Thread 12 Starmer: From Prescott to Rayner, working class grit

[DuncinToffee]

Previous thread

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5203242-thread-11-starmer-will-that-phone-call-be-to-harris-or-to-trump-the-decidedly-superior-looking-cats-thread?page=40&reply=139989436

Remember guys - not here in good faith

We wish you a Wombling Merry Christmas.

Good point, I shall disengage.

I'm reading a very interesting book at the moment about how people's minds change.

It does cover social media - I am now on the chapter about "Arguing".

There's an interesting experiment.

They gave people a biography of a person to read and they all agreed he was an expert in the climate.

They were then told that this person believed in man made climate change, that the evidence was conclusive and that we must act. People who also believed in climate change agreed that he was an expert and must be correct. However, people who did not believe in climate change thought he was wrong.

However, in the alternate study, the other group were told he did not believe in climate change. Then - the people who believed in climate change thought that the scientist was wrong, whilst the people who did not believe in climate change agreed that he was an expert and he was right.

It's a fascinating book about human psychology, especially in the internet age.

Good move.

Yes, that will prevent the adverse news flow.

If it’s all the same, I will keep you all up to date with media reports, and readership comments etc.

I used to quite like Adam Curtis’s satirical take on world events called “Oh Dearism” which ended with the individual being paralysed by the inability to influence anything and worrying they were a bit too fat.

This may actually be a more realistic response than much of social media where the perception of actually influencing things is manipulated to extremes

Yeah but I bet the same person didn't comment when the Troy's wasted billions on contracts for mates?

The public sector pay freeze meant they were getting paid way below inflation. Pretty stupid really when you then needed to top them up with UC.

Better to raise wages

Oh Dearism (which is not as facetious as my post above might suggest)

m.youtube.com/watch?v=HR6KZPMdWrU

I must admit I often read MN posts and think "oh dear". I also worry about the stubborn extra few pounds I have been carrying since lockdown.

Pretty sure some of the Civil Service had to have pay rises to stop them falling below NMW.

No thanks. It's not like they are always reliable, or even accessible without a paywall. I would rather you leave us to our usual pleasant atmosphere and take your comments elsewhere personally.

And that's my one and only engagement with you. I'll now go back to skimming past posts with your name on until MN decided to give us the option to hide posters we aren't interested in.

Oh no don’t say that. 🤣

Some V weird recent posts on here...... UK debt interest payments have soared since the Tories took UK gilts from 1.4% to over 5% & despite Hunts efforts, they didn't drop by very much at all, in fact they were on a bit of a rollercoaster with him in charge.

Don't want to pay "Labours Public Sector mates" so no pay rises for teachers nurses, physio's salt's OTs Paramedics etc etc and definitely nothing for our armed forces.

& as for setting aside billions for PO and Blood scandals... well, all of those people can fuck right off....

Thats the results of & policies of the right wing

As has been said, any Government coming in would have been faced with increased debt payments, having to pay for pay rises, costs of the compensation schemes and potentially increasing NMW.

There was unfortunately too little talk about the economic reality before the election.

We also know that some areas of public spending will see little increase whilst others will see a bigger increase.

But that is detail.

Yes they would have been but had the Tories won, the right wing media would have all been blaming Russia, Covid and Uncle Tom Cobbly and all.....

I think the Tories would have not paid the pay increases and would have carried on delaying compensation payments too.

I'm all for robust examination of all Govt's and praise good policies wherever they originate from but its all totally one sided from our so called Tory regulars now, one or two of which i do serious wonder where they actually reside?

There was unfortunately too little talk about the economic reality before the election.

That’s being generous - Hunt was living in Narnia and promising tax cuts.

But at least it kept the papers happy

A tax rebate for all our cats:

I'm tempted!

That’s being generous - Hunt was living in Narnia and promising tax cuts.

Truss went headlong into the wardrobe and crashed the economy first - you'd think he'd choose another destination!

Government pledges millions in legal aid to clear asylum backlog

The justice secretary is to announce a major increase in funding for lawyers to represent migrants in asylum courts

https://bsky.app/profile/zoejardiniere.bsky.social/post/3lbtizgiug22o

A desperately needed step here from government to redress enormous funding gap for legal aid!🙏

“We will increase money for legal aid above and beyond inflation to address the fact that it hasn’t kept up with inflation for years.”

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/government-pledges-millions-in-legal-aid-to-clear-asylum-backlog-cdlmlvqff

The backlog is being caused by a shortage of lawyers to represent asylum seekers and a lack of judges, with only enough lawyers available to represent about half of claimants. This has led to many cases being adjourned or individuals deciding to represent themselves, which typically makes a hearing six times longer than one with legal representation.

Fees for immigration and asylum legal cases have not increased since 1996, which equates to a real terms cut of 48 per cent.

Well thst is good, but I hope for a significant uptick in the quality of officials making asylum decisions. That stops many cases going to court at all. And it tends to weed out those who are not genuine at an earlier stage saving money being spent on legal aid.

Good to see the employment strategy today, that seems positively put.

Why are they giving this any headspace Comment was quite restraint

https://bsky.app/profile/pippacrerar.bsky.social/post/3lbu25x42ps2w

PM’s official spokesman on Boris Johnson blaming obesity on the Church of England: “I don’t quite follow his line of argument”.