David Cameron basically is chucking the hot potato to the next PM. That whole debate, all of his answers were "that's for the next government to decide". I admire his principals... But bloody hell, we are in a right 2 and 8.
OK below are 2 pictures to describe how close the problems in the "sink" estates are. The estate I live on is described as one of the most deprived in the country although I do not recognise that because it is nowhere near as bad as many other places seen on TV. In terms of ratios, percentages, education etc it probably qualifies as such but in terms of poverty then they are not taking into account the real cost of living in Lincolnshire which is very low, especially compared to the worst parts of London. It is one reason why the benefit cap is unfair to many but not even bordering a problem up here. That £3,000 difference between London and here is not the difference in housing costs. the houses on this street are £70 (ish for 2 bed) a week council rent however for the benefit cap we need to look at private rent costs which are causing the differential. The private rent on one of these houses which was to let recently was £450 a month so £5400. The rent for a similar private rent 2 bed in a poor area of London would be circa £1000 a month week and probably a flat. That means that in London they get an extra £3,000 benefit cap than us yet from that benefit they now have a rent of £12000 that comes out of it. That means we have £6600 more money less their extra £3,000 leaving us with £3,600 more money after housing benefit than them. Of course Council tax benefit is taken from benefit as well and council tax is calculated on the value of the house. This is why housing benefit and council tax should be treated differently than benefits and why I continue to say that benefits are too generous. In London that extra £3k is not enough and people there will be in poverty. Up here it is nowhere near poverty. Politicians from both sides have totally misjudged that one especially Ed Milliband with his "cost of living crisis". People up here just don't recognise it. As a caveat my end of the street has some people that are racist but not many. We are talking about 10%. The other end of the street similarly is not completely racist so 10% that way as well. So the first picture is walking away from my house. It is the same street as mine. I have blurred numbers signposts and number plates. Looking this way you have 75% that do not work. You will notice there are less cars that isn't because people are at work. It is because people choose to spend their money on other things. There are no migrants or ethnic minorities down this end of the street. None. Not even any mixed race marriages. There is a huge amount of anti social behaviour down here. The kids (as young as 2 and 3) run around the street from the moment they get home until 10 (or later at night.) Many people will be visible in their front "gardens" drinking all through the day. This end of the street has featured twice on Police Interceptors that I have seen (might be some I haven't seen.) The second flag you can see shown with the red arrow says on it in the 4 white sections EDL, NF, LTE, Pak** go home. (LTE is Lincoln Transit Elite - the old hooligan element of Lincoln City which seems to be a badge of honour still even though it is defunct.) It flies all year round. I know these people and do not ignore them or talk down to them. It is better to know them and be known by them. They shout racist abuse at any ethnic minority or Polish that walks past and it is a route to the shops. They do not shout at my wife because they know me. Like people say Keep your enemies closer. They are not ashamed of their racism or bigotry and do not hide it when in the company of someone who is from those backgrounds. please log in to view this image Turning around at the same junction looking towards my house. I have drawn a red line which is an invisible point where it goes from a majority of racist "scroungers" to the reverse. Majority past that line are not racist. 1 in 4 houses are occupied by EU migrants. We get on pretty well. It is still about 50% unemployed and I include myself as unemployed because I want to work not trudge along self employed not making much money. The difference is that unlike the other end these people used to work and still want to. They used to work in factories and on farms and were bussed in to the rural areas. The employers tried to get rid of them by cancelling the busses but they bought cars to get to work so the employers got rid of them via any petty problem through disciplinary procedures or by making them redundant and then used migrant agencies instead. There are many more cars this end because people have different priorities. They do not stand in their front gardens drinking all day. They keep their back gardens tidy to enjoy them. They are much more friendly. The photo only shows about a quarter of the length of this end as the road bends and my house is out of sight around the corner. You may notice there are loads of trees this end. There used to be trees all the way down the other end but because those people like to set fire to things and other bad habits they cut the remaining unburnt trees down. please log in to view this image My whole point is that on both ends of the street the people use the same language. They both moan about immigrants but while those at the other end mean that they hate the people at this end they are moaning about their jobs, do not want to offend the migrants that do live beside them and are friends with the migrants. They are not actually moaning about immigrants as people. They are actually moaning about what they see as taking the jobs they used to do away from them. This is not the same argument as seen in the 50s or 60s. That was small scale. We are talking here of a mass displacement of British workers by the employers and a massive inward pull for EU migrants because they are recruited in their home countries by these agencies. The ones that live down here have made deals with their former agencies to pay "x" amount to make up for what those agencies used to make in housing and transport deductions. That is the whole point I have been trying to make. The minority of people like those at the other end of the street (5-10% of a sinkhole estate) are racists and when they talk about immigrants they add in Pak**, ni***rs, Polish etc. The majority of people up this end of the street (90-95%) still living on a "sinkhole" estate are not racist, they are living with and socialising and mingling with migrants and immigrants and when they speak of immigrants they are talking about their old jobs and their anger with "the system". I was not born into this area though. I am here through circumstance, that being like many I got carried away with credit in the noughties and when I lost my job I had no option but to come to the street with the worst reputation in my city because I could get a council house immediately on this street. No-one wanted to live here. Not like now where people just want a house and there is a waiting list even for this street. However that is born from old reputations and the current reputation of the other end. This end is near enough suburbia in comparison. And the beauty is that if I look along my garden there is the cathedral in my eyeline. I live less than a mile from the Cathedral.
On a practical level, there's only so much difference this whole "We're not racists" thing makes. I suppose immigrants might feel a tiny bit better if it is only them being personally accused of screwing over everyone else's jobs, instead of their whole race being the kind of people who screw over everyone. I guess. But I think the would mostly feel a lot better if they weren't accused of screwing over other people at all. And also, if they could keep their job (as lousy at they are) and stay in the country.
Yeah, hilarious. The biggest constitutional crisis this country has faced since WWIi, all of Cameron's making, and we have no leaders on either side of the house of commons.
The EU referendum and the fall out from it will be Cameron's political legacy, like Blair and the Iraq war
As the House of Commons voted by 544 to 53 in favour of holding the referendum I think that's a bit harsh.
The Commons also voted for military action in Iraq including the majority of Tory MPs, yet Blair, quite rightly, gets most of the flak. Cameron should never have put the referendum in the election manifesto knowing what the consequences might be.
With first past the post, the two newish parties that you have suggested entering the political stage wouldn't stand a chance at a general election given the first past the post system. Under the Spanish system two new parties are thriving. For it to happen in the UK, it would need a major shift in people's thinking to vote for new centrist parties. As it the electorate have moved to the right and the relative success of UKIP who still have to make a major breakthrough in National Elections.
I know you have been reminding us occasionally that the electorate should never have been given the chance of a referendum vote. FWIW, I agreed with you then and I still agree with you. 1] One the vote should not have been available. 2] If the vote had to be made available, it should have been made in the dry and dusty world of facts and there should have been guarantees of a decisive vote or no action, say a 2/3rds majority. Perhaps even a requirement that every one of the electorate must vote [eg, like Australia] to avoid the mess we have now, where the country is utterly split down the middle.
Some say that good things come in threes. In a week that has seen Cameron and hodgson resign, I have got a keen eye on Donald Trumps website.
I agree, those new parties could only form and succeed if the two main parties we have now were to break up. Labour look relatively close to splitting. If Corbyn hangs on to the leadership you could conceivably have a situation where the bulk of the parliamentary Labour party walk away from the actual Labour party. On the other side you also have a split in the Conservative party. They'll probably patch things up - Tories tend to be more pragmatic (or less principled if you prefer to put it that way) about this sort of thing - but a lot of them are very unhappy. It's not impossible that you could get what would usually be called centre-left Labour MPs cosying up to centre-right Tories. You might then have Old Labour, the Tory right and maybe even UKIP joining up as a Traditionalist party. I doubt that will happen but we'll see. I'm not sure the electorate have moved to the right. For a lot of the people who voted Leave, particularly in places like Sunderland, the referendum has been their first real opportunity to reject the Labour establishment. In general elections they've tended not to vote because they don't feel connected to Labour but would never ever vote Tory.
Which leaves room then for a more extreme party that feeds on people's fears and concerns. I wonder where we have seen that before? Surely it couldn't happen in the UK, or could it?
