Westministers: Happy New Year?

[RedToothBrush]

And so we enter a New Year full of hope that things might just be about to recover from our national nervous breakdown... or perhaps not.

As we have Damien Green ejected from his role as Deputy PM over allegations of inappropriate conduct towards woman and use of porn at the end of last year, 2018 sees a bright new progressive dawn with the appointment to the role of universities regulator of Toby Young. A man who has deleted 20,000 tweets including many which are inappropriate and offensive to women, is a fan of eugenics and hates the working class and disabled.

Meanwhile the NHS is facing a crisis which is totally unexpected to the government and couldn't possibly have been planned for by a man who has over seen it for over five years. Which naturally bodes really well for Brexit planning.

We are apparently planning to join the TPP. Never mind geopolitics we can move the UK to the Pacific region.

We still are not ready for trade talks because the Cabinet can not agree on anything. Not that it sounds like they have actually discussed anything along these lines yet.

Rumours are that the Cabinet - including arch leavers such as Gove - are leaning towards supporting May and a softer option, despite the disgust of Johnson, who once again is the subject of malicious chatter about his sacking in a forthcoming Cabinet Reshuffle.

There is talk of further Tory Party war with the revelation that membership of the party has dropped to a core of just 70,000 hardline authoritarian men, most of whom are over 60. Tory HQ now wants to (perhaps with some good reason to prevent the loons) rewrite the constitution and limit the power of local associations to select candidates. The Tory party is now lining up to be a power struggle between internal authoritarians, who don't like democracy voices or structure.

Meanwhile the Labour Party membership now apparently overwhelmingly looks upon staying in the customs union and single market favourably and is in favour of a second referendum. In opposition to the leadership who are utterly committed to Hard Brexit. Much to the annoyance of Lord Adonis who is pitching a fit about government corruption and incompetence and being accused of being elite because he going skiing. Unlike of prominent Leavers who are in touch with the working class.

And finally Nigel Farage has got a meeting with Barnier. Farage, unlike Clegg, Clarke and Adonis, will not be accused by the Right Wing Press of undermining the government's negotiating position because...

It appears that we are in for another year of Brexit nonsense then.

We've not even heard mention of Gibraltar yet.

BigChocFrenzy - if only the Sun were being satirical.

Even the BBC was reporting this - in advance, so based on briefings and/or the article that Hammond et al wrote

It takes two to tango over Brexit, Hammond tells EU
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42625478

It was the reporting of this that triggered my rant post last night. (and .....again)

How many potential students have been lost because these are no longer available?

My friend wanted to be a mental health nurse. She was in a position where a bursery was an option at the time and she planned to do that.

She gave up on the idea once they were ended and instead settled on being a carer. She since had a child and her and her husband just about scrap by, managing child and shift work with low pay. They rarely see each other unless they book holiday off. There is no way either could do an extra job. They are already in debt, and struggling so have given up, not wanting the burden of even more debt.

She would be the ideal person for the job too.

Cutting burseries was psychologically a blow to her ambition. Even if the reality is that loans do give more, she gave up thinking it was achievable.

I feel a prettybird justifiably angry colourful post coming on.
there were literally mice just running around and mice droppings everywhere and her husband had just had his PIP claim turned down.
That is so blinking awful. We seem to have slipped into developing world status. MrsHoolies. And someone is training these PIPs assessors and many others to do this.

Bigly How is your training going and how is your DH doing?

I am really glad these threads got some acknowledgement from MNHQ because I don’t know how I would cope without them, even if I don’t post much.
And I can guarantee there will be countless lurkers out there who find these threads invaluable.
Is Fromage really asking for another Referendum? WTF?

Is Fromage really asking for another Referendum? WTF?

Yes, he really is because he's fed up of Remainers like Blair and Adonis not going along with it. He himself is oblivious to his own past behaviour, or his statement that a vote which had the Leave and Remain percentages switched round would have been 'unfinished business'. He assumes Leave would win.

However, if we were to have another Referendum, without the dishonest advertising i.e. no statements about money for the NHS and no TV commercials showing a wonderfully improved NHS, and there was a genuinely big majority - say 2/3rds, then the result would be much more legitimate.

Really nasty burn to hand earlier 😔😔
Seen and treated at an urgent care centre and home within an hour.
Back for a re dressing tomorrow.
Thanks to all the wonderful nhs staff who deal with clumsy idiots like me everyday!!
❤

Oh that sounds nasty MrsR hope it heals soon.

@MichaelPDeacon
Nigel Farage, writing in tomorrow's Telegraph: "To be clear, I do not want a second referendum"

I do not want a second vote on Brexit, but my fellow Leavers must be ready to fight for it again

Much discussion about on:
what Barnier told NF; what Banks has up his sleeve; how ferocious the digital attack on stopbrexit will be; what the dickens is going on.

@JoRichardsKent
There’s no way Nigel Farage and Arron Banks would back a #2ndRef #2ndReferendum without having a newly funded, upgraded, weaponised social media troll army.

They just don’t want a transition period. They want to be out before the 1/1/19 EU Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive kicks in.

Blimey, that must have been a nasty acciden, MrsR
I hope the burn heals clears up quickly

and next time, don't pour the whole bottle of liqueur over your Crêpes Suzette !

Arron Banks & friends may have a nice little earner of a currency deal waiting

As for Farage ...

On QT, Rabb said that TY had done some good things. Like putting his heart and soul into setting up 'free' schools so children from disadvantaged backgrounds could get a strong education.

I don't know where to start on that. Pity the ordinary schools don't have a bit more cash. Like that being looted channelled for the free schools. It is completely zero sum.

A no-deal Brexit could cause the UK to lose half a million jobs
and nearly £50bn in investment by 2030, according to an economic forecast commissioned by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jan/11/brexit-uk-could-lose-half-a-million-jobs-with-no-deal-says-sadiq-khan

BigChoc but who cares about jobs when you get to take back control?

Eeeeeowwwfftz wrt a dark hand funding the eugenicists -

Pioneer Fund is an American non-profit foundation established in 1937 "to advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences". The organization has been described as racist and "white supremacist" in nature,[1][2][3] and as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.[4]

From 2002 until his death in October 2012, the fund was headed by psychology professor J. Philippe Rushton. The fund states that it focuses on projects it perceives will not be easily funded due to controversial subject matter. As of October 2013, Richard Lynn is the primary contact for Pioneer Fund.

Footnote:
"Pioneer Fund". Intelligence Files : Groups. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved June 6, 2012. "Ideology: White Nationalist. Started in 1937 by textile magnate Wickliffe Draper, the Pioneer Fund's original mandate was to pursue "race betterment" by promoting the genetic stock of those "deemed to be descended predominantly from white persons who settled in the original thirteen states prior to the adoption of the Constitution." Today, it still funds studies of race and intelligence, as well as eugenics, the "science" of breeding superior human beings that was discredited by various Nazi atrocities. The Pioneer Fund has supported many of the leading Anglo-American race scientists of the last several decades as well as anti-immigration groups such as the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Pearson_(anthropologist)
This execrable individual was funded by the Pioneer Fund to the tune of over $1m. Just one example of the activities of the Fund.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Fund Reference woops.

Facebook are apparently going to be making changes to their news feed after criticism about fake news , wonder if that will have any effect on any future Banks campaigns ?

MissHoolies

Facebook are apparently going to be making changes to their news feed after criticism about fake news , wonder if that will have any effect on any future Banks campaigns ?

MissHoolies

Facebook are apparently going to be making changes to their news feed after criticism about fake news , wonder if that will have any effect on any future Banks campaigns ?

MissHoolies

Facebook are apparently going to be making changes to their news feed after criticism about fake news , wonder if that will have any effect on any future Banks campaigns ?

MissHoolies

Have no idea how that flipping happened , sorry

So Farage is saying he doesn’t want a second referendum but “ fellow Leavers must be ready to fight for it again” ie even though we’ve won, we’re not getting over it because I’m at a bit of a loose end and it’s always fun to be the leader of a movement. He’s lacking on the imagination front though - even Oceania switched between Eastasia and Eurasia.

*swtiched between being at war with

math thanks for that. Are those the people that were involved in the UCL gathering?

Bigly How is your training going and how is your DH doing?

Hey Hoolies! It's lovely to see you on the thread even if things are hard right now. I hope you are getting the support you need and taking some time to care for yourself.

Uni is going pretty well, I think, I have an exam on Monday so we'll see after that. First placement starts end of Jan and it is a community team placement, so I am really looking forward to it, but also quite terrified. The area I live in is generally very wealthy, but it is also very expensive, meaning if you are not on a good income it is a really tough place to be. I'm interested to see first hand how this is playing out in the community.

I hear you on the powerlessness. My last job was behind a desk, but working in a lot of the cuts being made. I saw the reports in the impact, knew all the numbers, heard all the stories of care being removed and absolute desperation (I left meetings in tears more than once). But all I could do was make more bits of paper. I couldn't bear it and got very depressed. I felt complicit, even though I was trying to argue for changes that didn't impact people as much. I feel that at least as a MH nurse I can be with people and offer what support I have even if I can't change the world.

DH is still not anywhere near full strength, but started a phased return to work this week so is getting there. He's got to have a heart monitor out on next week for a day, so we'll see what comes of that.

Anyway, that's enough about me!

Cutting burseries was psychologically a blow to her ambition. Even if the reality is that loans do give more, she gave up thinking it was achievable.

Your friends story is so sad! I absolutely understand where she is coming from and the impact of just the idea of the loan when you know you are going into a career that is not particularly highly paid.

Also I think a lot of people are overwhelmed by the system. Not just the loan application itself, which is an absolute arse if you are in a couple, but all the other funding options. I also got a 3k bursary from the uni, 1k from the NHS learning support fund, childcare funding, reduced council tax and in April DH will be able to apply from some tax credits as we will be just under the income threshold to make us eligible for some child related benefits. We are not as well of as I was when I was working, but we are doing OK.

But none of these things are easy to find out about and most of them involve some know-how to apply for. I spent a lot of time researching and applying for all the pockets of money and support I could get my hands on. It is complicated and a lot of work even for someone like me who has over a decade of experience working in local gov bureaucracy.

The whole system seems designed, whether intentionally or by incompetence, to make it as hard as possible for people to get to the money they are entitled to! It make some furious, because I am sure there are a lot of people like your friend who would be perfectly well off doing the degree of they just simplified the process and made it easier for people to understand and navigate.

One final point. It is perfectly possible to never have to pay anything back on your student loan. My DH has applied for a deferment every year since he left uni. I don't think he will ever pay a penny of it. Most people in a basic level nursing job, particularly if they are part-time would be eligible to defer payments even if they are over the basic threshold for payment. Again, though, this is not widely known and takes a certain amount of knowledge on how to work the system.