Unable to get worked up over issues like Rayner stamp duty and Tory pandemic parties

[Willgetflamedforthis1]

NC for this for obvious reasons…but I find myself unable to see what all the fuss is about for these storm-in-a-political-teacup issues that seem to frequently dominate the headlines in the UK media.

At the moment it’s Rayner’s stamp duty balls-up. Before that, it was the Tory’s Pandemic Parties. They just feel like unneeded distractions from actual corruption and the real problems people are living with.

Why are we in such a frenzy over a politician making an honest mistake with the UK’s mind-numbing stamp duty and trust laws, when hundreds of thousands of leaseholders are being fleeced by offshore freeholders every year or are STILL trapped in unsaleable flats because of the cladding scandal?

Frankly, I don’t care if a politician misjudged a property tax matter. She’s not a tax accountant. What matters is integrity in office, not whether she misunderstood a rule so complicated most solicitors have to double-check it.

And on the Tory side? I find it so hard to get worked up about people already in the same office all day standing around in the same office but this time with wine and a Christmas jumper on. Yes it was ill judged and bad optics. But compared to PPE contracts and billions wasted in cronyism, it’s laughable that Party Gate was given airtime at all let alone given a dramatised documentary on Channel 4.

We are not living through a slow news day. We are in the thick of environmental collapse, a housing crisis and spiralling costs of living. Yet the media somehow thinks these non-issues deserve top billing and people lap it up.

It’s an absurd waste of the energy we should be focusing on solving our actual problems. Does anyone agree?

I would feel less exercised about Rayner if, every time the question of stretched public finances comes up, the Left didn’t respond with “we can find the money to give train drivers a double digit pay rise if we just clamp down on tax evasion by the rich”.

I think they matter just not as much as the news time given suggests. I'm more concerned about our seeming lurch to the right politically and the rise it hate, over one issue-ish.....and this might lead us down the path of selling everything that the country owns (Thatcher on speed, I'm sure she wouldn't even gone as far as we are now)...talking about the NHS, land, rights, etc.

But I still agree with you the news is repetitive and without much worth. I'm sure there are actual crimes happening but they are shoehorned into local news or police posts on social media.

And bring back the and finallys!

Unfortunately, we the general population are not allowed to make a human error without the strong possibility of large consequences. All examples mentioned are just people being held to the same standards as the rest of us and feeling the repercussions of their ‘human’ errors albeit in a very public way.

I really do think it was an honest mistake. I would have left it to the solicitor to sort. She has done some great work for women.
However she didn’t have any alternative but to resign, which she did as soon as the ethics commission ruled.
Other parties will of course use it as ammunition. It’s a sad episode.
Time will tell.
Just remember the shenanigans of the last government.

Mainly agree with OP but her solicitor advised her to seek specialist advice, she did NOT.Do that.
It is in the report. Probably that is what buried her.

This^^
I will never get over the fact that my beloved dad was taken into hospital and despite us being told he wasn’t going to pull through we weren’t allowed to see him because… rules..He and my mum spent the last 4 days of his life with her not being able to see him after 51 years of marriage because….rules.

I somewhat agree, there are much more pressing issues for this government to be dealing with.

I think it suits some interests for the attention to be focussed on the human failings of individuals, stops us asking the really big questions.

Each ‘event’ seeks to reinforce the view that ‘they’re all the same’ and it’s ‘not worth voting’. I don’t think they are and it’s absolutely vital people vote … otherwise vested interests go unchallenged. Or people vote on vibes.

It’s a cute little distraction from the genocide that’s happening in Gaza. Let’s be honest it’s not really important in the grand scheme is it? A politician being dodgy is hardly ground shattering these days.
People should really be focussing on the thousands of people being starved and killed. Everything else just screams first world problems to me

This.

They are the problems that affect our everyday life here in the UK. Just because other things are happening worldwide doesn't mean to say what goes on here is irrelevant.

I'm currently going through the same process - taking advice from a tax expert before I update will etc. She's lying about this or extremely stupid and not fit for the job.

It wasn't for her solicitor to sort 🤷‍♀️ they don't do that.,

I am with you OP. Not that they ate innocent of both scandals, but there is so much worst they have done where we should take them all to court for damaging the UK, to be honest.

The older I get, the more I think that it doesn't matter especially if there's a left or right government in power. The moment you're in no 10, the promises you've made become secondary to external factors. Pragmatism rules and whatever political ideals you had are exonerated. I don't overly care about this, it was likely an error. I do think Angela Rayner would have used it as vicious ammunition were it a Tory MP. I'd prefer bigger issues tackled than petty squabbling. I grew tired of the council estate-girl-anyone-can-succeed shtick as while she did, and that's impressive, she's an outlier and I think it was pushed too hard to justify the narrative of "hard working families" and "anyone can do it!". It detracts from the the fact that currently the government is making very real cuts to benefits, childcare is extortionate and housing is hugely expensive.

I didn't care about the pandemic parties - in fact, I was quite pleased they had them, because they obviously knew that the rules were nonsense, as we all did.
But Angela Rayner avoided tax, and that is pretty serious. She was a laughing stock as Deputy PM, so she had to go.

It is actual corruption. You can't be a law maker and then not follow the rules. You can't say that the government should be collecting tax from the wealthiest in society and then not pay what you're meant to when your net worth is £5m so you are one of the wealthiest.

The issue is that these things show that those in government are either thick as pig shit. Or crooks. Or both.

And it explains why the country is a mess. Are you able to get worked up about the country and the economy being a mess?

Maybe education, learning to read etc., is better in the long run than bunking off and getting pregnant.

Ah so she got what she deserved. Good.

AR is the female equivalent to 2 jags Prescott, neither of them are anyone to be given as examples of decent behaviour in politics

I didn’t get involved in mine, just left it to the solicitor. I won’t next time.

The pandemic partiers were almost entirely only Civil servants (!!) And special advisors. The politicians should have led by example and told them to stop, fair enough.

I doubt Rayner meant to do anything dodgy. I won't be surprised if standards person says she just needs to apologise & pay up, no tax dodging intended.

Definitely a lot of "political scandals" are stupidly exaggerated. I get annoyed (bored by) about half the things the press makes huge fuss about.

Putting property in a trust isn’t tax avoidance.

Rayner’s tax avoidance was not paying the appropriate level of stamp duty for a second home.

I care.
I watched a young lad choose to take his pregnant partner to hospital over an interview with a job club. He was sanctioned.
those who make the law must not break the law.
full stop.

Those that seek power in politics have a duty to set a good example. How can we take these people seriously if they behave immorally or worse, unlawfully?

It’s absolutely obvious why these people are held to account. I can’t understand your attitude @Willgetflamedforthis1 .