AIBU that Rishi Sunak's holiday to Disneyland be headline news?

[iwillnotstaycalm]

There is almost like a 'read the room' feeling on this. Personally I think it's distasteful given the current cost of living crisis - I'm not saying going on holiday is distasteful but highlighting it to the general public as headline news just seems insidious. Why is this even news ? If someone can please explain it to me that would be wonderful.

I’m quite interested to know if he will get the VIP treatment and won’t have to queue.

I’m not triggered by it. Lovely photo. We can’t afford a holiday this year but lots can. You only have to read on here.

They report on this every year, Sunak's holiday is nothing out of the ordinary.

It always surprised me what boring holidays Boris seemed to have.

I can't think who might be able to influence tax policy. The Government maybe? The Chancellor? The PM?

As I have said before I don't care that he's taking a holiday. Let's face it the last couple of years have been especially bruising in the Conservative Party. I doubt exhaustion makes for good decision making so yes holidays are a good thing and yes it's a good thing that he's paying for it himself - as I assume May and Cameron did when they were PM.

But let's not pretend it's a Disney holiday. They've flown to their home in Santa Monica and will drive over to Disney in Anaheim one day. It's nothing like a Disney holiday unless your Disney holidays include your own multi million pound crash pads.

If they haven't forked out for special quick queue passes I'd be questioning his sanity.

True. Go on any holiday thread and loads will be posting about recent trips or upcoming ones. Including Disneyland

It isn’t remotely odd. He is the PM, his movements will be reported upon.

Remind me whose responsibility it is to maximise fair tax take by framing those rules appropriately?

Yes, they did half capital gains tax free allowance and again next year and the amount you can get before tax on dividends so I hope he will have to pay more tax for this like I will.

And then Sunak tells us there isn't any money to pay nurses more.

I wonder why there isn't any money?

I note that the protesters have now been released without charge. At what point do they bring a case against the police for unlawful arrest, if they keep being arrested and not charged with anything?

Do you want Rishi to pay nurses from his holiday fund?

If Sunak and other people with similar wealth paid the same proportion of their income in taxes as nurses did, would there be more money to spend on public services?

Sigh. You've clearly missed my point.

Of course the media must report on the stunt. While at the same time, the right wing media spin it so that sympathy and support for the legitimate points greenspace are raising are pitched against the sympathy we feel for this lovely, photogenic little family. Look they're even at Disney land! Just like us. The control his team must have over images of his family (quite rightly) means they must have approved this and seen the optics.

But you go on hearing and seeing what you want to.

You of course right but if "we" keep voting Tory educating boys at Elite schools and universities so they move in the same circles and making wealth a top priority to keep and hide away with loopholes then nothing will change and focusing on 1 wealthy family going on a holiday won't change that !

Ha at this, especially your last line 😂.

Greenpeace are good enough at irritating people on their own steam.

The media did Disneyland because it was a good way to wind people up. It was reported initially due to an interview on LBC

People generally respond more to individual stories than to generalities, so that the Prime Minister is an excellent example of just how equal the UK has become will continue to be an important story.

use of racist tropes needs to be called out. If you find that tough to deal with, time to have a look at yourself.

Most news isn't news - it's politics and celebrity gossip. The gossip papers report the same about Harry/Meghan, for example.

The left-wing papers will want to portray him as having too much money and enjoying luxuries the rest of us can't have.

The right-wing papers want to portray him as an "ordinary" (by middle class England standards) person who at least isn't on a private Caribbean island owned by billionaires in the style of Boris.

This is then picked up on social media, along with the comments/opinions either way which newspapers would be too cautious to publish directly.

From reading the articles, he's briefed the papers about where he is going, which seems to imply that (i) he is quite willing for this information to be released and (ii) he thinks a trip to Disneyland, as a family man, will do his image more good than harm among target voters.

So you will join me in condemning anyone who calls legal asylum seekers illegal?

Huh?

If you mean will I join in your attempts to spread disinformation about the state of UK law, no.

No, I don’t believe in a free-for-all for migrants. If they’re in a safe country, they don’t need to travel on to the UK.

Then we need to change the law, because currently it says that they can legally claim asylum in any safe country they choose having arrived by any route.

Can anyone explain to me why there is so much focus on about 50,000 asylum seekers and not the other 500,000 migrants that come to the UK each year?

The terms "migrants" and "asylum seekers" aren't synonymous.

Why don't asylum seekers need to travel away from the first safe country they get to? If other countries don't take their fair shares, the effects on safe countries bordering troubled countries like Afghanistan and Ukraine would be completely disproportionate and risks completely overwhelming their services. There is no reason why the UK should be exempt from taking its share just because it's an island.

Because asylum seekers are an easy target.

It is much harder to address some of the other migration which brings direct benefits to our economy. The government knows that, but it is desperate to show that it is doing something to "tackle" immigration, hence the almost obsessive focus on "stopping the boats".