The Next Labour Govt In London

[Jarndyce]

30 minutes ago, thommo2010 said:

Like him or not Farahe was the only one in the debates who actually gave answers the rest skirt around the answer or find someone to blame

Fair enough - but would you be prepared to vote for him on that basis, irrespective of whether you actually liked his answers?

[Cambon]

3 hours ago, Gladys said:

There were some recent stats that showed that the number of immigrants to the UK was substantially for employment and their families.    The actual percentage of illegal immigrants was low.

Quite what that says about an anti-immigrant policy I am not sure. 

That is correct, but circa 10 millions increase in 20 years is around a 10% increase taking into account those who returned to the eu due to Brexit. I don’t see 10% more hospitals, or schools, or dentists, of doctor’s surgery. The whole thing needs stopping until the country can cope! Nothing to do with racism, just simple economics. 

[Jarndyce]

39 minutes ago, Cambon said:

Nothing to do with racism

Good to know…

[thommo2010]

2 hours ago, Jarndyce said:

Fair enough - but would you be prepared to vote for him on that basis, irrespective of whether you actually liked his answers?

I wouldn't vote for any of them to be honest. 

[WTF]

labour have only been in power a few days and already they've kicked an indian family out of their home.

[Roger Mexico]

4 hours ago, WTF said:

labour have only been in power a few days and already they've kicked an indian family out of their home.

Don't worry House and Garden consider "Number 10 Downing Street, [...]arguably the least glamorous of [the Sunaks] addresses".  They'll probably manage.

Incidentally I reckon you can tell what an epic failure Sunak was by the fact his vote in his Richmond and Northallerton constituency[1] dropped from 32,861 to 23,059 (63.3% to 47.5%) a fall of 9,802.  While Starmer in his Holborn and St Pancras constituency was wildly successful in having his vote go from 29,537 to 18,884 (66.3% to 48.9%) which is only 10,653 down[2].

 

[1]  Where the family own "Kirby Sigston Manor built in 1826 [and...] have had plans approved to build a new leisure complex on the grounds of the house, which will include a swimming pool, gym and tennis court, and is estimated to be costing close to £400,000".

[2]  Because of boundary changes to both constituencies, I've used the Rawlings and Thrasher estimates for what the votes would have been in 2019 via HoC library.

[code99]

On 7/6/2024 at 9:14 PM, Cambon said:

I think, with a fairly right leaning Labour Party and a fairly left leaning tory party, reform is basically where tory traditionally is. 
I like Farage. Not because of his politics, but because he speaks out, whether you like it or not. If only mainstream politicians would do the same……

“and a fairly left leaning tory party” – Really?

Under 14 years of Tory rule the rich have gotten immeasurably richer and the poor have gotten worse off. This outcome is the inevitable result of right-wing political policies. The Tories have left a trail of failures in their wake - more British kids in poverty than when Cameron and Osbourne took power and introduced austerity, patients are now dying in A&E while waiting to be seen, schools and roads are falling apart… Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens have a massive Inbox of things that desperately need fixing.

“I like Farage. Not because of his politics, but because he speaks out, whether you like it or not. If only mainstream politicians would do the same……”

Farage is no different to any other politicians in that respect. In my most recent post I gave some of his quotes:

• E.g., he accused Jeremy Corbyn of being antisemitic but he himself went on to talk about the ‘"Jewish lobby" having too much money and too much influence;
• He said that Muslims are coming to the UK to “take (it) over”.
• He says that young British Muslims don’t share “British values”;

Most Muslims I’ve met work in hospitals, as many do all over the UK. How is ‘working for the benefit of society’ in a hospital ‘taking over’?

By parading himself with ciggy and a pint, is he really displaying British values, or just lazy unhealthy habits? Incidentally, I saw plenty British ethnic-minority people cheering for England’s football team - isn’t that showing loyalty to "British values"? Of course, many of England’s professional players are from ethnic-minority backgrounds, some of whom are Muslim... For some obscure reason, Farage is not saying much about those crazy Christian evangelists (because his buddy Trump is so into them?) who spout Biblical platitudes to foist their anti-democratic fantasies and prejudices onto other people!

But I as I said before, now that Farage has achieved the unthinkable – a seat in democratic Parliament of the United Kingdom, it is up to him to put his ideas to the country and maybe to also see them being adopted.  

[When Skies are Grey V2]

What are British values exactly....asides from Colonialism and poor customer service!

[RecklessAbandon]

12 minutes ago, When Skies are Grey V2 said:

What are British values exactly....asides from Colonialism and poor customer service!

Queueing

[Roger Ram]

John Webster.

What do we think of his opinion on things?

[The Voice of Reason]

On 7/8/2024 at 11:38 AM, code99 said:

 

By parading himself with ciggy and a pint, is he really displaying British values, or just lazy unhealthy habits? Incidentally, I saw plenty British ethnic-minority people cheering for England’s football team - isn’t that showing loyalty to "British values"? Of course, many of England’s professional players are from ethnic-minority backgrounds, some of whom are Muslim... For some obscure reason, Farage is not saying much about those crazy Christian evangelists (because his buddy Trump is so into them?) who spout Biblical platitudes to foist their anti-democratic fantasies and prejudices onto other people!

But I as I said before, now that Farage has achieved the unthinkable – a seat in democratic Parliament of the United Kingdom, it is up to him to put his ideas to the country and maybe to also see them being adopted.  

Well is it that unthinkable, someone being democratically elected to the UK Parliament.

I have never heard Farage being critical of the fact that many of Englands professional  footballers are from ethnic minority backgrounds , Muslim or not.

Nor have I heard him preaching hate. His tone is always measured.

He’s not my cup of tea ( although obviously he has earned most of the UK’s gratitude for his part in  the Brexit referendum and the resulting Leave verdict)

If you are going to demonise someone for having a cigarette and a pint, then you are demonising a sizable percentage of the UK population. , Including myself ( albeit in the IOM) when  I was forced to give up on the cigarettes due to the restrictions on where you could enjoy a smoke and the oppressive tax take on such products 

 

 

 

Edited July 10 by The Voice of Reason

[asitis]

The biggest problem the UK face in respect of many subjects politically, is an inability to have an adult conversation exploring the possible causes and remedies, without being called names regarding opinions .

Any person rooted in realism must realise that population growth, from wherever it arises, has to be at levels that the country can cope with, if not a breakdown of society is inevitable !

Until parliament and the wider world finds a way to discuss this and other matters in an adult fashion then the ship is rudderless and imo sinking !

[RecklessAbandon]

11 hours ago, The Voice of Reason said:

Nor have I heard him preaching hate. His tone is always measured.

Dog whistle (politics) - Wikipedia

"In politics, a dog whistle is the use of coded or suggestive language in political messaging to garner support from a particular group without provoking opposition. The concept is named after ultrasonic dog whistles, which are audible to dogs but not humans. Dog whistles use language that appears normal to the majority but communicates specific things to intended audiences. They are generally used to convey messages on issues likely to provoke controversy without attracting negative attention."

[code99]

OK, if Farage is the answer, what exactly is the question/ problem? E.g.,:

1. The social care sector is chronically understaffed because these jobs are physically and emotionally difficult and poorly paid. Consequently, many (potential) British workers seek employment in more ‘exciting’ and lucrative industries like Finance, IT, PR, etc. Recent employment surveys have also identified that an increasing number of general nursing staff are considering quitting the medical profession due to worsening work pressures, low pay and lack of recognition. So, what’s to be done?

The UK Government could drastically reduce the provisioning of public health services to the old and infirmed, or they could significantly improve the working conditions and the pay for these types of essential workers, or they could continue to encourage the immigration of ‘cheap’ foreign workers who are willing to do these types of jobs (where EU workers used to do these jobs, Brexit ruined that ‘fix’ and now they are being replaced by the workers from non-EU countries). BTW, the Australian-style immigration points system that Farage used to drone on about has caused considerable expansion of Australia’s population, especially in major capital cities, and is being blamed for Australia’s off-the-charts housing crisis.

2. The refugee crisis is a global human suffering crisis - if there were no wars, no persecution, no economic deprivation, no discrimination and no environmental destruction then people from all sorts of different parts of the world would not be trying to escape to places like the UK. So, what’s to be done?

The UK Government could abandon the humanitarian principles of Geneva Convention and discard the applications from the asylum seekers in preference to having more of the ‘rich and powerful’ living in the UK (some rich foreign plutocrats will have dubious sources of wealth and some would have contributed to the demise of their countries that their fellow citizens are fleeing from). One of the consequences of such policy is that the less well-off British people would be completely priced out of the housing market because they cannot afford to compete with the millionaires, unless a lot more houses are being built.  

I think most UK politicians agree that the public’s concerns about the levels of immigration and the supporting infrastructure must be addressed, but these are complex issues which require intelligent, viable long-term solutions and options. By playing to the gallery and offering half-baked ideas and knee-jerk reactions has never worked in the past and will never work in the future. Farage’s supposed answer is less immigration which will reduce the number of workers in UK sectors like health and social welfare, and also increase the amount of suffering beyond these shores.

My guess is that whatever Labour’s plan to control the size of the UK population is, it will have more substance than the IOMG’s unfocussed plan to grow the size of the IOM population. As always, time will tell.  

[Fred the shred]

It is time we had passports and could see just who was wafting onto are shores.