Reference Caerphilly Advance UK actually have a Welsh branch so i wonder if they may try and run to test support levels (1%?) I imagine YP will run or find someone to back under their banner also to test support (5%?)
Yes, poor numbers for Labour but I think we know if any other party were in Government at this time their numbers would be as bad if not worse.
It's often said some elections are "bad ones to win" - 1992 being a good example - but 2024 would be right up there it seems. I'll be honest (and this seems a peculiarly London-centric view) - I don't think Starmer is doing too badly. At worst he's Continuity Sunak but big shifts in governance aren't easy - as has been said, there were probably only three really radical Governments in the 20th century - Asquith, Attlee and Thatcher.
In a globally interconnected world, doing something radical isn't easy and even within Britain one decision impacts on others. Cuts in public spending on the scale some here would seem to want don't end at the balance sheet - they would impact real people in their daily lives, perhaps not the individuals and their families urging the deep cuts but nonetheless.
Government is difficult especially at a time of weak economic growth - however you try to slice the cake someone complains about their share or lack of it. I do agree some of the initial ideas of the new Government were implemented in a hamfisted way - removing Winter Fuel Allowance from higher rate taxpayers while retaining it for those on basic rate would probably have been sellable. The "boats" defy all attempts at a solution for now though I suspect autumn and winter will slow things down a bit.
Cutting Peter's benefits to ensure Paul pays less tax isn't the answer and nor is raising Paul's taxes so Peter can keep all his benefits so it becomes dancing on a pinhead in terms of what you can and can't do.
It also becomes easier to look for scapegoats - blame the migrants, blame the scroungers, blame those with mental and physical challenges, blame those with long Covid, blame the last Government, blame this Government etc.
You can see the attraction of masterly inactivity and the destiny of the poor can as it gets propelled once more down the road. You can also see why those peddling "easy answers" get traction.
The problem I see it is that Starmer is built for a sort of managerial role when the country doesn’t need it. He might have been a decently average (or even average to good) PM conceivably, in 2015, or in the 1960s, or in the John Major role. He just isn’t the “cometh the hour” person.
The Atlees, Thatchers, Asquiths of this world are rare but they’re precisely what we need right now - a purpose, a radical sense of mission, and a party firmly behind them. Farage play-acts as one of those people, but isnt the real deal.
Ah, yes, the "strong" leader. The "radical" leader. It's seductive I know to think all our problems could be dealt with by such an individual - we could vote them in and then they would lead us from the valley of the shadow to the sunlit uplands...
Blah, blah, blah - that's how authoritarianism starts. I'd rather our imperfect, bumbling democracy than a "strong" leader. The truth probably is we could solve a lot of our problems ourselves with some changes in our personal behaviour and within our communities - that would be really radical.
The problem with top-down solutions is they create bottom-up problems. Somebody suggested yesterday it was all the fault of "fatties" as he called them and said everyone who was overweight should be given free Mounjaro. Well, setting aside the economics, the practicalities and the legalities (but they aren't that individual's strong suit), Mounjaro isn't side effect free as I know from a friend who has used it.
The other consequence is if you have a significant portion (sorry) of the population on appetite suppressing drugs, what happens to the catering and hospitality industries? Do the non-"fatties" have to become "fatties" in order to keep every cafe and restaurant from my cafe in the Barking Road to the top three Michelin star eaterie going? Will we see Gordon Ramsey begging on the streets as his restaurant empire collapses from lack of demand?
The claim that radical change in a democracy is dictatorship or something is an old, old cry.
The problem is that, in many areas, the government is not doing much, if anything.
On health in the community - why not some trials? Pick an area. Vitality style rewards for health indicators. You wouldn’t need legislation for that.
£100 off income tax (or added to your UC or State Pension) if you have a healthy BMI or can run 5K in less than 30 minutes.
First, we know BMI isn't the be all and end all as a measure of health. Second, physical exercise tests - seriously? Third, £100 - a lot of people will see it as not worth the effort (make it £10,000 a year and you;d get more takers).
Tough. The NHS is going to collapse under the weight of the population and we already have the classic insurance issues of moral hazard and adverse selection.
Health inequality is enormous. We have a group of well paid, healthy and active people paying a huge amount of tax for a service they rarely use because it's been overwhelmed by the old and inactive.
That's completely unsustainable, a breach of the social contract. And this is coming from someone who is instinctively generous with government support for those who need it.
Most of the redistribution done by the NHS is over time. If you're healthy and active, you are paying for your future care more than you are paying for inactive others'. Even if you eat well and do lots of physical activity, you're going to die at some point and most of the average person's health costs are at the end of life.
Now, that doesn't argue against the importance of health promotion. Health promotion is very cost effective. We should be doing more to encourage physical activity and healthy diets. What's the best way of doing that? Giving people £100 for being fit, or spending £4 billion on council gyms and good quality health promotion apps?
Of those two options, definitely the £100. People respond extremely quickly to cash incentives in private health insurance, and it provides flexibility. You could lose the weight by cycling to work, or not eating loads of crap.
(Remember that it's far easier to change your diet than it is to burn calories through exercise.)
RIP and commiserations to his wife who is also an MS. Latest polling modelled suggests a split in Blaenau/Caerphilly the joint seat Ref 30 PC 28 Lab 23 Con 8 Grn 6 LD 5
The projected Caerphilly Westminster seat is Ref 30 PC 30 Lab 20 Con 8 LD 6 Grn 6
Note the Caerphilly 2021 seat this will be fought on is slightly smaller than the 2024 Westminster seat and the 2026 Senedd half seat
Probably the last ever devolved by-election in Wales. I don't think the new PR system allows for them.
Yes, poor numbers for Labour but I think we know if any other party were in Government at this time their numbers would be as bad if not worse.
It's often said some elections are "bad ones to win" - 1992 being a good example - but 2024 would be right up there it seems. I'll be honest (and this seems a peculiarly London-centric view) - I don't think Starmer is doing too badly. At worst he's Continuity Sunak but big shifts in governance aren't easy - as has been said, there were probably only three really radical Governments in the 20th century - Asquith, Attlee and Thatcher.
In a globally interconnected world, doing something radical isn't easy and even within Britain one decision impacts on others. Cuts in public spending on the scale some here would seem to want don't end at the balance sheet - they would impact real people in their daily lives, perhaps not the individuals and their families urging the deep cuts but nonetheless.
Government is difficult especially at a time of weak economic growth - however you try to slice the cake someone complains about their share or lack of it. I do agree some of the initial ideas of the new Government were implemented in a hamfisted way - removing Winter Fuel Allowance from higher rate taxpayers while retaining it for those on basic rate would probably have been sellable. The "boats" defy all attempts at a solution for now though I suspect autumn and winter will slow things down a bit.
Cutting Peter's benefits to ensure Paul pays less tax isn't the answer and nor is raising Paul's taxes so Peter can keep all his benefits so it becomes dancing on a pinhead in terms of what you can and can't do.
It also becomes easier to look for scapegoats - blame the migrants, blame the scroungers, blame those with mental and physical challenges, blame those with long Covid, blame the last Government, blame this Government etc.
You can see the attraction of masterly inactivity and the destiny of the poor can as it gets propelled once more down the road. You can also see why those peddling "easy answers" get traction.
The problem I see it is that Starmer is built for a sort of managerial role when the country doesn’t need it. He might have been a decently average (or even average to good) PM conceivably, in 2015, or in the 1960s, or in the John Major role. He just isn’t the “cometh the hour” person.
The Atlees, Thatchers, Asquiths of this world are rare but they’re precisely what we need right now - a purpose, a radical sense of mission, and a party firmly behind them. Farage play-acts as one of those people, but isnt the real deal.
Ah, yes, the "strong" leader. The "radical" leader. It's seductive I know to think all our problems could be dealt with by such an individual - we could vote them in and then they would lead us from the valley of the shadow to the sunlit uplands...
Blah, blah, blah - that's how authoritarianism starts. I'd rather our imperfect, bumbling democracy than a "strong" leader. The truth probably is we could solve a lot of our problems ourselves with some changes in our personal behaviour and within our communities - that would be really radical.
The problem with top-down solutions is they create bottom-up problems. Somebody suggested yesterday it was all the fault of "fatties" as he called them and said everyone who was overweight should be given free Mounjaro. Well, setting aside the economics, the practicalities and the legalities (but they aren't that individual's strong suit), Mounjaro isn't side effect free as I know from a friend who has used it.
The other consequence is if you have a significant portion (sorry) of the population on appetite suppressing drugs, what happens to the catering and hospitality industries? Do the non-"fatties" have to become "fatties" in order to keep every cafe and restaurant from my cafe in the Barking Road to the top three Michelin star eaterie going? Will we see Gordon Ramsey begging on the streets as his restaurant empire collapses from lack of demand?
The claim that radical change in a democracy is dictatorship or something is an old, old cry.
The problem is that, in many areas, the government is not doing much, if anything.
On health in the community - why not some trials? Pick an area. Vitality style rewards for health indicators. You wouldn’t need legislation for that.
£100 off income tax (or added to your UC or State Pension) if you have a healthy BMI or can run 5K in less than 30 minutes.
First, we know BMI isn't the be all and end all as a measure of health. Second, physical exercise tests - seriously? Third, £100 - a lot of people will see it as not worth the effort (make it £10,000 a year and you;d get more takers).
Tough. The NHS is going to collapse under the weight of the population and we already have the classic insurance issues of moral hazard and adverse selection.
Health inequality is enormous. We have a group of well paid, healthy and active people paying a huge amount of tax for a service they rarely use because it's been overwhelmed by the old and inactive.
That's completely unsustainable, a breach of the social contract. And this is coming from someone who is instinctively generous with government support for those who need it.
Most of the redistribution done by the NHS is over time. If you're healthy and active, you are paying for your future care more than you are paying for inactive others'. Even if you eat well and do lots of physical activity, you're going to die at some point and most of the average person's health costs are at the end of life.
Now, that doesn't argue against the importance of health promotion. Health promotion is very cost effective. We should be doing more to encourage physical activity and healthy diets. What's the best way of doing that? Giving people £100 for being fit, or spending £4 billion on council gyms and good quality health promotion apps?
If we were paying for our future care that would be fine. But we aren't, are we?
We aren't even paying for current care requirements.
The whole Ponzi scheme is collapsing and nobody wants to admit it.
I've started a new business - which I envisage will become my primary business interest next year I'm still doing consulting work for clients Merged the two small family retail operations into one, and building social media for those delivering increases in revenue Just Get A Tesla YouTube is now releasing 3 videos a week with a consummate increase in revenues Politics has woken up - I'm completing the seat selection process to run for Holyrood Emergency Podcast YouTube has been relaunched - we're doing 1 big video a week and clipping for reels which are starting to build an audience I'm doing my own 60 second politics reels on X and TikTok which are getting great interaction straight out of the box
Everything is business! Even politics as my consulting / media production business is technically producing all content I create on all channels...
Beware of burnout. At that rate of video production, you risk running out of time or ideas, and I gather YouTube algorithms can be brutal if the pace slackens.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
RIP and commiserations to his wife who is also an MS. Latest polling modelled suggests a split in Blaenau/Caerphilly the joint seat Ref 30 PC 28 Lab 23 Con 8 Grn 6 LD 5
The projected Caerphilly Westminster seat is Ref 30 PC 30 Lab 20 Con 8 LD 6 Grn 6
Note the Caerphilly 2021 seat this will be fought on is slightly smaller than the 2024 Westminster seat and the 2026 Senedd half seat
Probably the last ever devolved by-election in Wales. I don't think the new PR system allows for them.
Deaths and resignations go to next list member?
Yeah I believe so. Same as the current D'Hondt system for the regional seats.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
I've started a new business - which I envisage will become my primary business interest next year I'm still doing consulting work for clients Merged the two small family retail operations into one, and building social media for those delivering increases in revenue Just Get A Tesla YouTube is now releasing 3 videos a week with a consummate increase in revenues Politics has woken up - I'm completing the seat selection process to run for Holyrood Emergency Podcast YouTube has been relaunched - we're doing 1 big video a week and clipping for reels which are starting to build an audience I'm doing my own 60 second politics reels on X and TikTok which are getting great interaction straight out of the box
Everything is business! Even politics as my consulting / media production business is technically producing all content I create on all channels...
Test Possibly an overnighter, or a VERY! early rise but how about a test from your Aberdeen pad using FSD to the car park for Watersmeet in North Devon ?
Yes, poor numbers for Labour but I think we know if any other party were in Government at this time their numbers would be as bad if not worse.
It's often said some elections are "bad ones to win" - 1992 being a good example - but 2024 would be right up there it seems. I'll be honest (and this seems a peculiarly London-centric view) - I don't think Starmer is doing too badly. At worst he's Continuity Sunak but big shifts in governance aren't easy - as has been said, there were probably only three really radical Governments in the 20th century - Asquith, Attlee and Thatcher.
In a globally interconnected world, doing something radical isn't easy and even within Britain one decision impacts on others. Cuts in public spending on the scale some here would seem to want don't end at the balance sheet - they would impact real people in their daily lives, perhaps not the individuals and their families urging the deep cuts but nonetheless.
Government is difficult especially at a time of weak economic growth - however you try to slice the cake someone complains about their share or lack of it. I do agree some of the initial ideas of the new Government were implemented in a hamfisted way - removing Winter Fuel Allowance from higher rate taxpayers while retaining it for those on basic rate would probably have been sellable. The "boats" defy all attempts at a solution for now though I suspect autumn and winter will slow things down a bit.
Cutting Peter's benefits to ensure Paul pays less tax isn't the answer and nor is raising Paul's taxes so Peter can keep all his benefits so it becomes dancing on a pinhead in terms of what you can and can't do.
It also becomes easier to look for scapegoats - blame the migrants, blame the scroungers, blame those with mental and physical challenges, blame those with long Covid, blame the last Government, blame this Government etc.
You can see the attraction of masterly inactivity and the destiny of the poor can as it gets propelled once more down the road. You can also see why those peddling "easy answers" get traction.
The problem I see it is that Starmer is built for a sort of managerial role when the country doesn’t need it. He might have been a decently average (or even average to good) PM conceivably, in 2015, or in the 1960s, or in the John Major role. He just isn’t the “cometh the hour” person.
The Atlees, Thatchers, Asquiths of this world are rare but they’re precisely what we need right now - a purpose, a radical sense of mission, and a party firmly behind them. Farage play-acts as one of those people, but isnt the real deal.
Ah, yes, the "strong" leader. The "radical" leader. It's seductive I know to think all our problems could be dealt with by such an individual - we could vote them in and then they would lead us from the valley of the shadow to the sunlit uplands...
Blah, blah, blah - that's how authoritarianism starts. I'd rather our imperfect, bumbling democracy than a "strong" leader. The truth probably is we could solve a lot of our problems ourselves with some changes in our personal behaviour and within our communities - that would be really radical.
The problem with top-down solutions is they create bottom-up problems. Somebody suggested yesterday it was all the fault of "fatties" as he called them and said everyone who was overweight should be given free Mounjaro. Well, setting aside the economics, the practicalities and the legalities (but they aren't that individual's strong suit), Mounjaro isn't side effect free as I know from a friend who has used it.
The other consequence is if you have a significant portion (sorry) of the population on appetite suppressing drugs, what happens to the catering and hospitality industries? Do the non-"fatties" have to become "fatties" in order to keep every cafe and restaurant from my cafe in the Barking Road to the top three Michelin star eaterie going? Will we see Gordon Ramsey begging on the streets as his restaurant empire collapses from lack of demand?
The claim that radical change in a democracy is dictatorship or something is an old, old cry.
The problem is that, in many areas, the government is not doing much, if anything.
On health in the community - why not some trials? Pick an area. Vitality style rewards for health indicators. You wouldn’t need legislation for that.
£100 off income tax (or added to your UC or State Pension) if you have a healthy BMI or can run 5K in less than 30 minutes.
First, we know BMI isn't the be all and end all as a measure of health. Second, physical exercise tests - seriously? Third, £100 - a lot of people will see it as not worth the effort (make it £10,000 a year and you;d get more takers).
Tough. The NHS is going to collapse under the weight of the population and we already have the classic insurance issues of moral hazard and adverse selection.
Health inequality is enormous. We have a group of well paid, healthy and active people paying a huge amount of tax for a service they rarely use because it's been overwhelmed by the old and inactive.
That's completely unsustainable, a breach of the social contract. And this is coming from someone who is instinctively generous with government support for those who need it.
Most of the redistribution done by the NHS is over time. If you're healthy and active, you are paying for your future care more than you are paying for inactive others'. Even if you eat well and do lots of physical activity, you're going to die at some point and most of the average person's health costs are at the end of life.
Now, that doesn't argue against the importance of health promotion. Health promotion is very cost effective. We should be doing more to encourage physical activity and healthy diets. What's the best way of doing that? Giving people £100 for being fit, or spending £4 billion on council gyms and good quality health promotion apps?
Of those two options, definitely the £100. People respond extremely quickly to cash incentives in private health insurance, and it provides flexibility. You could lose the weight by cycling to work, or not eating loads of crap.
(Remember that it's far easier to change your diet than it is to burn calories through exercise.)
But exercise is fun. Whereas changing your diet isn't.
Yes, poor numbers for Labour but I think we know if any other party were in Government at this time their numbers would be as bad if not worse.
It's often said some elections are "bad ones to win" - 1992 being a good example - but 2024 would be right up there it seems. I'll be honest (and this seems a peculiarly London-centric view) - I don't think Starmer is doing too badly. At worst he's Continuity Sunak but big shifts in governance aren't easy - as has been said, there were probably only three really radical Governments in the 20th century - Asquith, Attlee and Thatcher.
In a globally interconnected world, doing something radical isn't easy and even within Britain one decision impacts on others. Cuts in public spending on the scale some here would seem to want don't end at the balance sheet - they would impact real people in their daily lives, perhaps not the individuals and their families urging the deep cuts but nonetheless.
Government is difficult especially at a time of weak economic growth - however you try to slice the cake someone complains about their share or lack of it. I do agree some of the initial ideas of the new Government were implemented in a hamfisted way - removing Winter Fuel Allowance from higher rate taxpayers while retaining it for those on basic rate would probably have been sellable. The "boats" defy all attempts at a solution for now though I suspect autumn and winter will slow things down a bit.
Cutting Peter's benefits to ensure Paul pays less tax isn't the answer and nor is raising Paul's taxes so Peter can keep all his benefits so it becomes dancing on a pinhead in terms of what you can and can't do.
It also becomes easier to look for scapegoats - blame the migrants, blame the scroungers, blame those with mental and physical challenges, blame those with long Covid, blame the last Government, blame this Government etc.
You can see the attraction of masterly inactivity and the destiny of the poor can as it gets propelled once more down the road. You can also see why those peddling "easy answers" get traction.
The problem I see it is that Starmer is built for a sort of managerial role when the country doesn’t need it. He might have been a decently average (or even average to good) PM conceivably, in 2015, or in the 1960s, or in the John Major role. He just isn’t the “cometh the hour” person.
The Atlees, Thatchers, Asquiths of this world are rare but they’re precisely what we need right now - a purpose, a radical sense of mission, and a party firmly behind them. Farage play-acts as one of those people, but isnt the real deal.
Ah, yes, the "strong" leader. The "radical" leader. It's seductive I know to think all our problems could be dealt with by such an individual - we could vote them in and then they would lead us from the valley of the shadow to the sunlit uplands...
Blah, blah, blah - that's how authoritarianism starts. I'd rather our imperfect, bumbling democracy than a "strong" leader. The truth probably is we could solve a lot of our problems ourselves with some changes in our personal behaviour and within our communities - that would be really radical.
The problem with top-down solutions is they create bottom-up problems. Somebody suggested yesterday it was all the fault of "fatties" as he called them and said everyone who was overweight should be given free Mounjaro. Well, setting aside the economics, the practicalities and the legalities (but they aren't that individual's strong suit), Mounjaro isn't side effect free as I know from a friend who has used it.
The other consequence is if you have a significant portion (sorry) of the population on appetite suppressing drugs, what happens to the catering and hospitality industries? Do the non-"fatties" have to become "fatties" in order to keep every cafe and restaurant from my cafe in the Barking Road to the top three Michelin star eaterie going? Will we see Gordon Ramsey begging on the streets as his restaurant empire collapses from lack of demand?
The claim that radical change in a democracy is dictatorship or something is an old, old cry.
The problem is that, in many areas, the government is not doing much, if anything.
On health in the community - why not some trials? Pick an area. Vitality style rewards for health indicators. You wouldn’t need legislation for that.
£100 off income tax (or added to your UC or State Pension) if you have a healthy BMI or can run 5K in less than 30 minutes.
First, we know BMI isn't the be all and end all as a measure of health. Second, physical exercise tests - seriously? Third, £100 - a lot of people will see it as not worth the effort (make it £10,000 a year and you;d get more takers).
Tough. The NHS is going to collapse under the weight of the population and we already have the classic insurance issues of moral hazard and adverse selection.
Health inequality is enormous. We have a group of well paid, healthy and active people paying a huge amount of tax for a service they rarely use because it's been overwhelmed by the old and inactive.
That's completely unsustainable, a breach of the social contract. And this is coming from someone who is instinctively generous with government support for those who need it.
Most of the redistribution done by the NHS is over time. If you're healthy and active, you are paying for your future care more than you are paying for inactive others'. Even if you eat well and do lots of physical activity, you're going to die at some point and most of the average person's health costs are at the end of life.
Now, that doesn't argue against the importance of health promotion. Health promotion is very cost effective. We should be doing more to encourage physical activity and healthy diets. What's the best way of doing that? Giving people £100 for being fit, or spending £4 billion on council gyms and good quality health promotion apps?
What is needed is to implement the Marmot report of the dying days of the Brown government. No need to reinvent the wheel.
I don’t think I’ve seen such relentless bad press for any other government. Of course not helped by the right wing media deciding that a lot of the problems caused mainly by the Tories is now to be owned by Labour alone . It’s pretty clear that had the Tories duped enough voters the country would still be in a mess .
Labour's problem is that, while it's entirely fair to blame the previous government for our present mess, they appear barely to have started thinking about how to address it.
The country's problem is that it's very far from clear that anyone other party has, either.
Good morning
So true and so depressing
I have no idea how any of the parties provide a solution and that includes the Lib Dems and Greens
However, it is fair to say Starmer is not PM material and Reeves certainly is not COE material either, and with huge tax increases on the horizon I cannot see how labour recovers, and that is without Magic Grandpa and Sultana getting their act together
My granddaughter, fresh with her degree from Leeds, has applied for 60 jobs with no success and is now on UC
How the next government will cope is for discussion but I would be amazed if labour were part of it
It's all very well saying Starmer and Reeves aren't up to the job. (I don't think the vacancy for Labour leader in 2020 was about being a PM in waiting, but there you go.) The real question is twofold;
1 Is there anyone else on the political scene who would be doing better? Badenoch is worse. Farage is worse. If you think (as I do) that Sunak and Hunt spent their final year laying traps for their successors, they are worse.
2 If the Prime Ministers we have had in recent decades have all been horribly flawed, maybe the problem is the role and our expectations, not the people who have done it.
Laying traps? Citation required.
I'd swap back Sunak and Hunt in a heartbeat for what replaced them. They were dealt the shittiest hand of any post-war Government, but at least looked like they knew what needed doing.
You mean apart from the almost completely full prisons, 2024 pay negotiations hidden under the mattress, wing-and-a-prayer NI cuts, councils collapsing under social care, the Afghan refugee scandal...
Yes, a fair few of the problems that the incoming govt faced were caused by the last govt salting the ground.
However you’d think the incoming govt would know this, know these are the challenges and have a plan to tackle them as a priority and, quite frankly, they should have simply said ‘no plans’ when challenged on tax rises.
Labour are offering nothing.
They’re offering tax increases, increases in the cost and bureaucracy of employing people and economic contraction.
Admittedly it’s not a great offer but it’s theirs
Strikes me that this govt may be the last hurrah for Unions and bureaucracy.
Whether it is through IMF stipulations or or a future effective government, just can't see vested interests getting more influence....
All that just means a new set of vested interests in due course.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
Why would my wife need recourse to public funds though?
Malcolm is right, there needs to be say five years of paying in before you can take out, as is the case in many other Western countries.
You're painting one of the rooms jet black and installing a throne?
What colour are you painting the throne room. Once stayed in a taverna/pub in Southern Italy that had a disco ball in the throne room. The whole decor shouted weird but it was the only accommodation available on our route.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Well put the blame where it belongs. Brexit! Try a trip to a nice little French town between Beaulieu and Nice. They have the Brit Bar Riviera King The Aussie Bar Tosca Italian restaurant The Rumanian builders Pembroke Films The Arthouse Gallery Pisani Estate agents...... run by every nationality you can think of running every kind of small business you can imagine making the place vibrant all the year round. While the Cote d'azur is getting rich beyond avarice the UK is burning hotels and stigmatising rubber boats. It's beyond depressing
Did Italy just surpass us in GDP per capita again ? (Some debate about this, but irrespective of that, it's not a great metric for us.)
Given that we've imported 3m immigrants of low skill in the last 4 years would it really be a surprise. Only about of third of them actually work, the rest are unemployed or non working age dependents and of that third hardly any will have jobs that delivery any increment to per capita GDP or work that delivers any kind of economic multiplier, it's simply displacement of jobs that should be being done by British people sitting on the dole because they've managed to be declared permanently unable to work.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
Why would my wife need recourse to public funds though?
Malcolm is right, there needs to be say five years of paying in before you can take out, as is the case in many other Western countries.
There are lots of benefits available to OAP’s which are not necessarily clearly a cost to public purse. Cheap rail tickets are but one example.
Lol, that suggestion yesterday is aging like milk sitting out in the sun. That some could suggest it unironically shows how detached from reality the liberal left is becoming. They have their narrative, facts be damned.
I have news for you if you think fishing rights owners haven’t been as pernickety as fck about permits since time immemorial. At least they don’t transport you to Australia any more..
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Well put the blame where it belongs. Brexit! Try a trip to a nice little French town between Beaulieu and Nice. They have the Brit Bar Riviera King The Aussie Bar Tosca Italian restaurant The Rumanian builders Pembroke Films The Arthouse Gallery Pisani Estate agents...... run by every nationality you can think of running every kind of small business you can imagine making the place vibrant all the year round. While the Cote d'azur is getting rich beyond avarice the UK is burning hotels and stigmatising rubber boats. It's beyond depressing
Sounds amazing - imagine if in Britain we had bars and restaurants run and owned by people from all nationalities. We could have Indian restaurants eating the wonders of the sub-continent, Italians serving us pizza and pasta, Greek places churning out Gyros, wait, we could have Japanese places with their raw fish thing and Chinese or Vietnamese restaurants.
Oh Brexit, if you hadn’t happened just think of all the bars and restaurants we could have.
Anyway, on other matters, how do the French Far Right poll in the Côte d’Azur?
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Well put the blame where it belongs. Brexit! Try a trip to a nice little French town between Beaulieu and Nice. They have the Brit Bar Riviera King The Aussie Bar Tosca Italian restaurant The Rumanian builders Pembroke Films The Arthouse Gallery Pisani Estate agents...... run by every nationality you can think of running every kind of small business you can imagine making the place vibrant all the year round. While the Cote d'azur is getting rich beyond avarice the UK is burning hotels and stigmatising rubber boats. It's beyond depressing
This is hilariously unspoofable.
I go to France and deal with businesses there alot; the ownership of businesses there is far, far more homogenous, and much much more biased towards the French than in the any bias towards English ownership in England.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
Why would my wife need recourse to public funds though?
Malcolm is right, there needs to be say five years of paying in before you can take out, as is the case in many other Western countries.
There are lots of benefits available to OAP’s which are not necessarily clearly a cost to public purse. Cheap rail tickets are but one example.
I also see in media , if your eyesight si bad, you ahev a sore back , etc, etc, etc then you can claim £xxx per month , £yyy per month. It really is a magic money tree for benefits nowadays, you are exceptional if you are not receiving benefits rather than other way round.
He can afford 800 quid fopr a taxi the big clown can surely get a rod licence for a couple of quid Taz. You would think these balloons would at least try to follow what Joe Public have to do but tehy think they are special and can just do what they want. It is the taking the piss that annoys people.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Well put the blame where it belongs. Brexit! Try a trip to a nice little French town between Beaulieu and Nice. They have the Brit Bar Riviera King The Aussie Bar Tosca Italian restaurant The Rumanian builders Pembroke Films The Arthouse Gallery Pisani Estate agents...... run by every nationality you can think of running every kind of small business you can imagine making the place vibrant all the year round. While the Cote d'azur is getting rich beyond avarice the UK is burning hotels and stigmatising rubber boats. It's beyond depressing
This is hilariously unspoofable.
I go to France and deal with businesses there alot; the ownership of businesses there is far, far more homogenous, and much much more biased towards the French than in the any bias towards English ownership in England.
Open your eyes from the Brexit Blinkers, Roger.
Agree total and utter bollox, as well as when woudl Roger ever be near enough to commoners to see places like that. Perhaps using binoculars from a mountain top Michelin starred French owned restaurant.
Reference Caerphilly Advance UK actually have a Welsh branch so i wonder if they may try and run to test support levels (1%?) I imagine YP will run or find someone to back under their banner also to test support (5%?)
Your Party, or whatever name, aren't registered with the Electoral Commission yet, so they can't stand... but someone could stand as a Cobyn/Sultana-backed independent.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Well put the blame where it belongs. Brexit! Try a trip to a nice little French town between Beaulieu and Nice. They have the Brit Bar Riviera King The Aussie Bar Tosca Italian restaurant The Rumanian builders Pembroke Films The Arthouse Gallery Pisani Estate agents...... run by every nationality you can think of running every kind of small business you can imagine making the place vibrant all the year round. While the Cote d'azur is getting rich beyond avarice the UK is burning hotels and stigmatising rubber boats. It's beyond depressing
Sounds amazing - imagine if in Britain we had bars and restaurants run and owned by people from all nationalities. We could have Indian restaurants eating the wonders of the sub-continent, Italians serving us pizza and pasta, Greek places churning out Gyros, wait, we could have Japanese places with their raw fish thing and Chinese or Vietnamese restaurants.
Oh Brexit, if you hadn’t happened just think of all the bars and restaurants we could have.
Anyway, on other matters, how do the French Far Right poll in the Côte d’Azur?
IIRC Côte d’Azur had the far right leading the first round in the last election with the usual Anyone-But-The-National-Ramblers in the second round defeating them - but they got 40% or something like that in the second round.
Yes, poor numbers for Labour but I think we know if any other party were in Government at this time their numbers would be as bad if not worse.
It's often said some elections are "bad ones to win" - 1992 being a good example - but 2024 would be right up there it seems. I'll be honest (and this seems a peculiarly London-centric view) - I don't think Starmer is doing too badly. At worst he's Continuity Sunak but big shifts in governance aren't easy - as has been said, there were probably only three really radical Governments in the 20th century - Asquith, Attlee and Thatcher.
In a globally interconnected world, doing something radical isn't easy and even within Britain one decision impacts on others. Cuts in public spending on the scale some here would seem to want don't end at the balance sheet - they would impact real people in their daily lives, perhaps not the individuals and their families urging the deep cuts but nonetheless.
Government is difficult especially at a time of weak economic growth - however you try to slice the cake someone complains about their share or lack of it. I do agree some of the initial ideas of the new Government were implemented in a hamfisted way - removing Winter Fuel Allowance from higher rate taxpayers while retaining it for those on basic rate would probably have been sellable. The "boats" defy all attempts at a solution for now though I suspect autumn and winter will slow things down a bit.
Cutting Peter's benefits to ensure Paul pays less tax isn't the answer and nor is raising Paul's taxes so Peter can keep all his benefits so it becomes dancing on a pinhead in terms of what you can and can't do.
It also becomes easier to look for scapegoats - blame the migrants, blame the scroungers, blame those with mental and physical challenges, blame those with long Covid, blame the last Government, blame this Government etc.
You can see the attraction of masterly inactivity and the destiny of the poor can as it gets propelled once more down the road. You can also see why those peddling "easy answers" get traction.
The problem I see it is that Starmer is built for a sort of managerial role when the country doesn’t need it. He might have been a decently average (or even average to good) PM conceivably, in 2015, or in the 1960s, or in the John Major role. He just isn’t the “cometh the hour” person.
The Atlees, Thatchers, Asquiths of this world are rare but they’re precisely what we need right now - a purpose, a radical sense of mission, and a party firmly behind them. Farage play-acts as one of those people, but isnt the real deal.
Ah, yes, the "strong" leader. The "radical" leader. It's seductive I know to think all our problems could be dealt with by such an individual - we could vote them in and then they would lead us from the valley of the shadow to the sunlit uplands...
Blah, blah, blah - that's how authoritarianism starts. I'd rather our imperfect, bumbling democracy than a "strong" leader. The truth probably is we could solve a lot of our problems ourselves with some changes in our personal behaviour and within our communities - that would be really radical.
The problem with top-down solutions is they create bottom-up problems. Somebody suggested yesterday it was all the fault of "fatties" as he called them and said everyone who was overweight should be given free Mounjaro. Well, setting aside the economics, the practicalities and the legalities (but they aren't that individual's strong suit), Mounjaro isn't side effect free as I know from a friend who has used it.
The other consequence is if you have a significant portion (sorry) of the population on appetite suppressing drugs, what happens to the catering and hospitality industries? Do the non-"fatties" have to become "fatties" in order to keep every cafe and restaurant from my cafe in the Barking Road to the top three Michelin star eaterie going? Will we see Gordon Ramsey begging on the streets as his restaurant empire collapses from lack of demand?
The claim that radical change in a democracy is dictatorship or something is an old, old cry.
The problem is that, in many areas, the government is not doing much, if anything.
On health in the community - why not some trials? Pick an area. Vitality style rewards for health indicators. You wouldn’t need legislation for that.
£100 off income tax (or added to your UC or State Pension) if you have a healthy BMI or can run 5K in less than 30 minutes.
First, we know BMI isn't the be all and end all as a measure of health. Second, physical exercise tests - seriously? Third, £100 - a lot of people will see it as not worth the effort (make it £10,000 a year and you;d get more takers).
Tough. The NHS is going to collapse under the weight of the population and we already have the classic insurance issues of moral hazard and adverse selection.
Health inequality is enormous. We have a group of well paid, healthy and active people paying a huge amount of tax for a service they rarely use because it's been overwhelmed by the old and inactive.
That's completely unsustainable, a breach of the social contract. And this is coming from someone who is instinctively generous with government support for those who need it.
Most of the redistribution done by the NHS is over time. If you're healthy and active, you are paying for your future care more than you are paying for inactive others'. Even if you eat well and do lots of physical activity, you're going to die at some point and most of the average person's health costs are at the end of life.
Now, that doesn't argue against the importance of health promotion. Health promotion is very cost effective. We should be doing more to encourage physical activity and healthy diets. What's the best way of doing that? Giving people £100 for being fit, or spending £4 billion on council gyms and good quality health promotion apps?
Of those two options, definitely the £100. People respond extremely quickly to cash incentives in private health insurance, and it provides flexibility. You could lose the weight by cycling to work, or not eating loads of crap.
(Remember that it's far easier to change your diet than it is to burn calories through exercise.)
I don't know what the answer is. What I've seen of the literature on financial incentives is that they have some effect, but it's not great and fades over time. The actual Vitality app works for some people, but has very low uptake. We published a paper on financial incentives in a physical activity app last year and found some evidence of an effect, but it was swamped by other factors.
Yes, poor numbers for Labour but I think we know if any other party were in Government at this time their numbers would be as bad if not worse.
It's often said some elections are "bad ones to win" - 1992 being a good example - but 2024 would be right up there it seems. I'll be honest (and this seems a peculiarly London-centric view) - I don't think Starmer is doing too badly. At worst he's Continuity Sunak but big shifts in governance aren't easy - as has been said, there were probably only three really radical Governments in the 20th century - Asquith, Attlee and Thatcher.
In a globally interconnected world, doing something radical isn't easy and even within Britain one decision impacts on others. Cuts in public spending on the scale some here would seem to want don't end at the balance sheet - they would impact real people in their daily lives, perhaps not the individuals and their families urging the deep cuts but nonetheless.
Government is difficult especially at a time of weak economic growth - however you try to slice the cake someone complains about their share or lack of it. I do agree some of the initial ideas of the new Government were implemented in a hamfisted way - removing Winter Fuel Allowance from higher rate taxpayers while retaining it for those on basic rate would probably have been sellable. The "boats" defy all attempts at a solution for now though I suspect autumn and winter will slow things down a bit.
Cutting Peter's benefits to ensure Paul pays less tax isn't the answer and nor is raising Paul's taxes so Peter can keep all his benefits so it becomes dancing on a pinhead in terms of what you can and can't do.
It also becomes easier to look for scapegoats - blame the migrants, blame the scroungers, blame those with mental and physical challenges, blame those with long Covid, blame the last Government, blame this Government etc.
You can see the attraction of masterly inactivity and the destiny of the poor can as it gets propelled once more down the road. You can also see why those peddling "easy answers" get traction.
The problem I see it is that Starmer is built for a sort of managerial role when the country doesn’t need it. He might have been a decently average (or even average to good) PM conceivably, in 2015, or in the 1960s, or in the John Major role. He just isn’t the “cometh the hour” person.
The Atlees, Thatchers, Asquiths of this world are rare but they’re precisely what we need right now - a purpose, a radical sense of mission, and a party firmly behind them. Farage play-acts as one of those people, but isnt the real deal.
Ah, yes, the "strong" leader. The "radical" leader. It's seductive I know to think all our problems could be dealt with by such an individual - we could vote them in and then they would lead us from the valley of the shadow to the sunlit uplands...
Blah, blah, blah - that's how authoritarianism starts. I'd rather our imperfect, bumbling democracy than a "strong" leader. The truth probably is we could solve a lot of our problems ourselves with some changes in our personal behaviour and within our communities - that would be really radical.
The problem with top-down solutions is they create bottom-up problems. Somebody suggested yesterday it was all the fault of "fatties" as he called them and said everyone who was overweight should be given free Mounjaro. Well, setting aside the economics, the practicalities and the legalities (but they aren't that individual's strong suit), Mounjaro isn't side effect free as I know from a friend who has used it.
The other consequence is if you have a significant portion (sorry) of the population on appetite suppressing drugs, what happens to the catering and hospitality industries? Do the non-"fatties" have to become "fatties" in order to keep every cafe and restaurant from my cafe in the Barking Road to the top three Michelin star eaterie going? Will we see Gordon Ramsey begging on the streets as his restaurant empire collapses from lack of demand?
The claim that radical change in a democracy is dictatorship or something is an old, old cry.
The problem is that, in many areas, the government is not doing much, if anything.
On health in the community - why not some trials? Pick an area. Vitality style rewards for health indicators. You wouldn’t need legislation for that.
£100 off income tax (or added to your UC or State Pension) if you have a healthy BMI or can run 5K in less than 30 minutes.
First, we know BMI isn't the be all and end all as a measure of health. Second, physical exercise tests - seriously? Third, £100 - a lot of people will see it as not worth the effort (make it £10,000 a year and you;d get more takers).
Tough. The NHS is going to collapse under the weight of the population and we already have the classic insurance issues of moral hazard and adverse selection.
Health inequality is enormous. We have a group of well paid, healthy and active people paying a huge amount of tax for a service they rarely use because it's been overwhelmed by the old and inactive.
That's completely unsustainable, a breach of the social contract. And this is coming from someone who is instinctively generous with government support for those who need it.
Most of the redistribution done by the NHS is over time. If you're healthy and active, you are paying for your future care more than you are paying for inactive others'. Even if you eat well and do lots of physical activity, you're going to die at some point and most of the average person's health costs are at the end of life.
Now, that doesn't argue against the importance of health promotion. Health promotion is very cost effective. We should be doing more to encourage physical activity and healthy diets. What's the best way of doing that? Giving people £100 for being fit, or spending £4 billion on council gyms and good quality health promotion apps?
If we were paying for our future care that would be fine. But we aren't, are we?
We aren't even paying for current care requirements.
The whole Ponzi scheme is collapsing and nobody wants to admit it.
We pay for current old people's care, and when we're old, a younger generation will pay for our care. This is not a Ponzi scheme. (Calling it a Ponzi scheme is one of the laziest lines in politics.) The country is currently running a deficit, but talk of "collapsing" is hyperbole.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
The vast majority of immigrant visas to the UK already come with a "no recourse to public funds condition" which expires when permanent residence is granted, usually 5 years.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
The vast majority of immigrants come and earn an income (and/or bring financial assets). On average, new immigrants are generally paying in more than the native-born population.
Yes, poor numbers for Labour but I think we know if any other party were in Government at this time their numbers would be as bad if not worse.
It's often said some elections are "bad ones to win" - 1992 being a good example - but 2024 would be right up there it seems. I'll be honest (and this seems a peculiarly London-centric view) - I don't think Starmer is doing too badly. At worst he's Continuity Sunak but big shifts in governance aren't easy - as has been said, there were probably only three really radical Governments in the 20th century - Asquith, Attlee and Thatcher.
In a globally interconnected world, doing something radical isn't easy and even within Britain one decision impacts on others. Cuts in public spending on the scale some here would seem to want don't end at the balance sheet - they would impact real people in their daily lives, perhaps not the individuals and their families urging the deep cuts but nonetheless.
Government is difficult especially at a time of weak economic growth - however you try to slice the cake someone complains about their share or lack of it. I do agree some of the initial ideas of the new Government were implemented in a hamfisted way - removing Winter Fuel Allowance from higher rate taxpayers while retaining it for those on basic rate would probably have been sellable. The "boats" defy all attempts at a solution for now though I suspect autumn and winter will slow things down a bit.
Cutting Peter's benefits to ensure Paul pays less tax isn't the answer and nor is raising Paul's taxes so Peter can keep all his benefits so it becomes dancing on a pinhead in terms of what you can and can't do.
It also becomes easier to look for scapegoats - blame the migrants, blame the scroungers, blame those with mental and physical challenges, blame those with long Covid, blame the last Government, blame this Government etc.
You can see the attraction of masterly inactivity and the destiny of the poor can as it gets propelled once more down the road. You can also see why those peddling "easy answers" get traction.
The problem I see it is that Starmer is built for a sort of managerial role when the country doesn’t need it. He might have been a decently average (or even average to good) PM conceivably, in 2015, or in the 1960s, or in the John Major role. He just isn’t the “cometh the hour” person.
The Atlees, Thatchers, Asquiths of this world are rare but they’re precisely what we need right now - a purpose, a radical sense of mission, and a party firmly behind them. Farage play-acts as one of those people, but isnt the real deal.
Ah, yes, the "strong" leader. The "radical" leader. It's seductive I know to think all our problems could be dealt with by such an individual - we could vote them in and then they would lead us from the valley of the shadow to the sunlit uplands...
Blah, blah, blah - that's how authoritarianism starts. I'd rather our imperfect, bumbling democracy than a "strong" leader. The truth probably is we could solve a lot of our problems ourselves with some changes in our personal behaviour and within our communities - that would be really radical.
The problem with top-down solutions is they create bottom-up problems. Somebody suggested yesterday it was all the fault of "fatties" as he called them and said everyone who was overweight should be given free Mounjaro. Well, setting aside the economics, the practicalities and the legalities (but they aren't that individual's strong suit), Mounjaro isn't side effect free as I know from a friend who has used it.
The other consequence is if you have a significant portion (sorry) of the population on appetite suppressing drugs, what happens to the catering and hospitality industries? Do the non-"fatties" have to become "fatties" in order to keep every cafe and restaurant from my cafe in the Barking Road to the top three Michelin star eaterie going? Will we see Gordon Ramsey begging on the streets as his restaurant empire collapses from lack of demand?
The claim that radical change in a democracy is dictatorship or something is an old, old cry.
The problem is that, in many areas, the government is not doing much, if anything.
On health in the community - why not some trials? Pick an area. Vitality style rewards for health indicators. You wouldn’t need legislation for that.
£100 off income tax (or added to your UC or State Pension) if you have a healthy BMI or can run 5K in less than 30 minutes.
First, we know BMI isn't the be all and end all as a measure of health. Second, physical exercise tests - seriously? Third, £100 - a lot of people will see it as not worth the effort (make it £10,000 a year and you;d get more takers).
Tough. The NHS is going to collapse under the weight of the population and we already have the classic insurance issues of moral hazard and adverse selection.
Health inequality is enormous. We have a group of well paid, healthy and active people paying a huge amount of tax for a service they rarely use because it's been overwhelmed by the old and inactive.
That's completely unsustainable, a breach of the social contract. And this is coming from someone who is instinctively generous with government support for those who need it.
Most of the redistribution done by the NHS is over time. If you're healthy and active, you are paying for your future care more than you are paying for inactive others'. Even if you eat well and do lots of physical activity, you're going to die at some point and most of the average person's health costs are at the end of life.
Now, that doesn't argue against the importance of health promotion. Health promotion is very cost effective. We should be doing more to encourage physical activity and healthy diets. What's the best way of doing that? Giving people £100 for being fit, or spending £4 billion on council gyms and good quality health promotion apps?
If we were paying for our future care that would be fine. But we aren't, are we?
We aren't even paying for current care requirements.
The whole Ponzi scheme is collapsing and nobody wants to admit it.
We pay for current old people's care, and when we're old, a younger generation will pay for our care. This is not a Ponzi scheme. (Calling it a Ponzi scheme is one of the laziest lines in politics.) The country is currently running a deficit, but talk of "collapsing" is hyperbole.
But without immigration there will be fewer people in successive generations.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
Asylum seekers are not illegal immigrants. They have reported themselves to immigration authorities and claimed asylum, a legal process.
Asylum seekers don't get a first class service. They are treated very poorly. The perception is otherwise because the populist right lie.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
Asylum seekers are not illegal immigrants. They have reported themselves to immigration authorities and claimed asylum, a legal process.
Asylum seekers don't get a first class service. They are treated very poorly. The perception is otherwise because the populist right lie.
Just don’t let any more in, and deport those that are here. Sorted
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
The vast majority of immigrants come and earn an income (and/or bring financial assets). On average, new immigrants are generally paying in more than the native-born population.
Oh, let me walk that back. That's excluding students. Students don't earn an income, but they do pay lots of money to UK businesses and universities.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
The vast majority of immigrant visas to the UK already come with a "no recourse to public funds condition" which expires when permanent residence is granted, usually 5 years.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
As we saw from the discussion here last night there are many people happy to be generous with others money to make themselves feel good.
"US warns censorship is ‘getting worse’ in Britain State department report reveals concerns over free speech and says UK’s ‘human rights situation worsened’ after Labour came to power"
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
As we saw from the discussion here last night there are many people happy to be generous with others money to make themselves feel good.
There are also many people happy to lie through their teeth and repeat nonsense like referring to asylum accommodation as "4*".
"US warns censorship is ‘getting worse’ in Britain State department report reveals concerns over free speech and says UK’s ‘human rights situation worsened’ after Labour came to power"
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
The vast majority of immigrants come and earn an income (and/or bring financial assets). On average, new immigrants are generally paying in more than the native-born population.
That's not true of the 2020-2023 wave before Rishi pushed up the minimum income threshold. Before that ~3m migrants arrived at an average of 2 dependents per worker with a job paying £22-27k.
Migration has been a huge net drag on the economy since ~2017, to pretend otherwise is idiotic. Since 2024 after the minimum income threshold was changed and dependent visas were abolished there has necessarily been an uptick in quality of jobs and therefore net contributions but it is a recent change and ignoring the 3m migrants who need to have their visas renewals declined so they go back to their home countries will lead to more welfare spending, a bigger brain drain of high income people who get fed up of paying tax to fund this nonsense and the economy drowning under the weight of debt and interest to pay for all the new welfare they will claim.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
Asylum seekers are not illegal immigrants. They have reported themselves to immigration authorities and claimed asylum, a legal process.
Asylum seekers don't get a first class service. They are treated very poorly. The perception is otherwise because the populist right lie.
Surely some asylum seekers are illegal immigrants, they are falsely claiming to be at risk of persecution. OK sometimes it might be a 50:50 decision but I remember when we used to get Albanians pretending to be Kosovars and I am sure similar still happens. Any Levantine Arabic speaker can probably pretend to come from Syria for example
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
I still don’t understand why hotels were chosen in preference to military bases, where everything could be self-contained.
"US warns censorship is ‘getting worse’ in Britain State department report reveals concerns over free speech and says UK’s ‘human rights situation worsened’ after Labour came to power"
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
As we saw from the discussion here last night there are many people happy to be generous with others money to make themselves feel good.
There are also many people happy to lie through their teeth and repeat nonsense like referring to asylum accommodation as "4*".
Which wasn’t what last nights discussion was about.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
As we saw from the discussion here last night there are many people happy to be generous with others money to make themselves feel good.
There are also many people happy to lie through their teeth and repeat nonsense like referring to asylum accommodation as "4*".
Lol, you keep explaining to the public that "it's not actually 4* hotels because they closed the swimming pool and sauna" and see how far you get. I hope Labour put it on the side of a bus and add 5% to Reform overnight.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
As we saw from the discussion here last night there are many people happy to be generous with others money to make themselves feel good.
There are also many people happy to lie through their teeth and repeat nonsense like referring to asylum accommodation as "4*".
Which wasn’t what last nights discussion was about.
Still, whatever floats your boat, or dinghy
It's just laughable, Taz. He keeps acting like this is some big gotcha moment but it shows how out of touch with reality the bureaucrat class is with how the public feels about asylum seekers being put up in luxury hotels while they struggle to make ends meet or are being laid off because of the government's tax rises on jobs.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
As we saw from the discussion here last night there are many people happy to be generous with others money to make themselves feel good.
There are also many people happy to lie through their teeth and repeat nonsense like referring to asylum accommodation as "4*".
Lol, you keep explaining to the public that "it's not actually 4* hotels because they closed the swimming pool and sauna" and see how far you get. I hope Labour put it on the side of a bus and add 5% to Reform overnight.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
I still don’t understand why hotels were chosen in preference to military bases, where everything could be self-contained.
Hotels can be and often are shite, everyone knows that, but military bases are supposed to be reasonably superior accommodation. Wouldn't do recruiting much good, would it? Just imagine the slogan:
"Join the Army and see how the other half lives."
Also, rather a lot of military bases are (a) needed for squaddies etc.; (b) have been sold off, and (c) contain facilities that aren't very useful for asylum seekers. For instance, bomb dumps and tank hangars. And they are usually designed to keep people out, not in. Though that is perhaps a little moot in view of recent news reports, at least concering the RAF,
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
As we saw from the discussion here last night there are many people happy to be generous with others money to make themselves feel good.
There are also many people happy to lie through their teeth and repeat nonsense like referring to asylum accommodation as "4*".
Lol, you keep explaining to the public that "it's not actually 4* hotels because they closed the swimming pool and sauna" and see how far you get. I hope Labour put it on the side of a bus and add 5% to Reform overnight.
The NU10k inability to see the ABSOLUTE MASSIVE PR PROBLEM created by using hotels as temporary accommodation is utterly baffling to me.
Yes, poor numbers for Labour but I think we know if any other party were in Government at this time their numbers would be as bad if not worse.
It's often said some elections are "bad ones to win" - 1992 being a good example - but 2024 would be right up there it seems. I'll be honest (and this seems a peculiarly London-centric view) - I don't think Starmer is doing too badly. At worst he's Continuity Sunak but big shifts in governance aren't easy - as has been said, there were probably only three really radical Governments in the 20th century - Asquith, Attlee and Thatcher.
In a globally interconnected world, doing something radical isn't easy and even within Britain one decision impacts on others. Cuts in public spending on the scale some here would seem to want don't end at the balance sheet - they would impact real people in their daily lives, perhaps not the individuals and their families urging the deep cuts but nonetheless.
Government is difficult especially at a time of weak economic growth - however you try to slice the cake someone complains about their share or lack of it. I do agree some of the initial ideas of the new Government were implemented in a hamfisted way - removing Winter Fuel Allowance from higher rate taxpayers while retaining it for those on basic rate would probably have been sellable. The "boats" defy all attempts at a solution for now though I suspect autumn and winter will slow things down a bit.
Cutting Peter's benefits to ensure Paul pays less tax isn't the answer and nor is raising Paul's taxes so Peter can keep all his benefits so it becomes dancing on a pinhead in terms of what you can and can't do.
It also becomes easier to look for scapegoats - blame the migrants, blame the scroungers, blame those with mental and physical challenges, blame those with long Covid, blame the last Government, blame this Government etc.
You can see the attraction of masterly inactivity and the destiny of the poor can as it gets propelled once more down the road. You can also see why those peddling "easy answers" get traction.
The problem I see it is that Starmer is built for a sort of managerial role when the country doesn’t need it. He might have been a decently average (or even average to good) PM conceivably, in 2015, or in the 1960s, or in the John Major role. He just isn’t the “cometh the hour” person.
The Atlees, Thatchers, Asquiths of this world are rare but they’re precisely what we need right now - a purpose, a radical sense of mission, and a party firmly behind them. Farage play-acts as one of those people, but isnt the real deal.
Ah, yes, the "strong" leader. The "radical" leader. It's seductive I know to think all our problems could be dealt with by such an individual - we could vote them in and then they would lead us from the valley of the shadow to the sunlit uplands...
Blah, blah, blah - that's how authoritarianism starts. I'd rather our imperfect, bumbling democracy than a "strong" leader. The truth probably is we could solve a lot of our problems ourselves with some changes in our personal behaviour and within our communities - that would be really radical.
The problem with top-down solutions is they create bottom-up problems. Somebody suggested yesterday it was all the fault of "fatties" as he called them and said everyone who was overweight should be given free Mounjaro. Well, setting aside the economics, the practicalities and the legalities (but they aren't that individual's strong suit), Mounjaro isn't side effect free as I know from a friend who has used it.
The other consequence is if you have a significant portion (sorry) of the population on appetite suppressing drugs, what happens to the catering and hospitality industries? Do the non-"fatties" have to become "fatties" in order to keep every cafe and restaurant from my cafe in the Barking Road to the top three Michelin star eaterie going? Will we see Gordon Ramsey begging on the streets as his restaurant empire collapses from lack of demand?
The claim that radical change in a democracy is dictatorship or something is an old, old cry.
The problem is that, in many areas, the government is not doing much, if anything.
On health in the community - why not some trials? Pick an area. Vitality style rewards for health indicators. You wouldn’t need legislation for that.
£100 off income tax (or added to your UC or State Pension) if you have a healthy BMI or can run 5K in less than 30 minutes.
First, we know BMI isn't the be all and end all as a measure of health. Second, physical exercise tests - seriously? Third, £100 - a lot of people will see it as not worth the effort (make it £10,000 a year and you;d get more takers).
Tough. The NHS is going to collapse under the weight of the population and we already have the classic insurance issues of moral hazard and adverse selection.
Health inequality is enormous. We have a group of well paid, healthy and active people paying a huge amount of tax for a service they rarely use because it's been overwhelmed by the old and inactive.
That's completely unsustainable, a breach of the social contract. And this is coming from someone who is instinctively generous with government support for those who need it.
Most of the redistribution done by the NHS is over time. If you're healthy and active, you are paying for your future care more than you are paying for inactive others'. Even if you eat well and do lots of physical activity, you're going to die at some point and most of the average person's health costs are at the end of life.
Now, that doesn't argue against the importance of health promotion. Health promotion is very cost effective. We should be doing more to encourage physical activity and healthy diets. What's the best way of doing that? Giving people £100 for being fit, or spending £4 billion on council gyms and good quality health promotion apps?
If we were paying for our future care that would be fine. But we aren't, are we?
We aren't even paying for current care requirements.
The whole Ponzi scheme is collapsing and nobody wants to admit it.
We pay for current old people's care, and when we're old, a younger generation will pay for our care. This is not a Ponzi scheme. (Calling it a Ponzi scheme is one of the laziest lines in politics.) The country is currently running a deficit, but talk of "collapsing" is hyperbole.
In the 47 years that I paid NI I never once objected to paying it. My parents and grandparents would have benefited from my contributions. Now my children and grandchildren are paying and I am benefiting. There are some utterly selfish and small minded scrooges on PB.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
The vast majority of immigrants come and earn an income (and/or bring financial assets). On average, new immigrants are generally paying in more than the native-born population.
That's not true of the 2020-2023 wave before Rishi pushed up the minimum income threshold. Before that ~3m migrants arrived at an average of 2 dependents per worker with a job paying £22-27k.
Migration has been a huge net drag on the economy since ~2017, to pretend otherwise is idiotic. Since 2024 after the minimum income threshold was changed and dependent visas were abolished there has necessarily been an uptick in quality of jobs and therefore net contributions but it is a recent change and ignoring the 3m migrants who need to have their visas renewals declined so they go back to their home countries will lead to more welfare spending, a bigger brain drain of high income people who get fed up of paying tax to fund this nonsense and the economy drowning under the weight of debt and interest to pay for all the new welfare they will claim.
On average they may be right but that’s how averages work.
We should welcome high income earning migrants wherever they are from.
However the low wage migrants with multiple economically inactive dependents will never be net contributors and once their visas are over they should be denied ILR. We cannot afford them.
There’s a nascent ‘conservatives for Mamdami’ movement in NYC.
The thinking behind it being that it will clearly show the failure of socialism by 2028, and Mamdami can be on every Republican poster and TV ad.
I think that's what they call 'cope'.
The reality is that in campaigning terms, he's not dissimilar to Trump in his ability to appeal across conventional political lines.
How well, or disastrously, he might govern is anyone's guess at this point. (If I had to guess, I'd tend towards the latter, but he could equally turn out to be a sensible pragmatist.)
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
As we saw from the discussion here last night there are many people happy to be generous with others money to make themselves feel good.
There are also many people happy to lie through their teeth and repeat nonsense like referring to asylum accommodation as "4*".
Lol, you keep explaining to the public that "it's not actually 4* hotels because they closed the swimming pool and sauna" and see how far you get. I hope Labour put it on the side of a bus and add 5% to Reform overnight.
Well indeed, presumably that just makes it a 3*
Perfect slogan for Labour's campaign bus "It's not 4* hotels, we closed the pool so it's 3*" I think that would work.
Why did he (?) they need a license when they’re on what is effectively private property, and property which is for the use of Lammy and his official guests?
As I recall, the US government wouldn't let Khrushchev go to Disneyland on his state visit precisely because they couldn't shut it and therefore couldn't guarantee his safety. Which actually led to a massive row.
Obviously they are becoming a less free society under the Small Dicktator.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
I still don’t understand why hotels were chosen in preference to military bases, where everything could be self-contained.
Which military bases? There aren't any that are empty yet are ready to house and feed thousands of people.
Fuck knows where Kemi is planning to put her Koncentration Kamps.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
The vast majority of immigrants come and earn an income (and/or bring financial assets). On average, new immigrants are generally paying in more than the native-born population.
That's not true of the 2020-2023 wave before Rishi pushed up the minimum income threshold. Before that ~3m migrants arrived at an average of 2 dependents per worker with a job paying £22-27k.
Migration has been a huge net drag on the economy since ~2017, to pretend otherwise is idiotic. Since 2024 after the minimum income threshold was changed and dependent visas were abolished there has necessarily been an uptick in quality of jobs and therefore net contributions but it is a recent change and ignoring the 3m migrants who need to have their visas renewals declined so they go back to their home countries will lead to more welfare spending, a bigger brain drain of high income people who get fed up of paying tax to fund this nonsense and the economy drowning under the weight of debt and interest to pay for all the new welfare they will claim.
On average they may be right but that’s how averages work.
We should welcome high income earning migrants wherever they are from.
However the low wage migrants with multiple economically inactive dependents will never be net contributors and once their visas are over they should be denied ILR. We cannot afford them.
Hang on, a general point (not specific to the current discussion): workers, even poorly paid ones, contribute to the economy with their work. For instance the many Europeans who came over pre Brexit to work on farms. Now much missed.
Did Italy just surpass us in GDP per capita again ? (Some debate about this, but irrespective of that, it's not a great metric for us.)
According to Andrew Neil's perhaps rushed tweet the other day, we must forget ‘per capita’ and concentrate on aggregate GDP in order to praise Conservative governments. Tbf he reverse-ferreted. A timely reminder that all economic statistics are rubbish.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
As we saw from the discussion here last night there are many people happy to be generous with others money to make themselves feel good.
There are also many people happy to lie through their teeth and repeat nonsense like referring to asylum accommodation as "4*".
Which wasn’t what last nights discussion was about.
Still, whatever floats your boat, or dinghy
It's just laughable, Taz. He keeps acting like this is some big gotcha moment but it shows how out of touch with reality the bureaucrat class is with how the public feels about asylum seekers being put up in luxury hotels while they struggle to make ends meet or are being laid off because of the government's tax rises on jobs.
What’s more, rich and skilled and educated people don’t move to London so they can live in Lahore. And parts of it do now resemble Lahore
At some moment there might be a horrible tipping point when even the averagely affluent think Sod this, and they decamp to foreign countries. And the London property market collapses, along with London
And then we are all fucked because that’s our tax base gone
Why did he (?) they need a license when they’re on what is effectively private property, and property which is for the use of Lammy and his official guests?
Maybe land ownership and riparian rights don't necessarily go together even if the landowner owns the bank? That's certainly the case for [sea] foreshore rights at least in Scotland.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
I still don’t understand why hotels were chosen in preference to military bases, where everything could be self-contained.
Which military bases? There aren't any that are empty yet are ready to house and feed thousands of people.
Fuck knows where Kemi is planning to put her Koncentration Kamps.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
Asylum seekers are not illegal immigrants. They have reported themselves to immigration authorities and claimed asylum, a legal process.
Asylum seekers don't get a first class service. They are treated very poorly. The perception is otherwise because the populist right lie.
Surely some asylum seekers are illegal immigrants, they are falsely claiming to be at risk of persecution. OK sometimes it might be a 50:50 decision but I remember when we used to get Albanians pretending to be Kosovars and I am sure similar still happens. Any Levantine Arabic speaker can probably pretend to come from Syria for example
Today's pic. Boat people by nationality for those wanting to send them back. Not so easy to do in the short term.
The other point is that peak boats is in summer when the papers don't have anything to write about so it sorts of lends itself to the clickbaiters.
The final point is that there have been about 10 changes to the immigration rules since 1983 when 'anchor babies*' like Kemi were British because they were born on British soil. We've been tightening up on immigration for a while.
* The term is meant to be ironic rather than pejorative.
If the NU10k are so keen on rapid immigration to the UK, perhaps they should surrender their gold plated pensions to pay for the associated costs.
Not just the pension breaks; I mean the actual pensions....
You misunderstand the NU10K - they may pay some superficial obeisance to the nostrums of Islington home dining. But they have no belief in it. Any more than Paula Vennels really believes in kindness, godliness, compassion and humility.
Look at the government pivot on trans following the SC ruling. JKR Rowling will probably be the next Equalities Minister.
If/when The Done Thing flips to anti-immigrant, the NU10K will be leading the Special Tasks Groups hunting immigrants. On 6 figure salaries etc…. Obviously.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
As we saw from the discussion here last night there are many people happy to be generous with others money to make themselves feel good.
There are also many people happy to lie through their teeth and repeat nonsense like referring to asylum accommodation as "4*".
Which wasn’t what last nights discussion was about.
Still, whatever floats your boat, or dinghy
It's just laughable, Taz. He keeps acting like this is some big gotcha moment but it shows how out of touch with reality the bureaucrat class is with how the public feels about asylum seekers being put up in luxury hotels while they struggle to make ends meet or are being laid off because of the government's tax rises on jobs.
What’s more, rich and skilled and educated people don’t move to London so they can live in Lahore. And parts of it do now resemble Lahore
At some moment there might be a horrible tipping point when even the averagely affluent think Sod this, and they decamp to foreign countries. And the London property market collapses, along with London
And then we are all fucked because that’s our tax base gone
It's already started, a lot of my ex colleagues have moved beyond exploring moves out of the country, properties in Italy and America are being bought, belongings being boxed and parcelled, lives being transplanted. @boulay said the enquiry rate for his services were way up last year and the usual suspects gave him a bunch of irrelevant nonsense "proving him wrong" and making him out to be exaggerating things but he wasn't.
I've specifically picked my next job because it is fully remote and can be done from a choice of around 20 countries including Italy and Switzerland. We had our house valued recently and I'm worried that this is basically peak London, even in the nice bit where I am, it's soon going to be time to go, whether that's to somewhere outside of London or outside of the UK is yet to be decided. My wife thinks that a move to somewhere like St Albans might take the edge off but I'm not so sure.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
Asylum seekers are not illegal immigrants. They have reported themselves to immigration authorities and claimed asylum, a legal process.
Asylum seekers don't get a first class service. They are treated very poorly. The perception is otherwise because the populist right lie.
Surely some asylum seekers are illegal immigrants, they are falsely claiming to be at risk of persecution. OK sometimes it might be a 50:50 decision but I remember when we used to get Albanians pretending to be Kosovars and I am sure similar still happens. Any Levantine Arabic speaker can probably pretend to come from Syria for example
The legal process is you claim for asylum and you have a right to stay while your claim is assessed. Some people are then rejected. (Some rejected people then stay in the UK illegally.)
It's a semantic point, but I don't think lying on your asylum claim makes you an illegal immigrant. You are still covered by those visa rules while your claim is assessed. Presumably lying on an asylum claim is fraud and thus an illegal act?
Why did he (?) they need a license when they’re on what is effectively private property, and property which is for the use of Lammy and his official guests?
Maybe land ownership and riparian rights don't necessarily go together even if the landowner owns the bank? That's certainly the case for [sea] foreshore rights at least in Scotland.
Might be let to a Fishing Club but I can’t see that for somewhere like Chevening.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
As we saw from the discussion here last night there are many people happy to be generous with others money to make themselves feel good.
There are also many people happy to lie through their teeth and repeat nonsense like referring to asylum accommodation as "4*".
Which wasn’t what last nights discussion was about.
Still, whatever floats your boat, or dinghy
It's just laughable, Taz. He keeps acting like this is some big gotcha moment but it shows how out of touch with reality the bureaucrat class is with how the public feels about asylum seekers being put up in luxury hotels while they struggle to make ends meet or are being laid off because of the government's tax rises on jobs.
What’s more, rich and skilled and educated people don’t move to London so they can live in Lahore. And parts of it do now resemble Lahore
At some moment there might be a horrible tipping point when even the averagely affluent think Sod this, and they decamp to foreign countries. And the London property market collapses, along with London
And then we are all fucked because that’s our tax base gone
Or even just moving out of the capital to other parts of the country.
Me and my better half are expecting our first sprog in the new year. I've lived in central London on and off for the last 11 years, but it's no longer a place where we would like to start a family. Most of our friends have already made the move out after having kids, so I can see why lots of primary schools are starting to close.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
I still don’t understand why hotels were chosen in preference to military bases, where everything could be self-contained.
If the NU10k are so keen on rapid immigration to the UK, perhaps they should surrender their gold plated pensions to pay for the associated costs.
Not just the pension breaks; I mean the actual pensions....
You misunderstand the NU10K - they may pay some superficial obeisance to the nostrums of Islington home dining. But they have no belief in it. Any more than Paula Vennels really believes in kindness, godliness, compassion and humility.
Look at the government pivot on trans following the SC ruling. JKR Rowling will probably be the next Equalities Minister.
If/when The Done Thing flips to anti-immigrant, the NU10K will be leading the Special Tasks Groups hunting immigrants. On 6 figure salaries etc…. Obviously.
And if you're sufficiently determined to build an alternate bureaucracy, you can do so very quickly. With all the same sort of downsides of the existing one.
Why did he (?) they need a license when they’re on what is effectively private property, and property which is for the use of Lammy and his official guests?
Maybe land ownership and riparian rights don't necessarily go together even if the landowner owns the bank? That's certainly the case for [sea] foreshore rights at least in Scotland.
Might be let to a Fishing Club but I can’t see that for somewhere like Chevening.
The donor might have kept the fishing rights and farmland, for all I know. Potentially lucrative and wasted on the average pol anyway (especially if they were only there for weekends). Interesting anomaly there, anyway!
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
As we saw from the discussion here last night there are many people happy to be generous with others money to make themselves feel good.
There are also many people happy to lie through their teeth and repeat nonsense like referring to asylum accommodation as "4*".
Which wasn’t what last nights discussion was about.
Still, whatever floats your boat, or dinghy
It's just laughable, Taz. He keeps acting like this is some big gotcha moment but it shows how out of touch with reality the bureaucrat class is with how the public feels about asylum seekers being put up in luxury hotels while they struggle to make ends meet or are being laid off because of the government's tax rises on jobs.
What’s more, rich and skilled and educated people don’t move to London so they can live in Lahore. And parts of it do now resemble Lahore
At some moment there might be a horrible tipping point when even the averagely affluent think Sod this, and they decamp to foreign countries. And the London property market collapses, along with London
And then we are all fucked because that’s our tax base gone
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
As we saw from the discussion here last night there are many people happy to be generous with others money to make themselves feel good.
There are also many people happy to lie through their teeth and repeat nonsense like referring to asylum accommodation as "4*".
Lol, you keep explaining to the public that "it's not actually 4* hotels because they closed the swimming pool and sauna" and see how far you get. I hope Labour put it on the side of a bus and add 5% to Reform overnight.
Firstly the hotel must have a clearly designated reception area. Additionally it must have a minimum of five bedrooms available for rent. Furthermore, all of theses rooms must come with en suite bathrooms. As from the moment of registration the guest must have 24 hour access to the hotel without the need of a key. And the owner or staff is at minimum available via call for residents throughout day / night. The restaurant must be open a minimum of 6 days a week, serving bar snacks, breakfast or more. Hotels which do not offer dinner must be located in the vicinity of restaurants which do.
Furthermore, the hotel should have a liquor license and an area where beverages can be served. Room service must be available with a minimum of hot and cold drinks and light snacks (e.g. sandwiches) during daytime and evening. The hotel has the option to provide on request only, without having to promote its menu. Phone service available in-room as well as WiFi in all public areas. All areas of operation should meet the Three Star level of quality for cleanliness, maintenance and hospitality, and for the quality of physical facilities and delivery of services.
They ain't getting room service, so, no, not even 3*.
There’s a nascent ‘conservatives for Mamdami’ movement in NYC.
The thinking behind it being that it will clearly show the failure of socialism by 2028, and Mamdami can be on every Republican poster and TV ad.
I think that's what they call 'cope'.
The reality is that in campaigning terms, he's not dissimilar to Trump in his ability to appeal across conventional political lines.
How well, or disastrously, he might govern is anyone's guess at this point. (If I had to guess, I'd tend towards the latter, but he could equally turn out to be a sensible pragmatist.)
Yes, supporting those who you consider to the be the worst of your opponents is generally a bad idea.
Last year there were organised Dems voting for the most MAGA republicans in primaries, which backfired when they ended up elected to Congress, and of course in the UK we had Tories for Corbyn which didn’t go too well for Mrs May or the Brexit vote.
VAT on schools: 1) It will cost the state more money than it raises 2) Most people don't care because they see this as fair 3) Schools are using VAT to cover all number of things
I can understand the frustration of parents affected - it is unfair. Then again there are so many things which are egregiously unfair and this isn't anywhere near the top of the unfairness chart. Carers losing their entire allowance for going £1 over the earnings cap? More unfair. And there's stacks of examples of things done by merciless ministers to make the lives of the poor and sick practically unliveable which are more unfair.
This explains point 2 above.
Process State meets populist policy.
Sure! But for many of the people in point 2, they here the people complaining and consider that they largely are the people who support all of the egregious merciless stuff which hurts people at an existential level.
Sam Freedman (yes I know) was good on that in his piece on the anti-VAT campaign;
The TLDR is that campaigns against government policy work best when you have a back channel negotiation to come up with a mutually-acceptable deal. The Independent Schools Council went straight for berating the policy in the press, and only that, which was never going to work.
Yes, VAT on school fees is another version of "Do it to Julia"; accept that there needs to be pain to balance the books, but that pain should be experienced by other people. A lot of the anger was because people used to getting their way didn't.
(And whilst there will be some blowback from this policy, it will need a massive exodus to be a net negative for the government. There is no sign of that right now. In large part because British private schools are mostly fishing in the global elite market, which isn't very price-sensitive. Hard on those who have gone from just about affording school fees to not affording them, but they're a minority of a minority.)
Is that true? Would like to see some figures to back that up. My gut is that it’s true for the Public Schools and the London private schools but the vast majority of private schools aren’t them, they are private schools in towns and cities with good local reputations attracting the children of local professionals or they are the only alternative to failing state schools in an area where people decide to make a financial sacrifice to pay for their childrens’ education.
These are the schools that will suffer - the public schools with international or national reputation and big endowments alongside the London private day schools with a big global wealthy community to fill places who would never dream of sending their children off to board will largely be fine.
Excluding international schools, about 5% of private school pupils are non-British with parents living abroad. The largest group are from China (both mainland and Hong Kong).
Another 5% are non-British but with parents who live in Britain.
My old school's proudest boast was that it had students from 70 different countries. It really is a terrible reflection on us all that we have allowed that slimy toad Farage to corrupt us into seeing foreigners as people to be feared
We travelled home from York yesterday and an Indian family were in the seats in front
They consisted of a father and mother, three children aged 8, 4 and a babe in arms, and his 2 sisters
As we approached Colwyn Bay he came next to us to take photos of the lovely coast and I spoke to him and he said he was a taxi driver in Manchester and hadn't been to Llandudno. He was using the train as his taxi was limited to 5
I said he should really enjoy our home town and pointed out lots of things he could do with his family
They were impeccably dressed and polite and each tooks turns to look after the baby
The vast majority welcome everyone to our Country, but it is also something the left seem to overlook that like our wonderful Indian family the vast majority contribute enormousy, but it is not helping to suggest that anyone who objects to the boats, asylum hotels, and some crimes comitted by those arriving to our shores are rascists
The only way to assauge Farage is to stop the boats, control immigation and deal firmly with those committing crimes
Since Starmer took office, total immigration is down a lot, deportations are up, and deportations of foreign criminals are up. However, boat numbers are up.
I would suggest that the problem is at least as much those on the radical right who object to all immigrants (or all Muslims, etc.). There are several regulars here who voice such views.
The country is bust, it needs proper control of immigration and anyone who does come needs to look after themselves till they have paid a minimum of 5 or 10 years taxes etc. Should be no free housing or benefits for anyone who arrives or wants to arrive regardless of method.
What about the likes of Sandpit or my son who want to bring long-standing wives here, and who are prepared (not sure whether Sandpit is) catch up NIC?
No issue if they are not getting benefits etc and spouse who is taxpayer is supporting them. As it is now , people are let in , then have no means to support and start bringing in droves of family. Perception also is that asylum seekers ( illegal immigrants ) are also getting first calss service whilst local people get chhased , cannot get doctors , houses , etc. Whole benefits scheme is needing serious overhaul, people should not be able to make a career of being unemployed. everything is far to lax and most seems to just be online nowadays.
It's not just perception Malc, it's actually happening. These 4* asylum hotels have doctors, nurses and dentists on site, they get free gym memberships, they can refuse to leave the hotel and beat the government in court.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
I still don’t understand why hotels were chosen in preference to military bases, where everything could be self-contained.
Remember the arguments over Scampton,* damage to Listed Buildings, not to mention the famous dog's grave featuring in the usual suspects?
*For the few who don't know, the 617 Dambusters Squadron base in WW2, therefore sacred ground. And tbf quite a lot of it remains from that era, I believe.
Comments
Advance UK actually have a Welsh branch so i wonder if they may try and run to test support levels (1%?)
I imagine YP will run or find someone to back under their banner also to test support (5%?)
(Remember that it's far easier to change your diet than it is to burn calories through exercise.)
We aren't even paying for current care requirements.
The whole Ponzi scheme is collapsing and nobody wants to admit it.
Yes. I’m doing it
https://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/fair-society-healthy-lives-the-marmot-review
So not the last hurrah, as much as a punctuation.
Malcolm is right, there needs to be say five years of paying in before you can take out, as is the case in many other Western countries.
(Some debate about this, but irrespective of that, it's not a great metric for us.)
David Lammy broke the law when fishing with Vance as he doesn’t have a rod license.
He may get a fine.
How utterly pathetic
Still, glad we’re more free than the mid nineties
https://x.com/politlcsuk/status/1955593283939295539?s=61
"The dark side of flint knapping is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural..."
At least they don’t transport you to Australia any more..
Oh Brexit, if you hadn’t happened just think of all the bars and restaurants we could have.
Anyway, on other matters, how do the French Far Right poll in the Côte d’Azur?
I go to France and deal with businesses there alot; the ownership of businesses there is far, far more homogenous, and much much more biased towards the French than in the any bias towards English ownership in England.
Open your eyes from the Brexit Blinkers, Roger.
The die is cast
I’M JUNKING MY PRINTER
Goodbye to all that angst and pricey ink and a hideous piece of kit that looks like a 90s fax machine mated with Satan in Argos
Then ask me to print something when they need it....
Does The Telegraph bother fact-checking what they write?
Anyone-But-The-National-Ramblers in the second round defeating them - but they got 40% or something like that in the second round.
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9790/#:~:text=Most temporary migrants have no,excluded from benefits and housing.
Asylum seekers don't get a first class service. They are treated very poorly. The perception is otherwise because the populist right lie.
Asylum seekers and illegals need to be moved into camps with very high fences, basic conditions in tents. It sounds harsh but our generosity has run out, the nation is going bankrupt and we're spending billions on welfare for non-citizens while millions of citizens live in poverty or are unable to get access to basic healthcare. It's fundamentally and morally wrong that we're looking after strangers rather than our own families.
Imagine the reaction to Lammy trying this on.
JD Vance on Disneyland being closed to the public for his family vacation:
“We had the island to ourselves, which was very cool…It was awesome…sorry to all the people at Disneyland for the longer lines, but we had a very good time.”
https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1955346147423228209
State department report reveals concerns over free speech and says UK’s ‘human rights situation worsened’ after Labour came to power"
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2025/08/13/us-warns-censorship-is-getting-worse-in-britain
Migration has been a huge net drag on the economy since ~2017, to pretend otherwise is idiotic. Since 2024 after the minimum income threshold was changed and dependent visas were abolished there has necessarily been an uptick in quality of jobs and therefore net contributions but it is a recent change and ignoring the 3m migrants who need to have their visas renewals declined so they go back to their home countries will lead to more welfare spending, a bigger brain drain of high income people who get fed up of paying tax to fund this nonsense and the economy drowning under the weight of debt and interest to pay for all the new welfare they will claim.
Not just the pension breaks; I mean the actual pensions....
Is there any point in posting these Telegraph pieces ?
At least they're paywalled, so no innocent stranger is going to waste time on them.
Without a rod license...
Mamdani gets 23% of NYC conservatives and polls better among them than Cuomo or Adams.
https://x.com/AstorAaron/status/1955565576543461441
Still, whatever floats your boat, or dinghy
"Join the Army and see how the other half lives."
Also, rather a lot of military bases are (a) needed for squaddies etc.; (b) have been sold off, and (c) contain facilities that aren't very useful for asylum seekers. For instance, bomb dumps and tank hangars. And they are usually designed to keep people out, not in. Though that is perhaps a little moot in view of recent news reports, at least concering the RAF,
The thinking behind it being that it will clearly show the failure of socialism by 2028, and Mamdami can be on every Republican poster and TV ad.
We should welcome high income earning migrants wherever they are from.
However the low wage migrants with multiple economically inactive dependents will never be net contributors and once their visas are over they should be denied ILR. We cannot afford them.
https://bsky.app/profile/gilesyb.bsky.social/post/3lwbuwguqzc2z
The reality is that in campaigning terms, he's not dissimilar to Trump in his ability to appeal across conventional political lines.
How well, or disastrously, he might govern is anyone's guess at this point.
(If I had to guess, I'd tend towards the latter, but he could equally turn out to be a sensible pragmatist.)
Obviously they are becoming a less free society under the Small Dicktator.
Fuck knows where Kemi is planning to put her Koncentration Kamps.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/13/dairy-farmers-worker-shortage-threatening-uk-food-security
At some moment there might be a horrible tipping point when even the averagely affluent think Sod this, and they decamp to foreign countries. And the London property market collapses, along with London
And then we are all fucked because that’s our tax base gone
The other point is that peak boats is in summer when the papers don't have anything to write about so it sorts of lends itself to the clickbaiters.
The final point is that there have been about 10 changes to the immigration rules since 1983 when 'anchor babies*' like Kemi were British because they were born on British soil. We've been tightening up on immigration for a while.
* The term is meant to be ironic rather than pejorative.
Look at the government pivot on trans following the SC ruling. JKR Rowling will probably be the next Equalities Minister.
If/when The Done Thing flips to anti-immigrant, the NU10K will be leading the Special Tasks Groups hunting immigrants. On 6 figure salaries etc…. Obviously.
I've specifically picked my next job because it is fully remote and can be done from a choice of around 20 countries including Italy and Switzerland. We had our house valued recently and I'm worried that this is basically peak London, even in the nice bit where I am, it's soon going to be time to go, whether that's to somewhere outside of London or outside of the UK is yet to be decided. My wife thinks that a move to somewhere like St Albans might take the edge off but I'm not so sure.
It's a semantic point, but I don't think lying on your asylum claim makes you an illegal immigrant. You are still covered by those visa rules while your claim is assessed. Presumably lying on an asylum claim is fraud and thus an illegal act?
Me and my better half are expecting our first sprog in the new year. I've lived in central London on and off for the last 11 years, but it's no longer a place where we would like to start a family. Most of our friends have already made the move out after having kids, so I can see why lots of primary schools are starting to close.
US offers up to $50k bonus for would-be ICE deportation officers
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqle5newg0no.amp
Firstly the hotel must have a clearly designated reception area. Additionally it must have a minimum of five bedrooms available for rent. Furthermore, all of theses rooms must come with en suite bathrooms. As from the moment of registration the guest must have 24 hour access to the hotel without the need of a key. And the owner or staff is at minimum available via call for residents throughout day / night. The restaurant must be open a minimum of 6 days a week, serving bar snacks, breakfast or more. Hotels which do not offer dinner must be located in the vicinity of restaurants which do.
Furthermore, the hotel should have a liquor license and an area where beverages can be served. Room service must be available with a minimum of hot and cold drinks and light snacks (e.g. sandwiches) during daytime and evening. The hotel has the option to provide on request only, without having to promote its menu. Phone service available in-room as well as WiFi in all public areas. All areas of operation should meet the Three Star level of quality for cleanliness, maintenance and hospitality, and for the quality of physical facilities and delivery of services.
They ain't getting room service, so, no, not even 3*.
Last year there were organised Dems voting for the most MAGA republicans in primaries, which backfired when they ended up elected to Congress, and of course in the UK we had Tories for Corbyn which didn’t go too well for Mrs May or the Brexit vote.
*For the few who don't know, the 617 Dambusters Squadron base in WW2, therefore sacred ground. And tbf quite a lot of it remains from that era, I believe.