Leave winning the referendum sparked a kind of war that is no different to historical battles - Boris as the figurehead of Leave, then as the PM that stopped a second referendum became the King that had to be taken down and everything he did is seen as malevolent. Sir Keir as the main refuser to accept the result is seen as the hero who can do no wrong by Remain voters.
Because most followers of politics like to maintain a sheen of academic rigour and need all their conclusions to be explainable as logical, they never admit this, but at its core it’s all just the ashes of the referendum
I think that framing Sir Keir as the main refuser to accept the result overstates his role. He opportunistically exploited it to win power within the Labour party but he wasn't a leading player overall.
Arguably the protagonists were all within the Conservative party and its offshoots.
Well he is singing from our hymn sheet now, let’s hope he is a man of his word
He calls to "re-nationalise rail". With a photo of an Avanti West Coast train. AWC is run by Avanti on a DfT contract for a management fee. It is in no way "privatised". Nor is the infrastructure it runs on.
What is needed is one comprehensive rail network, with both operations and infrastructure under a single management, and run by professionals, without DfT interference.
“without DfT interference.”
You were doing well up to there. The problems are -
1) that means spending billions in public money without political accountability. 2) it assumes the “professional” managers would be any different to the current management. In this country it is Neon Fascist Imperialism to have things run by actual domain experts. The trains would be run by other #NU10K.
In the US, NASA did fixed price bids for Commercial Cargo to the International Space Station. This worked, was notably cheap - so cheap in fact that there were multiple vendors. Senator Diane Feinstein complained that her staff weren’t getting enough paperwork on the program. AKA “I can’t micromanage this, therefore it is bad,”
The DfT are not accountable to us. I don’t believe they are even accountable to our elected representatives. By “professional” managers, I would expect engineers and finance professionals to have more input, and “professional “ civil servants to have less input.
We are seeing boiling frog syndrome in action. The government and the Tory party are morally reprehensible. Politically incompetent. But despite the evidence piling higher and the temperature in the water reaching the point where political death is imminent, still they shriek about the dangers of Labour who would stick you in water and turn the temperature up.
The point has been made about record taxes and record spending happing at the same time as front line services collapse due to lack of cash. Even if you think its fine for the Home Secretary to joke about rape or any of the other apocalypsofuck idiocy, from a policy perspective the government are a disaster.
All that money being spent. Burnt. Nothing but ash left to rain down on services. Its literal tax and spend, without even anything to show for it. Yet Tories insist you have to avoid Labour who would tax and spend and waste your money. Mate on mine in the pub on Thursday still pushing the line.
Frogs. Boiled to death. In denial about being boiled. Pitiful to see.
All that money spent with nothing to show for it was necessary for lockdowns and Covid. It’s fair enough to dislike the government, but to ignore that when critiquing them is crazy
If you spent all your savings on specialist treatments that saved your life, you wouldn’t look at the empty bank balance when you were out and about again and say the money was wasted
What’s worse is, the people who advised you must spend all your savings are the ones who are now poking fun at you for being skint!
Except that the "no money left" isn't about our savings, it's about the monthly income and expenditure.
COVID was a hideous expense, but it's basically stopped being expensive. There are some ongoing costs, especially due to ongoing sickness. And hideous one off expenses happen from time to time.
The big issue is that, every single month, we are spending more than we're bringing in, putting our grocery bills on the credit card. That almost never ends well.
This is largely because the state is much too generous in what it provides. Despite collecting more in taxes than in living memory.
Yet, much like the forever lockdowners who now moan about the debt, its those who find austerity all a bit distasteful that moan about the deficit.
A medium-hard rain is going to fall at some point. My feeling is that the sooner, the better. Pull off the plaster, cut the state drastically, require some personal responsibility, and watch our country thrive again.
... just in time for some socialist (of either party) to come in and find the "Third Way" and "share the proceeds of growth", i.e. get lazy and complacent again.
Or we might just get stuck in a cycle of ruinous spending - inflation - devaluation - default - constant decline, like Argentina. I hope, and expect, that we will choose the path of economic literacy, at least for a while, but if a man who campaigned to make Corbyn Prime Minister is in Downing Street, as seems probable, the declinist path is certainly more likely than I'd like to think..
Indeed.
This current govt is the most left wing of my lifetime, and needs electoral thumping on that basis alone; I don't expect Starmer to be any less left-wing. But I do expect the markets to take fright at some point.
I expect an economically dry as dust, no in work benefits, much lower pensions, no gift aid, no foreign aid, cut 5 or 6 whole govt departments etc etc Govt to emerge at some point. Hopefully not after an IMF bailout, but I wouldn't be at all surprised.
Aren't you a life long Tory?
To coin an au courant phrase, your boys f**ked up. Own it.
The current leaders of the Tory party are about as far from being Tory as possible, policy wise.
I'm only still in the party to ensure they are replaced by someone who actually wants to cut the state.
Given how few conservatives remain members if the party, and indeed the pitiful membership numbers overall, I think we can say that staying a member of the Tory Party is a very specialist, minority interest and your reasons for doing so are not necessarily those you suggest...
I never voted for Brexit. I didn't fuck up anything, it is you that should own it.
You seem to have a strange obsession with me. I wasn’t talking about you - or me - or the voters at large.
I was talking specifically about those Remainers in Parliament who voted down probably the best Brexit deal they could have hoped for because they thought they could prevent Brexit happening at all.
They gambled and lost.
They f**ked up. And people need to accept that.
Oh, lots of people made in utter Horlicks of politics post 2016.
The Civilised Leavers who planned to use the XL Bullies of Brexit (Cummings and Farage) to get Leave over the line, then dump them to get a feather soft Brexit in alliance with the Remainers. They really made a mess of things.
The Remainers, as you have said. And I'd add those who exaggerated the extreme potential downside, when the central case (a slow ongoing puncture) was bad enough.
The May government, who probably couldn't have reached out to the opposition, but didn't try.
Comrade Jez, who let his ego get in the way of a Government of Sane Brexit.
But most of all, those who campaigned for Brexit, then foisted an incredibly hard Brexit on the rest of us. Tactical geniuses, but strategically idiotic, because they largely denied the cost and inconvenience that would arise.
God bless us, one and all. Maybe change the second word to help.
It will all figure itself out in the long run
In 25 years whether we are in our out of the EU will have made very little difference to the trajectory of the UK
(But yes, lots of people got things very wrong. May be it was unlucky.
At its core,I think there was deep discontent among the voters and Brexit happened to be the issue they latched onto to make their point. Possibly Farage sensed that - possibly he got lucky. The fundamental issue was - and remains - that the political class is not governing in the interests of individual citizens but are too focused on the macro statistics rather than looking at the lived experience)
The left seem to think it is tax cuts that did for Truss on the markets.
Whilst in reality it was massive, unfunded growth in state expenditure. You know, the sort of thing they're always advocating.
They're in for a shock, methinks....
It was both.
You can have reduced expenditure, or reduced taxes.
If you already have a large PSBR you cannot have both at once.
Thatcher herself grasped that, but too many Tories now seem to lack the moral discipline to accept it.
Labour will go for higher spending and higher taxes. Will it work? I don't know, but it's much less likely to frighten the markets then the stuff your mob got up to.
We are seeing boiling frog syndrome in action. The government and the Tory party are morally reprehensible. Politically incompetent. But despite the evidence piling higher and the temperature in the water reaching the point where political death is imminent, still they shriek about the dangers of Labour who would stick you in water and turn the temperature up.
The point has been made about record taxes and record spending happing at the same time as front line services collapse due to lack of cash. Even if you think its fine for the Home Secretary to joke about rape or any of the other apocalypsofuck idiocy, from a policy perspective the government are a disaster.
All that money being spent. Burnt. Nothing but ash left to rain down on services. Its literal tax and spend, without even anything to show for it. Yet Tories insist you have to avoid Labour who would tax and spend and waste your money. Mate on mine in the pub on Thursday still pushing the line.
Frogs. Boiled to death. In denial about being boiled. Pitiful to see.
All that money spent with nothing to show for it was necessary for lockdowns and Covid. It’s fair enough to dislike the government, but to ignore that when critiquing them is crazy
If you spent all your savings on specialist treatments that saved your life, you wouldn’t look at the empty bank balance when you were out and about again and say the money was wasted
What’s worse is, the people who advised you must spend all your savings are the ones who are now poking fun at you for being skint!
Except that the "no money left" isn't about our savings, it's about the monthly income and expenditure.
COVID was a hideous expense, but it's basically stopped being expensive. There are some ongoing costs, especially due to ongoing sickness. And hideous one off expenses happen from time to time.
The big issue is that, every single month, we are spending more than we're bringing in, putting our grocery bills on the credit card. That almost never ends well.
This is largely because the state is much too generous in what it provides. Despite collecting more in taxes than in living memory.
Yet, much like the forever lockdowners who now moan about the debt, its those who find austerity all a bit distasteful that moan about the deficit.
A medium-hard rain is going to fall at some point. My feeling is that the sooner, the better. Pull off the plaster, cut the state drastically, require some personal responsibility, and watch our country thrive again.
... just in time for some socialist (of either party) to come in and find the "Third Way" and "share the proceeds of growth", i.e. get lazy and complacent again.
Or we might just get stuck in a cycle of ruinous spending - inflation - devaluation - default - constant decline, like Argentina. I hope, and expect, that we will choose the path of economic literacy, at least for a while, but if a man who campaigned to make Corbyn Prime Minister is in Downing Street, as seems probable, the declinist path is certainly more likely than I'd like to think..
Indeed.
This current govt is the most left wing of my lifetime, and needs electoral thumping on that basis alone; I don't expect Starmer to be any less left-wing. But I do expect the markets to take fright at some point.
I expect an economically dry as dust, no in work benefits, much lower pensions, no gift aid, no foreign aid, cut 5 or 6 whole govt departments etc etc Govt to emerge at some point. Hopefully not after an IMF bailout, but I wouldn't be at all surprised.
Aren't you a life long Tory?
To coin an au courant phrase, your boys f**ked up. Own it.
The current leaders of the Tory party are about as far from being Tory as possible, policy wise.
I'm only still in the party to ensure they are replaced by someone who actually wants to cut the state.
Given how few conservatives remain members if the party, and indeed the pitiful membership numbers overall, I think we can say that staying a member of the Tory Party is a very specialist, minority interest and your reasons for doing so are not necessarily those you suggest...
AFAICs, the MPs are as a group about as wet as it is possible to get. Many would have been well at home in Blair's Govt.
Most won't survive the coming landslide. And those MPs for constituencies with thriving memberships are much more reflective of the party membership.
I never voted for Brexit. I didn't fuck up anything, it is you that should own it.
You seem to have a strange obsession with me. I wasn’t talking about you - or me - or the voters at large.
I was talking specifically about those Remainers in Parliament who voted down probably the best Brexit deal they could have hoped for because they thought they could prevent Brexit happening at all.
They gambled and lost.
They f**ked up. And people need to accept that.
Oh, lots of people made in utter Horlicks of politics post 2016.
The Civilised Leavers who planned to use the XL Bullies of Brexit (Cummings and Farage) to get Leave over the line, then dump them to get a feather soft Brexit in alliance with the Remainers. They really made a mess of things.
The Remainers, as you have said. And I'd add those who exaggerated the extreme potential downside, when the central case (a slow ongoing puncture) was bad enough.
The May government, who probably couldn't have reached out to the opposition, but didn't try.
Comrade Jez, who let his ego get in the way of a Government of Sane Brexit.
But most of all, those who campaigned for Brexit, then foisted an incredibly hard Brexit on the rest of us. Tactical geniuses, but strategically idiotic, because they largely denied the cost and inconvenience that would arise.
God bless us, one and all. Maybe change the second word to help.
It will all figure itself out in the long run
In 25 years whether we are in our out of the EU will have made very little difference to the trajectory of the UK
(But yes, lots of people got things very wrong. May be it was unlucky.
At its core,I think there was deep discontent among the voters and Brexit happened to be the issue they latched onto to make their point. Possibly Farage sensed that - possibly he got lucky. The fundamental issue was - and remains - that the political class is not governing in the interests of individual citizens but are too focused on the macro statistics rather than looking at the lived experience)
Do you think they would have run it if it had been a Labour Home Secretary?
Some paper would - and you'd be telling us why the Labour MP must resign.
Remember the strident demands that Diane Abbott resign as Shadow Home Secretary because she drank a premix can on the tube?
Abbott drinks a Mojito on the overground: A Scandal. Proof Labour Cannot Be Trusted. She Must Resign.
Cleverly jokes about rape drugs and spousal battery and there's literally nothing to see here move along.
Never mind the mental gymnastics to get into such a position, do the posters not get the screaming hypocrisy of their position?
People still supporting the Tories now are probably beyond help.
(Snip)
I agree. However, I'd say the same: labour people who stuck with Labour even when they had an anti-Semitic leader are also probably beyond help.
Sadly, that includes the LOTO...
But not a fair few decent Labour (and ex-Labour) people on here who did the decent thing.
At least as a senior Labour politician Starmer had the option of sticking it out and then working to erase the anti-semitism. Any split might have failed and then you would still have the unedifying spectacle of an anti-semitic main opposition party. As a voter it's easier, your vote is transient, you just change it with the option of changing back later.
As a Tory voter (in national elections at least) I long since made the decision to vote for someone else next time.
As I have said many times, if Keir had not stayed in post he would never have won. He would never have been able to kick Corbyn out.
I passionately believe in this case he has proved his worth on anti-Semitism. And it's not me saying that, it is the JLM and BoD.
That has always been the classic dilemma under FPTP and its resulting two party hegemony. The fare of those who have left either Labour or the Conservatives on genuine matters of conscience, versus the record of those who have stayed to fight suggests that the latter have slightly more chance of achieving positive change.
As we've seen here on multiple occasions, the former usually see the end of their political careers - often celebrated with mockery by many posters (some of whom will have joined in the calls for them to resign on principle).
The left seem to think it is tax cuts that did for Truss on the markets.
Whilst in reality it was massive, unfunded growth in state expenditure. You know, the sort of thing they're always advocating.
They're in for a shock, methinks....
It was the combination of both. Labour are unlikely to make the same mistake, being clearly more fiscally cautious in their planning - though no doubt they'll find ways of their own to mess up.
I never voted for Brexit. I didn't fuck up anything, it is you that should own it.
You seem to have a strange obsession with me. I wasn’t talking about you - or me - or the voters at large.
I was talking specifically about those Remainers in Parliament who voted down probably the best Brexit deal they could have hoped for because they thought they could prevent Brexit happening at all.
They gambled and lost.
They f**ked up. And people need to accept that.
Oh, lots of people made in utter Horlicks of politics post 2016.
The Civilised Leavers who planned to use the XL Bullies of Brexit (Cummings and Farage) to get Leave over the line, then dump them to get a feather soft Brexit in alliance with the Remainers. They really made a mess of things.
The Remainers, as you have said. And I'd add those who exaggerated the extreme potential downside, when the central case (a slow ongoing puncture) was bad enough.
The May government, who probably couldn't have reached out to the opposition, but didn't try.
Comrade Jez, who let his ego get in the way of a Government of Sane Brexit.
But most of all, those who campaigned for Brexit, then foisted an incredibly hard Brexit on the rest of us. Tactical geniuses, but strategically idiotic, because they largely denied the cost and inconvenience that would arise.
God bless us, one and all. Maybe change the second word to help.
It will all figure itself out in the long run
In 25 years whether we are in our out of the EU will have made very little difference to the trajectory of the UK
(But yes, lots of people got things very wrong. May be it was unlucky.
At its core,I think there was deep discontent among the voters and Brexit happened to be the issue they latched onto to make their point. Possibly Farage sensed that - possibly he got lucky. The fundamental issue was - and remains - that the political class is not governing in the interests of individual citizens but are too focused on the macro statistics rather than looking at the lived experience)
Brexiteers didn’t win brexit. Remainers lost it.
David fucked this country.
Yes, it was Cameron who lost it. Never mind - he is back in government now......
I never voted for Brexit. I didn't fuck up anything, it is you that should own it.
You seem to have a strange obsession with me. I wasn’t talking about you - or me - or the voters at large.
I was talking specifically about those Remainers in Parliament who voted down probably the best Brexit deal they could have hoped for because they thought they could prevent Brexit happening at all.
They gambled and lost.
They f**ked up. And people need to accept that.
Oh, lots of people made in utter Horlicks of politics post 2016.
The Civilised Leavers who planned to use the XL Bullies of Brexit (Cummings and Farage) to get Leave over the line, then dump them to get a feather soft Brexit in alliance with the Remainers. They really made a mess of things.
The Remainers, as you have said. And I'd add those who exaggerated the extreme potential downside, when the central case (a slow ongoing puncture) was bad enough.
The May government, who probably couldn't have reached out to the opposition, but didn't try.
Comrade Jez, who let his ego get in the way of a Government of Sane Brexit.
But most of all, those who campaigned for Brexit, then foisted an incredibly hard Brexit on the rest of us. Tactical geniuses, but strategically idiotic, because they largely denied the cost and inconvenience that would arise.
God bless us, one and all. Maybe change the second word to help.
It will all figure itself out in the long run
In 25 years whether we are in our out of the EU will have made very little difference to the trajectory of the UK
(But yes, lots of people got things very wrong. May be it was unlucky.
At its core,I think there was deep discontent among the voters and Brexit happened to be the issue they latched onto to make their point. Possibly Farage sensed that - possibly he got lucky. The fundamental issue was - and remains - that the political class is not governing in the interests of individual citizens but are too focused on the macro statistics rather than looking at the lived experience)
Brexiteers didn’t win brexit. Remainers lost it.
David fucked this country.
If Cameron hadn’t called a referendum, Farage would have eaten PM Miliband alive
I never voted for Brexit. I didn't fuck up anything, it is you that should own it.
You seem to have a strange obsession with me. I wasn’t talking about you - or me - or the voters at large.
I was talking specifically about those Remainers in Parliament who voted down probably the best Brexit deal they could have hoped for because they thought they could prevent Brexit happening at all.
They gambled and lost.
They f**ked up. And people need to accept that.
Oh, lots of people made in utter Horlicks of politics post 2016.
The Civilised Leavers who planned to use the XL Bullies of Brexit (Cummings and Farage) to get Leave over the line, then dump them to get a feather soft Brexit in alliance with the Remainers. They really made a mess of things.
The Remainers, as you have said. And I'd add those who exaggerated the extreme potential downside, when the central case (a slow ongoing puncture) was bad enough.
The May government, who probably couldn't have reached out to the opposition, but didn't try.
Comrade Jez, who let his ego get in the way of a Government of Sane Brexit.
But most of all, those who campaigned for Brexit, then foisted an incredibly hard Brexit on the rest of us. Tactical geniuses, but strategically idiotic, because they largely denied the cost and inconvenience that would arise.
God bless us, one and all. Maybe change the second word to help.
It will all figure itself out in the long run
In 25 years whether we are in our out of the EU will have made very little difference to the trajectory of the UK
(But yes, lots of people got things very wrong. May be it was unlucky.
At its core,I think there was deep discontent among the voters and Brexit happened to be the issue they latched onto to make their point. Possibly Farage sensed that - possibly he got lucky. The fundamental issue was - and remains - that the political class is not governing in the interests of individual citizens but are too focused on the macro statistics rather than looking at the lived experience)
I never voted for Brexit. I didn't fuck up anything, it is you that should own it.
You seem to have a strange obsession with me. I wasn’t talking about you - or me - or the voters at large.
I was talking specifically about those Remainers in Parliament who voted down probably the best Brexit deal they could have hoped for because they thought they could prevent Brexit happening at all.
They gambled and lost.
They f**ked up. And people need to accept that.
Oh, lots of people made in utter Horlicks of politics post 2016.
The Civilised Leavers who planned to use the XL Bullies of Brexit (Cummings and Farage) to get Leave over the line, then dump them to get a feather soft Brexit in alliance with the Remainers. They really made a mess of things.
The Remainers, as you have said. And I'd add those who exaggerated the extreme potential downside, when the central case (a slow ongoing puncture) was bad enough.
The May government, who probably couldn't have reached out to the opposition, but didn't try.
Comrade Jez, who let his ego get in the way of a Government of Sane Brexit.
But most of all, those who campaigned for Brexit, then foisted an incredibly hard Brexit on the rest of us. Tactical geniuses, but strategically idiotic, because they largely denied the cost and inconvenience that would arise.
God bless us, one and all. Maybe change the second word to help.
It will all figure itself out in the long run
In 25 years whether we are in our out of the EU will have made very little difference to the trajectory of the UK
(But yes, lots of people got things very wrong. May be it was unlucky.
At its core,I think there was deep discontent among the voters and Brexit happened to be the issue they latched onto to make their point. Possibly Farage sensed that - possibly he got lucky. The fundamental issue was - and remains - that the political class is not governing in the interests of individual citizens but are too focused on the macro statistics rather than looking at the lived experience)
Brexiteers didn’t win brexit. Remainers lost it.
We all did. Two thirds of the country now think it a mistake.
We are seeing boiling frog syndrome in action. The government and the Tory party are morally reprehensible. Politically incompetent. But despite the evidence piling higher and the temperature in the water reaching the point where political death is imminent, still they shriek about the dangers of Labour who would stick you in water and turn the temperature up.
The point has been made about record taxes and record spending happing at the same time as front line services collapse due to lack of cash. Even if you think its fine for the Home Secretary to joke about rape or any of the other apocalypsofuck idiocy, from a policy perspective the government are a disaster.
All that money being spent. Burnt. Nothing but ash left to rain down on services. Its literal tax and spend, without even anything to show for it. Yet Tories insist you have to avoid Labour who would tax and spend and waste your money. Mate on mine in the pub on Thursday still pushing the line.
Frogs. Boiled to death. In denial about being boiled. Pitiful to see.
All that money spent with nothing to show for it was necessary for lockdowns and Covid. It’s fair enough to dislike the government, but to ignore that when critiquing them is crazy
If you spent all your savings on specialist treatments that saved your life, you wouldn’t look at the empty bank balance when you were out and about again and say the money was wasted
What’s worse is, the people who advised you must spend all your savings are the ones who are now poking fun at you for being skint!
Except that the "no money left" isn't about our savings, it's about the monthly income and expenditure.
COVID was a hideous expense, but it's basically stopped being expensive. There are some ongoing costs, especially due to ongoing sickness. And hideous one off expenses happen from time to time.
The big issue is that, every single month, we are spending more than we're bringing in, putting our grocery bills on the credit card. That almost never ends well.
This is largely because the state is much too generous in what it provides. Despite collecting more in taxes than in living memory.
Yet, much like the forever lockdowners who now moan about the debt, its those who find austerity all a bit distasteful that moan about the deficit.
A medium-hard rain is going to fall at some point. My feeling is that the sooner, the better. Pull off the plaster, cut the state drastically, require some personal responsibility, and watch our country thrive again.
... just in time for some socialist (of either party) to come in and find the "Third Way" and "share the proceeds of growth", i.e. get lazy and complacent again.
Or we might just get stuck in a cycle of ruinous spending - inflation - devaluation - default - constant decline, like Argentina. I hope, and expect, that we will choose the path of economic literacy, at least for a while, but if a man who campaigned to make Corbyn Prime Minister is in Downing Street, as seems probable, the declinist path is certainly more likely than I'd like to think..
Indeed.
This current govt is the most left wing of my lifetime, and needs electoral thumping on that basis alone; I don't expect Starmer to be any less left-wing. But I do expect the markets to take fright at some point.
I expect an economically dry as dust, no in work benefits, much lower pensions, no gift aid, no foreign aid, cut 5 or 6 whole govt departments etc etc Govt to emerge at some point. Hopefully not after an IMF bailout, but I wouldn't be at all surprised.
Aren't you a life long Tory?
To coin an au courant phrase, your boys f**ked up. Own it.
The current leaders of the Tory party are about as far from being Tory as possible, policy wise.
I'm only still in the party to ensure they are replaced by someone who actually wants to cut the state.
Given how few conservatives remain members if the party, and indeed the pitiful membership numbers overall, I think we can say that staying a member of the Tory Party is a very specialist, minority interest and your reasons for doing so are not necessarily those you suggest...
AFAICs, the MPs are as a group about as wet as it is possible to get. Many would have been well at home in Blair's Govt.
Most won't survive the coming landslide. And those MPs for constituencies with thriving memberships are much more reflective of the party membership.
Thought I remembered correctly. Just looked up my MP’s messages and a couple of weeks ago she was welcoming the Government’s efforts to stop spiking of drinks. I live in Witham constituency, next door to Braintree, Cleverly’s. The MP is Priti Patel. And yes, she did write “spiking”, not “spikin”!
Yesterday, wind met 76% of Irish electricity demand. The high was 84%. Total generation met 106% of demand and averaged a 72%/28% split between wind and all other sources. Wind peaked at 76%. https://twitter.com/JoyceWhiteVance/status/1738600628186726636
He calls to "re-nationalise rail". With a photo of an Avanti West Coast train. AWC is run by Avanti on a DfT contract for a management fee. It is in no way "privatised". Nor is the infrastructure it runs on.
What is needed is one comprehensive rail network, with both operations and infrastructure under a single management, and run by professionals, without DfT interference.
This is where I tend to go to. Can somebody explain the current arrangement with these private companies owning and leasing the trains? Why can't the operator do that.
In some cases that already happens. But regardless of who owns the rolling stock, what type is used and of what length is decided by the Department for Transport.
Rolling stock, like many other assets (think ferries, gas storage) has been cut to the bone. There are insufficient coaches for everyday services, and absolutely no spares for busy periods. There are not enough essential staff, whether train drivers, nurses, care workers, but more than enough managers and consultants. The country is broken. It will take a long time to repair it, and too many people don’t want to spend the money to do so, in case they have to pay more tax, receive lower dividends or give up some of their inheritance. The country is being destroyed by selfish, entitled bastards.
The privatisation of rolling stock was key to unlocking the privatisation of the rail industry. Nothing stopping the govt buying it back of the leasing companies of course, not sure if that would be top of most people's priority list for borrowing but hey.
Yesterday, wind met 76% of Irish electricity demand. The high was 84%. Total generation met 106% of demand and averaged a 72%/28% split between wind and all other sources. Wind peaked at 76%. https://twitter.com/JoyceWhiteVance/status/1738600628186726636
On top of all the spending, borrowing and tax hikes, this govt has increased immigration to record levels. It is a left wingers dream, yet left wingers hate it, because they are obsessed with personality rather than policy - having their man in charge rather than a nasty Tory. Right wingers on here hate it too, because of the policies, yet Hodges is correct; a clever politician would be able to turn what’s happened into an advantage, yet Sunak has disappointed everyone
I think these charts, while obviously selected for political purposes, are pretty convincing:
This is not a left-winger's dream. It's simply bad government.
Every govt would have had to spend the money this one did during Covid, Labour wanted longer lockdowns so would have spent more, and the debt would have been bigger
The only thing really you have to complain about is the Rwanda policy, and the 40 days of Truss
Yesterday, wind met 76% of Irish electricity demand. The high was 84%. Total generation met 106% of demand and averaged a 72%/28% split between wind and all other sources. Wind peaked at 76%. https://twitter.com/JoyceWhiteVance/status/1738600628186726636
He calls to "re-nationalise rail". With a photo of an Avanti West Coast train. AWC is run by Avanti on a DfT contract for a management fee. It is in no way "privatised". Nor is the infrastructure it runs on.
What is needed is one comprehensive rail network, with both operations and infrastructure under a single management, and run by professionals, without DfT interference.
As you know I am a big fan of StateCo setups. A company owned by the government but run commercially. What you suggest is a StateCo.
For the trot loons such a thing is heresy. They decry the service being provided by the Department for Transport and demand that it be nationalised so that the service instead can be run by the Department for Transport.
How do you stop politicians and civil servants interfering?
That’s always been the issue with StateCos
I think personally that the point of nationalisation is to have politicians taking responsibility, so you can re-elect them if they do a great job and throw them out if they screw up. How do we throw Thames Water out? Or indeed the Board of a StateCo. I don't favour nationalising non-monopolies where competition can do a good job, but something like water is badly served by regional monopolies accountable to nobody.
Comments
By “professional” managers, I would expect engineers and finance professionals to have more input, and “professional “ civil servants to have less input.
You can have reduced expenditure, or reduced taxes.
If you already have a large PSBR you cannot have both at once.
Thatcher herself grasped that, but too many Tories now seem to lack the moral discipline to accept it.
Labour will go for higher spending and higher taxes. Will it work? I don't know, but it's much less likely to frighten the markets then the stuff your mob got up to.
Most won't survive the coming landslide. And those MPs for constituencies with thriving memberships are much more reflective of the party membership.
But the energy guarantee was by far the most worrisome market consideration.
Lefties are gonna hate the strait jacket the market will force on them....
The fare of those who have left either Labour or the Conservatives on genuine matters of conscience, versus the record of those who have stayed to fight suggests that the latter have slightly more chance of achieving positive change.
As we've seen here on multiple occasions, the former usually see the end of their political careers - often celebrated with mockery by many posters (some of whom will have joined in the calls for them to resign on principle).
FPTP is a pretty toxic system.
We have our own customs policy, and several changes (relating to VAT and movement of goods) have dramatically helped my business.
Labour are unlikely to make the same mistake, being clearly more fiscally cautious in their planning - though no doubt they'll find ways of their own to mess up.
Two thirds of the country now think it a mistake.
I live in Witham constituency, next door to Braintree, Cleverly’s. The MP is Priti Patel.
And yes, she did write “spiking”, not “spikin”!
NEW THREAD
Yesterday, wind met 76% of Irish electricity demand. The high was 84%. Total generation met 106% of demand and averaged a 72%/28% split between wind and all other sources. Wind peaked at 76%.
https://twitter.com/JoyceWhiteVance/status/1738600628186726636
https://www.imeche.org/news/news-article/glut-of-new-rolling-stock-brings-challenges-and-opportunities-for-rail-sector
The privatisation of rolling stock was key to unlocking the privatisation of the rail industry. Nothing stopping the govt buying it back of the leasing companies of course, not sure if that would be top of most people's priority list for borrowing but hey.
to convince yourself
Not sure what happened there.
But the story is correct.