NY Times( How Britain has changed during 14 years of Tory rule) shocking

[T0pSh0p]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/07/03/world/europe/uk-election-better-worse.html

It’s shocking to see it in a simple list. So much damage done. There is a reason why we’re all so fed up.

I have to say that knife crime is the fault of the person holding the knife for a start. Not the govt.

all very well to make a judgement to 2024

was the global pandemic the fault of the conservatives??????!!!!!!!!! Or the war in ukraine? Er no, but those are heavy contributors to a lot of the above problems.

What utter rubbish!!!

Just one of those red stats should be enough, you know? Rather than deflecting out about the NYT or saying 'oh the US doesn't have maternity pay'... none of that is really important in a country where foodbank use is up 5000%.

The Tories are no friends to women and while I get the very real concerns around sex-based rights with Labour, there has to be change today.

I grant the NYT is certainly a more reliable source than ANY UK newspaper.

A fact the UK press should hang its head in shame about - presupposing, of course, it knows what shame is.

If you listen to radio4 more or less - about 12 mins in, at last an explanation for why we are up the creek
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0020phz

It’s borrowing - I believe the Labour Party borrowed in the 2000s, hence nhs happy, then ? Cons borrowed for banking crash, then borrowed for Brexit, hence years of austerity, then borrowed for Covid. And here we are
U nfortunately global interest rates on loans have gone up-we can barely cover payments

Whoever gets in is stuffed.

I’m afraid the NYT has wavered a bit in credibility since they only just realised that the uS president may be a bit too old for the jobl

Let's ignore the fact that those newly in 'employment' are largely part time/zero hours and wildly underpaid

Well that's not true either. If you don't think Governments have any sway then why bother to have them?

If you withdraw all the support for poverty-stricken communities, shut youth centres, downgrade educational support, remove counselling services for young people then it's going to impact on crime further down the line.

Can we move this away from carping about the US and focus on the UK please?

The Zadie Smith article is quite riveting, obviously written by a novelist rather than a journo, so she looks at things from her own idiosyncratic angle. Which is to the good.

While I agree with her about the 14 years of Tory plundering, I wish I could share her confidence that Labour is the answer. I wish I had any idea as to who or what is the answer.

Honestly laughable when people trot out 'I hate the conservatives but don't know what the alternative is'. Um, how about the direct opposition? There's no party that is going to 100% align with anyone's views, even the members of each party have their own individual preferences but the whole point is that they are informed by members of the public who they serve, so obviously there are various preferences. Ffs, if you want to live in a country where you can be seen by a doctor within 5 years of falling ill and you might have a hope in hell of affording anything, vote for labour.

I read an article this morning by Simon Kuper (Financial Times journalist) which also included the statistic that the number of Trussel Trust foodbanks has increased from 35 in 2010, to more than 1400 today. Of course in 2010 there may have been people who would have benefited from support from a foodbank but the provision was lacking, but it's hard to deny that those numbers are absolutley shocking.

Thank you for your wise words, @Dinkading. Without them it really would never have occurred to me to vote for the opposition, nor had I grasped the point of having alternative parties & what the effects of that might be. Fancy me getting almost 70 without knowing that! So cheers for your input.

Enough of my sarcasm.

If you bothered to read what I wrote you'd see that I said I don't share her confidence that Labour is the answer. I didn't say 'I hate the Conservatives but I don't know what the alternative is'.

That crime one is interesting and not as straightforward as portrayed (I work in policing).

Last weekend we were walking by the river with our children when we came across a man masterbating, full view, busy and popular stretch. I spent ages on hold trying to report it, before eventually abandoning the call. Dh approached the man and told him to fuck off or else, so he bolted and will likely commit some other sexual offence as a result.

Crime is not down 54%. Reports of crime are down. This is because people are not reporting it because 1. They can't get through and 2. They don't bother because they know the police are too busy to turn up.

It also doesn't take into account the number of people with serious mental health issues who are in police cells, rather than appropriate facilities, because they've been let down by NHS mental health services due to Tory austerity.

Homelessness, food banks, child poverty, lack of dentists and GPs yet more millionaires. Just a few of the areas of growth to show for this administration's handling of the economy.

Look at the end- the list of sources is there. They are robust and reliable and British.

Did you actually read the article or look at the sources? It is factual, not rhetoric. You sound dim.

There is a list of sources at the end of the article- they are robust and rigorous and objective. You are simply looking to excuse the Tories.

You have very little understanding if you are still blaming Labour in any way. Have you bothered to read the whole of the New York Times article?

The Tories cut down the police force by 20, 000 and slashed funding to youth organisations.

The Tory record on tax, borrowing and investment is shameful.

The terrible impact theTories have had on public services, NHS waiting lists and cancer treatment is shameful.

even one of the "improved" ones is crap. You just have less people bothering to report crimes because they know nothing will come of it.

Reading those figures one has to remember that food banks didn't spring up the moment tory /lib dems took power.

Thousands lost thier jobs at the end of labour due to the credit crisis, so more people in those waves who had lost their homes and needed food banks.

The lack of care the Tories have shown for the most vulnerable in society and young people is shocking. They have made decent futures much more difficult to achieve.

@LuluBlakey1

Agree that's a stand out issue re cancer that's abnormal and I look forward to starmer with his wife's inside knowledge of how to crack that and turn that around ASAP.