Thread 7 Starmer : Cats and Conferences

[DuncinToffee]

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https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5145757-thread-6-starmer-were-going-to-need-a-bigger-skip?page=40&reply=138030825

Are the immigrants stealing our children and selling them into slavery yet? These old slanders have been around for centuries in one form or another. You'd think they could think of something new. Trump, as we all know, is deranged, the shocking thing would be if he managed to say something reasoned and humane.

Just saw this, made me laugh

Leon posted it the other day and Vance used it a speech so ofcourse the orange one was going for it too

Triggered by Harris saying that people walk out of his rallies because they are bored

I just watched the video. Harris is great. Her face was just perfect. Great job triggering his narc rage too.

I started to watch the Harris Trump debate last night but simply couldn't bear to hear Trump's voice. So I read about it on CNN and Fox to get a balanced opinion. It's the same news story but with different headlines. According to CNN, Kamela won by baiting Trump and letting him rant. Fox is complaining about the ABC facilitators' aggressive fact checking - that's Fox News by the way.
I don't think she's going to change the minds of any diehard Trump supporters but might do enough to sway undecided voters.

I didn't see the debate, but it's hilarious that Taylor Swift came out and openly endorsed Harris immediately after.

One of my cats is terrified of carriers. He's afraid he's going to be abandoned again. I use a small dog carrier for him, it's spacious and is a top loader, which makes it easier to get him in. He still cries all the way to the vet though.

I think the wfa policy is essentially going to save a lot of money and with public finances in their current state it was one of a few all unpalatable options. One of the most surreal arguments that came up when i was pointlessly arguing on the vat threads was that there was no big whole in public finances 😧(alongside citing a lack of union support for the policy - seemed an interesting angle given the general flavour of the political views of the posters). People on any side of the political argument who cant accept how dire current finances are seem to be living in a fantasy world.
I think it undeniable that wfa is paid to many who dont need it, but also that it will cause difficulties for those just above pension credit eligibility. More complex means testing is costly - so here we are. I dont know if adding lower council tax bands in was a practical possibility. I definetely wanted it means tested, am not entirely comfortable with the current plan, but dont have a viable alternative (perhaps why i wouldnt be a great politician).

I was always told i wasn't 'in touch' with the real population because i thought the COL crisis was a far bigger issue than those. And for thinking the rape courts were a brilliant idea to help tackle VAWG, but i was told reliably i was wrong cos culture wars.

she did a great job of showing how easy he is to goad into an ego war... and drops any points he actually tries to make. Shows everyone how he isn't able to debate anything, only lie and bluster about how great he is. embarrassing.

I think the wfa policy is essentially going to save a lot of money and with public finances in their current state it was one of a few all unpalatable options.

I think it's less about saving money, and more about signalling the future. We are going to see a lot of policies that if you removed the logo, you'd swear were Tory.

The main reason for any Tory opposition is less ideological, and much more about desperately trying to gain column inches (oo err missis !) in a political landscaper where they are already an irrelevance.

Tories only care about pensioners when they need their votes, they were perfectly happy to have them freeze when there wasn't an election imminent.

I'm not sure how you deal with it cost-effectively but the WFA doesn't take into account the different temperatures that people in the North Have to cope with (and heat for), compared to the South.

This was the temperature differential in August

I can't remember the exact stats but there are something like 20+% of households in Scotland defined as being in fuel poverty (iirc defined as over 10% of household income being spent on fuel). And in the Western Isles, the figures are even higher - with a horrific number in severe fuel poverty (ie spending 20% or more on fuel). Many households there have to use oil to heat their homes (or not heat )

I'm not sure how you deal with it cost-effectively but the WFA doesn't take into account the different temperatures that people in the North Have to cope with (and heat for), compared to the South.

Lifes unfair, I fear.

Still no one is asking why the UK is paying so much for energy, compared to the rest of Europe. Tackle that, and everybody can feel better.

Fact checking? What the hell kind of news programme is that? Live fact checking? Disgraceful. And on a Murdoch owned channel. Donald thought you were his friend, Rupie. 🙏 Trump star is waning.

Murdoch and Trump in the same sentence is reminiscent of Wilde's quip on foxhunts

(That's hunts with an "h" by the way)

especially when those same companies are announcing record breaking profits..

Reprehensible in pursuit of the insensible?

To make matters worse, people o. Scotland pay more for their energy than those in the South East of England - despite (ironically because ) the fact that Scotland generates most of the energy. It's a net exporter of energy.

Although (and I am not completely sure of the relevance here) as Mr. GB Energy pointed out to Prince minibrain Anderson, energy is sold on the open market. So even countries that produce it have to factor in higher prices.

This is yet another case of all paths lead back to Brexit, The UK pays more for energy because it's a tiny customer with limited bargaining power compared to - say - a trading bloc of 27 countries with the clout to demand a discount. That's before you factor in the inherent market greed the UK energy markets were built on in the 90s.

I wonder if the school VAT challenge lawyer mentioned to his clients that another path to success for them, rather than the impossible one they are pursuing is to rejoin the EU ?

Farage brought up "two tier policing" in PMQs. He seemed nervous. It gave KS a good opportunity to land a blow about prisons though.

I hate Farage. You just know its going to be turned into a "man of the people" type meme 🙄

They were perfectly happy to send 18000 of them untested into care homes to die of covid.

"Speaking of predictions, I wonder if it's not too late to have a flutter on Jenrick - on the nose. With an accumulator that he won't be there in 2026. He will struggle to contain the swivel eyed loons, and letters will be put in (something rather ASMR about watching the Tories do that in opposition). At which point I think we will see a retread of 2024 without Jenrick, with Badenoch taking the prize. Or if we are really in for an interesting 2026, Patel."

Bad Enoch is never going to be selected by the Tory membership. Frankly, Jimmy Dimly and Cruella Patel don't have much hope unless there's no competition, in much the way they voted for Lettuce Liz.

When Jenrick goes, they'll have to fall behind the next Great White Hope...

Apparently Badenoch is the favourite with the membership. The main issue for her is that so many of her fellow MPs don't like her and might conspire to ensure that she isn't on the ballot.

The UK 's electricity unit price is comparable to many EU countries, its v competitive on Gas.
We pay so much because of the standing charge, thats a UK only decision, the windfall taxes should be used to reduce this and bring in higher tariffs for higher domestic energy users.

Brexit is terrible but energy produced here doesn't have to be sold to us at "market rates"

i'm not quite sure how GB Energy will reduce bills unless the way the market works and that would have to work for all energy production here.

Aside, our new Labour MP (first time ever we had Lab) is now being utterly flamed for voting to take away the WFA & rightly so, i and many others didn't vote Labour to have another 5 years of Tory Austerity.

I understand how the energy market works @SerendipityJane (although I think we'd both agree about the short sightedness of the Conservative government allowing the main gas storage facilities, which would have helped smooth out some of the peaks and troughs, to shut down )

But how does that explain the difference in standing charge across the UK: 64.17p/day in Southern Scotland (which is what I have to pay) versus 41.59/day in London?

If it's purely based on international energy markets, then Ofgem should have the same cap on prices across the UK.

I can understand why the people in the North of Scotland are extremely pissed off that they are having enormous wind farms built around them, interconnects (with giant pylons) being built across their countryside, to transfer the energy to England (iirc, in simplistic terms, SSE and ScottishPower have to pay to put money into the National Grid, because it's calculated on where "most" of it will be used), yet have to pay more for their energy.

So they are triply penalised: live in a cold area, so have to heat more (and can't use gas); have to thole wind farms and giant pylons around them for the record, I'm not against wind farms ; and Ofgem sets a higher cap making them pay more for their energy