Labour isn't Working - Thread 42

[Nuthatch26]

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

We're gearing up for the Burnham budget. 😬

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

Previous thread
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I wouldn’t be surprised if it looks like the system in the earlier post with the different levels. Whether that does much to the cost of the system let’s see.

Labour MPs will do anything to save their own jobs at this point imo. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up increasing the welfare bill in their efforts to reduce it.
We can enjoy watching them pretzel their principles under the banner of pragmatism.
Not my pigs, not my farm.

I tend to be more interested in realpolitik than left right flag waving and because of that was willing to give Burnham a chance. He seemed like more of a conviction politician before taking office.

However things are a-changing.

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Positives :

I like the idea of increased property taxes and taxes on unearned wealth. History says he is in favour of the increase in property taxes but we'll see whether he does anything over and above what Reeves promised in the forthcoming budget.

Appears at least at the moment to be willing to drill Rosebank and Jackdaw.

Bus policies seem good.

Negatives :

Not happy with his agenda re the EU. Before the by election he appeared to talk down the prospects of rejoining (probably because Makerfield was a leave seat) but afterwards he has been talking up the rejoin potential (although he seems to realise what a shitstorm this has caused and is slowly backtracking from it and appears evasive when questioned). Has talked up the "Russian influence" in the Brexit vote, probably to try to cast doubt on its legitimacy. "Russian influence" could either be one guy behind a desk in Moscow tapping out stuff on the internet or hundreds of thousands of people engaging in net activity. He doesn't seem to be prepared to say which. He really doesn't need to go here.

Not happy with his new "help to keep house prices inflated" policy.

Don't think ending the two child benefit cap was a good idea.

There appears to be some interest in previous relationships he may have been involved with in Manchester.

Electricity VAT removal is expensive and won't encourage fuel efficiency.

Electoral reform for me has always been about gerrymandering.

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I think the forthcoming budget will be a big decision maker for me on whether his particular brand of realpolitik is something I subscribe to.

BTW, I don’t know why I feel the need to explain this, but I feel the need to explain it….

Early in summer, I’ve mentioned that my ex-boyfriend had decided to join Reform.

I’ve just caught up with him after a few months and he dropped that within a month apparently. I think - like a lot of people - he feels he has no option but to put faith in Kemi, in spite of the crazy things the Tories have done over the years.

I don’t like to express my general political negativity to such a young man 😂

Kemi is a good enough leader for the Tories.

They need to concentrate on elevating the profile of others in the party and more than anything else come up with some good policy that people can get behind.

Politicians these days are so afraid of making any effectual policy announcements because new policies nearly always lead to winners and losers and therefore some loss of votes.

It seems to me like they just sit there paralysed in fear of making any decisions and just try to survive as long as possible.

The only thing that actually forces them to make decisions is world events outside of their control.

Prices are going to rise across the Board with all the energy costs increases, the flow through of payroll cost increases, etc etc.

But fear not - we all have the breathing space from £2 bus fares!

Kemi is more than good enough. Finding others of her calibre to be ministers is what concerns me. Pp is right they do need a higher profile.

Agree re tories. They need to rebuild faith in their top team. Cripes 6.4 percent food inflation - the industrial unrest by next summer will be immense.

Interest rates aren't going either. Millions of people are going to get hit with massive increases to their mortgages before the summer.

There's a thread on FWR, but worth a mention here I think:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/256f8ca30873f27b

Only took 18 months....

I recall the previous Health Secretary assuring us that the NHS guidance would be released 'within weeks' of the Supreme Court judgement. Well, he was right in a way, it only took 78 weeks 🙄

So take any pronouncements on any defence related timelines with that in mind.

True.

100 bps prior end of next year.

Speaking of the NHS, I’ve just heard about the Dr Redvers case. The NHS is so out of control.

as well as all the work that would need to be done to dismantle it, you’d have to unpack this. Because I think the Birmingham bin strike is probably linked isn’t it? It’s like the UK Supreme Court handed over a blank cheque and no time limit on bringing claims. I think that actually puts them off quietly paying people a decent settlement.

I don’t know it’s actually too much for me to compute. I really take my hat off to the people who can deal with this, but it’s shocking that they should have to.

Just adding on, it looks like Brexit actually enables us to solve this problem of ongoing legal disputes using taxpayer money. I have no way of knowing if AI is accurate on this, but I asked if any politician has raised this in parliament and they said no.

You are wrong they haven't done nothing. They have alienated at least one of tbe countries who helped to restock our shelves during covid when certain food items were hard for supermarkets source. A few countries redirected their own orders to our supermarkets instead of theirs because they had less of an issue.

I've been watching the Redvers case. All I can say is it is no wonder the NHS is a bin fire given the calibre of its executives, called as witnesses, who to a man or woman have been incompetent, self-serving, and utterly lacking in their understanding of the law (see Sandie Peggie and Darlington Nurses cases also).

That’s interesting

The volume of these executives who are doing absolutely nothing to benefit patients really shocks me

I’ve been in a rage about this stuff for about 20 years and it seems that they just keep on hiring them!

I was actually wondering, how much attention would someone like a GP pay to all this? So if my doctor wanted me to take a medication and I said “sorry doctor, I don’t believe in evidence based medicine”, how would she react?

I used to know a GP and she was very conscientious and did a lot of extra hours to make sure that patients were looked after. I asked her if she was considering early retirement or working for the private sector and she looked absolutely horrified. But it was really affecting her health.

We get PIP but I am not particularly worried because my husband has Parkinsons and cancer so not likely to be in a cut group.

Do know someone that claims for ADHD and depression plus some disability of some sort for her two children with ADHD. All newly diagnosed in the last two years privately. She says she has made trust funds for both boys with the money they get each week. I was rather speechless by this. The children have been coming to my house regularly for years and I know them like my own. Can't say anything was mentioned about issues or issues shown before the diagnosis. Then what do I know, mean only have a psychology degree and work in a school.

Anyway yes some people really need PIP to help them live as normal a life as possible. However it does need some changes to stop it getting abused as does disability benand other benefits in general.

Took my husband to hospital appointment today and saw this lovely thing on a column outside hospital.

Someone else had torn a chunk out of it before I got there. I took photo then removed enough of it for nobody to recognise what it was about.

Hospital about 5 minutes walk from UCL so probably students with a terribly misguided grasp of history and politics.

@Neverstopwondering London universities are full of these

And the surrounding areas like the bus stops and so on. I haven’t been in one of these areas since Easter 2025. But I used to have meetings around there (actually with a firm who was hiring uni rooms quite a lot so all across London) and there’s always loads of them. If anything I would imagine it’s got worse rather than better in the last 18 months.

I’d be interested to know if universities outside of London are the same.

fortunately, I don’t have to go there any more. There’s something in the city that’s actually the University of … somewhere else …in London, that’s near Moorgate and that’s quite nice. But a lot of of the rooms, while very modern, are really grey and brutalist and depressing.

Well, I suppose you could say the same about corporate rooms… I won’t start on about the architectural trends of ugly and depressing because we’ll be here forever 😂

A consultant at Alder Hey years ago now hit the headlines as a whistle blower. He wasn't alone other staff backed him at the time. His career was destroyed. He went to Australia for a time but is now in Scotland. But not for the NHS of course.

Whistle blowing is not advisable in the NHS.

That is the usual issue, over the last 20 odd years.
The PMs are of a certain caliber, and the cabinet are not.

Yes, excellent point.

They've also hammered our own farmers and showered them with spite. What could possibly go wrong.

I see this in Manchester. They also hang around handing out leaflets trying to chat to people. Bonkers.

Sorry to hear about your dh @Neverstopwondering. That must be tough. 💐