[Politics] Are Labour going to turn this country around?

[sussex_guy2k2]

Were you working 14 years ago? How much were you on per hour compared to now percentage wise?

I was. Incidentally, I’ve seen the biggest pay hike I’ve ever had since September, finally bringing me to a level that matches my output. I saw little pay growth from 2008 through to this year, despite trying different industries and being educated to a high level.

There are exceptions, of course, but the rule for almost everyone I know is that those who graduated pre-2008 have done incredibly well for themselves, and those who graduated after have struggled to make ends meet throughout most of their adult life. I, despite my recent increases, have been in the latter category for most of my career, irrespective of how many hours I work, or the quality of my work.

 

[junior]

No, should have got David Cameron back in when there was a chance. I don't really follow politics, but when he was PM that is the last time that I remember feeling things were 'okay', and that's the basis of my opinion and more importantly how I would vote.

 

[loz]

No, should have got David Cameron back in when there was a chance. I don't really follow politics, but when he was PM that is the last time that I remember feeling things were 'okay', and that's the basis of my opinion and more importantly how I would vote.

Unfortunately David Cameron is probably the worst PM in my lifetime, his unnecessary BREXIT referendum gamble has totally fxxked this country up for decades to come.

 

[The Clamp]

No, should have got David Cameron back in when there was a chance. I don't really follow politics, but when he was PM that is the last time that I remember feeling things were 'okay', and that's the basis of my opinion and more importantly how I would vote.

. He ruined the UK!

 

[JBizzle]

Interesting how some of the people decrying the removal of the winter fuel allowance as killing pensioners are oddly the same group who were rabidly pro-Tory during their ACTUAL phase killing pensioners during the pandemic:

[I]Boris Johnson suggested he saw COVID as "nature's way of dealing with old people" and was "obsessed" with them accepting their fate, the inquiry into the pandemic has heard. During a hearing on Tuesday, notes were shared from the government's former chief scientist describing a "bonkers set of exchanges". Sir Patrick Vallance wrote in one of his notebooks in August 2020 that Mr Johnson was "obsessed with older people accepting their fate and letting the young get on with life and the economy going. Quite bonkers set of exchanges". Another note from Sir Patrick in December 2020 suggested the then prime minister agreed with Tory MPs that COVID was "nature's way of dealing with old people". Sir Patrick wrote: "PM told he has been acting early and the public are with him (but his party is not). He says his party 'thinks the whole thing is pathetic and COVID is just Nature's way of dealing with old people - and I am not entirely sure I disagree with them. A lot of moderate people think it is a bit too much'. Wants to rely on polling."[/I]

Anyway, do I think Labour will "fix" the country? Probably not. It's a total wreck. Whatever they do, they'll be voted out next time.

 

[JamieR]

Will Labour turn this country around? Unlikely given the fact that the tories have rogered this country up its arris for the last 14 years. 2 trillion in debt, a massively polarised population, out of Europe and a complete lack of governance and leadership during covid which allowed their crony mates to make and offshore billions of £ that we didn't have. Sorry, but the UK is fcuked regardless of who's in power.

 

[loz]

I always had a suspicion that the Tories threw the election because they knew the state of the country and had no idea how to get out of it.

 

[oneillco]

Depends what you mean by turn the country around; hopefully they can arrest the slide which those despicable Tories oversaw, but it's going to be a slow and panful process. So many towns and cities in the UK are now disaster zones, and so many of its institutions are in a mess, from the railways to the armed-forces to the NHS. I am confident that Labour will make things less bad, but will need 3 terms in office to make significant progress.

 

[Hugo Rune]

Will Labour turn this country around? Unlikely given the fact that the tories have rogered this country up its arris for the last 14 years. 2 trillion in debt, a massively polarised population, out of Europe and a complete lack of governance and leadership during covid which allowed their crony mates to make and offshore billions of £ that we didn't have. Sorry, but the UK is fcuked regardless of who's in power.

I disagree.

There is something that any government could do to turbo charge the economy and ensure that we are indeed, the fastest growing economy in the G7.

It’s almost like the current government are making this decision inevitable!

 

[Bozza]

Interesting how the people decrying the removal of the winter fuel allowance as killing pensioners are oddly the same group who were rabidly pro-Tory during their ACTUAL phase killing pensioners during the pandemic:

[I]Boris Johnson suggested he saw COVID as "nature's way of dealing with old people" and was "obsessed" with them accepting their fate, the inquiry into the pandemic has heard. During a hearing on Tuesday, notes were shared from the government's former chief scientist describing a "bonkers set of exchanges". Sir Patrick Vallance wrote in one of his notebooks in August 2020 that Mr Johnson was "obsessed with older people accepting their fate and letting the young get on with life and the economy going. Quite bonkers set of exchanges". Another note from Sir Patrick in December 2020 suggested the then prime minister agreed with Tory MPs that COVID was "nature's way of dealing with old people". Sir Patrick wrote: "PM told he has been acting early and the public are with him (but his party is not). He says his party 'thinks the whole thing is pathetic and COVID is just Nature's way of dealing with old people - and I am not entirely sure I disagree with them. A lot of moderate people think it is a bit too much'. Wants to rely on polling."[/I]

Anyway, do I think Labour will "fix" the country? Probably not. It's a total wreck. Whatever they do, they'll be voted out next time.

Are they?

I've not been even ever-so-slightly pro-Tory for a long, long time despite my natural political position probably being a shade right of centre.

But I am absolutely dismayed, as has been apparent by my posts on the subject, that this government have enacted a policy that they themselves said would kill 3,500-4,000 pensioners when they believed the Tories were considering the same thing.

A policy described with terms such as "dangerous" and "cruel" by a raft of organisations who work in the field of elderly welfare.

A policy so bad that a Worthing MP, new to the position, happened to be "unwell" on the day of the vote, so was unable to participate. She is a public health professional by career, so was well aware of the harm the policy was going to cause to many vulnerable people.

What makes it worse is the subsequent lying from the government on all aspects of the policy and attempts to justify it. Utterly shameful.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

0 growth over the last 3 months. I predict we will be in a recession next year as the budget has unravalled to be completely anti small and medium size business. To state your number one objective is growth and then do the complete opposite is baffling

 

[JBizzle]

Are they?

I've not been even ever-so-slightly pro-Tory for a long, long time despite my natural political position probably being a shade right of centre.

But I am absolutely dismayed, as has been apparent by my posts on the subject, that this government have enacted a policy that they themselves said would kill 3,500-4,000 pensioners when they believed the Tories were considering the same thing.

A policy described with terms such as "dangerous" and "cruel" by a raft of organisations who work in the field of elderly welfare.

A policy so bad that a Worthing MP, new to the position, happened to be "unwell" on the day of the vote, so was unable to participate. She is a public health professional by career, so was well aware of the harm the policy was going to cause to many vulnerable people.

What makes it worse is the subsequent lying from the government on all aspects of the policy and attempts to justify it. Utterly shameful.

I should have said "some" rather than tarring all with the same brush. I'll edit accordingly.

 

[highflyer]

Making your strategy all about growth over redistribution (so 1980's) is bad enough, and a suicidal strategy longer term IMO. Doing that and then failing to even get growth (whilst still desperately shovelling money upwards and throwing the environment under a bus) is going to bite in the shorter term if things don't change in the next 12 - 18 months.

Starmer the new Macron?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

. He ruined the UK!

Do keep in mind that @junior doesn't follow politics, which is another way of saying he dosn't really know what he's talking about.

In much the same way, the last time I felt 'OK' about Top of The Pops was at a particular time in my life, albeit the main presenter was Jimmy Savile.

Some of us have the ability and/or inclination to reconsider our perspectives. Others are content to accept their previous impressions are fact.

 

[drew]

No, should have got David Cameron back in when there was a chance. I don't really follow politics, but when he was PM that is the last time that I remember feeling things were 'okay', and that's the basis of my opinion and more importantly how I would vote.

Beggars belief. The man that oversaw austerity and took a affected the growth of the economy which, after the global financial crisis, was on the way to recovery. He than ran scared of Farage and called a referendum to secure a win in 2015. Then the disastrous remain campaign and then cutting and running.

What on earth did he do for you to think things were ok?

 

[chip]

Making your strategy all about growth over redistribution (so 1980's) is bad enough, and a suicidal strategy longer term IMO. Doing that and then failing to even get growth (whilst still desperately shovelling money upwards and throwing the environment under a bus) is going to bite in the shorter term if things don't change in the next 12 - 18 months.

Starmer the new Macron?

More like some hybrid of Ho Chi Mihn and Pol Pot There doesn't seem to be any plan other than sinking £22Bn of CO_2 and alienating their traditional voters. It would be good to know what they are really trying to achieve.

 

[Is it PotG?]

Yvette meeting the pensioners

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Beggars belief. The man that oversaw austerity and took a affected the growth of the economy which, after the global financial crisis, was on the way to recovery. He than ran scared of Farage and called a referendum to secure a win in 2015. Then the disastrous remain campaign and then cutting and running.

What on earth did he do for you to think things were ok?

The only explanation, especially for a self-confessed 'don't know anything about politics' bod, is 'I'm alright, Jack' syndrome.

As it happens I had a great time during Covid, working from home, and enjoying the silence, but I would be self-absorbed to the point of narcissism to deduce that this was 'Peak UK and the best of times'.

 

[Chicken Run]

Yvette meeting the pensioners

There will be a time probably by the summer next year when senior Labour Politicians won’t be able to go out onto the streets unless they at they want to be verbally abused

 

[loz]

The thing is about the WFA I haven’t met anyone who actually needs it, I have had loads of folks moaning to me about it and when I say just apply for pension credit you might be eligible and they come back with “ well I don’t need it really” I am quite awear that loads of poorer elderly will need it though. I just feel the anger has been whipped up by the right.