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Known unknowns. The General Election 2023/4 – politicalbetting.com

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  • "what justification"?

    Lets see where you are when your schools go back - the current prolonged spike that won't drop back to baseline can go surging off again. Lets see where we all are when the latest variant tears through us again. Lets see where we are when the "perhaps we need a booster for pensioners" becomes another emergency get needles in 40m arms.

    Things are a lot better than they were a year ago. We won't face the same winter crisis as last winter. But the idea that it is over is wishful thinking. We all wish it was over. But it isn't.
    You're right lets see where we are.

    And if where we are is in a position where restrictions are to be brought back in, lets have that debated in Parliament and a new Act passed if need be.

    The government should be stripped of its powers to rule by diktat without reference to Parliament.
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 14,236
    Another UU could be another foreign policy or security fiasco; the type of situation which the Johnson ministry has recently and vividly demonstrated their incompetence. Possible scenarios:

    Falklands 2.0. If occupied, they are much, much harder to retake now than in the 80s due to a much smaller RN, what ships and systems there have a greater logistical footprint and there are 2,600/1,600m runways at MPA.

    Russian shittery in the Baltics. Would NATO (ie the US) do anything? If not what does Johnson do?

    Chinese takeover of Taiwan. This is a racing certainty by 2030 and probably doesn't shift many votes but would further expose 'Global Britain' as the hollow marketing statement it is.

    Domestic terrorism spectacular. This could be bad if it's perpetrated by somebody from among the throng that the Pritster has conspicuously failed to stop crossing the Channel.
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 5,398
    MaxPB said:

    Fair share, don't make me laugh. You al got cheap houses, grants to go to university, inexpensive public transport, transferable tax allowances and a while bunch of other stuff people my age have has snatched away from us to pay ever more of the nation income to your generation. You didn't save enough and now we're all paying the price, whether it's young people pissing their money away in rent or people of working age having to pay more tax.

    I'll vote for any party that shits on retirees. Even Labour. It's time that you all started paying your way. Tax the shit out of rental income as well. 110% levy on rental income profits, NI on pension income, defined benefit pension income surcharge, higher income tax rates for wealthy pensioners earning £50k+, scrap the triple lock, scrap the free bus pass, scrap free prescriptions.

    No new tax rises for working age people. Full fucking stop.
    This is really a variant of trickle down economics. It is a policy that encourages stable families. Retirees pass down wealth to the next generation.

    The next generation can build up wealth by adopting tax efficient strategies, the most obvious one being to become self employed or a company director as soon as possible in your career. Buy a house with a windfall from your parents.

    The other element of this policy is to support people getting in to the system, eg by building more homes, making them affordable, and creating incentives to buy them with little capital outlay.

    And the same thing can basically be done over and over again.

    Working age people will not actually rebel against this in large numbers against the conservative party, because they see that they can basically benefit from the system. Many do, I see this over and over again. And it puts labour in the difficult position of having to propose benefit cuts if they are going to reduce national insurance for working age people, which of course they won't do.

    I am not saying that this is a good system in any way, but it has sound political logic behind it. The tories also know that, following the dementia tax issues, there basically is no alternative for them.

    Sometimes life is unfair. Do you really think that electing a labour government would work in your interest?
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    edited September 2021

    It's a myth that income tax rates are 0/20/40/45 for most people.

    Once you include NI the current tax rates are (roughly):

    For employed earners under 65: 0/32/42/47
    For self-employed under 65: 0/29/42/47
    For unearned income, or for those over 65: 0/20/40/45
    For the employed you should also include Employers NI too, since salary negotiations take Employers NI into account too.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,794
    Stocky said:

    Yes quite. But I thought you were against tax rises Max?
    On working age people.
  • It was your straw man, I was just challenging you to defend it with a bet.

    Fair play if you don't though, its not for everyone. I can respect that.

    But I expect your straw man will be proven wrong. The UK in 2024 won't be like the UK in 2010, because the Tories haven't messed up the economy like Labour did.
    In the 00s there was a mass hosing of money into infrastructure and services to repair the damage of the 80s and 90s. You can argue about the merits of whether that money should have been spent or not, but it was spent on something worthwhile. Note that at the time your party was pledged to match every pound of spend. So don't give me this "Labour deficit" when the Tories proposed to spend the same AND give tax cuts on top.

    What are we hosing money on now? It isn't infrastructure (with the exception of HS2). It isn't better health care or education - both are sliding backwards. Its exactly the kind of spending that the right would howl in anguish about had they not been expelled from the Tory party by Worzel for the crime of having a brain.
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    rcs1000 said:

    Wait:

    I thought we were getting Kylie.

    :disappointed:
    @ydoethur intervened and we got some cricketer instead but he’s been held up in quarantine
  • tlg86 said:

    Okay, can you think of something that's happened in politics that was completely unimaginable before it happened?

    John Prescott's affair is the only thing that comes to mind.
    9/11
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 35,184
    tlg86 said:

    Okay, can you think of something that's happened in politics that was completely unimaginable before it happened?

    John Prescott's affair is the only thing that comes to mind.
    John Major & Edwina Curry?

    Donald Trump becoming POTUS?

    Not in politics but: the nature of the 9/11 attack?
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    IshmaelZ said:

    Natalie.

    "Torn" is a great song.
    Yes. But Liam Fox. Really, Natalie?
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 35,184

    For the employed you should also include Employers NI too, since salary negotiations take Employers NI into account too.
    Yes good point.
  • eekeek Posts: 29,559

    The sharp-elbowed middle class offspring of middle class pensioners will kick up a fuss about standards of provision.

    When it is just the forelock-tugging classes relying on the state, this doesn't happen.
    And those sharp elbowed people will be told to f*** off back to private care providers - as this is all you can get.

    Public Sector Social care is already on it's last legs - there really is zero chance of any middle class pensioners fixing things in the way you hope - as the only solution will be to raise yet more money from tax (think 2-3% on NI rather than 1%) to pay for the gold plated demands of those sharp elbowed middle class pensioners.
  • MaxPB said:

    Fair share, don't make me laugh. You al got cheap houses, grants to go to university, inexpensive public transport, transferable tax allowances and a while bunch of other stuff people my age have has snatched away from us to pay ever more of the nation income to your generation. You didn't save enough and now we're all paying the price, whether it's young people pissing their money away in rent or people of working age having to pay more tax.

    I'll vote for any party that shits on retirees. Even Labour. It's time that you all started paying your way. Tax the shit out of rental income as well. 110% levy on rental income profits, NI on pension income, defined benefit pension income surcharge, higher income tax rates for wealthy pensioners earning £50k+, scrap the triple lock, scrap the free bus pass, scrap free prescriptions.

    No new tax rises for working age people. Full fucking stop.
    LOL 'cheap houses'. I started out paying 15% interest on my first mortgage. I had to work * hard to get that house and then move up another much larger one which I had fully paid off by age 40.

    I don't want to go down a generational divide but it strikes me that too many of the younger generation want to whinge rather than work for it.

    👍

  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 35,184
    darkage said:

    This is really a variant of trickle down economics. It is a policy that encourages stable families. Retirees pass down wealth to the next generation.

    The next generation can build up wealth by adopting tax efficient strategies, the most obvious one being to become self employed or a company director as soon as possible in your career. Buy a house with a windfall from your parents.

    The other element of this policy is to support people getting in to the system, eg by building more homes, making them affordable, and creating incentives to buy them with little capital outlay.

    And the same thing can basically be done over and over again.

    Working age people will not actually rebel against this in large numbers against the conservative party, because they see that they can basically benefit from the system. Many do, I see this over and over again. And it puts labour in the difficult position of having to propose benefit cuts if they are going to reduce national insurance for working age people, which of course they won't do.

    I am not saying that this is a good system in any way, but it has sound political logic behind it. The tories also know that, following the dementia tax issues, there basically is no alternative for them.

    Sometimes life is unfair. Do you really think that electing a labour government would work in your interest?
    Re your last question. Do you only ever vote to get a government that is in your own interest? I don't.
  • eekeek Posts: 29,559

    Almost every day we've got people on here saying its troubling if HGV drivers etc get pay rises.
    That isn't wage inflation, that's paying people the current market rate for their skill set.
  • You're right lets see where we are.

    And if where we are is in a position where restrictions are to be brought back in, lets have that debated in Parliament and a new Act passed if need be.

    The government should be stripped of its powers to rule by diktat without reference to Parliament.
    I wholeheartedly agree. Emergency powers that need to be rolled into a 3rd calendar year are no longer emergency powers.
  • John Major & Edwina Curry?

    Donald Trump becoming POTUS?

    Not in politics but: the nature of the 9/11 attack?
    President Trump was sadly not unpredictable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXcYMvzZ7jk

    9/11 surely is in the sphere of politics. It utterly transformed politics and transformed politics for decades to come.
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758

    Indeed - I have just described him as a "warmongering lunatic". But the knowns bit was perfect. For those unfamiliar:

    Known knowns: things we know we know
    Unknown knowns: things we don't know we know
    Knowns unknowns: things we know we don't know
    Unknown unknowns: things we don't know we don't know
    I always though unknown known was the most intriguing category
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,504

    9/11
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Rescorla
  • John Major & Edwina Curry?

    Donald Trump becoming POTUS?

    Not in politics but: the nature of the 9/11 attack?
    In what way was the 9/11 attack completely unimaginable before it happened? As National Security Adviser Condi Rice had ti sheepishly tell the 9/11 committee they *explicitly* knew the risk of such an attack before it happened.

    Perhaps one day we will find out what really happened in the build up to and on the day of 9/11. Planes hit the WTC. How, why, and what caused the towers to collapse is still something of a fairy story when you read the official report.
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 5,398
    edited September 2021

    Re your last question. Do you only ever vote to get a government that is in your own interest? I don't.
    'Interest' goes beyond financial considerations. On a financial level, I have always benefitted personally from conservative party policies, but until very recently would not contemplate voting for them due to the fact that they pursue other policies that I disagree with, to the point where they are not in my interest.

    In MaxPB's case a labour led government or a rainbow coalition would probably mean more severe tax rises on working age people in order to spend money on a load of things he hates; for instance by subsidising woke degree courses, and many other things like that.

  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,617
    Talking about known unknowns, just noticed this (which could itself have political implications for an election):

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/sep/03/security-operation-for-queens-death-includes-social-media-blackouts

    'The UK government’s vast security operation to manage the immediate aftermath of the death of the Queen include official social media blackouts and a ban on retweets.

    The secret documents, codenamed Operation London Bridge and seen by Politico, reveal the scale of the plans for the funeral and government anxieties about whether the UK has the resources to execute them.

    The social media strategy plays a prominent role, including plans to change the royal family’s website to a black holding page with a short statement confirming the Queen’s death, while the gov.uk website and all governmental social media pages will display a black banner. Non-urgent content will not be published and retweets will be banned unless cleared by the government’s head of communications. [...]

    The plans for Operation London Bridge and Operation Spring Tide, which sets out how Charles will accede to the throne, contain granular detail such as the potential for public anger if Downing Street cannot lower its flags to half-mast within 10 minutes of the announcement since there is no “flag officer”.

    The documents also showed concerns from the Foreign Office over how to arrange entry for significant numbers of tourists, from the Home Office on how to handle potential terror alerts, and from the Department for Transport on overcrowding in the capital.'
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,030

    Except the people fretting about inflation are typically fretting about wage inflation.

    Wage inflation would be good for you and bad for those with savings and not earnings.
    And those on fixed earnings; those in weaker wage bargaining positions; emplyers etc.
    Point is inflation has unequal effects across the economy, and very high inflation causes large damage to those on the wrong end of it which is impossible for many to mitigate.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 35,184

    Either way, I expect the UK's 2022 deficit to be smaller than 2010 too. Again, despite Covid being a much bigger threat to both the economy and society in general.

    Because Labour screwed up which is why a toxic mammoth structural deficit was still there even after the financial crisis was over.
    Like Rochdale, I don't bet either. But feel free to give me a big "I told you so!" if you turn out to be right. (I don't think you will.)
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,617
    Carnyx said:

    Talking about known unknowns, just noticed this (which could itself have political implications for an election):

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/sep/03/security-operation-for-queens-death-includes-social-media-blackouts

    'The UK government’s vast security operation to manage the immediate aftermath of the death of the Queen include official social media blackouts and a ban on retweets.

    The secret documents, codenamed Operation London Bridge and seen by Politico, reveal the scale of the plans for the funeral and government anxieties about whether the UK has the resources to execute them.

    The social media strategy plays a prominent role, including plans to change the royal family’s website to a black holding page with a short statement confirming the Queen’s death, while the gov.uk website and all governmental social media pages will display a black banner. Non-urgent content will not be published and retweets will be banned unless cleared by the government’s head of communications. [...]

    The plans for Operation London Bridge and Operation Spring Tide, which sets out how Charles will accede to the throne, contain granular detail such as the potential for public anger if Downing Street cannot lower its flags to half-mast within 10 minutes of the announcement since there is no “flag officer”.

    The documents also showed concerns from the Foreign Office over how to arrange entry for significant numbers of tourists, from the Home Office on how to handle potential terror alerts, and from the Department for Transport on overcrowding in the capital.'

    More here (which confirms the social media accounts involved are government ones)

    https://www.politico.eu/article/queen-elizabeth-death-plan-britain-operation-london-bridge/

    'The Department for Transport has raised concerns that the number of people who may want to travel to London could cause major problems for the transport network, and lead to overcrowding in the capital.

    In a striking assessment of the scenes that could unfold, one memo warns of a worst-case scenario in which London literally becomes “full” for the first time ever as potentially hundreds of thousands of people try to make their way there — with accommodation, roads, public transport, food, policing, healthcare and basic services stretched to breaking point. Concerns have also been raised about a shortage of stewards for crowd control purposes.'
  • Like Rochdale, I don't bet either. But feel free to give me a big "I told you so!" if you turn out to be right. (I don't think you will.)
    We can have a non-cash gentleman's "I told you so!" bet then. 😉

    You can feel free to tell me "I told you so!" if I'm wrong.
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 14,236
    Carnyx said:

    Talking about known unknowns, just noticed this (which could itself have political implications for an election):

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/sep/03/security-operation-for-queens-death-includes-social-media-blackouts

    'The UK government’s vast security operation to manage the immediate aftermath of the death of the Queen include official social media blackouts and a ban on retweets.

    The secret documents, codenamed Operation London Bridge and seen by Politico, reveal the scale of the plans for the funeral and government anxieties about whether the UK has the resources to execute them.

    The social media strategy plays a prominent role, including plans to change the royal family’s website to a black holding page with a short statement confirming the Queen’s death, while the gov.uk website and all governmental social media pages will display a black banner. Non-urgent content will not be published and retweets will be banned unless cleared by the government’s head of communications. [...]

    The plans for Operation London Bridge and Operation Spring Tide, which sets out how Charles will accede to the throne, contain granular detail such as the potential for public anger if Downing Street cannot lower its flags to half-mast within 10 minutes of the announcement since there is no “flag officer”.

    The documents also showed concerns from the Foreign Office over how to arrange entry for significant numbers of tourists, from the Home Office on how to handle potential terror alerts, and from the Department for Transport on overcrowding in the capital.'

    Meanwhile on Completely Normal Island...
  • Mr. Thompson, lack of imagination on your part.

    You could paraphrase Palpatine: Everything has proceeded as I have foreseen... mwahahaha!

    Or go Shakespearian: Verily, events hath transpired in accordance with mine words.
  • StockyStocky Posts: 10,272

    Re your last question. Do you only ever vote to get a government that is in your own interest? I don't.
    Good for you. I don't either. But I'm afraid most do. Ideology gets a bad rap.
  • Regarding Labour's reckless economics of the 00s as contrasted by the sensible Tories.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/sep/03/conservatives.uk

    'George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, said that the 2% increases in the financial years 2008-09 and 2010-11 would still allow for lower taxes, as the economy was expected to grow faster than public spending.'

    "There will be real increases in spending on public services," Mr Osborne told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

    "When the government moves on to your territory, driven by the fiscal mess they have created, we should be happy to say, 'These are sensible spending plans, plans that we will adopt in government,'" he said.

    Hindsight is a wonderful thing. The economy was in a mess after the GFC and deficit spending. But as Osborne had tied himself to the same mast it is quite funny watching Tories trying to pretend that their party was against such things. They were not.
  • Off to see the Specials tonight in Bournemouth, a truly epic band!
  • Rather suggests many (except the elderly) don't know how it works:

    National insurance will be increased in order to fund social care reforms, it has been reported. Net support for this, by age group:

    18-24 year olds: +14
    25-49 year olds: +11
    50-64 year olds: +40
    65+ year olds: +71

    All Britons: +32


    https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1433719113168392192?s=20
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,232

    Off to see the Specials tonight in Bournemouth, a truly epic band!

    They sure are. Lucky you.

    Wonder if they will do a few Fun Boy Three tracks too.
  • Regarding Labour's reckless economics of the 00s as contrasted by the sensible Tories.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/sep/03/conservatives.uk

    'George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, said that the 2% increases in the financial years 2008-09 and 2010-11 would still allow for lower taxes, as the economy was expected to grow faster than public spending.'

    "There will be real increases in spending on public services," Mr Osborne told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

    "When the government moves on to your territory, driven by the fiscal mess they have created, we should be happy to say, 'These are sensible spending plans, plans that we will adopt in government,'" he said.

    Hindsight is a wonderful thing. The economy was in a mess after the GFC and deficit spending. But as Osborne had tied himself to the same mast it is quite funny watching Tories trying to pretend that their party was against such things. They were not.

    "When the government moves on to your territory, driven by the fiscal mess they have created, we should be happy to say, 'These are sensible spending plans, plans that we will adopt in government,'" he said.

    The Tories opposed at the time the creation of the fiscal mess Brown had created. There was a fiscal mess, as referred to, before the GFC. The financial crisis just meant it was too late to clean up Brown's mess via constraining spending growth to only moderate amounts.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 34,427
    Carnyx said:

    More here (which confirms the social media accounts involved are government ones)

    https://www.politico.eu/article/queen-elizabeth-death-plan-britain-operation-london-bridge/

    'The Department for Transport has raised concerns that the number of people who may want to travel to London could cause major problems for the transport network, and lead to overcrowding in the capital.

    In a striking assessment of the scenes that could unfold, one memo warns of a worst-case scenario in which London literally becomes “full” for the first time ever as potentially hundreds of thousands of people try to make their way there — with accommodation, roads, public transport, food, policing, healthcare and basic services stretched to breaking point. Concerns have also been raised about a shortage of stewards for crowd control purposes.'
    Charles III's (or George VII's) coronation could cause problems too. IIRC much public transport in (Central at least) London was stopped when our present Queen was crowned.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 14,728
    Good article.
    I don't think Boris needs to worry about being loathed by people who go to dinner parties. I'm not sure anyone in real life has been to a dinner party since about 1989.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,232

    Re your last question. Do you only ever vote to get a government that is in your own interest? I don't.
    I vote fo a govt that I think is in my own interest, that of the wider community and the nation.
  • eek said:

    And those sharp elbowed people will be told to f*** off back to private care providers - as this is all you can get.

    Public Sector Social care is already on it's last legs - there really is zero chance of any middle class pensioners fixing things in the way you hope - as the only solution will be to raise yet more money from tax (think 2-3% on NI rather than 1%) to pay for the gold plated demands of those sharp elbowed middle class pensioners.
    There's a story that Javid wanted 2% on NI.
  • There's a story that Javid wanted 2% on NI.
    1% on NI is 2% 😡👎
  • eek said:

    Do you seriously expect the next Scottish local elections to be another SNP landslide because #Freedom
    Freedom-inclined Scots are hardly going to peruse the council ballot paper and go “Oh, this time I think I’ll vote for one of the anti-freedom parties.”
  • Taz said:

    They sure are. Lucky you.

    Wonder if they will do a few Fun Boy Three tracks too.
    The played Lunatics last time I saw them, Terry even smiled!
  • Charles said:

    And entirely driven by politics. It’s a seriously good vaccine
    Political risks are present for all companies. Bit negligent to ignore them.
  • Rather suggests many (except the elderly) don't know how it works:

    National insurance will be increased in order to fund social care reforms, it has been reported. Net support for this, by age group:

    18-24 year olds: +14
    25-49 year olds: +11
    50-64 year olds: +40
    65+ year olds: +71

    All Britons: +32


    https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1433719113168392192?s=20

    I want to see the social care reforms brought in. People need to have certainty and we can all start planning around that.

    I would also like to see more of the burden shifted onto at the very least, high income pensioners, if not wealthy pensioners.

    HOWEVER the second part can happen next year. The year after. The last thing I want to see is a conceptual question of how we manage social care costs defeated by a practical question of exactly where that burden should lie. We adjust the overall burden of taxation every year in the budget.
  • eekeek Posts: 29,559

    There's a story that Javid wanted 2% on NI.
    Public Sector Social care is currently woefully underfunded - and if you think the situation with Lorry Drivers is bad, you've seen nothing yet.

    I suspect 2% wouldn't actually be enough to fix the problem as payments need to be increased by 25% or so just to keep things ticking over - see my example from Cornwall below where the council is trying to avoid paying for travel time because they don't have the cash to do so (even though they are legally let alone morally supposed to).
  • FossFoss Posts: 1,352
    tlg86 said:

    Okay, can you think of something that's happened in politics that was completely unimaginable before it happened?

    John Prescott's affair is the only thing that comes to mind.
    Harold Holt disappearing into the ocean?
  • eekeek Posts: 29,559
    Taz said:

    I vote fo a govt that I think is in my own interest, that of the wider community and the nation.
    That's impossible - you can't vote for all three of those items, at best you prioritise them as your self interest may not that of the wider community in the short let alone longer term and pick the party that best matches your priorities.
  • AlistairMAlistairM Posts: 2,005

    LOL 'cheap houses'. I started out paying 15% interest on my first mortgage. I had to work * hard to get that house and then move up another much larger one which I had fully paid off by age 40.

    I don't want to go down a generational divide but it strikes me that too many of the younger generation want to whinge rather than work for it.

    👍

    The chart below shows another issue. If you have a 15% mortgage but the house price is a low multiple of your salary then it is much easier to repay. Right now the average house price is over 8x the average salary. For most of the 20th Century it was below 5x.

    I'm sure you did work hard to pay off your mortgage but I suspect the deposit required was much lower along with the total amount to repay (compared to average salary).

    If interest rates do go up at some point then there will be a very large number of people who will no longer be able to afford their mortgage payments. For the last 15 years everyone has been used to very low interest rates. Personally, I have 17 years left on my mortgage but I am trying to overpay in order to be able to pay it off in about 7 years time when I am 50.


  • Cookie said:

    Good article.
    I don't think Boris needs to worry about being loathed by people who go to dinner parties. I'm not sure anyone in real life has been to a dinner party since about 1989.

    No wonder the country has gone to the dogs.
  • Has HYUFD really been banned? Wow!

    Actually, the most hilarious aspect to his recent behaviour was that ever since OGH and TSE "volunteered" him a Democrat Donkey avatar in the run-up to November's US election, he couldn't be arsed to change it! :lol:
  • eekeek Posts: 29,559

    "When the government moves on to your territory, driven by the fiscal mess they have created, we should be happy to say, 'These are sensible spending plans, plans that we will adopt in government,'" he said.

    The Tories opposed at the time the creation of the fiscal mess Brown had created. There was a fiscal mess, as referred to, before the GFC. The financial crisis just meant it was too late to clean up Brown's mess via constraining spending growth to only moderate amounts.
    If this Government had at any time actually fixed the fiscal mess that Brown created we wouldn't be in our current circumstances.

    The reality is that the Government since 2010 has merely pretend to fix the issues while in reality hoping people didn't notice how half baked their solutions were.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,550
    Cookie said:

    Good article.
    I don't think Boris needs to worry about being loathed by people who go to dinner parties. I'm not sure anyone in real life has been to a dinner party since about 1989.

    Wrong. I went to one last Saturday. But not massively wrong since it was indeed the first time since 1989. And not much had changed. House prices, school fees, holidays, the impossibility of Labour ever winning another election.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 12,399

    I respect your personal taste but...

    I used to think ABBA were totally naff back in the day. But now when I hear their old songs I can't help singing along. They are very well crafted pop songs.
    They may be well crafted, but I detest every single one of them.

    And with regard to Mamma Mia the film, I was forced to watch it and almost had a fatal attack of cringe.

    The idea of going to the musical just fills me with dread.
  • "When the government moves on to your territory, driven by the fiscal mess they have created, we should be happy to say, 'These are sensible spending plans, plans that we will adopt in government,'" he said.

    The Tories opposed at the time the creation of the fiscal mess Brown had created. There was a fiscal mess, as referred to, before the GFC. The financial crisis just meant it was too late to clean up Brown's mess via constraining spending growth to only moderate amounts.
    But they supported the policies after that - the deficit spending you are so agitated about. This didn't stop in 2007, far from it. Cuts came from 2009 onwards, back in 2007 when Osbrown was speaking the bubble was inflated to crazy proportions, and George wanted to inflate it even harder to pay both for every pound of deficit spending and give people a tax cut.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,550
    edited September 2021

    Re your last question. Do you only ever vote to get a government that is in your own interest? I don't.
    A Labour government that worked in my financial interest would be an utter disgrace.
  • FishingFishing Posts: 5,464

    I wholeheartedly agree. Emergency powers that need to be rolled into a 3rd calendar year are no longer emergency powers.
    Our dismal failure of an Opposition will just nod it through though.
  • kjh said:

    They may be well crafted, but I detest every single one of them.

    And with regard to Mamma Mia the film, I was forced to watch it and almost had a fatal attack of cringe.

    The idea of going to the musical just fills me with dread.
    My wife and daughter are Mamma Mia addicts. I’ve been forced to watch both films umpteen times, and I think our daughter saw the musical about twenty times when she lived in London.

    I have been battered into submission. I think even I am starting to fancy Colin Firth a bit. Stockholm syndrome.
  • eek said:

    Public Sector Social care is currently woefully underfunded - and if you think the situation with Lorry Drivers is bad, you've seen nothing yet.

    I suspect 2% wouldn't actually be enough to fix the problem as payments need to be increased by 25% or so just to keep things ticking over - see my example from Cornwall below where the council is trying to avoid paying for travel time because they don't have the cash to do so (even though they are legally let alone morally supposed to).
    It is a source of wonder that our economy is so broken that we are spending ever greater amounts and yet have literally no money for basic services. As you say, councils are broke having had most of their government grants withdrawn, yet the government has no money either. It claims.

    You do have to ask into whose pockets is this flowing.
  • Has HYUFD really been banned? Wow!

    Actually, the most hilarious aspect to his recent behaviour was that ever since OGH and TSE "volunteered" him a Democrat Donkey avatar in the run-up to November's US election, he couldn't be arsed to change it! :lol:

    I thought it was because he’s an ass.
  • Mr. Dickson, fight back, man! Compel them to watch Die Hard until they can quote the script.

    Or go for The Princess Bride. It's inconceivable they won't like it.
  • Freedom-inclined Scots are hardly going to peruse the council ballot paper and go “Oh, this time I think I’ll vote for one of the anti-freedom parties.”
    That rather depends what is meant by freedom. Braveheart or day-to-day freedom to go about life unhindered by the state, because if it is the latter, any beef will be with the Scottish Government. I'm not sure how the blame game will play out between the SNP and their new Green partners.
  • Has HYUFD really been banned? Wow!

    Actually, the most hilarious aspect to his recent behaviour was that ever since OGH and TSE "volunteered" him a Democrat Donkey avatar in the run-up to November's US election, he couldn't be arsed to change it! :lol:

    "vote tactically for the Democrats as the best way to keep our beloved Republican party in power" said no-one in American politics.

    He is chair of Epping Tory Association and implores people to vote tactically against Tory candidates. Perhaps someone should volunteer him a Labour Rose when he is readmitted.
  • I thought it was because he’s an ass.
    On the subject of avatars, Stuart, why do you have a picture of Richard Leonard?
  • MaxPB said:

    Fair share, don't make me laugh. You al got cheap houses, grants to go to university, inexpensive public transport, transferable tax allowances and a while bunch of other stuff people my age have has snatched away from us to pay ever more of the nation income to your generation. You didn't save enough and now we're all paying the price, whether it's young people pissing their money away in rent or people of working age having to pay more tax.

    I'll vote for any party that shits on retirees. Even Labour. It's time that you all started paying your way. Tax the shit out of rental income as well. 110% levy on rental income profits, NI on pension income, defined benefit pension income surcharge, higher income tax rates for wealthy pensioners earning £50k+, scrap the triple lock, scrap the free bus pass, scrap free prescriptions.

    No new tax rises for working age people. Full fucking stop.
    That’s some manifesto! 😅
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,009
    kjh said:

    Now we are getting on to a serious subject. I don't get ABBA. I think they are rubbish. I detest every song.
    philistine
  • eekeek Posts: 29,559

    It is a source of wonder that our economy is so broken that we are spending ever greater amounts and yet have literally no money for basic services. As you say, councils are broke having had most of their government grants withdrawn, yet the government has no money either. It claims.

    You do have to ask into whose pockets is this flowing.
    Shall we just say that a lot of social workers spent from 2018-20 using dodgy loan schemes in an attempt to keep their income at 2017 levels.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 12,399

    My wife and daughter are Mamma Mia addicts. I’ve been forced to watch both films umpteen times, and I think our daughter saw the musical about twenty times when she lived in London.

    I have been battered into submission. I think even I am starting to fancy Colin Firth a bit. Stockholm syndrome.
    That really made me laugh.

    I'm starting to think this site is made up of a bunch of woosies.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,009
    MaxPB said:

    Won't ever vote Tory again if they introduce a tax on working age people to pay for old age care. Fuck that noise. The old wankers need to have their freebies cut, the triple lock scrapped and NI paid on pension income before working age people are hit, yet again. The Tory party is nothing more than a vote buying exercise for old c***s who want everything for free.

    It's the kind of shit that makes people my age want to leave the country. A proper brain drain tax.

    Sooner you are gone the better, don't hit your arse on the door on the way out. Not much of a brain drain , you are kidding yourself. Jog on and get the bags packed.
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,806

    Has HYUFD really been banned? Wow!

    HYUFD's been banned???

    He'll be mobilizing tanks to Bedford as we speak...
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 35,184
    malcolmg said:

    Sooner you are gone the better, don't hit your arse on the door on the way out. Not much of a brain drain , you are kidding yourself. Jog on and get the bags packed.
    Tbf he's always threatening to go ;-)
  • eek said:

    If this Government had at any time actually fixed the fiscal mess that Brown created we wouldn't be in our current circumstances.

    The reality is that the Government since 2010 has merely pretend to fix the issues while in reality hoping people didn't notice how half baked their solutions were.
    The big picture is what it's always been- some people can get something for nothing in the short term, but we can't all get something for nothing indefinitely. And if it looks like we are, that's because we haven't looked hard enough for the person getting the unpleasant end of the stick.
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,656
    MaxPB said:

    Won't ever vote Tory again if they introduce a tax on working age people to pay for old age care. Fuck that noise. The old wankers need to have their freebies cut, the triple lock scrapped and NI paid on pension income before working age people are hit, yet again. The Tory party is nothing more than a vote buying exercise for old c***s who want everything for free.

    It's the kind of shit that makes people my age want to leave the country. A proper brain drain tax.

    Why don’t you tell us what you REALLY feel about this proposal?
  • malcolmg said:

    Sooner you are gone the better, don't hit your arse on the door on the way out. Not much of a brain drain , you are kidding yourself. Jog on and get the bags packed.
    I get it when people say they want to leave the country because they disagree with the way it is going. I did, and am very happy in Scotland knowing that large chunks of the madness in England no longer affects me...
  • On the subject of avatars, Stuart, why do you have a picture of Richard Leonard?
    He’s my favourite politician.

    I used to have Iain Gray.

    I’m also a huge fan of Jackie Baillie, Johann Lamont, Jim Murphy, Wee Dougie and his big sister, Kez and the whole comic cavalcade of crackpot characters.

    I’m still a bit worried about Anas, but he’s slowly drifting into my favourites list too. You’ll know he’s arrived when his avatar gets an outing.
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,656
    malcolmg said:

    Sooner you are gone the better, don't hit your arse on the door on the way out. Not much of a brain drain , you are kidding yourself. Jog on and get the bags packed.
    Ayrshire’s answer to Dorothy Parker opines once more.
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,656
    GIN1138 said:

    HYUFD's been banned???

    He'll be mobilizing tanks to Bedford as we speak...
    Really?
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,009
    MaxPB said:

    Fair share, don't make me laugh. You al got cheap houses, grants to go to university, inexpensive public transport, transferable tax allowances and a while bunch of other stuff people my age have has snatched away from us to pay ever more of the nation income to your generation. You didn't save enough and now we're all paying the price, whether it's young people pissing their money away in rent or people of working age having to pay more tax.

    I'll vote for any party that shits on retirees. Even Labour. It's time that you all started paying your way. Tax the shit out of rental income as well. 110% levy on rental income profits, NI on pension income, defined benefit pension income surcharge, higher income tax rates for wealthy pensioners earning £50k+, scrap the triple lock, scrap the free bus pass, scrap free prescriptions.

    No new tax rises for working age people. Full fucking stop.
    You thick clown, they were not cheap when people bought them and interest rates were penal. You are a greedy selfish arsehole.
  • eekeek Posts: 29,559
    Cyclefree said:

    A lot of unpleasant comments about pensioners on here today. @MaxPB's father on an £80k pa pension is hardly typical of most pensioners.

    Just raise income tax to pay for social care. Everyone who pays income tax pays it.

    A brave government would merge tax and NI.

    That's a tax on working - to protect the wealth of those with wealth. It once again targets the wrong thing and the wrong group of people (albeit not quite as badly as it does when done via NI).

    The only solution (and it's one we've need for a long time) is a tax on wealth via say a land value tax.

  • malcolmg said:

    philistine
    A Malcolm post I can wholeheartedly agree with. Yes solidarity restored 😄
  • Philip_ThompsonPhilip_Thompson Posts: 65,826
    edited September 2021
    eek said:

    If this Government had at any time actually fixed the fiscal mess that Brown created we wouldn't be in our current circumstances.

    The reality is that the Government since 2010 has merely pretend to fix the issues while in reality hoping people didn't notice how half baked their solutions were.
    The government did fix the fiscal mess that Brown created which is why we have come into this recession without the structural deficit that Brown had.

    It's also why I expect we will come out of this recession without the structural deficit Brown bequeathed the Tories.
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,806
    edited September 2021



    My wife and daughter are Mamma Mia addicts. I’ve been forced to watch both films umpteen times, and I think our daughter saw the musical about twenty times when she lived in London.

    I have been battered into submission. I think even I am starting to fancy Colin Firth a bit. Stockholm syndrome.

    I like ABBA (I think their new songs are great) but I thought Mamma Mia was cringemakingly terrible!

    Other than the girl who plays Meryl Streeps daughter everyone else in it was tone deaf... A musical where hardly anyone can sing??? Maybe I was missing the point but....
  • kjhkjh Posts: 12,399

    A Malcolm post I can wholeheartedly agree with. Yes solidarity restored 😄
    Excuse me!
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,009
    Stocky said:

    Yes quite. But I thought you were against tax rises Max?
    The guy is deranged , he is only against rises for himself. Dripping with money yet whining and whinging about a few extra quid in tax for poor people. Vomit inducing.
  • gealbhangealbhan Posts: 2,362

    No the retired didn't do the same in their working lives. If they did, we wouldn't be increasing the tax rate.

    This is a new tax, to fund a new benefit, that was never paid for in anyone's working lives. So it should apply to all.
    The old actually paid higher tax rates throughout much of their working lives?

    Anyway, that’s not my point, tax’s going up seems to be the only thing exercises PB hive mind with this proposal, but you are missing the point how the old are stung by the cap. Those needing care are Means Tested? If they have 60K in assets ie a house, they don’t get any of this money from the tax rise till they have spent that first?
  • Off to see the Specials tonight in Bournemouth, a truly epic band!

    Always knew Bournemouth was a Ghost Town...
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,617

    On the subject of avatars, Stuart, why do you have a picture of Richard Leonard?
    Full marks for getting the ID correct, particularly (presumably) from south of the Border.
  • CookieCookie Posts: 14,728
    edited September 2021

    Spot on @Cyclefree. Good to see you posting - hope you are well.
    And yet - my understanding is that the 65+ demographic is by some way the wealthiest, following the combined effects of being in the right place at the right time for being able to buy housing when it was cheap, free university education for those who had it, and having final salary pensions. Not all of that demographic, of course, but huge numbers are hugely moee wealthy than their younger counterparts will ever be. A tax on the poorer demographic to pay for the richer seems a tad unfair.

    No odds to me personally, mind: I'm an only child with no cousins so things that are a benefit to the old and super-old are a benefit to me eventutally. But that doesn't seem any reason by itself to support this plan.
  • FishingFishing Posts: 5,464
    Cyclefree said:

    A lot of unpleasant comments about pensioners on here today. @MaxPB's father on an £80k pa pension is hardly typical of most pensioners.

    Just raise income tax to pay for social care. Everyone who pays income tax pays it.

    No, cut useless spending to pay for social care:

    - foreign aid
    - Northern Ireland subsidies
    - farming subsidies
    - etc, etc.

    But I'm afraid Sunak's only instinct is to tax and spend.
  • eekeek Posts: 29,559

    The government did fix the fiscal mess that Brown created which is why we have come into this recession without the structural deficit that Brown had.

    It's also why I expect we will come out of this recession without the structural deficit Brown bequeathed the Tories.
    but it didn't. Central Government did well but at the cost of Local Governments who lost whole heaps of funding but were expected to keep Adult Social Care going.

    Which is why a lot of councils pull every trick going to keep those costs as low as possible and it's one reason why Social care changes are going to way more expensive and complex than people on here expect.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,009
    ping said:

    I like that idea
    Workers on low fixed incomes will not be affected , bring in higher tax rates for the richly paid workers
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,806
    Very funny piece Rotten. Thanks for giving me a laugh on a gloomy September morning.
  • eekeek Posts: 29,559
    malcolmg said:

    You thick clown, they were not cheap when people bought them and interest rates were penal. You are a greedy selfish arsehole.
    Interest rates may be penal again if inflation hits and cannot be controlled by means other than interest rates.

    Equally houses weren't cheap, banks just couldn't lend the insane multiples (4.5x joint income) they now can. Back in the 70s you had to wait your turn for the mortgage and it was 3x first income + 1x second if you were lucky.
  • But they supported the policies after that - the deficit spending you are so agitated about. This didn't stop in 2007, far from it. Cuts came from 2009 onwards, back in 2007 when Osbrown was speaking the bubble was inflated to crazy proportions, and George wanted to inflate it even harder to pay both for every pound of deficit spending and give people a tax cut.
    He wanted spending to go up by less than the rate of growth, which is quite appropriate given the mess Brown had created.

    There wasn't any growth though. Too late, the bell tolled and Browns mess he was already warning us about became apparent.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,617
    AlistairM said:

    The chart below shows another issue. If you have a 15% mortgage but the house price is a low multiple of your salary then it is much easier to repay. Right now the average house price is over 8x the average salary. For most of the 20th Century it was below 5x.

    I'm sure you did work hard to pay off your mortgage but I suspect the deposit required was much lower along with the total amount to repay (compared to average salary).

    If interest rates do go up at some point then there will be a very large number of people who will no longer be able to afford their mortgage payments. For the last 15 years everyone has been used to very low interest rates. Personally, I have 17 years left on my mortgage but I am trying to overpay in order to be able to pay it off in about 7 years time when I am 50.


    That's a very good point, full marks.

    I too remember the high rates on my first mortgage but when Mrs C and I bought together we were soon able to start overpaying to get the capital down and the thing paid off early. And THEN interest rates collapsed. But I wasn't (and am not) complaining.
  • DougSeal said:

    Why don’t you tell us what you REALLY feel about this proposal?
    He might like to explain why the UK state pension is the lowest in the developed world but very rich people still get higher-rate tax relief towards a private pension.

    With the triple lock, the state pension slowly returns towards its pre-Thatcher level. That's all.

    Don't attack pensioners on £9,000 per year. Tell us why rich people pay a lower marginal income tax and NI rate (47%) than middle-income individuals but get a higher rate of pension tax relief.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,009
    MaxPB said:

    I just find the whole "we paid our share" argument complete bullshit. Being retired doesn't magically make someone immune to tax rises. Especially those with rentier assets or very high pension income.
    You cannot be as thick as you make out. Pensioners with incomes over 12K pay the same tax rates as you do and have paid tax for 30 or 40 years more than you to boot.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,232
    malcolmg said:

    You thick clown, they were not cheap when people bought them and interest rates were penal. You are a greedy selfish arsehole.

    There’s a good point in this rabid invective. Younger people who feel so hard done by at high property prices and tuition fees forget that back then interest rates were far higher than they are now. Punitively high as Malcolm says. Universities back then had a fraction of the people who go now and working people, like myself, had to pay their fees.

    What this Max bloke ignores is retirees, of which I am many years from being one, when they were working paid for retirees. They worked and paid and now get their reward. It’s not screwing anyone over.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,009
    MaxPB said:

    On working age people.
    What next gulags for pensioners and all their assets confiscated so you can get a few extra weekends away.
This discussion has been closed.