The Labour Government

The snag is, if we have a financial crash - quite possible if people are daft enough to vote for financially illiterate Reform - such harsh measures as means testing the state pension may well be forced on us by the IMF, who are not fluffy bunnies. In short, it's only within our government's discretion while we have a functioning economy.

I remember arguing with people who said the economy wasn't everything and that intangible things like 'sovereignty' were more important. My position remains unchanged. It is all about the economy because if that fails we are all fucked and nothing is off the table.

In my view, the UK economy is not currently fucked, but it certainly isn't secure and it wouldn't take that much to wreck it.

I think the triple lock is unaffordable in the medium/long term, but obviously, no political party wants the unpopularity of abandoning it. If politicians were remotely responsible, they would come together and agree on a long-term position on this and other issues like social care. Consensus, not point scoring.

My suggestion is that state pension should be an agreed percentage of minimum wage for 40 hours and should rise in line with the minimum wage. This would be much more affordable in the long term as there would be a link to economic growth.
 
BrianW said:
The snag is, if we have a financial crash - quite possible if people are daft enough to vote for financially illiterate Reform - such harsh measures as means testing the state pension may well be forced on us by the IMF, who are not fluffy bunnies. In short, it's only within our government's discretion while we have a functioning economy.

I remember arguing with people who said the economy wasn't everything and that intangible things like 'sovereignty' were more important. My position remains unchanged. It is all about the economy because if that fails we are all fucked and nothing is off the table.

In my view, the UK economy is not currently fucked, but it certainly isn't secure and it wouldn't take that much to wreck it.

I think the triple lock is unaffordable in the medium/long term, but obviously, no political party wants the unpopularity of abandoning it. If politicians were remotely responsible, they would come together and agree on a long-term position on this and other issues like social care. Consensus, not point scoring.

My suggestion is that state pension should be an agreed percentage of minimum wage for 40 hours and should rise in line with the minimum wage. This would be much more affordable in the long term as there would be a link to economic growth.
Click to expand...
Not too much to disagree with here.
 
BrianW said:
My suggestion is that state pension should be an agreed percentage of minimum wage for 40 hours and should rise in line with the minimum wage. This would be much more affordable in the long term as there would be a link to economic growth.
Click to expand...
Yep, and MP's salaries should be the same. Improve the economy, get rewarded. Fuck it up, get a real-terms pay cut like everyone else.
 
some far left commentators ( I include Owen Jones in that ) just cannot forgive Starmer for beating a Tory Govt - its like they want to be in opposition forever. Murphy needs to look at himself here - this was in the news this morning - he posted at nearly 2pm - its driven by a visceral hate because he sure as hell wasn't listening to the news

 
bluethrunthru said:
some far left commentators ( I include Owen Jones in that ) just cannot forgive Starmer for beating a Tory Govt - its like they want to be in opposition forever. Murphy needs to look at himself here - this was in the news this morning - he posted at nearly 2pm - its driven by a visceral hate because he sure as hell wasn't listening to the news

Click to expand...

Richard Murphy is a clueless clown, and a nasty piece of work by the looks of things as well.
 
bluethrunthru said:
some far left commentators ( I include Owen Jones in that ) just cannot forgive Starmer for beating a Tory Govt - its like they want to be in opposition forever. Murphy needs to look at himself here - this was in the news this morning - he posted at nearly 2pm - its driven by a visceral hate because he sure as hell wasn't listening to the news

Click to expand...

I increasingly struggle to recognise the left that I embraced, the likes of Jones and Murphy are execrable characters.
 
hampshireblue said:
Not too much to disagree with here.
Click to expand...
Except the equally awkward commitment not to increase income tax, NI, or VAT.

(Till the Falklands, Thatcher's saying they wouldn't double VAT then increasing it from 8% to 15% might have been seen as more of a broken promise than the recent employers' NI increase - though I don't recall the Tory press in 1979 calling it a betrayal.)
 
bluethrunthru said:
I was hearing this news on the radio - it was breaking on the BBC and Murphy did that - shameless
Click to expand...

As PM Starmer doesn't get a day off from being criticised. I doubt Murphy he was aware but it wouldn't have been right to take it down and pretend he didn't make the comment.

Not sure the glib remark made much difference to Starmer and he would have been spending Christmas at Chequers regardless of the situation.

The hundreds of comments in righteous indignation and quote tweets are just as bad tbh. Would have been better off ignoring it rather than amplifying it.
 
Mr Kobayashi said:
As PM Starmer doesn't get a day off from being criticised. I doubt Murphy he was aware but it wouldn't have been right to take it down and pretend he didn't make the comment.

Not sure the glib remark made much difference to Starmer and he would have been spending Christmas at Chequers regardless of the situation.

The hundreds of comments in righteous indignation and quote tweets are just as bad tbh. Would have been better off ignoring it rather than amplifying it.
Click to expand...
Just shows certain ones on the left to be cunts, and even though I voted for him as a sort of protest vote, the likes of Corbyn allowed this country to fall as quick as it did.
 
The Future’s Blue! said:
Just shows certain ones on the left to be cunts, and even though I voted for him as a sort of protest vote, the likes of Corbyn allowed this country to fall as quick as it did.
Click to expand...

It's a glib comment but had nothing to do with Starmer's personal situation and he probably wasn't aware. I doubt the Murphy spends as much time listening to Radio 4 or spam refreshing news sites as others.

Not sure what Corbyn has to do with anything. Sounds like you are blaming him more than people elected to government, including one of the people who persuaded him to self-sabotage with the people's vote.

Starmer offers nothing other than managed decline at the moment.
 
Vic said:
Except the equally awkward commitment not to increase income tax, NI, or VAT.
Click to expand...
Well I'm yet to find anyone who sits on either side of the political spectrum who thinks that it was sensible to commit to no increases. It seems to be something politicians appeared to think was needed to convince the electorate, but in reality it wasn't.

Maybe political parties dont understand the electorate, which is why in general there is such dissatisfaction with, and apathy towards, politics in general.

Affordability of the state pension is not a problem for the next few years, but it will become a problem if the triple lock remains in the next 5-10 yrs.
 
Mr Kobayashi said:
It's a glib comment but had nothing to do with Starmer's personal situation and he probably wasn't aware. I doubt the Murphy spends as much time listening to Radio 4 or spam refreshing news sites as others.

Not sure what Corbyn has to do with anything. Sounds like you are blaming him more than people elected to government, including one of the people who persuaded him to self-sabotage with the people's vote.

Starmer offers nothing other than managed decline at the moment.
Click to expand...
Murphy was behind Corbyn’s economic policy, that everybody rejected out of hand, and left the country to further rot.
 
Vic said:
Except the equally awkward commitment not to increase income tax, NI, or VAT.

(Till the Falklands, Thatcher's saying they wouldn't double VAT then increasing it from 8% to 15% might have been seen as more of a broken promise than the recent employers' NI increase - though I don't recall the Tory press in 1979 calling it a betrayal.)
Click to expand...
I agree. I can never understand why politicians back themselves into a corner like this except if they don't they know the press will work on the basis that because it's not ruled out it's gonna happen. The worst example was Johnson setting a date for Brexit and us finishing up with the present shitshow to hit that date.
 
Vic said:
Except the equally awkward commitment not to increase income tax, NI, or VAT.

(Till the Falklands, Thatcher's saying they wouldn't double VAT then increasing it from 8% to 15% might have been seen as more of a broken promise than the recent employers' NI increase - though I don't recall the Tory press in 1979 calling it a betrayal.)
Click to expand...
That makes it OK then.
 
The Future’s Blue! said:
Murphy was behind Corbyn’s economic policy, that everybody rejected out of hand, and left the country to further rot.
Click to expand...

He wasn't. He wrote some draft policies in 2015, he wasn't made a formal advisor and wasn't part of the economic advisory committee.

Murphy was an informal adviser to Corbyn,[38] though it is reported that he had hoped to have a position on the Labour Party Treasury Team.[39] Murphy said in June 2016 that those demanding a change in the Labour leadership were correct, "even if I will not agree with much of their reasoning". Corbyn had "not provided a vision of what his leadership will deliver", and concerning Labour's economic policies: "we have so far heard almost nothing that really progresses the ideas outlined last summer".[40] A few weeks later, Murphy criticised Corbyn's track record further writing "there was no policy direction, no messaging, no direction, no co-ordination, no nothing".[41][42] In a response to a question raised in the House of Commons, Labour's Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell stated with regard to Murphy "He is not the economic adviser and never has been, because we doubted his judgment, unfortunately. He is a tax accountant, not an adviser. He is actually excellent on tax evasion and tax avoidance, but he leaves a lot to be desired on macroeconomic policy".
 
Regulate for profit not risk is the message for our regulators now… nothing can go wrong here.

news.sky.com

Starmer throws down gauntlet to watchdogs with growth edict

The PM, chancellor and business secretary have written to watchdogs including Ofgem, the FCA and CMA to demand ideas for growth and investment amid sluggish economic growth, Sky News learns.
news.sky.com news.sky.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top