Big Dog - Going, going, not quite gone. Thread 14.

[Notonthestairs]

Will it be Continuity Truss or "Socialist" Sunak in charge?

Thank you for airing these appointments and facts @DuncinToffee, especially during this period of greatly reduced political scrutiny.

Thank you

www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/12/liz-truss-likely-to-visit-us-and-hold-mini-budget-next-week

Liz Truss is expected to attempt to hold a mini-budget and travel to the leaders’ summit of the UN general assembly in New York next week in the days after the Queen’s funeral.

And recess will start on the 22nd......

During the 86 days between 22nd July and 16th October Parliament will have been sitting for normal business for five of them. Not ideal in the circumstances.

twitter.com/samfr/status/1569436305628741634?s=46&t=5ysGpLMBIxfp10RRcnj3pA

Not ideal is an understatement.

I know that Conferences are expensive to run but also draw a lot of money in to whichever town/city. This year however, I think they need to be cancelled or shortened. To be honest I just don't want to see any backslapping given where we are.

What’s happened in Ukraine in the last few days is extraordinary. Here’s 4 mins on how Ukraine pushed Russia back.

twitter.com/BBCRosAtkins/status/1569564396845764609?t=ACKhjmejBlErXtk-Jgq4RA&s=19

We have a lame Government.

We don't have a government, we have a bunch of people and an android drawing large salaries for doing bugger all.

🤣🤣

Sad but true.

I can forgive putting aside some duties for the death of the queen. We have national protocols and they are what makes us what we are.

But they had months over the summer with a caretaker PM on holiday, whilst we had seven weeks or choosing a new PM (except we didn't) and media having a go at Labour for having no plan which made no difference because they aren't in power anyway (and they did actually produce a costed one).

And watching Truss she is like a rabbit in the headlights over all this. She sold herself as a calm and stoic leader but she is proving to be anything but.

The only Waikiki about her personality I think I've learned about her is she's stubborn.

Hands up if you think it's all going worse than you could possibly guess so far. Since probably the beginning of the new year? Since 2019? Since 2016?

I think BBC have just said inflation is the highest it has been for 40 years. I have no idea as there is only about 2 minutes of 'other news' on than you know what.

I just hope to god the Government are beavering away in the background, because we have had nothing so far except awful appointments to unqualified or very right wing brexity fans of Truss... no plans, nothing. And then we go into party conference season.
Given the crises we are in, why don't they just cancel them, all it is about is preaching to the converted. They are of no use to the country, just a lot of back slapping. I wish Labour would do this (cancel theirs) and show the Govt up.

They just said on GMB that they make the party lots of money which is why they won't cancel.

But I also guess hospitality will lose lots of money too?

There's no reason though they couldn't return Tuesday or return for the Thursday Friday afterwards rather than the whole weeks off.

Especially when we consider that we've had no functioning government for the whole 7 weeks of the campaign and then because we've has this unprecedented event?

Food inflation is now 13.1%, highest in 14 years.

I read somewhere that Asda is thinking of setting limits on how many basic brand items you can buy

Robert Peston

Inflation in food and non alcoholic drinks is now 13.1%, with milk, cheese and eggs driving the surging prices.
twitter.com/Peston/status/1569938622379597825?t=g396u_C1_Y_4x2aKfRuDoQ&s=19

And as a footnote, even their great supporter John Redwood thinks it’s nuts that from the end of next week Parliament is not scheduled to sit till mid October, in what is a national emergency.

I think continuing with the Conferences is a mistake. Nobody wants to see politicians wallowing in their own "brilliance" right now. The long gap in effective government was visible throughout the summer. They will just cement the view that they are just concerned with their internal politics & slapping themselves on the back.

Good letter to the Times re: politicised move to sack Tom Scholar

twitter.com/pickardje/status/1569950124117495809?s=46&t=dbaWOY3YacVuug9sYCdw0A

I think the conferences should be put on hold ; after all, we all spent an entire summer hearing what the conservatives had to say about their polices etc: they won't be able to bang on about the good times as there isn't any coming up and the energy policies are still controversial.
They need to all regroup after the funeral is over and get on with it all

Liz Truss could scrap the govt’s entire anti-obesity strategy after ministers order official review of measures designed to deter people from eating junk food

www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/13/liz-truss-could-scrap-anti-obesity-strategy-in-drive-to-cut-red-tape

Maybe they think just ' let them eat cake' because any extra fat we may gain over winter time will keep us all warm 🙄
It's a flawed policy as not promoting healthier food leads to all kinds of health problems later on down the lines. I'm overweight myself and working on it ( before I'm accused of 'fat shaming ' or whatever ! ) but it's hard and easier to buy some biscuits / choc than fruit or veg which can ( sometimes) be more expensive to buy and go off quickly.
She's obsessed with cutting red tape too.
I'm sure the manufacturers of such goods will be happy though

Who benefits from this?

Not the taxpayer.

"Almost two-thirds of adults Britons are overweight or obese. Obesity costs the NHS an estimated £6.1bn a year to treat because it is an increasingly common cause of cancer, diabetes, heart conditions, painful joints and other health problems."

Good point, I was just reading this thread on it

twitter.com/pollymackenzie/status/1569944580426022914?t=_CMTLeehb3v68Drxb8CsSg&s=19
Here’s the thing:

You can have a low regulation society in which people and businesses are allowed to create harms like obesity, workplace stress, air pollution.

But your health costs are going to be massive. So you need high taxes to pay for low regulation…

That's a interesting thread.

Of course Truss etc will argue nanny state etc and ignore the associated costs.

No 10 confirms the government is looking at shortening the month-long conference recess.

I guess they realise that only sitting for 5 or 7 days between July 22nd and October 17th isn't a good look

What are Labour doing ? Will they still have their conference ?

"Kwasi Kwarteng seeks to scrap bankers’ bonus cap to boost City"

twitter.com/ft/status/1570141838090158081?s=46&t=PQOSlivoBnSfhXGvxzDWlw

Bonus' were capped at 2x salary.

A bit like the decision to lift the fracking ban I don't see this as a vote winner. But then I don't buy the argument this will boost the economy either.
I suppose their donors will be happy.

I was reading on another thread that Kwasi Kwarteng has been pretty scathing about fracking in the past. I’m interested in his response to recent changes.

Jim Pickard

new health secretary Thérèse Coffey has riled healthcare workers by telling them to avoid using the Oxford comma - in the middle of an NHS crisis
www.ft.com/content/daa9976a-3035-47d9-804d-f5c7f52bdf78