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

When I were young, I wanted a written constitution.

And a Fixed Term Parliament.

And when the FTP came about. I was a supported, and felt that the concerns of the naysayers were vested interests.

Then we actually got stuck with a lame duck government (as predicted) and I realised I had been wrong. The FTPA was a disaster, and it may be Boris Johnsons only entry in the Book of Good that he got rid of it.

So moving forwards, and having seen what a horlicks our septic chums have made of theirs, I am wary of a written constitution. And the US had Benjamin Franklin. Who have we got ? Frankie and Bennies.

Mine too yet we ended up with 3 Plaid Senedd members, 2 Reform and one Lab.

Good grief, Mr Darko, reduced to name changing just to chuck insults around.

Very pre-teen.

But always a good indication that the right wingers are rattled.

I’m similar, I always supported a written constitution but when you look over to the US at the moment, you realise all the written checks and balances are worth nothing if your politicians are venal cowards. And you are totally correct about the failure of the FTP Act.

However, AB also claims to support electoral reform which I think is good and I think we do need some clearer rules as it’s obvious most people have little idea how our parliamentary democracy works - see multiple ‘coup’ discussions as evidence.

If you want to play around with polling numbers, then you really need a clear desk and a lot of parameters.

Obviously you start with a history for that pollster and the unit in question (usually a constituency). You then replay previous polls preceding the last election and look at each iterations margin of error by comparing how the polling translated into the result. Assuming all other things remain equal (they don't) then you can proceed to start slicing and dicing your latest polling and see what falls out.

And even then it's a guess. Just look at Makerfield.

It might be but TW hasn't been there lately (if ever, for all I know). From which I infer it is considered that we are only allowed to post on this thread and must not stray anywhere else. Literally.

Ah - that explains it - I read TW as the more usual MN abbreviation and hadn't got a clue what the poster was wittering on about. It was neither witty, clever, nor comprehensible.

TW is short for our dear Temperance.

Incremental change is always best.

And electoral mechanism that can accommodate plurality is probably the most pressing need. One thing I would agree with Reformers is that the present system ignores too many people. Although I doubt they would put it quite like that.

Nope. Maybe they have had visitors recently and think it is me. It isn't!

This is what makes me angry.

I have distinctly non-Labour parents. They are up in arms about the possibility of the personal tax allowance being raised (because it doesn’t mean much for them) and the bus fare being cut (because they have free bus passes and don’t see why they shouldn’t benefit if everyone else does). Despite both of those proposals bringing very tangible benefits to me, they don’t care. Because to them an extra ~£200 a month in the form of a raised personal allowance would mean not much. It maddens me, because this is the real politics of envy. Denying people things that would make their lives better because it doesn’t benefit you as much. It’s sad.

"Denying people things that would make their lives better because it doesn’t benefit you as much."

There is a lot of it about what with businesses offering discounted tickets and hosepipes.

Very much the flavour of the day in UK politics

Thatcher’s no such thing as society has thrown a very long shadow.

It’s genuinely depressing.

My parents are acting like the bus fare cap will be coming out of their pockets. It’s free for them anyway!! It enrages me

This is why I've always thought the model of 'from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs' is a very decent ideal.
Sadly that seems a very unpopular view today.

It’s also reminiscent of the things Rachel Reeves did to aid families during the summer holidays. They were painted to be bad things.

I love trying to piece batshittery together from an orphaned reply!

So long as we don't leave the ECHR.

eta What's Burnham's beliefs and background got to do with it? A poetry in motion?

Even though she was (supposedly) misunderstood.

"They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours." – in an interview in Women's Own in 1987

Now when one of the Reform class clowns from "the other" threads quotes Tony Benn, I'll take them seriously.

This sort of thing makes me very angry too. I won't benefit from the bus price cap but I can certainly see it as a good thing for others.

So many people in this country are downright selfish and ignorant. It must be hard for you dealing with your parents' attitude.

I’m used to it by now. It’s just so incredibly frustrating that they get to decide the future of others based on those sort of beliefs. When the Brexit vote was happening my brother and I begged them to vote remain, because of the implications for our futures (we were too young to vote). They refused and voted leave.

A decade on we’re both stuck in low paid jobs, no real way to break out, and wishing we could’ve studied in Europe.

When the £2 bus fare first came in, DD had a college bus pass so we didn'tuse it. She then lost the card and had to wait for a replacement, the £2 saved us £3 a day.

I asked mnhq about Mr Darko. They said:

This poster was new to the site but we couldn't see any connections with any previous accounts. We've banned them and have deleted all of their posts by now.

Very strange.