What happened to Johnson's "plan for a high wage, high skill economy" ? Is that last year's fish supper wrapper response to fuel shortages? His "plan" today it seems is for lower wages and lower skills.
A very quick edit of my post from earlier.
Somewhere in-between, with this government I think.
Today's random idea ?????????????????? Underpants
Brings back memories of the 1980s, and Mr Major. Which is appropriate, if a few years out: Tories trying to pick a fight with the unions.
The big danger for the RMT surely is that they strike and its met by a rather big shrug as people work from home, drive or otherwise get on with their lives without the services of RMT staff just fine.
The big danger in withholding your labour, is when people realise that actually they can cope just fine without it.
@trussliz Met @NikkiHaley to talk about the importance of ensuring Putin loses in Ukraine and standing up to aggressors and authoritarians around the world in defence of freedom and liberty 🇬🇧 🇺🇸
What happened to Johnson's "plan for a high wage, high skill economy" ? Is that last year's fish supper wrapper response to fuel shortages? His "plan" today it seems is for lower wages and lower skills.
A very quick edit of my post from earlier.
Somewhere in-between, with this government I think.
Today's random idea ?????????????????? Underpants
Brings back memories of the 1980s, and Mr Major. Which is appropriate, if a few years out: Tories trying to pick a fight with the unions.
They've never tried to do so in a labour shortage mind. Not in living memory anyways.
The Treasury on Tuesday confirmed that the pension “triple lock” will be reinstated after it was put on pause during the pandemic, taking the annual payout for retirees beyond £10,000 for the first time
Bunch of utter twats
Seems tone deaf. Anyone working in the public sector, such as the care staff, nurses, doctors etc will not get such largesse.
Justifying the strikes quite frankly, what have the elderly done during COVID?
Apart from dying in large numbers (>50% of those who have died were over 80), they’ve watched the rest of the population lock down repeatedly, mainly to save their entitled asses... Time for some fairness.
"Anyone working in the public sector, such as the care staff, nurses, doctors etc will not get such largesse."
yes they will, because one they will retire and collect their state pension.
I would just like to point out that Dr Sunil's yellow penning of the rail network is at "Baker Level", while the real hard-core Gricers do it at "Quail Level".
While for the former, simply travelling on the line from A to B is sufficient, for the latter they need to travel over every single bit of track - every crossover, every loop, every siding, every platform at every station. Railtour operators are able to fill trains with these Quailiacs by offering them the chance to travel into a freight yard or through the carriage washers at a depot.
Note: Baker and Quail are two rail atlases that provide different levels of detail.
Oh, and I just thought of the term Qualiac.
Well, I'm on the GENSHEET newsgroup, but only to look out for Baker level oddities!
I still try to do each route in both directions if possible*, and ride the "fast" and "slow" lines where quadrupling occurs.
But crossovers and sidings? Not for me frankly!
(* Whitby to 'Boro westbound, and Gainsborough to Doncaster westbound still to do, for example)
I remember when a Gensheet was a sheet of paper with gen on it!
What happened to Johnson's "plan for a high wage, high skill economy" ? Is that last year's fish supper wrapper response to fuel shortages? His "plan" today it seems is for lower wages and lower skills.
A very quick edit of my post from earlier.
Somewhere in-between, with this government I think.
Today's random idea ?????????????????? Underpants
Brings back memories of the 1980s, and Mr Major. Which is appropriate, if a few years out: Tories trying to pick a fight with the unions.
They've never tried to do so in a labour shortage mind. Not in living memory anyways.
Probably have to go back to the early Seventies to get that combination of low unemployment, high inflation, Conservative PM and strikes. How did it work out for Heath?
Anyway, back on topic I'm not that surprised that Labour's strikes haven't been roundly condemned and Starmer with them. The "greedy union barons" trope is less effective when so many workers will be looking at their own position thinking the pay request sounds perfectly reasonable.
Not a few workers are thinking "If the Rail workers get screwed, we are next, if the Rail workers get 7% then we are more likely to get that too"
5% across the board in the public sector is doable tomorrow. That would then become the benchmark. And it isn't inflationary. Because it's below the inflation rate.
If an increase at the rate of inflation is doable for old people (for that's what we must assume they'll get next Spring, because the current line is that the triple lock has only been suspended for this year,) then surely it's also doable for state employees? After all, there are more than twice as many OAPs as there are public sector workers, and pensions have been steadily rising since the triple lock was introduced whereas earned incomes are lower in real terms now than they were at the time of the GFC.
The position of the Government at this particular moment in time appears to be that jacking up the state pension by the rate of inflation is both affordable and will have no inflationary impact, whereas applying exactly the same increase to the wages of public sector employees will cost far too much and will result in the dreaded wage-price spiral if it were to be attempted.
The Government doesn't even try to make a logical case for any of its policies anymore. It just makes stuff up as it goes along, and then invents fantasies and lies to justify whatever today's position is. Or today's positions are, when it tries to reconcile two or more mutually incompatible ideas. I suppose that's what happens when all you exist for is to say any old bullshit that'll keep Boris Johnson in 10 Downing Street for another week.
Actually pensions and wage increases don’t have the same inflationary impact. Wage increases in the private sector increase costs requiring increased prices. The public sector is one step removed in that they act as a benchmark.
Increasing pensions doesn’t have the same impact - it’s just a cost that needs to be funded (so if fiscal policy is tightened to pay for it it should be disinflationary in theory)
Not necessarily true. Struggling businesses probably aren't going to pay generous wage increases, whereas healthy and highly profitable businesses have the option of making slightly lower profits and/or paying out slightly less generous dividends to cover the cost, especially if they're in a highly competitive sector where jacking up prices so they can keep making as much money as before will expose them to being undercut by rivals.
One could also just as easily argue that rises in both pension and earned incomes must be inflationary because they increase the disposable incomes and purchasing power of consumers, and may therefore tempt some businesses - especially those such as good hotels which take more enquiries for bookings than they have rooms - to jack up prices so that they become affordable to fewer, richer patrons.
Regardless, we all know that the reason why pension rises = good, wage rises = bad has nothing to do with inflation and everything to do with who the Conservative Party's client voter groups are. To imagine that they actually mean any of the crap they spout about inflation is naïve. It's just an excuse to throttle the incomes of unfavoured groups and funnel more money to favoured groups, whilst having a nostalgic wank about the Winter of Discontent. Nothing more.
The Treasury on Tuesday confirmed that the pension “triple lock” will be reinstated after it was put on pause during the pandemic, taking the annual payout for retirees beyond £10,000 for the first time
Bunch of utter twats
Seems tone deaf. Anyone working in the public sector, such as the care staff, nurses, doctors etc will not get such largesse.
Justifying the strikes quite frankly, what have the elderly done during COVID?
What happened to Johnson's "plan for a high wage, high skill economy" ? Is that last year's fish supper wrapper response to fuel shortages? His "plan" today it seems is for lower wages and lower skills.
A very quick edit of my post from earlier.
Somewhere in-between, with this government I think.
Today's random idea ?????????????????? Underpants
Brings back memories of the 1980s, and Mr Major. Which is appropriate, if a few years out: Tories trying to pick a fight with the unions.
They've never tried to do so in a labour shortage mind. Not in living memory anyways.
Probably have to go back to the early Seventies to get that combination of low unemployment, high inflation, Conservative PM and strikes. How did it work out for Heath?
Well, if Canzini and Crosby can pull off blaming the forthcoming winter of discontent ('22 edition) on a Labour party who haven't been in office for 12 years then they certainly deserve their fat fees.
North Shropshire was a 23k con Maj, almost entirely before partygate. Honiton is 24k. Why is there any doubt it goes lib dem on Thursday?
Lightning needing to strike twice.
My reasoning goes like this. Remember I called Shropshire North right, made some money, and took lots of PB flak in build up.. My gut feeling on this one is different. My reasoning is when the big turn round in Shropshire North happened, Downing Street party’s was all the political and main news even Ant and Dec being angry, but this happens against a different backdrop, so all that anger has to be baked in now despite off the news and electorate not moved on with partygate fatigue. Is it baked in to all Tory performance now? Secondly, if it was general election you won’t get uniform swinging, you may get 7 somewhere, 2 nearby, 5 down the road - all constituency electorates have their own psychology and views of things. Do you trust this particular electorate to be on same wave length as mid term bloody nose or is it not in their DNA.
I still think LD win by 5000 votes or so but the odd line in reports has made me wonder, like how the same raw anger that was present in N Shropshire isn't there, a throwaway about 'hes doing his best' responses etc..... Set against that is the LD bullshit made up internal poll garbage 'its so close guys!!' = LDs winning here
Love the made up newspaper, it looks so bloody real Woolie, the made up opinion poll, made up messaging - it’s not just bar charts we make up! Lol.
To be honest though, that is the way to fight and win, squeeze every drop of vote out the place. As well as obviously lying, it’s bloody slick campaign. 😇
We all think it will be close not clear win for anyone? I have this theory it’s not just about counting pebbles, or looking at media narratives, each part of country has it own culture and psychologies will see it all differently. In. Fact this could vary from town to town constituency to constituency.
If I find out Lib Dems havn’t won, being a northerner, I might post something like, inbred wurzle twats with brains pickled on farmhouse cider incapable of knowing right from wrong as they munch their chittering.
If anything such a result proves my theory right.
Oh to upload pics, @MoonRabbit you need to use the Vanilla Forums version of PB.
When you start a post or reply, you'll see a "picture" icon near the top right of the editing window, which will allow you to upload pics direct from your phone or computer!
The Barking Riverside pier has already opened with boats calling after Woolwich Arsenal — although you can't tell from the latest tube map, where it still looks as if it's under development.
Well, if Canzini and Crosby can pull off blaming the forthcoming winter of discontent ('22 edition) on a Labour party who haven't been in office for 12 years then they certainly deserve their fat fees.
It feels like that, doesn't it. Cost of living crisis. Railway strikes, with more to come. Waves of illegal immigration. Rising fuel and energy prices. Left-wing universities. Inflation rampant. Delays in issuing passports, and a variety of other incompetent public services. Huge NHS waiting lists. Dire ambulance response times. Problems in Northern Ireland. And so on.
Time to get rid of this useless Labour government!!!!
And now we have further evidence of this. The median voters: 1) Thinks that Labour has got the balance about right on strikes 2) Doesn't think there would be any more strikes under a Labour government
Not sure they are going to get much of a backlash from this.
Foxy said: "I am not disputing that, indeed one of the major ways that companies do that is by screwing their workers with worse pay and conditions."
I won't argue about your conclusion as applicable to Britain (becaue I don't know enough), or even a general rule (because I haven't seen numbers), but during COVID in my area (a Seattle suburb), there has been another pattern visible,: Nice companies finish first.
Companies in this area are desperate for workers. A nearby convenience store closed because it couldn't find help. A branch of Bank of America is closed for the same reason. Help wanted signs are everywhere. Expensive ads are being run on TV; for example, a heating and air conditioning company is offering 6K sign-on bonuses, promising yearly earnings of 140K, and a free week's cruise for two, after a year.
But there are two places that don't seem to have any trouble getting and keeping workers, Trader Joe's and Chick-fil-A. The first has many friendly workers, the second is so famous for its friendliness that strangers are sometimes advised of it, in advance, so they won't be startled. I can think of other examples, by the way, but I think that will give you an idea of my tentative conclusion.
Foxy said: "I am not disputing that, indeed one of the major ways that companies do that is by screwing their workers with worse pay and conditions."
I won't argue about your conclusion as applicable to Britain (becaue I don't know enough), or even a general rule (because I haven't seen numbers), but during COVID in my area (a Seattle suburb), there has been another pattern visible,: Nice companies finish first.
Companies in this area are desperate for workers. A nearby convenience store closed because it couldn't find help. A branch of Bank of America is closed for the same reason. Help wanted signs are everywhere. Expensive ads are being run on TV; for example, a heating and air conditioning company is offering 6K sign-on bonuses, promising yearly earnings of 140K, and a free week's cruise for two, after a year.
But there are two places that don't seem to have any trouble getting and keeping workers, Trader Joe's and Chick-fil-A. The first has many friendly workers, the second is so famous for its friendliness that strangers are sometimes advised of it, in advance, so they won't be startled. I can think of other examples, by the way, but I think that will give you an idea of my tentative conclusion.
I avoid Chick-fil-A for just that reason. If I'd wanted people to be nice to me, I wouldn't have come to America.
Well, if Canzini and Crosby can pull off blaming the forthcoming winter of discontent ('22 edition) on a Labour party who haven't been in office for 12 years then they certainly deserve their fat fees.
A lot of people very, very angry at the moment.
Anecdotally, I know of a couple of friends who were offered 1% pay rises this year - both now quit and gone somewhere else. Both highly paid professionals, also both sympathetic to the strikers.
It's worth noting that the people I mention above had their pay frozen during the pandemic, so that's 1% pay rise in 3 years.
A lot of people, even the well paid ones, are now of the "stuff the bosses" mentality. With petrol up over 10% in the last month alone, it is hard not to be sympathetic to anyone asking for an at or even below inflation pay rise.
If the Tories try to make this a red meat, culture war "stuff the unions" issue, I don't think they will get much support from working age people, who have been on the short end of the stick for some years now.
Quite noticeable that there is a very clear majority of those aged 18-54 in favour of the railway strikers.
Working age people sick of being treated like cash cows while pensioners are a protected class...
I follow the war in Ukraine quite closely and I have to say I have no idea who's winning. This despite the war being the most accessible ever to monitoring by ordinary people.
What happened to Johnson's "plan for a high wage, high skill economy" ? Is that last year's fish supper wrapper response to fuel shortages? His "plan" today it seems is for lower wages and lower skills.
A very quick edit of my post from earlier.
Somewhere in-between, with this government I think.
Today's random idea ?????????????????? Underpants
Brings back memories of the 1980s, and Mr Major. Which is appropriate, if a few years out: Tories trying to pick a fight with the unions.
They've never tried to do so in a labour shortage mind. Not in living memory anyways.
Probably have to go back to the early Seventies to get that combination of low unemployment, high inflation, Conservative PM and strikes. How did it work out for Heath?
Well, if Canzini and Crosby can pull off blaming the forthcoming winter of discontent ('22 edition) on a Labour party who haven't been in office for 12 years then they certainly deserve their fat fees.
It feels like that, doesn't it. Cost of living crisis. Railway strikes, with more to come. Waves of illegal immigration. Rising fuel and energy prices. Left-wing universities. Inflation rampant. Delays in issuing passports, and a variety of other incompetent public services. Huge NHS waiting lists. Dire ambulance response times. Problems in Northern Ireland. And so on.
Time to get rid of this useless Labour government!!!!
And now we have further evidence of this. The median voters: 1) Thinks that Labour has got the balance about right on strikes 2) Doesn't think there would be any more strikes under a Labour government
Not sure they are going to get much of a backlash from this.
Not taking a position was probably the best thing for Starmer to do.
A BBC article on the British Bill of Rights links to this old book by Dominic Raab. Amusing to see the endorsements - John Kampfner, Timothy Garten Ash et al. alongside more usual suspects.
And now we have further evidence of this. The median voters: 1) Thinks that Labour has got the balance about right on strikes 2) Doesn't think there would be any more strikes under a Labour government
Not sure they are going to get much of a backlash from this.
Not taking a position was probably the best thing for Starmer to do.
And that's why The Mail are so cross. Starmer's giving them relatively little material to work with.
That, and The Mail being cross all the time at the moment.
Well, if Canzini and Crosby can pull off blaming the forthcoming winter of discontent ('22 edition) on a Labour party who haven't been in office for 12 years then they certainly deserve their fat fees.
A lot of people very, very angry at the moment.
Anecdotally, I know of a couple of friends who were offered 1% pay rises this year - both now quit and gone somewhere else. Both highly paid professionals, also both sympathetic to the strikers.
It's worth noting that the people I mention above had their pay frozen during the pandemic, so that's 1% pay rise in 3 years.
A lot of people, even the well paid ones, are now of the "stuff the bosses" mentality. With petrol up over 10% in the last month alone, it is hard not to be sympathetic to anyone asking for an at or even below inflation pay rise.
If the Tories try to make this a red meat, culture war "stuff the unions" issue, I don't think they will get much support from working age people, who have been on the short end of the stick for some years now.
Quite noticeable that there is a very clear majority of those aged 18-54 in favour of the railway strikers.
Working age people sick of being treated like cash cows while pensioners are a protected class...
Well, if Canzini and Crosby can pull off blaming the forthcoming winter of discontent ('22 edition) on a Labour party who haven't been in office for 12 years then they certainly deserve their fat fees.
It feels like that, doesn't it. Cost of living crisis. Railway strikes, with more to come. Waves of illegal immigration. Rising fuel and energy prices. Left-wing universities. Inflation rampant. Delays in issuing passports, and a variety of other incompetent public services. Huge NHS waiting lists. Dire ambulance response times. Problems in Northern Ireland. And so on.
Time to get rid of this useless Labour government!!!!
It looks very much like the Conservative vote has stabilised at 33%. The last 15 opinion polls have had the party on either 33% or 1% either side of it.
It looks very much like the Conservative vote has stabilised at 33%. The last 15 opinion polls have had the party on either 33% or 1% either side of it.
Well, if Canzini and Crosby can pull off blaming the forthcoming winter of discontent ('22 edition) on a Labour party who haven't been in office for 12 years then they certainly deserve their fat fees.
A lot of people very, very angry at the moment.
Anecdotally, I know of a couple of friends who were offered 1% pay rises this year - both now quit and gone somewhere else. Both highly paid professionals, also both sympathetic to the strikers.
It's worth noting that the people I mention above had their pay frozen during the pandemic, so that's 1% pay rise in 3 years.
A lot of people, even the well paid ones, are now of the "stuff the bosses" mentality. With petrol up over 10% in the last month alone, it is hard not to be sympathetic to anyone asking for an at or even below inflation pay rise.
If the Tories try to make this a red meat, culture war "stuff the unions" issue, I don't think they will get much support from working age people, who have been on the short end of the stick for some years now.
Quite noticeable that there is a very clear majority of those aged 18-54 in favour of the railway strikers.
Working age people sick of being treated like cash cows while pensioners are a protected class...
I've found that if you spend all day on Politicalbetting, there is little danger of you becoming a cash cow for your employer.
Well, if Canzini and Crosby can pull off blaming the forthcoming winter of discontent ('22 edition) on a Labour party who haven't been in office for 12 years then they certainly deserve their fat fees.
A lot of people very, very angry at the moment.
Anecdotally, I know of a couple of friends who were offered 1% pay rises this year - both now quit and gone somewhere else. Both highly paid professionals, also both sympathetic to the strikers.
It's worth noting that the people I mention above had their pay frozen during the pandemic, so that's 1% pay rise in 3 years.
A lot of people, even the well paid ones, are now of the "stuff the bosses" mentality. With petrol up over 10% in the last month alone, it is hard not to be sympathetic to anyone asking for an at or even below inflation pay rise.
If the Tories try to make this a red meat, culture war "stuff the unions" issue, I don't think they will get much support from working age people, who have been on the short end of the stick for some years now.
Quite noticeable that there is a very clear majority of those aged 18-54 in favour of the railway strikers.
Working age people sick of being treated like cash cows while pensioners are a protected class...
I hate to say it, but you're right.
As a fellow libertarian, I tend to think of all people as examples of homo economicus, trying to maximise their own economic well being. For some that involves asking for a pay raise, for some that involves quitting and working elsewhere, others (e.g. in the public sector) might need to get together to bargain collectively - and even come out on strike. But they're all behaving rationally from an economic point of view.
I think if we had just been through a decade of grievances, unions "holding the country to ransom", demanding inflation-busting pay rise year after year, there would be a lot less sympathy for strikers and for organised labour. But we haven't. The unions have been toothless for, well, as long as I've been an adult.
Meanwhile people are being offered 1% pay rises by their employers while seeing some prices going up 10% in a month, so most can look at the strikers and think, " good for you".
The fake Lib Dem Tivi one came across as more of a serious newspaper at first glance than Mail front page! 🤣. I can’t believe they are that talentless at the Mail these days. they may have a commercially strong digital presence that helps to underwrite a print version that is now nothing more than Lynton Crosby’s wilder works, but the problem is they can’t even get that right wing attack balance right with what is needed to come across as a newspaper, because this front page has not an ounce of the gravitas or credibility for what they are trying to do here actually needs. For example, the ingenious satchi line lazily reproduced here first worked so well because was against a government - it’s rendered pretty meaningless against an opposition. It’s clear how the whole point is to link the strike pain to Labour, but my point is, anyone, even bright five year olds, can do a front page and a headline to do that far better than this, it’s just too transparent in the same way the fake Lib Dem newspaper wasn’t.
The have made far too many lazy efforts like this down at the mail recently, they need to up their game if they want to influence, as they lose credibility they will influence less, rather like the boy who cried wolf.
Well, if Canzini and Crosby can pull off blaming the forthcoming winter of discontent ('22 edition) on a Labour party who haven't been in office for 12 years then they certainly deserve their fat fees.
A lot of people very, very angry at the moment.
Anecdotally, I know of a couple of friends who were offered 1% pay rises this year - both now quit and gone somewhere else. Both highly paid professionals, also both sympathetic to the strikers.
It's worth noting that the people I mention above had their pay frozen during the pandemic, so that's 1% pay rise in 3 years.
A lot of people, even the well paid ones, are now of the "stuff the bosses" mentality. With petrol up over 10% in the last month alone, it is hard not to be sympathetic to anyone asking for an at or even below inflation pay rise.
If the Tories try to make this a red meat, culture war "stuff the unions" issue, I don't think they will get much support from working age people, who have been on the short end of the stick for some years now.
Quite noticeable that there is a very clear majority of those aged 18-54 in favour of the railway strikers.
Working age people sick of being treated like cash cows while pensioners are a protected class...
The patriotic thing would be for everyone to take a pay cut or pension cut in order to help the country's finances.
Well, if Canzini and Crosby can pull off blaming the forthcoming winter of discontent ('22 edition) on a Labour party who haven't been in office for 12 years then they certainly deserve their fat fees.
A lot of people very, very angry at the moment.
Anecdotally, I know of a couple of friends who were offered 1% pay rises this year - both now quit and gone somewhere else. Both highly paid professionals, also both sympathetic to the strikers.
It's worth noting that the people I mention above had their pay frozen during the pandemic, so that's 1% pay rise in 3 years.
A lot of people, even the well paid ones, are now of the "stuff the bosses" mentality. With petrol up over 10% in the last month alone, it is hard not to be sympathetic to anyone asking for an at or even below inflation pay rise.
If the Tories try to make this a red meat, culture war "stuff the unions" issue, I don't think they will get much support from working age people, who have been on the short end of the stick for some years now.
Quite noticeable that there is a very clear majority of those aged 18-54 in favour of the railway strikers.
Working age people sick of being treated like cash cows while pensioners are a protected class...
The patriotic thing would be for everyone to take a pay cut or pension cut in order to help the country's finances.
Sort of like this?
I'm Backing Britain was a brief patriotic campaign, which flourished in early 1968 and was aimed at boosting the British economy. The campaign started spontaneously when five Surbiton secretaries volunteered to work an extra half-hour each day without pay to boost productivity and urged others to do the same. The invitation received an enormous response and a campaign took off spectacularly; it became a nationwide movement within a week... The Union Flag logo encouraged by the campaign became highly visible on the high streets, and attempts were made to take over the campaign by Robert Maxwell, who wanted to change its focus into an appeal to 'Buy British', but the campaign's own T-shirts were made in Portugal. After a few months without any noticeable effect on individual companies or the economy generally, interest flagged amid much embarrassment about some of the ways in which the campaign had been pursued and supported.
Marijuana legalised in Thailand. When will this wokery end?
As Peter Hitchens reports, cannabis often causes mental illnesses.
Unless you have evidence that cannabis caused Hitchens' psychosis, then I think you should withdraw that allegation.
It does give you bad mental illness. Couple of my uni friends went right off the rails. But my main objection to cannabis smoking is that to me it smells of dog faeces. I don't care how high you get, for me, smelling like a turd on a hot pavement isn't an acceptable price to pay. I hate it drifting out of windows or some pot smoking herbert shuffling past.
Well, if Canzini and Crosby can pull off blaming the forthcoming winter of discontent ('22 edition) on a Labour party who haven't been in office for 12 years then they certainly deserve their fat fees.
A lot of people very, very angry at the moment.
Anecdotally, I know of a couple of friends who were offered 1% pay rises this year - both now quit and gone somewhere else. Both highly paid professionals, also both sympathetic to the strikers.
It's worth noting that the people I mention above had their pay frozen during the pandemic, so that's 1% pay rise in 3 years.
A lot of people, even the well paid ones, are now of the "stuff the bosses" mentality. With petrol up over 10% in the last month alone, it is hard not to be sympathetic to anyone asking for an at or even below inflation pay rise.
If the Tories try to make this a red meat, culture war "stuff the unions" issue, I don't think they will get much support from working age people, who have been on the short end of the stick for some years now.
Quite noticeable that there is a very clear majority of those aged 18-54 in favour of the railway strikers.
Working age people sick of being treated like cash cows while pensioners are a protected class...
The patriotic thing would be for everyone to take a pay cut or pension cut in order to help the country's finances.
Sort of like this?
I'm Backing Britain was a brief patriotic campaign, which flourished in early 1968 and was aimed at boosting the British economy. The campaign started spontaneously when five Surbiton secretaries volunteered to work an extra half-hour each day without pay to boost productivity and urged others to do the same. The invitation received an enormous response and a campaign took off spectacularly; it became a nationwide movement within a week... The Union Flag logo encouraged by the campaign became highly visible on the high streets, and attempts were made to take over the campaign by Robert Maxwell, who wanted to change its focus into an appeal to 'Buy British', but the campaign's own T-shirts were made in Portugal. After a few months without any noticeable effect on individual companies or the economy generally, interest flagged amid much embarrassment about some of the ways in which the campaign had been pursued and supported.
Well, if Canzini and Crosby can pull off blaming the forthcoming winter of discontent ('22 edition) on a Labour party who haven't been in office for 12 years then they certainly deserve their fat fees.
A lot of people very, very angry at the moment.
Anecdotally, I know of a couple of friends who were offered 1% pay rises this year - both now quit and gone somewhere else. Both highly paid professionals, also both sympathetic to the strikers.
It's worth noting that the people I mention above had their pay frozen during the pandemic, so that's 1% pay rise in 3 years.
A lot of people, even the well paid ones, are now of the "stuff the bosses" mentality. With petrol up over 10% in the last month alone, it is hard not to be sympathetic to anyone asking for an at or even below inflation pay rise.
If the Tories try to make this a red meat, culture war "stuff the unions" issue, I don't think they will get much support from working age people, who have been on the short end of the stick for some years now.
Quite noticeable that there is a very clear majority of those aged 18-54 in favour of the railway strikers.
Working age people sick of being treated like cash cows while pensioners are a protected class...
The patriotic thing would be for everyone to take a pay cut or pension cut in order to help the country's finances.
How does that sacrifice work when a household has 25K or less income and finding cost of living hard, another household on 125K income and let’s be honest, isn’t finding it quite as hard in quite same existential way.
The thing with inflation caused by high energy prices is, when energy price stops inflating, and stands absolutely still, it cannot now itself cause inflation. If that was the one and only cause of inflation then there would be no inflation, inflation would die. But the costs of energy would still be high, not coming down with inflation, and all the way energy makes other items so many of them quite essential high, that would all remain high as well.
So inflation is not really the thing that Union bosses or workers or business owners are thinking of, the problem thing is high prices and the length of time they will be high.
The real problem for the government starts when voters realise that whilst they were struggling, the government was doing very well from all this, tax revenues etc, and the voters ask simple question, hang on a minute, how much of the windfall you got from this situation you share to help us. 😠
Well, if Canzini and Crosby can pull off blaming the forthcoming winter of discontent ('22 edition) on a Labour party who haven't been in office for 12 years then they certainly deserve their fat fees.
A lot of people very, very angry at the moment.
Anecdotally, I know of a couple of friends who were offered 1% pay rises this year - both now quit and gone somewhere else. Both highly paid professionals, also both sympathetic to the strikers.
It's worth noting that the people I mention above had their pay frozen during the pandemic, so that's 1% pay rise in 3 years.
A lot of people, even the well paid ones, are now of the "stuff the bosses" mentality. With petrol up over 10% in the last month alone, it is hard not to be sympathetic to anyone asking for an at or even below inflation pay rise.
If the Tories try to make this a red meat, culture war "stuff the unions" issue, I don't think they will get much support from working age people, who have been on the short end of the stick for some years now.
Quite noticeable that there is a very clear majority of those aged 18-54 in favour of the railway strikers.
Working age people sick of being treated like cash cows while pensioners are a protected class...
The patriotic thing would be for everyone to take a pay cut or pension cut in order to help the country's finances.
You first, lead the way, the rest will follow, honest. 🤞
Last minute attempt to help the Tories win the Wakefield by-election, perhaps.
Canvassers would be embarrassed to post that through a letter box, it’s just not subtle enough! Some of the grown ups doing the Lib Dem campaign materiel should stop by the Mail offices and show the children working there how to do it properly 🤭
I follow the war in Ukraine quite closely and I have to say I have no idea who's winning. This despite the war being the most accessible ever to monitoring by ordinary people.
Pretty even at the moment but I have the feeling the West could tip the balance if some improved weaponry, notably artillery, were made quickly to Ukraine. There are some obvious dangers in them doing this but they may do so anyway. We will probably see in the next week or so
Last minute attempt to help the Tories win the Wakefield by-election, perhaps.
Well it's very funny!
Their night editor must have been pissed.
Hold the Front Page! The Express attempt at covering this is even loopier than the Mail!
Apparently, if we say “the problem here is old Etonians speaking Latin and Greek with barely a paid hour of work between them” it brands us hard bitten lefty class warriors. This argument the Express has built its front page around.
But pointing at Boris and his dysfunctional government is not such a bad identification of actual root cause of most UKs problems right now - it doesn’t make us all militant lefty’s to say it. 148 Tory MPs said just that hardly fortnight ago! 🤦♀️
The Barking Riverside pier has already opened with boats calling after Woolwich Arsenal — although you can't tell from the latest tube map, where it still looks as if it's under development.
The rail station is now supposed to open this summer, brought forward from the autumn.
It looks very much like the Conservative vote has stabilised at 33%. The last 15 opinion polls have had the party on either 33% or 1% either side of it.
It looks very much like the Conservative vote has stabilised at 33%. The last 15 opinion polls have had the party on either 33% or 1% either side of it.
It looks very much like the Conservative vote has stabilised at 33%. The last 15 opinion polls have had the party on either 33% or 1% either side of it.
My main objection to strikes is that they are BORING. People hoping for more money. Exciting, not
Its also people hoping not to have half of their safety colleagues fired by the government leading to insufficient maintenance and massive accidents like we had 20 years ago.
(Snip)
Hold on, can I have a source for that claim please?
Widely reported by newspapers that don't just parrot Tory lies. Or, watch Channel 4 News on Monday night. The minister himself said that having men visually inspecting tracks was old fashioned and we don;t need them and they can do digital inspections with trains now.
I dont know much about trains, but I do know health and safety. You simply don’t make things less safe. You just don’t. I’d be interested to know what best practice around the world is re track inspection and other areas of contention. It may be that visual inspection by men/women walking the lines is the best way. It may be that automated trains can survey lines with technology. It may need both for best results. Truth is, I don’t know. I also suspect you don’t either.
"You simply don't make things less safe".
Railtrack did. For profit. And I do know (far too much) stuff about the railways. There absolutely are track recording equipment that can scan rails on the go. Network Rail has several such trains - but they act to supplement the visual inspections that remain critical.
Last time we went down the "just cut the cost" route we ended up with people dead. Repeatedly. They simply did not know the condition of track and signalling equipment. So had to do emergency inspections and blanket speed restrictions until they could check and then repair everything. So we know where cutting the maintenance regime leads. This proposal has them double routine maintenance periods. To save money. They aren't even proposing to replace mk1 eyeballs with the inspection train on the same basis. Its half the maintenance the network needs now.
Which will get people killed. Because you really do make things less safe when wazzocks without a clue about engineering make decisions for political and economic reasons.
I take it back, you do know. Cheers for the info. I’ll qualify the statement - you shouldn’t make things less safe...
Appreciated. @Carnyx gave the Grayrigg example. You can't rely on the inspection train. And yet the minister went on Channel 4 News last night and said that you don't need old-fashioned practices like people walking the tracks when you can have digital inspections on a train. He has *no clue* what the inspection train can and cannot do or even what needs to be inspected. But "digital" has been the solution to all the railway budget problems for a few years.
No, you can't. This is the problem. The DfT are directing both Network Rail and the rail operators what to do. DfT wazzocks don't have the first clue what they are talking about. Ministers definitely don't. But they are directing NR and saying "cut the staff, save the money".
People will die. Again.
The DfT, DfE and DoH...any more departments that are more useless than a bull's udder?
Currently inspections are done both manually and by inspection trains.
I've just asked on a railway discord server and there are, seemingly, no plans to increase the number of inspection trains, so what is going to perform the tasks currently done manually?
Who says new trains are needed?
There's an important question here, that we do not have the answers to, but Network Rail should have: in all the millions of hours of inspections per year, how many faults are actually detected by the linesmen walking the line?
Ten thousands? A thousand? A hundred? Ten? One? None?
Also, are they planning to totally stop manual inspections, or are they planning to alter how they are done, or the regularity?
It is almost certain that there will be a huge wave of strikes in the public sector. The government are all over the place. They have 10% inflation then insist on 1-2% pay rises - after a decade of pay being essentially frozen. Public sector workers are essentially being taken for fools. They've already been squeezed to the max already. Government will also try and turn this in to a culture war type issue, but it will fail; they keep misreading the culture, they think it is still the 70's and people remember Red Robbo or whatever but this was before most working age peoples time. The government are just playing to their own gold plated pensioner triple lock audience who are quickly dying out in vast quantities and those who are still alive are going to vote for them anyway.
With the train strikes, I would guess that they will continue indefinetly with popular support from the professional classes who, for the most part, welcome the opportunity to WFH.
Comments
Not in living memory anyways.
yes they will, because one they will retire and collect their state pension.
One could also just as easily argue that rises in both pension and earned incomes must be inflationary because they increase the disposable incomes and purchasing power of consumers, and may therefore tempt some businesses - especially those such as good hotels which take more enquiries for bookings than they have rooms - to jack up prices so that they become affordable to fewer, richer patrons.
Regardless, we all know that the reason why pension rises = good, wage rises = bad has nothing to do with inflation and everything to do with who the Conservative Party's client voter groups are. To imagine that they actually mean any of the crap they spout about inflation is naïve. It's just an excuse to throttle the incomes of unfavoured groups and funnel more money to favoured groups, whilst having a nostalgic wank about the Winter of Discontent. Nothing more.
Wednesday's Mail: “Labour isn't working!”
Jesus Christ
Time to get rid of this useless Labour government!!!!
Oh, hang on....
1) Thinks that Labour has got the balance about right on strikes
2) Doesn't think there would be any more strikes under a Labour government
Not sure they are going to get much of a backlash from this.
I won't argue about your conclusion as applicable to Britain (becaue I don't know enough), or even a general rule (because I haven't seen numbers), but during COVID in my area (a Seattle suburb), there has been another pattern visible,: Nice companies finish first.
Companies in this area are desperate for workers. A nearby convenience store closed because it couldn't find help. A branch of Bank of America is closed for the same reason. Help wanted signs are everywhere. Expensive ads are being run on TV; for example, a heating and air conditioning company is offering 6K sign-on bonuses, promising yearly earnings of 140K, and a free week's cruise for two, after a year.
But there are two places that don't seem to have any trouble getting and keeping workers, Trader Joe's and Chick-fil-A. The first has many friendly workers, the second is so famous for its friendliness that strangers are sometimes advised of it, in advance, so they won't be startled. I can think of other examples, by the way, but I think that will give you an idea of my tentative conclusion.
Anecdotally, I know of a couple of friends who were offered 1% pay rises this year - both now quit and gone somewhere else. Both highly paid professionals, also both sympathetic to the strikers.
It's worth noting that the people I mention above had their pay frozen during the pandemic, so that's 1% pay rise in 3 years.
A lot of people, even the well paid ones, are now of the "stuff the bosses" mentality. With petrol up over 10% in the last month alone, it is hard not to be sympathetic to anyone asking for an at or even below inflation pay rise.
If the Tories try to make this a red meat, culture war "stuff the unions" issue, I don't think they will get much support from working age people, who have been on the short end of the stick for some years now.
Quite noticeable that there is a very clear majority of those aged 18-54 in favour of the railway strikers.
Working age people sick of being treated like cash cows while pensioners are a protected class...
A BBC article on the British Bill of Rights links to this old book by Dominic Raab. Amusing to see the endorsements - John Kampfner, Timothy Garten Ash et al. alongside more usual suspects.
That, and The Mail being cross all the time at the moment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election#2022
I think if we had just been through a decade of grievances, unions "holding the country to ransom", demanding inflation-busting pay rise year after year, there would be a lot less sympathy for strikers and for organised labour. But we haven't. The unions have been toothless for, well, as long as I've been an adult.
Meanwhile people are being offered 1% pay rises by their employers while seeing some prices going up 10% in a month, so most can look at the strikers and think, " good for you".
The have made far too many lazy efforts like this down at the mail recently, they need to up their game if they want to influence, as they lose credibility they will influence less, rather like the boy who cried wolf.
I'm Backing Britain was a brief patriotic campaign, which flourished in early 1968 and was aimed at boosting the British economy. The campaign started spontaneously when five Surbiton secretaries volunteered to work an extra half-hour each day without pay to boost productivity and urged others to do the same. The invitation received an enormous response and a campaign took off spectacularly; it became a nationwide movement within a week... The Union Flag logo encouraged by the campaign became highly visible on the high streets, and attempts were made to take over the campaign by Robert Maxwell, who wanted to change its focus into an appeal to 'Buy British', but the campaign's own T-shirts were made in Portugal. After a few months without any noticeable effect on individual companies or the economy generally, interest flagged amid much embarrassment about some of the ways in which the campaign had been pursued and supported.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I'm_Backing_Britain
They even had a song sung by Bruce Forsyth:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT8LsRVN7C4
Ian Blackford in his statement suggests the leaking of the secret recording to the Mail caused the victim distress
The victim tonight says the leak “didn’t cause me anywhere near as much distress as how they treated me throughout the process”
https://twitter.com/johnestevens/status/1539339098783158274
A process that's taken over half a decade......
The thing with inflation caused by high energy prices is, when energy price stops inflating, and stands absolutely still, it cannot now itself cause inflation. If that was the one and only cause of inflation then there would be no inflation, inflation would die. But the costs of energy would still be high, not coming down with inflation, and all the way energy makes other items so many of them quite essential high, that would all remain high as well.
So inflation is not really the thing that Union bosses or workers or business owners are thinking of, the problem thing is high prices and the length of time they will be high.
The real problem for the government starts when voters realise that whilst they were struggling, the government was doing very well from all this, tax revenues etc, and the voters ask simple question, hang on a minute, how much of the windfall you got from this situation you share to help us. 😠
I do all my best posts when drunk 😆
Their night editor must have been pissed.
“But you are supposed to be angry at our front page”
🤣
Apparently, if we say “the problem here is old Etonians speaking Latin and Greek with barely a paid hour of work between them” it brands us hard bitten lefty class warriors. This argument the Express has built its front page around.
But pointing at Boris and his dysfunctional government is not such a bad identification of actual root cause of most UKs problems right now - it doesn’t make us all militant lefty’s to say it. 148 Tory MPs said just that hardly fortnight ago! 🤦♀️
There's an important question here, that we do not have the answers to, but Network Rail should have: in all the millions of hours of inspections per year, how many faults are actually detected by the linesmen walking the line?
Ten thousands? A thousand? A hundred? Ten? One? None?
Also, are they planning to totally stop manual inspections, or are they planning to alter how they are done, or the regularity?
With the train strikes, I would guess that they will continue indefinetly with popular support from the professional classes who, for the most part, welcome the opportunity to WFH.