2024 UK politics - now with Labour in charge
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Always thought it was a weird brag of Osborne's to have raised the tax threshold above do so many people's earnings.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
yes, imo it was more a sign that earnings were too low
raising the basic threshold was more efficient/acceptable than paying more in benefits or increasing numbers living in poverty
it didn't fix the problem, just kicked the can down the crumbling and pot-holed road
my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
Andrew Mitchell on the weapons sanctions:
"all the appearance of something designed to satisfy Labour’s backbenches, while at the same time not offending Israel, an ally in the Middle East. I fear it will fail on both counts”.
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yeah, just posturing
meanwhile israel carries on the decades of stealing and killing...
my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
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There is already a consultation under way, and the UK has looser regulations on this than a number of countries in the EU, including Ireland.
So he's not going to say nothing.
Flip side is we want to move away from politicians making decrees on the hoof. All they do is dig holes they can't get out of (I won't bore you with an SNP analogy).
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Tbf I do think concert/festival ticketing is an utter shit show and an area that should be more heavily regulated.
To an extent I feel like Ticketmaster have replaced record companies as the untalented men in suits making stacks whilst the majority of artists make nothing...
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I think there's a similar thing happening in the US, but that's not evidence of it being a serious country, I'll admit.
The general challenge underlying all of this is how easy it now seems to be for effective monopolies to screw consumers... consumers have had a shedload of regulations protecting them over the decades from dishonest or anti-competitive practices, so I can see that this could be the prompt to see if they need revisiting for the ticketing industry.
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I'm struggling to feel sorry for those who paid £500 for standard tickets (and I know a few) as nobody forced them to. Imo the £150 was a rip-off that I wasn't willing to pay. Complaining about personal choices? Look in the mirror.
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
This. Don't buy the tickets. Prices will then fall.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Part of me agrees, but there's the psychological element of sunk cost which leads people to suspend normal behaviour in what is effectively an auction in this system, which I am sure Ticketmaster knowingly exploits to the full. We're not all rational at all times, and there are countless regulations in various sectors that guard against impulsive behaviour.
For instance, off the top of my head, would a live ticker of the current price help people make informed decisions, rather than suddenly finding yourself at the front of the queue having to decide at that moment whether to buy at an unexpectedly high price?
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What next? Rachel Reeves wading in on the fact that the DFS sale is really an actual sale? A Royal Commission on Sainsbury's Local charging a bit more than the big Sainsbury's on the edge of town?
🙄
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition1 -
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Surge pricing is taking advantage of desperation.
I don't see a philosophical difference between this and and other consumer issue.
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I think it is fine to legislate for clear pricing upfront. It's not only now been an issue, it's just that now it's become visible to the whingerati.
There's been "platinum" tickets which are no different to normal tickets for a while now.
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Well pricing of Oasis tickets aren't exactly a national priority, which I think is RCs justifiable irritation.
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I don't think any legislation will be retrospective to fix the issue for oasis ticket sales.
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Can you imagine Biden getting involved in Swift ticket prices? Ridiculous.
It is not a good sign.
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Starmer's take is pretty bad though. He shouldn't be worried about hardworking families being able to afford to go see Oasis. I assumed it was the Telegraph doing its usual so hadn't clicked.
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Desperation!? To by a concert ticket?
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Yup
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There's no need. The price was confirmed before purchase and as an online purchase customers were entitled to cancel if they got buyer's remorse.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Oh no.
Biden won't have heard about Oasis.
He strikes me as more of a Bing Crosby sort of a guy.
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I think there is a tendency in the UK when something happens that people aren't happy about that 'somebody should do something'. As has been said already, if something is too expensive for you then don't buy it. I could understand the issue if it's something essential like water or electricity, but nobody has to go to an Oasis gig...
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
I think that a key thing. Tickets are exempt from the usual online 14 day cooling off period, despite, as in this case, buyers being under pressure to make the purchase.
Its clearly not a national priority, but that doesn't mean that bad things shouldn't be made better.
2020/2021/2022 Metric Century Challenge Winner0 -
What if it was trains or airline tickets or hotels?
What if it was some non essential food?
I can't get that excited about the concert tickets thing personally, but not do I really see the difference between that and any other consumer issues. We have lots of consumer protection we take for granted elsewhere, so why not in this sector?
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I don't really care as I'm not stupid enough to buy a massively overpriced gig ticket.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
I mean... he literally did get involved in ticketmaster/live nation pricing transparency last year after a Taylor Swift ticket fiasco. And this year he launched a lawsuit against them for anti competitive practices.
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Ticketmaster etc. just sell the tickets on the terms set by the management company though - it is the bands (or their management at least) that set the pricing structure. That said, I'm not sure if the ticket companies offer any advice.
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