To wonder if Labour actually will be any better?

[Baabaagreysheep]

I think like most people I am keen to see the back of the current bunch, but I am not confident that anything will massively change for the better. Maybe that’s a bit pessimistic, but I feel that while some things will improve some will get worse - and some sort of at the same time, so I’m expecting my salary to go up but also my workload to go up!

Thinking back to when Labour were last in power it was another world, really. Interested in views.

I see no difference. If there was, the trans shitshow wouldn't have happened. But it did, under the Tories. Even now, years after PM Theresa May announced the Tory perspective on Self ID to Pink News and a supposed "backlash", the Tories are still incapable of providing guidance for safeguarding in our schools. Maybe because they keep putting genderwoo believers into key education roles.

Also, Sunak will not last long as leader of the Conservatives. That job will soon go to Penny TWAW Mordaunt.

The 'they're all as bad as each other' brigade. Only one Prime Minister has been found guilty of lying to Parliament and it wasn't a member of the Labour Party. Not to mention illegally proroguing parliament.
I'd like it to be illegal for politicians to knowingly lie to the public, let alone parliament.

@yogasaurus I used to buy into the whole 'he's just waiting to get into power before we see the progressive policies' but really, I just don't think it's going to happen.

The whole 'they're all as bad as each other' schtick is just lazy nonsense. I think the PP used Blair/Brown govt as example and how anyone can put Brown in the same category as Johnson is absolutely laughable.

I know many lefties who agree with you, until they have an actual 'real child' in front of them, for whom they would lay down their life. Doubly so, if they don't live in the catchment of a good school.
Living in the catchment of a good school can also be driven by house prices, so is a way for lefties to 'virtue signal' and lecture others, whilst ensuring their own kids get the best the state has to offer.
When you find yourself in an area with a failing state school or say if your child has some special needs, I can guarantee that if your bank balance allows (mine did not in UK, although I used privates schools for my kids when living as an expat abroad) all your lefty principles will 'go out of the window'.
It is correct that they do, it is not fair to sacrifice your child's education for political principles.

I agree, Blair didn’t do those sort of policies and was better for it

To turn down a Grammar school place for your child, if you happen to live in a Grammar School area, is not something I would do myself. State schools working alongside Grammars are the worst affected.
You have to live in the real world where your kids are concerned not some idealistic world.

So true. Many lecturing on here just use house prices if they can instead, although some even say they used private which is a bit odd.

I now mainly resent him for his obsession with 'Devolution' as I now have the misfortune to live in Scotland.
Bringing in PR was hinted at the 1997 Labour Manifesto but shelved of course when they got their huge landslide after 17 years out of power.
PR is about the only thing that could make me vote for Labour over the Tories but I wouldn't trust them to follow through anyway.

In the past, I've fundamentally disagreed with some policies and actions of the government of the day (both Labour and Tory). But...whether or not I agree with them, it seemed that they were doing what they truly believed was best for the country. Even Thatcher, who's a swear word in our house.

The current shambles don't even try to pretend they're putting country above party - the lies, the deceit, the gaslighting, the contempt they've shown for us, the money-grabbing cronyism, it sickens me.

So, whoever gets elected next inherits an absolute shit show with an immense debt mountain. It's highly unlikely anyone is going to be able to turn that ship around in one term, but if they actually try to do so rather than just grabbing what they can for themselves, I'll count that as a win.

@dcbc1234 Not sure I understand your devolution comment - we have PR in Scotland and I would absolutely be in favour of it in WM.

As a Scot, I don't consider living in Scotland to be a misfortune, generally. (Although I briefly felt it was this morning waking up to the ludicrous Orangemen taking over the city)

I don't think it's lazy at all. Indeed I think finding no appeal in any of the major political parties is probably the more informed conclusion!
I've always considered myself left of centre, however (I'm in Scotland) our administration has grown increasingly left leaning, and it's not been pretty...
The westminster conservatives are no longer the right wing party they were, and labour are no longer the left wing party they were - they're both skirting around the centre ground, rendering themselves different shades of the same shite.
I've no idea how I'll vote in future elections, independent candidates are a rarity in general elections. It's all incredibly uninspiring.

I didn’t imply you were immoral, you inferred that. I think, care home fees permitting, that £250k for each of our four kids, plus 60% of anything more than that is plenty, fortunately they’re grounded enough to agree. Good luck with offloading your cash early - the seven year rule doesn’t apply to care home fees and local authorities are very assiduous now in tracking down assets that have been offloaded.

I know that I will always be self-funding for care home on final salary pension level alone. I am talking about having to legally offload early (to avoid unnecessary 40% inheritance tax) the cash lump sums from final salary pensions. The savings interest rates on them have been abysmally low for quite some time and inflation rages.
I could go on lots of cruises or ensure my kids have a long-term roof over their heads (so they won't ever need to draw any benefits lol). I will probably do both...
but you virtue-signal away and imply I am trying to dodge care home fees.

I didn’t read it. I used to work closely with the section of the local authority that operates it. They employ forensic accountants who are very skilled at detecting and tracking down deprivation of assets.

You think cash strapped local authorities aren’t all over that like a rash?

I am not advocating putting any property in trust as some people do, I don't agree with doing that as I also believe in paying a fair share of tax but the current situation does encourage you to spend your bank balances rather than save them.
Perhaps the Government wants this (early spending by the retired) as it will stimulate the economy.

Deprivation of assets isn’t within the law.

If you're up for wars that kill tens of thousands of people undertaken on little evidence, blowing a credit bubble that basically takes down two high street banks, busts a building society and requires printing of a third of a trillion pounds to bail the system out and leads to a near decade of austerity to attempt to clean up the resulting mess then that's exactly the sort of government you need.

The thing is people didn't care about printing at the time because they weren't seeing the effect of it direct on their pockets. The sort of stuff we are seeing now with interest rates is a direct result, but of course people have either forgotten the causes or never really understood the consequences of them in the first place.

There's a famous quote by Henry Ford :

"It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."