Thread 1 Burnham: Esperanza en cada Corazón

[DuncinToffee]

New PM, new thread

Welcome to our long running thread for political discussion, general chit chat, a friendly hug and taxes in kind

🍦 for anyone who needs them

Previous thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5552800-thread-54-starmer-grev-soppelbottefjes-sommergalskap?page=38&reply=153652516

Big new policy announcement this morning - a tax cut to remove VAT from domestic electricity bills from October 1 in time to impact the next Ofgem price cap.

Funded for one year "from the cancellation of the (£1.8bn) Digital ID programme."

"Longer-term measures will be taken at the Budget."

Small businesses who qualify for the domestic energy VAT relief and are not registered for VAT, as well as charities and residential care homes eligible for the reduced rate will also benefit.

Which is good.

A small start.

I’m having a discussion, please stop trying to shut down discussions you don’t like.

A real world cut to energy bills on day one.

I can’t wait to see how people spin this as a bad thing!

Fill your boots then! If others want to engage that is up to them. I don't on this issue as I think your personal issues are very much feeding your resentment of pensioners.

Where's the keeper of the thread when we need them? 😊

Means testing it wouldn't address that.
However, I'm interested in the evidence you're using to come to that conclusion. How many people are abusing PIP? How are they doing that? How much is it costing us? And what research has been done to demonstrate this to you? I keep asking for this when people make this claim and no one answers.
I've worked in roles where I've supported people trying to claim disability benefits for most of my career. And the system is extremely difficult to abuse. Decisions tend to skew to refusal, even in quite extreme cases, which is why so many have to be overturned at tribunal.

OMG the 'visitors' have started early!

Agree with @TemperanceWest that the benefit bashers/de-railers should start their own threads - I'll not be engaging with them here

Expect it will settle down sooner or later - and 'normal service' will be resumed

So people aren’t allowed to join a thread and have a discussion, unless they’ve been here since the first thread?

Start your own thread and stop de-railing this one

Interesting take on what was said.

I haven't been here since the first thread but I've been here since the early days of the Johnson threads, and maybe the ones before that. However I read the room and respected the ethos of the threads. It's not the only long running chain of threads on MN - I would never go on to any of the others and try to change the game. Especially when others are available.

If you don’t like people joining in, form a private WhatsApp chat.

I wasn’t derailing it though! I was having a perfectly civil conversation until it got shut down!

I fear we may have to change the format of our titles.

You've inspired me. I might go into the GBSB thread and start talking about Marie-France's green dress or one of the weight loss threads to ask about everyone's favourite biscuits.

Then again, I might not because I do have some fucking manners.

Have a nice day.

To be fair, it wasn't perfectmrs who commented on John Healey. That was a regular!

I do think pension needs looking at - and know that is politically very difficult because pensioners are more likely to vote than any other age group. I don't know how and couldn't begin to offer ideas up. But it is true there are many very wealthy pensioners and farmers who have been perhaps untouchable in the past and have led to a tendency of people to punch down and start suggesting the most vulnerable (whatever their age) are the true scroungers rather than the objectively very wealthy. Many of the very wealthiest people in the UK are over 70. Hence the IHT posts all over MN? I think most people on this thread are OK with IHT ?

I think there is a gulf of ideology between the flowery poster and perfectmrs but may be naive.

Occasionally the GBSB thread has visitors of the rather disruptive variety! Especially if the contestants aren't MN approved...

It is very odd that a poster who seems to be pretty left-leaning really has it in for pensioners ("bleeding the taxpayer dry") and doesn't understand why that won't go down well with most other left-leaning people. Especially on a left-leaning thread with a fair number of left-leaning pensioners posting on it.

Disappointed Lisa Nandy has stayed as culture, media and sport secretary. She has never shown any indication (IMO) that she's particularly invested in those areas. Not sure who I would have put there... but someone with established connections to the creative arts/media and/or experience of shaping cultural policy would be more encouraging.

AS suggests they are bon fide.

Pensions are controversial. There are definitely a lot of ultra rich people in the 'pensionable age' bracket. Governments are very scared to do anything about pension spending.

Anyway, it's not an area I know much about I know nothing but a look at this person's other posts so far on this thread suggests they're OK. Let's not eat ourselves. There are issues we will disagree on which we have agreed is OK in the past.

Completely agree about Lisa Nandy - this is such a pressing issue (well, aren't they all...) and she seems to have had no impact. Not thrilled about Lucy Powell for education either.

Nothing wrong with discussions around the triple lock etc., but suggesting asset rich cash poor pensioners should have to sell their homes to support themselves is an odd stance for a left-winger IMHO. Especially as no other state benefit requires people to do that.

I am here but there is nothing I can do when people keep replying to someone with an agenda.

Some tax instead

I agree. To say she's been low profile over the last couple of years would be an understatement. Maybe its simply not coming across but the enthusiasm appears to be lacking.

Not terribly impressed with the Alex Norris appointment either. I assume he'll have experienced & knowledgeable advisors. There are no easy levers to pull because the system is incredibly complex and has been neglected for a long time.

Prison capacity is still an issue and although new prisons are being built it's not a quick fix - we lost many years where this should have been prioritised in conjunction with sentencing changes. Of course that is what made Timpson such an interesting pick.

As with a lot of areas you wouldn't choose to start from here!

I suppose we will have to wait and see.