Thread 20 Starmer - Spring Statement

[DuncinToffee]

Previous thread https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5286167-thread-19-starmer-a-coalition-of-the-willing?page=40&reply=142981585

You've done an amazing job @itsgettingweird

@DuncinToffee I don't remember people getting as upset about our thread titles when they contained Johnson's name, or am I misremembering? And I definitely don't remember anyone assuming we were all Johnson fans 😆

I agree that work is a good thing if it is possible for you. I also have a disabled DS and last year on a year out from uni, he worked and loved it. Got so much more from it than just money.

However, he gets PIP for a range of complex and serious health conditions that will never get better. He cannot work full time. The thing is that the benefits haters don't want to know that. Their views are so lacking in nuance, so aggressively expressed, that they colour the perceptions of ill and disabled people, tarring them all with the same brush.

On the benefits bashing threads, the bashers take zero account of the countless examples of people who have children and partners who are likely to lose their financial lifelines. The lack of empathy is astonishing.

What most people on this thread want is a change. We have had 14 years of money being taken from benefit claimants and it hasn't solved the problem. What is unreasonable about not wanting more of the same?

Lastly, if you have been out of work for a long time, getting back into it is difficult. This is why the option to try in the welfare changes is such a good idea. People need more support and less punishment.

Yes Next charged and if you didn’t order I think they might have collected it.

Now I’m thinking about the years of Boden catalogues - snippets about the models in amongst the garment details. “Geri loves dancing in the moonlight and Stilton on crackers” etc.
Don't miss catalogues though.

We were the opposition then, we could be dismissed because the Great Boris was saving us all and Getting Brexit Done.

And? You should expect people to comment on the title of the thread then. Or call it what it is an exclusive clique thread. As has been said many times on this thread - only likeminded people who are part of the clique allowed. Like trying to pull up a chair at the ‘locals table.’

It is the World Wide Web. No thread on the WWW is exclusive. I’m glad to see the bullying allowed on this thread and by posters called out. These threads have been used to coordinate attacks on posters “not at the table” or of the same thinking.

I love that from these threads as well, Jane's posts especially make me look things up and finding new nuggets of information

I have gained so much from these threads

As I’ve said further up, I’m a relatively recent joiner to these threads. They really are chat (as suggested by their placement on the site) though with a political flavour. People are welcome to comment on the Spring Statement, but not to ask for tax records and suggest those paying less tax are freeloaders in a quite nasty way.
It’s not a clique. Anyone can join in. But if someone joins in by being confrontational (which isn’t the same as disagreeing) they’ll get confrontation back as like as not. People on these threads French disagree, both here and on other threads. There’s just a shared agreement to do it politely. To ‘disagree agreeably’ to quote The Rest is Politics.

I agree @DuncinToffee and @cardibach I've gained so much on here. I've also appreciated the measured responses when people disagree. There's really no need for people to come in heavy handed and try to turn it nasty.

I think it helped that they already had a big mail order component with the directory so they got their online offering sorted while the likes of M&S and JL were still working out what it was.

It would be good to see the likes of Argos get its act into gear with Sainsbury's in charge. Moving into larger Sainsbury's stores and delivering to smaller ones has been a useful move in some ways but also means that, if threads on here are to be believed, a lot of people have forgotten they exist.

@cardibach

People on these threads French disagree

Mais non! Pas du tout!

We have several people on these threads who aren't left wing and it's probably fair to say that most of us now do not approve of our government. So the picture is much more nuanced than you make out. The difference is in tone. Look at @2dogsandabudgie 's latest post. She is absolutely on the right politically, but posts respectfully. So she's welcome. Drop the aggression and you will be too.

I am surprised at their success in recent years. They seemed to be to be unfashionable and not offering much that is unique.

Perhaps the Costa coffee shop and travel agent in store reduces premises costs given the rent presumably paid (or margins if a franchise).

It’s risible to claim that this is an exclusive clique thread, when it’s posted on Chat for all to see!

I did at that.

Look - if you don’t like the thread, you can - as MNHQ often say - just scroll on.

Or you could join in and discuss.

Some people on these threads can’t type or proof read either…🤣🤣

It's not like the long running Trump threads are full of Trump fans 🤣

That actually made me 😆

@LlynTegid Next have never been at the forefront of fashion, which is why they’ve been so successful. It’s a safe place to buy good quality clothes that are 'just enough’ in fashion. Very much like M&S used to be.

But unlike M&S they’ve moved with the times - e.g. moving into the digital world in advance of many other retailers.

Just a small de-rail to say how awful the earthquake is in Myanmar and Thailand

Awful @Efacsen so awful.

I concur fully, with this.

When one of the ‘regular’ posters feels like they are losing an argument, or their position becomes indefensible, there is a temptation amongst the other ‘regulars’ to form a tag team and/or resort to posting about felines or haberdashery.

Let’s be honest.

Personally, I quite enjoy The Rest Is History. I really can't recommend the series on the US in 1963 and 1968 (about 12 hours worth).

It's the only place where I have heard serious mention that the real cause of WW1 was the Kaisers choice of footwear one fateful summer. We need incisive analysis like that.

What did he wear?

Sandals with white socks?

Schrodingers business, isn't it ?

Posting profits (not turnover, although few people are smart enough to twig the difference 😀) in the billions in the same breath as whining about how "tough" it is.

The footage I saw this morning of the building collapse in Bangkok was absolutely horrific. So many people killed/missing/trapped

Next have seemed to solidify their business into having one large store on a retail park, usually with a Costa coffee shop and travel agent inside and closed their actual high street stores.

The key is to maximise footfall. The best way to do that is to have several reasons for a customer to be there. Which is what the high street used to be. Until the reality of crap infrastructure hit home.

None of this is really news. Certainly not if you were strategising (as I was) in 2010. All of the trends that were flagged in the first horizon-scanning project have progressed. The only variable (where the gold is) is the absolute and relative speeds of them.

The shrinking of the High Street was there ... and sorry to nostalgia buffs, but it ain't coming back again. Also there was "generation rent" with it's implications for the UK economy. Nothing changed there since 2010 apart from the clear desire of the government to pretend it has (it hasn't). That's an interesting one. Tinfoil hat enthusiasts will note that one of the lines in that report went:

"Lack of home ownership will lead to a more mobile workforce especially within the EU".

and then wonder whether it had any bearing on the move to withdraw from the EU and it's hated freedom of movement.