Labour isn't Working - Thread 31

[WaffleBomb]

A chat thread for those who don't like this Labour* *government. 💙

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.

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I'm also wondering which demographic have gone green now.

I've not watched Tominey before. She's tough!

Yeah, she is a good interviewer. She's on the daily t podcast too, which is worth a listen.

A lot of ministers won't go on GBN, but Tominey should be compulsory for any politician wanting to up their interview game, because of how tough she is. She regularly tears strips off Richard Tice and he still keeps going back.

One can't believe how naval gazing they are.
A wonderful poster was around pr Brexit said she used to be one of them and how awful they were first hand close up mysogenidtic etc can't take feedback or criticism they are on a Steam roller to what they want.

@SionnachRuadh I dipped into GB news and I was really impressed at how they took people to task !
It really was rigorous debate and yes ! Against all sides !
However I did get really bored with the constant references to immigration all the time. But I still dip in here and there it's ridiculous how some on here treat if .

yeah, respect for that.

I agree. The public sector doesn’t manage large projects well. My local council has spent £5M on consultants on the Transformation Programme that was launched with much fanfare and has failed to deliver. This is a council that has to borrow to cover day-to-day spending and has had a Best Value Notice.

All is less than fine and dandy, on t’other thread.

Yes, we have had this too. We have a whole local transformation project and they advertised the Director role at nearly quarter of a million. After a few years the whole project was quietly shelved. As far as I could see the only concrete thing they did was run a Saturday market in the town square. (I was paying attention, just to add, because a friend of mine had applied for the role of Deputy Director which she didnt get).

On a much smaller note, (but still indicative) members of our local council got on the local news and said they were appalled by chewing gum being trodden into the pavements and it 'costs £50 for our contractors to remove each piece'.

Did not even seem to occur to him that it clearly did NOT cost that to remove each piece, that was what they were being charged. I thought I'd buy myself a scraper off Amazon and offer myself out at £20 per piece.

Ooooh yes! 😂

Yes they are terrible at procurement and contract management too. The third party company that is supposed to maintain the roads self-reviews for quality under the contract so you can imagine how that’s going.

Kim Johnson - As someone said Keir Hardie started the party we can’t let another Keir finish it.

Not much authority left.

Gotta hand it to Keir though, he's done to national Labour in two years as PM what it took Rokhsana Fiaz two whole terms as mayor to do to Newham Labour.

The way Labour have mismanaged the finances in Sefton is scandalous. They really can't negotiate a contract to save their lives, meaning everything costs a ridiculous amount of money. Plus the purchases they choose are bloody liabilities. Bootle New Strand shopping centre, anyone? 🙄

The public sector isn't trying to manage projects well

The reason they go for big projects is partly to justify their funding, and partly vanity project, and partly - I'm just going to come out and say it - I am convinced there are deals being done. The amount of money that just gets funneled off to private companies is bonkers.

I actually think my local area runs reasonably well, but it is in spite of the madness rather than because of it

I remember reading an article about a white elephant that was built somewhere in the north, and the number of people who managed to benefit from it financially. This was about 20 years ago. it will be much worse now.

I don't know if it's that people lack the political will to stop these things, or if they jump on the bandwagon and see how they can make money out of it. i'm guessing the latter.

I genuinely believe there is a huge amount of waste that can be cut, but no one is prepared to make the redundancies, especially after Tony Blair expanded the jobs so much. And some people genuinely believe that's how you keep the economy going. Remember Gordon Brown saying "the purpose of government is to create jobs" - he meant create public sector jobs, using taxpayer money to fund people doing not much

He didn't mean "create wealth".

For the lurkers, I am not a Reform voter, but as my area has gone Reform, I hope they'll have the balls to do something about this. But I doubt it.

And hasn't the abolition of NHS England gone wrong because they can't fund the redundancies? I suspect Labour saw that as an easy win because the Tories brought it in.

Going round in circles really, it's not about left right, because why did the Tories create NHS England?

We definitely won't get back into surplus in my lifetime.

Front page of the Financial Times, 28 April.

This tells you a lot about why Labour are failing.

The reason they go for big projects is partly to justify their funding, and partly vanity project, and partly - I'm just going to come out and say it - I am convinced there are deals being done. The amount of money that just gets funneled off to private companies is bonkers.

Oh yes, the latter is very much suspected here.

It certainly does, and they deserve to fail if thats how they think.

Excellent piece by Matthew Syed in The Times.

All those who label Reform voters as all racist and thick (aka our lurkers) should read this, twice.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/01fa4024-2020-480a-9db1-fb0b6fa089e3?shareToken=e6041dc960c76a73d34ce3cc6cff976b

Not sure if has been mentioned on here but I read that new benefit rules have given a 5% increase for polygamous families.. Shocking as bigamy is surely still illegal in the UK??

https://x.com/boudicasarmy/status/2053118266189418826?s=12

Thoughts on procurement, projects, incrementalism and systems...

Procurement is a mess because of the rules the public sector has to follow. Every stakeholder was considered but the taxpayer.

Incrementalism yes. But we need to unpick some of new Labour’s mistakes before we can go forward. They created too many conflicting, positive rights which will bankrupt us and will tear society apart.

Politicians are prepared to horse trade on resources, but they don’t know how to fix the system that has been tinkered with so much that it no longer works.

Only the Right sees the need for a factory reset. I am not sure they will be able to do it. We now have a population who have been taught nonsense for two generations. A Liberal Democracy requires a population with a liberal education. That means universal and reciprocal natural rights. An understanding of market forces. A large portion of under forties believe in relative truths, and state control of prices. - I don’t mind them learning the hard way, but how can I protect myself in my old age as I grow vulnerable?

Is that per wifelet?

It’s sad when what counts for civic pride and a success these days is a skate park, a youth centre and a “business hub”. Whatever that is A room with some desks in it?

Filling potholes, emptying bins isn't media fodder