 general election, the NF contested more seats than any insurgent party since Labour in 1918.[77] It nevertheless performed badly,[78] securing only 1.3% of the total vote, down from 3.1% in the October 1974 general election.[79] This decline may have been due to increased anti-fascist campaigning over preceding years, or because of the Conservatives' increasingly restrictive stance on immigration under Margaret Thatcher attracted many votes that previously went to the Front.[80] NF membership had also declined.[81]
Although Tyndall and Webster had been longstanding comrades, in the late 1970s Tyndall began to blame his old friend for the party's problems.[82] Tyndall was upset with Webster's attempts to encourage far-right skinheads and football hooligans to join the NF,[83] as well as allegations that Webster had been making sexual advances toward the party's young men.[84] In October 1979 he urged the NF directorate to call for Webster's resignation, but was refused.[85] Tyndall resigned in January 1980, complaining of a "foul stench of perversion" in the party.[86] In June, he founded the New National Front (NNF),[87] which claimed that a third of the NF's membership defected to it.[86]
The campaigning was worthwhile, fun, and would do again. But is unlikely to have had much to do with the NF failing and falling apart. More likely Thatch.
Restore capital punishment – the Labour Party’s position is exactly the same as the Tories’s – oppose its reintroduction.
Again. Distraction. The point made was that a few Tory MPs, including some given jobs by the new PM, are vocally supportive of bringing back the death penalty. It is not party policy. No one said that it is, just wild speculation about whether the hang ‘em and flog sentiment will be used by a small subsection of Tory candidates to try and win them support, or if it could influence party policy come an election, perhaps with a promise of a referendum. The former is looking nailed on. The later highly unlikely… but with the current make up of Tory parliamentary party, not impossible. It would be another step in the UKIPization of the party. You’d think it would be a step too far… but it could be desperate times for whoever leads the Tories into the next election… who knows what they’ll try… turning people against immigrants and refugees might not be enough for them.
I just hope we get a hung parliament with Labour the largest party, as we may then get the electoral reform that's so desperately needed to keep the Tories out of power for good.
(Of course if SKS could commit to electoral reform, that would be even better!)
Of course if SKS could commit to electoral reform, that would be even better!
Well when Starmer was absolutely desperate to become Labour Party leader he was totally committed to electoral reform :
Keir Starmer’s backing of electoral reform puts democracy at the heart of Labour’s leadership contest
However having managed to secure the job this was his position a couple of years later:
"There are a lot of people in the Labour party who are pro-PR but it’s not a priority"
A hung parliament after the next general election seems highly unlikely, a huge Labour majority seems far more likely.
If the Labour majority is large enough it will make maintaining PLP discipline very hard for any leader imo and will massively increase the possibility of rebellions.
I suspect Starmer will struggle to keep a firm grip and I very much doubt that he will remain PM for long. There is nothing in Starmer's record as leader of the Opposition which suggests that he will be prime ministerial material. Sitting back and watching the Tories shoot themselves in the foot to gain public approval won't be an option when he is PM.
Making the upper house elected via PR is what is being proposed for the first term. Whether that ever gets extended to PR for the commons… who knows… will depend partly on how things go with the Lords replacement I suspect. More people in the Labour movement are getting behind the idea all the time, including some unions who have been dead against it in the recent past. It could well come in the next 10-15 years. It won’t be in this next general election manifesto.
10 weeks to locals
what would this look like at that level?
could sunak survive that?
https://twitter.com/ElectionMapsUK/status/1627085530952536064
even wilder, an SNP collapse in scotland could boost Labour's numbers even higher !?!!?
I wonder what it'll look like this time next week, when the axis of bell-endery that is the ERG and the DUP rally behind Johnsons opportunistic flag as he screams betrayal about whatever slight element of sanity Sunak is about to try and bring to Northern Ireland?
All out war is about to break out in the Tory party once again. As if we're not all bored enough of their shabby, self-absorbed squabbling already. Bickering amongst themselves while everything goes to shit
could sunak survive that?
A collapse in the Tory vote in the May's local elections? Easily IMO.
Helpfully for Sunak everyone is expecting the Tories to do disastrously badly in May's local and devolved elections so it won't exactly be "hold the front page" news.
Plus of course the most important news story that weekend will be the King's coronation - the first coronation for 70 years.
Also helpfully for Sunak there has been 3 Tory Party leaders since the last general election three years ago which dramatically reduces the possibility that there will yet another Tory leader.
Plus there is absolutely no obvious replacement patiently waiting in the wings to step out and take the poison chalice of the inevitable general election meltdown.
Apart from Boris Johnson - I'll let you decide what the chances of the comeback kid getting a second crack.
All out war is about to break out in the Tory party once again
Quite funny that Sunak took a gamble on Braverman only to see her threaten to resign from cabinet over NI deal
Surely even the frothing loons of the ERG can't be daft enough to bring down sunak over this
They didn't even get a red wall boost from 30p lee
https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1628077089122570241?t=9ip4b5drmmuVrOC98ZSmqA&s=19
Surely even the frothing loons of the ERG can’t be daft enough to bring down sunak over this
You think?
Just look at the critical mass of stupidity presently forming. The ERG, the DUP, all led by Boris Johnson with Liz Truss and Suella Braverman in the wings.
Can you see anything rational coming out of that lot?
They're hatstand enough to do whatever you think they couldn't possibly be stupid enough to do.
Surely if the ERG and the other mentalists in the party try to muck up this NI vote Sunak must surely have no choice but to go 'I give up, lets have an election'.
They need to back down on this one, or play a canny game with it as they won't get their bonfire of EU Laws otherwise which is really the endgame so they can either profit from that, or take us back to Victorian times, or whatever the cunning plan is.
How do Plaid Cymru have 1% of the vote in the Red Wall? Isn't it in the North East of England?
Wrexham and Vale of Clwyd are included.
Isn’t it in the North East of England?
No it's a mythical wall which includes the Midlands and bits of North Wales. It doesn't make a lot of sense in several ways including geographically.
Can Sunak sack dumbojo or any of the other idiots?
Sunak can’t do anything. He’s powerless. Impotent. He’s like Theresa May. A hostage to a party now full of absolute headbangers who simply cannot be reasoned with and will not entertain any compromise.
Brexit is a cult that has been increasingly Talibanised, and if you dare to even question the hardest of hard ruptures with the EU then you’re done. Burn the heretic!!!
Sunak isn’t an idiot. He knows that we need a better trading arrangement than the current ‘oven ready’ mess that Johnson and that other pompous windbag ‘Lord’ Frost signed off. Unfortunately the second he attempts to do that he’s finished. Boris will see to that, assisted by the usual gang of useful, shit-thick Brexiteer morons
The DUP are off the chart when it comes to stupidity. The flytipped sofa sold them down the river once already, promising them one thing then delivering the opposite, now they’re going to cheer him on when he does it again. Like all Brexiteers … gullible simpletons. Absolute halfwits
what I cant get my head aroud is the people that actually voting these nutters in.
they must know your local MP is a ERG loon yet enough of them still vote for them.
Probably a majority of votes are based on the colour of the rosette, rather than qualities of the candidate.
A hostage to a party now full of absolute headbangers who simply cannot be reasoned with and will not entertain any compromise.
Seems no different to the grief Kier Starmer is getting on Twitter about Jeremy Corbyn. All parties are full of nutters with their own agendas.
Speaking of Magic Grandad... how many minutes into PMQ's do you think Rishi will get before he mentions him?
It looks like any deal over the NI Protocol is already dead in the water, courtesy of the ERG/DUP fruit loops. This just proves how weak Sunak is and how - as if we didn't know it already - that its these unhinged loons who are still calling the tune
He could get it through a vote with support from the labour party he's already been assured of, but he won't, because he knows the ERG will go into meltdown and god only knows what the DUP would get up to
All Sunak did was shout Brexit slogans
Its pretty obvious that he knows he can't get anything past his own parties headbangers, so he's just resorting to tickling the bellies of the loons and telling them what they want to hear
Those mindless 3 word slogans couldn't have contrasted more with Starmer offering cross-party support to make progress. Only one person sounded like a grown-up who is taking these issues seriously.
Good that Starmer used David Camerons description of the ERG/DUP.... 'those who won't take yes for an answer', and also got Sunak to commit on the record to there being a vote on any deal, so he can't try and bypass parliament.
It he didn’t, he said “Parliament will be able to have its say” So debate not vote.
If that happens it will provide a significant boost to Sunak, irrespective of how much he will have been responsible for it.
It's a possibility Ernie, and it's a guess here but inflation is ticking back up in the USA.
This is because when you raise interest rates more money swills around the higher end which actually drives inflation. Whether the damping affect of lower energy prices makes enough of a difference no idea.
But it's looking like a small uptick in inflation medium term for the USA and they weren't expecting that because they're idiots at the Fed; or clever - depending whether you're doing well out of asset expansion.
UK is not identical to the USA but we've followed them in lots of ways.
Economy is split in two as ever: bottom end is close to breaking point - asset kings are thriving.
So this is why there's a tug between recession or not recession. Macro picture is all over the shop.
Also we knew inflation was going to be transitory but the BoE added their own dynamic to the problem and driving inflation themselves.
With all this latest Sunak stuff it will change the landscape for politics though.
Interested to see the polls react and how Sir Starmer responds.
I mean everyone thinks the Tories are finished. I'm still erring on a poll bounce for them. But who knows.
So much can change in no time at all.
I mean everyone thinks the Tories are finished. I’m still erring on a poll bounce for them. But who knows.
I'd expect a poll bounce, but not sustained if cost of living doesnt improve rapidly
what it does do is cement sunaks position in the Tory party, Johnson looking very much like yesterday's man
I agree with Rone above - but Starmer has boxed himself in with some really stupid "missions" e.g.
Mission: Decarbonise electricity supply by 2030 and cut bills
What does this mean in practice?
- Huge (hundreds of £Bs) investment and deployment of long term (weeks not days capacity) grid level electricity storage infrastructure using technologies that are still being piloted / are not ready for scale deployment.
- The need to develop and commercialise the tech and create a viable market for it i.e. balance of supply and demand to ensure competition
- (lots - thousands) of planning applications all of which could take up to 2 years if they go to planning inspectorate appeals
- thousands of sub projects to be designed, procured and delivered in 60 months or less.
- tens of thousands of jobs to be created and trained in the tech that doesn't exist yet.
Chances of this happening - zero.
The tech doesn't exist - in its current form it's v expensive and will require £00's of Billions against a pledge that consumers will pay less. So who is paying?
The poll bounce that Rone suggests will happen largely because the public will see through the missions for what they are - vague aspirations with no substance behind them.
The tech exists. Just get on with it. We should be doing it already. Yes, it'll take big investment... but we're currently giving companies huge tax breaks for investing big in future fossil fuels... time to change direction fast. Britain can afford it... but it can't do so on the back of consumers. Time to accept that decarbonisation is a national goal, not something that can be done purely through the bills consumers pay.
I smell further government energy intervention. Not suprisingly.
If they want to do something they always can. No windfall tax needed to make it happen.
The latest opinion poll in the Daily Telegraph suggests if the results were replicated in a general election Labour would have a 348 seat majority.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/03/04/no-brexit-deal-bounce-rishi-sunak-poll-shows/
"a massive Labour landslide of 499 seats, while the Tories would be cut down from the 365 seats they won in 2019 to just 69".
That's pretty devestating..how many seats are there in total? 6 hundred and something?
650.
Things aren't going to get any better for people. Governments always change when the economy is bad. That's what did for the last Labour govt - the financial crisis - and things are much worse now I think. And in 18 months time it'll be worse still.
I thought you didn't believe those kind of numbers ernie!
I'm not sure I do tbh, local elections will be interesting, even they don't really show us how the public will vote in a GE, seems to me though that any bounce from an NI deal wiped out by Johnson & we are all going to be plunged back in to months of rehashing the lockdown/covid/partygate debates thanks to the covid inquiry and Johnsons determination to save his skin. The telegraph /spectator seems to be going in heavily on the covid conspiracy side.
But we STILL have inflation and a stagnating economy that's hurting millions right now. that should be the real priority
Yes, it’ll take big investment… but we’re currently giving companies huge tax breaks for investing big in future fossil fuels
We're seriously starting to fall behind on batteries, EVs, hydrogen tech, high speed rail...
Inflation will likely to no longer be an issue. As the link up there ^^ suggests.
But personally I don't think that there is anything that can happen now which will do anything to turn the Tories's fortunes round so that they don't suffer a devastating defeat next general election.
Liz Truss turned the Tories into a very toxic brand, Rishi Sunak's premiership has done nothing to significantly change that, not even in his honeymoon period.
A lot of people have made their minds up that they want change and won't be voting Tory next general election, even if they did last election.
No doubt as general election day approaches the Tories will claw some of their traditional support back, but the gulf is now so huge that I can't see them anywhere close to what would be needed.
Furthermore they need to be clawing some of that support back right now, not just a month or two before election day. The Telegraph link shows that really isn't happening.
IMHO
I thought you didn’t believe those kind of numbers ernie!
Why? No one bangs on about the huge lead that Labour have than me. I am constantly providing links to opinion polls and repeatedly said that IMO the Tories have zero chance of winning the next general election.
I think you might be confusing me with someone else 💡
Edit: I do believe that most pollsters probably exaggerate the Labour lead though.
Opinium and Deltapoll consistently give Labour about a 15% lead as they both factor in the fact that some traditional Tory voters who currently won't say how they will vote will probably vote Tory on the day.
That sounds very plausible to me. And IMO the general election result is more likely to be somewhere in the region of Labour 45% and Tories 30%.
That would still represent a devastating defeat for the Tories + they have never polled less than 30% in a general election in the last 200 years.
I don’t think the seat calculators work when the predicted swing is as large as it currently is.
I can imagine The Sun's headline the day after the election.
"WE'RE (SU)NAKERED!"
Together with a pic of Sunak pulling an odd face or something.
I expect the Sun to back Starmer!
The Sun always likes to back a winner, the next general election result is all but certain.
And Murdoch will expect to receive some credit for that!
Liz Truss turned the Tories into a very toxic brand
To be fair to Truss, she was just a mold encrusted fungal infection of icing on the rotten cake... a product of her environment after Johnson, May and cameron.
Truss may be devestatingly incompetent, but the blame does not lay entirely with her.
The conservative govenmerment as a whole has full responsibility.
Truss may be devestatingly incompetent, but the blame does not lay entirely with her.
Absolutely true.
Truss simply accelerated the more fanatical parts of the Tory brand.
The Tory brand on the whole has been devastatingly robust. Don't forget she came towards the end of many terrible Conservative political decisions.
Generally, Tories are all bad for society because of their terminal logic. Riding on the success of the state for years only to dismantle it is a recipe for disaster.
There's a big picture here.
Saw an excellent comment from someone setting out his political/societal views in the 1960s, which aligned with the MacMillan governments policies.
He said he hasn't changed his views, but is now regarded as far left.
I'm sure his argument can be picked apart, but I thought it identified the move to the right quite well. I was brought up Tory, but my current position is as much a result of them moving to the right as me moving to the left.
Truss may be devestatingly incompetent, but the blame does not lay entirely with her.
The conservative govenmerment as a whole has full responsibility.
There is still a large rump of the party that is so fanatical about it’s ‘free market’ libertarian righteousness, despite all evidence to the contrary, that they would happily repeat what Truss did
In their paranoid, tinfoil-helmeted worldview, the idea was right but she was foiled by *insert name of chosen villain here*
The ‘lefty’ economic establishment? The media? The liberal elite? Take your pick
But, as with the disaster of Brexit, nothing is ever their fault. It’s everybody else sabotaging their grand vision
Getting inflation under control isnt enough, that still leaves prices way above where they were 2 years ago so unless inflation goes negative (extremely unlikely) or wages catch up quickly (also extremely unlikely) people will still be financially squeezed come the election. People don't vote based on an inflation KPI they vote on how wealthy they feel.
Inflation may be down but it still means prices are rising, not coming down which is what people need. Trouble is large wage growth will stoke more inflation and negative inflation is generally seen as a bad thing (I don't know why) by the financiers so will be avoided.
I’d come to the conclusion that the majority of people in this country now have such low expectations of our politicians, with some considerable justification, that they can do pretty much anything and people will still vote for them.
And that’s true, up to a point
But Truss committed the cardinal sin. Her ‘experiment’ resulted in middle class peoples mortgage payments going up considerably and their pensions taking a big hit
You do that in this country and you’re finished!
Trouble is large wage growth will stoke more inflation
I don't think that is true, it is just political dogma spouted for the past 50 years to allow money to flow up from the majority to the few.
Well apparently Sunak's new "stop the boats" policy, will have to ignore the ECHR to be successful.
They really are a bunch of horrible ****s!
Will we get to see what our new human rights will be or will they just make them up afterwards?
Human rights? I believe Dominic Raab will sort all that out. Nothing to worry about there then.
Their latest ‘stop the boats’ nonsense just confirm what we already know. Their culture war BS is literally all they’ve got left
But appealing to their base of racist pensioners won’t win them a general election after all that they’ve done since Boris got the keys to number ten
the tail is wagging the dog.
MAIL ON SUNDAY COMMENT: Rishi Sunak must deliver on his fight to 'Stop the Boats' to beat Keir Starmer
How will they go about leaving the ECHR. Is it simply Sunak saying he’s leaving or is there votes and legal stuff? Will it take years or days?
After the next election can Starmer simply rejoin and more importantly would he?
If that **** wants my vote I need to know what I’m voting for.
It’s just more dog-whistle stuff to throw to their base. Like Rwanda and wave machines in the Channel. It won’t actually happen
One thing we know is that this government don’t actually DO anything. It’ll all be forgotten about by next week and we’ll be on to the next piece of reactionary horse-shit
I do hope so Binners.
If wages growth causes in inflation why don't bankers' bonuses or the £30bn bung to Serco? The 'growth' mantra on its own for solving the country's problems is meaningless. Addis Abbaba, for example, has had massive growth.....and starvation wages.
Addis Abbaba, for example, has had massive growth…..and starvation wages.
That's literally their dream!
....setting out his political/societal views in the 1960s, which aligned with the MacMillan governments policies.
He said he hasn’t changed his views, but is now regarded as far left.
I’m sure his argument can be picked apart.....
I am not sure it can be. Harold Macmillan was without doubt a social democrat - he was totally committed to a mixed economy and universal welfare state.
His political views on many issues could not have been more at odds with Margret Thatcher's. Whilst she despised council housing Macmillan was nicknamed the 'council house builder'.
Thatcher privatised everything that she could, Macmillan called it 'selling off the family silver'.
Thatcher hated trade unions, Macmillan believed in cooperating with them - he was horrified by Thatcher treating British miners as "the enemy within". He made this comment during the miner's strike: “This terrible strike, by the best men in the world, who beat the Kaiser and Hitler's armies and never gave in”
WW2 provided a huge boost for socialism and the postwar consensus of embracing social democracy was globally widespread. It resulted in leading US Republican Richard Nixon declaring "We are all Keynesians now"
In contrast many years later Peter Mandelson declared "we are all Thatcherites now".
Jeremy Corbyn's 2019 general election manifesto would definitely have been considered right-wing 45 years ago.
If the "country is full up" should we not demonise people who have more than 2 kids and award some sort of badge to people like me and Mrs Zip who have none?
The country is simultaneously full up while also unable to fill the hundreds of thousands of job vacancies
That’s the corner this lot have painted themselves into
Culture war is really all they have left. Jenkinson's (Workington) latest tirade is against local police stickering up a police car.
This is same MP who decided locals were swapping food vouchers for drugs (with no evidence).
It'll be 'interesting' to see how well it plays in the red wall.
Of course big wage increases will stoke inflation, the increase in wages needs to come from somewhere, it'll be passed onto consumers in the form of price increases for goods and services (or taxes for public services). You could argue it should come at the expense of profits and shareholder dividends but it wont so save your breath. In the grand scheme of things bankers bonuses, as abhorrent as they are, are a small part of the economy so don't directly have much of an impact.
I see they have annouced health checks for everyone to counter Binners point of there not being enough economically active people in our society after all the hard working European migrants who actively contributed to our country went home due to Brexit. It's just shone a light on the ever increasing social problems we have. I haven't read the details of the health check policy (assuming there are any which would make a change) but I can't see the people who most need to address their lifestyle and health issues either goingvto the appointments or acting on the advice. Of course this is assuming we have the capacity to deliver these health checks which I doubt.
It’ll be ‘interesting’ to see how well it plays in the red wall.
The present polling in the individual constituencies that make up the 'Red Wall' is showing that every single one of them will be going back to labour at the next election. I've said it many times but this wasn't some seismic shift in 2019. These new Tory lot are sat on paper-thin majorities. My own utter shyster of a (Boris, then Liz Truss supporting) Tory MP has a majority of 100. He knows he's out come the next election! He's busy lining his pockets with dodgy funding.
The '30p' Lee Anderson hang-em-and-flog-em narrative is just the death rattle of a load of one-term MP's who know they're done. The 'Small Boats nonsense may play well to the racist pensioners of Eastbourne, but the new intake of Northern Tory MPs drank a bit too much of the Boris Kool Aid with his bullshit about this being a huge shift that he had delivered. There aren't any small boats landing in Bolton.
Everyone now knows that 'levelling up' was bollocks and they never had the slightest intention of doing anything to improve anything in 'The North' (there be dragons!). When it comes, people will vote with that in mind.
To quote Roger Daltry... "we won't be fooled again"
Of course this is assuming we have the capacity to deliver these health checks which I doubt.
We know the answer to that. The NHS is on its knees. There is no capacity to deliver any of this.
Like I said: this lot don't actually DO anything. Its all just soundbites for consumption by the gullible, reactionary, Daily Mail reading 'Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells' for the next few days. I'm betting we never hear anything about it ever again.
Heard anything about Rwanda recently?
Of course big wage increases will stoke inflation
Except that currently the UK isn't experiencing big wage increases and yet inflation is still very high.
In fact wages are only rising at about half the rate of inflation. It is obvious that wage increases are not the primary cause of current UK inflation - energy prices are.
Inflation is associated with growth and the economy overheating, that is not currently happening.
Inflation is “a steady and sustained rise in prices”. But energy price increases are not "steady" and "sustainable". It is not actually an inflationary process - the increases will, and have, stopped.
Which is why it is forecast that by the end of the year UK inflation will fall to about 2%, which is exactly what the government's inflation target is.
Keeping wage increases to half the rate of inflation is not necessary to control inflation, inflation will fall anyway, even if wages increase at the rate of inflation.
Obviously it provides an excellent opportunity to slash wages in real terms though.
https://www.ft.com/content/358217ce-c165-48c1-9b1b-a4c73320a92a