I actually agree with nearly all of this. I swing more to the right than left (as I have said numerous times here), not far right - in fact only about 1mm right of centre. 95% (or more) of this board swing the other way. I am near enough to centre to appreciate and even agree on some points, but this board is hardly representative of the UK population as a whole; if it was, we would be slagging off a Kier Starmer** government as he would have got in with 95% of the vote last time (**Technically Jeremy Corbin, but you get what i mean). IMO the Tories have outstayed their welcome, they need to regroup and maybe give Labour a chance to repair their damage. Who knows, we'll be having this convo in reverse in 5-7 years if that happens.
You are sounding like me- Taking a criticism.as personal. I can accept an alternative view if it is based on rationality and evidence. Many of the issues that you have raised, I have refrained from.comment because I know nothing about them. For example, transgender. However, when it comes to criticising the present Government and its members, it is not only the lefties on this board that are critical but high profile Conservatives like Rory Stewart, John Major, Michael Heseltine, even William Hague!!
I suspect that anyone who cared could watch my move from centre right to centre left over the past 11 years, all in plain sight on this forum. It's been an interesting and, at times, frustrating journey. In the unlikely event anyone's interested the journey happened when I started to ask why I believed what I believed. It's a vital question and, in general, is the question I ask more than any other when I speak to people who are where I was. It's also a damned painful question to ask yourself and led to upheaval in many areas of my life. I guess asking the question regularly (as I try to do) now makes me part of the echo-chamber. Vin
I think labelling yourself left and right is itself difficult. There are issues i a very much on the left of and there are issues i am very much on the right of. I think capitalism is a mistake - but there is no better option. Just like democracy is a horrible idea with no way to fix it (though first past the post is barely democracy at all). That sticks me a chunk down the left as i do believe in levelling society and crippling the assets of the super rich. It is an offence to mankind that individuals own as much wealth as they do. But I also believe young white boys are failed by woke politics and that most left minded people tend to be middle class and have a condescending attitude to the poor. I firmly believe a lot of the anti- brexit camp (though i do think we shouldn’t have left) are motivated by snobbery. I think this disconnect between intellectual left wing ideals and the true issues faced by working people has done lasting damage to Labour. I guess on this point I am swinging to the right. I also feel worried about the unfettered entrance of ideologies i do find fairly backwards into our society. We fought hard for women’s right but there are subsections of out society we actively work to protect - even as they work dann hard to deny gay rights and women’s equality.
They’re not only flat-out taking the piss, they’ve completely lost the plot. They think they can persuade the electorate that nurses, ambulance drivers, railway staff, teachers, postmen, civil servants etc are all enemies of the people. Ffs, they are the people.
Thing is there is always a place for an economically sensible and ‘competent’ centre-right party, the issue is the Conservatives haven’t been that for a very long time now and more than anything they don’t have the best interests of the U.K. at heart.
And I related news, Twitter now appears to be filtering posts from people you follow. I know this might sound trivial to non Twitterati but it makes Twitter far less useful as a way of finding useful news. I follow people because they link to useful material. Elmo is breaking it.
I have a pathological hatred of apps and still do everything in-browser on my phone, because I am secretly 89 years old, so I haven't seen anything different. But I've seen tonnes of people frustrated that they get a lot of promoted junk and less from their actual follows. While it might be intentional, it could also be that Twitter's back-end is starting to fray. Which would explain why it's an issue with the app but not the browser version.
The government might be looking at raising the pension age to 68, 11 years sooner than planned, so if you are younger than 55, this would affect you. In one district in Blackpool, Bloomfield, the average life expectancy for men is said to be 67 years and 3 months. MINISTERS are considering raising the state pension age earlier than planned – leading a charity to warn it could have a devastating impact. The current retirement age of 66 is scheduled to increase to 67 in 2028 and then to 68 in 2046. Ministers are reportedly planning to bring forward that second change by 11 years to 2035. It would affect those who are currently 54 and under. Age UK charity director Caroline Abrahams said: “Any decision to make today’s 50-somethings wait longer for their state pension would be setting up hundreds of thousands of men and women for a miserable and impoverished few years in their run-up to retirement.” She added it would be “a kick in the teeth they could well do without”. Ms Abrahams also said there is “endemic ageism” in the labour market. Research by Age UK has found that 3.5 million people aged between 50 and 64 are “economically inactive”, with 31% having less than £5,000 in savings. The charity said there is “no justification” for increasing the state pension age, with 1.3 million sick and 500,000 having care responsibilities. Ms Abrahams said: “Nothing could better demonstrate the level of inequality in our society and the importance of doing more to give those on the lowest incomes in this age group some hope. “If ministers decide to tinker with the [state pension age] again as part of their review, and do so in favour of the state, this will be a move in the wrong direction and a denial of social justice.” The change could be announced when Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivers the Budget in March. MP Wendy Chamberlain, the Lib Dems’ work and pensions spokeswoman, said the Government “seems to have completely lost the plot”. She added: “They’ve messed up people’s lives by hiking taxes and causing mortgages to spiral, and now they want to force millions to change their retirement plans. “With life expectancy falling there is a risk people will die before retirement. It shows this Government is completely out of touch.” Tom Selby, the head of retirement policy at investment service AJ Bell, said: “Rishi Sunak will be playing with political fire if he decides to accelerate the planned increase in the state pension to 68. “Official data suggests average life expectancy improvements – the main justification for state pension age increases – have gone into reverse since the pandemic.” There are about 41 million people in England and Wales who are aged 54 and under. The Department for Work and Pensions said “no decision” has yet been made. It added: “The Government is required by law to regularly review the state pension age. “The second state pension age review is considering, based on evidence including life expectancy data and two independent reports, whether the rules around state pension age remain appropriate. “The review will be published early this year.”
From the Good Law Project, who are still investigating the VIP fast lane for PPE. An investigation we’ve been carrying out has just uncovered the huge profits made by a former dog food vendor in the unlawful 'VIP Lane' PPE scandal. Zoe Ley brokered two multimillion dollar contracts for Hong Kong-based Worldlink Resources, and her company made an eye-watering £17.6m net profit in its first year of trading. Ley partnered with former Conservative Party MP, Brooks Newmark, to lobbyMatt Hancock and other ministers on behalf of Worldlink resources. Newmark emailed Matt Hancock in May 2020 urging him to “support” and “help” make the controversial deal happen. Hancock and his special advisors promptly pushed the deal along and Worldlink Resources subsequently found themselves in the VIP lane – becoming one of the biggest winners of PPE contracts. Good Law Project previously revealed that Worldlink Resources won their mammoth PPE contracts after being referred onto the VIP lane by former Cabinet Minister, Lord Agnew. Furthermore, documents we obtained have uncovered serious questions about the usefulness of the PPE provided. Tens of millions of the goggles procured under the £178m deal could end up going to waste. What is slowly emerging - and there is more to come - is that we haven't been told the truth about the VIP lane. There was a whole cottage industry of Tories making referrals into the VIP lane for commission. We will continue to investigate and uncover more and more of the VIP lane scandal. Thank you for your ongoing support. Good Law Project Team
Well worth supporting along with Led by Donkeys, the Electoral Reform Society and the RNLI. **** the arseholes who critise those saving lives at sea.
He is only sending the tanks, I believe? The west can and should send whatever weapons we cans. I still don’t understand why Ukraine cannot bomb the **** out of Russian targets in Russia. P.S. **** Russia
Yeah, god forbid anyone should provide weapons to help a democracy defend itself against an authoritarian dictator. **** 'em. Nobody ever answers the question of what would happen if Russia was in the home counties today. All you get is deflection, avoidance and inane history lessons.
