Westminster: Brexit is the hard right's weapon of mass distraction

[BigChocFrenzy]

The fervour and divisions over Brexit have suspended normal party politics.

The staggering incompetence & unsuitability of Corbyn as a leader, together with the resulting impotence of Labour has removed the normal checks & balances in UK politics.
There is a vaccum where the Official Opposition should be, so Theresa May is under pressure only from her right.

I fear Thereas May and the Tory rightwing are taking advantage of Brexit to complete the destruction of the post-WW2 social contract and the welfare state.

Meanwhile, the constraints of civilised discourse have been loosened and those with racist or social Darwinist views now feel free to spout their poison openly.

Putin is pouring petrol on all the fires and Arron Banks is lurking < sinister emoticons required >

Zoe Williams:
"Behind a smokescreen of bogus patriotism, ideologically driven cuts to the NHS and all our public services are unpicking the bonds of nationhood"

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/05/brexit-theresa-may-falklands-war-nhs-cuts

"We should be marching against the crisis in adult social care, the closure of care homes, the systematic exploitation of carers, the £4.6bn cut from social care budgets this decade.
We should be .... asking:

“What exactly is the plan, if we’ve decided we can no longer afford to care for the elderly and the disabled?
What do we do with them instead?”

"We should be marching against cuts in education funding"

"Every morning we wake up to someone on the radio explaining, despairingly, that you can’t fix the hospital bed crisis until social care is fixed, and you can’t fix that until council tax brings in more, and it can’t bring in more because wages are too low."

"But when everything breaks at the same time, that is not a coincidence: it is a plan.

As surely as Margaret Thatcher had an economic plan on employment, rights, industry and wages,
this century’s Conservatives have a plan on public services, which is to smash them beyond all recognition."

mother I am sorry I got my wires crossed, as I was telling DH what was happening on the thread recently. He found it really strange, like who would benefit from shilling, etc.

I guess MN is seen as a busy site that helps form opinions. Surprised by the flurry of activity on this thread though, does it show up at the top of a Google search or something? Would be interesting to know how many views it gets.

We're getting the min wage ones though, the pre-referendum ones were better briefed.

angel Yes but whatever the thread that is bollocks, from someone whose DD did make the cut but refused to spend 7 years with "over tutored over achievers", now a research Scientist....

Your DH has heard of Nelson Mandela? ron

Comrades at the DT are joining the attacks on pernicious phil:
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/08/budget-2017-victimising-self-employed-philip-hammond-taking/

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nhs-budget-2017-nhs-privatisation-stps-philip-hammond-back-door-unite-sustainability-transformation-a7619456.html

"Philip Hammond accused of back-door NHS privatisation by funding 'shady' reform plans

Chancellor announces £325m boost for controversial sustainability and transformation plans

The plans are meant to reform services by saving money, but have proved unpopular in some regions because they will lead to department and hospital closures.

STPs create separate health economies that “become very attractive to large private sector companies who have interests in running health services,” said Ms Carpenter.

“The fact the only funding given to health is to to put money into STPs gives us concerns about [the Government’s] motivation,” she said. “STPs are quite sneaky in themselves. There’s are no structures, no accountability... It’s all very shady.”"

Tax the poor and sell off NHS, looks like Brexit's started.

"More money for grammar schools and state schools are discussing 4 day weeks to balance the books.

Fuck me"

Yep. We're all finding out what happens when there's no opposition to a Tory government.

Yet. Kaija

I have major issues with the idea that employees could be fined for being ill.
I've heard that they would also be fined if they couldn't find the address for a parcel

It doesn't make sense really. And there should be some laws to protect workers from that sort of attitude. Last time I've seen that sort of thing happening was in Poland. When I was thee 17 years ago, the sequels from that sort of behaviour during the communist rule could still be felt with people refusing to say they had made a mistake etc etc.
I hadn't realised we wanted to emulate a communist regime

STPs create separate health economies that “become very attractive to large private sector companies who have interests in running health services
That is saying LOUD and CLEAR
WE ARE PRIVATISING THE NHS WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT.

I'm sure no one voted for that when they voted for Brexit!

Well once we are out of the EU there won't be any worker or sickness protection anyway...

It'll be like the US....no maternity pay, no sickness pay...no rights to strike (good old Reagan!)

My dhs firm pay for bupa cover (with contributions from him too) but it only really covers tests - so people can get a diagnosis more quickly and get back to work 😒

Yep.

Can't want for this brave new world. 4 day week schools, zero hour contracts or self employed contracts who fine you for absence, etc. Is there some money aside for building the new workhouses?

Is anyone seriously doubting that the tories are privatising the NHS?

Because imo it's been pretty bloody obvious for some time...

I was only partially kidding when I mentioned
Workhouses yesterday 😞😡

That 'yep' was to redandyellowpeppers

On workers being treated as criminals; there were laws to protect workers, the conservatives got rid of them and decimated the trade union movement. And labour didn't revoke the 1992 Trade Union act.

Humans are commodities; debtors, consumers or transgressors, in this brave new world.

Honestly the paternalistic Victorians had more humanity than this shower. Look at Port Sunlight in Merseyside, the libraries, the schools, the workers clubs. I do pity the lack of humanity in these alt righters. What small lives they must lead.

Yes but they haven't said they were going to do it so why getting your knickers in a twist about something that hasn't happened yet?

Said to me on a different subject BUT the thinking is the same.
We, as in people, politicians, journalists tec... should have been screaming blue murder a long time ago. When the ituation was described as a humanitarian crisis, it should have made the headlines. Big way. Instead we've had articles about how some people abuse the system and endless threads on MN on how a poster was totally unreasonable to go to A&E when she was on death doors (but was told by said doctors she had to)
As a general rule, the public has been very well trained in accepting whatever shit is send to them wo complaining and making itbtheir problem rather than a political decision.

Work....consume....die

😞

I don't like nor I want to live in a world like this.
A world where human beings are treated it's no respect at all.

This was the reason why I left Poland btw. The management (who was all British ....) was treating the polish employees so poorly that I couldn't cope with it.

Woman...makes what as happened to cadburys even more upsetting - one of the most socially progressive companies of the past 100 years ruined by Kraft

Seeing a lot of this rumour from different sources on Twitter:

Word circulating at Westminster that Theresa May plans to storm out of #Brexit negotiations with no deal after French and German elections.

See also:

waitingfortax.com/2017/03/08/can-you-hear-the-drums-a-banging/

Wtf?

It's a coup and she's a hostage.

OK, I'm thick - wtf would the point of that? What would it achieve? Surely May has to be seen to negotiate until the bitter end and - reluctantly - show, more in sorrow than anger , that the EU is being unreasonable?

Haha, I'm sure she's planning to secure eu/uk expat status before the big storming out sesh, right honesty I cannot put into words how little trust or respect I have for May, on either professional or basic humanity criteria. Her track record speaks for itself. And today's weird laugh thing?