Just on that tax the wealthy point, I was going to start a thread on the opinion of Gary's economics but kept forgetting
The issue with trying to tax someone like Amazon is they just move things around, even though it's z UK to UK transaction they'll make sure it's done in Ireland or luxumberg or somewhere to avoid it going to the UK tax man
That's fixed easily enough... the UK government just needs to invent a new special tax just for offshore multi-nationals... call it a 'cost of foreigners doing business in the UK' tax. That would aso appease the anti-immigrant brigade.
Want to do business in the UK but don't want to file a tax return? fine, we will just charge you a % number based on your global company value determined by appoximate portion of business you do in the UK.
Job jobbed.
Think this period English politics could be christened REFUXIT.
Most of these conversations are way too late, the huddled masses have a second chance at revenge, first they voted Brexit second they voted Reform. The final act..... General Election.
Ends up in a glorious shit show.
English politics, not UK politics
Apparently Reform UK are currently doing reasonably well in Scotland. If it isn't at quite the same level of support as it is in England that is at least in part because in England it is now a four way split whilst in Scotland it is a five way split.
So in England voters have to be pissed off with the Tories, Labour, and the LibDems, before Reform start doing well, whilst in Scotland they have to be pissed off with the SNP, Labour, the Tories, and the LibDems, before it starts to benefit Reform.
https://www.survation.com/reform-uk-records-highest-support-ever-in-a-scottish-poll/
mattyfez has the solution to offshoring profits. Iirc that is used in some places
farageism gains very little traction in Scotland.
the Scots electorate are fed up with all main parties which should be ripe ground for reform but they still gain very little traction
You are saying that Survation have got it wrong?
What alternative figures can you provide?
One of the new intake of Labour MPs told me "this is not a verdict on our failure to deliver.
"It is a verdict on what we have delivered. People on the doorsteps are using the word 'betrayal.'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8jdr900r7o
One of the new intake of Labour MPs told me "this is not a verdict on our failure to deliver.
"It is a verdict on what we have delivered. People on the doorsteps are using the word 'betrayal.'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8jdr900r7o
Your forgetting that a huge portion of grass roots labour supporters are massive bigots/racists etc... none of this is unexpected.
One of the new intake of Labour MPs told me "this is not a verdict on our failure to deliver.
"It is a verdict on what we have delivered. People on the doorsteps are using the word 'betrayal.'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8jdr900r7o
Your forgetting that a huge portion of grass roots labour supporters are massive bigots/racists etc... none of this is unexpected.
I neither said the quote nor did I write the BBC article.
I haven't forgotten anything.
One of the new intake of Labour MPs told me "this is not a verdict on our failure to deliver.
"It is a verdict on what we have delivered. People on the doorsteps are using the word 'betrayal.'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8jdr900r7o
Your forgetting that a huge portion of grass roots labour supporters are massive bigots/racists etc... none of this is unexpected.
I neither said the quote nor did I write the BBC article.
I haven't forgotten anything.
Calm down at the back of the class... I didn't say you said anything! Lol
You are saying that Survation have got it wrong?
What alternative figures can you provide?
17% as a high point when all 4 other main parties are in the doldrums and folk are scunnered with those 4 parties shows little traction.
Its a lot less than thr traction the Faragists hve in England.
Y
Reform will need to put their infrastructure in place before they can "rule" properly. i.e. a proper management system. They are on a steep learning curve and they need administrative expertise to function. Being transformational but without administrative capabilities will only mean instability, worse case scenario is infighting and chaos jockeying for position. All political parties or ruling class have to go through this and Reform is still in the infant stage. Yes, they can win and win big but at the end of the day if their supporters don't get fed or fed less or does not feel the benefits, then Reform will have start all over again. Winning is just the first step, maintaining the system is an entirely different ball game.
Looking around the wards in the East Midlands that are now Nazi blue...
One by one, tick by tick, they're pretty much exactly the ones you'd think. You could probably draw a chart of "flat-roofed pubs per capita" versus votes for Reform and get a positive correlation of >0.85.
What an insular, nasty, racist, intolerant country we are. It's time to face up to it.
😐
Looking at the final results on the BBC news front page, Reform have 677, the Tories lost 676.
Labour lost 186 and the lib Dems and Greens gained 208.
Those are the voters Labour need to cosy up to and get back on side not Reform ones. **** Farage and **** Reform.
Reform will need to put their infrastructure in place before they can "rule" properly. i.e. a proper management system. They are on a steep learning curve and they need administrative expertise to function.
A friend (same county council as me) messaged last night having just found out the results saying "WTF?!" and then added exactly that - what do Reform know about running a council?!
And first thing I saw this morning...
https://bsky.app/profile/reformexposed.bsky.social/post/3loao2o66ek2n
Simplistic bullshit from simplistic bullshitters.
What an insular, nasty, racist, intolerant country we are. It's time to face up to it.
No, you are reading that totally wrong. The vast majority of people are none of those, they want a political Party that actually does some good for them.
We’ve had around 20 years of poor governance, and peoples lives have not kept up with their ambitions. Labour had some promise when they got in, but one of the first things they did was take £200 off pensioners. That was a terrible decision that was going to lose them an awful lot of goodwill. Subsequent policies by Labour are hardly inspiring to anyone, they have a massive majority, and could do some real change for the good, but they’ve squandered their chance within 9 months of being in office.
Immigration is a big issue, but it is an immigration issue, not a racist issue, dont confuse the two. Intolerance - people have had enough, 20 years where things have gone downhill for them in real terms, we’re supposedly one of the big economies of the World, so why isnt our Government working? Farage is playing on that, and putting forward populist policies. People see his list of Policies, and agree with most of them, and , when you read them as a list, they do look appealing. However, they are unlikely to be enacted, even if they get into Westminster, but the point is, he is promoting things that people, on the surface, want. Going deeper will show they arent that well thought out, but, what other Government has done any good in the last 20 years? So people think its time to give someone else a chance.
What has disappointed me most is the poor performance from Labour. They could do anything. But they havent. They’ve just annoyed a third of voters, shown they are not much better than the Tories, been caught taking freebies from ‘influential’ people, and not putting forward any plans to improve life in Britain. If they have any plans, they’ve kept them quiet, as I havent heard anything good yet.
Dont blame the Voters, blame the awful main parties for their ineptitude.
One by one, tick by tick, they're pretty much exactly the ones you'd think. You could probably draw a chart of "flat-roofed pubs per capita" versus votes for Reform and get a positive correlation of >0.85.
What an insular, nasty, racist, intolerant country we are. It's time to face up to it.
Certainly intolerant from that post 😉
The new Reform mayor of Greater Lincolnshire seems adamant she was elected to stop the boats. I'm pretty ****ing sure that is not in her mayoral remit, and given her track record on that matter after 14 years in a Tory government, I wouldn't rely on her stop at a red light.
Dont blame the Voters, blame the awful main parties for their ineptitude.
I think this is the nub of the issue; rather like we’ve seen in the US, working people know the system isn’t working for them, and Labour, who were traditionally the party they could rely upon to represent their interests, has let them down since being voted in last year. If Labour policies were focused on created a fairer, more equitable society, that would take the heat out of issues like immigration. Reform isn’t the answer: 10 minutes searching on YouTube will provide ample evidence of where Farage’s interests lie, but it appears the current Labour leadership are as blind to the realities of how they’re perceived as David Cameron was when he allowed the Brexit vote.
What an insular, nasty, racist, intolerant country we are. It's time to face up to it.
No we're not Danny, Britain is one of the most tolerant and inclusive countries in the world, and certainly so by European standards.
“ Reform banning biscuits"
Actually, they didnt say that.
On a similar vein, I was a Parish Councillor for a while. At the first meeting, the drinks and snacks came out. I asked how much they are. They looked aghast, - it’s free. I asked who paid for it, the Rate/Council tax payers of course. I said it was not right that you are eating / drinking taxpayers money, why dont you all just put £1 into the jar every month. Silence. I still stand by that, why should the taxpayers pay for the Councillors tea breaks.
And the next level up, the County Council, our Councillor always claimed the maximum expenses he could, £10k at the time. I enquired why he claimed so much. “Because its in the rules that I can”. Not that he had £10k of expenses, he just thought he should claim that, as it was in the Rules. And no one batted an eyelid, as they thought it was normal.
Its a lot less than thr traction the Faragists hve in England.
I think some might dispute your use of the term "a lot less". Undoubtedly less, which is in part explained by unique Scottish political dynamics, but still very significant.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/reform-uk-set-hand-snp-35159692
Reform UK's stunning success in the English local elections has massive implications for Scottish politics.
The conventional analysis is that Nigel Farage is an English phenomenon with little resonance north of the border.
But the reality is that the political earthquake which hit England will send powerful tremors to Scotland.
Opinion polls had already predicted huge gains for Reform at the Holyrood election and council by-election results have been positive for Farage. The latest Survation poll predicted Reform would go from 0 MSPs to 12 - and that was one of the poorer polls for the anti-immigration party.
Reform have eaten into Tory and Labour support in England and the same pattern is visible in Scotland.
If you want to find an area of the UK as an example of where Reform has the least traction I suggest that you look at London.
You could probably draw a chart of "flat-roofed pubs per capita" versus votes for Reform and get a positive correlation of >0.85.
Ignoring your lazy and rather bigoted inference about their political position its interesting you use flat-roofed pubs.
I cant imagine why people living in a post war council housing estate (which is what the flat-roofed pubs are associated with) would be particularly vulnerable to a party promising to change things.
Easier to insult them though rather than ask that, just possibly, those people should be adequately represented by the political parties rather than ignored for the swing voters and, most importantly, the donors interests.
Of course them hoping that reform would be the people to fix it is rather hopeful but then again since Labour arent offering an alternative and are in many ways validating Reforms position by promising crackdown on migrants etc then why wouldnt people fall for it?
My local council has gone from Tory to Reform 😞 Though I’d like to point out I have never ever voted for either party.
We’ve had around 20 years of poor governance
More like 50, about as long as I've understood enough to pass judgement. Before that I'll let those older than me comment. However, I don't see that as the source of the welfare state decline, the divisions in society, capital flight, industrial decline... . it's the attitudes of the voting population, and those are very much in the hands of the press, TV, Interet sites, social media... .
It says, here
That the unions will never learn
It says, here
That the economy is on the upturn
And it says, here
We should be proud
That we are free
And our free press reflects our democracyThose braying voices on the right of the House
Are echoed down theStreet of Shame
Where politics mix with bingo and tits
In a money and numbers game
Where they offer you a feature
On stockings and suspenders
Next to a call for stiffer penalties for
Sex offendersIt says, here
That this year's prince is born
It says, here
Do you ever wish that you were better informed?
And it says, here
That we can only stop the rot
With a large dose of law and order
And a touch of the short sharp shockIf this does not reflect your view you should understand
That those who own the papers also own this land
And they'd rather you believe
In Coronation Street capers
In the war of circulation, it sells newspapers
Could it be an infringement
Of the freedom of the press
To print pictures of women in
States of undress?When you wake up to the fact
That your paper is Tory
Just remember:
There are two sides to every story
Looking around the wards in the East Midlands that are now Nazi blue...
One by one, tick by tick, they're pretty much exactly the ones you'd think. You could probably draw a chart of "flat-roofed pubs per capita" versus votes for Reform and get a positive correlation of >0.85.
What an insular, nasty, racist, intolerant country we are. It's time to face up to it.
You missed out Brexit-voting Danny, standards are slipping.
Easier to insult them though rather than ask that, just possibly, those people should be adequately represented by the political parties rather than ignored for the swing voters and, most importantly, the donors interests.
This is not sinking in with the STW I've-done-alright consensus is it?
Calling a voter thick and stupid doesn't offer a solution, it's also not even a smart or useful observation in the scheme of things.
I'd simply say the failure of Labour in its current guise with all its fake progressive posturing married with Tory economic 'solutions' is the biggest part of the problem. (That's not to exclude Tories but as Centrists are keen on saying you can't do anything when you're not in power. Labour are and they've got to provide the solutions.)
Ill.just point out that the tories have not won a majority in Scotland for well over 60 years. Scotland left leaning way predated the rise of the snp.
Its also utter bobbins to claim reform are taking votes of Scottish labour in any quantity. This voters are going back to the snp for the next Holyrood election
Look at the numbers in that poll
The reform vote comes mainly at tories expensSince Holyrood came into existence the scots electirate and political discourse has become more sophisticated as a result of the complex systems in use
No actual votes have been cast in Scotland
Will you please not use uk and England as synonyms
The nasty racist intolerance is a English attribute
The daily record hates the SNP and are not any sort of decent source
"The nasty racist intolerance is a English attribute". No more than any other region. Many Welsh are very anti immigrants. Immigrants being Brits. Same goes for the Scots. After all they want to leave the UK despite a perfectly good vote not to. All groups have their less pleasant types but there are few worse than those who don't accept the majority vote.
What is really disgusting IMHO is the principle that local government involves party politics. Local representative should be there to deal with local issues and fight national government if national policy goes against local desires. Extending this, I expect my MP to put local desires ahead of party principles and most definitely personal views. They should never become ministers becuase that means that some of their time is spent dealing with issues that may not interest their constituents. We should have professionals dealing with policy not amateurs. Eh Ex Military for defence, ex teacher for education, ex medic for health etc.
The nasty racist intolerance is a English attribute
Your often demonstrated beleif in Scotish exceptionalism is equally racist.
Australia and Canada return progressive/centre left governments in response to trump whilst we swing to the right, I realise it's a protest vote against established parties but I think if Labour had actually positioned itself more to the left post election it would be benefitting.
TBH I think the winter fuel cut set a narrative in train cemented by disability benefit cuts that no amount of workers rights, increase in minimum wage, nationalising rail will counter balance.
If you look at the Reform gains they mostly match the Tory losses. The Labour losses are matched by Lib Dem and Green gains.
The whole thing is collective foot stamping.
Unfortunately some people have to suffer reform run councils.
The thing is that no-one voted for performative cruelty and more austerity, but that’s what we’ve got, and I think that even a change of direction isn’t going to change the narrative. It’s just about possible that SKS isn’t actually all that good at politics.
A general election might be different, as Can/Aus have shown, but might not be. As @Bruce has said immediately above, the Reform vote now is giving the incumbents a kicking and AIUI the evidence is that Lab lost more votes to the LDs/Greens than to Reform.
This is probably a good time for people to engage with non-Reform councillors and candidates to say what’s important to you, to consider joining an opposition party that best fits your views, and (given Reform’s anti-cycling standpoint) to get involved with your local cycling/active travel campaign group.
Unfortunately, and recognising that people have less and less free time, standing by and complaining isn’t really an option.
We should have professionals dealing with policy not amateurs. Eh Ex Military for defence, ex teacher for education, ex medic for health etc.
Half agree - and to an extent the civil service does the expert "putting it into practice" bit, the Ministers / Government just set the tone and direction. The problems arise when Government sets a policy based mostly on winning votes, such policies tend to be at least partially unworkable and no matter how expert the civil service bods are, it'll never be made to work.
However, while I agree that previous experience in a profession is a valuable asset, you want to be careful about having entirely ex professionals running that profession cos it tends to lead to a lot of blinkered thinking, a sort of "we've always done it this way..." attitude.
Related analogy - it was one of the reasons that doping prevailed in professional road cycling for so long. Riders retired and went on to be coaches & DS so their way of riding, their whole view of the sport remained and they'd influence and coerce younger riders and the cycle continued.
The daily record hates the SNP and are not any sort of decent source
So that makes anything the Daily Record publishes about Scotland factually incorrect?
They referred to a recent poll by Survation predicting that Reform would win 12 seats in the Scottish parliament. Why would that be untrue or misleading, Survation hate the SNP too?
The reality is that support for Reform has increased significantly in Scotland in the last 10 months, multiple sources provide evidence of that, no amount of denial by you or burying your head in the sand will change that.
To repeat the suggestion if you really want to look at an area of the UK where Reform are doing the least well then look at London. Why won't you do that, because London is English?
It is often said that the greatest zealots are the converts. As an Englishman living in Scotland who now expresses such strong anti-English sentiments you really do seem to fit that picture.
You appear to have developed a very similar syndrome to the likes of Priti Patel and Suella Braverman, oh how they hate all those immigrants and asylum seekers, like their parents.
Looking around the wards in the East Midlands that are now Nazi blue...
All the parties are dancing to the tune of the voters in what used to be called the "red wall" so far they've given us Brexit, voted for Johnson, voted for Starmer, and now they're voting (for councils) for Reform. I don't think those voters know what they want.
27% turnout in my area. Don't know if an age breakdown is available but wouldn't be surprised if most were over 60 and retired.
I know one 72-year-old who voted reform with the stated reason being to "stop labour raiding my ISA", after they felt personally attacked by the removal of the winter fuel payment (despite being financially very comfortable and able to absorb the loss without missing a beat).
They're not particularly racist and definitely aren't thick, they just don't spend much time thinking or reading about politics, and are in possession of a very limited amount of low quality information, which I believe makes them vulnerable to populism.
How labour can overcome that I have no idea but they need to find some answers quickly. It's all well and good doing a series of good, positive things like they have done already, but if nobody actually knows about them then it's not going to help at the ballot box.
I can't help feeling a little bit sorry for Labour. Too left under Corbyn, too right under Starmer. What would the Goldilocks Labour Party look like?
Is there any genetic material left from Clement Attlee to clone?
They're not particularly racist and definitely aren't thick, they just don't spend much time thinking or reading about politics, and are in possession of a very limited amount of low quality information, which I believe makes them vulnerable to populism.
I actually think that sums up an awful lot of voters. Yes, of course there are thick and racist people out there but most people are fairly disconnected from politics (hence the low turnout at most elections) so they're not especially "on it" when it comes to party policies; they get what little news they do consume from social media or from one or two channels, never a full range and really only get involved when something directly affects them - in most cases that's usually local issues like parking and bin collections.
My Mum is vehemently against the various Low Traffic Neighbourhoods that have sprung up local to her because a couple of people on the WhatsApp group for her road are continually posting pics allegedly showing ambulances stuck in traffic "caused by the LTN" (obviously there were never any delays or traffic jams before a couple of bollards got put in, oh no) and stories of carers who can now only see 3 people per day instead of 20 because they have to drive their cars tens of miles out of the way in order to negotiate this impenetrable Berlin Wall that now divides the neighbourhood.
It's all bollocks but it's all she sees. As she's very frail she doesn't get out and see the big groups of kids now able to cycle to school in safety, the much higher footfall in the area, the busier cafes. I think if it wasn't for the WhatsApp group, she'd barely be aware of the existence of the LTN!
All the parties are dancing to the tune of the voters in what used to be called the "red wall"
So it's working..... these voters aren't that stupid after all?
The reason it is called the "red wall" is because voters there have been utterly loyal to Labour ever since forever, unlike most of the UK.
And that's despite the fact that every single Labour government for the last 30 years hasn't given a monkeys about them.
Because as Peter Mandelson famously once said....they have nowhere else to go. Labour didn't need to worry about them, apparently.
Well the spell has now been well and truly broken and their loyalty appears to be nonexistent.
Which explains why all the parties are allegedly dancing to their tune.
https://bsky.app/profile/bloomberg.com/post/3loabwrffrd2t
What a dope.
Seriously.
We seem to have given what to turbo charge change within one day.
https://bsky.app/profile/bloomberg.com/post/3loabwrffrd2t
What a dope.
Seriously. (I sort of expect this response. He's nothing if stupidly predictable.)
We seem to have given up on turbo charging change - within one day.
(Lucy Powell not looking good. Nicely timed there.)
This lot - the so called 'clever' people and grown-ups are very much 'thicker' than Centrists give them credit for.
So it's working..... these voters aren't that stupid after all?
Probably not. But if they change their allegiance because someone new offers the moon on a stick, perhaps they are not all that bright.
I very much doubt that voters have changed their former allegiance because of that, not least because they really haven't been promised anything, never mind the moon on a stick.
They have changed their allegiance because they have understandably become totally cynical and finally realised that their loyalty hasn't been rewarded in any meaningful way.
In fact their loyalty has had negative consequences for from as Tory, Labour, and LibDem parties have all been too obsessed with keeping middle-class swing voters happy than to care about loyal red wall voters.
Student visas too:
Does Labour not see those international students are a potential asset rather than a liability - no question mark as clearly not. Not the right colour/religion/accent obviously. There again the lexiters weren't to keen on white christian Polish plumbers either.
Britain is totally dependant on foreign labour in some sectors, last year about 50% of immigrants were people on work visas and their dependants. Net migration was 824 000 to year ending June 2024. All of the carers who turned up four times a day to look after an ailing relative last year were Africans on frankly slave labour visas and contracts - good people: caring competant and positive.
And yet the headlines are about the small proportion of people that arrive on boats and the minority of foreign students who claim asylum at the end of their student visas.
There's more than a hint of hypocrisy here.
Labour - biting the hands that provide the services of the welfare state that is the corner stone of Labour policy, or should be. Stigmatising those that contribute so much for so little reward. Fueling racism, division, segregation and ghetoisation. Yes I was in Brimingham recently.
Signed: an immigrant and economic migrant who thinks that if you invite people in to do your dirty work you shouldn't treat them like shit and make them scape goats for the mess you've made that they're clearing up.
From the above link. :
Jo White, who represents Bassetlaw and founded the Red Wall caucus of Labour MPs, said the government should stop “pussyfooting around” and “take a leaf out of President Trump’s book”.
So now a "Labour" MP demands that we take a leaf out of the Donald Trump's book and stop pussyfooting around with immigrants.
She claims that we should be embracing a strategy which is central to a far-right neo-fascist bigot. There is of course zero possibility that she will be expelled from the Labour Party, the Labour Party rarely expels anyone, unless they are anti-racist left-wingers.
And the silence from the Starmer supporters on this thread is deafening. They are far too busy expressing their outrage on the Donald Trump thread.
Also from the above link. :
Keir Starmer wrote for the Times that he would not blame the local election results on the “same old excuses”. “I get it,” he wrote. “Uncontrolled immigration, sewage in rivers, failing local services
I don't get it at all. Since when has the UK had "uncontrolled" immigration, didn't Starmer drop his leadership election commitment for free movement?
Why should voters reject Nigel Farage's nonsensical immigration rhetoric when the Labour prime minister comes out with bollocks claiming that immigration is "uncontrolled"?
"Why should voters reject Nigel Farage's nonsensical immigration rhetoric when the Labour prime minister comes out with bollocks claiming that immigration is "uncontrolled"?"
Maybe visit a market town outside the big cities and ask the very comfortably off boomers why they voted Reform? When back in the UK I ride with them
They're still Brexiteers, anti socialism and still feel immigration is uncontrolled.
I think most are off to Spain next week.
I think you might have misunderstood the question. I was asking why should voters reject Nigel Farage's bollocks when Sir Keir Starmer comes out with the same bollocks?
I know that there is not "uncontrolled immigration" in the UK. And not least because I see the long queues as I drive past Luna House the Home Office immigration centre in Croydon.
In fact I have even queued up there myself.
More consequences of the current government's austerity programme, which unlike the 2010 Tory-LibDem coalition government Labour has no mandate for :
And perhaps special consequences for cyclists :
"I hope that we won't be seeing dire consequences, but we have already seen organised criminal gangs targeting cyclists when they know that the police aren't on duty… and this could open the door to further acts like that."
Mr Roberts, who is also a Royal Parks trustee, said cyclists have been forced off their high-end bikes with threats of violence, while other serious crimes reported include sexual offences, mobile phone thefts and drug dealing.
There is an interesting lesson from the momentous election results in Canada and Australia.
Social democracy and a strong anti Trump message is a winning formula.
Will Starmer learn this lesson?
@ernielynch This is the same Royal Parks Police that apparently delight in persecuting cyclists while doing nothing about drivers? That one?
I presume their duties will be rolled into the Met.
Depends if McSweeney flashes Starmer’s start up disk with a new Bios
I'm finding it increasingly ridiculous that seemingly one person can drive the direction of the country through a weak faltering PM.
We just seem to have a Cummings/Johnson scenario again. But again on the right.
How the hell did this shit happen?
None of the political decisions make any sense - they're not successful at delivering anything really about from continuation of decay. Simply cutting and removing will not yield good results the end.
Will there ever be any push-back? There has to be a tipping point. Or will the goons let Labour keep making a hash of every they touch.
@ernielynch This is the same Royal Parks Police that apparently delight in persecuting cyclists while doing nothing about drivers? That one?
I presume their duties will be rolled into the Met.
Well if that is the case then yes, the same Royal Parks Police. And yes again the process of persecuting cyclists will be taken over by the Met Police.
Although you have got me thinking.... the last time I was cycling in a Royal Park was Richmond Park about 3 weeks ago, I didn't feel in the least bit persecuted, should I have?
To be fair after a lifetime of cycling in London I don't think I have ever felt persecuted by the Met Police, what do you know?
Just now and then it would be nice to read something about the government's home policies that made me feel good about them. The latest in a long line of FFS articles:
I think a lot of people who blame immigrants and wokery for all the money disappearing are going to find out the hard way it is in fact them that the bulk of council expenditure goes on. Reform will cut budgets and support to be seen to focus on potholes and bins (which probably won't improve either). A lot of people are going to be even more angry in a few months. Not sure where they will turn then.
Reform will cut budgets
They really won't, local authorities have been squeezed for 15 years, there is nothing left to cut. Reform controlled councils won't behave any different to many Tory controlled councils.
I don't think that the political differences between Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch are that obvious, apart from the fact that to me Badenoch comes across as a bit more right-wing and extreme than Nigel Farage.
I think a lot of people who blame immigrants and wokery for all the money disappearing are going to find out the hard way it is in fact them that the bulk of council expenditure goes on.
That all depends on their situation. Do they rely on social care and do they have children (especially SEND children) as that is where the majority of money goes and it is not optional unless you kill off some old people and don't look after children who need additional help.
In fact if they bothered to look at their council tax they could see exactly where the money goes and won't find a category labelled woke.
As several people have said above, due to austerity driven cuts to funding from central government, freezing of council tax, and the social care and housing crises, there is very, very little in local government budgets to deliver ‘discretionary’ spending, which includes things like libraries, bins, potholes and so on.
This is illustrated by the Barnet Graph of Doom, from a meeting a few years ago that predicted that Barnet council would have no money for anything except children’s services and social care. No bins, no libraries, no leisure centres.
(Things weren’t quite as disastrous as that, but not far off).
Giving local councils a bit more financial headroom for discretionary spending would do a lot to improve people’s quality of life, and turn them away from Reform. But as sorting social care (which let’s not forget is largely privately provided at taxpayers’ expense) is in the ‘too difficult’ box…
All the parties are dancing to the tune of the voters in what used to be called the "red wall"
Aside from when you look at it they really arent. Its interesting how reform are targeting them not just with the anti immigrant stuff but also waffling about nationalising assets/looking after the NHS etc etc.
However for some reason the tories and the labour right just stick to the approved anti immigrant policies vs those which would actually start making a difference.
But as sorting social care (which let’s not forget is largely privately provided at taxpayers’ expense) is in the ‘too difficult’ box…
As council budgets got squeezed during austerity, one of the first things they did was to cull internal expertise and provision in things like social care, highways, etc and outsource it all.
The idea of course was to have some private company at the lowest tender do all that expensive stuff and it'd save the council the cost of employing all the people directly. What actually happened is that costs rose dramatically because all these companies have the council over a barrel. The council has to provide this service, the one provider that will actually do it now charges 3x what they did originally and the council has no option but to run with it.
The way to fix it, as with the railways, is to re-nationalise - but that costs a lot of money and the Government seem to want to carry on cutting, not actually investing.
Aside from when you look at it they really arent.
of course they are from brexit to anti immigration it's all based around that demographic. sod the rest of us. it's utterly disgraceful and costing them votes to green lib dem and snp
Why should voters reject Nigel Farage's nonsensical immigration rhetoric when the Labour prime minister comes out with bollocks claiming that immigration is "uncontrolled"?
Wasn't this just to differentiate between "controlled immigration" (e.g. those with work or study visas) and "uncontrolled immigration" (e.g. those arriving across the channel in small boats)? The latter is the one which part of the public are so concerned about, though they tend to conflate the two.
No, "uncontrolled" in this context means no explicit cap on numbers, all visa decisions are made independently. It's been talked about, if not yet seriously proposed, that we should have a total limit of X thousand per year to be divvied up by some "command and control" nonsense that predicts how many nurses and care workers (etc) the economy needs on a year to year basis.
The whole idea is an absolute bollocks of course, but that's the level of debate in this country. Chasing the most extreme Reform voter while alienating anyone who thinks for more than a couple of seconds about things.
A Nottinghamshire Labour MP says Keir Starmer needs to stop "pussyfooting around" after a disastrous set of local election results. Jo White, elected as the new Labour MP for Bassetlaw in 2024, says the government is "busy talking to itself" and that the Prime Minister should emulate Donald Trump's leadership style.
https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/after-reforms-huge-victory-notts-10154193
What could my Labour MP - Jo White, wife of John Mann possible mean?
A Nottinghamshire Labour MP says Keir Starmer needs to stop "pussyfooting around" after a disastrous set of local election results. Jo White, elected as the new Labour MP for Bassetlaw in 2024, says the government is "busy talking to itself" and that the Prime Minister should emulate Donald Trump's leadership style.
https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/after-reforms-huge-victory-notts-10154193
What could my Labour MP - Jo White, wife of John Mann possibly mean?
What could my Labour MP - Jo White, wife of John Mann possibly mean?
I think she makes it perfectly clear what she means :
"He should take a leaf out of Donald Trump's book by following his instincts and issuing some executive orders."
Which sounds reasonable if you believe that Donald Trump is doing a great job. Jo White presumably believes that he is.
The only thing surprising about this story is that a Labour MP now obviously feels perfectly relaxed in publicly expressing her apparent admiration for a hard-right demagogue.
In the meantime other Labour MPs are terrified of saying or doing anything vaguely left-wing in case they have the Labour whip removed.
What could my Labour MP - Jo White, wife of John Mann possibly mean?
I would say she means that Starmer should come out and say ‘We’re doing this, we’ve got the mandate, and majority, so it will be done”. Something he should have done from day one, but keeps delaying, and in the meantime his, and Labours, popularity has dropped each month.
Having the style of Trump by being assertive (yes, I know he is useless and all talk really) isnt a bad thing, procrastinating is a bad thing when many sectors of the UK are in a mess that needs sorting out.
What could my Labour MP - Jo White, wife of John Mann possibly mean?
I would say she means that Starmer should come out and say ‘We’re doing this, we’ve got the mandate, and majority, so it will be done”. Something he should have done from day one, but keeps delaying, and in the meantime his, and Labours, popularity has dropped each month.
Having the style of Trump by being assertive (yes, I know he is useless and all talk really) isnt a bad thing, procrastinating is a bad thing when many sectors of the UK are in a mess that needs sorting out.
I would hope is the context of her comment. Though as I'm no longer sure what Starmer and Labours intentions are, I have no idea if that is a good thing or not.
The way to fix it, as with the railways, is to re-nationalise - but that costs a lot of money and the Government seem to want to carry on cutting, not actually investing.
For, maybe the 50th time, the Railways have been under Government control since 2020, with just a Management Contract for their running, with the Management Company earning around 1% of their lines turnover. If the Holders did not give in their Contracts (due to poor profits, or big losses - yes, some did have big losses) , the Dept. for Transport have just waited until their Contract expires, then run them themselves. There have been very few redundancies, the vast majority of Staff have beed TUPE’d over, and the common thinking is that the Government now pays a bit more to run them than they were paying before. This may be resolved to be better when things get rationalised, and GBRailways is formed, but being led by the useless DfT, I suspect we’ll find that costs have increased when the new organosation is running.
Also, before 2020, the railways were ‘private sector lite’, in that the train operating companies were franchises, with the franchise owned by the Government. The actual physical infrastructure was sold off, but after a disastrous 8 years was brought back under Government control in 2002, and has been owned and run by the Government for the last 23 years. So for a totally Nationalised Railway, all the Government had to do was wait until the franchises ran out, and run it themselves, so little cost to Government coffers.
There are private Companies on the railways. All of the ‘open access’ trains (Lumo, Grand Central, Hull Trains et al) are private companies, as are all of the charter companies who run day/multi day excursions/tours. The vast majority of trains are not owned by the people running them, they are leased. Trains used to be owned by British rail, investment wasnt forthcoming for new trains, so the Train leasing companies were formed, and these now supply the bulk fo trains, and are totally private companies. To take over these Companies, the Government woudl have to pay billions to buy them out, so they are left as they are.
So, dont believe the hype when Starmer says he has nationalised the railways - very little was required to get them totally under Government control as they were already under their control in all but name.
Having the style of Trump by being assertive (yes, I know he is useless and all talk really) isnt a bad thing, procrastinating is a bad thing when many sectors of the UK are in a mess that needs sorting out.
Making comparisons to Trump in this current climate is a bad thing.
If she couldn't articulate the needs of her constituents above 'needing to be more Trumpy' then she doesn't understand the economic conditions of her own area.(Which I do probably better than her based on conversations I've had with her.)
She could have said - 'we need to stop procrastinating and and start fixing deprivation etc.' without mentioning the orange one.
She didn't - she made a clumsy Trump analogy which carries a lot of baggage.
Trump's as wishy washy as **** anyway. Tarrifs this week - no we're gonna pause them. Etc.
This is the central problem - we've moved away from the idea of fixing stuff to simply screaming for votes with empty solutions. They genuinely are all as bad was each other currently.
it is not optional unless you kill off some old people and don't look after children who need additional help.
How naive are you? Try getting an EHCP, it's already extremely difficult, without it you don't have special needs. Same with social care, you need assessment and a care plan before the services are provided. Just throttle back the assessment processes, the NHS has been rationning care like this for years. Reduce staff doing the work, don't need to even make anyone redundant, as people leave don't replace them. Then even more people leave.
Reform won't care, any criticism for regulatory bodies will be portrayed as central government interference with the will of the people.
Did anyone see this piece in the guardian.
Short version.
I would hope is the context of her comment. Though as I'm no longer sure what Starmer and Labours intentions are, I have no idea if that is a good thing or not.
She specifically said that Starmer should target illegal immigration, I think that was at least one leaf out of Donald Trump's book that she was talking about.
Obviously all UK governments target illegal immigration but facts rarely bother admirers of Donald Trump.
Some interesting stats in that Guardian article, Rone. And they're right about Starmer having to choose which way he's headed.
The polls confirm what I thought about people remaining faithful to the (center) left and moving to the LIb Dems or Green. There's also some support from people who dislike Reform and the Tory move to the the right. The article talks of a "coalition" but fact is a three-party left will lose an election against Reform in a first past the post system. Labour is dividing the left vote in three with its Tory-lite policies and that plays into the hands of Reform.