Good on Kemi!

[MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack]

I'm no fan of Kemi Badenoch, but I'm even less of a fan of Robert Jenrick, and I'm rather delighted to see that she has sacked him and withdrawn the whip before he could jump to Reform.

She has definitely had the last laugh here. He must be spitting bullets!!

Yep winter of discontent was Labour. Huge amount of days lost to strikes.

You have incredibly selective recollection, then.

Remember how long it took to get Owen Paterson out once the Randox scandal came to light, and how Johnson threw the whole government and a three line whip around attempts to keep him in? How Johnson backed Dominic Cummings when he broke lockdown rules and only booted him when he fell out with him? How Rob Roberts was only suspended for 12 weeks after being found guilty of sexual misconduct to staff members? How he appointed Simon Case to investigate lockdown parties when Case had hosted at least one himself? How he reappointed Pincher to the whips' office after he had previously been made to resign for sexual harassment of a party volunteer, and was found to have actively lied about knowing about this?

And how could you forget that it took the resignation of unprecedentedly high numbers of ministers and senior Party figures before Johnson's own hands could be prised loose from the Premiership?

And the three day week was Conservative.

Due to the miners strikes. Thatcher had to sort that out for the country. Shame the current Labour government are strengthening union powers again.

Why does anyone think this is an OK thing to say?

Labour are truly the Nasty Party.

Yep

The Winter of Discontent was bloody awful, but there were no organised power cuts along the lines of the three day week put in place during the Heath government. At worst, there were some localised electricity shortages caused in part by the unusually severe winter weather.

Thatcher had nothing to do with the sorting out the three day week.

She sorted out the miners unions though. Sorry. I was unclear.

As I said, shame Labour is going back to the bad old days of excessive union power. That will be bad for all of us.

Thank goodness for the unions.

Those of us who grew up in working class communities in northern mining towns during the 1980s, we have a very different experience and perspective on what happened around us and what Thatcher did. I won’t bother you with the particulars and the list of Thatcher’s legacies in so many of those towns, as I know that you will not hear it, recognise it or understand it. Oh to have that level of blind arrogance.

Had to be done sadly. For the sake of the country. And the leaders of the unions acted against their members interests.

And yes I do hear it and recognise it, for reasons I won't share on here.

But no three day week and planned national power blackouts.

Because of the miners unions supported by Labour.

Which Thatcher eventually had to sort out once she came to power by reducing the power of the unions.

And which Labour are currently are increasing again. Great.

Yep, that is correct, however much pp wants to rewrite history.

I haven’t got the time or stomach for this debate today, but safe to say I think you’d also find me as ‘chippy’ as Bridget Phillipson…

My advice to anyone, especially if the prospect of a Reform government seems possible, would be: join a union!

It is great. We need strong unions.

Perhaps if Thatcher hadn't taken away so much of their powers, wages wouldn't have plummeted. We wouldn't have the situation where the state is subsidising low paying employers.

Yes they really are.

More are realising this.

Well obviously you are left wing and of a Bridget P type so I don't know why you would bother announcing that you won't vote for Reform, Reform being on the right?

Er...how? I havent denied there was a 3 day week. Ive just highlighted that was the fault of the Labour backed unions?

And yet Reform are racist dog-whistling on a regular basis and they have just welcomed with open arms a Tory who ordered that murals at an asylum children’s unit should be painted over in case they felt too welcomed - too weak to stand up to Musk on safeguarding women and children though. Behave with the pearl clutching, go and spend some time looking at the cesspit that is a loud section of Reform supporters on social media.

Thats called the public sector?

Really didn’t think Kemi Bandenoch was the right choice as leader of the party, but the more time goes on, the better she seems. Having said that, I really cant see the conservatives making any significant comeback at the next election, nor labour having anything like the success they had. Will reform walk away with things, again I honestly don’t see it, they’ve hardly made a massive difference in the local councils they took control of. A hung Parliament seems a real possibility and if so, it’s the libdems who will probably be the deciding factor

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Industries also show significant variation in low pay levels. While they all experienced a rise in low-paid jobs, the hospitality industry remains the worst affected, with nearly half of its workers earning below the real Living Wage. The wholesale and retail sector has the highest number of low paid jobs due to its large size, with over a million low paid jobs in 2024.

www.livingwage.org.uk/news/current-state-low-pay-uk