AIBU to point out that the most important duty of the UK government is to maintain the defence of the country?

[KateSixer]

The shameful, cowardly and extremely short sighted decision of Starmer and Reeves not to properly fund the defence budget has led to the resignation of the Secretary of State for Defence.

Honestly it's traitorous.

I’m seriously considering not paying my tax bill next month and I’ve been a taxpayer, paying willingly and on time, for over 40 years. I’m so sick of this government spending money on the wrong things. They need to stop chasing votes and cut the benefits bill. The lifting of the 2 child cap was a disgrace.

We need to rebuild the Forces. We're looking at 30+ years of neglect, in a world where drones have reshaped the battlefield and we can't rely on America.

It needs to be paid for. I suspect it will be a mix of capital borrowing, future tax rises and trimming in other areas.

If it's borrowing: our debt servicing costs are already at 8% of expenditure. Future tax rises? Good luck with that: it's already at 38% of national income. That leaves us with cutting budget from other areas. The only one where it will make a difference is health or welfare.I can't see the backbenchers agreeing to cuts.

Rachel Reeves raised NI to fund services, pinned her hopes on supply-side adjustments and infrastructure to push up productivity. Businesses were already struggling from high inflation, then the iran war happened, causing energy prices to rise even further.

If I had to choose, I would:

• restructure the tax system to get rid of the cliff edges. Make it easier at the bottom and the top to earn more. At the moment, people are hovering under the 16 hours cap for tax credits (because of the clawback rates) and the 100k limit (the 60% tax trap). We need to stop punishing people for doing well! Ironically, this would bring in more tax in the long run as people earn more.
• I would scrap council tax in favour of a land value tax. It works well in other countries and would work here. It also unlocks more money for councils that can be used to address the systemic money pits (housing and social care).
• Change the triple-lock to a double-lock pledge for pensions. It did it's job in getting pensions up to a reasonable level, but the rises are ratcheting ever higher whilst our over-60s population increase and the tax base shrinks.
• Look at a time-limited increase on VAT.
• Long-term, shrink the housing benefits bill by increasing social housing. I would also stop outsourcing so much of the social care budget - it's obscene we are handing children and elderly off to private providers who are happy to charge 000's but consistently fail inspections and safety checks. I would go back to more council-run provision, perhaps even get councils to pool their resources large-scale projects.

Long-term, shrink the housing benefits bill by increasing social housing. I would also stop outsourcing so much of the social care budget - it's obscene we are handing children and elderly off to private providers who are happy to charge 000's but consistently fail inspections and safety checks. I would go back to more council-run provision, perhaps even get councils to pool their resources large-scale projects.

I’m all for this. Care providers have local authorities over a barrel, especially regarding residential placements for children with complex needs. They can name their price, knowing that in many cases, local authorities have no other options whatsoever.

I don’t agree with this one. Children shouldn’t be denied the basics in order to teach their parents a lesson.

They were talking about this on GB News earlier. Saying that our subs were really old and because they are out on manoeuvres for so long they don't get the basic care or servicing that they require and some if them are in a dreadful state.

Who do you think are really riling people up and causing dissent? It's classic, sow seeds of dissent and public disorder....
China runs TikTok and controls the algorithms and what we see in the west, which is a very different from what the Chinese see.