To be sick of people being so negative about the things Burnham is putting into place

[histrainersbythedoor]

Nobody thinks they’ll fix everything but he’s doing small things that can be actioned quickly and will drastically improve aspects of our lives that have got worse over the last two decades - parking fines, music on trains, vaping on public transport. They’re all small things, yes, but they will make things a little better.

He’s not said anywhere that he thinks that doing these things will save Britain. So why are people acting like he has said that?

I think the nudge thing turned out not to work so well.
The most popular example is healthy eating in school canteens. When they placed fruit/vegetable options in the most prominent places and subtly encouraged students to take them it seemed to work. There was a big increase in the amount of fruit/veg taken. However what wasn't checked up on was whether there was an increase in the fruit/veg actually being eaten. There wasn't. A student who wouldnt normally eat vegetables could be "nudged" into putting some on his tray. But he was unlikely to actually eat them if he wouldn't normally eat them. Instead they got thrown away.
Likewise you can "nudge" people into answering differently on questions about whether it's better to drive an SUV or an energy efficient car. But when it comes to themselves if they want an SUV they will have a good justification for explaining why their need one
Basically nudge theory works a bit when the stakes are low but it's not really that easy to "nudge" people into doing stuff that has a negative effect on themselves. The big failure was the start of COVID (I know Johnson was in charge by then). All the subtle encouragement to stay home etc worked in that it made people very judgemental of all the other people they saw in restaurants etc. But it wasn't enough to change behaviour. Hence we had to switch to lockdowns (too late really).

There is already existing legislation to deal with smoking and music on the railway. Byelaw 3 (2) refers to electronic cigarettes. Playing music on the railway is covered under byelaw 7 (1) (ii).

Yes thank you I am aware
my issue is that my student loan, NI and taxes are quite high now and all we ever hear are about those with broad shoulders. I presume that means higher rate tax payers of which I am now one, even tho I am not particularly well paid for where I live

further my rent, bills etc are also going up every year which eat up my pay rise. (I am aware of RRA but that was also started under tories so I don’t think they can take the credit altho I do approve of that new law)

I am worse off, particularly re energy bills and travel costs

and yes, I do know that it isn’t a tax rise but freezing the rates is essentially a rise without saying so. He (and Starmer and rishi too) could increase the rates for higher tax but he has decided not to do so altho I will await the budget

also I understand that many people are not in my situation and some are concerned about their personal situations as bus fares and benefits and SEN etc
but I am allowed to be concerned about my own personal situation and feel aggrieved about it. We all live here and we should all be allowed a voice.

and I do think issues such as noises on tne bus and blah blah are just tik tok policies

Tbh I think there’s been a massive online bot disinformation campaign to talk down the uk over recent years - prob Russian or even American
I think people assume you’ll get stabbed as soon as you get off the plane

Labour received 33.7% of the votes in the last election. Is it beyond your comprehension that the majority of votes were for other parties so it’s hardly surprising that people comment negatively on social media about the government? Seems like anyone not in the Labour fan club is a bot these days even though the statistics say otherwise.

No.

Because that was what he was elected to do.

No one has elected Sadiq Khan to cure cancer. He was elected to keep London running property.

my parents are staunch conservatives - even they think things like the bus fare and fines are good.

It is a good thing but PPs are saying it is low hanging fruit and even then, it is all very well saying there will be fines but how will it be enforced? People give fake names and addresses to inspectors.

Exactly. I am not a bot. I often vote Labour. But I am tired of silly "tiktok generation" announcements by AB.

I read hjs book. I think he has a lot of good ideas.. but after 15 years of below inflation pay rises (public sector) and being asked to do more with less, I cannot even begin to pretend to care about trivia like airline seating or music on buses

Hopefully guards will be coming back - another good thing, surely?

Let Scotland have its own time zone. Many countries have more than one time zone.

That costs money but if it does happen then it would be a good thing. Not sure how even a guard can enforce a fine.

Guards on buses?

People are selfish and inconsiderate of others so I agree with these policies

These threads always have that, and mn generally. Anyone not Labour is a bot. Even though an open public site should have more than Labour posting.

Things like vapes, noise on trains etc are small things but they are indicators of bigger problems in society. Mumsnet is full of posts complaining about people's "entitlement" and little things like this start to put us back on track of being a respectful society. Others help people feel less targeted by big corporations (like parking fines) and just make life a bit nicer. I'm all for the little things to be honest.

Because you don’t like the clock change?

I'm in agreement with you, but would add that if you're on 50ish k and pay into a pension, that should take you back below the 40% threshold.

At least those people will stop playing their loud anti social music, even if the fine never reaches them.

Oh, that’s really interesting - thanks. I do wonder if the music without headphones thing might well end up coming under low stakes and therefore nudge-able… But I guess we’ll see… Either way, I don’t have any problem with the Prime Minister recognising the small, every day things that make people’s day to day lives less enjoyable and proposing doing something about them.

You are using the very figures I’m questioning, not addressing my actual point. DWP’s numbers are estimates from sampling. They only count fraud that’s been identified, not fraud that hasn’t, like cash in hand work or claimants moving money into their children’s accounts so it never shows in theirs or even the benefit gangs. There’s a reason the NAO has never given DWP’s benefit spending a clean sign off. It has been the same, every year since the late 80's - irrespective of which colour sat behind No. 10. And your PIP figures are out of date because the latest stats show PIP overpayments virtually doubled to £660m, with the rise mostly fraud (£310m of the £330m increase) according to the DWP. It doesn't matter who commits the fraud or whether it is an error by the DWP (yes they do sometimes overpay). It's all tax payers money which has not being spent where it was supposed to be spent. With the current challenges this country faces it is likely to be a material figure.

As for pensions / pension credit... What about them? I didn't say they were perfect. They are still benefits (the full state pension being a contribution based one) so still part of the "nobody know the true figure" issue.

Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year ending (FYE) 2026 estimates - GOV.UK

And £950m of PIP goes unclaimed each year.

I hate it

Agree...and the people coming over on small boats has actually reduced since the last government but hardly anyone acknowledges this ☹️

Same