How about just abolishing the political levy altogether and using any revenues raised to fund the union doing activities for its membership rather than being siphoned off into political parties?
There's already a substantial disparity in the money available to the party favouring the wealthy - most people on limited budgets simply can't afford to give significantly to parties. A one-sided move to reduce the money available to the other side is simply undemocratic. I'd be all in favour of effective spending limits (difficlut but not impossible) so that the fiscal arms race was reduced, but telling one side to give up is not a constructive solution.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Did the Lib Dems have a conference? Entirely missed that.
1. It was online 2. We didn't have any mega rows
Any sign of a pulse? Perhaps an argument on something might be a good idea,
Plenty of pulse. We don't get much of a hearing these days and it is almost fashionable for people to deliberately not listen and then say "nothing of interest". Its fine, the battle is street by street anyway rebuilding from the ground up.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Did the Lib Dems have a conference? Entirely missed that.
1. It was online 2. We didn't have any mega rows
3. Or say anything interesting.
Unfortunately. I was hoping that would happen.
They passed around a collection bucket iirc. That was mildly amusing.
Presiding Officer in Holyrood has right idea - if minister makes statement outside Parliament he doesn’t get to make it again inside but just goes straight to opposition questions. Over to you Lindsay Hoyle
Doesn’t that actually defeat the object of the exercise and play into the hands of the wrong thing, where you actually want to hear it said in the house, preferably first?
Humza Useless prefers to do it via Daily Record, means he does not have to try and answer questions he has no clue on.
Daily Express has a “Save Our Boilers” campaign? What the f is that?
If you were wondering if your 18 year old Worcester will get through another winter or two, what would you do right now?
Install a new gas combi boiler
First up, thanks for the answer Big G.
It does raise several questions. It’s a given gas bills are cheaper than electric at this sort of thing? Are you installing new gas combi this autumn rather than electric, because saving the planet and human race comes down those bad countries screwing it up with emissions, ie China, you paying higher heating bathing bills a mere drop in mighty planet saving ocean in comparison?
Or, have you actually calculated through life running costs of new gas boiler? Will the bills always remain cheaper than electric combi? At what point in the boilers life might you find cost flip over? What does no new gas boilers after 2025 do to running costs?
Is it really that straightforward a decision now?
Hard to see electric being cheaper than gas for a very very long time if ever. Last I saw the electric boilers were 10x gas costs , so it is a no brainer at present.
Up here amongst the wildlings the choice for a new boiler was oil or biomass. I did look at the latter, but mega-expensive so stuck with oil.
Only 1 in 20 trainee GPs plans to do the job full time reports the Telegraph.
I would like to see the context of that stat. What are the other 95% of new GPs planning to do with their time?
As has been previously noted on pb, a lot of medics prefer fixed hours and part-time work. It is not just part-timers, there are also more salaried GPs and junior doctors taking gap years.
ETA medical training needs to be reviewed but understandably, The Saj might have other things on his mind. Nonetheless, there might be quick fixes to be had.
95% of new GPs though!
Key words here are new and 95%. I don't believe that combination and would like to see the context.
PS I am married to a Doctor.
Seems like it may be bollx. The Telegraph article links to another piece they wrote which links to the King's Fund research I mentioned earlier. I can't find any such number in the report.
This from the report seems closest:
"We surveyed GPs in training to better understand their intentions for future practice. We asked respondents to state their working intentions for one year, five years and 10 years after qualification. Of the 318 trainees who responded, 31 per cent intended to do full-time clinical work one year after qualification, falling to 11 per cent five years after qualification and just 10 per cent 10 years after qualification"
The Telegraph reports that already the average GP works three and a half days a week so quibbles about intentions of trainees might be missing the point.
Of course, Labour's system wouldn't need changing back if MPs weren't idiots who deliberately put someone they knew was unsuitable on the shortlist to 'broaden the debate'. The failure to understand their role had shifted to being gatekeepers was bizarre.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Many union leaders have always been like that, IMO. Snouts at the trough being the least of their problems.
If I were a union leader, I would break all official ties with Labour and acknowledge a good number of my members belong, or vote for, other parties, and blindly supporting Labour might turn potential members off.
Every couple of years or so, I would poll the membership and ask them which party they would like any political levy to go to. If (say) 65% say Labour, 20% Conservative, 15% a.n.other, then the money is split accordingly.
It is more democratic, and importantly, gets you a hearing in all the parties, not just Labour. I reckon the results of such a membership poll in most unions might be surprising.
How about just abolishing the political levy altogether and using any revenues raised to fund the union doing activities for its membership rather than being siphoned off into political parties?
They could do that, too.
Except: unions fulfil a useful role. True, from my perspective they often get it wrong (*), but all too often the working man needs a representative. They can do this better if they have a powerful a voice. Traditionally that voice has been with Labour, but what's the use of that if Labour are often not in power?
IMV, a UK without unions would become a worse place than one that has them.
But ideally, government, employers and unions would work harmoniously together. It sometimes even happens...
(*) Or, at least, we hear the stories of when they do stupid things, not the times they get it right.
At least I'll never hear about godsdamned chlorinated chicken ever again.
+1 - there are very few upsides to a trade deal with the US and am awful lot of downsides
One of the downsides of no US deal is we have ripped up a local trade deal that was great for British business, and Global Britain and Brexit is built on the promise we can make up anything lost with new agreements elsewhere?
I get so fed up of this. That "great" local trade deal created a trade deficit of £80bn a year which, over 20 years, transformed us from a net creditor nation (that is with a net income flow into this country from foreign investment) into a significantly indebted country (where there is a significant and increasing net outflow of income generated here to other countries).
All of our children and their children will have a lower standard of living as a result.
The possible trade deal with the US has to be subject to the same analysis. Would it damage our existing trade surplus with the US to our detriment? Would it expose significant parts of our own industry to competition they cannot cope with? In the case of the US this would largely be agricultural items where the mass scale of US production makes it pretty much impossible for UK producers to compete. So they get wiped out and a lot of our countryside returns to wild land. Do we really want that? Or do we want to keep what we have, which is a series of mini deals covering areas like finance where we are on a level playing field?
A trade deal with the US was always of dubious value because a red line for the Americans is access for their industrial agricultural producers, who British farmers simply can't compete with in the high volume, low quality segment (which is most of it). But the value of a trade deal doesn't lie in its effect on the bilateral trade surplus (otherwise they could never happen). The trade and current account balances reflect the decisions of millions of consumers and firms. As a country we would need to save more and consume and invest less if we wanted a current account surplus. But with floating exchange rates it's not something I lose sleep about, personally. I would rather we had a "better" trade balance, because it would reflect a more balanced economy with a better mix of jobs, but in the long list of ways that this country falls short of my hopes and expectations this wouldn't even be in the top 10.
However it does expose just how hopeless the Tories are and how out of touch with reality they are. They try to pretend they are in the big boy's gang but they are not really and it really bothers them. The constant butt licking just amplifies it.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Many union leaders have always been like that, IMO. Snouts at the trough being the least of their problems.
If I were a union leader, I would break all official ties with Labour and acknowledge a good number of my members belong, or vote for, other parties, and blindly supporting Labour might turn potential members off.
Every couple of years or so, I would poll the membership and ask them which party they would like any political levy to go to. If (say) 65% say Labour, 20% Conservative, 15% a.n.other, then the money is split accordingly.
It is more democratic, and importantly, gets you a hearing in all the parties, not just Labour. I reckon the results of such a membership poll in most unions might be surprising.
The problem is that on the electoral system for leader Laura Pillock and Zarah Sultana are right. The Electoral College is not remotely democratic and its a somewhat desperate fudge to see Labour moderates shouting at the trots "we're bringing Tony Benn's system back".
The problem I have with the Lib Dems is that they seem to be going through the motions, perhaps playing a few old tunes for comfort in their dotage, but not really cutting through with anything new, interesting or relevant. All a bit sad really given the critical role they might play in mobilising an Anti Tory vote,
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Did the Lib Dems have a conference? Entirely missed that.
1. It was online 2. We didn't have any mega rows
The only indication lib dems were having a conference was Davey's appearance on Marr and his troubles with trans rights in the party from an activists who has been banned for 10 years for wearing a T shirt with the slogan 'Woman, Adult, Human, Female '
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Many union leaders have always been like that, IMO. Snouts at the trough being the least of their problems.
If I were a union leader, I would break all official ties with Labour and acknowledge a good number of my members belong, or vote for, other parties, and blindly supporting Labour might turn potential members off.
Every couple of years or so, I would poll the membership and ask them which party they would like any political levy to go to. If (say) 65% say Labour, 20% Conservative, 15% a.n.other, then the money is split accordingly.
It is more democratic, and importantly, gets you a hearing in all the parties, not just Labour. I reckon the results of such a membership poll in most unions might be surprising.
The problem is that on the electoral system for leader Laura Pillock and Zarah Sultana are right. The Electoral College is not remotely democratic and its a somewhat desperate fudge to see Labour moderates shouting at the trots "we're bringing Tony Benn's system back".
The problem I have with the Lib Dems is that they seem to be going through the motions, perhaps playing a few old tunes for comfort in their dotage, but not really cutting through with anything new, interesting or relevant. All a bit sad really given the critical role they might play in mobilising an Anti Tory vote,
Voters opposed to the Tories will vote for the party that put David Cameron into Number 10? Well, it works in Scotland for the other yellows.
I see that three migrants yesterday froze to death on the border between Belorussia and Poland - an example of what happens if Priti P deterrent strategies are really implemented, as Poland's rulers are doing. This seems to me a real scandal - yes, migration can be inconvenient and cause all sorts of problems, but allowing people to die of cold within Europe is a different order of magnitude that should be getting much more attention.
On trainee GPs and not working full-time. The research is by King's Fund.
Here is a relevant section:
"The growth of part-time working in general practice has been widely attributed to feminisation of the workforce.
However, our survey showed that intentions for part-time or portfolio working are common across both sexes. Although a greater proportion of female than male respondents intend to work part-time and fewer intend to work full-time, these differences diminish over progressive career points. Looking ahead to 10 years after qualification, the proportion of male and female respondents intending to work full-time was 13 per cent and 8 per cent respectively while the proportion intending to work part-time was 20 per cent and 26 per cent respectively. By contrast, a greater proportion of male respondents than female respondents reported that they would choose a portfolio career although again these differences diminish over time. 25 per cent of male respondents and 14 per cent of females respondents plan to have a portfolio career 1 year after qualifying, rising to 51 per cent of male respondents and 48 per cent of female respondents 10 years after qualification. The most commonly cited reason for not pursuing full time clinical work was ‘intensity of the working day’ rather than ‘family commitments’ "
(My bolding)
I don't think it's always realised how emotionally demanding 'seeing patients' all day can be. Especially when combined with some at least responsible;lity for managing the practice.
Yep. The King's Fund note that a lot of the part time working is to free up one or two days a week to manage the local commissioning group and do other admin and so on.
We are not training anywhere near enough medics if they plan to only work part-time.
I would suggest that Primary Care Trusts did a much better job than CCG's; full time managers rather than part-time GP's running them.
Is there a single aspect of the utter dog's breakfast that Cameron allowed Lansley to create that should be kept?
I see that three migrants yesterday froze to death on the border between Belorussia and Poland - an example of what happens if Priti P deterrent strategies are really implemented, as Poland's rulers are doing. This seems to me a real scandal - yes, migration can be inconvenient and cause all sorts of problems, but allowing people to die of cold within Europe is a different order of magnitude that should be getting much more attention.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Many union leaders have always been like that, IMO. Snouts at the trough being the least of their problems.
If I were a union leader, I would break all official ties with Labour and acknowledge a good number of my members belong, or vote for, other parties, and blindly supporting Labour might turn potential members off.
Every couple of years or so, I would poll the membership and ask them which party they would like any political levy to go to. If (say) 65% say Labour, 20% Conservative, 15% a.n.other, then the money is split accordingly.
It is more democratic, and importantly, gets you a hearing in all the parties, not just Labour. I reckon the results of such a membership poll in most unions might be surprising.
How about just abolishing the political levy altogether and using any revenues raised to fund the union doing activities for its membership rather than being siphoned off into political parties?
They could do that, too.
Except: unions fulfil a useful role. True, from my perspective they often get it wrong (*), but all too often the working man needs a representative. They can do this better if they have a powerful a voice. Traditionally that voice has been with Labour, but what's the use of that if Labour are often not in power?
IMV, a UK without unions would become a worse place than one that has them.
But ideally, government, employers and unions would work harmoniously together. It sometimes even happens...
(*) Or, at least, we hear the stories of when they do stupid things, not the times they get it right.
I am a big advocate for people joining trade unions where their industry would benefit from it. Unions do great things every day on the ground standing up for a workforce who are so often low paid, ill-informed about employment law and otherwise voiceless.
The issue is that too many of the trade unions have become personal fiefdoms of chiefs who think the role of the union is political twattery. It is this part that Labour should remove - sever the formal union link.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Many union leaders have always been like that, IMO. Snouts at the trough being the least of their problems.
If I were a union leader, I would break all official ties with Labour and acknowledge a good number of my members belong, or vote for, other parties, and blindly supporting Labour might turn potential members off.
Every couple of years or so, I would poll the membership and ask them which party they would like any political levy to go to. If (say) 65% say Labour, 20% Conservative, 15% a.n.other, then the money is split accordingly.
It is more democratic, and importantly, gets you a hearing in all the parties, not just Labour. I reckon the results of such a membership poll in most unions might be surprising.
The problem is that on the electoral system for leader Laura Pillock and Zarah Sultana are right. The Electoral College is not remotely democratic and its a somewhat desperate fudge to see Labour moderates shouting at the trots "we're bringing Tony Benn's system back".
Voters opposed to the Tories will vote for the party that put David Cameron into Number 10? Well, it works in Scotland for the other yellows.
Whilst Clegg opened Pandora’s box and set us down the path to Boris and Brexit, that’s a long time ago now. It has always been the case that many opposed to the Tories are not ready to vote Labour. As such the Lib Dems play an important role.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Did the Lib Dems have a conference? Entirely missed that.
1. It was online 2. We didn't have any mega rows
The only indication lib dems were having a conference was Davey's appearance on Marr and his troubles with trans rights in the party from an activists who has been banned for 10 years for wearing a T shirt with the slogan 'Woman, Adult, Human, Female '
As I said if you want to cling to that t-shirt as your excuse for voting Tory you cling away.
At least I'll never hear about godsdamned chlorinated chicken ever again.
+1 - there are very few upsides to a trade deal with the US and am awful lot of downsides
One of the downsides of no US deal is we have ripped up a local trade deal that was great for British business, and Global Britain and Brexit is built on the promise we can make up anything lost with new agreements elsewhere?
I get so fed up of this. That "great" local trade deal created a trade deficit of £80bn a year which, over 20 years, transformed us from a net creditor nation (that is with a net income flow into this country from foreign investment) into a significantly indebted country (where there is a significant and increasing net outflow of income generated here to other countries).
All of our children and their children will have a lower standard of living as a result.
The possible trade deal with the US has to be subject to the same analysis. Would it damage our existing trade surplus with the US to our detriment? Would it expose significant parts of our own industry to competition they cannot cope with? In the case of the US this would largely be agricultural items where the mass scale of US production makes it pretty much impossible for UK producers to compete. So they get wiped out and a lot of our countryside returns to wild land. Do we really want that? Or do we want to keep what we have, which is a series of mini deals covering areas like finance where we are on a level playing field?
A lot of US agricultural production is built on the wrongheaded assumption that water is an infinite resource to be pumped out of the ground. I'm looking at you in particular, California, where wells are getting deeper and deeper.
Morning OKC, stormy looking and wind getting up here , though dry.
The UK will get a FTA with the US when the US joins CPTPP. Anyway, most people voted for Brexit of reasons of sovereignty and immigration, not one trade deal. Trade deals in general only contribute a tiny amount to GDP, and almost all those returns go to the top 10%.
That's based on the rather big assumption that the US will join CPTPP. Let's not forget that the original TPP was much more... how to put this... pro-American. Will the US sign up to a trade deal where they are just another equal participant?
No , not unless it is changed radically to favour them.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Did the Lib Dems have a conference? Entirely missed that.
Well it does appear that Davey’s interview with Marr got more column inches than the rest of their conference. Not in a good way for the party either.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Many union leaders have always been like that, IMO. Snouts at the trough being the least of their problems.
If I were a union leader, I would break all official ties with Labour and acknowledge a good number of my members belong, or vote for, other parties, and blindly supporting Labour might turn potential members off.
Every couple of years or so, I would poll the membership and ask them which party they would like any political levy to go to. If (say) 65% say Labour, 20% Conservative, 15% a.n.other, then the money is split accordingly.
It is more democratic, and importantly, gets you a hearing in all the parties, not just Labour. I reckon the results of such a membership poll in most unions might be surprising.
The problem is that on the electoral system for leader Laura Pillock and Zarah Sultana are right. The Electoral College is not remotely democratic and its a somewhat desperate fudge to see Labour moderates shouting at the trots "we're bringing Tony Benn's system back".
The problem I have with the Lib Dems is that they seem to be going through the motions, perhaps playing a few old tunes for comfort in their dotage, but not really cutting through with anything new, interesting or relevant. All a bit sad really given the critical role they might play in mobilising an Anti Tory vote,
Politics is a debate of course. Personally I am far happier with a leader talking about principles and about empowering people and communities against a lying incompetent government than I was with a primadonna Icarus saying "I am our candidate to be the next prime minister".
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Did the Lib Dems have a conference? Entirely missed that.
1. It was online 2. We didn't have any mega rows
The only indication lib dems were having a conference was Davey's appearance on Marr and his troubles with trans rights in the party from an activists who has been banned for 10 years for wearing a T shirt with the slogan 'Woman, Adult, Human, Female '
As I said if you want to cling to that t-shirt as your excuse for voting Tory you cling away.
I am not a member of any party and do not need any reason to justify my vote, whatever it will be in 24
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Did the Lib Dems have a conference? Entirely missed that.
1. It was online 2. We didn't have any mega rows
Any sign of a pulse? Perhaps an argument on something might be a good idea,
Plenty of pulse. We don't get much of a hearing these days and it is almost fashionable for people to deliberately not listen and then say "nothing of interest". Its fine, the battle is street by street anyway rebuilding from the ground up.
It will never happen as long as donkeys like Davey are leading the remnants of a once democratic party. If you are in touch with them in Scotland you will have seen how far they have fallen and how dire a state they are in. Struggle to fill a taxi.
Yes, I remember our Talbot Horizon started to exhibit rust inside 18 months.
We still have to do MoTs after 3 years to this day, even though it's probably totally unnecessary and 5 years would easily do.
Everything Australian is now en vogue so we should just do away with MoTs. They seem to manage without them altogether.
My dad bought a new Jaguar XJ6 (Gunmetal Metallic, black interior) in 1988. By Xmas '89 it had significant rust on both A pillars. The dealer actually said, "They all do that" with a straight face. I topped it out at 125mph on my 21st birthday.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Did the Lib Dems have a conference? Entirely missed that.
1. It was online 2. We didn't have any mega rows
The only indication lib dems were having a conference was Davey's appearance on Marr and his troubles with trans rights in the party from an activists who has been banned for 10 years for wearing a T shirt with the slogan 'Woman, Adult, Human, Female '
As I said if you want to cling to that t-shirt as your excuse for voting Tory you cling away.
I'd rather vote Labour than Lib Dem. The latter are worth less than the dirt on my shoes after expelling a member for expressing an opinion. I guess this new authoritarian Lib Dem party suits you as an ex-Labour member.
On topic, the domestic political zeitgeist in the USA now is against doing trade deals with anyone, unless overwhelming in their interests, so I wouldn't expect the UK to be treated any differently.
The totally unbalanced UK-US extradition treaty under Blair, and the way they whisk their citizens out of the UK if they commit crimes never to return, dropped the scales from my eyes on the US a long time ago - so I'm not disappointed about it.
There was never going to be a US trade deal, or not an all encompassing one. The agriculture stuff a total non-starter for British public opinion, the press, Radio 4, and all political parties.
The majority of the talking-up of an immediate US/UK trade deal, has been by the opponents of one, or opponents of the UK government.
Those of us in favour of closer trade ties between the two countries understand that these things take time to do properly, and in the case of the US are probably best done by a number of sectoral agreements, such as on financial services or cars, rather than an overarching deal which would be dominated by agricultural interests.
Yes, I remember our Talbot Horizon started to exhibit rust inside 18 months.
We still have to do MoTs after 3 years to this day, even though it's probably totally unnecessary and 5 years would easily do.
Everything Australian is now en vogue so we should just do away with MoTs. They seem to manage without them altogether.
My dad bought a new Jaguar XJ6 (Gunmetal Metallic, black interior) in 1988. By Xmas '89 it had significant rust on both A pillars. The dealer actually said, "They all do that" with a straight face. I topped it out at 125mph on my 21st birthday.
So your farther found an honest car dealer?!!! Diogenes can rest at last.....
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Many union leaders have always been like that, IMO. Snouts at the trough being the least of their problems.
If I were a union leader, I would break all official ties with Labour and acknowledge a good number of my members belong, or vote for, other parties, and blindly supporting Labour might turn potential members off.
Every couple of years or so, I would poll the membership and ask them which party they would like any political levy to go to. If (say) 65% say Labour, 20% Conservative, 15% a.n.other, then the money is split accordingly.
It is more democratic, and importantly, gets you a hearing in all the parties, not just Labour. I reckon the results of such a membership poll in most unions might be surprising.
How about just abolishing the political levy altogether and using any revenues raised to fund the union doing activities for its membership rather than being siphoned off into political parties?
They could do that, too.
Except: unions fulfil a useful role. True, from my perspective they often get it wrong (*), but all too often the working man needs a representative. They can do this better if they have a powerful a voice. Traditionally that voice has been with Labour, but what's the use of that if Labour are often not in power?
IMV, a UK without unions would become a worse place than one that has them.
But ideally, government, employers and unions would work harmoniously together. It sometimes even happens...
(*) Or, at least, we hear the stories of when they do stupid things, not the times they get it right.
My Dad had his career, & reputation, saved by the teaching union after horrendous false charges were levelled at him by the Headmaster where he worked.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Did the Lib Dems have a conference? Entirely missed that.
1. It was online 2. We didn't have any mega rows
Any sign of a pulse? Perhaps an argument on something might be a good idea,
Plenty of pulse. We don't get much of a hearing these days and it is almost fashionable for people to deliberately not listen and then say "nothing of interest". Its fine, the battle is street by street anyway rebuilding from the ground up.
It will never happen as long as donkeys like Davey are leading the remnants of a once democratic party. If you are in touch with them in Scotland you will have seen how far they have fallen and how dire a state they are in. Struggle to fill a taxi.
The lib dems were strong in Wales at one time but they have virtually disappeared in Welsh politics
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Many union leaders have always been like that, IMO. Snouts at the trough being the least of their problems.
If I were a union leader, I would break all official ties with Labour and acknowledge a good number of my members belong, or vote for, other parties, and blindly supporting Labour might turn potential members off.
Every couple of years or so, I would poll the membership and ask them which party they would like any political levy to go to. If (say) 65% say Labour, 20% Conservative, 15% a.n.other, then the money is split accordingly.
It is more democratic, and importantly, gets you a hearing in all the parties, not just Labour. I reckon the results of such a membership poll in most unions might be surprising.
The problem is that on the electoral system for leader Laura Pillock and Zarah Sultana are right. The Electoral College is not remotely democratic and its a somewhat desperate fudge to see Labour moderates shouting at the trots "we're bringing Tony Benn's system back".
Voters opposed to the Tories will vote for the party that put David Cameron into Number 10? Well, it works in Scotland for the other yellows.
Whilst Clegg opened Pandora’s box and set us down the path to Boris and Brexit, that’s a long time ago now. It has always been the case that many opposed to the Tories are not ready to vote Labour. As such the Lib Dems play an important role.
The maths were pretty simple in 2010 - there was no route to a rainbow coalition that was stable enough to survive and govern the country to the grave challenges faced. And scores of Labour backbenchers said so.
So the options were a minority Tory government with or without C&S from the LibDems, or the coalition. The latter still feels like the best option - I just don't understand how Clegg got in so deep as end up backing the very worst things (such as the Lansley NHS destruction) and then stuck it out so long that he dragged the party into the abyss.
Red Robbo and other arseholes like that meant that British Leyland could not possibly compete and would inevitably collapse. He wanted the rest of us to subsidise the consequences of his member's restrictive trade practices rather than face the reality that making cars takes fewer and fewer people but those few should be well paid for their efforts.
RR didn't destroy the Plughole of Despair single handled. He had a lot of help from the company's senior management who conspicuously failed to integrate Cowley and Longbridge into a single business over a period of 30 years. An unwritten corporate philosophy of "Fuck it, that'll do." at all levels didn't help either.
All mass produced cars of that era were badly built (possible exceptions: VW and the Japanese) and prone to rust (no exceptions) but the structural inefficiencies at BL made their badly built, rust prone cars more expensive to produce than everyone elses.
In hindsight they should have abandoned the twin product strategies of Conventional Ford Fighters (Morris) and Innovators (Austin) at least a decade before the rusty penny dropped.
As a driver of a 13 year old Fiat 500, it is impressive how good modern cars are. No rust at all despite never being garaged. It needed a recon gearbox at 80 000 miles but no other major work and looks good for a couple of years yet.
Yes, I remember our Talbot Horizon started to exhibit rust inside 18 months.
We still have to do MoTs after 3 years to this day, even though it's probably totally unnecessary and 5 years would easily do.
Most modern cars probably don’t need an MoT for a decade, apart from checking regular wear safety items such as tyres, brakes and lights; and picking up poor accident repair, stolen or wanted vehicles etc.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Did the Lib Dems have a conference? Entirely missed that.
1. It was online 2. We didn't have any mega rows
The only indication lib dems were having a conference was Davey's appearance on Marr and his troubles with trans rights in the party from an activists who has been banned for 10 years for wearing a T shirt with the slogan 'Woman, Adult, Human, Female '
As I said if you want to cling to that t-shirt as your excuse for voting Tory you cling away.
I'd rather vote Labour than Lib Dem. The latter are worth less than the dirt on my shoes after expelling a member for expressing an opinion. I guess this new authoritarian Lib Dem party suits you as an ex-Labour member.
And they are now involved in litigation over this lady activist's 10 year banning order for wearing a T shirt
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Did the Lib Dems have a conference? Entirely missed that.
1. It was online 2. We didn't have any mega rows
Any sign of a pulse? Perhaps an argument on something might be a good idea,
Plenty of pulse. We don't get much of a hearing these days and it is almost fashionable for people to deliberately not listen and then say "nothing of interest". Its fine, the battle is street by street anyway rebuilding from the ground up.
Perhaps an actual physical conference might be a way of people taking note? Though I accept it is expensive and necessarily excludes members who can't take three days off to stay in an overpriced hotel somewhere.
'Environment Secretary George Eustice told the BBC that the deal with CF Industries "will be not a loan, it will be a payment to underwrite some of their fixed costs".'
Numpty. It is their increase in variable costs that has caused them to shut down, not their fixed costs. I hope he wasn't the one to agree the deal.
'Environment Secretary George Eustice told the BBC that the deal with CF Industries "will be not a loan, it will be a payment to underwrite some of their fixed costs".'
Numpty. It is their increase in variable costs that has caused them to shut down, not their fixed costs. I hope he wasn't the one to agree the deal.
'Environment Secretary George Eustice told the BBC that the deal with CF Industries "will be not a loan, it will be a payment to underwrite some of their fixed costs".'
Numpty. It is their increase in variable costs that has caused them to shut down, not their fixed costs. I hope he wasn't the one to agree the deal.
Yes, I remember our Talbot Horizon started to exhibit rust inside 18 months.
We still have to do MoTs after 3 years to this day, even though it's probably totally unnecessary and 5 years would easily do.
Everything Australian is now en vogue so we should just do away with MoTs. They seem to manage without them altogether.
My dad bought a new Jaguar XJ6 (Gunmetal Metallic, black interior) in 1988. By Xmas '89 it had significant rust on both A pillars. The dealer actually said, "They all do that" with a straight face. I topped it out at 125mph on my 21st birthday.
So your farther found an honest car dealer?!!! Diogenes can rest at last.....
My dad liked him so much he went back 4 years later and bought an XJ12 in Miscarriage Pearl Red Metallic. That somehow wasn't as unreliable or as shoddy as the XJ6. I never topped that out; it would do 145mph in theory but really didn't have a lot of punch at the top of rev range and it would have needed 20+ miles to get there.
The original "pitch" in France for the EEC was that by binding West Germany to France, it would massively increase the power of France on the world stage - and all towards peace and unity. Since it would be dominated by France, it would always be in the interests of France.
A united Germany now runs Europe, with France as a lesser partner. French politics has never really come to terms with this changed circumstance.
Such denials can last for a certain time - but it is like a bill. Eventually it will have to be paid. What form the changes will take is still up in the air....
Yes, I remember our Talbot Horizon started to exhibit rust inside 18 months.
We still have to do MoTs after 3 years to this day, even though it's probably totally unnecessary and 5 years would easily do.
Everything Australian is now en vogue so we should just do away with MoTs. They seem to manage without them altogether.
My dad bought a new Jaguar XJ6 (Gunmetal Metallic, black interior) in 1988. By Xmas '89 it had significant rust on both A pillars. The dealer actually said, "They all do that" with a straight face. I topped it out at 125mph on my 21st birthday.
So your farther found an honest car dealer?!!! Diogenes can rest at last.....
My dad liked him so much he went back 4 years later and bought an XJ12 in Miscarriage Pearl Red Metallic. That somehow wasn't as unreliable or as shoddy as the XJ6. I never topped that out; it would do 145mph in theory but really didn't have a lot of punch at the top of rev range and it would have needed 20+ miles to get there.
Is it true that the XJ6 was made from a softer grade of steel that was easier to work - stamp, form etc? That also happened to be more prone to rust....
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Many union leaders have always been like that, IMO. Snouts at the trough being the least of their problems.
If I were a union leader, I would break all official ties with Labour and acknowledge a good number of my members belong, or vote for, other parties, and blindly supporting Labour might turn potential members off.
Every couple of years or so, I would poll the membership and ask them which party they would like any political levy to go to. If (say) 65% say Labour, 20% Conservative, 15% a.n.other, then the money is split accordingly.
It is more democratic, and importantly, gets you a hearing in all the parties, not just Labour. I reckon the results of such a membership poll in most unions might be surprising.
The problem is that on the electoral system for leader Laura Pillock and Zarah Sultana are right. The Electoral College is not remotely democratic and its a somewhat desperate fudge to see Labour moderates shouting at the trots "we're bringing Tony Benn's system back".
Voters opposed to the Tories will vote for the party that put David Cameron into Number 10? Well, it works in Scotland for the other yellows.
Whilst Clegg opened Pandora’s box and set us down the path to Boris and Brexit, that’s a long time ago now. It has always been the case that many opposed to the Tories are not ready to vote Labour. As such the Lib Dems play an important role.
The maths were pretty simple in 2010 - there was no route to a rainbow coalition that was stable enough to survive and govern the country to the grave challenges faced. And scores of Labour backbenchers said so.
So the options were a minority Tory government with or without C&S from the LibDems, or the coalition. The latter still feels like the best option - I just don't understand how Clegg got in so deep as end up backing the very worst things (such as the Lansley NHS destruction) and then stuck it out so long that he dragged the party into the abyss.
2010 did give us this. A precursor to Bad Al’s refusal to accept the leave Vote
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Did the Lib Dems have a conference? Entirely missed that.
1. It was online 2. We didn't have any mega rows
The only indication lib dems were having a conference was Davey's appearance on Marr and his troubles with trans rights in the party from an activists who has been banned for 10 years for wearing a T shirt with the slogan 'Woman, Adult, Human, Female '
As I said if you want to cling to that t-shirt as your excuse for voting Tory you cling away.
I'd rather vote Labour than Lib Dem. The latter are worth less than the dirt on my shoes after expelling a member for expressing an opinion. I guess this new authoritarian Lib Dem party suits you as an ex-Labour member.
And they are now involved in litigation over this lady activist's 10 year banning order for wearing a T shirt
Surely there must be more to that story, than simply wearing a T-shirt?
Now clearly she was a feminist campaigner, but the punishment certainly doesnt appear to match the crime from what we have heard.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Many union leaders have always been like that, IMO. Snouts at the trough being the least of their problems.
If I were a union leader, I would break all official ties with Labour and acknowledge a good number of my members belong, or vote for, other parties, and blindly supporting Labour might turn potential members off.
Every couple of years or so, I would poll the membership and ask them which party they would like any political levy to go to. If (say) 65% say Labour, 20% Conservative, 15% a.n.other, then the money is split accordingly.
It is more democratic, and importantly, gets you a hearing in all the parties, not just Labour. I reckon the results of such a membership poll in most unions might be surprising.
How about just abolishing the political levy altogether and using any revenues raised to fund the union doing activities for its membership rather than being siphoned off into political parties?
They could do that, too.
Except: unions fulfil a useful role. True, from my perspective they often get it wrong (*), but all too often the working man needs a representative. They can do this better if they have a powerful a voice. Traditionally that voice has been with Labour, but what's the use of that if Labour are often not in power?
IMV, a UK without unions would become a worse place than one that has them.
But ideally, government, employers and unions would work harmoniously together. It sometimes even happens...
(*) Or, at least, we hear the stories of when they do stupid things, not the times they get it right.
My Dad had his career, & reputation, saved by the teaching union after horrendous false charges were levelled at him by the Headmaster where he worked.
I've never been a member of a union - tech doesn't really seem to 'do' unions here in the UK. I rarely heard them even mentioned.
On trainee GPs and not working full-time. The research is by King's Fund.
Here is a relevant section:
"The growth of part-time working in general practice has been widely attributed to feminisation of the workforce.
However, our survey showed that intentions for part-time or portfolio working are common across both sexes. Although a greater proportion of female than male respondents intend to work part-time and fewer intend to work full-time, these differences diminish over progressive career points. Looking ahead to 10 years after qualification, the proportion of male and female respondents intending to work full-time was 13 per cent and 8 per cent respectively while the proportion intending to work part-time was 20 per cent and 26 per cent respectively. By contrast, a greater proportion of male respondents than female respondents reported that they would choose a portfolio career although again these differences diminish over time. 25 per cent of male respondents and 14 per cent of females respondents plan to have a portfolio career 1 year after qualifying, rising to 51 per cent of male respondents and 48 per cent of female respondents 10 years after qualification. The most commonly cited reason for not pursuing full time clinical work was ‘intensity of the working day’ rather than ‘family commitments’ "
(My bolding)
I don't think it's always realised how emotionally demanding 'seeing patients' all day can be. Especially when combined with some at least responsible;lity for managing the practice.
Yep. The King's Fund note that a lot of the part time working is to free up one or two days a week to manage the local commissioning group and do other admin and so on.
We are not training anywhere near enough medics if they plan to only work part-time.
I would suggest that Primary Care Trusts did a much better job than CCG's; full time managers rather than part-time GP's running them.
Is there a single aspect of the utter dog's breakfast that Cameron allowed Lansley to create that should be kept?
I did not understand at the time, and still do not, why Cameron allowed Lansley free rein. As far as I could see Lansley was largely paying off some personal debts. Sadly no-one on the LibDem side of the Coalition had the nous to realise what Lansley was doing.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Did the Lib Dems have a conference? Entirely missed that.
1. It was online 2. We didn't have any mega rows
Any sign of a pulse? Perhaps an argument on something might be a good idea,
Plenty of pulse. We don't get much of a hearing these days and it is almost fashionable for people to deliberately not listen and then say "nothing of interest". Its fine, the battle is street by street anyway rebuilding from the ground up.
Perhaps an actual physical conference might be a way of people taking note? Though I accept it is expensive and necessarily excludes members who can't take three days off to stay in an overpriced hotel somewhere.
A physical conference would also have invited all the political media to be there in person, and made quite the difference to the coverage received.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Many union leaders have always been like that, IMO. Snouts at the trough being the least of their problems.
If I were a union leader, I would break all official ties with Labour and acknowledge a good number of my members belong, or vote for, other parties, and blindly supporting Labour might turn potential members off.
Every couple of years or so, I would poll the membership and ask them which party they would like any political levy to go to. If (say) 65% say Labour, 20% Conservative, 15% a.n.other, then the money is split accordingly.
It is more democratic, and importantly, gets you a hearing in all the parties, not just Labour. I reckon the results of such a membership poll in most unions might be surprising.
The problem is that on the electoral system for leader Laura Pillock and Zarah Sultana are right. The Electoral College is not remotely democratic and its a somewhat desperate fudge to see Labour moderates shouting at the trots "we're bringing Tony Benn's system back".
The problem I have with the Lib Dems is that they seem to be going through the motions, perhaps playing a few old tunes for comfort in their dotage, but not really cutting through with anything new, interesting or relevant. All a bit sad really given the critical role they might play in mobilising an Anti Tory vote,
Politics is a debate of course. Personally I am far happier with a leader talking about principles and about empowering people and communities against a lying incompetent government than I was with a primadonna Icarus saying "I am our candidate to be the next prime minister".
| NEW We will be accepting UAE vaccination certificates from 4th Oct following updates to their vaccination app. As a major transport hub which is home to many British expats, this is great news for reopening international travel, boosting business & reuniting families House with garden
I see that three migrants yesterday froze to death on the border between Belorussia and Poland - an example of what happens if Priti P deterrent strategies are really implemented, as Poland's rulers are doing. This seems to me a real scandal - yes, migration can be inconvenient and cause all sorts of problems, but allowing people to die of cold within Europe is a different order of magnitude that should be getting much more attention.
What would be your solution Nick?
I am not asking that as a jibe, I am seriously interested. You are right, this is shocking but, if I remember correctly, the Belorussians were deliberately letting refugees to go up to the border of Poland and Lithuania with the express intent of exacerbating migrant flows into the EU. Migrants were happy to go along with it as they saw a route into the EU. So, if Poland had taken them, it would have encouraged more. If you want to take a very hard headed view, the only way Poland could have discouraged this was to stop all migrants entering, even if the latter paid the ultimate price.
It also comes back to a wider point, namely how many of the migrants are genuine refugees and how many are economic migrants looking for a better life? I think many people would be happy to accept genuine refugees. The problem is that we all know the pro-migrant organisations would let in everyone without checks or balances. The general population does not trust the Left on this.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Did the Lib Dems have a conference? Entirely missed that.
1. It was online 2. We didn't have any mega rows
The only indication lib dems were having a conference was Davey's appearance on Marr and his troubles with trans rights in the party from an activists who has been banned for 10 years for wearing a T shirt with the slogan 'Woman, Adult, Human, Female '
As I said if you want to cling to that t-shirt as your excuse for voting Tory you cling away.
I'd rather vote Labour than Lib Dem. The latter are worth less than the dirt on my shoes after expelling a member for expressing an opinion. I guess this new authoritarian Lib Dem party suits you as an ex-Labour member.
And they are now involved in litigation over this lady activist's 10 year banning order for wearing a T shirt
Surely there must be more to that story, than simply wearing a T-shirt?
Now clearly she was a feminist campaigner, but the punishment certainly doesnt appear to match the crime from what we have heard.
Yep. Which is why I am not remotely phased by the allegation that she was "banned for wearing a t-shirt". This is what the toxified culture war trans issue does - creates absolute straw man positions which both extremes fight over.
Meanwhile in the real world, the issue needs debate and for a balance to be found.
| NEW We will be accepting UAE vaccination certificates from 4th Oct following updates to their vaccination app. As a major transport hub which is home to many British expats, this is great news for reopening international travel, boosting business & reuniting families House with garden
| NEW We will be accepting UAE vaccination certificates from 4th Oct following updates to their vaccination app. As a major transport hub which is home to many British expats, this is great news for reopening international travel, boosting business & reuniting families House with garden
I'd rather vote Labour than Lib Dem. The latter are worth less than the dirt on my shoes after expelling a member for expressing an opinion. I guess this new authoritarian Lib Dem party suits you as an ex-Labour member.
Obviously you have an absolute right to vote any way you like, but I don't think I'm going to expend energy battling with Rochdale Pioneers over which of us has the best chance of winning you over. The project to make hell freeze over is more urgent.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Did the Lib Dems have a conference? Entirely missed that.
1. It was online 2. We didn't have any mega rows
Any sign of a pulse? Perhaps an argument on something might be a good idea,
Plenty of pulse. We don't get much of a hearing these days and it is almost fashionable for people to deliberately not listen and then say "nothing of interest". Its fine, the battle is street by street anyway rebuilding from the ground up.
It will never happen as long as donkeys like Davey are leading the remnants of a once democratic party. If you are in touch with them in Scotland you will have seen how far they have fallen and how dire a state they are in. Struggle to fill a taxi.
The lib dems were strong in Wales at one time but they have virtually disappeared in Welsh politics
It is labour v conservative v plaid
The LDs still have 1 AM in Mid and West Wales which is their strongest region in Wales and where they also briefly elected an MP in the August 2019 by election in Brecon and Radnorshire before losing the seat again at the general election
Invading a motorway is reckless & puts lives at risk. I asked National Highways to seek an injunction against M25 protestors which a judge granted last night. Effective later today, activists will face contempt of court with possible imprisonment if they flout.
I'd rather vote Labour than Lib Dem. The latter are worth less than the dirt on my shoes after expelling a member for expressing an opinion. I guess this new authoritarian Lib Dem party suits you as an ex-Labour member.
Obviously you have an absolute right to vote any way you like, but I don't think I'm going to expend energy battling with Rochdale Pioneers over which of us has the best chance of winning you over. The project to make hell freeze over is more urgent.
It doesn't matter which of them he votes for as far as I am concerned either a Labour or a LD vote would not be a Tory vote and given the LDs would prop up a Starmer government both votes would therefore be anti Boris
If it wasn't for the last 4 years of specifically Macron trying to punish the UK I might feel sorry for him with this pile on, as it stands it is funny to sit and watch him try and squirm his way out of a discussion on France's UNSC seat.
How about just abolishing the political levy altogether and using any revenues raised to fund the union doing activities for its membership rather than being siphoned off into political parties?
There's already a substantial disparity in the money available to the party favouring the wealthy - most people on limited budgets simply can't afford to give significantly to parties. A one-sided move to reduce the money available to the other side is simply undemocratic. I'd be all in favour of effective spending limits (difficlut but not impossible) so that the fiscal arms race was reduced, but telling one side to give up is not a constructive solution.
Is 'the party favouring the wealthy' meant to be the Tories or the Champagne Socialist Luvvies party? 🤔
Although being serious there's no evidence from abroad that parties on the left can't raise revenues independently without a reliance on organised labour. Quite the opposite in fact. Our spending limits are already massively lower than across the Pond but its worth noting that in 2008 Barack Obama raised and spent literally more than double what John McCain did. That wasn't through a 'political levy' on union fees.
There's no reason that a mass membership party with lots of people paying a small amount each can't raise more money than any alternatives, that's how Obama did it in 2008. But a reliance on bloc levies crowds out attempts to connect with people, which then distorts politics against connecting with people - which is a bad idea. Because connecting with people to get a donation, and connecting with people to get a vote, are similar concepts.
Invading a motorway is reckless & puts lives at risk. I asked National Highways to seek an injunction against M25 protestors which a judge granted last night. Effective later today, activists will face contempt of court with possible imprisonment if they flout.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Did the Lib Dems have a conference? Entirely missed that.
1. It was online 2. We didn't have any mega rows
The only indication lib dems were having a conference was Davey's appearance on Marr and his troubles with trans rights in the party from an activists who has been banned for 10 years for wearing a T shirt with the slogan 'Woman, Adult, Human, Female '
As I said if you want to cling to that t-shirt as your excuse for voting Tory you cling away.
I'd rather vote Labour than Lib Dem. The latter are worth less than the dirt on my shoes after expelling a member for expressing an opinion. I guess this new authoritarian Lib Dem party suits you as an ex-Labour member.
And they are now involved in litigation over this lady activist's 10 year banning order for wearing a T shirt
Surely there must be more to that story, than simply wearing a T-shirt?
Now clearly she was a feminist campaigner, but the punishment certainly doesnt appear to match the crime from what we have heard.
Yep. Which is why I am not remotely phased by the allegation that she was "banned for wearing a t-shirt". This is what the toxified culture war trans issue does - creates absolute straw man positions which both extremes fight over.
Meanwhile in the real world, the issue needs debate and for a balance to be found.
So what was she banned for?
I don't think it's necessarily wrong for a party to ban members for expressing opinions. There have to be boundaries to what publicly stated beliefs are and aren't compatible with party membership. This is, after all, the process Labour is going through with anti-semitism. But it does concern me that the apparent belief that a woman is an adult human female is judged to be beyond the pale for Britain's third largest party.
I'd rather vote Labour than Lib Dem. The latter are worth less than the dirt on my shoes after expelling a member for expressing an opinion. I guess this new authoritarian Lib Dem party suits you as an ex-Labour member.
Obviously you have an absolute right to vote any way you like, but I don't think I'm going to expend energy battling with Rochdale Pioneers over which of us has the best chance of winning you over. The project to make hell freeze over is more urgent.
It doesn't matter which of them he votes for as far as I am concerned either a Labour or a LD vote would not be a Tory vote and given the LDs would prop up a Starmer government both votes would therefore be anti Boris
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Did the Lib Dems have a conference? Entirely missed that.
1. It was online 2. We didn't have any mega rows
Any sign of a pulse? Perhaps an argument on something might be a good idea,
Plenty of pulse. We don't get much of a hearing these days and it is almost fashionable for people to deliberately not listen and then say "nothing of interest". Its fine, the battle is street by street anyway rebuilding from the ground up.
It will never happen as long as donkeys like Davey are leading the remnants of a once democratic party. If you are in touch with them in Scotland you will have seen how far they have fallen and how dire a state they are in. Struggle to fill a taxi.
The lib dems were strong in Wales at one time but they have virtually disappeared in Welsh politics
It is labour v conservative v plaid
The LDs still have 1 AM in Mid and West Wales which is their strongest region and where they also briefly elected an MP in the August 2019 by election in Brecon and Radnor before losing the seat again at the general election
You live in England I actually live in Wales and the lib dems are not in the mix
Liberal Democrats nearly wiped out in Wales after losing only ... https://www.itv.com › news › wales › 2021-05-07 › lib...
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Many union leaders have always been like that, IMO. Snouts at the trough being the least of their problems.
If I were a union leader, I would break all official ties with Labour and acknowledge a good number of my members belong, or vote for, other parties, and blindly supporting Labour might turn potential members off.
Every couple of years or so, I would poll the membership and ask them which party they would like any political levy to go to. If (say) 65% say Labour, 20% Conservative, 15% a.n.other, then the money is split accordingly.
It is more democratic, and importantly, gets you a hearing in all the parties, not just Labour. I reckon the results of such a membership poll in most unions might be surprising.
How about just abolishing the political levy altogether and using any revenues raised to fund the union doing activities for its membership rather than being siphoned off into political parties?
They could do that, too.
Except: unions fulfil a useful role. True, from my perspective they often get it wrong (*), but all too often the working man needs a representative. They can do this better if they have a powerful a voice. Traditionally that voice has been with Labour, but what's the use of that if Labour are often not in power?
IMV, a UK without unions would become a worse place than one that has them.
But ideally, government, employers and unions would work harmoniously together. It sometimes even happens...
(*) Or, at least, we hear the stories of when they do stupid things, not the times they get it right.
I didn't suggest the unions disband, I suggested the unions use their own revenues to fund their own agenda, instead of siphoning away their own revenues to pay for party politics.
Instead of sending a bloc grant to Labour, they could use that money to provide services or functions for their members or even to campaign directly for *insert policies they care about here*
"Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will face demands for new taxes and billions in additional spending as he negotiates support from the NDP and Bloc Québécois, following an election in which voters denied the Liberal Party the free rein of a majority mandate.
Because the Liberals are just a handful of seats short of a majority, Mr. Trudeau will only need to rely on one of the three main opposition parties to pass any government bill. In the last Parliament, the Liberals often turned to the NDP for key confidence votes. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet are Mr. Trudeau’s most natural allies in the new minority Parliament, although the Conservatives could also support some bills.
At a news conference in Vancouver on Tuesday, Mr. Singh said he hoped to work with the Liberals on shared areas of interest, including child care and pharmacare. The NDP Leader said he didn’t discuss policy details with Mr. Trudeau during their call on election night. In the last days of the campaign, Mr. Singh said a wealth tax would be his priority issue in a minority government. When asked about that comment Tuesday, he said the cost of the pandemic should be offset by new taxes on high-wealth individuals and corporations."
Ironically of course that means Trudeau's government will have to be more leftwing to keep the NDP voting for government legislation than it would have been had he won a Liberal majority
I'd rather vote Labour than Lib Dem. The latter are worth less than the dirt on my shoes after expelling a member for expressing an opinion. I guess this new authoritarian Lib Dem party suits you as an ex-Labour member.
Obviously you have an absolute right to vote any way you like, but I don't think I'm going to expend energy battling with Rochdale Pioneers over which of us has the best chance of winning you over. The project to make hell freeze over is more urgent.
It doesn't matter which of them he votes for as far as I am concerned either a Labour or a LD vote would not be a Tory vote and given the LDs would prop up a Starmer government both votes would therefore be anti Boris
Voting Lib Dem has had only one notable impact: propping up a Tory government that shredded the social fabric of the country and went on to give us Brexit.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Did the Lib Dems have a conference? Entirely missed that.
1. It was online 2. We didn't have any mega rows
The only indication lib dems were having a conference was Davey's appearance on Marr and his troubles with trans rights in the party from an activists who has been banned for 10 years for wearing a T shirt with the slogan 'Woman, Adult, Human, Female '
As I said if you want to cling to that t-shirt as your excuse for voting Tory you cling away.
I'd rather vote Labour than Lib Dem. The latter are worth less than the dirt on my shoes after expelling a member for expressing an opinion. I guess this new authoritarian Lib Dem party suits you as an ex-Labour member.
And they are now involved in litigation over this lady activist's 10 year banning order for wearing a T shirt
Surely there must be more to that story, than simply wearing a T-shirt?
Now clearly she was a feminist campaigner, but the punishment certainly doesnt appear to match the crime from what we have heard.
Yep. Which is why I am not remotely phased by the allegation that she was "banned for wearing a t-shirt". This is what the toxified culture war trans issue does - creates absolute straw man positions which both extremes fight over.
Meanwhile in the real world, the issue needs debate and for a balance to be found.
If the issue needs debate then why have the Lib Dems banned her from the party? You must be loving this new authoritarianism in the Lib Dems, clearly the ex-Labour members such as yourself are changing the nature of the Lib Dems already. Even Labour don't seem to be doing anything as stupid as this.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Many union leaders have always been like that, IMO. Snouts at the trough being the least of their problems.
If I were a union leader, I would break all official ties with Labour and acknowledge a good number of my members belong, or vote for, other parties, and blindly supporting Labour might turn potential members off.
Every couple of years or so, I would poll the membership and ask them which party they would like any political levy to go to. If (say) 65% say Labour, 20% Conservative, 15% a.n.other, then the money is split accordingly.
It is more democratic, and importantly, gets you a hearing in all the parties, not just Labour. I reckon the results of such a membership poll in most unions might be surprising.
How about just abolishing the political levy altogether and using any revenues raised to fund the union doing activities for its membership rather than being siphoned off into political parties?
They could do that, too.
Except: unions fulfil a useful role. True, from my perspective they often get it wrong (*), but all too often the working man needs a representative. They can do this better if they have a powerful a voice. Traditionally that voice has been with Labour, but what's the use of that if Labour are often not in power?
IMV, a UK without unions would become a worse place than one that has them.
But ideally, government, employers and unions would work harmoniously together. It sometimes even happens...
(*) Or, at least, we hear the stories of when they do stupid things, not the times they get it right.
I didn't suggest the unions disband, I suggested the unions use their own revenues to fund their own agenda, instead of siphoning away their own revenues to pay for party politics.
Instead of sending a bloc grant to Labour, they could use that money to provide services or functions for their members or even to campaign directly for *insert policies they care about here*
Organised labour should stop funding the Labour Party when capital stops funding the Tories. It's already a grossly enequal contest.
Yes, I remember our Talbot Horizon started to exhibit rust inside 18 months.
We still have to do MoTs after 3 years to this day, even though it's probably totally unnecessary and 5 years would easily do.
Everything Australian is now en vogue so we should just do away with MoTs. They seem to manage without them altogether.
My dad bought a new Jaguar XJ6 (Gunmetal Metallic, black interior) in 1988. By Xmas '89 it had significant rust on both A pillars. The dealer actually said, "They all do that" with a straight face. I topped it out at 125mph on my 21st birthday.
So your farther found an honest car dealer?!!! Diogenes can rest at last.....
My dad liked him so much he went back 4 years later and bought an XJ12 in Miscarriage Pearl Red Metallic. That somehow wasn't as unreliable or as shoddy as the XJ6. I never topped that out; it would do 145mph in theory but really didn't have a lot of punch at the top of rev range and it would have needed 20+ miles to get there.
Is it true that the XJ6 was made from a softer grade of steel that was easier to work - stamp, form etc? That also happened to be more prone to rust....
I highly doubt it as that would demonstrate a profundity in production management that would be utterly beyond BL/Jaguar.
The EU has always been about ever greater integration and power shifting from periphery (nation states) to centre (the EU itself). Partly that's due to mechanical necessity (with so many members now vetoes everywhere would make it unworkable) but also down to ideology, trying to manufacture a nation called Europe.
It'd also be quite perverse, given the UK would've really liked the idea of a looser membership.
I could see a bloc forming looking for a looser, associate membership.
People have been predicting that for many years, but I don't thnk it will happen soon, if at all. It runs against the one-size-fits-all mania in Brussels; they would have to admit to themselves that they could have prevented us leaving; and it will inevitably be presented as a kind of "second-class" membership, which is anathema to most countries' Foreign Offices.
Of course, it makes objective sense, but that's always a secondary consideration where the EU is concerned.
If it wasn't for the last 4 years of specifically Macron trying to punish the UK I might feel sorry for him with this pile on, as it stands it is funny to sit and watch him try and squirm his way out of a discussion on France's UNSC seat.
When the UK was in the EU there was no pressure for the French to give the EU the seat because the EU had (most of the time) 2 controllable votes out of the 5 permanent members.
Now they only have a single vote and the justification above that stopped the EU trying to grab the seat has disappeared alongside Brexit.
I suspect we will see continual comments about this throughout the next year as it is definitely worth some votes for French Presidential candidates.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Many union leaders have always been like that, IMO. Snouts at the trough being the least of their problems.
If I were a union leader, I would break all official ties with Labour and acknowledge a good number of my members belong, or vote for, other parties, and blindly supporting Labour might turn potential members off.
Every couple of years or so, I would poll the membership and ask them which party they would like any political levy to go to. If (say) 65% say Labour, 20% Conservative, 15% a.n.other, then the money is split accordingly.
It is more democratic, and importantly, gets you a hearing in all the parties, not just Labour. I reckon the results of such a membership poll in most unions might be surprising.
The problem is that on the electoral system for leader Laura Pillock and Zarah Sultana are right. The Electoral College is not remotely democratic and its a somewhat desperate fudge to see Labour moderates shouting at the trots "we're bringing Tony Benn's system back".
Voters opposed to the Tories will vote for the party that put David Cameron into Number 10? Well, it works in Scotland for the other yellows.
Whilst Clegg opened Pandora’s box and set us down the path to Boris and Brexit, that’s a long time ago now. It has always been the case that many opposed to the Tories are not ready to vote Labour. As such the Lib Dems play an important role.
The maths were pretty simple in 2010 - there was no route to a rainbow coalition that was stable enough to survive and govern the country to the grave challenges faced. And scores of Labour backbenchers said so.
So the options were a minority Tory government with or without C&S from the LibDems, or the coalition. The latter still feels like the best option - I just don't understand how Clegg got in so deep as end up backing the very worst things (such as the Lansley NHS destruction) and then stuck it out so long that he dragged the party into the abyss.
2010 did give us this. A precursor to Bad Al’s refusal to accept the leave Vote
I'd rather vote Labour than Lib Dem. The latter are worth less than the dirt on my shoes after expelling a member for expressing an opinion. I guess this new authoritarian Lib Dem party suits you as an ex-Labour member.
Obviously you have an absolute right to vote any way you like, but I don't think I'm going to expend energy battling with Rochdale Pioneers over which of us has the best chance of winning you over. The project to make hell freeze over is more urgent.
It doesn't matter which of them he votes for as far as I am concerned either a Labour or a LD vote would not be a Tory vote and given the LDs would prop up a Starmer government both votes would therefore be anti Boris
Voting Lib Dem has had only one notable impact: propping up a Tory government that shredded the social fabric of the country and went on to give us Brexit.
The Liberals also propped up Callaghan's government and will revert to backing Labour next time.
They would not have backed Corbyn they wlll back Starmer
I could see a bloc forming looking for a looser, associate membership.
It should be an implicit objective of U.K. foreign policy to find some kind of associate EU membership that works for us, along with Switzerland, Norway, the non-Euro countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Sweden), and perhaps Italy.
Liam Norton from Insulate Britain is challenged following the discovery that he hasn't insulated his own home.
@susannareid100 and Journalist @DawnNeesom question why he hasn't insulated his own home but is putting his own life and others lives at risk by protesting.
Is that the same Pret A Manger who we were told in 2017 couldn't survive Brexit because it is so dependent upon low paid immigrant workers ?
The same low paid immigrant workers we're told who have all left the UK ?
Of course, if you look at the headline (which is not that far to read into an article ) it says: "Pret to hire 3,000 staff after cutting same number in 2020"
So, a fairly meaningless (although welcome) bounce back to business as usual after a mass pandemic cull, due to the evaporation of custom in 2020?
It's not died due to Brexit, true, but this is not some growth story, just a reversal of the pandemic effects. That, in itself, is of course welcome.
If it wasn't for the last 4 years of specifically Macron trying to punish the UK I might feel sorry for him with this pile on, as it stands it is funny to sit and watch him try and squirm his way out of a discussion on France's UNSC seat.
When the UK was in the EU there was no pressure for the French to give the EU the seat because the EU had (most of the time) 2 controllable votes out of the 5 permanent members.
Now they only have a single vote and the justification above that stopped the EU trying to grab the seat has disappeared alongside Brexit.
I suspect we will see continual comments about this throughout the next year as it is definitely worth some votes for French Presidential candidates.
Treating de Gaulle and the French so well during the War by insisting on them having a zone of occupation in Germany and a permanent seat on the Security Council was one of Churchill's biggest blunders. As Bismarck said, is a mistake to count on the gratitude of a nation, especially France.
Is that the same Pret A Manger who we were told in 2017 couldn't survive Brexit because it is so dependent upon low paid immigrant workers ?
The same low paid immigrant workers we're told who have all left the UK ?
Pret anecdote:
several years ago I used to have the chicken caesar and bacon baguette for lunch every day. Then I went away for a couple of weeks, came back and bought the same again. I could hardly eat it as it tasted as though it had been marinated in salt.
Haven't had one since - there is a *lot* of salt in a lot of the food we buy.
Off-topic, I can't help but compare and contrast my party's conference last week and the growing shitshow that is the labour conference. LibDems are feeling energised, happy, forward looking. Labour are fighting the Corbyn War round 17.
As I said at the time, Starmer should have booted Corbyn the instant the anti-semitism report came out, and then booted anyone who came out supporting the racist old wazzock. Cut off the gangrenous limb, save the patient.
"Oh no" I was told, "Labour can't have a big factional battle". Are they not having it now? And again through the winter? And next year? The trot loons are leaving in small numbers, being expelled in tiny numbers, but are still embedded in the party and successfully hijacking the entire agenda.
Then we have the other problem. Yesterday all the loony union heads popped up. We had months of coverage of the Corbynite war in Unite. And now people like Manuel Cortez foaming on. I can't be the only one who looks at the union leaders and feels repelled by them and anyone associated with them. I support trade unions who represent and empower their members, but the union movement is like a stone chained to Labour dragging it to the sea bed.
Did the Lib Dems have a conference? Entirely missed that.
1. It was online 2. We didn't have any mega rows
Any sign of a pulse? Perhaps an argument on something might be a good idea,
Plenty of pulse. We don't get much of a hearing these days and it is almost fashionable for people to deliberately not listen and then say "nothing of interest". Its fine, the battle is street by street anyway rebuilding from the ground up.
It will never happen as long as donkeys like Davey are leading the remnants of a once democratic party. If you are in touch with them in Scotland you will have seen how far they have fallen and how dire a state they are in. Struggle to fill a taxi.
The lib dems were strong in Wales at one time but they have virtually disappeared in Welsh politics
It is labour v conservative v plaid
The LDs still have 1 AM in Mid and West Wales which is their strongest region and where they also briefly elected an MP in the August 2019 by election in Brecon and Radnor before losing the seat again at the general election
You live in England I actually live in Wales and the lib dems are not in the mix
Liberal Democrats nearly wiped out in Wales after losing only ... https://www.itv.com › news › wales › 2021-05-07 › lib...
Brecon and Radnorshire is still the LDs 23rd target seat ie higher than any LD targets in the Midlands or North East of England where the LDs also don't have any constituency elected representatives in parliament
If it wasn't for the last 4 years of specifically Macron trying to punish the UK I might feel sorry for him with this pile on, as it stands it is funny to sit and watch him try and squirm his way out of a discussion on France's UNSC seat.
When the UK was in the EU there was no pressure for the French to give the EU the seat because the EU had (most of the time) 2 controllable votes out of the 5 permanent members.
Now they only have a single vote and the justification above that stopped the EU trying to grab the seat has disappeared alongside Brexit.
I suspect we will see continual comments about this throughout the next year as it is definitely worth some votes for French Presidential candidates.
Treating de Gaulle and the French so well during the War by insisting on them having a zone of occupation in Germany and a permanent seat on the Security Council was one of Churchill's biggest blunders. As Bismarck said, is a mistake to count on the gratitude of a nation, especially France.
To avoid deadlock you do need an odd number of permanent members and I suspect when you look back to 1945 there weren't really that many other plausible alternatives.
On trainee GPs and not working full-time. The research is by King's Fund.
Here is a relevant section:
"The growth of part-time working in general practice has been widely attributed to feminisation of the workforce.
However, our survey showed that intentions for part-time or portfolio working are common across both sexes. Although a greater proportion of female than male respondents intend to work part-time and fewer intend to work full-time, these differences diminish over progressive career points. Looking ahead to 10 years after qualification, the proportion of male and female respondents intending to work full-time was 13 per cent and 8 per cent respectively while the proportion intending to work part-time was 20 per cent and 26 per cent respectively. By contrast, a greater proportion of male respondents than female respondents reported that they would choose a portfolio career although again these differences diminish over time. 25 per cent of male respondents and 14 per cent of females respondents plan to have a portfolio career 1 year after qualifying, rising to 51 per cent of male respondents and 48 per cent of female respondents 10 years after qualification. The most commonly cited reason for not pursuing full time clinical work was ‘intensity of the working day’ rather than ‘family commitments’ "
(My bolding)
I don't think it's always realised how emotionally demanding 'seeing patients' all day can be. Especially when combined with some at least responsible;lity for managing the practice.
Yep. The King's Fund note that a lot of the part time working is to free up one or two days a week to manage the local commissioning group and do other admin and so on.
We are not training anywhere near enough medics if they plan to only work part-time.
I would suggest that Primary Care Trusts did a much better job than CCG's; full time managers rather than part-time GP's running them.
Is there a single aspect of the utter dog's breakfast that Cameron allowed Lansley to create that should be kept?
I did not understand at the time, and still do not, why Cameron allowed Lansley free rein. As far as I could see Lansley was largely paying off some personal debts. Sadly no-one on the LibDem side of the Coalition had the nous to realise what Lansley was doing.
I’m not a health systems expert, but on the face of it, Lansley’s reforms seemed like a good way of decentralising the NHS and improving incentives within the system.
It turned out to be a disaster, but I’m not sure why.
On Lab/the Unions listening to Len before, during and after the GE2019 campaign one's feeling was that this is a huge con trick - no one can be such a caricature of a left-leaning union boss. But lo there he was.
Ofc I get the same feeling about BoJo so it's not as if I have an especially fine tuned political antenna.
Is that the same Pret A Manger who we were told in 2017 couldn't survive Brexit because it is so dependent upon low paid immigrant workers ?
The same low paid immigrant workers we're told who have all left the UK ?
Pret anecdote:
several years ago I used to have the chicken caesar and bacon baguette for lunch every day. Then I went away for a couple of weeks, came back and bought the same again. I could hardly eat it as it tasted as though it had been marinated in salt.
Haven't had one since - there is a *lot* of salt in a lot of the food we buy.
Hiring new workers? Fantastic.
Salt from the food we buy is that missing ingredient that makes it nice... Its laced into all ready meals, bread, everything you can think of. Oh, and in the your curry, pizza whatever. We don't salt our veg in this house, and don't miss it. Can really tell in other peoples cooking.
I'd rather vote Labour than Lib Dem. The latter are worth less than the dirt on my shoes after expelling a member for expressing an opinion. I guess this new authoritarian Lib Dem party suits you as an ex-Labour member.
Obviously you have an absolute right to vote any way you like, but I don't think I'm going to expend energy battling with Rochdale Pioneers over which of us has the best chance of winning you over. The project to make hell freeze over is more urgent.
It doesn't matter which of them he votes for as far as I am concerned either a Labour or a LD vote would not be a Tory vote and given the LDs would prop up a Starmer government both votes would therefore be anti Boris
Voting Lib Dem has had only one notable impact: propping up a Tory government that shredded the social fabric of the country and went on to give us Brexit.
Brown’s government was incredibly tired, out of ideas, ineffective.
I could see a bloc forming looking for a looser, associate membership.
It should be an implicit objective of U.K. foreign policy to find some kind of associate EU membership that works for us, along with Switzerland, Norway, the non-Euro countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Sweden), and perhaps Italy.
Why?
Is NZ seeking to find some kind of Australia membership? Is Canada seeking to find some kind of USA membership?
Why can't the objective of our policy be to become friendly neighbours of the EU instead?
The EU has always been about ever greater integration and power shifting from periphery (nation states) to centre (the EU itself). Partly that's due to mechanical necessity (with so many members now vetoes everywhere would make it unworkable) but also down to ideology, trying to manufacture a nation called Europe.
It'd also be quite perverse, given the UK would've really liked the idea of a looser membership.
But losing the UK from their orbit was a massive kick in the nuts to the idea that it is only ever closer union. It is possible they could make the same mistake they made with the UK. But I suspect if confronted with "associate membership - or we're off", they'd fold.
Comments
https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/scotlands-ambulance-crisis-arose-while-snp-governments-attention-was-elsewhere-alex-cole-hamilton-msp-3390658
Except: unions fulfil a useful role. True, from my perspective they often get it wrong (*), but all too often the working man needs a representative. They can do this better if they have a powerful a voice. Traditionally that voice has been with Labour, but what's the use of that if Labour are often not in power?
IMV, a UK without unions would become a worse place than one that has them.
But ideally, government, employers and unions would work harmoniously together. It sometimes even happens...
(*) Or, at least, we hear the stories of when they do stupid things, not the times they get it right.
The issue is that too many of the trade unions have become personal fiefdoms of chiefs who think the role of the union is political twattery. It is this part that Labour should remove - sever the formal union link.
https://twitter.com/jlmelenchon/status/1440567658567520257
Michel Barnier says there will be other Brexits unless the supremacy of EU law is reversed in some areas.
https://twitter.com/michelbarnier/status/1440263614569451528
My dad bought a new Jaguar XJ6 (Gunmetal Metallic, black interior) in 1988. By Xmas '89 it had significant rust on both A pillars. The dealer actually said, "They all do that" with a straight face. I topped it out at 125mph on my 21st birthday.
Those of us in favour of closer trade ties between the two countries understand that these things take time to do properly, and in the case of the US are probably best done by a number of sectoral agreements, such as on financial services or cars, rather than an overarching deal which would be dominated by agricultural interests.
It is labour v conservative v plaid
So the options were a minority Tory government with or without C&S from the LibDems, or the coalition. The latter still feels like the best option - I just don't understand how Clegg got in so deep as end up backing the very worst things (such as the Lansley NHS destruction) and then stuck it out so long that he dragged the party into the abyss.
'Environment Secretary George Eustice told the BBC that the deal with CF Industries "will be not a loan, it will be a payment to underwrite some of their fixed costs".'
Numpty. It is their increase in variable costs that has caused them to shut down, not their fixed costs. I hope he wasn't the one to agree the deal.
A united Germany now runs Europe, with France as a lesser partner. French politics has never really come to terms with this changed circumstance.
Such denials can last for a certain time - but it is like a bill. Eventually it will have to be paid. What form the changes will take is still up in the air....
https://youtu.be/8DnQcO17uYY
Now clearly she was a feminist campaigner, but the punishment certainly doesnt appear to match the crime from what we have heard.
But if I was a teacher, I'd join one immediately.
Sadly no-one on the LibDem side of the Coalition had the nous to realise what Lansley was doing.
https://twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1440575803339653126?s=20
I am not asking that as a jibe, I am seriously interested. You are right, this is shocking but, if I remember correctly, the Belorussians were deliberately letting refugees to go up to the border of Poland and Lithuania with the express intent of exacerbating migrant flows into the EU. Migrants were happy to go along with it as they saw a route into the EU. So, if Poland had taken them, it would have encouraged more. If you want to take a very hard headed view, the only way Poland could have discouraged this was to stop all migrants entering, even if the latter paid the ultimate price.
It also comes back to a wider point, namely how many of the migrants are genuine refugees and how many are economic migrants looking for a better life? I think many people would be happy to accept genuine refugees. The problem is that we all know the pro-migrant organisations would let in everyone without checks or balances. The general population does not trust the Left on this.
Meanwhile in the real world, the issue needs debate and for a balance to be found.
(Dancing)
https://twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1440587104069709838?s=20
Although being serious there's no evidence from abroad that parties on the left can't raise revenues independently without a reliance on organised labour. Quite the opposite in fact. Our spending limits are already massively lower than across the Pond but its worth noting that in 2008 Barack Obama raised and spent literally more than double what John McCain did. That wasn't through a 'political levy' on union fees.
Similarly Hillary Clinton raised and spent nearly double what Donald Trump did in 2016: https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/graphics/2016-presidential-campaign-fundraising/
There's no reason that a mass membership party with lots of people paying a small amount each can't raise more money than any alternatives, that's how Obama did it in 2008. But a reliance on bloc levies crowds out attempts to connect with people, which then distorts politics against connecting with people - which is a bad idea. Because connecting with people to get a donation, and connecting with people to get a vote, are similar concepts.
I don't think it's necessarily wrong for a party to ban members for expressing opinions. There have to be boundaries to what publicly stated beliefs are and aren't compatible with party membership. This is, after all, the process Labour is going through with anti-semitism. But it does concern me that the apparent belief that a woman is an adult human female is judged to be beyond the pale for Britain's third largest party.
Liberal Democrats nearly wiped out in Wales after losing only ...
https://www.itv.com › news › wales › 2021-05-07 › lib...
Instead of sending a bloc grant to Labour, they could use that money to provide services or functions for their members or even to campaign directly for *insert policies they care about here*
National Highways granted an injunction against the motorway demonstrators meaning they could be imprisoned
The EU has always been about ever greater integration and power shifting from periphery (nation states) to centre (the EU itself). Partly that's due to mechanical necessity (with so many members now vetoes everywhere would make it unworkable) but also down to ideology, trying to manufacture a nation called Europe.
It'd also be quite perverse, given the UK would've really liked the idea of a looser membership.
Of course, it makes objective sense, but that's always a secondary consideration where the EU is concerned.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58643647
Is that the same Pret A Manger who we were told in 2017 couldn't survive Brexit because it is so dependent upon low paid immigrant workers ?
The same low paid immigrant workers we're told who have all left the UK ?
Now they only have a single vote and the justification above that stopped the EU trying to grab the seat has disappeared alongside Brexit.
I suspect we will see continual comments about this throughout the next year as it is definitely worth some votes for French Presidential candidates.
They would not have backed Corbyn they wlll back Starmer
@susannareid100 and Journalist @DawnNeesom question why he hasn't insulated his own home but is putting his own life and others lives at risk by protesting.
https://twitter.com/GMB/status/1440581477968666632?s=20
Liam Norton from Insulate Britain walks away from the debate after clashing with
@richardm56 over Insulate Britain's motorway protests.
http://daytimelink.itv.com/GMB
https://twitter.com/GMB/status/1440582975511412738?s=20
"Pret to hire 3,000 staff after cutting same number in 2020"
So, a fairly meaningless (although welcome) bounce back to business as usual after a mass pandemic cull, due to the evaporation of custom in 2020?
It's not died due to Brexit, true, but this is not some growth story, just a reversal of the pandemic effects. That, in itself, is of course welcome.
It’s sad; I think it used to be their strongest region.
is a mistake to count on the gratitude of a nation, especially France.
several years ago I used to have the chicken caesar and bacon baguette for lunch every day. Then I went away for a couple of weeks, came back and bought the same again. I could hardly eat it as it tasted as though it had been marinated in salt.
Haven't had one since - there is a *lot* of salt in a lot of the food we buy.
Hiring new workers? Fantastic.
http://www.electionpolling.co.uk/battleground/targets/liberal-democrat
It turned out to be a disaster, but I’m not sure why.
Ofc I get the same feeling about BoJo so it's not as if I have an especially fine tuned political antenna.
Is NZ seeking to find some kind of Australia membership?
Is Canada seeking to find some kind of USA membership?
Why can't the objective of our policy be to become friendly neighbours of the EU instead?