UK officially in recession...

[Startingagainandagain]

Latest stats released show the UK is now officially in recession (Office for national statistic data).

Gaslighting has started in the media by ministers to try to minimise that fact.

Isn't it time to face the facts instead and call a general election?

I know the picture is bleak and any new party in power will need years to try to sort out this mess but something needs to be done...

The UK's decline in the past few decade or so has really been dramatic.

I’m not ‘expecting’ anything. I’m pointing out where the cost lies in terms of what we currently spend on asylum seekers.

@Dapbag I'm no fan of the Tories but for some reason Shrewbury Labour list didn't mention the 460,000 dead Iraqis and Gordon "No More Boom and Bust" Brown's selling the UK's gold reserves at a huge discount followed by the massive financial crash due to lax bank regulation.

A lot of what is on the list is down to Labour using PFI (Private Finance Initiative) to fudge the numbers and impoverish us later through rip off long term contracts on hospitals, schools etc.

Don't forget the note from then Treasury Secretary Liam Byrne's to the incoming Tories "I'm afraid there is no money".

A pox on both Labour and the Tories. We really need new political parties.

If you’re suggesting a way to do it you’ll need to be realistic on numbers

The French are dealing with their own migration problems, hence saying no to the Italians recently

@Dapbag

I lived through the last Labour government and it was a much more optimistic and positive time to be alive. Workers rights, childcare, the environment, the economy, education, health, housing - all much better.

As for your second point. In May 2010, when the Conservative-led coalition came to power, the national debt was £1.03 trillion. As of March 2019 it had risen to £1.80 trillion.

The whole world was a much more optimistic place pre-9/11 and pre-social media.

My memory of May 2010 is the note left at the Treasury for the incoming Conservative replacement that read "There's no money left"

And that is it, it is a generalisation:

In FYE 2022, pensioners where the head was under 75 had average weekly incomes of £389. This was higher than those where the head was 75 or over, who had average weekly incomes of £322. This difference is statistically significant.

Hardly untold riches, is it?

No I won’t have to do anything. I’m not standing for public office. The Tories have utterly failed on even a basic admin front though. Maybe they should come up with a realistic plan.
Meanwhile - what about this recession?

Your suggestion is not workable and won’t happen

I thought pensioners had more disposable income than workers?

Jesus fucking Christ that note again? How can anyone still be ignorant that it was part of a running joke and not an actual financial statement? Are you genuinely this ignorant of basic history, or are you hoping to hook someone else who is? Little image to help you understand.

Last time around when there was a recession, we felt it long before the government admitted it publicly. The same is true this time around, only whereas we were both working the first time - we are now both retired after redundancy. We both have private pensions but not huge ones and one of us is still nearly four years off receiving our state pension. Neither of us were on massive wages - more than NMW but the premiums we did have were being eaten away by NMW increases which we didn't get so we were being hit by inflation years ago.
We are baby boomers too, so yep lots of us around but if the birth rate is dropping then things should even out in a few years!! In the meantime, if I need medical care I should have it no matter how old I am, I didn't say to the younger generation I'm not paying for little Johnny - he hasn't any paid NI yet!! People paid for me when I was a child, and I paid in when I was working so I have a reasonable right to access medical care if needed.
That's how the system is meant to work - it's a little wobbly at the moment but that's because of lots of extenuating circumstances - COVID, strikes, lack of funding, poor management of funding etc etc.
We do need to be firmer about who can access facilities that we pay for - for example if they travel here on holiday or visiting family then we need to check that every person who enters the UK has mandatory insurance and if not charge them an insurance fee to be able to access treatment. The Americans have no issue with refusing medical care if there is no insurance - we need to toughen up.
An immediate GE will not sort any issue overnight as it usually takes a few years for the previous governments edicts to be carried out before they can be reversed and that is true of any political party. So changes in the NHS and elsewhere will be a long time coming - not forgetting that pretty much every other country in the world is going through the same issues or even worse such as war. It's going to be tough for everyone - buckle up everyone!!

The US is doing OK, because it doesn't have an NHS, or much in the way of workers rights, or social security. It doesn't much care about environmental issues, has it's own oil, coal and gas and won't stop using it anytime soon, has a very flexible workforce and low minimum wages. Oh, and lots and lots of spare land for trailer parks to house people.

My suggestion to actually assess asylum seekers so they stop being asylum seekers and are either sent away or able to work? That suggestion is unworkable?

While that is all true, it was also true when their economy was doing much worse, so it’s not the whole reason.

If you speed up the process numbers will increase and you will be overwhelmed even more

Unless you change the acceptance criteria you’re still on a high rate

Nearly everywhere is dealing with higher numbers, if you make it easier you will be a higher target for traffickers

I think energy supply is a factor for the US. Unlike Germany it can provide its own and not depend on Russia

I refer you to my other post about that note. You have to be either really fucking ignorant or really fucking lying to still use that. As for the gold reserves…
https://www.ft.com/content/5788dbac-7680-11e0-b05b-00144feabdc0

Health spending in the US is a multiple of health spending in the UK or Europe. Fracking / energy independence has been a key part of the US’s recent comparative success in keeping inflation under control.

If you speed up the process we won’t be having to pay to keep them in hotels. I see no reason assessing those people would increase numbers. But then Tory friends and donors own the hotels they are staying in, so why cut off the funnelling of public cash to them, eh?
Are you one of them, @EasternStandard ? I can’t see any reason to support this government if you aren’t directly benefitting from their dodgy dealings and outright corruption.

I see no reason assessing those people would increase numbers

Of course it will. The trafficking supply is endless. Have you noticed the Med crossings increasing?

It’s not just a U.K. problem and will get bigger

"...sent away..." ??

Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Jeez the naivety that this will be a workable solution.

Not assessing them isn’t stopping any coming though, is it? I don’t see your logic. It’s not like the gangs say ‘sorry folks, but there’s a bit of a backlog in the U.K. and they’re running out of places to put you so we won’t be taking anyone there for a few years’.
I agree it’ll just get more of an issue, so we (uk and allies and everyone else) need to work out what to do.

Anything that makes it easier will increase demand

Anything that deters lowers it

It happens…though granted it would be easier if the Home Office wouldn’t keep losing them.

Assessing quickly has zero impact on demand. What’s your logical process by which it would?
edit: what are your views on the recession? The reason for this thread…why do you seem uncomfortable to discuss that?

I’ve already posted re the recession. Scroll back

You can deter and process faster but your suggestion below was pie in the sky. You need the first part to do the second