To despair at this government??

[IllTakeACheapSeatPlease]

This shambolic government - its utter chaos, the Tories were bad but Christ this lot are on another level.
Im really worried about where we’re heading, riots breaking out everywhere, the armed forces imploding, the police untrustworthy, we’re a laughing stock on the international stage.
Id say to call an early GE but I’m not a fan or reform either. At this point - I’d take the Tories back.
WTF is going on? I’m approaching 50 and I’ve never known the country in such a state.

AIBU to think we’re literally on the edge now? And what can actually be done to save it??

I am prone to anxiety so feel free to tell me on catastrophising

No my point is not that you can’t change it. You could. But no party will yet. The reason is that older people are core voters and the reason the thing was invented was to get the OAP vote.

All benefits uprating needs looking at. Labour are so unpopular they might as well do it. It will never be reversed.

What were dated gilt yields during the Truss mini-budget?

What are they today?

Await you.

That's exactly where I'm at with my thinking
Labour are definitely not fantastic,and he seems determined to give our jobs to overseas people and determined to make it easy for employers to employ overseas people..and he seems determined to give our money overseas
And I'm sure he gets the thing about free speech in this country..or he does ,but only when it suits his agenda.
But ..is there a better alternative..right now ? This minute?
And if there was ..why were they not elected at the last election

Not sure he gets the thing about free speech in this country
(That should of said in my point I was making)

Same. We are middle income and much worse off financially too. But I could accept that if I saw improvements in education and nhs care. However we are doubly worse off - paying more taxes, plus needing to pay for tutoring as my oldest education has been so disrupted by poor behaviour and reduced staffing.

Previously HLTA,'s would take groups of children at each ends of the ability range out of class for focused work to support their learning, with teacher focusing on those working at expected age level. My daughter made amazing progress with this small group approach, the classrooms were more settled, the teachers could focus. No funding for that now, and her teacher is trying to meet needs of children with reading age spread of year 1 to year 8. Most able are bored. Least able are struggling. We can't afford private, but would have moved her if we could.

So, a liar and a fool.

Sir Keir Starmer has declared he will take on Andy Burnham in a future Labour leadership contest.

The Prime Minister is fighting for his political survival after John Healey resigned as defence secretary and Al Carns quit as armed forces minister in protest against a lack of funds for the military.

Mr Burnham, Labour’s candidate at the Makerfield by-election next Thursday, has said he will seek to oust the Prime Minister if he is elected to the Commons.
Asked if he was “determined” to take part in any future contest, Sir Keir told the BBC: “Well, I don’t think it should happen, but if it does then I will fight.

“And let me just be clear with you. That’s not about personal vanity. It’s not about stubbornness. It’s out of a very deep sense of duty. I was elected to serve this country notwithstanding the difficult circumstances that is what I am doing.

“And in the last few weeks others have made their own case. I’ve been concentrating on the job I was elected to do which is to deliver for this country.
“This is about a sense of service and duty. It is not vanity, it is not stubbornness.”

I think this is a good example of how anxiety can make everything feel like it's happening at once.

"Riots breaking out everywhere"...where? We’ve had isolated disorder, but the UK is not experiencing nationwide unrest.

"The armed forces are imploding"...the military has recruitment and retention problems but that's hardly new and certainly doesn't mean collapse.

"The police are untrustworthy"...public confidence has taken some knocks but millions of interactions happen every year without incident.

"We're a laughing stock internationally"...people say this about literally every government. Most countries are far more focused on their own problems than ours. Kier Starmer is held in fairly high regard internationally (albeit not by Trump but I wouldn't worry too much about that)

And "I've never known the country in such a state" is a claim that only works if you've forgotten the 1970s strikes and blackouts, the early 1980s recession, the IRA bombing campaign, the 2008 financial crash, COVID or the political chaos of 2019-22.

You can dislike the government without convincing yourself the country is on the verge of collapse. Britain has real problems, but "literally on the edge" sounds incredibly hyperbolic. Every few years someone declares the country finished; somehow it keeps carrying on regardless.

This OAP is fully behind scrapping the triple lock. I don’t want anyone else’s benefits cut but I do want a programme of help to get people back into work. How about removing employers’ NI for a year for every new employee?

Yeah, good luck with the triple lock - I rather suspect you are in the minority.

I don’t think I am. Obviously my friends are a self selected, limited sample but none of us think it’s sensible and don’t understand why it’s so sacred.

@EasternStandard

Ed Miliband is pushing to be made chancellor if Andy Burnham becomes prime minister, The Telegraph can reveal.

According to Labour sources, the two men talk regularly, despite Mr Miliband remaining a member of Sir Keir Starmer’s Cabinet.

The Energy Secretary has given the Mayor of Greater Manchestereconomic advice and helped convince him to pledge to stick to the Government’s fiscal rules, to reassure the bond markets.

One source close to Mr Burnham told The Telegraph: “Ed is clearly working on the basis of that is what he wants [to be chancellor] and that’s what he is assuming he will get.”

Appointing Mr Miliband as chancellor would be a divisive choice. The unions have been critical of his net zero policies, while the possibility of a soft-Left prime minister and a soft-Left chancellor could also cause a market backlash over fears of increased spending.

And the government have done absolutely nothing to recover any furlough back . I would have recovered back money and interest.

I agree. I am under state pension age but already retired on a small private pension. Retirees should also pay something towards healthcare, as when you stop working you no longer pay National Insurance which supposedly goes towards the NHS. This was okay when retirees were dying after a few years but now we are living into our nineties and often in poor health at the end of life, it needs to change.

On a separate note, great to see this - the poor police woman.
Let this be a lesson to PA and those who would support an outlawed ‘organisation’

The four Palestine Action activists - who the judge confirmed would be sentenced on the basis that the raid had a “terrorist connection” - received a total of 26 years and 4 months in prison.

Samuel Corner, 23, was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison, including on the count of grievous bodily harm and criminal damage.
Charlotte Head, 30, and Leona Kamio, 30, were each jailed for five years for causing criminal damage.

Head was also disqualified from driving for one year because she was driving the prison van that the group used as a “battering ram”

Fatema Rajwani, 21, was jailed for four years and eight months for causing criminal damage.

Great to see terrorists getting their just desserts. Not long enough for Corner though.

What’s Corner?

I am watching the trooping of the guard - the Russians will see those red uniforms a mile off.

Samuel Corner, one of the Palestinian Action Group's convicted terrorists.

Who, not what.

He’s the hard man who hit a policewoman with a sledge hammer.

Utter scumbag. People who support him and PA, should be utterly ashamed of themselves.

Good. Kemi responded well, Polanski very concerning.

Polanski showing his true colours as usual. It's always wise to read between the lines when he speaks. There you will find his ultimate purpose.

At last, the sun is shining again. There is horse racing on ITV. 3 World Cup games to watch, including those World beaters, Scotland. I am taking the day off, worrying about the state of the UK.

I'm sick of the negativity. The world is in a difficult state and by comparison the UK isn't doing bad at all. Stop reading right wing press and Facebook?

Yes OP how dare you read anything but the Guardian.

The crime rate has increased in the town centre closest to me. Knife crime, rapes, drugs. I’m not entirely sure why. The shops I used to regularly use have all closed down, (big chains) and nothing replaces these, but plenty of vape shops, Turkish barbers, unsafe looking food stores and nail bars. It’s awful and I’d rather shop at the impersonal retail park