Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » On the day the Premiership returns the big political story is

12346»

Comments

  • FF43FF43 Posts: 17,884
    Pulpstar said:

    Starmer didn't address the question because it's Prime Ministers Questions, not LOTO questions. Starmer asks the questions, Johnson evades them.
    Get that, but Starmer could have said something along the lines of, "Of course I support the safe return of children, once your government has worked out a policy where parents and teachers feel it's safe for their children to return. Now if you want swap places so you get to ask questions of me, I am happy to do so ..."
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,235



    - Using final year students (nurses and doctors) as staff on an emergency basis vs using them on a regular basis would open up issues of liability & standards.

    - Assuming that such emergency staff would be suitable for general hospital work may not be correct.

    Is the second one really true ? Sounds more like a giant box ticking problem than anything else to me.
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826

    But PBs Boris fan boys clearly don't understand that.
    Nor Cameron's fans.
    Nor Blair's fans.

    The PM turning the questioning on the LOTO has gone on for as long as I've been following politics. You've been following politics longer than I have, do you know who started that? Because it certainly isn't new to Boris.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 18,630

    PMQs is question to the PM not LOTO. Johnson's little tactic should have been stopped by the Speaker.

    He's hardly the first PM to do this. Besides - the PM asking a question seems to fall in to Prime Minister's Questions...
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 22,924

    PMQs is question to the PM not LOTO. Johnson's little tactic should have been stopped by the Speaker.

    Bercow was a much better speaker than Hoyle IMO
  • contrariancontrarian Posts: 5,818

    Maybe Beth Rigby is in that category then as even she asked why Starmer is against the return of schools
    Seema Malhotra getting into a bit of a tangle on labour schools policy with the BBC.

  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,103

    Not against a higher means tested pension at all. The cohort is the richest in society, that is very clear.
    LOL, maybe a handful are , lots have only state pension and so in poverty, what a selfish arsehole, typical greedy Tory.
  • BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 9,079

    The clip played will be Starmer offering to take over from Johnson.

    Yes that was entertaining and done with good humour.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 24,280

    To be clear, if the UK had kept the previous system brought in by Brown, that is the higher of 2.5% or RPI only, the GDP share of pensioners would have gone up more. Over the past decadee, the switch to CPI in 2011 has devalued the state pension more than the earnings link has added to it.

    I don't deny the fact that todays pensioners have higher incomes than their predecessors, relative to the population in general. Two factors will I think contribute to that:
    1. Significant additional benefits outside of the main state pension, such as pension credits and the winter fuel allowance.
    2. Pensioners retiring today are more likely than their predecessors to have a private pension rather being reliant mainly on the state pension. Today's private pension scheme benefits were in the main accrued before schemes were revised to make them less generous, so the squeeze on private pension schemes of the last decade or so won't yet have had much effect on current pensioners.
    Good points, additionally hundreds of billions of state aid through QE has driven up asset prices which inevitably benefits pensioners at the same time as making life harder for younger workers.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 65,030
    kinabalu said:

    A technical point of order but intended more for future reference -

    If you were to now stick for many months and possibly years at "I'm very much a critic of Boris" without floating any new actual criticism, there would come a point where people would become skeptical of the phrase.

    Offered in my usual warm and constructive spirit.
    Follow my posts and you will see plenty of criticism not least yesterday before the u turn following Marcus's fantastic intervention
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,103

    We pay tax on those private pensions though. Am about to do my Annual Return.

    Yes I know I don't have to until later in the year, but I'd rather get it dealt with. My bank will pay such payments when I tell them to!
    OKC, the Tories on here would rather see you shot and your money divvied up between them.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,538
    Scott_xP said:
    Doesn't packaged effectively mean slaughtered? Or can you import meat - presumably in some form of packaging - and then repackage it in Angus or wherever?
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 40,017
    If schools are safe, why has the government failed to reopen them?
  • BromBrom Posts: 3,760
    Scott_xP said:

    This is the obvious answer to whether the schools are safe...

    https://twitter.com/janisfrayer/status/1272915507222425601

    Not an answer in any way. No one knows what is truly happening in China. We should take our lead from the open and free countries and science. Clearly the schools should be open.
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 40,017
    FF43 said:

    Get that, but Starmer could have said something along the lines of, "Of course I support the safe return of children, once your government has worked out a policy where parents and teachers feel it's safe for their children to return. Now if you want swap places so you get to ask questions of me, I am happy to do so ..."

    Yep - or even easier: "I don't know Prime Minister, you tell me. You are the one who has failed to reopen them."

  • BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 9,079

    If schools are safe, why has the government failed to reopen them?

    Perhaps they think they need the LOTO's permission?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,782

    If schools are safe, why has the government failed to reopen them?

    They are rhetorically safe, as far as the PM is concerned, but not demonstrably so under the government's own current guidelines.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 24,280
    malcolmg said:

    LOL, maybe a handful are , lots have only state pension and so in poverty, what a selfish arsehole, typical greedy Tory.
    One week you moan Im a radical leftist, the next week its Im a greedy Tory. As said downthread no problem whatsoever with higher means tested pensions or spending on care instead, why do the many well off pensioners get rises faster than workers?
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 31,327


    Grammatically, 'Prime Minister's Questions' is wonderfully ambiguous. It all depends on whether one interprets 'Prime Minister's' as an objective or a subjective genitive. As a Brackenbury Scholar, Boris has as much right as anyone to an opinion on the subject... :wink:
    Clutching at straws, if it wasn't for the wink.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 65,030
    Sky 1.00pm news not a good look for Starmer

    Beth Rigby - Boris is 'good at raw politics'
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,103
    yes, just don't answer the questions , instead ask him one, brilliant strategy.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,816
    edited June 2020

    Follow my posts and you will see plenty of criticism not least yesterday before the u turn following Marcus's fantastic intervention
    Well I DO follow your posts. And I did indeed see that. All in order at the moment.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 31,327
    Brom said:

    By the way its the Premier League not the Premiership - the latter is in Scotland.

    Good to see Boris having the measure of Mr Forensic this time.
    If Starmer fails to get a knockout within six questions PB Tories give a points win for Johnson. Predictable!

    I love how Starmer being 'forensic' is framed as a negative.
  • BluestBlueBluestBlue Posts: 4,556

    Sky 1.00pm news not a good look for Starmer

    Beth Rigby - Boris is 'good at raw politics'

    The 'Corbynite fishwife' (© Ave_It) is praising Boris?

    Excellent.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,816

    He's hardly the first PM to do this. Besides - the PM asking a question seems to fall in to Prime Minister's Questions...
    I remember the glory days of every question on health from a Labour LOTO being answered with "what about Wales?" and the considered reply to any and every question on anything to do with anything being "you can't have great public services without a strong economy and the party opposite would ruin ours."

    Perhaps they are coming back.
  • BromBrom Posts: 3,760
    Blimey even Boris hating Piers Moron said the PM beat Starmer at PMQs. Maybe the Guardian will be saying Starmer has lost it too!
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,795

    If Starmer fails to get a knockout within six questions PB Tories give a points win for Johnson. Predictable!

    I love how Starmer being 'forensic' is framed as a negative.
    It's largely pointless reading the comments on here unless you know which posters' reviews to filter out.

    It leaves about three of four posters that are worth a look, e.g. @DavidL and the small coterie of PBers who are Tories but not blinded by the unthinking partisanship of the PB Tory dullards.
  • Stark_DawningStark_Dawning Posts: 9,984
    Didn't see PMQs. Sounds like Boris played an absolute stormer and whupped Sir Keir's ass out of town.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    edited June 2020

    It's largely pointless reading the comments on here unless you know which posters' reviews to filter out.

    It leaves about three of four posters that are worth a look, e.g. @DavidL and the small coterie of PBers who are Tories but not blinded by the unthinking partisanship of the PB Tory dullards.
    If you look downthread I initially gave it to SKS. PB is down to about its last two blind Johnson loyalists so it's tiresome to tar half the site with the same brush

    And this thread has frittered away its 6th and final question
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 22,100
    Quite content with Starmer track record of holding the government to account so far.

    The fact that Tories prefer to deflect attention from the govt and want to move focus on the opposition says more about the weakness of their position than it does about Starmer.

    It's almost is they don't really want to govern at all.
  • FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 10,022
    I avoid PMQs but looking at the comments did Boris have anything useful to say other than throwing back the schools line at Starmer.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 55,191

    If schools are safe, why has the government failed to reopen them?

    Its up to local councils and the various other bodies invested and the result has been patchy and disappointing. Williamson should be getting twitchy about his position. Much more leadership is required.

    In Scotland East Renfrew managed to open some schools but no other public authority even tried. East Renfrew are the only education authority who seem to take education seriously. They get excellent results.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 51,278
    Barnesian said:

    Perhaps they think they need the LOTO's permission?
    Or maybe Harry Kane should give us a direction...
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 29,852
    Brom said:

    Clearly the schools should be open.

    Interesting. If its so clear then why the instructions from government to schools not to reopen? A couple of school years doing a few days a week is not the schools being open. And thats all they are allowed to do.

  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    Cyclefree said:

    Thanks. She does not pay business rates anyway because of rural business and small business relief. This was in place before the virus struck so this does not provide additional help though I accept that it will help others.

    Look this is a business which made profits in its first year from a standing start, which created 4 additional jobs and increased turnover by 62% from the previous owner/manager.

    Since March there has been a 76% drop in turnover. At 24% of previous turnover she is losing money. That cannot continue indefinitely. She is running a business not a charity. If she can reopen and do business as normal she feels that she can make it. Just.

    But she does not know when, she does not know the conditions of reopening - there is talk of removing the 2 metre rule (true? When? Sustainable?) - and she has no idea whether such reopening will be temporary or not.

    She faces increased costs and withdrawal of furlough and a very very curtailed summer season. The government cannot magic all this away.

    But what it can do what is adapt its support programme for the particular issues which face socially undistanceable businesses like hers (and others) which are heavily reliant on seasonal trade. Instead it is ignoring this, adopting a one size fits all policy and giving out contradictory and confusing messages.
    I know this will be very cold comfort but I'm impressed she's kept as much as 24% of her turnover. That's better than a lot have done I'm sure!

    I agree 100% this can't continue forever but there is an element that it is what it is at the minute. The priority has to be getting things back to normal as fast as reasonably possible, so if the decision on whether its safe to open can only be made on 1 July then an ability to open from 4 July is better than announcing you can open but only from 1 August.

    Even if it takes a fortnight to get operations back up to normal, better to get back to normal as fast as you're able to do so rather than set on Whitehall's timeline on what is reasonable.

    I agree completely that one size fits all is awful. That is why IMO the government needs to do as little as possible other than provide support and get out of the way. Your daughter knows better her business than any of us do, or anyone from Whitehall. The government needs to be offering support to your daughter not telling her what to do.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    NEWF RED
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,816
    edited June 2020

    Alot of this stuff is psychological.

    In the case of my relative who ditched his complex tax status when rates went to 40% - "If I keep less than half my money that feels really unfair."
    That was my point. I think it is psychological. 48% tax versus 52% tax is not objectively enormously different (unlike, say, in share ownership or in EU referendums) but it feels that way to many people.

    This does not make the objection to higher top rate tax less difficult to navigate. The opposite if anything. Feelings tend to be stronger than thoughts. Brexit demonstrates that very well.
  • sladeslade Posts: 2,163
    Barnesian said:

    I get £169 a week state pension (so it's more than £134.25). I retired very early (25 years ago) so the full pension is probably more than £169 as I probably didn't pay enough years NI. Can't remember.
    I get £167.66. The basic pension of 134.25, 23.78 for pre 97 additional pension less contracted out deduction, 1.85 post 1997 additional state pension, and 7.78 graduated retirement benefit. I'm glad HMRC have good records!
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 55,191
    Pulpstar said:
    That's hilarious and touching.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,816
    Dura_Ace said:

    I do like Rayner. You can just tell she despises tories to the very core of her being.
    Yes. And she shares a flat with Long Bailey. Bet they have a curry and a few bevvies sometimes and put the world to rights. I like to think so anyway.
  • FishingFishing Posts: 5,511
    malcolmg said:

    yes, just don't answer the questions , instead ask him one, brilliant strategy.
    Reminds me of the Yes Minister quote:

    Hacker: Opposition is about asking difficult questions.
    Sir Humphrey: And government is about not answering them.
  • MangoMango Posts: 1,031



    I am probably overwhelmed by PB Tory propaganda, as I have come to the conclusion, the country may be on its knees from government incompetence by the next GE,, but the Tories might still win.

    I never assume anything else.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 34,578
    malcolmg said:

    OKC, the Tories on here would rather see you shot and your money divvied up between them.
    Especially as I've never voted Tory in my life!
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 34,578
    I've just received my fortnightly Private Eye. I regret to report that it is considerably less than impressed with both the Governments and the Post Office's response to the recent Parliamentary exposure of the Post Offices disgusting treatment of (apparently) over 1000 sub-postmaster, quoting an MP with a longstanding interest in the case as saying that it is 'totally inappropriate that the PO have appointed the firm it has to investigate the matter.
This discussion has been closed.