Kemi Badenoch nails it

I used to work in the public sector until 2009. The organisation I worked for always said they needed more money etc etc but there was someone in my office who - no lie - played solitaire on their computer all day.

There was a lot of waste. At that time there were loads of people in 'communication' jobs all spending time mostly having meetings with each other and getting in the way of the actual frontline staff making real changes on the ground.

I have to agree that in general I do question the assertion that 'efficiency' is needed rather than more money (especially when it comes to the NHS).

On the other hand it does give me pause when I hear how many diversity and inclusion jobs there are in the NHS paying 6 figures or high 5 figure when there are 100,000 frontline medical vacancies. Surely funding so many non frontline jobs is a total waste of money when we have 40,000 too few nurses.

See also the amount of police resource spent on interviewing Kellie-Jay, MM, KS, and many others for stating that science is real (XY can't become XX just by saying so). And yet, my friend had their bike stolen and it was advertised on FB marketplace and they provided details of the ad to the police and the police did fuck all. How much time would it really take to phone up and send one officer to retrieve the stolen goods? With rape basically legal I do sometimes what the police are for when they're not thought policing.

Having said this, all this virtue signalling waste of money has happened under the Tories watch - but they ARE the only ones saying they're going to do something about it as far as I can tell both Labour and LD will spend more and more money on pandering to a tiny minority while just identifying out of the reality of not enough nurses - which will change nothing on the ground. And of course many organisations have gone totally off piste away from the government view (NHS, police).

Where I live, for example, you can’t get a police officer to attend your house even if you have the burglar in a headlock with a written confession in one hand and your nan's wedding rings in the other, but there’s a massive ‘community engagement’ operation, with ten police officers attending the opening of an envelope.

Efficiency is dealing with the first problem and cutting down on the second scenario.

@MsMcGonagall

I think there’s a difference between austerity and running public services in a cost-efficient way. There’s a good argument that govt is too big.

It's good to have fresh faces in the Conservative leadership contest so all the very best to her.

I agree with her on some issues, but the lack of adequate public spending by successive governments for many years is why we have so many problems in society.

Not enough police to tackle actual crimes. Police stations closing down everywhere so even less of a presence to deter anti-social behaviour. It's easier for police departments to shift focus onto 'hate speech' and Twitter spats because they don't have to involve actual feet on the ground.

Public organisations and local authorities are relying on ever shrinking or stagnant budgets. It becomes even more tempting to 'outsource' their responsibilities, which makes them vulnerable to exploitation by activist groups like Stonewall, Gendered Intelligence etc who claim to do all the legal thinking for them and provide a list of checkboxes to tick and feel like they've done their job. Putting up a rainbow flag is easier and cheaper than, say, building more public toilets which would greatly benefit elderly and disabled citizens in being able to get out and not be tied to their homes by a 'urinary leash'.

We need more social housing and housing that is actually affordable. Not a wildly inflated housing market that is continuously propped up by schemes that only serve to keep a dwindling supply of houses at abnormally artificial prices.

There's a serious lack of funding in mental health services, including for children, and that's why it's easier to shunt them off to gender clinics and assuming drugs and surgery will solve people's issues rather than invest in the time and labour intensive job of getting to the root cause of why people are deeply unhappy and struggling with their lives.

In times of uncertainty and volatility, people and private businesses automatically decrease their spending, which is why the economy shrinks and you get recessions. Only governments can restore public confidence via targeted spending. So much public infrastructure is in great need of repair and replacement. Government projects to modernise our country can provide the jobs and employment security needed to stabilise the economy until confidence in private spending picks up again.
It's only when an economy is doing well that public spending can reduce.

I just heard she was running and came here to find this already reactivated :)

I really am a single issue voter till this issue is properly addressed in this country, so I hope her colleagues realise how we all feel and get behind her.

I think austerity policies have been shown to just exacerbate the problem and further shrink the economy.

Ensuring that the poorest DO have money is a good economic stimulus, as well as being a compassionate response that can help people out of being trapped in poverty.

Climate change is also unlikely to be solved by a small government approach.

Other than these - ie I guess she is a Conservative, and I'm not! - I agree that Kemi has spoken admirably clearly on women's rights.

www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/07/08/penny-mordaunts-pro-trans-stance-has-ruined-chances-becoming/

Let's hope so.

@Abhannmor

Lower taxes and reduced public spending is the means by which Conservatives believe we’ll avoid a drawn out recession. Is there a better idea?

God, I’m so conflicted. “Small government” rhetoric like in that piece sounds like a disaster for people who are already struggling right now.

But public life is such a repulsive mess that there is a huge appeal in a politician who speaks clearly and values truth and integrity, at least enough to include them as part of her brand.

I read that piece and think about Michael Gove openly sniggering in an interview when his lies got too ridiculous to sustain, or basically anything Boris Johnson ever said or did, and I can feel the attraction in someone who’s the complete opposite of Johnson, at least in her public persona. I don’t know if I want her to win, but I think the Tories would do very well by choosing her.

I'm afraid I never got past ' lower taxes , reduce spending '. That seems drearily familiar 🤔.

Kemi in the Times today:
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/5ad85442-fefd-11ec-88db-ae1b6b9bdd3e?shareToken=7a63da6bb3f07f09807645166962976a

Looking forward to this. Kemi is really impressive.

mobile.twitter.com/KemiBadenoch/status/1545652723533627394

Hopefully she’ll win. Other countries have female PMs in their 40s. We’ve had a couple of male PMs in their 40s.

Hopefully will raise her profile in the party for a nice chunky cabinet post in new regime.

Kemi is superb. I love the clarity of her words.

Kemi is in!

Wow! Running for PM. Kemi would have my vote.

Kemi Badenoch is brilliant.

I'm happy to email Kemi Badenoch via the Equalities office to thank her for standing up to the odious Nokes.

‘How are you defining trans?’

Yes, that’s the clarity needed. Thank you Kemi.

If you wanted to email appreciation to Kemi Badenoch I think this is probably the email address to use for her equalities role: [email protected] I think MPs will engage only with their own constituents if you contact them via their parliamentary address.

Yes, respect is earned.

These people are paid to represent us

Not just a few people. And that includes women

I don’t care if nokes has a position where we are meant to respect her

She has to b3 respectworthy