The Labour Government

[bluenova]

Has any detailed planning / analysis been conducted on which parts of the country and indeed individual councils are most likely to see private school pupils moving to the state sector, and whether the state sector in those particular areas could absorb this increase in numbers?

Talking about spare capacity in the state sector as a whole is a non-argument if the movement is likely to be concentrated in particular regions.

Something like 85-90% of Local Authorities have more spare spaces than they have private pupils, with the others being fairly close, and easily able to absorb much more than even the most dramatic of Daily Telegraph predictions.

The only real outlier is Surrey, but even there they could absorb over a third of their public school pupils. I'm pretty sure no-one is going to (non) argue that a complete collapse of the Surrey public school system is likely. Obviously within a borough, the demand may be spread out, but it's unlikely to be so distorted as to cause unsurmountable problems. Anyway, public school kids are used to travelling longer average distances to get to school, so maybe even that fear will turn out to be a red herring.

 

[bluethrunthru]

Look at you celebrating the home secretary getting a positive write up the Sun ..... deary fucking me.

look at your reaction to a Govt planning - deary me - you lost get over it

 

[Craig]

I see everything that points to big lazy state, low growth and more debt. More entitlement and more laziness.

FFS

 

[I'm With Stupid]

Reading the last 10 pages, it's insane how much people care about class, about classifying people into categories. For what end? Why? Why do we have this obsessive behaviour about class in the UK?

I can't help but think this is the "if we don't talk about it, it will go away" attitude. People talk about class because the last 14 years has seen the biggest transfer of wealth from working people to the ownership class in living memory. We should be talking about class. It's the biggest factor that determines someone's outcomes in life and this is increasingly the case. Wages of workers have stagnated and ownership of assets (like a house) has flatlined at the same time that the wealth of the rich has exploded, and yet some people still don't see a link between these two facts.

But if we are going to talk about it, it would perhaps be better to talk about it in terms of people who work for a living, and people who live off the income from assets they own. Because the last 14 years has massively favoured the latter group, yet any attempt to redress this is labelled 'class warfare' as if that's a bad thing. Class warfare has already been quietly happening, and the upper classes are winning.

 

[KS55]

Reading the last 10 pages, it's insane how much people care about class, about classifying people into categories. For what end? Why? Why do we have this obsessive behaviour about class in the UK?

The UK’s obsession with class starts with the fact that we have a living, breathing active aristocracy headed by a king FFS. Until recently many sat in parliament by virtue only of their birth. Even now, they sit there voted in by……oh, the aristocracy.
Labour policy is to abolish hereditary rights to sit in parliament. Better late than never.
I would like to remind you all that we are actually living in the 21st century.

 

[remember arthur mann]

I see everything that points to big lazy state, low growth and more debt. More entitlement and more laziness.

You're certainly on to something there worze, but all this happened on your crews watch.

 

[KS55]

thanks for your kind words

Love that you call me a "faux communist" I am probably more influenced by Kropotkin than Marks, more Lenin than Trotsky, i am not a Stalinist, Gramsci intrigues me, not read much though.

What you have to remember is there are differences as the left always argues over small details.

Marxism believes in the public ownership of the means of production, whilst Communism believes in the collective ownership of the means of production. Can you see the difference?

Lenin though was quite comfortable with small business as they should remain outside of state control.

Trotsky s ideas were of perpertual revolution until the world was socialist.

You my friend are obviously a Capitalist, which makes yo a supporter of the most murderous ideology than mankind has ever seen.

Bless you x

Lucky citizens of Pol Pot, Mao, Castro, Stalin and others to have escaped the murderous tyranny of capitalism.

 

[Blue Maverick]

Public sector pay recommended at 5% but government only budgeted for 3%! Be interesting to see what happens, as an aside since I’ve retired if the next pay deal goes through the fire service will have had a 17% pay rise in 3 years! I didn’t get that in 20 years.

 

[urban genie]

Reading the last 10 pages, it's insane how much people care about class, about classifying people into categories. For what end? Why? Why do we have this obsessive behaviour about class in the UK?

because we live in a class system maybe?

we have a social heirrchy starting with the royal family, aristocracy, landed gentry, those on middle income and then those on lower income and those on none

Most nations have a class system of one way or the other and also obssess over it

 

[BrianW]

In practical reality, there will always be different incomes. A consultant surgeon will always get paid more than the person who cleans the hospital bogs. I doubt many object to that. (Although you could argue that the absence of a bog cleaner is more swiftly noticed by more people.)

However, the level of inequality in this country is much higher than in most civilised countries, bar the USA. It is a proven fact that more equal societies are happier.

It did not use to be like this. In the 1970s, the UK was much closer to the norm. The change is due to the deliberate policies of successive governments, either Tory or faux Tory. The logic behind it was a need to give 'incentives' to wealthy individuals. (When the poor demand 'incentives' they are called greedy, selfish and even unpatriotic.)

I strongly favour a greater degree of equality - note, not absolute equality. I believe it would make this country a much more contented place. Do I see this, or any other likely government, going down this road? No, frankly. Because it's a surprisingly hard sell. Start making suggestions like that and people think you want Pol Pot in charge and that you think the newest immigrant should be on the same money as King Charles. The Daily Mail would say it was 'Marxist' and that it would lead to us all dying, and, more importantly, a fall in house prices.