UK political scene

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Message 2106354 - Posted: 5 Sep 2022, 13:45:58 UTC

Well that round of shouting is over, let the next round of shouting begin.....

The UK has (or rather will have in about 24 hours time) their third woman PM. There's a bit of UK constitutional activity to take place before the leader of the majority party in the UK parliament can become PM, and that's due to take place in Scotland sometime tomorrow. Under the constitution the UK cannot be without a PM, so the old one (Barking Boris of Uxbridge) leaves post and at the same moment the new PM Liz Truss of South Norfolk**) is appointed to the post, all this co-ordinated by HM QE and a couple of her staff. Apparently this involves lots of doors being opened and closed so that only the actual PM is in the room with the Queen, the other one entering or leaving as required (pity the poor door keepers - get it wrong and one might discover how good HMQ is at chopping heads of?

Not commenting on Ms Truss's left/right/centre ness within the Conservative party it is worth noting that our "party of the right" has managed to have three female leaders while our main parties of the left & equality has managed zero between them (unless one counts the Greens and the SNP).

** I haven't seen a suitable short, if somewhat derogatory "accolade" for her yet, but I'm sure one will come along soon. We enjoy poking fun at our politicians, they deserve it.
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Message 2106422 - Posted: 6 Sep 2022, 12:31:34 UTC
Last modified: 6 Sep 2022, 13:00:30 UTC

Are we heading into the "pitchfork" era or are we still stuck in the "four candles" era?
Another "legal" Ponzi scheme

Sidenote.
France is in the process of fully nationalisimg their energy industry.
Guess who owns one of the UK's top 6 energy companies.
Our government?
Sit in their ivory towers content to rip us off.

Edit.
OMG - Another Trump
Is there anyone out there with guts to lock those blonde bimbos in a cage & throw away the key?
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Message 2106502 - Posted: 7 Sep 2022, 16:34:30 UTC
Last modified: 7 Sep 2022, 16:37:04 UTC

Ooh, I bet that hurt. :-)
Earlier, Liz Truss faced her first Prime Minister's Questions as leader.
Among the questions she received was from former Prime Minister Theresa May, who asked why the three female PMs had all been Conservatives, in a dig at Labour's record in failing to ever have a woman leader.
To big cheers, Truss asked why Labour could not find a female leader or anyone not from north London.
Well for all labourites out there, I can give 3 very good reasons as to why not.

1: Diane Abbot
2: Angela Rayner
3: Emily Thornberry

Sorry, labourites.
Edited to correct numbering.
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Message 2106720 - Posted: 12 Sep 2022, 1:42:03 UTC

For a very healthy explosion of fresh air:


Ian Hislop dismantles Liz Truss, piece by piece | Interview
wrote:
Ian Hislop is the editor of Private Eye...



Quite an 'education'!

Enjoy?
Martin
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Message 2106746 - Posted: 12 Sep 2022, 18:16:19 UTC - in response to Message 2106720.  

An apt follow-up is summarized by:


George Monbiot: New U.K. PM Liz Truss Has "Extreme Neoliberal" Anti-Labor, Anti-Environment Record
wrote:
... warns Truss will undermine the country's model public health system and labor rights for organizing workers...




Ouch!...

All in the UK!
Martin
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Message 2107137 - Posted: 20 Sep 2022, 17:54:08 UTC

Flawless coverage
Once again, the BBC has to be warmly congratulated for rising to the occasion.
All that costs money & money that deserves to be provided.
However the License Fee is again on the table with many feeling that it is an unfair tax.
I have a simple solution (sadly one that will never be taken up).
CAP pay & bonuses
NO ONE receiving their pay from public funds should be on such high salaries, especially in the current situation.

Meanwhile...
...Tory CON Party operating as usual
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Message 2107258 - Posted: 23 Sep 2022, 10:23:57 UTC

Well this budget did absolutely sweet FA for me. I'll still see a tax increase next April
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-62994747
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63007219
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Message 2107262 - Posted: 23 Sep 2022, 13:28:11 UTC - in response to Message 2107258.  

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63007219
Marvelous. For someone working a 40 hour week on minimum wage,
that equates to £3.21 a week in their pay.
Now for the bad news.
"Risky" Sunak increased the Personal Allowance to £12,570 for this year.
Normally, this is increased every year. Unfortunately "Risky" froze it for 4 years.
IMHO, it's looking more & more like another "Crash & Burn" heading our way.
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Message 2107269 - Posted: 23 Sep 2022, 16:51:38 UTC - in response to Message 2107262.  

I fail to understand this budget.
Giving the rich, those who pay 45% now, an increase by removing that rate, and therefore dropping to the 40% rate, will only invest this money to get richer.

Where if he had increased to tax allowance to say £15k, it would have given the poorest nearly £10/week, of which they would spend every penny. This would keep up the demand for goods and shops open, so more jobs would be at least kept going and probably created a few more. And generated more money for the government due to the extra VAT collected.
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Message 2107273 - Posted: 23 Sep 2022, 18:16:57 UTC - in response to Message 2107269.  

Miracles can be done,, but the impossible...
£10 a week, are you sure?
The difference between £15k & the current allowance is £2,430/52=£46.73 a week. That would definitely help out many of the low paid as well as the VATman.
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Message 2107274 - Posted: 23 Sep 2022, 18:29:45 UTC - in response to Message 2107273.  

Miracles can be done,, but the impossible...
£10 a week, are you sure?
The difference between £15k & the current allowance is £2,430/52=£46.73 a week. That would definitely help out many of the low paid as well as the VATman.

But that is only the amount that will not be taxed, so the extra in the pocket is £46.73 * 0.2 = £9.35
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Message 2107310 - Posted: 24 Sep 2022, 16:32:09 UTC - in response to Message 2107274.  

So who gets the missing £37.38?
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Message 2107315 - Posted: 24 Sep 2022, 20:06:28 UTC - in response to Message 2107310.  
Last modified: 24 Sep 2022, 20:07:29 UTC

So who gets the missing £37.38?

You have been getting that all the time, but if the tax allowance was increased to £15k then you would get to keep the £9.35 tax that is taken now.

<------12,570----->|<-----yours-----><--tax-->
<-------15,000------>|<----yours-----><-tax-->
you get extra by paying less tax here^
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Message 2107431 - Posted: 25 Sep 2022, 15:48:16 UTC - in response to Message 2107315.  

Got it. Sorry WK, was too fixated on the PA differences & forgot the tax rate.
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Message 2107460 - Posted: 25 Sep 2022, 21:21:58 UTC - in response to Message 2107431.  
Last modified: 25 Sep 2022, 21:22:09 UTC

Glad about that, I was getting to end of my skills on how to explain that.

And if the Chancellor had done that you can bet every household bellow the UK median household income would spend every penny of that £9.35.
And the 15 million plus households spending that each week would fund lots of jobs and the Chancellor's VAT.
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Message 2107529 - Posted: 27 Sep 2022, 12:44:08 UTC

Well the new chancellor of the exchequer has shown a degree of ineptitude that is beyond belief or understanding. I have seen many people in that role, and many have gained a reputation for being inept, but the current incumbent (Mr Kwarteng) has managed to gain such a reputation in a matter of hours rather than the more usual weeks, months or years. A matter of hours after getting the keys to Number 11 he announced tax cuts that have done nothing but caused the pound to crash at a rate not seen for a very long time, possibly since Mr.Wilson devalued the pound way back when. This taking place at a time when there is no "war chest" to buffer the impact, but rather when the international money markets are very nervous following the pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine and continued bellicose statement of their intent on other countries.
My estimate is that his actions have added several percent to the cost of living, at a time when many people are already struggling to put food on the table and pay energy bills. (My rough guess is that the impact on the raw cost of energy will be increased by about 10% as a direct result of his actions).

So what should he do? First revoke all his tax changes; second increase tax on bankers' bonuses to say 98%, using the money raised to help fund the NHS shortfall; third issue a grovelling apology to the UK; and finally RESIGN with immediate effect - this whole package could be delivered in about two hours.
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Message 2107530 - Posted: 27 Sep 2022, 12:50:28 UTC

Me again. I just saw something that is very relevant to today's UK polictial scene:
"Opposition parties don’t win elections, governments lose them." - (H.G.R. Balmer)

The actions of the current chancellor of the exchequer are most definitely feeding into the oppositions quiver, and one can hear them loading their bows with his ineptitude.....
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Message 2107533 - Posted: 27 Sep 2022, 13:20:33 UTC

Hear, hear! It's wrong on so many levels. Incompetent, inappropriate, badly timed, badly explained, and probably suicidal for the Conservative party in general, and Liz Truss in particular.

The Conservative party prides itself on its belief in "The Market" - any market you care to mention. And now they've been right royally screwed by: the oil, gas, and electricity markets; the foreign exchange markets (including sterling traders in London); the labour markets; the foreign trade markets. The worst own goal ever.

For the first time in nearly a quarter of a century (see join date to the left), I'm about to downgrade some of my crunchers, without replacement - because I can no longer justify contributing to the unearned and untaxed profits of the electricity generators. And I won't buy anything new for science until this mess is cleaned up and reversed.
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Message 2107535 - Posted: 27 Sep 2022, 14:49:13 UTC - in response to Message 2107533.  

You won't be the only one.
Since the "climate change" issue sprung to prominence, energy efficiency has become the mantra.
Making all homes energy efficient. Why?
Why should people spend their hard earned funds to save on energy only to have the energy companies gouge them?
Where's the savings?

Labour Party Conference.
Leader of the Opposition's speech.
Nice speech.
Actions always speak louder than words, so we'll have to wait & see.
He wants a "Great British Energy" company along the lines of the French EDF.
Nice idea if he can get it working.

Now for the elephant in the speech.
He wants Labour to emulate the "great" victories of 1945/64/97
He "conveniently" forgot 1976 which led to the "Winter of Discontent in 1979.
Just like BoJo the clown, cherry picking from history.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
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Message 2107538 - Posted: 27 Sep 2022, 15:32:59 UTC

Breaking now.
Kettle & Black springs to mind
I've often stated this in life & will continue to state it.
The ones shouting the loudest are the real racists.
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