I’m not dismissing any of your views Nuggets, I agree with a lot of it. I do however believe that Brexit was not handled or delivered as well as it could have been. The start of the issue was Cameron winning by a huge margin because he promised a referendum. He failed to read the public, he was too pigheaded to realise that this was the only reason he got in comfortably, he was too ignorant to believe we might vote out. EVERY election is won on lies and twisting the truth, Starmer has just done it, scrapping winter fuel tax and that’s just the start. The Brexit campaign focussed on what would win the vote, remain campaign addressed none of the concerns, they fought a terrible campaign. Brexit then had to be delivered by MPs who didn’t want it. I’ve voted independent, Tory and Labour in my life, I’m not aligned to any party. This past election was the first time I nearly never voted as the choice was abysmal. The far left sicken me with their views , the far right with Tommy Robinson sickens me equally. If you dare say you want Immigration meaning legal then you’re labelled Woke. You want the boats stopped and your an EDL supporter, prime example Spanish earlier. I don’t really understand anyone who says I’ve voted one party or the other all my life. This election was an ideal platform for the public to vote for a third party and make it a three horse race. I’ve little time for anyone who says I love the UK BUT… and lives abroad. It’s like saying I’m not racist but… If you hate the UK and can move out go for it I don’t care who hates the UK and moves abroad, we had a property in Kaparis Cyprus, we intended living there one day but sold it last year changing our minds. For us, there were a dozen benefits for moving and a dozen why the UK is still better
**** me, he was your dad too then?? Wow, poor Keir, fancy having a budgie/EDL supporting brexiteer for a brother!!
Oh Ristac please ban me from your **** site, I get suicidal every time I read threads on there when you draw or lose, it's sooooo depressing
He banned himself as he was tired of having his arse handed to him, then comes here just to say we're ******s. For those of you that thinks he just dips in, read last Thursday's breakfast thread, 20 posts he made, as many as he does on here in a week
It was good honest adult debate with you over the weekend. Pity about the 2 dickheads being well.....such dickheads
He used the excuse that it was to see how we were taking to them signing Clarke. If he really had popped in to see, he would have noticed we were after wingers Manor and Ramazani and were never trying for Clarke
Johnny has a reserved opinion of how Ipswich will do this season, yet due to that you constantly attack and try to belittle him over his views. I just wonder how your fellow supporters view this, do they not think it’s distasteful. You obviously try to suppress anyone who has a differing view to you with your passive aggressive bullying.
Nah we all have history going back about two decades. We have all given as good as we have gotten over the years and there is a large dose of mutual respect and affection in there although some might not admit it. Bullying it most certainly is not. JWM is doing a fair amount of baiting on this thread.
Likewise, ristac, agree with a lot of what you said there. David Cameron completely bungled the referendum. I agree it was the main reason why the Tories won a majority in 2015. Cameron was arrogant, complacent, and ignorant of the national mood. The country was coming out of a massive financial recession from 2008 and had been through six years of austerity - services, healthcare, education etc. all took a battering and parts of the country were massively underfunded, and still are. Those people voted Brexit based on emotion, thinking it was a magic wand that would solve all of it. And the people campaigning for Brexit told everyone that. And of course, it hasn't. One example, farmers. Some farmers voted for Brexit, despite benefitting from EU subsidies to help run farms. Since Brexit, that funding has gone - the UK government hasn't replaced it, and it's contributed towards rising food prices and farmers having to sell off land for housing developments. I agree that Brexit could have been implemented and managed better. It could have given us some freedom to make more positive change in the country, but it's clear that the hardline Tory engineers weren't too bothered about that. In the end, we got quite a 'hard Brexit', which hindsight has proven to be the worst way of going about things - negative impact on economy and trade, for one thing. We could have possibly adopted a more Scandinavian approach that compromised on some parts of the EU and better reflected the 52-48% split in the vote. But we didn't. Ultimately, I think many of us will be paying for Brexit and its implementation for decades to come. It's true that election campaigning and dishonesty often goes hand-in-hand. I don't always think that's through nefarious means - sometimes it's just the challenges of governing. For example, the Tories promised to reduce taxes, but the tax level is at the highest it's ever been. People could just dismiss that as a Tory lie, but with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Brexit hit to finances - taxes had to go up. I think Blair's New Labour certainly ramped up dishonesty and manipulation, but never have we seen it done so brazenly and so often in the Brexit referendum. Almost every claim they have made has turned out to be wrong - it's unprecedented, in my opinion. And it's opened up a toxic trait in subsequent elections and politics ever since. As for the 'culture wars' - the whole thing is an absolute load of manufactured rubbish, in my opinion. Charlatans stoke it purely for profit and influence. Pretty much most 'battles' in the culture war has no direct impact on anyone living here. It has amplified fanatic voices that would otherwise be considered a fringe view - transgenders impacting women's privacy and safety, Muslims trying to take over the country etc - particularly pre-Internet. If some people in this country could spend even half the passion they have for that nonsense on the actual issues in this country and on this planet - we'd be better off.
A lot of those taxes are levelled on the richer in society though. Increased taxes on private jets, private schools, and capital gains. The nom-dom status scrapped. Losing tax perks on pension pots and farmland. No wonder Sunak, the Tories, and the barons of the right-wing press are up in arms! Having to do more with less is something the working people had to put up with during most of the 14 years of Tory rule. I guess the rich have got to learn to scrap their Netflix account and not buy any avocadoes - or whatever they told people to do to save money. One thing I really liked in that budget was removing the income tax threshold freeze from 2028. I understand why the Tories did it in the wake of COVID and a poor economy, but that was pushing a lot of people into higher tax brackets. That's ultimately going to benefit a lot of working people, as well as things like the increase in the Minimum Wage. What I didn't like in the Budget was the perception that businesses were getting hit hard. Raising the employer's contribution to National Insurance could have an adverse effect on working people and could stifle investment from the private sector - arguably at a time when we need it most. Time will ultimately tell if it's successful or not.
Excellent summary Nuggets. Anything is better than the last load of crooks! Lets see where we are in 5 years.
Who's the WFA? I'm guessing the current Conservative Party - Whacky Fringe Activists. I wouldn't worry about them Gaffer.
I really love all the “experts” telling everyone whether the budget is good or bad (normally based on their political persuasion). If they were that good at predicting the future, they wouldn’t need to work. As nuggets said above, let’s see where we are in 5 years. As we live in a democracy, if labour succeed - which everyone should want as it will be good for the country, they will be re-elected. If they fail, the electorate has the chance to replace them
I”m glad you socialists find it amusing that millions of pensioners will have to choose between heating and eating this year.
