UK Politics - BoJo and chums

[Arakhor]

If? If you still think that this is a normal, competent, law-keeping government at this point, you are wilfully choosing to ignore the evidence in front of you.

But, by all means, feel free to propose something this government has done that you don't think I haven't adequately scorned.

 

[EnglishEdward]

If? If you still think that this is a normal, competent, law-keeping government at this point, you are wilfully choosing to ignore the evidence in front of you.

That is not something I have ever argued.

I was merely asking for evidence to support your claim:

they're deliberately provoking the upcoming rail strike

Personally I doubt that the government is capable of planning that.

 

[Gorbles]

I am not batting for the Tories.

Maybe you don't think you are, and that you're just going for other bugbears you may have like unions, etc, but the reality is that it has the same effect when you're doing the Tories' (linguistic) work for them.

 

[EnglishEdward]

I am not.

If people used this thread to rubbish the Labour party at every opportunity,
I would be similarly asking for evidence or pointing out holes in their
arguments etc. and no doubt then be regarded as defending Labour.

 

[Gorbles]

I am not.

If people used this thread to rubbish the Labour party at every opportunity,
I would be similarly asking for evidence or pointing out holes in their
arguments etc. and no doubt then be regarded as defending Labour.

I've seen plenty of attempts over the years to rubbish Labour, and very little evidence of this. But it's a tricky one, because the Tories are the ones actually in power (for a good while now, to boot). So I'm happy to wait and see on this score.

 

[sherbz]

Well, I am in support of the strikers, in the RMT and the others that will undoubtedly follow. The energy cap is going to be increased by a further £1,000 come this autumn. Suddenly Corbyn and his nationalising of the energy industry doesn’t look like commie madness, but actually a sensible move. And the obfuscation of the government on the issue of pay is quite frankly disgusting. Whenever stuff like this happens they cherry pick out the most eye catching of salaries and say “look look – train drivers get £59,000 – aren’t they greedy”. But they ignore the thousands of rail workers who work in the stations, in ticket offices, at the barriers, cleaners etc. Some of them get about £10 per hour. If your salary equates to around £21,000 per year. And your rent swallows nearly half of that. And now your energy is going to swallow up another great chunk of it, then its no wonder that you will want a better pay deal. And justified in going on strike to get it. And the consistent failure of the government to address any of these issues all adds to the misery. They look at stuff like this as a political opportunity to drive a further wedge between people. And the generational divide is ever widening. If they were really that concerned about inflationary pressures, why dont they just increase the personal tax allowance. Thats the easiest and best way to make sure that the ones who need it get to keep it. And if you have to raise money at the other end (i.e. the top end) then so be it.

 

[EnglishEdward]

I was never in favour of the privatisation of energy or rail in this
country and I was very sympathetic to Jeremy Corbyn's viewpoint.

But the thing is fuel and food prices are going to increase as a proportion of
income and limitations in real resources are not solved by giving all more money.

Housing is a supplier's market that needs to be broken, e.g. by building council houses.

 

[Hrothbern]

If they were really that concerned about inflationary pressures

If you only increase pay for the minimum income groups inflationary pressure is not that big.
Because the UK has not much low income groups working in UK export sectors pressure on export is not that big.
NOT compensating the middle and high income for increased energy cost will put the needed pressure on these people to decrease energy consumption where most is consumed.

Housing is a supplier's market that needs to be broken, e.g. by building council houses.

yes
Quite fundamentally

 

[AmazonQueen]

Priorities

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/worl...pc=U531&cvid=61d3cd651c8d410095eab5fbf3e03ca9

The UK is to be a high wage economy, postponed to some unspecified date in the future
Removing restrictions on directors pay and bonuses though, thats something that needs to be done now, obviously

 

[Samson]

Priorities

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/worl...pc=U531&cvid=61d3cd651c8d410095eab5fbf3e03ca9

The UK is to be a high wage economy, postponed to some unspecified date in the future
Removing restrictions on directors pay and bonuses though, thats something that needs to be done now, obviously

It is amazing isn't it. We are facing a summer of discontent with rail workers, teachers, nurses, doctors and lawyers (and many others I am sure before it is out) all threatening walkouts, and the only sector the government is moving towards higher pay is "city bosses".

 

[Arakhor]

From the article: No 10 wants current restrictions on bosses’ pay to be “removed” to show “the benefits of Brexit”.

At this point, are they even pretending to govern for anyone other than the rich?

 

[Samson]

They are doing a good line in cracking down on "fake news", by getting The Times to pull a story about BoJo trying to hire his now wife as his chief of staff when he was foreign secretary in 2018. This, along with criminalising journalism with the decision to extradite Julian Assange, really demonstrates the governments commitment to truth and honesty.

On Saturday, the Times reported claims that Boris Johnson had tried to hire his now wife as his chief of staff when he was foreign secretary.
The story expanded on claims in a biography of Carrie Johnson by the Tory donor and peer Lord Ashcroft that Johnson had tried to appoint her to a £100,000-a-year government job when he was foreign secretary in 2018.

It said the idea had fallen apart when his closest advisers learned of the idea to hire the Tory press chief, then known as Carrie Symonds, whom he later married. Johnson was then still married to Marina Wheeler, a barrister.

A spokesperson for Carrie Johnson said the allegations were “totally untrue”. A Downing Street source described it as a “grubby, discredited story”.
However, the freelance journalist who wrote it, Simon Walters, has defended the article, which appeared on page five of some early print copies of Saturday’s Times but was dropped for later editions after the intervention from No 10.
Political sources with knowledge of the incident have said the original story is correct.

On Monday Downing Street confirmed it contacted the newspaper on Friday night and asked it to retract the story.
The Times has so far refused to say why it agreed to remove the story although its website has been flooded with comments from readers demanding an explanation.
The decision to remove the story is understood to have been made by Tony Gallagher, the Times’ deputy editor, who was standing in while the editor, John Witherow, was on leave.

MailOnline published a rewritten version of the Times story on Saturday, only to also quietly delete it without explanation.​

 

[AmazonQueen]

From the article: No 10 wants current restrictions on bosses’ pay to be “removed” to show “the benefits of Brexit”.

At this point, are they even pretending to govern for anyone other than the rich?

At least its making clear who is intended to benefit from Brexit.

 

[Kyriakos]

They are doing a good line in cracking down on "fake news", by getting The Times to pull a story about BoJo trying to hire his now wife as his chief of staff when he was foreign secretary in 2018. This, along with criminalising journalism with the decision to extradite Julian Assange, really demonstrates the governments commitment to truth and honesty.

On Saturday, the Times reported claims that Boris Johnson had tried to hire his now wife as his chief of staff when he was foreign secretary.
The story expanded on claims in a biography of Carrie Johnson by the Tory donor and peer Lord Ashcroft that Johnson had tried to appoint her to a £100,000-a-year government job when he was foreign secretary in 2018.

It said the idea had fallen apart when his closest advisers learned of the idea to hire the Tory press chief, then known as Carrie Symonds, whom he later married. Johnson was then still married to Marina Wheeler, a barrister.

A spokesperson for Carrie Johnson said the allegations were “totally untrue”. A Downing Street source described it as a “grubby, discredited story”.
However, the freelance journalist who wrote it, Simon Walters, has defended the article, which appeared on page five of some early print copies of Saturday’s Times but was dropped for later editions after the intervention from No 10.
Political sources with knowledge of the incident have said the original story is correct.

On Monday Downing Street confirmed it contacted the newspaper on Friday night and asked it to retract the story.
The Times has so far refused to say why it agreed to remove the story although its website has been flooded with comments from readers demanding an explanation.
The decision to remove the story is understood to have been made by Tony Gallagher, the Times’ deputy editor, who was standing in while the editor, John Witherow, was on leave.

MailOnline published a rewritten version of the Times story on Saturday, only to also quietly delete it without explanation.​

I find this to be both very serious and very alarming. England should not go down that path (others have, including Greece), and even the oligarch-owned newspapers should be as free as possible from governmental influence and pressure. Of course this works both ways: government should also not do deals with oligarchs out of fear for media they own lashing out.

The Assange extradition is also horrible.
Maybe Boris, obviously not being the one to run in the next general election, is given protection in exchange for closing a few deals for his friends? The tories will just switch to another figure as prime minister near the end, and quite probably win again (or get into another coalition with the liberal deimocrats).

 

[Gorbles]

I find this to be both very serious and very alarming. England should not go down that path (others have, including Greece), and even the oligarch-owned newspapers should be as free as possible from governmental influence and pressure. Of course this works both ways: government should also not do deals with oligarchs out of fear for media they own lashing out.

The relationship between the government (of all parties) and the media (of most publications) goes back decades. Whatever path there is, it's well-trodden at this point.

 

[Kyriakos]

The relationship between the government (of all parties) and the media (of most publications) goes back decades. Whatever path there is, it's well-trodden at this point.

It can always get worse - and it shouldn't.

 

[Arakhor]

I don't see the Lib Dems joining another coalition with the Tories, especially not Ed Davey.

 

[Gorbles]

It can always get worse - and it shouldn't.

Sure. I'm just saying they've already gone down that path. It's nothing new. It is a depressing part and parcel of the status quo. If it were merely a choice ahead of us, the effort required to enact change would be less. As it stands, we're so mired in it, and therefore the effort required is commensurately more.

 

[sherbz]

I must say the Daily Fail has gone full tonto on "fat cat union bosses" and "militant unions". The hypocrisy and stupidity is really quite mind boggling. All they seem to care about is galvanising as much of the hardcore right as they possibly can against the unions, Labour and anyone else who disagrees with them. All in an effort to deflect attention from the governments own incompetence, their own fat cat wages, and that they were such mouthpiece for Brexit. Which is, at least in part, responsbile for some of the inflationary pressure we see on supermarket shelves. There is a worrying trend amongst the right wing in this country toward Trumpian style politics. I.e. throw as much mud as you possibly can in the other direction and hope that at least some of it sticks. And always try to drown out the truth.

 

[Arakhor]

From Ed Davey's article in the Guardian today:

Boris Johnson and Grant Shapps in particular are playing politics with people’s lives, as they pretend to be innocent bystanders to the dispute. Government ministers now directly set and agree the budgets and strategic policies of the rail companies, so they cannot simply wash their hands of any responsibility: rail managers have only modest leeway in their negotiations. Yet, thanks to parliamentary questions asked by my colleague Sarah Olney, we know ministers haven’t met with the RMT to try to stop these strikes, for well over a month.