To feel slightly sad for Labour and Keir?

[Wellwhatnowbellaboo]

Aibu to feel sad for Labour's results so far ? I've not historically been a Labour voter but I think Keir has done a good job on some things but on others he was never going to be popular...and no one would be ! I like that he's the first leader recently to appear to have a moral backbone and consistency (if he truly wasn't informed about Mandelson I might add).
How do you feel about the state of play particularly if you've been lifelong labour and did you swing to a different vote this time round ?

I think this stuff is just falling away for most. He’s not decent and the press isn’t the cause of Labour’s issues.

For goodness sake! Punching down on pensioners? Get a grip! Pensioners have the most disposable income of any demographic. They are wealthier than any working person on average. And yet you think that it’s ‘punching down’ to take away money from those where at least one of the couple has more than £35k a year and usually no housing costs. That is often a couple on £60k-ish a year with no mortgage etc getting free money and it’s ’punching Down’ to take a winter fuel allowance off ten? Attitudes like yours are very much the problem. My parents added it to their cruise fund. My uncle put it towards a new motorbike. Friends of my parents used it to go to a Michelin starred restaurant. You are crazy if you think this is a good use of taxpayers money.

Boohoo😭All that power, money, luxury flying round the world being wined and dined, must be awful.

I don’t feel sorry for him, he gets an unduly hard time. That said, he’s not been great, has zero vision, and has been abject disappointment. That wouldn’t be so bad if the main beneficiaries weren’t a bunch of grifters with fascist tendencies.

I do feel sorry for any hardworking and decent councillors who are out of office, through no real fault of their own.

I wouldn't be giving New Labour that much credit to be honest. Blair had a massive mandate and changed very little of Thatcherism. He could have done so much and he squandered it. Truly squandered it. He was lucky that house price inflation was about to go through the roof and it made the economy look as though it was booming but it was nothing but smoke and mirrors. Blair is as responsible for where this country has ended up as the wankers who came after him.

Yep all of this, he doesn’t like mixing with the plebes he gives of an air of snootiness and sneering like it’s beneath him to deal with the little people.

Which for the son of a tool maker is hilarious. He lacks empathy and a personality that’s a huge issue for him aside from u turning on almost everything.

Do you honestly think all pensioners are wealthy, the average income for a pensioner is £14,500, that includes the state pension, not many Michelin starred meals on that,

He doesn't give a shit about this cou try. His orders come from elsewhere.

And conveniently feeds into endemic Left wing antisemitism. Useful racist fools.

I find him disappointing however, I do feel sorry for him.

I’ll say it again, they have on average the largest disposable income after housing costs than any other demographic group. Do you think giving them free money is a good use of funds?

Do you think after they have paid out living expenses, housing expenses, vehicle expenses, medical necessities and tax they have a lot of free income?

No, but neither does anyone else and other people have got children to raise, nursery fees etc.

Pensioners need to be means treated as a matter of urgency. I'd rather the money went on defence.

No but they have more than the rest of us.

This was inevitable. The welfare bill was already a joke and then he lifted the 2 child limit. I just can't take labour seriously after that.

“Ballooning pip??!!” WTF are you on about? Do you have any idea what the average payment people actually receive is? It’s not enough for a monthly food shop let alone anything else!

I’m all for PIP, and I did benefit advocacy. But it’s not about food shops. It’s supposed to be about the extra costs of disability. Normal benefits are for food etc.

The PIP bill is ballooning, but it’s about the ever increasing number of claimants, not individual payments.

Blair was Tory lite and a war criminal.

What’s wrong with being ‘Tory lite’? Surely that just means trying to better people’s lives while not discincentivising work and growing and inspiring business. The Blair years were great.

They were great because he spent us into huge national debt, leading to the many layers of Tory austerity.
I was in my early twenties and I agree it was fabulous, but sadly I had no idea of the consequences 😢

Not for the first 5 years or so. There was a surplus year after year. The ‘prudence’ years were very successful. Then came the global financial crisis bailout which was obviously expensive. www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32549892

That has all gone quiet hasn't it?

How much net gain have they generated from the tax on private schools in total?

You missed out ‘some’ pensioners…

Nice for your parents and their friends, but they certainly don’t reflect all pensioners. DH and I have around £20k pa. We are older pensioners, so don’t get as much basic state pension as those who retired post 2016. About £50 a week less, My small occupational pension puts us above the Pension Credit limit, but not by much. DH has a health condition that means he doesn’t go out much, and he feels the cold, so for a couple like us the £200 was a big help. He has just got an extra 25p a week now he’s 80, and I’ll get that soon too. Wow! And we’ll get £300 this year due to his age.

We are representative of people who always worked, didn't earn much, but tried to do the right thing, and we are penalised for it. If we had nothing but our State Pensions, we wouldn’t be much worse off as we’d get Pension Credit and council Tax benefits.

You still get it though so what’s the issue? I’m saying the likes of my parents and their friends don’t need it. You get it if your pre tax income is less than £35k. That’s each. So pensioner ihouseholds with income of £69k get it. Do you think that’s reasonable and a proportionate use of funds? Of course not.

We didn’t when Labour withdrew it. Only those on means tested benefits such as Pension Credit got it that year. When the givernment changed their minds and reinstated it we got it again. I’d agree with you however, they set the cut off too high.