Westministenders: A Year of Johnson

[RedToothBrush]

So having given the benefit of the doubt...

... whats your reflections?

Good (and yes do have some thoughts on the positive - challenge yourself on this one as its important) and the bad (and yes this is the easy bit but keep it within reason)?

I've already written to the BBC complaining that "Tory MP is clueless" is not news. Maybe a human interest story, but certainly not news.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53642923

Documents on UK-US trade talks, leaked ahead of the 2019 general election, were stolen from an email account belonging to Conservative MP Liam Fox, it has emerged.

(contd)

We'll talk about encryption, 2FA and the most basic of email security another time.

(Of course we now know the documents were genuine too)

Here is a fun game ....
find the abuses of the scheme ....
www.tax.service.gov.uk/eat-out-to-help-out/find-a-restaurant/

Near me there is a staff canteen inside a police station which is using it to subsidise meals they would be eating anyway ....

But just spotted this first:

Oops, Mr disgraced Werrity-sniffer and former Defense Secretary hacked by Russians:

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/aug/03/classified-documents-on-us-uk-trade-talks-hacked-from-liam-fox-emails

Foreign Office sources have refused to comment on reports that classified documents relating to US-UK trade talkss^ were originally hacked from an email account belonging to MP and former trade minister Liam Fox.

Snap, DG !

The UK is seeking to agree arrangements with Vietnam to ensure trade continues with minimal disruption from 1 January 2021.

I thought Clavinova had been on to tell us that it was all done and dusted. Apologies to her if not.

I don't know how much trade we actually do with Vietnam - I think I have had some clothes made there.

I thought Clavinova had been on to tell us that it was all done and dusted. Apologies to her if not.

They have some interesting priorities when it comes to posting. Forget Brexit, they were most insistent that Boris and Elphicke were not BFF, and posted more than once to make that point. I still find it curious now.

but remove the financial support for either parent to stay home or to work pt after 12 months (excluding disability etc of parent or family member)

This would require properly funded childcare. It could be done, it was done during the war years when women's work was necessary. It was done in the Eastern bloc under Communism.

@Peregrina

but remove the financial support for either parent to stay home or to work pt after 12 months (excluding disability etc of parent or family member)

This would require properly funded childcare. It could be done, it was done during the war years when women's work was necessary. It was done in the Eastern bloc under Communism.

It's already means tested - we don't get any money because I stay at home with the kids. We just make do on one salary and we think ourselves privileged to be able to afford it.

Though recently "shall we buy ..." has been answered with "when you/I get a job". Youngest is almost 3 so fingers crossed!

My former colleague - on 6 figures - said he & his wife paid €110 per child monthly for ft childcare / kindergarden
in the years when their kids were too young for school

That makes working worthwhile even on NMW

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53641803
Government urges post-Brexit drug stockpiles

What I do find curious is that the BBC failed to mention ANYTHING that was contained in those documents...

I could afford to have dd in nursery for 3 mornings a week but I forget how much that was. They didn't do afternoons and she breastfed until 12 months. Her school only had 20 places for the whole school for breakfast and afternoon club until last year, without which made uni incredibly difficult esp when they changed the timetable repeatedly in the first 3 weeks of term every term. Considering i'm on my own without support (dad just over an hour away and doesn't drive) I think I've managed pretty well, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it if you want any kind of life! I've not had a relationship for 5 years and have no time for hobbies unless she is in school and I've not found many groups that run during the day. If childcare is to be sub'd properly the govt would do well to add an hour a week for single parent's to actually keep fit and happy rather than just the bare minimum (personal gripe and why I did a community health bid on the topic for Uni). You know, if we have a wish list

Childcare costs
A friend spent nearly £1000 a week on full time care for two children.
THey saved LOADS when the kids went to naice private school

LQ and that’s why lots of very well paid people I knew had au pairs or nannies.

The government asked medical firms to consider avoiding sending supplies on short routes across the Channel, such as from Dover and Folkestone to Calais and Dunkirk.

It is beyond comprehension that our government and THE PUBLIC think it's somehow fine to ask drug companies to avoid certain routes because they just just couldn't be asked to sort out any of the utter trade mess that is entirely of their own making!?

What, just what would it take for the Tory voters to think there's something wrong with this picture???

Oh they had an nanny as well
its the exhorbitant cost of childcare in that part of London
which means that only highly paid women can work
trapping other families in the low income trap

UK virologists criticise handling of Covid testing contracts:
experts say decisions apparently being made on ideological grounds

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/03/uk-virologists-criticise-handling-coronavirus-testing-contracts

A group of Britain’s leading virus experts say mistakes are being made in the handling of the Covid pandemic,
with testing contracts awarded on apparently ideological grounds to private sector companies rather than based on expertise.

In a letter to England’s chief medical officer and the chief scientific adviser,
nearly 70 clinical virologists say they have been sidelined by the government and excluded from discussions on how to respond to the pandemic.

Facebook refuses to remove doctored Nancy Pelosi video

A new low for FB - it is toxic Trump

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/03/facebook-fake-nancy-pelosi-video-false-label

The video had been circulating on Facebook since Thursday and by Sunday night had been viewed more than 2m times,
....
Lead Stories, a member of Facebook’s independent factchecking network, factchecked the post on Sunday, noting that the
“digitally slowed down to make it appear as if Pelosi was intoxicated”.

LQ So the lower paid parent must have been earning a minimum of £70k p.a. pre-tax (at current rates) to be able to even cover childcare costs of £1k a week? (Ignoring any additional nanny costs there too).

BCF Trump supporters did that to Pelosi over a year ago as well. Facebook refused to do anything about it then too.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2019/may/24/real-v-fake-debunking-the-drunk-nancy-pelosi-footage-video

www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/may/24/facebook-leaves-fake-nancy-pelosi-video-on-site

Bcf fe benefits system and it originally focusing on food first.

We need to take into consideration how the benefits system sits along side housing costs (and availability).

If you look at historical trends food used to represent a much higher percentage of household out goings with housing comparitively cheap

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42735294

As this has changed and the middle classes in particular end up by comparison less well off in terms of how much money they have in disposable as so much ends up tied up in property.

We have a much higher percentage of middle class households with expectations to match. The demographics have tilted towards the middle class.

We also have people encouraged to take on greater debt than ever before which leads to greater economic stability overall, will little to no incentive to be prudent.

The benefits system only works if housing is available otherwise you do get the situation where some households are working more and end up with less disposal income than one where no one works under certain circumstances because of how much housing is costing. And because no house building project is being done to match demand and private rentals are effectively more expensive than any other time in the last 100 years.

And of course because so much has been invested by middle class british in owning their own home, few people who own wish for more houses to be built near them or it will devalue their own asset.

The balance between the cost of food and housing is the issue and driver of resentment and sense of unfairness.

The two must walk hand in hand to disasspate

We need to tackle the crazy house prices and rents, gradually reduce them over time

We can't just keep increasing the benefits system to pay them

It makes no sense for the mc to pay more taxes ... so that they can give themselves benefits

.

"no one works under certain circumstances because of how much housing is costing"

We need to stop the system of people deciding not to work because it doesn't pay
Or choosing to go pt, to live partly off benefits

The medium term aim would be to make anyone who is available for work and supposed to be job-seeking,
do so at attendance centres with wifi etc - obviously only after COVID is gone ! which would give time to build the centres

Yes, it would take years to implement fully, but there is no quick solution