Put Labour in power that is.
Every other day I see stories like this...
Rishi Sunak facing 'ultimate car crash election' as new poll puts Tories at historic low(https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/139/590x/secondary/Starmer-4937223.avif?r=1693509114486)
EXCLUSIVE: As Rishi Sunak tries to reboot his government with a mini reshuffle a new poll reveals that he is losing ground to Labour.A leading pollster has warned that Rishi Sunak needs "a complete change of direction" after the latest survey revealed that the Prime Minister is heading to "a car crash" election.On the day that Mr Sunak hoped that a mini reshuffle of his top team might help to reset his government the weekly Techne UK tracker poll has revealed that Labour's lead over the Tories has increased over the summer.According to the poll of 1,633 UK voters Labour is 21 percent ahead of the Conservatives by 45 percent to 24 percent.After a summer where Mr Sunak tried to snatch back the agenda with a week of measures on tackling illegal migrants including the giant barge to house asylum seekers, and getting tougher on crime, his party has lost two points.Labour is also down one point with the Lib Dems up one on 11 percent, Reform UK up two on 8 percent and the Greens on six points.https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1808099/rishi-sunak-tracker-poll-car-crash-election?utm_source=whatsapp&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=communities
Now for me the Tories are beyond my forgiveness. In power since 2010 and the economy is in tatters as are public finances and there isn't a single public service I can point to and say is working adequately. I won't be voting Labour as a result I'll be voting Reform and there is no way I'm going to bottle out. The thing is history tells me that without a doubt the current state of the nation points in one direction only - a Labour government. Whatever I do won't change that so I may as well go with my conscience and vote for a party that says, imo at least, the right things. Whether they'd be able to do them is another matter and it's pretty much certain that they won't get the chance to but at least I won't have voted for the coming of something even worse than we have.
If only all Tory voters would give Reform a chance. If only those red wall voters returning to Labour would give Reform a chance. If only all those 'right wing' parties would put their egos to one side and join forces to form one big party ..... If only.
Quote from: Alex on September 01, 2023, 11:43:34 AMIf only all Tory voters would give Reform a chance. If only those red wall voters returning to Labour would give Reform a chance. If only all those 'right wing' parties would put their egos to one side and join forces to form one big party ..... If only.
Although I agree that a combination of true right-wing Conservatives and Reform could collectively raise enough votes to form the next government, I'm afraid that after Boris doing the dirty on UKIP in an earlier election, how many would trust the Conservatives to keep their word?
No. Like many others I have heard, I shall vote Reform. If not enough people see the sense in that, they will get exactly what they deserve.
If Reform, Reclaim, English Heritage, UKIP etc became one party with one leader, they couuld win seats all over UK. It wouldn't matter whether the Tories were standing or not.
(https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/139/590x/secondary/ec310823-4938886.avif?r=1693586224072)
Quote from: Alex on September 01, 2023, 05:09:40 PMIf Reform, Reclaim, English Heritage, UKIP etc became one party with one leader, they couuld win seats all over UK. It wouldn't matter whether the Tories were standing or not.
I'm aware of Reform and Reclaim, but I wasn't aware that UKIP is still in existence. Is it?
English Heritage - I have heard of them, but wasn't aware of them being a political party.
Of course, if all four are still alive and kicking, I sincerely hope they do unite as that would provide a formidable group and I'm sure they'd all have pretty similar intentions.
I seem to remember hearing that Reform alone had stated that they intend to stand in most of the constituencies. If others of like mind add their names to the roll, that would also help. However, unless they do all unite under a single name, their individual votes of support will not be combined.
I think UKIP is still going JBR isn't that twit Neil Hamilton running it ? Course it may have folded and that's old information, they still have a site though.
https://www.ukip.org/about-UKIP
Heritage Party is still going, probably has 47 members :grin:
https://heritageparty.org/about/
Quote from: klondike on September 02, 2023, 10:26:43 AM(https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/139/590x/secondary/ec310823-4938886.avif?r=1693586224072)
Fun times ahead! 😑
For any change to take place the Conservative party needs to be completely annihilated. Maybe then some worthwhile successor would rise.
Quote from: Alex on September 02, 2023, 09:32:37 PMI think UKIP is still going JBR isn't that twit Neil Hamilton running it ? Course it may have folded and that's old information, they still have a site though.
https://www.ukip.org/about-UKIP
Heritage Party is still going, probably has 47 members :grin:
https://heritageparty.org/about/
Thank you. That's encouraging.
I assume that Reform, Reclaim, UKIP and Heritage all have similar ideals and intentions.
In my opinion, the best thing they can all do is to unite and combine all their supporters.
The problem is that each has its own followers, and combining under a single name might distract some people and perhaps lose votes.
Perhaps the best option, then, would be to make an agreement that, once the votes are in, they could combine their votes. Unfortunately, the rules would probably not allow that and the people who decide the winner in each constituency will count the numbers separately so that, even if the four combined form the highest number of votes, they would not count collectively.
I think the only way around that is to first agree on a unification under a single leader, and then widely publicise the names of all four parties and make it clear that all four are now combined under a single title.
no way can votes be combined - they would have to fight under a single party name
A new Democratic party is needed, but perhaps Tice, having the most members is reluctant to join any other parties. ?
Quote from: Michael Rolls on September 03, 2023, 11:15:19 AMno way can votes be combined - they would have to fight under a single party name
Yes, as I said, and so they should.
I suppose there is another possibility. If each of the four parties agreed not to contest the other three in any constituency, and decided in which to stand according to their perceived following in each, there might be more chance of them winning some seats.
Or perhaps that would create more confusion among the electorate.
No. They should agree to combine, but under which name?
The Democrats :grin:
Quote from: JBR on September 03, 2023, 11:13:13 AMI assume that Reform, Reclaim, UKIP and Heritage all have similar ideals and intentions.
In my opinion, the best thing they can all do is to unite and combine all their supporters.
I suspect that this will be close to the truth...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WboggjN_G-4
Quote from: klondike on September 03, 2023, 07:17:04 PMI suspect that this will be close to the truth...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WboggjN_G-4
Ah, you mean the Judean People's Front? Or was it the Popular Front of Judea?
I miss those particular comedians and Monty Python, especially Michael Palin, a really funny man who has appeared in several other highly amusing films and programmes. Not only very funny, but they were well-educated with it. Actually I have all three of those films on disc (which I recorded f.o.c. from the telly).
I think the small independent parties are unlikely to amalgamate just as the various Judean liberation groups could never agree.
Quote from: klondike on September 03, 2023, 09:46:56 PMI think the small independent parties are unlikely to amalgamate just as the various Judean liberation groups could never agree.
A shame, as I think they all think along the right lines.
So it will be Labour, then, along with Corbyn, Abbott, Brown and of course BLiar.
They'll finally finish the country off.
Poor Dianne no longer has the Labour whip and sits as an independent.
Corbyn was blocked too but is still a party member apparently.
The others, of course are history but do have a tendency to turn up like bad pennies. Possibly if they do reappear as active Labour supporters they may be worth a few seats to the Tories.
Tony Blair may reappear......anyone want a fiver on it ?
Quote from: Alex on September 04, 2023, 10:44:48 AMTony Blair may reappear......anyone want a fiver on it ?
BLiar has never really disappeared. He pops up all the time on the telly. I seem to remember him attracting the TV cameras during the Coronation earlier this year.
To be honest, I had forgotten that Abbott had effectively been kicked out of the Labour party. I suppose she had become a bit of an embarrassment to them for what she says and does, especially such things as wearing her shoes on the wrong feet!
Although Labour haven't been in government for 14 years, I think they are still quite clear in people's memories.
But might be voted in to teach the Tories a lesson. :nooo:
Quote from: Raven on September 04, 2023, 06:14:03 PMBut might be voted in to teach the Tories a lesson. :nooo:
I'd much rather Reform was called upon to deliver that message.
I too would like to see that happening but sadly people stick with one of the two old parties. Why? I have no idea.
because they know none others have a chance of an outright win - although perhaps in coalition - then look at 2010 with the Lib Dems and more recently with SNP/Greens
Well the Tories have no more chance of being the next government than any of the minor parties next time around.
almost certainly true
More than almost. It's people clinging on to false hope that ensures we keep a two party system. I've done it myself. No more. Not that I expect anything other than a Labour government though.
Ah, the 2 party system. The "needs sacking party" versus the "unelectable party"
We're spoilt for choice.
I think we'll find that the "unelectable party" turns out to be all too electable. Unless they are fools enough to allow Blair to get involved to any extent. If the Tories promised to hang him they may stand a chance.
Is there any difference between the two main parties anymore and is that why there's a genaeral apathy? Labour gave up its working class roots under Blair and has now gone woke. When was the last time you heard Labour supporting the working classes?
Meanwhile, the Conservatives morphed into something out of a Del Boy ''Only fools and horses'' script and have spent the last few years mired in allegations of sleaze and corruption. Following a musical chairs game of PM and Ministerial resignations, Rishi is himself under investigation for corruption.
There was a time when both these parties stood for something, you might not have agreed with what they said, but they were passionate about what they stood for. That seems to have gone and all we're left with are the usual promises which even as we're voting we know won't be kept.
I look at the Reform Party and I see the same Brexit promises that Boris and Nigel Farage made. We're going to have secure borders, lower energy prices, zero NHS waiting lists ... Last Night at the Proms, Rule Brittania? It's all over. Like it or not, we're now a multicultural society in a post colonial era at the end of our industrial revolution. There is no magical party that will turn Britain around, what you now see is what you get.
You may well be right Weapons Grade (welcome btw and I hope you manage to get reunited with your family soon!)
But it does seem a bit silly to vote for the parties that have actually got us into this quagmire in the first place through their duplicitous incompetences.
The working classes of old Labour, how are they defined today? Huge industries with (too?) powerful trade unions have dwindled, due to the rise in tech and cheap imports.
We have huge numbers of people on sickness and disability benefits, many of whom could be in paid employment. I credit recent Labour governments with encouraging the can't be arsed brigade to claim. A parent who can get a disability benefit as well as benefits for children and a carer's allowance for nan who lives nearby won't be hard up, especially if they are in social housing. And the foodbank is handy too. Some children grow up with no work ethic, they can afford nice phones, Sky etc., so whats the point of education or a job?
Quote from: GrannyMac on September 08, 2023, 08:58:18 AMThe working classes of old Labour, how are they defined today? Huge industries with (too?) powerful trade unions have dwindled, due to the rise in tech and cheap imports.
We have huge numbers of people on sickness and disability benefits, many of whom could be in paid employment. I credit recent Labour governments with encouraging the can't be arsed brigade to claim. A parent who can get a disability benefit as well as benefits for children and a carer's allowance for nan who lives nearby won't be hard up, especially if they are in social housing. And the foodbank is handy too. Some children grow up with no work ethic, they can afford nice phones, Sky etc., so whats the point of education or a job?
Indeed, you are spot on as virtually all parents on benefits seem to have at least one Autistic child which is worth another few £hundred a month + the add-ons.
Quote from: Weapons Grade on September 08, 2023, 08:40:40 AMIs there any difference between the two main parties anymore and is that why there's a genaeral apathy?
Both the same really. Both apparently in favour of mass immigration yet neither have a clue how to improve the country's housing, services and infrastructure to support the resulting increased population.
Both in favour of Net Zero with no complete (or probably even partial) plans on how that will be achieved, how the increased costs will be funded and ignoring the fact that globally it will amount to net zero difference anyway with China, India and Africa ramping up fossil fuel energy production. Not that I am in any way convinced any more that the actually rather modest temperature rise is down to human action anyway now. I was originally but no longer.
Neither capable of organising a Christmas party in a Carlsberg production facility and having jointly got shot of the bloke who allowed them in Number 10.
Nothing works in the country any more. Nothing will change after the next election which will bring forth a Labour government with a huge majority. I'm still by no means sure that the largely Marxist Labour membership won't get rid of the hapless and ineffectual Starmer and usher in somebody they approve of. What will the public do? SFA is my bet.
No difference in the parties, but because I'm pixxed off with the Tories, doesn't mean I'll vote Labour - been there, done that etc... There has to be an alternative to the two main parties, if we keep voting the same we'll get the same, so I'll give Reform a shot.
Quote from: dextrous63 on September 08, 2023, 08:44:16 AMYou may well be right Weapons Grade (welcome btw and I hope you manage to get reunited with your family soon!)
But it does seem a bit silly to vote for the parties that have actually got us into this quagmire in the first place through their duplicitous incompetences.
:upvote:
We can't change what is, so I simply won't vote. I'll show my little cog in a big wheel displeasure by being one of the thirty something percent that ignored them. Come the revolution ... :clap:
September 08, 2023, 12:53:37 PMQuote from: GrannyMac on September 08, 2023, 08:58:18 AMThe working classes of old Labour, how are they defined today? Huge industries with (too?) powerful trade unions have dwindled, due to the rise in tech and cheap imports.
We have huge numbers of people on sickness and disability benefits, many of whom could be in paid employment. I credit recent Labour governments with encouraging the can't be arsed brigade to claim. A parent who can get a disability benefit as well as benefits for children and a carer's allowance for nan who lives nearby won't be hard up, especially if they are in social housing. And the foodbank is handy too. Some children grow up with no work ethic, they can afford nice phones, Sky etc., so whats the point of education or a job?
When I get my current medical problem fixed I could probably work as well, but why bother? As soon as I start work I lose my housing allowance and pension credits and I'm financially worse off. Which puts me firmly in the can't be arsed camp.
We live in a minimum wage gig economy and I've already worked out to make it worth my while I'd need upwards of £25ph. No one is paying that. The days of working hard, saving up, getting on the property ladder, the shame of being on benefits ... All that has gone now and it's grab what you can.
Quote from: Weapons Grade on September 08, 2023, 12:44:36 PM:upvote:
We can't change what is, so I simply won't vote.
No vote no right to complain. Not that complaining does any good. If you don't want to vote for any party you could draw a dick on the voting slip instead and it would show as a spoiled ballot. Not voting shows as don't care.
Quote from: klondike on September 08, 2023, 01:47:09 PMNo vote no right to complain. Not that complaining does any good. If you don't want to vote for any party you could draw a dick on the voting slip instead and it would show as a spoiled ballot. Not voting shows as don't care.
Exactly what I did on the recent local elections.
Well, not a dick, but I wrote "Reform UK" across all the boxes, though Reform wasn't standing.
No, of course it won't make any difference to the count, but it might remind some people that there is a third alternative next time.
Quote from: klondike on September 08, 2023, 01:47:09 PMNo vote no right to complain. Not that complaining does any good. If you don't want to vote for any party you could draw a dick on the voting slip instead and it would show as a spoiled ballot. Not voting shows as don't care.
If complaining doesn't do any good, why vote? Not voting means there is no party on the ballot paper I trust as far as I could throw them. How many politicians take note of spoiled ballot papers?
How many politicians take note of spoiled ballot papers?
Even if it were only one that's one more than takes any notice of an absent ballot paper.
Every declaration gives a count of spoiled ballots. Perhaps if they reached a significant number it might be noted.
Not that I will spoil my next ballot. I'll vote Reform. That number will certainly be recorded. Will they get any seats? Of course not. Would they be able to deliver on their manifesto even if they were the government? Probably not as the bloody civil service is who does the actual running of the country and if they don't like some policy it won't get done.
The reason I'll vote Reform is simple. I have always voted. None of the main parties are worth a vote. Reform is a populist party and so a protest vote. The bigger that protest is the better. Non voters can have no legitimate complaint about anything the government does. There will be plenty to complain about in the years to come believe me.
If a party came along that I thought might, or just possibly mean what they say, I'd vote for them.
But look, isn't all this wishful thinking? We had over two decades of filling soft heads by remain PM's that dragged us into the EU. Cameron, May, Boris, Truss, they were all remainers.
We've had decades of mass immigration, the problems we now have wouldn't go away even if it suddenly stopped. The character and demography of the UK has already completely changed.
We destroyed our economy with Covid lockdowns and restrictions and now we've sanctioned our energy supply. It wasn't Putin that stopped selling us energy, we stamped our foot and convinced ourselves we'd discover some mythical green energy supply instead.
We're now hanging on to the shirt tails of the US and getting more and more involved in the Ukraine. This isn't going to end well for us.
Now, if there's a political party that comes along and tells me they'll sort all this out and more importantly, explains how they'll do it, I'll vote for them.
Politics was, is, and always will be about wishful thinking. Hoping that somehow in multi-variable non deterministic chaotic world someone will somehow make a decision which will improve our place on the pyramid of life.
Quote from: Weapons Grade on September 08, 2023, 12:44:36 PM:upvote:
We can't change what is, so I simply won't vote. I'll show my little cog in a big wheel displeasure by being one of the thirty something percent that ignored them. Come the revolution ... :clap:
September 08, 2023, 12:53:37 PMWhen I get my current medical problem fixed I could probably work as well, but why bother? As soon as I start work I lose my housing allowance and pension credits and I'm financially worse off. Which puts me firmly in the can't be arsed camp.
We live in a minimum wage gig economy and I've already worked out to make it worth my while I'd need upwards of £25ph. No one is paying that. The days of working hard, saving up, getting on the property ladder, the shame of being on benefits ... All that has gone now and it's grab what you can.
No one would expect someone past state pension age to find work, plenty of younger people on benefits who should be earning. No chance your wife would consider moving here on a spousal visa? What if you can't travel to her? BTW I disagree that there are no opportunities. There are all sorts of jobs of all sorts in lots of places in the UK.
Klondike, I always vote too, it'll be two votes for Reform here.
My wife wouldn't want to come here to say long term. Just turning 60, what would she do in a strange country away from her family? Not everyone wants to come to the UK. If it weren't for my pension even I wouldn't want to be here. I didn't return by choice but circumstances and you'll find that the overwhelming view of returning expats.
Once I get my current medical problem sorted out, I'd be willing to work though not for the type of work I'm being offered, or the rates. I wouldn't call the type of work offered ''opportunities,'' but yes, there is no shortage of dead end minimum wage jobs in a gig economy. Labour have said if they get in they'll abolish the gig economy and the slave like conditions it produces. Let's see.
No one expects state pensioners to work, thats why there is help for those on low pensions, Pension Credit, and housing/council tax benefits.
The NHS has lots of vacancies, as do the Civil Service, Local Government. Private firms want tech people, engineers etc. Those aren't minimum wage, gig economy type jobs, unlike the ones my 16 year old granddaughter and her friends work in. They're part time in cafes, bars, retail, hospitality etc., whilst they are continuing with the studies that will lead them to apprenticeships or universities, and ultimately reasonably well paid jobs.
There are skilled jobs available if you have a sought after skill. Otherwise it's retail, care homes or factories and the like. The old days of safe secure jobs have long gone and we're now throw away objects to be used and discarded. I suspect the ones cheering most for the gig economy are the ones who had a decently paid safe job years ago and are wondering why those in the gig economy can't do the same.
Agencies, minimum wage, sometimes zero contract hours ... If Labour do get in I hope they keep their promise and abolish this form of modern day slavery that's been going on for so long people are beginning to think it's normal.
I'd be interested to see what well paid, permanent, low skilled jobs Labour create.
More MPs, of course :grin: :grin: :grin:
Government's don't create jobs, they oversee the playing field. There's a reason we have Health and Safety, the minimum wage and human trafficking (modern slavery Act, 2015) laws. They weren't implemented because they weren't needed. Hopefully, if Labour get in they would tighten up these laws.
Well know if they did in a few years time.
Quote from: Weapons Grade on September 10, 2023, 09:11:05 AMGovernment's don't create jobs, they oversee the playing field. There's a reason we have Health and Safety, the minimum wage and human trafficking (modern slavery Act, 2015) laws. They weren't implemented because they weren't needed. Hopefully, if Labour get in they would tighten up these laws.
I applaud your optimism, unfounded though it is! 😂
Quote from: Weapons Grade on September 09, 2023, 10:41:58 AMOnce I get my current medical problem sorted out, I'd be willing to work though not for the type of work I'm being offered, or the rates. I wouldn't call the type of work offered ''opportunities,'' but yes, there is no shortage of dead end minimum wage jobs in a gig economy. Labour have said if they get in they'll abolish the gig economy and the slave like conditions it produces. Let's see.
It's not that easy to work after State Pension age, as I found out one day when, at the age of 73, I bowled up at the building site & was told I was too old for their insurers to cover me.
I was subcontracting at the time so technically I wasn't fired, my subcontract was terminated.
An acquaintance got fired from his household removals driving job when he turned 70.
Quote from: JBR on September 10, 2023, 10:52:31 AMI applaud your optimism, unfounded though it is! 😂
It's why I said ''hopefully,'' but it can't go on like this. The economy wrecked by the covid scamdemic, sanctioning our energy supply and at near war with Russia. Anything has to be better than this.
September 10, 2023, 08:32:02 PMQuote from: Diasi on September 10, 2023, 11:08:58 AMIt's not that easy to work after State Pension age, as I found out one day when, at the age of 73, I bowled up at the building site & was told I was too old for their insurers to cover me.
I was subcontracting at the time so technically I wasn't fired, my subcontract was terminated.
An acquaintance got fired from his household removals driving job when he turned 70.
I still get offers at 68, they're just ones I wouldn't accept.
Quote from: Weapons Grade on September 10, 2023, 08:30:36 PMIt's why I said ''hopefully,'' but it can't go on like this. The economy wrecked by the covid scamdemic, sanctioning our energy supply and at near war with Russia. Anything has to be better than this.
September 10, 2023, 08:32:02 PMI still get offers at 68, they're just ones I wouldn't accept.
[/b]
How do you live ? I imagine you won't get a full state pension with so many years out of the country.
Or did you carry on contributions ?
Quote from: Alex on September 10, 2023, 09:34:45 PM[/b]
How do you live ? I imagine you won't get a full state pension with so many years out of the country.
Or did you carry on contributions ?
I get pension credits, which are government/local government top ups to bring me up to near full pension level.
I obviously worked for decades in Britain, but didn't reach the full amount required. I never thought I'd be coming back so I didn't continue to pay in. I paid zero tax in Thailand and about five to six percent in China.
The only difference is that if I leave the UK for more than thirty days at a time my pension carries on, but my pension credits stop. Currently, with all the add-ons I get about £300 pw which isn't a fortune but I also have savings.
Quote from: Weapons Grade on September 11, 2023, 08:24:28 AMI get pension credits, which are government/local government top ups to bring me up to near full pension level.
I obviously worked for decades in Britain, but didn't reach the full amount required. I never thought I'd be coming back so I didn't continue to pay in. I paid zero tax in Thailand and about five to six percent in China.
The only difference is that if I leave the UK for more than thirty days at a time my pension carries on, but my pension credits stop. Currently, with all the add-ons I get about £300 pw which isn't a fortune but I also have savings.
I don't think you've missed out on much by not paying into a full pension & you certainly haven't missed out by, presumably, not having a private pension.
There are many thousands of people who've paid into a private pension scheme who are no better off than if they hadn't & had qualified for Pension Credit instead.
All they did was pay to save the DWP from paying them Pension Credit.
They should have used the money for new cars & holidays instead of scrimping to pay for their private pension.
Quote from: Diasi on September 11, 2023, 09:06:59 AMI don't think you've missed out on much by not paying into a full pension & you certainly haven't missed out by, presumably, not having a private pension.
There are many thousands of people who've paid into a private pension scheme who are no better off than if they hadn't & had qualified for Pension Credit instead.
All they did was pay to save the DWP from paying them Pension Credit.
They should have used the money for new cars & holidays instead of scrimping to pay for their private pension.
Exactly. My late father started a private pension in the 60s'. Paid in every week for the promise of £20 pw on retirement, which was a lot of money then. By the time he got to retirement it was worth practically nothing and they took £20 off his housing costs so he had to pay that from his 'private' pension. Pension credits are means tested.
The downside is that as an immigrant or if you're born here, you can spend your whole life not working or paying tax or N.I and still be able to retire on the same amount as everyone else.
If there's still a state pension in forty years time it's going to bleed Britain dry as the millions that are now flooding in and expecting a welfare state to care for them reach retirement age.
Quote from: Weapons Grade on September 11, 2023, 09:58:22 AMExactly. My late father started a private pension in the 60s'. Paid in every week for the promise of £20 pw on retirement, which was a lot of money then. By the time he got to retirement it was worth practically nothing and they took £20 off his housing costs so he had to pay that from his 'private' pension. Pension credits are means tested.
The downside is that as an immigrant or if you're born here, you can spend your whole life not working or paying tax or N.I and still be able to retire on the same amount as everyone else.
If there's still a state pension in forty years time it's going to bleed Britain dry as the millions that are now flooding in and expecting a welfare state to care for them reach retirement age.
And the real kicking given to those of us who reached State Pension age a few years ago was the change in the rules whereby new retirees get a higher basic State Pension for 10 years fewer NI contributions.
Plus the scrapping of the married couple's adult dependent allowance of £50 per week back in 2010.
Quote from: Diasi on September 11, 2023, 10:11:35 AMAnd the real kicking given to those of us who reached State Pension age a few years ago was the change in the rules whereby new retirees get a higher basic State Pension for 10 years fewer NI contributions.
Plus the scrapping of the married couple's adult dependent allowance of £50 per week back in 2010.
In any changes you can bet it's to reduce social spending costs which the conservatives are experts at doing. It's why I'd prefer Labour to have a go. Perhaps nothing will change, but the ordinary peasant in the street hasn't benefitted from the conservative years. It's all very well complaining, but it seems to me that the ones now complaing the most are the ones who voted for the mess we're in.
Truss, who single handedly nearly wrecked the economy in less than two months, Boris the pathological liar and now Rishi the invisble man, himself under investigation for corruption – what else did we expect?
Diasi, I can't believe the government got away with the 2 tier pension! We've both observed how unfair it is to pensioners with modest extra pensions who miss out on PC and its add ons by a few quid.
Now that all workplaces must offer pensions, I don't think state pensions as we know them will exist at some point in the future.
Time to ensure our grandchildren are savvy about money!
No good teaching them how to rob banks though. They'll all be closed by the time they retire.
Quote from: klondike on September 11, 2023, 11:45:11 AMNo good teaching them how to rob banks though. They'll all be closed by the time they retire.
Never a truer word spoken in jest. :rofl:
Banks? Vis is der 'banks'?
Quote from: GrannyMac on September 11, 2023, 11:35:33 AMDiasi, I can't believe the government got away with the 2 tier pension! We've both observed how unfair it is to pensioners with modest extra pensions who miss out on PC and its add ons by a few quid.
Now that all workplaces must offer pensions, I don't think state pensions as we know them will exist at some point in the future.
Time to ensure our grandchildren are savvy about money!
I get my UK Pension over here. However the first £46.12, weekly doesn't qualify for the yearly review, but I doubt many have noticed. So that turns the present 10% upgrade into 7%. Why, because I was born prior to January 1951! How indescribably miserly and mean - Damn the flat headed bastards that are the 'Remonaner Majority', in what has become a left-wing Social Dumocrat party.
I've decided to register to vote, having previously considered it unreasonable to do so in a Country I no longer live in. However this bunch of moronic retards have decided me otherwise.
I'll vote for Reform, because all the others are cheats and second rate liars and at least in a small way I can hopefully contribute to seeing the Tories down to about a 140 seat party and watching elementaries like Schapps, Tobias Windbag and all the other EU loving ensemble deflated. For the body to survive, parts must be sacrificially rent asunder.
They must be outed, whatever the dreadful alternative the other idiots have become.
"Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals"
William Shakespeare
140 seats? You reckon they'll get 140 seats?
Possibly if they called an election now but they'll hang on another year hoping things get better. They won't imo and when the election does come they could be down to double digits. I've said before that this seems to me very like a rerun of the Major government that resulted in the Blair landslide. They certainly seem to be even less popular. Their only slight glimmer at the end of the tunnel being that Starmer is no Blair of the late 90s. If the Blair of the 20s appears it may give the Tories a seat or two.
What they actually deserve is maybe a single digit as there are some Tory MPs that I consider OK.
Quote from: klondike on September 11, 2023, 06:43:50 PM140 seats? You reckon they'll get 140 seats?
Possibly if they called an election now but they'll hang on another year hoping things get better. They won't imo and when the election does come they could be down to double digits. I've said before that this seems to me very like a rerun of the Major government that resulted in the Blair landslide. They certainly seem to be even less popular. Their only slight glimmer at the end of the tunnel being that Starmer is no Blair of the late 90s. If the Blair of the 20s appears it may give the Tories a seat or two.
What they actually deserve is maybe a single digit as there are some Tory MPs that I consider OK.
Yes I reckon there's around 125 - that are what they purport to be, (Conservatives), then about 30 being full blown Liberals and the rest are Globalists. This last group, who believe they've taken over by osmotically absorbing the party are to me delusional. Its the people who vote and they are increasingly seeing through them. By the end of an El Nino cold winter, with elevated power costs, strike trauma and Ulez charges I feel the great British Public will rebel at the ballot box. Rishi Sunak's will only be remembered in the future as an answer in Pub Quizzes under 'Political Oddities'.
Quote from: klondike on September 11, 2023, 06:43:50 PM140 seats? You reckon they'll get 140 seats?
I fear that many vote from only by habit, not seeing past the tirade of lies that supposedly suggest that everything in the garden is Rosy. These will trade on 'Not being Labour' and I reckon the worse Starmer becomes the 'Tories' will salvage a few seats. So by hobbling together their crumbling Remoaner rump and those terrified of the Bolshevik Labour hordes, lead by the likes of David Lammy forcefully compelling Asylum Seekers into their homes etc, they maybe could only lose 120 seats. The interesting point will be the split of MP types left. This time we presume the Remoaner left will have the majority of the losses, it could however just mean an equal depression of both sides. Then all those who were elected in as the 'good guys' could 'cross the floor' to say Reform and leave the Tories down to say 75 seats for five years. Some of their present outstanding arseholes would still be there, but completely anaesthetised by the split? Hopefully the machine can dispel these dangerous Machiavellians and can once again 'unite' and address the real remit of the Tory party as we knew it.
It would be a time of minority parties with no overall control to the beloved 'toolmaker's son'.
Whatever happens it needs to be ruthlessly cathartic, so a strong vivacious leader is vital.
History suggests that a government that has run out of steam might win the next election with a minority and cling on. Alternatively the former opposition may win a landslide, but I really don't see the present labour party as being landslide material. Looks like one lot relying on Micawberism and the other lot relying on snookers.
The polls are sometimes wrong but they'd need to be very very wrong for the current government to get re-elected.
It's been a long time since we had a Labour government and when we did they had the get out of jail free card of the banking collapse. I reckon there are plenty that will take a punt on them given the bloody shambles we have now with nothing working and a cost of living crisis. I don't think there is time for this to heal itself and the current Tory party are incapable of doing anything to fix it.
I think that it is simply that the current 'Tory' so called party are simply incapable
Quote from: Weapons Grade on September 11, 2023, 11:08:26 AMIn any changes you can bet it's to reduce social spending costs which the conservatives are experts at doing. It's why I'd prefer Labour to have a go. Perhaps nothing will change, but the ordinary peasant in the street hasn't benefitted from the conservative years. It's all very well complaining, but it seems to me that the ones now complaing the most are the ones who voted for the mess we're in.
It was Labour who scrapped the State Pension adult dependent allowance in April 2010, robbing my wife & me of £50 per week for the 9 years we were married before she died.
Quote from: Diasi on September 12, 2023, 10:45:07 AMIt was Labour who scrapped the State Pension adult dependent allowance in April 2010, robbing my wife & me of £50 per week for the 9 years we were married before she died.
And did the Conservatives remedy that when they got in? That was thirteen years ago. Look at the poverty rates now under the Conservatives. Nothing is going to get any better under the Tories, they're a spent force. Perhaps Labour will be just as useless, but my opinion is why not give them a go.