If you suddenly became the leader of the country, what’s the one thing you would change?

[bluescreens]

As the child of an elderly parent, I’m frustrated by what appears to be pointless bureaucracy when dealing with local councils. When anything goes wrong with my dad’s care, I spend the equivalent of hours (sometimes days) being passed from team to team, trying to get someone to take ownership of the issue and work with me to resolve it. If I were PM, as this is so personal, I’d tackle this straight away. I’d also do a proper, comprehensive review of the NHS and ask the tough questions, with the goal of reforming it while (at the same time) keeping it free or at least very low cost at the point of use. Obviously I’d use my magic money tree to fund all of this! 🤓

This is a semi lighthearted thread - but if you were leading the country, what would you tackle first?

Surely a lot better than what we’ve got now.
It’s beyond a joke. And you can’t say the word immigration without some smart arse quoting ‘ forinners ‘ and all that nonsense. You can’t even say the word immigration without being accused of being racist .
And immigration in this country is utterly and completely out of control and unsustainable.
So much for Starmer and his ‘ smash the gangs ‘ rhetoric. What utter rubbish. It’s laughable.

Those pesky commoners, wanting somewhere to live 🙄

As others have said, renationalise utilities and transport and deport anyone who commits a criminal offence (any).

It’s controversial but I’d also reopen communal homes for people who are too mentally ill to live in the community - Care in the community does not work.

Agree with those points too. Except trains are now renationalised in lots of regions and no sign at all of any improvements. We need governments to do better than the old trope of "nationalisation is best" - we need to actually make changes so that the renationalised bodies actually work better than private ones and work better than they used to prior to privatisation, as most were pretty poor prior to privatisation too!

Universal basic income to replace all benefits including state pension.

Subsidise local produce and/or tax on air miles for anything that can be grown in this country.

Id tax everyone, but at very low rates for low earners or those who chose not to work and live on their UBI. Everyone has to pay in, even at 1%. Similarly, everyone pays for prescriptions etc, but not much (and you can get a certificate as you can now).

Foreign nationals convicted of a crime above a very low level of seriousness are deported, no ifs buts or maybes.

Somewhat lighthearted - people who don’t clear up their dog shit are tasered

Dead right.

I’d tax people by their hourly wage.
A CEO working 100 plus a week would be taxed less than a celebrity getting £60k for half an hour on the talk circuit.

That's a really good idea. It would also reduce tax for people on min wage working silly hours just to feed their families.

I would pass a Noise Pollution Act with tight rules on - well - noise pollution and big fines for breaking it. That would include a ban on personal use of fireworks (unless they were the silent/low noise kind).

I would bring forward a Bill to stop pavement parking.

And I would reform car insurance so if you have a bump, your own insurance pays for your damage and we don't have all this nonsense about trying to decide whose fault it was unless there's a 3rd party non-driver involved.

I also want a work experience scheme for all youngsters so they get 3-6 months experience they can put on their CVs and so they can get jobs when everyone insists on experience.

Preferably kept under house arrest the whole time so women could walk safely anywhere at all times

We have enough housing. There are over a million second homes!

We don't necessarily have the right sort of housing, so we do need some new builds, mainly for singletons that aren't flats.

I love this one.

Yes also all kids to learn a language from 5. Could be Latin, could be anything.

British people are not stupid and they are just as capable of learning MFLs as foreigners are of learning English.

Better than what we have now!
Maybe take a photo of the NHS before it disappears off into oblivion with large wads of the sale price being lodged in Nigel's back pocket

Oh that's a shame 🙂. But I'll put mine down anyway......,,
1: Free education for all including those who're applying for asylum. Overseas students who do course then leave still pay. Includes night school, older people, everyone. You see a course and you can apply and do it. Includes night school ( a course I did years ago transformed my life at the time; mid eighties).
My strict caveat is that if anyone is just coasting on it/ not putting in the effort, they get thrown off it. This is how it used to be.
Proper grades + no nannying pass marks because the institution is desperate for the funding.

And my no 2: renationalise essential utilities.
Gas, Electricity, water and have free basic broadband throughout the country. If you need more gb then you can sign up to a provider for a premium service

I'd ban television advertising for online gambling websites.

Oh and that other ad for perfume with Natalie Portman in it, and Janis Joplin screeching like a banshee as though she's trying to repel an alien invasion.

I would build masses and masses of council housing.

I'd put a limit on mobile phone camera usage. 10 mins a month. Stop all this pathetic recording of accidents/protests/ goading of people.
Potholes and shit road surfaces - every penny of road tax goes towards road infrastructure.

I would nationalise Nigel Farage, then privatise him, and sell him off in pieces to foreign investors not excluding venture capitalists.

Then I would short Nigel Farage PLC and he would have to request a government bailout; and this would, tragically for the long-term future viability of NFPLC, be refused.

I'd increase the severity and length of prison sentences for sexual crimes, particularly rape. At present some sentences are unbelievably low given the seriousness of the offence and the devastating effect on victioms. Its as though the country as represented by the law, just does not consider women important. Its completely unacceptable but lenient sentencing happens every day. Not sure a leader on their could make this change though.

Id be useless but I would

1. Cut all MPs wages
2. Remove MPs ability to claim expenses for things like 2nd homes & meals. You're hungry? Go buy a tesco meal deal.
3. Like PP said, have ministers with actual experience in roles (ex-teacher as education sec etc)
4. Cap CEO wages and make them spend at least one day a quarter shadowing some of the lowest paid staff to understand issues
5. Restructure the NHS and remove all the beuroceacy and targets - focus should be on patient care.
6. Bring NHS, social care and adult services under one umbrella to allow better cohesion of service provision. Train willing family members to provide basic care for relatives
7. Force any company or person that sells products in the UK or profits from sales in the UK (Amazon etc) to pay their fair share of tax

It doesn’t matter how much money you throw at our amazing NHS …. the demand outweighs the supply.
There are too many folk using (‘and abusing) it ..
That’s without the bureaucracy and middle management that comes with it.. as well as their bucks to pay for.
I was seriously unwell ( Sepsis ) and in a corridor for 15 hour before being admitted.
It was like a war zone in there and I ended up with PTSD afterwards.
It is unsustainable . That’s it.

1. Fund the NHS to the same amount per capita as the French spend on their health service. Matching German healthcare spending would be even better, but I'm trying to be realistic. Spend some of this money on employing more clinical staff, to end the NHS reliance on expensive staffing agencies. Stop expecting staff (especially junior doctors) to work insanely long shifts and arrange their own cover when off sick. No wonder so many NHS staff members experience burn out and leave.

2. End the failed experiment of trying to fund social services via council tax. The sums don't add up and never will. Fund this through central government and bring more services in-house. The amount currently spent on specialist care placements is eye-watering.

😂😂😂You have my vote, as does the PP who'd come down heavily on those twatty boy racers with noisy exhausts.

I would make it the law that when a complaint is made against a company or organisation fobbing someone off is illegal.

Anyone saying “oh sorry never mind lessons will be leaned” while doing nothing will be fined £1 million.