Westminster Politics 2024-2029

Berbasbullet said:
Interesting because I felt the outrage was more from the right.
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I agree it can be confusing. It seems that in advance of this much anticipated budget and constant references to this £22B 'black hole'. Starmer has chosen an odd mix of things to action, or not action, as the case maybe.

Refusal to move on the child allowance cap;
Announcing VAT to be levied on private schools;
Removal of Winter Allowance (except for those receiving Pension credit);
The proposed Non-Dom taxation system;
The decision to settle outstanding strikes in the public sector, above inflation

All the above, perhaps with the exception of the winter allowance, could be reasonably assumed to inflame elements specifically on the left, or the right.
Where as there is a perception that older folk would tend to be more right-leaning and therefore upset about the winter allowance, that has not been my personal experience. Those of my acquaintances (on the right) tend to think it is the right thing to do, but those who are very left wing, think it's disgraceful.... go figure!
 
Frosty said:
USS is the universities pension scheme.

Good luck with asking university staff for money given the state of HE.
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And what do pensions schemes do? They invest, it's not about more money, it's about where the money is invested for the benefit of both parties
 
Red in STL said:
And what do pensions schemes do? They invest, it's not about more money, it's about where the money is invested for the benefit of both parties
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Mostly in Thames Water, sadly.

And both universities and university staff have a say in the management of the scheme. This will lead to industrial unrest if they are not careful.
 
Maticmaker said:
I agree it can be confusing. It seems that in advance of this much anticipated budget and constant references to this £22B 'black hole'. Starmer has chosen an odd mix of things to action, or not action, as the case maybe.

Refusal to move on the child allowance cap;
Announcing VAT to be levied on private schools;
Removal of Winter Allowance (except for those receiving Pension credit);
The proposed Non-Dom taxation system;
The decision to settle outstanding strikes in the public sector, above inflation

All the above, perhaps with the exception of the winter allowance, could be reasonably assumed to inflame elements specifically on the left, or the right.
Where as there is a perception that older folk would tend to be more right-leaning and therefore upset about the winter allowance, that has not been my personal experience. Those of my acquaintances (on the right) tend to think it is the right thing to do, but those who are very left wing, think it's disgraceful.... go figure!
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I suspect you don't know many pensioners who have little private pension and are surviving on not much more than the pension credit threshold. These are the people that have been shat on. Yesterday one friend, a Labour voter, claimed Starmer had lost the next election already because of it. I understand the anger, she is genuinely struggling financially and this withdrawal will make a difference. I can only hope Labour realise they have made a mistake and set about correcting it, at least they have several years to do so.
 
Maticmaker said:
He's continuing to 'pick his battles', which is a good sign.

The winter fuel payments was a 'left-hook to the left' and the VAT on Private Schools was a 'right-hook to the right' and it was a 'straight-left to the jaw' of both Louise Haigh and Angela Rayner over the PO damage limitation issue, and a warning to other cabinet members, to think before they speak, especially when being interviewed live.

This man is serious.


Exactly. As long as he keeps a look out for 'leg-traps' set by his own party especially those who tend to mumble in their beer/make bullets for others to fire.

This man is not afraid to take fire from both sides.... sometimes even at one and the same time.
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Yes indeed.
People are extremely fickle and are gullible enough to swallow everything the right wing media throw at them.

After 14 years of the Tories, the country is in a mess. Few will doubt that.
But Starmer has not been anything like clever enough and has fallen for the traps set by them, far too easily.

Him and his party will need to be much smarter and give people a reason for some hope instead of all the doom and gloom narrative.
 
M16Red said:


Always loved trains...
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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/10/13/train-guards-to-get-300-bonus-to-work-five-day-week/

Train guards will receive £300 a day as a bonus if they agree to work for a sixth day each week as part of the overtime deal, which was first reported by The Sunday Times.

Members of the RMT union had voted to strike after CrossCountry used managers to fill in for staff at weekends. To stave off the walkouts, guards working Saturday shifts between now and mid-November will receive the £300 payment on top of their normal wage.

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Being reported as a 5 day week by one newspaper, 6 day weeks by others. Telegraph started claiming a 6 day week and then said 5.

Also being implied as permanent when it looks like a four week deal.

Could be criticised, but I suspect our truth telling media may be spinning this.

I also wonder what the loss to the economy would be versus the cost of the extra money? Looked for that but cannot find it.
 
711 said:
I suspect you don't know many pensioners who have little private pension and are surviving on not much more than the pension credit threshold. These are the people that have been shat on. Yesterday one friend, a Labour voter, claimed Starmer had lost the next election already because of it. I understand the anger, she is genuinely struggling financially and this withdrawal will make a difference. I can only hope Labour realise they have made a mistake and set about correcting it, at least they have several years to do so.
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I agree the threshold should be set at a higher level, and I would be amazed if the budget didn't address it, but I don't believe the anger from the pensioners is just about that. I think there is a group who have grown used to getting government handouts who don't like the change of weather.
 
Frosty said:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/10/13/train-guards-to-get-300-bonus-to-work-five-day-week/

Train guards will receive £300 a day as a bonus if they agree to work for a sixth day each week as part of the overtime deal, which was first reported by The Sunday Times.

Members of the RMT union had voted to strike after CrossCountry used managers to fill in for staff at weekends. To stave off the walkouts, guards working Saturday shifts between now and mid-November will receive the £300 payment on top of their normal wage.

---

Being reported as a 5 day week by one newspaper, 6 day weeks by others. Telegraph started claiming a 6 day week and then said 5.

Also being implied as permanent when it looks like a four week deal.

Could be criticised, but I suspect our truth telling media may be spinning this.

I also wonder what the loss to the economy would be versus the cost of the extra money? Looked for that but cannot find it.
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300 quid, ist bad though on top of your wage.

Id wack my thermostat upto 26c and roam round the house in my summer gear, playing tropicana love a bit of wham in warmer climates.
 
Frosty said:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/10/13/train-guards-to-get-300-bonus-to-work-five-day-week/

Train guards will receive £300 a day as a bonus if they agree to work for a sixth day each week as part of the overtime deal, which was first reported by The Sunday Times.

Members of the RMT union had voted to strike after CrossCountry used managers to fill in for staff at weekends. To stave off the walkouts, guards working Saturday shifts between now and mid-November will receive the £300 payment on top of their normal wage.

---

Being reported as a 5 day week by one newspaper, 6 day weeks by others. Telegraph started claiming a 6 day week and then said 5.

Also being implied as permanent when it looks like a four week deal.

Could be criticised, but I suspect our truth telling media may be spinning this.

I also wonder what the loss to the economy would be versus the cost of the extra money? Looked for that but cannot find it.
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I'd imagine the cost will be recouped because people will be able to actually get to their workplaces and leisure destinations with this deal in place, as the train companies run their fleet with a skeleton staff and as a result we need people working 6 day weeks in order for the advertised services to run.

Seems like a sensible deal to me.
 
nickm said:
I agree the threshold should be set at a higher level, and I would be amazed if the budget didn't address it, but I don't believe the anger from the pensioners is just about that. I think there is a group who have grown used to getting government handouts who don't like the change of weather.
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I was addressing exactly 'just about that', those genuinely struggling, and who quite frankly would find your need to move straight on to talk of government handouts unnecessarily insulting.
 
Frosty said:
At the Conservative conference Badenoch’s team released a 36-page essay called Conservatism in Crisis which identifies many factors supposedly holding back growth. On anxiety and autism it says:
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In true Tory form their research, much like their entire party, seem to be stuck 50 years in the past.

Acting like autism means everyone is a walking fecking computer. Problems? Just sort yourself out, kiddo.

These cnuts genuinely scare me. Labour and Starmer are being absolute bastards but I can't fathom how anyone could look at that shite from Kemi Badenoch and think that the parties are the same.
 
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Frosty said:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/10/13/train-guards-to-get-300-bonus-to-work-five-day-week/

Train guards will receive £300 a day as a bonus if they agree to work for a sixth day each week as part of the overtime deal, which was first reported by The Sunday Times.

Members of the RMT union had voted to strike after CrossCountry used managers to fill in for staff at weekends. To stave off the walkouts, guards working Saturday shifts between now and mid-November will receive the £300 payment on top of their normal wage.

---

Being reported as a 5 day week by one newspaper, 6 day weeks by others. Telegraph started claiming a 6 day week and then said 5.

Also being implied as permanent when it looks like a four week deal.

Could be criticised, but I suspect our truth telling media may be spinning this.

I also wonder what the loss to the economy would be versus the cost of the extra money? Looked for that but cannot find it.
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Guards work highly irregular shift patterns, usually no two days starting at the same time or for the same day length, with a differing number of days off each week, no set pattern. Quite takes it out of you actually.

The key is they're asking for overtime, it's voluntary, if they want to avoid that they should employ enough staff to match the workload, but that would often cost more that the overtime, especially considering the owners have short franchises, and the government owned ones have been given no long-term strategies either.
 
711 said:
I was addressing exactly 'just about that', those genuinely struggling, and who quite frankly would find your need to move straight on to talk of government handouts unnecessarily insulting.
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I am sure they would, and I am not disagreeing with you, but the policy is about means testing that other group. (And I think we should be clear that the winter fuel payments and state pensions are all benefit payments of one sort or another, and therefore subject to the same considerations as other benefit payments.)
 
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Buster15 said:
Yes indeed.
People are extremely fickle and are gullible enough to swallow everything the right wing media throw at them.

After 14 years of the Tories, the country is in a mess. Few will doubt that.
But Starmer has not been anything like clever enough and has fallen for the traps set by them, far too easily.

Him and his party will need to be much smarter and give people a reason for some hope instead of all the doom and gloom narrative.
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I agree and I think that is what the Sue Gray stuff was about - she sat at the centre of his political operation but had no experience of making political assessments. (And starmer isn’t good at this tactical stuff.) So starmers replaced her with someone who has.
 
nickm said:
I am sure they would, and I am not disagreeing with you, but the policy is about means testing that other group. (And I think we should be clear that the winter fuel payments and state pensions are all benefit payments of one sort or another, and therefore subject to the same considerations as other benefit payments.)
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The policy is about means-testing anyone over the pension credit limit, £218 a week, as simple as that. 70, 80 and 90 year-olds.
 
Mr Pigeon said:
In true Tory form their research, much like their entire party, seem to be stuck 50 years in the past.

Acting like autism means everyone is a walking fecking computer. Problems? Just sort yourself out, kiddo.

These cnuts genuinely scare me. Labour and Starmer are being absolute bastards but I can't fathom how anyone could look at that shite from Kemi Badenoch and think that the parties are the same.
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She doesn’t understand anything about autism. We have poor social skills and often struggle at work and school.
 
thisisnottaken1 said:
Weight loss fecking jabs? Jesus Christ
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That’s the headline’ name for it, but they’re actually just hormone regulating drugs.

They act to help dampen the release of sugars etc so you don’t get the energy highs and crashes, so you don’t get cravings to snack or overeat.

They’re already used for things like diabetes, but researchers found that a handy side-effect was weight loss.
 
M16Red said:
Fixing the symptom, not the cause.

Your fat take this drug and don't do it again... will work.
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To be fair, the drugs do work. For the first year ever, America is less fat. Obviously that should be easy with a new drug as three quarters of Americans are obese.

The problem with the drug is that all evidence shows that when people stop it, they regain around 70% of the weight as they make no structural changes to their lives.

With all that said, if we have hundreds of thousands of people that can’t work because they’re overweight, it is a positive to prescribe them drugs to help. Not ‘You’re fat, we are jabbing you back into the workforce’. But as means to empower people and see positive changes that both save on welfare payments and promote economic growth, it’s a no brainer.

It’s horrible to say, but society should not be paying into a communal pot, that gets paid to people who are ‘too fat’ to work. Those people don’t want to be morbidly obese, depressed with their lack of mobility, with zero prospects. They need societies help, to be treated with kindness and everyone’s respect.

But language and messaging needs to be positive. It may well be, but unfortunately you’ve gotta get the toxic media onside. Right now, they’re oppositional. It’s criminal to report these things through the lens that is ‘Labour = Bad’.
 
UnrelatedPsuedo said:
To be fair, the drugs do work. For the first year ever, America is less fat. Obviously that should be easy with a new drug as three quarters of Americans are obese.

The problem with the drug is that all evidence shows that when people stop it, they regain around 70% of the weight as they make no structural changes to their lives.

With all that said, if we have hundreds of thousands of people that can’t work because they’re overweight, it is a positive to prescribe them drugs to help. Not ‘You’re fat, we are jabbing you back into the workforce’. But as means to empower people and see positive changes that both save on welfare payments and promote economic growth, it’s a no brainer.

It’s horrible to say, but society should not be paying into a communal pot, that gets paid to people who are ‘too fat’ to work. Those people don’t want to be morbidly obese, depressed with their lack of mobility, with zero prospects. They need societies help, to be treated with kindness and everyone’s respect.

But language and messaging needs to be positive. It may well be, but unfortunately you’ve gotta get the toxic media onside. Right now, they’re oppositional. It’s criminal to report these things through the lens that is ‘Labour = Bad’.
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Good post. It’s a mental headline, as it’s actually highlighting some proactivity from government in combatting a burden - on the NHS, too.

The alternative for the past 15 years has been to simply cut welfare in the hope that stimulates people into work. But that just kills them. Giving them modern medicine to help them get better, improve their morale and hopefully get them working (for their benefit as much as the economy’s) is positive.

Obviously it should be part of a wider series of reforms, e.g. making healthy food more accessible, free gym memberships, counselling, bringing back youth centres and generally improving deprived areas. But giving access to medicine is no bad thing.
 
UnrelatedPsuedo said:
https://ig.ft.com/chancellor-game/

Fun wee micro site from The FT. Turns out this country is a piece of piss to run and that there’s actually loads of money.
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Uh oh!

dW3wuL_AC
 
UnrelatedPsuedo said:
To be fair, the drugs do work. For the first year ever, America is less fat. Obviously that should be easy with a new drug as three quarters of Americans are obese.

The problem with the drug is that all evidence shows that when people stop it, they regain around 70% of the weight as they make no structural changes to their lives.

With all that said, if we have hundreds of thousands of people that can’t work because they’re overweight, it is a positive to prescribe them drugs to help. Not ‘You’re fat, we are jabbing you back into the workforce’. But as means to empower people and see positive changes that both save on welfare payments and promote economic growth, it’s a no brainer.

It’s horrible to say, but society should not be paying into a communal pot, that gets paid to people who are ‘too fat’ to work. Those people don’t want to be morbidly obese, depressed with their lack of mobility, with zero prospects. They need societies help, to be treated with kindness and everyone’s respect.

But language and messaging needs to be positive. It may well be, but unfortunately you’ve gotta get the toxic media onside. Right now, they’re oppositional. It’s criminal to report these things through the lens that is ‘Labour = Bad’.
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Education and long term investment in messaging around diet and healthy eating would be more effective. It would save more money through reduced NHS costs long term.

This is just, carry on eating shite, get an injection, lose weight, but with none of the additional health benefits of an improved diet.

No doubt in a few years the unexpected side effects from these drugs will become apparent and we will have another problem.

Just like the sugar tax led to a massive increase in artificial sweeteners in soft drinks, which in turn create more problems than sugar! E.G. Aspartame.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66057216
 
UnrelatedPsuedo said:
To be fair, the drugs do work. For the first year ever, America is less fat. Obviously that should be easy with a new drug as three quarters of Americans are obese.

The problem with the drug is that all evidence shows that when people stop it, they regain around 70% of the weight as they make no structural changes to their lives.

With all that said, if we have hundreds of thousands of people that can’t work because they’re overweight, it is a positive to prescribe them drugs to help. Not ‘You’re fat, we are jabbing you back into the workforce’. But as means to empower people and see positive changes that both save on welfare payments and promote economic growth, it’s a no brainer.

It’s horrible to say, but society should not be paying into a communal pot, that gets paid to people who are ‘too fat’ to work. Those people don’t want to be morbidly obese, depressed with their lack of mobility, with zero prospects. They need societies help, to be treated with kindness and everyone’s respect.

But language and messaging needs to be positive. It may well be, but unfortunately you’ve gotta get the toxic media onside. Right now, they’re oppositional. It’s criminal to report these things through the lens that is ‘Labour = Bad’.
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It's not just that diabetes and obesity is one of the biggest costs to the NHS, yeah I know the US has started to come down in obesity figures the thing is that that is via private health care not taxed or health care at the point of access.

I know people that have taken it for diabetes, as soon as they come off it and they've not changed the eating habits it all drops back on.

The idea that people that don't work will be fixed by making lose weight seem weird to me, they are obese becuase they have a medical reason or they eat crap and don't move. I'm saying that as a fat bastard myself. I weigh over 17st worked all my life.

On the toxic thing, is this just the world we live in now, negative opinions get more clicks then positive. It doesn't take long to find a negative comment in the most positive story.
 
Fluctuation0161 said:
Education and long term investment in messaging around diet and healthy eating would be more effective. It would save more money through reduced NHS costs long term.

This is just, carry on eating shite, get an injection, lose weight, but with none of the additional health benefits of an improved diet.

No doubt in a few years the unexpected side effects from these drugs will become apparent and we will have another problem.

Just like the sugar tax led to a massive increase in artificial sweeteners in soft drinks, which in turn create more problems than sugar! E.G. Aspartame.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66057216
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Imo, I think the fat is bad campaign was very very bad for the western world.
 
M16Red said:
Is it good?
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That, combined with downloading Yuka, has changed my entire outlook on 'the shop', especially regarding what I get for my daughter.

It's fascinating & terrifying in equal measures, going in to the original processed for creating food and the beginnings of processing vs the ultra-processing and introduction of non-food items into our food. It also looks at the reasoning for these changes (mostly to make workers need less time away from work to have food) and the infiltration of 'big sugar' etc into the research and regulation processes.

I'd recomment the audio-book as it also has a mini-Q&A between certain chapters.
 
M16Red said:
It's not just that diabetes and obesity is one of the biggest costs to the NHS, yeah I know the US has started to come down in obesity figures the thing is that that is via private health care not taxed or health care at the point of access.

I know people that have taken it for diabetes, as soon as they come off it and they've not changed the eating habits it all drops back on.

The idea that people that don't work will be fixed by making lose weight seem weird to me, they are obese becuase they have a medical reason or they eat crap and don't move. I'm saying that as a fat bastard myself. I weigh over 17st worked all my life.

On the toxic thing, is this just the world we live in now, negative opinions get more clicks then positive. It doesn't take long to find a negative comment in the most positive story.
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It's not just getting people back into work though, the benefits to the NHS in terms of cost and reducing backlogs of treatment could be potentially as significant as the drop in smoking numbers.
As others said, you support that with education, exercise incentives some form of healthy eating scheme. Britain has a real cultural problem with food though- you just don't see row after row of ready meals in supermarkets in other countries.
 
M16Red said:
It's not just that diabetes and obesity is one of the biggest costs to the NHS, yeah I know the US has started to come down in obesity figures the thing is that that is via private health care not taxed or health care at the point of access.

I know people that have taken it for diabetes, as soon as they come off it and they've not changed the eating habits it all drops back on.

The idea that people that don't work will be fixed by making lose weight seem weird to me, they are obese becuase they have a medical reason or they eat crap and don't move. I'm saying that as a fat bastard myself. I weigh over 17st worked all my life.

On the toxic thing, is this just the world we live in now, negative opinions get more clicks then positive. It doesn't take long to find a negative comment in the most positive story.
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They could start by making basic healthy raw ingredients to cook fresh dinners-lunches, cheaper than the ready meals etc
 
SalfordRed18 said:
Time to change profession.
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It's actually quite difficult getting a job as a train driver. A guy I used to work with had it as his goal because the benefits/wage are very good, but the application process is apparently quite tough. Lots of competition too
 
golden_blunder said:
They could start by making basic healthy raw ingredients to cook fresh dinners-lunches, cheaper than the ready meals etc
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Do you think that basic ingredients are more expensive than processed full meals?

I made a base source for less than £0.97 yesterday, if I was to buy it ready made it was more than £2.50.

I really think it's about education, I cook with my daughter (10) every other day.

Teaching her how to make base sources right now, even if you look at currys they are cheap as anything to make - but you'll pay 12 notes for one. Or £3.60 for one portion from aldi

Made this the other day, cost about 6.70 quid.



Ps, this guy is great for a good curry base.
 
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Mogget said:
It's actually quite difficult getting a job as a train driver. A guy I used to work with had it as his goal because the benefits/wage are very good, but the application process is apparently quite tough. Lots of competition too
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It’s really weird how people think it’s this easy profession which anyone can apply for and do. Like it’s a single lever with forward and reverse. Like there isn’t a huge amount of things to monitor both internal to the train and external with hundreds of lives you’re responsible for.
 
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