2024 UK politics - now with Labour in charge
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Surprised the thread police haven't jumped on this one yet. Wasn't there a previous thread for this sort of thing? Something about obesity. I'm not sure even Stevo can blame Labour for people's choice of diet.
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Yes there is a higher rate of obesity in more deprived social groups but it's still over half in the least deprived decile. Pretty sure making basic foodstuffs more expensive and increasing food waste is not going to solve food poverty. I still don't have a clear idea of what 'it' is. You've mentioned xanthan gum and mono and diglycerides of fatty acids. The former is found in kitchen cupboard basic ingredients, the latter is naturally occurring in some foods. So what is 'it' that I should be avoiding?
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Here's the food thread, now that the tangent here has taken on a life of its own... https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/13120356/food-farming#latest
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It all comes down to housing in the end, anyway.
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I wonder if people who live in a house are fitter/live longer than those than live in a bungalow?
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Bungalow legs is a thing apparently
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I had listened to something on CEO pay vs other employees the other day and that ratio has increased a lot.
But yes googling it the actual gap in wealth between the top and bottom centiles seems to have only increased slightly which does surprise me - though if we said 30 years the increase is greater and of course it's a reversal of the trend of most of the 20th century. It's still high relative to Europe though so it's surely going to continue to be a source of grievance especially as many graduates are going to have higher expectations that aren't met.
[Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]0 -
The problem with looking at income inequality is that the housing system is so leveraged that wealth is a much much much better indicator of your standard of living than your income.
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Very interesting piece on Sophy Ridge on gifts accepted by MPs.
Starmer has received (declared) over £107,000 in gifts since the 2019 election, over £65,000 more than any other MP.
Since he became PM, he has accepted over £20,000 of gifts.
Almost £36,000 worth of football hospitality tickets. He claims he can't go t oa game without accepting hospitality. Err, pay for it yourself Kier.
Really not a good look.
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He doesn't look very happy either.
Clip from the Torygraph: "Keir Starmer, granny harmer" and "Victoria Sponger" 😊
"Sir Keir Starmer is the most miserable man in Britain. Or so everyone keeps saying. Yet, for some reason, they never stop to ask themselves the obvious question. Which is: why?
It’s baffling. For pity’s sake, he’s living the life of Riley. As we now know, he gets free tickets to see Taylor Swift and Arsenal. Free designer suits and glasses. Free designer frocks for his wife. Overall, in fact, he’s had £100,000 worth of free gifts. He should be grinning his head off. Especially since everyone else in the country is struggling with the cost of living crisis, and pensioners are wondering how they’ll heat their homes this Christmas. Yet Sir Keir trudges around looking like Eeyore after he’s accidentally sat on his favourite thistle.
Honestly. Talk about ungrateful. The man doesn’t know he’s born.
Then again, perhaps he’s miserable because he’s noticed how screamingly unpopular he is. Barely two months have passed since Sir Keir won a 174-seat landslide. Yet his popularity is collapsing in record time. His approval ratings are as low as they were after Labour’s crushing defeat in the 2021 Hartlepool by-election. His wife Vic, thanks to her love of fashion freebies, has earned the nickname “Victoria Sponger”. And he himself, having stripped 10m OAPs of their winter fuel payment, is now known as “Keir Starmer, Granny Harmer”.
The bad news keeps on coming, too. Criminals he released early from prison have had to be re-arrested (while others have been seen guzzling champagne, and hooting, “I’m a lifelong Labour voter now!”). There’s public fury over sentencing (you can get jailed for Facebook posts, but not for leering at images of child sexual abuse?). Meanwhile, reports suggest that Labour plans to “rush through” a bill to legalise assisted suicide. If ever there were a change in the law that shouldn’t be rushed, it’s that one.
There’s little prospect of Sir Keir’s support recovering, either. Not least because he’s just declared that he won’t back down over his plans to create an official football regulator – even though the European football authorities have warned him that they’ll respond by banning England from the 2028 Euros. Imagine if the PM gets the national team thrown out of a tournament that we’re actually hosting. That should go down well with voters.
Oh – and he hasn’t even put our taxes up yet…"
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
I dunno. I've studied for longer, work longer hours, and get paid less than several people on here and am quite content with that. I don't believe society owes me anything. There are certain benefits I am entitled to as a citizen and tax payer, but those are generally independent of how well educated or paid I am.
I'm not sure more immigration necessarily leads to greater inequality. That's down to choices on how visas are granted. The major driver of improving equality in the 20th century was massive public investment in housing, a health service and welfare.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
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Too many gifts. Some of the trips eg football could be considered working, but receiving gifts is poor form.
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Yes it's the gifts. I found it odd he got freebie tickets for the family to Taylor Swift.
Hearing that he's lost the Telegraph already must be a real shock though.
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That, and the leftie hypocrisy. All that fuss he made over Boris' wallpaper and 10 weeks into his stint as PM, looks what happening...
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
Not a good look. Seems he really is carrying on the legacy of the Tories in more than quasi austerity.
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He should have had the foresight to marry a billionaire.
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Why go to all the trouble of marrying a rich person when you can just get freebies from them?
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
Was thinking of putting this in the car thread but what's this pay per mile I've heard mentioned the govt might be introducing - or is it just some BS the anti Labour media have invented ?
Before anyone responds with the obvious I mean how would they implement it ?
[Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]0 -
It's inevitable.
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Compulsory black box. The tech is already available.
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 -
I was going to say a bit tricky to levy on foreign vehicles, but since we've scared them all off by 'building the wall', or whatever it was we voted for in 2016, that's only going to be a marginal loss of revenue.
With the technology, you could then make all the country bumpkins happier by saying your country miles are cheaper than in towns, and put revenue into much better park & ride facilities.
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I read someting on a local Facebook group about a ULEZ camera being a speed camera, then someone else piped up saying they can do everything, they are ULEZ cameras, speed cameras, pay per mile cameras and they have sensor in them that detect the Covid vaccine to track people's movements. If he didn't sound unhinged to anyone before his final point I think he removed any doubt. I hope he was joking for his sake
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Aren't there 2 completely separate issues Rick? Life really isn't either / or all the time.
It seems there is a lot of briefing going on against Sue Gray. Presumably not coming from Starmer himself, but the suggestion it is from other SPADS.
Starmer in accepting so much more in gifts than any other MP, lays himself open to accusations of corruption, something he banged on as an accusation at the Conservatives. Those giving him the gifts are doing so to garner favour, more often than not.
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It feels like it would be very simple to say MPs can’t accept gifts with some exemptions like cultural gifts from visiting dignitaries. It used to be commonplace in my work for Contractors to send us bottles at Christmas but that has virtually stopped due to their anti-bribery rules so allowing it for politicians seems very odd.
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Purchasing department used to be the place to work at Christmas. 😉
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 -
Bottles at xmas is still very common in construction but now a lot of companies pool them and share them out in the office rather than the PM/PD keeping them. Obviously in practice they get a bottle of cheap stuff sent to the office and a box of good stuff sent to them personally.
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They're paid far too little.
A newly qualified lawyer at Linklaters gets paid £150k as a starting salary.
Pay them triple and stop any gifts whatsoever.
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Tend to agree. £167k is a ludicrously low salary for running the country.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
I would suggest a job in the golden circle has a worse work-life balance.
And the main earnings of a prime minister comes after they are prime minister. In addition to being paid an annual salary to turn up and talk to some golden circle lawyers at the odd dinner, they are also paid an annual salary as a pension.
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