The Labour Government

[west didsblue]

The back end is probably beat out.

Her or the car?

 

[The Future’s Blue!]

The far right helping the establishment.

Keir Stalin will be rolling out facial recognition software countrywide because of those cunts wanting a scrap to prove their masculinity.

Love it, can’t wait for it. Can we also have an identity card as well.

 

[TinFoilHat]

Love it, can’t wait for it. Can we also have an identity card as well.

I don't see an argument against Identity cards anymore.

A few years ago I'd have been on marches.

Facebook/Google etc know everything about us. Might as well let the state know as well.

 

[west didsblue]

I don't see an argument against Identity cards anymore.

A few years ago I'd have been on marches.

Facebook/Google etc know everything about us. Might as well let the state know as well.

They already do.

 

[TinFoilHat]

They already do.

Just make it official.

:)

 

[PPT]

I don't see an argument against Identity cards anymore.

A few years ago I'd have been on marches.

Facebook/Google etc know everything about us. Might as well let the state know as well.

Spot on. If the state demanded to know what time we are going out tonight, where we are going, who we are going with, what we are wearing, what we are eating and send them pictures to prove it there would be riots. Millions and millions of people are doing just that on Facebook and other social media channels every day.

 

[inbetween]

You're looking at a government that believes in the household budget theory of macroeconomics.

This is economic illiteracy. But before anyone gets excited, the whole Tory Party, most of the Labour Party and the Lib-Dems all believe in this model, or purport to believe in it. Most ordinary citizens believe in it too, as it appears to make sense. We all know that you can only spend and borrow so much on a given income without getting into trouble.

The reality is that the state and a private household are clean different things. But this model is so baked into to people's heads that it is very difficult to shift.

So what you have is a broadly left government tying its own hands to conform to a nonsense. This means they are severely restricted as to what they can do as they 'have to balance the books'. They are also terrified of spooking the financial markets. (A legacy of Truss.)

So expect very slow progress and some decisions you will hate. It's inevitable. The only good thing is that unlike the Tories they will not make a god of tax cuts, to the point of offering unaffordable ones.

The only flaw in this is that it almost argues for increased borrowing but there has to be an understanding of where you're borrowing from. You either borrow from the markets (eg. bonds) or you 'borrow' from the BoE by printing money.

We owe today £2600bn and it is rising every single day. We already pay more towards debt interest than we do towards defence. Debt interest does not do anything, it does not create jobs, educate people or feed them. If we increased taxes by 10% then a chunk of that 10% would have to go towards servicing debt.

I've always argued that the biggest problem in the UK is not the amount of spending, the problem is where the money gets spent. We have a massive regionalisation problem for example but nobody is changing that. Smart motorways are perhaps the biggest infrastructure project up here!

Countries such as Germany have really strong regional centres with their own identity whereas in the UK if you're not in London then you're nowhere. This is probably because the UK is not actually a major economic powerhouse, the city of London certainly makes it a powerhouse but the rest of the country is fairly average.

We're just too short-sighted to spend money properly because at the end of the day London is the blood supply so that's where most of the money goes. Governments also only really have a shelf life of 5 years so why would they care?

 

[BrianW]

Labour has promised more devolution, but we'll see.

You know, not everyone sees devolution as a Good Thing. People say things like: 'Just giving more money to Burnham to waste.' Because incredibly, some still have great faith in the Man In Whitehall, even though that man can't tell Stopes from Somerset or Sunderland.

As ever, it's partly down to us. We have a population that is often embittered, cynical, and hostile to any change, good or bad alike. One thing I would like to see is PR voting at the local level. This would end the 'One Party States' which are not good for faith in democracy.

 

[inbetween]

Labour has promised more devolution, but we'll see.

You know, not everyone sees devolution as a Good Thing. People say things like: 'Just giving more money to Burnham to waste.' Because incredibly, some still have great faith in the Man In Whitehall, even though that man can't tell Stopes from Somerset or Sunderland.

As ever, it's partly down to us. We have a population that is often embittered, cynical, and hostile to any change, good or bad alike. One thing I would like to see is PR voting at the local level. This would end the 'One Party States' which are not good for faith in democracy.

The amounts that come through devolution though are always going to be pathetic. The regions need an astronomic amount of investment to put them on par with equivalents in Europe. We know that's expensive but it's required because they've never had it before and they've fallen behind.

Areas such as Manchester and Birmingham and others in the North East should be manufacturing powerhouses akin to Munich, Hamburg etc but they're a million miles away. The service sector has since taken over and the unskilled/skilled manufacturing jobs have all been replaced by automation or those jobs have been sent abroad.

I think this regionalisation problem is the primary reason why Brexit happened but also it's why events such as today are starting to occur. The regions are losing pace and people are becoming poorer. When this happens people turn to their prejudices. The response from Labour unfortunately so far though is ignorance and the Tories were the same.

 

[KS55]

The amounts that come through devolution though are always going to be pathetic. The regions need an astronomic amount of investment to put them on par with equivalents in Europe. We know that's expensive but it's required because they've never had it before and they've fallen behind.

Areas such as Manchester and Birmingham and others in the North East should be manufacturing powerhouses akin to Munich, Hamburg etc but they're a million miles away. The service sector has since taken over and the unskilled/skilled manufacturing jobs have all been replaced by automation or those jobs have been sent abroad.

I think this regionalisation problem is the primary reason why Brexit happened but also it's why events such as today are starting to occur. The regions are losing pace and people are becoming poorer. When this happens people turn to their prejudices. The response from Labour unfortunately so far though is ignorance and the Tories were the same.

The politicians live in a London bubble.