Westministenders: Before the Fire Alarm of Rome goes off

[RedToothBrush]

I’m going to keep this one very simple.

THE DEADLINE TO REGISTER TO VOTE IS 22ND MAY.
www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

Postal votes start to go out on 23rd May.

Your challenge is to persuade someone to register to vote or to get someone who is considering not to, to get their arse to the polling station.

Go forth and harass. Especially women and the young.

That’s it. No frills OP.

Chris Giles @ ChrisGiles_
Social care Tory plans seem a bit weird. Rich heart attack victims' children win; rich dementia victims' children lose big.

Robert Hutton @RobDotHutton
Implication: they're (now) much more interested in poor people than rich people.

Chris Giles @ ChrisGiles_
No. They're interested in rich people who die quickly more than poor people.

No. They want poor people to die younger (see decline of the NHS) and see middle class people as a business opportunity. Wealthy people are largely unaffected and will profit out of the whole dynamic.

Also, on bus passes.

I live under the oyster system, so a single fare is £1.50 (still I think, don't often catch a bus anymore). If I need to us to my local hospital it costs £1.50, and now thanks to hopper fares even those a bit further out are still only paying £1.50 one way.

In my home town a single is anything between £2 for a very short journey to around £5. To get to the local hospital is a higher end fare.

There's a lot of elderly people from my home town who would probably be means tested out of a bus pass but couldn't afford £10 travel to go to a hospital appointment on a regular basis.

Will they cost in the losses due to a hard Brexit, I wonder?

Rachel Sylvester‏*@RSylvesterTimes*
It's a condition lottery - if you have cancer you are treated free on NHS if Alzheimer's you pay for all care

Jon Stone‏*@joncstone*

The Tory care plan is basically inheritance tax on £100k+ homes (fair) but levied at random on those unlucky enough to get dementia (unfair)

To be fair RTB that has always been the case for those going into care homes (except that the threshold was £23k rather than £100k). Just that now it is extended to those who have care at home as well as those in care homes.

Laura Kuenssberg‏*@bbclaurak*

Hunt suggests there could be more money for health service than already promised - they outbid Lab on NHS last time will they go that far?

Watch out. That bus is about again.

Private Eye has nailed it.

I'm no business brain, but this notion of asking firms to pay more to hire workers from overseas is going to be bad for business, right?

More things to particularly look out for in the Tory Manifesto (or their omission)

Anything relating to human rights - eg the British Bill of Rights, the EHCR etc
A No Deal is better than a Bad Deal clause
A £350 million bus
A commitment to reducing immigration to 'tens of thousands'
Anything that penalises foreign nationals
Anything relating to Ireland / Scotland (Sorry Wales you already screwed yourself)

Carl Dinnen‏*@carldinnen*

Mrs May's social care proposals are 'the biggest stealth tax in history' say the conservative - yes conservative - Bow Group. #GE2017

I can't help wondering how many people would take up the option of a years unpaid leave to look after an elderly relative if ultimately the elderly relative will have to pay for any care they receive alongside it and after it.

Many years ago my dm wound half her beloved business down in order to care for mil alongside carers in home, before eventually gm had to go to a home. My dps had all that stress, living off savings, having to sell both gms house for the home fees and their own to downsize and free up some equity for themselves. I suspect had the costs of the in-home carers been payable they wouldn't have put themselves out so much. They'd never admit it but I think they'd have preferred proper care for her anyway.

I have a few other concerns about the impact of the social care proposals. Firstly as red pointed out means testing costs money. As the responsibility for current means testing on care costs and admin for the bus passes sits with local gov I think it fair to assume that this new means testing will also end up being pushed down to local gov to manage. This will be a huge impact on councils who are already struggling to keep their heads above water and provide the support needed to ill and vulnerable. I will eat my hat if funding for local councils to cover these extra costs are even close to adequate (if there is any at all).

The other impact is that currently the people do not have to take their homes into account if they have care in their own homes rather than going into a care home. I worry that changing this will remove an incentive for people to stay in their own homes as long as possible and for families to support this. I know this sounds crass, but the fact is it costs a lot more to care for someone in a home than to send a care worker round a couple of times a day. Once their assets drop below the £100k mark councils will have to foot this bill.

Basically, as usual I see the tories dropping local government in the shit again, while they continue to blame them for failing social care.

Fair enough mother. I'm getting manifesto blindness now

sorry, to clarify, that is it costs a lot more to care for someone in a residential care home. Realised that might not make sense above.

We have just been through all this. If you have more than a relatively small amount in the bank, I think it was £23k (and you cannot give it away to reduce it) you are regarded as "self funding" for care in the home as well. In fact the care you are likely to receive at home is so poor, especially if you have dementia with that need for consistency and 24 hour care, is so poor that if you can fund your own care you would.

However they cannot force you to sell your home if you or your spouse are still living in it, so all this really is a tax on the inheritance. However I suppose that many people for whom this is an issue will not realise how it actually works at the moment, and will be reassured that their illusion that their home will be sold from under them will not happen.

The standard of care in most private care homes, in the South East anyway, is pretty dire, the profit motive is clearly on show. And homes taken over by Care UK who have a bevvie of MPs on the board / list of investors are known to decline rapidly under their management. In the end we focused on charities, though still paying through the nose £1500 per week, and the care is exceptional.

We are however not concerned about inheritance, we were both brought up to believe in paying our own way and do not feel entitled. The reality of our children's lives though is that we do anticipate helping them with student debt and getting on the property ladder, but don't tell them that!

www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/sky-news-and-conservatives?utm_term=.cwQNYbdqy#.cfRY1vXWA
Sky News Claim The Tories Are Trying To Restrict Their Election Coverage
The broadcaster has told BuzzFeed News they are being cut out of access to the prime minister's events as a result of their political coverage.

SKY!!!

And that article is even worse when you start to read it...

Sky have issued a public complaint.

"Since early in the election campaign, Sky News has not been getting live interviews on election issues with Conservative ministers," a spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. "Also, we weren’t initially invited to follow the leader’s tour. We understand this to be because members of the prime minister’s team are unhappy with aspects of our political coverage. Sky News stands by its journalism and is committed to fair, impartial and accurate reporting of all the political parties."

One source also claimed Sky News did not receive advance briefing of the Conservatives' manifesto launch on Thursday, despite some friendly newspapers being given advance sight of some policies.

The highly unusual intervention comes after a number of confrontations with the channel and Theresa May's team. On the first day of the snap election campaign, when the prime minister announced a public statement in Downing Street on an unknown topic at short notice, veteran presenter Adam Boulton speculated on air that one possible explanation could be her health.

Moments later Boulton – who is nicknamed Bunter – received a text message from Downing Street chief-of-staff Fiona Hill, stating "You might want to tell Bunter that he should watch what he is saying about my boss's health, utterly unfounded and untrue". He immediately read the message out on air

Means testing is probably the most cost effective way of pitting a society against itself ever found.

Caring for someone with dementia 24/7 requires the patience of a saint. It is like looking after a newborn baby but with only the prospect of deterioration. The same in continence, being up several times a night. The particularly sad thing is that some parts of cognitive ability and especially identity remain so that you cannot, as some homes do, treat someone like a vegetable. Having intelligent conversations about politics etc and memories are really important to self esteem and happiness but in the present, knowing you will have the same conversation in five minutes time, and five minutes after that, and five minutes after that. That is if it does not manifest itself in aggression......

I do not think society should expect that of relatives. The above tweet nails it. it is discrimation by condition. I would also argue that that applies to Cancer too in relation to other conditions because Cancer is particularly branded as something that happens to other people and the result of lifestyle factors. That perception is completely out of kilter with what is known by Science. Lifestyle factors for Breast Cancer account for 1% of risk and known risk factors including genetic risk account for only 5%. Enough research has been done on lifestyles to know that the remaining 95% is unlikely to relate to lifestyle but to a complex interaction between genes and environmental exposure, particularly to hormones. However how many people think it won't happen to them because they are fit, thin and eat healthily like me ?

Faisal Islam‏*@faisalislam*
Conservative manifesto re Brexit: "continue to believe no deal is better than a bad deal".
A mandate for no deal...

There it is....

"Means testing is probably the most cost effective way of pitting a society against itself ever found."

That is an excellent way of putting it lh!

Henry Mance‏*@henrymance*
Channel 4 will be relocated out of London, says Tory manifesto (h/t Sky)

Faisal Islam‏*@faisalislam*

"We will no longer be members of the single market or customs union" Conservative manifesto

I know somebody who works for Sky and unlike the newspapers they do not come under editorial pressure from their boss. They do try to be neutral and the perception is that as the BBC has become more and more anxious in relation to their Tory masters they are doing a better job of it.....

Jim Pickard‏*@PickardJE*
Theresa May introduces "my manifesto".

Faisal Islam‏*@faisalislam*
Conservative manifesto: will try to change definition of international aid, or change law for a "better definition" for 0.7% target

Samuel Lowe‏*@SamuelMarcLowe*

"... as frictionless a border as possible ..."