To ask for your examples of loony left policies?

[ItsJustNotRight]

I had posted that on another thread but is probably better on its own. Posters keep referring to loony left policies so I would like to know
What left wing policies are, in your opinion, just plain bonkers?

[ItsJustNotRight]

Providing funds to disadvantaged groups, nope not looney either, I think that's a good thing. I've just had a look at the nuclear free zone thing as well and apparently as part of that the GLC stopped spending £1m annually on their nuclear war defence plans. I don't think that's looney either.

[JellyBelli]

Not being able to deport immigrants who have harmed or intend to harm your citizens

That ones a myth.
www.inbrief.co.uk/immigration-law/removal-from-the-uk/

Welfare levels that disincentivise working
Work should pay more than welfare. Welfare is the least you need to live on. Thats not a loony left policy. Dole is paid inder the tories as well.

[Hereward1332]

'On taking office we will open preliminary negotiations with the other EEC member states to establish a timetable for withdrawal'

[waterrat]

Many senior military figures have spoken out against Trident. There is nothing loony at all about opposing further spending on utterly pointless nuclear weapons.

[Nakatomi]

My favourite one in that list is "inability to ask workers why they're off sick"

Err... it's none of your business. If they are sick and produce a fit note stating they're sick, they're under no obligation to tell you their reason for being so.

My mum was signed off sick last year due to a very personal reason which she didn't want her bosses to know about. The doctor, a family friend, just wrote stress on her sick note for her. My mum was under no obligation to tell her workplace any different.

I think this is a good thing. My employers have no right to know my personal medical details.

[Nakatomi]

Watterat

My DP is in the Navy and supports getting rid of Trident. He said the money could be spent better elsewhere. He doesn't like Corbyn's solution (keep the workers but get rid of the weapons) but he'd rather have that than the Tories continuing to fund a system that will never get used.

[BeJayKayven]

Promoting Diane Abbott to Shadow Home Secretary - I did actually laugh out loud.

[Manumission]

It's not really clear who you're trying to argue with OP.

[ItsJustNotRight]

I'm not trying to argue with anyone. I'm just fed up with every vaguely political thread referring to the "hard., looney left" without anything substantial to back it up. All that ever gets mentioned is the same old trite nonsense that is appearing here.

[Esmereldada]

BeJay why did you laugh out loud?

[Manumission]

I share your pain. But some posters here are just trying to give you examples of what was called looney left.

[ItsJustNotRight]

Not as loud as I laughed about UKIP.

[ItsJustNotRight]

Yes I should probably have worded it better

[HermioneWeasley]

nakatomi really, you can't think of a single reason why it might be helpful to both parties for your employer to know what you're off sick with?

Have a little think, go on...

[Doobigetta]

I don't see what is loony about allowing prisoners to vote. If a prisoner is being treated unfairly, and needs someone to speak up for them and can't afford a lawyer, they might well turn to their MP for support. So it's only fair that they get a say in who that MP is.

[FatherJemimaRacktool]

Not renewing Trident and eventual nuclear disarmament. Great in an ideal world but really concerning with the times we are living in.

Why? Who is Trident supposed to deter? All other nuclear states are (a) our allies (the US, France, Israel) (b) not in any kind of nuclear balance with us because they have hugely greater numbers of nuclear warheads than us (Russia and China), or (c) states for whom we are either not an enemy (India, Pakistan) or who are not going to put the UK at the top of their hit list (North Korea). It would make much more sense from a defence perspective to scrap Trident and spend the money on other areas of the military.

The only sensible arguments for Trident are political ones - including the fact that it would be hard to justify our seat on the UN Security Council if we were just some average, non-nuclear, mid-ranked power. Maybe now that we've decided to ditch the shared economic and diplomatic clout of the EU, keeping Trident makes more sense, because without it who would really care what some small island off Europe thought about anything? But it's a hell of a lot of money to pay for a status symbol.

[TheSnorkMaidenReturns]

Some of the "loony" authorities had loads of political appointees working on high local government salaries and spending all their time working for the Labour party. Non-jobs at the taxpayers' expense. As a result strict rules were brought in capping the number of political research assistants to council groups, capping their pay and banning them from political activity. And huge swathes of pubic employees became politically restricted.

Loony' local authorities were deliberately careless at managing money. They tolerated waste, inefficiency and lots of low level corruption (such as multiple grants to local 'community' organisations which didn't have to show what they did for which people).

Many local authorities deliberately spent more than they could, expecting that a future labour government would bail them out. The Tories kept winning and the councils thought it was more important to make political points than look after the people who paid their taxes.

I remember all sorts of dodgy financial deals which had stings in the tail ten or more years later, when the originators had long gone, leaving the local tax payers in the lurch.

Too many of them didn't gave a monkey's about running a good council for the benefit of all the people that lived there; just looking out for themselves and their chums. They were more interested in political game playing than changing their communities.

Staff morale in many of these councils was rock bottom. They were badly managed. Sick rates were through the roof. People who didn't do their job properly were allowed to carry on and everyone else had to do their jobs around them.

That's just for a starter.

And yes, I worked in local government in central London a very long time ago. It was shocking.

[HermioneWeasley]

doob I guess we agree to disagree on that one

[Nakatomi]

TheSnorkMaidenReturns

The councils refused to set rates because they felt they would be unacceptable for the people who lived in their area. Also, most of the councils hit by the cuts were Labour run or in the North. Most of the Tory councils managed to avoid the hardest of the cuts. Funny that, ain't it?

GLC did plenty of amazing things when they rebelled. Discounted travel for people, funding for mental health, rape crisis centres and partially funding the Gay and Lesbian Switchboard. Yeah, really 'loony' weren't they?

[TheSnorkMaidenReturns]

I thought the GLC's travel plans were great, and some of the northern metropolitan councils did great integrated travel as well. Deregulation of buses in 1986 was a killer. Yes, I am that old.

That doesn't mean they didn't do some crap things! I'm not someone who thinks any one party is all good or all bad.

I do think it's rewriting history to say that there weren't a whole load of labour run councils that were utterly feckless with taxpayers' money. I disagreed with what they did with the rates then and I oppose setting illegal budgets now.

I do have stories of shit Tory authorities too, but that wasn't this thread.

[IonaNE]

Plenty in education. "All Must Get Prizes". No streaming (not even setting). Hordes of "pastoral" roles in schools, behaviour and education welfare services. Anything just so the little darlings don't have to put in a honest day's learning.

[ItsJustNotRight]

iona what is the problem with pastoral roles in schools? Why is this a "looney" or generally bad thing?

[ItsJustNotRight]

In Norway I believe children start school at 7 . They are at that stage typically 2 yrs behind British children in academic terms. Their first year at school is mainly diagnostic with intervention and specialist resources to address pontential issues. By 11 they are academically ahead of British children.

[ItsJustNotRight]

Ibelieve you make a lot of assumptions and they are all totally wrong.

[jessica29054]

Well, because teachers aren't doctors or counsellors or mental health workers or social workers.

They have a duty to be supportive and try to refer students and families to people who can help but I do pause over things that are 'pastoral' yet don't seem to stand up to scrutiny.