Apparently they have to ballot their members to continue strikes beyond those dates
What was the turnout in result announced today?
Key question will be can they get more than 40% of total membership to vote for more strikes?
61% voted and 54% of them rejected the deal
It gets complicated. Previously the RCN balloted by NHS Trust, which is why some areas were striking and others not. In Leicester the strike didn't reach threshold.
The RCN are planning a national rather than local ballot this time as I understand, so hard to know the sums.
Then there is the issue of the Staff council with the other unions, notably Unison.
Watch the Lib Dem number, the Tories could end up being squeezed by tactical voting, even if they are no longer in extinction level territory. The May locals are unlikely to be pretty, despite the Tories achieving dire results last time.
It's incredibly difficult to sustain a 20%+ lead for more than a few months. Cameron couldn't, nor could Johnson. Blair is the only UK party leader in the last generation who managed to, but he was a once-in-a-lifetime political genius who inherited a flourishing economy and benefitted from a fawning, over-deferential press. So, though I'm no fan of Starmer, he's still in pole position for 2024/5.
Watch the Lib Dem number, the Tories could end up being squeezed by tactical voting, even if they are no longer in extinction level territory. The May locals are unlikely to be pretty, despite the Tories achieving dire results last time.
I expect you are correct but the results will not be fully revealed until after the Friday counts and then we go straight into the coronation weekend which will drown out the locals in fairness
Apparently they have to ballot their members to continue strikes beyond those dates
What was the turnout in result announced today?
Key question will be can they get more than 40% of total membership to vote for more strikes?
61% voted and 54% of them rejected the deal
It gets complicated. Previously the RCN balloted by NHS Trust, which is why some areas were striking and others not. In Leicester the strike didn't reach threshold.
The RCN are planning a national rather than local ballot this time as I understand, so hard to know the sums.
Then there is the issue of the Staff council with the other unions, notably Unison.
The head of Unison health has just said her membership ballot was overwhelming at 74% acceptance and she said she thought the RCN was much closer which it is and it seems Unison are not going to give up on this rise, but the unions are divided
How long ago was it thread headers were asking "When will we next see a Labour lead?"? Now the thread headers say it's remarkable when that lead dips below 20%. Well, admittedly in the strictest sense, it is indeed worthy of remark, especially on a website that deals heavily in polling, but it nevertheless shows how far Starmer has taken Labour since the Hartlepool by-election. Sure, he has had some help, but you can only play the opposition put in front of you
Apparently they have to ballot their members to continue strikes beyond those dates
What was the turnout in result announced today?
Key question will be can they get more than 40% of total membership to vote for more strikes?
61% voted and 54% of them rejected the deal
It gets complicated. Previously the RCN balloted by NHS Trust, which is why some areas were striking and others not. In Leicester the strike didn't reach threshold.
The RCN are planning a national rather than local ballot this time as I understand, so hard to know the sums.
Then there is the issue of the Staff council with the other unions, notably Unison.
The head of Unison health has just said her membership ballot was overwhelming at 74% acceptance and she said she thought the RCN was much closer which it is and it seems Unison are nit going to give up this rise but also the unions are divided
The Unions though will take a common approach. That is what the staff council is for. Some of the smaller unions are still voting too.
It's incredibly difficult to sustain a 20%+ lead for more than a few months. Cameron couldn't, nor could Johnson. Blair is the only UK party leader in the last generation who managed to, but he was a once-in-a-lifetime political genius who inherited a flourishing economy and benefitted from a fawning, over-deferential press. So, though I'm no fan of Starmer, he's still in pole position for 2024/5.
I agree with your point but I'd have thought the fact Blair in opposition was faced with an (ostensibly) flourishing economy would have dampened his poll leads rather than boosted them, ie that particular factor plays the opposite way to the others you mention; his genius and the supportive press.
So unison accepts, RCN rejects what on earth happens now
The RCN have to ballot their membership to continue strikes beyond the 2nd May and as their result was just 30% of the membership rejecting the offer, then they may well struggle to get 40% of the whole membership to endorse further strikes in which case I assume they will have to concede
The Tory number is rising, the Labour number is falling slightly. That strongly suggests Sunak is harvesting previous Don’t Knows. This is an important and necessary start, but the real goal has to be winning back the switchers. That’s the gamechanger. It could happen but it isn’t happening yet.
The Tory number is rising, the Labour number is falling slightly. That strongly suggests Sunak is harvesting previous Don’t Knows. This is an important and necessary start, but the real goal has to be winning back the switchers. That’s the gamechanger. It could happen but it isn’t happening yet.
I agree and it may take the next 18 months and a successful campaign by Sunak to prevent a Labour majority government
So unison accepts, RCN rejects what on earth happens now
The RCN have to ballot their membership to continue strikes beyond the 2nd May and as their result was just 30% of the membership rejecting the offer, then they may well struggle to get 40% of the whole membership to endorse further strikes in which case I assume they will have to concede
It's more complicated than that.
The threshold for turnout is 50%, but a simple majority of the votes need to strike, so in theory 25% +1 voting to strike is sufficient. Though a 40% threshold is required in some services too.
The Unions know the numbers as they have the results from other areas too.
Obviously though hard to get a good turnout on those numbers compared to the 98% of a 78% turnout in the Junior doctors vote.
The Tory number is rising, the Labour number is falling slightly. That strongly suggests Sunak is harvesting previous Don’t Knows. This is an important and necessary start, but the real goal has to be winning back the switchers. That’s the gamechanger. It could happen but it isn’t happening yet.
I agree and it may take the next 18 months and a successful campaign by Sunak to prevent a Labour majority government
It'll need Hunt to be a complete genius in the Treasury. I really like the way he's setting about things, but it's a workman like performance so far.
Sunak on his own might edge minor gains, but it'll be a tiny thing in the big scheme of things.
The only thing thing that stops the odds being priced as a near certainty are Labour themselves. Corbyn hasn't gone away.
Watch the Lib Dem number, the Tories could end up being squeezed by tactical voting, even if they are no longer in extinction level territory. The May locals are unlikely to be pretty, despite the Tories achieving dire results last time.
On the other hand, the Lib Dem total could be a source of shy Tories who quite like Sunak but don't want to admit it.
How long ago was it thread headers were asking "When will we next see a Labour lead?"? Now the thread headers say it's remarkable when that lead dips below 20%. Well, admittedly in the strictest sense, it is indeed worthy of remark, especially on a website that deals heavily in polling, but it nevertheless shows how far Starmer has taken Labour since the Hartlepool by-election. Sure, he has had some help, but you can only play the opposition put in front of you
Polls these days that emerge with Tory 30 (+1) spark excitable overanalysis over what would be the reasons for the poll if it actually said Tory 45 (+1) at some undefined point in the future. It's an odd PB Tory quirk I think, I have no other explanation for it.
How long ago was it thread headers were asking "When will we next see a Labour lead?"? Now the thread headers say it's remarkable when that lead dips below 20%. Well, admittedly in the strictest sense, it is indeed worthy of remark, especially on a website that deals heavily in polling, but it nevertheless shows how far Starmer has taken Labour since the Hartlepool by-election. Sure, he has had some help, but you can only play the opposition put in front of you
Polls these days that emerge with Tory 30 (+1) spark excitable overanalysis over what would be the reasons for the poll if it actually said Tory 45 (+1) at some undefined point in the future. It's an odd PB Tory quirk I think, I have no other explanation for it.
It's one of those weird mental defects out of an Oliver Sacks book, like mistaking your spouse for a hat, or thinking you are dead, as I remarked in another context today.
The Tory number is rising, the Labour number is falling slightly. That strongly suggests Sunak is harvesting previous Don’t Knows. This is an important and necessary start, but the real goal has to be winning back the switchers. That’s the gamechanger. It could happen but it isn’t happening yet.
I agree and it may take the next 18 months and a successful campaign by Sunak to prevent a Labour majority government
It'll need Hunt to be a complete genius in the Treasury. I really like the way he's setting about things, but it's a workman like performance so far.
Sunak on his own might edge minor gains, but it'll be a tiny thing in the big scheme of things.
The only thing thing that stops the odds being priced as a near certainty are Labour themselves. Corbyn hasn't gone away.
Er, would that be the same Corbyn who is no longer a Labour MP, and has been deselected?
Ringgo parking app Incorrect code for the carpark on the app Automated phone line thought l was an a, c was an o... Just hopeless really
RingGo is bloody awful.
This afternoon I couldn't get through to Ringo in Scarborough because my card was out of date. Very sneakily Scarborough council manages to ignore people like me with disabled badges and it was the same on the buses. The English oldie pass for people of my age does not allow me on the buses here.
The Tory number is rising, the Labour number is falling slightly. That strongly suggests Sunak is harvesting previous Don’t Knows. This is an important and necessary start, but the real goal has to be winning back the switchers. That’s the gamechanger. It could happen but it isn’t happening yet.
I agree and it may take the next 18 months and a successful campaign by Sunak to prevent a Labour majority government
It'll need Hunt to be a complete genius in the Treasury. I really like the way he's setting about things, but it's a workman like performance so far.
Sunak on his own might edge minor gains, but it'll be a tiny thing in the big scheme of things.
The only thing thing that stops the odds being priced as a near certainty are Labour themselves. Corbyn hasn't gone away.
Er, would that be the same Corbyn who is no longer a Labour MP, and has been deselected?
He remains alive, I grant you.
Oh, the Tories will be giving out free Corbyn horror masks come late October.
"In England and Scotland, the law also states that for workers whose role involves the delivery of “important public services”, trade unions must meet an additional 40% support threshold among all workers eligible to vote, as well as the 50% turnout threshold, for action to be lawful."
Surely NHS nursing must be an "important public service"?
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
"They aren’t. If you use web archive to look back you will see they haven’t changed. Only exception I have seen was when Nicola updated her bio and she simply deleted SNP leader.
It’s a mental conspiracy theory and I wonder why people think this is a great use of their time. "
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
I think this is a conspiracy theory. Branding adherence seems to be spotty across the board, and if there’s plot afoot by SNPers, many of them did not seem to get the same memo.
The RCN offer was pretty poor and I am surprised the leadership recommended it. It is hardly surprising that members marched to the top of the hill seeking 19% were somewhat underwhelmed with 5% + a non recurring 6% bonus. It is just not enough.
We can't afford any more of this. The government should tweak the offer, say 7% pay and 4% bonus and get acceptance. And junior doctors should be offered the same.
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
I think this is a conspiracy theory. Branding adherence seems to be spotty across the board, and if there’s plot afoot by SNPers, many of them did not seem to get the same memo.
Yes, I think it's a non-story. But a fun one, nonetheless
Because it shows how bad things are for the Nats, that lots of people will easily believe they are indeed about to go bankrupt
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
I think this is a conspiracy theory. Branding adherence seems to be spotty across the board, and if there’s plot afoot by SNPers, many of them did not seem to get the same memo.
Yes, I think it's a non-story. But a fun one, nonetheless
Because it shows how bad things are for the Nats, that lots of people will easily believe they are indeed about to go bankrupt
I still can’t explain the campervan that nobody knows how to drive, though.
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
I think this is a conspiracy theory. Branding adherence seems to be spotty across the board, and if there’s plot afoot by SNPers, many of them did not seem to get the same memo.
Yes, I think it's a non-story. But a fun one, nonetheless
Because it shows how bad things are for the Nats, that lots of people will easily believe they are indeed about to go bankrupt
I still can’t explain the campervan that nobody knows how to drive, though.
And that stayed parked in "his mum's drive" for two years
Even better is the fact that only Sturgeon and Murrell knew that the SNP auditors had resigned, for six entire months. Just two people in the whole of Scotland, apparently. And when asked, Sturgeon told people to "shut up talking about the finances. The finances are fine"
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
People seem quite impressed by this ... not sure why?
Surrealist, I guess ?
The ad is gross. Yuk. And until the last bit at the end where they say very quickly whose funded it, you don't really know. Could have been a Democrats ad. I'm guessing that in America because there isn't an election on currently they assume (correctly?) that people will know it is a Trump ad against DeSantis.
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
I think this is a conspiracy theory. Branding adherence seems to be spotty across the board, and if there’s plot afoot by SNPers, many of them did not seem to get the same memo.
Yes, I think it's a non-story. But a fun one, nonetheless
Because it shows how bad things are for the Nats, that lots of people will easily believe they are indeed about to go bankrupt
I still can’t explain the campervan that nobody knows how to drive, though.
And that stayed parked in "his mum's drive" for two years
Even better is the fact that only Sturgeon and Murrell knew that the SNP auditors had resigned, for six entire months. Just two people in the whole of Scotland, apparently. And when asked, Sturgeon told people to "shut up talking about the finances. The finances are fine"
Delicious
The fact that neither Sturgeon nor Murrell know how to drive - in a country like Scotland - is deeply, deeply odd.
USA Williams on today's indictments against the Chapitos and 25 others: “For over a decade, the illicit fentanyl trade has created a plague of addiction, death, and misery for Americans and New Yorkers of all walks of life. 1/6... https://mobile.twitter.com/SDNYnews/status/1646901757405020160
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
I think this is a conspiracy theory. Branding adherence seems to be spotty across the board, and if there’s plot afoot by SNPers, many of them did not seem to get the same memo.
Yes, I think it's a non-story. But a fun one, nonetheless
Because it shows how bad things are for the Nats, that lots of people will easily believe they are indeed about to go bankrupt
I still can’t explain the campervan that nobody knows how to drive, though.
And that stayed parked in "his mum's drive" for two years
Even better is the fact that only Sturgeon and Murrell knew that the SNP auditors had resigned, for six entire months. Just two people in the whole of Scotland, apparently. And when asked, Sturgeon told people to "shut up talking about the finances. The finances are fine"
Delicious
Surely the SNP auditors also knew that they'd resigned? Or were they not told about their resignation?
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
I think this is a conspiracy theory. Branding adherence seems to be spotty across the board, and if there’s plot afoot by SNPers, many of them did not seem to get the same memo.
Yes, I think it's a non-story. But a fun one, nonetheless
Because it shows how bad things are for the Nats, that lots of people will easily believe they are indeed about to go bankrupt
I still can’t explain the campervan that nobody knows how to drive, though.
And that stayed parked in "his mum's drive" for two years
Even better is the fact that only Sturgeon and Murrell knew that the SNP auditors had resigned, for six entire months. Just two people in the whole of Scotland, apparently. And when asked, Sturgeon told people to "shut up talking about the finances. The finances are fine"
Delicious
The fact that neither Sturgeon nor Murrell know how to drive - in a country like Scotland - is deeply, deeply odd.
Odder than the obviously odd thing about then.
Wings Over Scotland is explaining why Angus Robertson didn't stand for leader
Ouch, And again it's the relative SMALLNESS of the alleged corruption that makes it worse. Billions corruptly wasted on PPE by the Tories is too big to comprehend, and your eyes glaze over. £110k on an unused campervan or £300,000 siphoned off a non-functioning company - people can relate to that, all too easily
The best bet for the Nats is that the entire leadership resigns and hands over to Forbes? Or this is going to go on and on and on
An AI-generated image wins the Sony World Photography Awards.
"Boris Eldagsen himself has come out and stated after the winning result was announced that this isn’t a photograph at all. It’s an image generated by inputs he provided to the Open AI photo tools". https://mobile.twitter.com/javilopen/status/1646804222187393030
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
I think this is a conspiracy theory. Branding adherence seems to be spotty across the board, and if there’s plot afoot by SNPers, many of them did not seem to get the same memo.
Yes, I think it's a non-story. But a fun one, nonetheless
Because it shows how bad things are for the Nats, that lots of people will easily believe they are indeed about to go bankrupt
I still can’t explain the campervan that nobody knows how to drive, though.
And that stayed parked in "his mum's drive" for two years
Even better is the fact that only Sturgeon and Murrell knew that the SNP auditors had resigned, for six entire months. Just two people in the whole of Scotland, apparently. And when asked, Sturgeon told people to "shut up talking about the finances. The finances are fine"
Delicious
The fact that neither Sturgeon nor Murrell know how to drive - in a country like Scotland - is deeply, deeply odd.
Odder than the obviously odd thing about then.
Wings Over Scotland is explaining why Angus Robertson didn't stand for leader
Ouch, And again it's the relative SMALLNESS of the alleged corruption that makes it worse. Billions corruptly wasted on PPE by the Tories is too big to comprehend, and your eyes glaze over. £110k on an unused campervan or £300,000 siphoned off a non-functioning company - people can relate to that, all too easily
The best bet for the Nats is that the entire leadership resigns and hands over to Forbes? Or this is going to go on and on and on
It will go on and on and on anyway. Forbes as leader isn’t a magic bullet. She brings her own issues with the membership to the table. She could in time reconcile those and turn things around, but she and the party would be in for a rocky couple of years with very little guarantee that things would turn round.
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
I think this is a conspiracy theory. Branding adherence seems to be spotty across the board, and if there’s plot afoot by SNPers, many of them did not seem to get the same memo.
Yes, I think it's a non-story. But a fun one, nonetheless
Because it shows how bad things are for the Nats, that lots of people will easily believe they are indeed about to go bankrupt
I still can’t explain the campervan that nobody knows how to drive, though.
And that stayed parked in "his mum's drive" for two years
Even better is the fact that only Sturgeon and Murrell knew that the SNP auditors had resigned, for six entire months. Just two people in the whole of Scotland, apparently. And when asked, Sturgeon told people to "shut up talking about the finances. The finances are fine"
Delicious
The fact that neither Sturgeon nor Murrell know how to drive - in a country like Scotland - is deeply, deeply odd.
Odder than the obviously odd thing about then.
Wings Over Scotland is explaining why Angus Robertson didn't stand for leader
Ouch, And again it's the relative SMALLNESS of the alleged corruption that makes it worse. Billions corruptly wasted on PPE by the Tories is too big to comprehend, and your eyes glaze over. £110k on an unused campervan or £300,000 siphoned off a non-functioning company - people can relate to that, all too easily
The best bet for the Nats is that the entire leadership resigns and hands over to Forbes? Or this is going to go on and on and on
One senses though that the entire Scottish establishment is steeped in the gore, as it were, of unthinking loyalty to the Sturgeon project.
So there’s a kind of shock, and embarrassment, and a clinging sense of culpability.
The RCN offer was pretty poor and I am surprised the leadership recommended it. It is hardly surprising that members marched to the top of the hill seeking 19% were somewhat underwhelmed with 5% + a non recurring 6% bonus. It is just not enough.
We can't afford any more of this. The government should tweak the offer, say 7% pay and 4% bonus and get acceptance. And junior doctors should be offered the same.
Joining the threads together...
The government had a pretty good March, which included getting (possibly reluctant) acceptance of the NHS pay offer by union leaders. That started to unravel as the details became clearer- the clever-clever structure is one of the reasons that teachers were so pissed off, along with the "it's got to come out of existing budgets" thing.
The boat-stopping is similarly looking less impressive now than earlier, and rightly so. So what exactly is a Sunak government for?
So yes, the government has deservedly improved in the polls since the start of the year, and if they can continue that (harder) things get spicier. But lest we forget, the current wikiworm average is L44 C29; this time last year it was L40 C33.
The housing market has been more resilient than I thought possible in recent months. And it appears first time buyers are responsible. Clearly the rental market is in a terrible (insert swear word of choice) state and so buying is still preferable. But how are they affording it?
No prizes for guessing the answer (revealed in the thread): ultra-long mortgage terms.
We'll start seeing inter-generational mortgages - with terms of 50 or more years - being marketed, in London at first, in another five or ten years' time. Watch.
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
I think this is a conspiracy theory. Branding adherence seems to be spotty across the board, and if there’s plot afoot by SNPers, many of them did not seem to get the same memo.
Yes, I think it's a non-story. But a fun one, nonetheless
Because it shows how bad things are for the Nats, that lots of people will easily believe they are indeed about to go bankrupt
I still can’t explain the campervan that nobody knows how to drive, though.
And that stayed parked in "his mum's drive" for two years
Even better is the fact that only Sturgeon and Murrell knew that the SNP auditors had resigned, for six entire months. Just two people in the whole of Scotland, apparently. And when asked, Sturgeon told people to "shut up talking about the finances. The finances are fine"
Delicious
The fact that neither Sturgeon nor Murrell know how to drive - in a country like Scotland - is deeply, deeply odd.
Odder than the obviously odd thing about then.
Dunno - we are a surprisingly urban country. This is fun:
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
I think this is a conspiracy theory. Branding adherence seems to be spotty across the board, and if there’s plot afoot by SNPers, many of them did not seem to get the same memo.
Yes, I think it's a non-story. But a fun one, nonetheless
Because it shows how bad things are for the Nats, that lots of people will easily believe they are indeed about to go bankrupt
I still can’t explain the campervan that nobody knows how to drive, though.
And that stayed parked in "his mum's drive" for two years
Even better is the fact that only Sturgeon and Murrell knew that the SNP auditors had resigned, for six entire months. Just two people in the whole of Scotland, apparently. And when asked, Sturgeon told people to "shut up talking about the finances. The finances are fine"
Delicious
The fact that neither Sturgeon nor Murrell know how to drive - in a country like Scotland - is deeply, deeply odd.
Odder than the obviously odd thing about then.
Wings Over Scotland is explaining why Angus Robertson didn't stand for leader
Ouch, And again it's the relative SMALLNESS of the alleged corruption that makes it worse. Billions corruptly wasted on PPE by the Tories is too big to comprehend, and your eyes glaze over. £110k on an unused campervan or £300,000 siphoned off a non-functioning company - people can relate to that, all too easily
The best bet for the Nats is that the entire leadership resigns and hands over to Forbes? Or this is going to go on and on and on
It will go on and on and on anyway. Forbes as leader isn’t a magic bullet. She brings her own issues with the membership to the table. She could in time reconcile those and turn things around, but she and the party would be in for a rocky couple of years with very little guarantee that things would turn round.
She's not a magic bullet, but she is intelligent, articulate, feisty, and almost too honest for her own good. I can't see her trousering £600k. And she already has 48% of the membership behind her
It is going to be a torrid few years for the Nits anyway, and recovery has to start somewhere
I guess, however, there is an argument for allowing Humza to stay in office and take the kicking at the next Westminster GE, then she can take over and start afresh. But then the counter-argument is how much MORE damage the Sturgeon loyalist idiot Yousaf will do interim?
The housing market has been more resilient than I thought possible in recent months. And it appears first time buyers are responsible. Clearly the rental market is in a terrible (insert swear word of choice) state and so buying is still preferable. But how are they affording it?
No prizes for guessing the answer (revealed in the thread): ultra-long mortgage terms.
We'll start seeing inter-generational mortgages - with terms of 50 or more years - being marketed, in London at first, in another five or ten years' time. Watch.
Well, if people see them primarily as investments for the future it isonly fair that my unborn children finish paying for it.
Watch the Lib Dem number, the Tories could end up being squeezed by tactical voting, even if they are no longer in extinction level territory. The May locals are unlikely to be pretty, despite the Tories achieving dire results last time.
On the other hand, the Lib Dem total could be a source of shy Tories who quite like Sunak but don't want to admit it.
Pretending to be a LibDem to impress people? That's got to be a niche activity.
"They aren’t. If you use web archive to look back you will see they haven’t changed. Only exception I have seen was when Nicola updated her bio and she simply deleted SNP leader.
It’s a mental conspiracy theory and I wonder why people think this is a great use of their time. "
Watch the Lib Dem number, the Tories could end up being squeezed by tactical voting, even if they are no longer in extinction level territory. The May locals are unlikely to be pretty, despite the Tories achieving dire results last time.
On the other hand, the Lib Dem total could be a source of shy Tories who quite like Sunak but don't want to admit it.
Pretending to be a LibDem to impress people? That's got to be a niche activity.
It's more than you would be met with bemusement rather than hostility perhaps.
An AI-generated image wins the Sony World Photography Awards.
"Boris Eldagsen himself has come out and stated after the winning result was announced that this isn’t a photograph at all. It’s an image generated by inputs he provided to the Open AI photo tools". https://mobile.twitter.com/javilopen/status/1646804222187393030
Isn't it obviously AI? The hands are really bad/weird. It's always the hands
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
I think this is a conspiracy theory. Branding adherence seems to be spotty across the board, and if there’s plot afoot by SNPers, many of them did not seem to get the same memo.
Yes, I think it's a non-story. But a fun one, nonetheless
Because it shows how bad things are for the Nats, that lots of people will easily believe they are indeed about to go bankrupt
I still can’t explain the campervan that nobody knows how to drive, though.
And that stayed parked in "his mum's drive" for two years
Even better is the fact that only Sturgeon and Murrell knew that the SNP auditors had resigned, for six entire months. Just two people in the whole of Scotland, apparently. And when asked, Sturgeon told people to "shut up talking about the finances. The finances are fine"
Delicious
The fact that neither Sturgeon nor Murrell know how to drive - in a country like Scotland - is deeply, deeply odd.
Odder than the obviously odd thing about then.
Wings Over Scotland is explaining why Angus Robertson didn't stand for leader
Ouch, And again it's the relative SMALLNESS of the alleged corruption that makes it worse. Billions corruptly wasted on PPE by the Tories is too big to comprehend, and your eyes glaze over. £110k on an unused campervan or £300,000 siphoned off a non-functioning company - people can relate to that, all too easily
The best bet for the Nats is that the entire leadership resigns and hands over to Forbes? Or this is going to go on and on and on
Murrell drives, he had a nice Jguar, bet it was a "company car" as well.
The housing market has been more resilient than I thought possible in recent months. And it appears first time buyers are responsible. Clearly the rental market is in a terrible (insert swear word of choice) state and so buying is still preferable. But how are they affording it?
No prizes for guessing the answer (revealed in the thread): ultra-long mortgage terms.
We'll start seeing inter-generational mortgages - with terms of 50 or more years - being marketed, in London at first, in another five or ten years' time. Watch.
I've seen forecasts of intergenerational mortgages from about 2006, and we haven't had them yet: not least because they don't actually increase housing affordability much.
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
I think this is a conspiracy theory. Branding adherence seems to be spotty across the board, and if there’s plot afoot by SNPers, many of them did not seem to get the same memo.
Yes, I think it's a non-story. But a fun one, nonetheless
Because it shows how bad things are for the Nats, that lots of people will easily believe they are indeed about to go bankrupt
I still can’t explain the campervan that nobody knows how to drive, though.
And that stayed parked in "his mum's drive" for two years
Even better is the fact that only Sturgeon and Murrell knew that the SNP auditors had resigned, for six entire months. Just two people in the whole of Scotland, apparently. And when asked, Sturgeon told people to "shut up talking about the finances. The finances are fine"
Delicious
The fact that neither Sturgeon nor Murrell know how to drive - in a country like Scotland - is deeply, deeply odd.
Odder than the obviously odd thing about then.
Dunno - we are a surprisingly urban country. This is fun:
Basically, we don't have towns and accessible rural areas like England. It's postcards or tenements.
The housing market has been more resilient than I thought possible in recent months. And it appears first time buyers are responsible. Clearly the rental market is in a terrible (insert swear word of choice) state and so buying is still preferable. But how are they affording it?
No prizes for guessing the answer (revealed in the thread): ultra-long mortgage terms.
We'll start seeing inter-generational mortgages - with terms of 50 or more years - being marketed, in London at first, in another five or ten years' time. Watch.
The rich have effectively had such things for decades. When property is so ludicrously unaffordable it makes sense. It makes no sense in any sane world though.
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
I think this is a conspiracy theory. Branding adherence seems to be spotty across the board, and if there’s plot afoot by SNPers, many of them did not seem to get the same memo.
Yes, I think it's a non-story. But a fun one, nonetheless
Because it shows how bad things are for the Nats, that lots of people will easily believe they are indeed about to go bankrupt
They only have a month to get auditors to submit Westminster accounts, if not they lose all the short money , over £1M a year and that will mean they are down the pan.
The housing market has been more resilient than I thought possible in recent months. And it appears first time buyers are responsible. Clearly the rental market is in a terrible (insert swear word of choice) state and so buying is still preferable. But how are they affording it?
No prizes for guessing the answer (revealed in the thread): ultra-long mortgage terms.
We'll start seeing inter-generational mortgages - with terms of 50 or more years - being marketed, in London at first, in another five or ten years' time. Watch.
I've seen forecasts of intergenerational mortgages from about 2006, and we haven't had them yet: not least because they don't actually increase housing affordability much.
My mortgage advisor told me to go for a 35 year one and to do overpayments. Flexibility.
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
I think this is a conspiracy theory. Branding adherence seems to be spotty across the board, and if there’s plot afoot by SNPers, many of them did not seem to get the same memo.
Yes, I think it's a non-story. But a fun one, nonetheless
Because it shows how bad things are for the Nats, that lots of people will easily believe they are indeed about to go bankrupt
They only have a month to get auditors to submit Westminster accounts, if not they lose all the short money , over £1M a year and that will mean they are down the pan.
Currently debating whether to send my Friday evening reading electoral law. I suppose someone has to....
The housing market has been more resilient than I thought possible in recent months. And it appears first time buyers are responsible. Clearly the rental market is in a terrible (insert swear word of choice) state and so buying is still preferable. But how are they affording it?
No prizes for guessing the answer (revealed in the thread): ultra-long mortgage terms.
We'll start seeing inter-generational mortgages - with terms of 50 or more years - being marketed, in London at first, in another five or ten years' time. Watch.
I've seen forecasts of intergenerational mortgages from about 2006, and we haven't had them yet: not least because they don't actually increase housing affordability much.
Presumably because (unless you are the Student Loans Company) the monthly payment has to at least cover the interest on the outstanding debt, and the first few years of a mortgage don't repay much principal anyway.
Another observation on the vanishing poll leads question.
People Polling were always good for a truly spectacular Labour lead, mostly becasue they put the Conservatives so low.
We've not heard for a couple of weeks. That might be sensible (polling at holiday times is always a bit wobbly), but should someone do the equivalent of knocking on their door and checking they are OK?
It could be - probably is - sheer coincidence and/or nothing at all. But how delightful to speculate that the SNP is so fucked that they are going to disband and change their name
There are SNP proposals for a logo change to a more female- friendly image being discussed - maybe preparing for the big publicity(!) of a re-brand launch?
More likely preparing for them going bankrupt.
Surely there's some uber rich supporter out there who would loan them a few hundred k in order to not see the emabrrassment of the premier Indy party coallapsing like that? Murrell managed 100k on his own, I'm sure someone else could manage more.
We end the week with the Lab lead continuing to drift. Was 21pts at the start of March, 19pts at the start of April. Now 17pts. sotn.newstatesman.com/2023/02/britai…
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
I think this is a conspiracy theory. Branding adherence seems to be spotty across the board, and if there’s plot afoot by SNPers, many of them did not seem to get the same memo.
Yes, I think it's a non-story. But a fun one, nonetheless
Because it shows how bad things are for the Nats, that lots of people will easily believe they are indeed about to go bankrupt
I still can’t explain the campervan that nobody knows how to drive, though.
And that stayed parked in "his mum's drive" for two years
Even better is the fact that only Sturgeon and Murrell knew that the SNP auditors had resigned, for six entire months. Just two people in the whole of Scotland, apparently. And when asked, Sturgeon told people to "shut up talking about the finances. The finances are fine"
Delicious
The fact that neither Sturgeon nor Murrell know how to drive - in a country like Scotland - is deeply, deeply odd.
Odder than the obviously odd thing about then.
Wings Over Scotland is explaining why Angus Robertson didn't stand for leader
Ouch, And again it's the relative SMALLNESS of the alleged corruption that makes it worse. Billions corruptly wasted on PPE by the Tories is too big to comprehend, and your eyes glaze over. £110k on an unused campervan or £300,000 siphoned off a non-functioning company - people can relate to that, all too easily
The best bet for the Nats is that the entire leadership resigns and hands over to Forbes? Or this is going to go on and on and on
Tbf any topic that you get your chops into will go on and on and on ...
The housing market has been more resilient than I thought possible in recent months. And it appears first time buyers are responsible. Clearly the rental market is in a terrible (insert swear word of choice) state and so buying is still preferable. But how are they affording it?
No prizes for guessing the answer (revealed in the thread): ultra-long mortgage terms.
We'll start seeing inter-generational mortgages - with terms of 50 or more years - being marketed, in London at first, in another five or ten years' time. Watch.
I've seen forecasts of intergenerational mortgages from about 2006, and we haven't had them yet: not least because they don't actually increase housing affordability much.
My mortgage advisor told me to go for a 35 year one and to do overpayments. Flexibility.
It's just one simple dynamic. You don't need an advisor.
The RCN offer was pretty poor and I am surprised the leadership recommended it. It is hardly surprising that members marched to the top of the hill seeking 19% were somewhat underwhelmed with 5% + a non recurring 6% bonus. It is just not enough.
We can't afford any more of this. The government should tweak the offer, say 7% pay and 4% bonus and get acceptance. And junior doctors should be offered the same.
I'm also surprised that the RCN accepted. Consider:
(1) Who wins a public popularity contest - or a blame gain over service disruption - in a contest between the Conservative Party and nurses? (2) Unlike most private sector workers, for whom declaring open war on their employer may carry the risk of being made redundant further down the line, the nurses are completely unsackable. Everyone knows about the number of NHS staff vacancies, and the dire waiting lists. The system cannot afford to lose them.
The advantage in this situation lies almost entirely with the nurses. All the Government has left to try to dissuade them from holding a strike every week 'til Kingdom Come is moral blackmail about the harm caused to patients. But it's obvious that the nurses think that the decay of the NHS under current management is going to keep harming patients anyway.
If I were advising them, I'd tell them to settle for nothing less than the 10.1% that the Government is giving the elderly, plus an agreed timetable for further increases over the coming years to compensate for the diminution of their real-terms incomes caused by pay restraint during austerity. This is going to look reasonable to the public - it's not the 35% all in one go being demanded by the junior doctors - and the Government can afford the expense. It just doesn't want to, that's all. If ministers claim they have no more cash then they can simply be told to tax wealth more.
What we all have to appreciate about industrial relations - and this applies to both the private and the public sector - is that most employers don't want to pay people a single penny more than they really have to, and there are always justifications for pay restraint. When the environment is inflationary then the employer pleads poverty and claims that decent pay rises will simply lead to a wage-inflation spiral. When inflation is low then the employer suggests that employees don't need more money as a consequence. There are always excuses and always heel-digging.
This is why workers, when - as in the case of the nurses - they have their boot on the neck of a tight employer, should apply firm downward pressure until the employer surrenders. This Government resorts to all the standard ploys. It whinges about the wage-inflation spiral. It pleads poverty - though notice how it can always find another few billion quid down the back of the Treasury sofa to pay off its favoured social groups with pension rises and tax cuts. It's time, I would suggest, for the nurses to ignore this nonsense and keep applying boot to neck, until Jeremy Hunt feels sufficiently motivated to go rooting down the sides of the sofa again.
The housing market has been more resilient than I thought possible in recent months. And it appears first time buyers are responsible. Clearly the rental market is in a terrible (insert swear word of choice) state and so buying is still preferable. But how are they affording it?
No prizes for guessing the answer (revealed in the thread): ultra-long mortgage terms.
We'll start seeing inter-generational mortgages - with terms of 50 or more years - being marketed, in London at first, in another five or ten years' time. Watch.
I've seen forecasts of intergenerational mortgages from about 2006, and we haven't had them yet: not least because they don't actually increase housing affordability much.
My mortgage advisor told me to go for a 35 year one and to do overpayments. Flexibility.
It's just one simple dynamic. You don't need an advisor.
They are advising me on some other bits and pieces too, to be fair.
We end the week with the Lab lead continuing to drift. Was 21pts at the start of March, 19pts at the start of April. Now 17pts. sotn.newstatesman.com/2023/02/britai…
The RCN offer was pretty poor and I am surprised the leadership recommended it. It is hardly surprising that members marched to the top of the hill seeking 19% were somewhat underwhelmed with 5% + a non recurring 6% bonus. It is just not enough.
We can't afford any more of this. The government should tweak the offer, say 7% pay and 4% bonus and get acceptance. And junior doctors should be offered the same.
I'm also surprised that the RCN accepted. Consider:
(1) Who wins a public popularity contest - or a blame gain over service disruption - in a contest between the Conservative Party and nurses? (2) Unlike most private sector workers, for whom declaring open war on their employer may carry the risk of being made redundant further down the line, the nurses are completely unsackable. Everyone knows about the number of NHS staff vacancies, and the dire waiting lists. The system cannot afford to lose them.
The advantage in this situation lies almost entirely with the nurses. All the Government has left to try to dissuade them from holding a strike every week 'til Kingdom Come is moral blackmail about the harm caused to patients. But it's obvious that the nurses think that the decay of the NHS under current management is going to keep harming patients anyway.
If I were advising them, I'd tell them to settle for nothing less than the 10.1% that the Government is giving the elderly, plus an agreed timetable for further increases over the coming years to compensate for the diminution of their real-terms incomes caused by pay restraint during austerity. This is going to look reasonable to the public - it's not the 35% all in one go being demanded by the junior doctors - and the Government can afford the expense. It just doesn't want to, that's all. If ministers claim they have no more cash then they can simply be told to tax wealth more.
What we all have to appreciate about industrial relations - and this applies to both the private and the public sector - is that most employers don't want to pay people a single penny more than they really have to, and there are always justifications for pay restraint. When the environment is inflationary then the employer pleads poverty and claims that decent pay rises will simply lead to a wage-inflation spiral. When inflation is low then the employer suggests that employees don't need more money as a consequence. There are always excuses and always heel-digging.
This is why workers, when - as in the case of the nurses - they have their boot on the neck of a tight employer, should apply firm downward pressure until the employer surrenders. This Government resorts to all the standard ploys. It whinges about the wage-inflation spiral. It pleads poverty - though notice how it can always find another few billion quid down the back of the Treasury sofa to pay off its favoured social groups with pension rises and tax cuts. It's time, I would suggest, for the nurses to ignore this nonsense and keep applying boot to neck, until Jeremy Hunt feels sufficiently motivated to go rooting down the sides of the sofa again.
As Unison have accepted the offer on a 74% approval and the RCN rejected on a 54/46 approval I really do not see the RCN winning from here
Indeed they have to ballot their membership to continue strikes beyond 2nd May, and with effectively 30% of their overall membership rejecting the deal there is a very real possibility the membership will vote against further strikes at which point the union leadership will no doubt have to resign
The housing market has been more resilient than I thought possible in recent months. And it appears first time buyers are responsible. Clearly the rental market is in a terrible (insert swear word of choice) state and so buying is still preferable. But how are they affording it?
No prizes for guessing the answer (revealed in the thread): ultra-long mortgage terms.
We'll start seeing inter-generational mortgages - with terms of 50 or more years - being marketed, in London at first, in another five or ten years' time. Watch.
I've seen forecasts of intergenerational mortgages from about 2006, and we haven't had them yet: not least because they don't actually increase housing affordability much.
An interest only mortgage effectively has an infinite repayment term anyway.
The RCN offer was pretty poor and I am surprised the leadership recommended it. It is hardly surprising that members marched to the top of the hill seeking 19% were somewhat underwhelmed with 5% + a non recurring 6% bonus. It is just not enough.
We can't afford any more of this. The government should tweak the offer, say 7% pay and 4% bonus and get acceptance. And junior doctors should be offered the same.
I'm also surprised that the RCN accepted. Consider:
(1) Who wins a public popularity contest - or a blame gain over service disruption - in a contest between the Conservative Party and nurses? (2) Unlike most private sector workers, for whom declaring open war on their employer may carry the risk of being made redundant further down the line, the nurses are completely unsackable. Everyone knows about the number of NHS staff vacancies, and the dire waiting lists. The system cannot afford to lose them.
The advantage in this situation lies almost entirely with the nurses. All the Government has left to try to dissuade them from holding a strike every week 'til Kingdom Come is moral blackmail about the harm caused to patients. But it's obvious that the nurses think that the decay of the NHS under current management is going to keep harming patients anyway.
If I were advising them, I'd tell them to settle for nothing less than the 10.1% that the Government is giving the elderly, plus an agreed timetable for further increases over the coming years to compensate for the diminution of their real-terms incomes caused by pay restraint during austerity. This is going to look reasonable to the public - it's not the 35% all in one go being demanded by the junior doctors - and the Government can afford the expense. It just doesn't want to, that's all. If ministers claim they have no more cash then they can simply be told to tax wealth more.
What we all have to appreciate about industrial relations - and this applies to both the private and the public sector - is that most employers don't want to pay people a single penny more than they really have to, and there are always justifications for pay restraint. When the environment is inflationary then the employer pleads poverty and claims that decent pay rises will simply lead to a wage-inflation spiral. When inflation is low then the employer suggests that employees don't need more money as a consequence. There are always excuses and always heel-digging.
This is why workers, when - as in the case of the nurses - they have their boot on the neck of a tight employer, should apply firm downward pressure until the employer surrenders. This Government resorts to all the standard ploys. It whinges about the wage-inflation spiral. It pleads poverty - though notice how it can always find another few billion quid down the back of the Treasury sofa to pay off its favoured social groups with pension rises and tax cuts. It's time, I would suggest, for the nurses to ignore this nonsense and keep applying boot to neck, until Jeremy Hunt feels sufficiently motivated to go rooting down the sides of the sofa again.
As Unison have accepted the offer on a 74% approval and the RCN rejected on a 54/46 approval I really do not see the RCN winning from here
Indeed they have to ballot their membership to continue strikes beyond 2nd May, and with effectively 30% of their overall membership rejecting the deal there is a very real possibility the membership will vote against further strikes at which point the union leadership will no doubt have to resign
Unison membership is mainly other AfC NHS workers (likely to be on lower bands), not nurses, which explains the difference somewhat.
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
I think this is a conspiracy theory. Branding adherence seems to be spotty across the board, and if there’s plot afoot by SNPers, many of them did not seem to get the same memo.
Yes, I think it's a non-story. But a fun one, nonetheless
Because it shows how bad things are for the Nats, that lots of people will easily believe they are indeed about to go bankrupt
I still can’t explain the campervan that nobody knows how to drive, though.
If some-one borrowed a lot of money off you to buy something, and didn't look likely to be paying it back any time soon, wouldn't you put it on your property, if you could?
The RCN offer was pretty poor and I am surprised the leadership recommended it. It is hardly surprising that members marched to the top of the hill seeking 19% were somewhat underwhelmed with 5% + a non recurring 6% bonus. It is just not enough.
We can't afford any more of this. The government should tweak the offer, say 7% pay and 4% bonus and get acceptance. And junior doctors should be offered the same.
I'm also surprised that the RCN accepted. Consider:
(1) Who wins a public popularity contest - or a blame gain over service disruption - in a contest between the Conservative Party and nurses? (2) Unlike most private sector workers, for whom declaring open war on their employer may carry the risk of being made redundant further down the line, the nurses are completely unsackable. Everyone knows about the number of NHS staff vacancies, and the dire waiting lists. The system cannot afford to lose them.
The advantage in this situation lies almost entirely with the nurses. All the Government has left to try to dissuade them from holding a strike every week 'til Kingdom Come is moral blackmail about the harm caused to patients. But it's obvious that the nurses think that the decay of the NHS under current management is going to keep harming patients anyway.
If I were advising them, I'd tell them to settle for nothing less than the 10.1% that the Government is giving the elderly, plus an agreed timetable for further increases over the coming years to compensate for the diminution of their real-terms incomes caused by pay restraint during austerity. This is going to look reasonable to the public - it's not the 35% all in one go being demanded by the junior doctors - and the Government can afford the expense. It just doesn't want to, that's all. If ministers claim they have no more cash then they can simply be told to tax wealth more.
What we all have to appreciate about industrial relations - and this applies to both the private and the public sector - is that most employers don't want to pay people a single penny more than they really have to, and there are always justifications for pay restraint. When the environment is inflationary then the employer pleads poverty and claims that decent pay rises will simply lead to a wage-inflation spiral. When inflation is low then the employer suggests that employees don't need more money as a consequence. There are always excuses and always heel-digging.
This is why workers, when - as in the case of the nurses - they have their boot on the neck of a tight employer, should apply firm downward pressure until the employer surrenders. This Government resorts to all the standard ploys. It whinges about the wage-inflation spiral. It pleads poverty - though notice how it can always find another few billion quid down the back of the Treasury sofa to pay off its favoured social groups with pension rises and tax cuts. It's time, I would suggest, for the nurses to ignore this nonsense and keep applying boot to neck, until Jeremy Hunt feels sufficiently motivated to go rooting down the sides of the sofa again.
As Unison have accepted the offer on a 74% approval and the RCN rejected on a 54/46 approval I really do not see the RCN winning from here
Indeed they have to ballot their membership to continue strikes beyond 2nd May, and with effectively 30% of their overall membership rejecting the deal there is a very real possibility the membership will vote against further strikes at which point the union leadership will no doubt have to resign
Unison membership is mainly other AfC NHS workers (likely to be on lower bands), not nurses, which explains the difference somewhat.
Apparently they are ambulance and nursing staff as well as ancillary workers
The RCN offer was pretty poor and I am surprised the leadership recommended it. It is hardly surprising that members marched to the top of the hill seeking 19% were somewhat underwhelmed with 5% + a non recurring 6% bonus. It is just not enough.
We can't afford any more of this. The government should tweak the offer, say 7% pay and 4% bonus and get acceptance. And junior doctors should be offered the same.
I'm also surprised that the RCN accepted. Consider:
(1) Who wins a public popularity contest - or a blame gain over service disruption - in a contest between the Conservative Party and nurses? (2) Unlike most private sector workers, for whom declaring open war on their employer may carry the risk of being made redundant further down the line, the nurses are completely unsackable. Everyone knows about the number of NHS staff vacancies, and the dire waiting lists. The system cannot afford to lose them.
The advantage in this situation lies almost entirely with the nurses. All the Government has left to try to dissuade them from holding a strike every week 'til Kingdom Come is moral blackmail about the harm caused to patients. But it's obvious that the nurses think that the decay of the NHS under current management is going to keep harming patients anyway.
If I were advising them, I'd tell them to settle for nothing less than the 10.1% that the Government is giving the elderly, plus an agreed timetable for further increases over the coming years to compensate for the diminution of their real-terms incomes caused by pay restraint during austerity. This is going to look reasonable to the public - it's not the 35% all in one go being demanded by the junior doctors - and the Government can afford the expense. It just doesn't want to, that's all. If ministers claim they have no more cash then they can simply be told to tax wealth more.
What we all have to appreciate about industrial relations - and this applies to both the private and the public sector - is that most employers don't want to pay people a single penny more than they really have to, and there are always justifications for pay restraint. When the environment is inflationary then the employer pleads poverty and claims that decent pay rises will simply lead to a wage-inflation spiral. When inflation is low then the employer suggests that employees don't need more money as a consequence. There are always excuses and always heel-digging.
This is why workers, when - as in the case of the nurses - they have their boot on the neck of a tight employer, should apply firm downward pressure until the employer surrenders. This Government resorts to all the standard ploys. It whinges about the wage-inflation spiral. It pleads poverty - though notice how it can always find another few billion quid down the back of the Treasury sofa to pay off its favoured social groups with pension rises and tax cuts. It's time, I would suggest, for the nurses to ignore this nonsense and keep applying boot to neck, until Jeremy Hunt feels sufficiently motivated to go rooting down the sides of the sofa again.
As Unison have accepted the offer on a 74% approval and the RCN rejected on a 54/46 approval I really do not see the RCN winning from here
Indeed they have to ballot their membership to continue strikes beyond 2nd May, and with effectively 30% of their overall membership rejecting the deal there is a very real possibility the membership will vote against further strikes at which point the union leadership will no doubt have to resign
It's quite possible it ends up in the mad space where the RCN both rejects the pay offer and doesn't get enough support to continue the strike; goodness only knows what happens then.
But bear in mind that the 54/46 vote was with RCN leadership recommending acceptance of the offer. People working for the state are really annoyed. The government needs to be very careful that it doesn't end up with the sort of victory that creates more ongoing problems.
These weird rumours about the Nits are still floating about Twitter
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
I think this is a conspiracy theory. Branding adherence seems to be spotty across the board, and if there’s plot afoot by SNPers, many of them did not seem to get the same memo.
Yes, I think it's a non-story. But a fun one, nonetheless
Because it shows how bad things are for the Nats, that lots of people will easily believe they are indeed about to go bankrupt
I still can’t explain the campervan that nobody knows how to drive, though.
And that stayed parked in "his mum's drive" for two years
Even better is the fact that only Sturgeon and Murrell knew that the SNP auditors had resigned, for six entire months. Just two people in the whole of Scotland, apparently. And when asked, Sturgeon told people to "shut up talking about the finances. The finances are fine"
Delicious
The fact that neither Sturgeon nor Murrell know how to drive - in a country like Scotland - is deeply, deeply odd.
Odder than the obviously odd thing about then.
Dunno - we are a surprisingly urban country. This is fun:
Basically, we don't have towns and accessible rural areas like England. It's postcards or tenements.
The remoteness of the southern uplands is remarkable. Gentle, beautiful, utterly empty and to most, unlike the highlands, totally unknown.
We end the week with the Lab lead continuing to drift. Was 21pts at the start of March, 19pts at the start of April. Now 17pts. sotn.newstatesman.com/2023/02/britai…
We end the week with the Lab lead continuing to drift. Was 21pts at the start of March, 19pts at the start of April. Now 17pts. sotn.newstatesman.com/2023/02/britai…
Just worked out that I am paying at least £500+ a month for a modestly flashy car that I drive about 20-30 times a year. Which equates to about £250 a journey. Not including petrol
More importantly, it is 7C and with a nasty wind chill here in Primrose Hill reiver country. Like fucking January
25 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Gosh have you gone to Red State? Brave, but why?
I had to transfer here. It feels v southern, culturally, despite abutting the Mason Dixon line.
My org has a hub in Dallas, I’ve just spent a week checking in on the team there.
My maths prof brother lived for 3 years in Austin. The best time of his life, he says.
Austin is severely overrated. People only like it coz it has Texan tax rates, a lack of winter (but brutal summers) and about nine actually walkable blocks of "downtown" - unlike Houston and Dallas etc which are utterly dystopian
The housing market has been more resilient than I thought possible in recent months. And it appears first time buyers are responsible. Clearly the rental market is in a terrible (insert swear word of choice) state and so buying is still preferable. But how are they affording it?
No prizes for guessing the answer (revealed in the thread): ultra-long mortgage terms.
We'll start seeing inter-generational mortgages - with terms of 50 or more years - being marketed, in London at first, in another five or ten years' time. Watch.
I've seen forecasts of intergenerational mortgages from about 2006, and we haven't had them yet: not least because they don't actually increase housing affordability much.
My mortgage advisor told me to go for a 35 year one and to do overpayments. Flexibility.
It's just one simple dynamic. You don't need an advisor.
The housing market has been more resilient than I thought possible in recent months. And it appears first time buyers are responsible. Clearly the rental market is in a terrible (insert swear word of choice) state and so buying is still preferable. But how are they affording it?
No prizes for guessing the answer (revealed in the thread): ultra-long mortgage terms.
We'll start seeing inter-generational mortgages - with terms of 50 or more years - being marketed, in London at first, in another five or ten years' time. Watch.
I've seen forecasts of intergenerational mortgages from about 2006, and we haven't had them yet: not least because they don't actually increase housing affordability much.
My mortgage advisor told me to go for a 35 year one and to do overpayments. Flexibility.
It's just one simple dynamic. You don't need an advisor.
Just worked out that I am paying at least £500+ a month for a modestly flashy car that I drive about 20-30 times a year. Which equates to about £250 a journey. Not including petrol
Just worked out that I am paying at least £500+ a month for a modestly flashy car that I drive about 20-30 times a year. Which equates to about £250 a journey. Not including petrol
I fear it may have to go
Alternatively, you need to get out more....
No, I get out far too much. As in: I am abroad so much, owning a car in London is insane. It is fairly insane anyway, but in my case it is entirely insane
But I will be sad. My beloved Mini JCW 56 with the unique blue-black shaded roof. SIGH
Comments
Broken sleazy Truss beginning to be forgotten?
Broken sleazy Tories beginning to be forgiven?
Broken sleazy Johnson failing to make a comeback?
Or some or all of the above?
The RCN are planning a national rather than local ballot this time as I understand, so hard to know the sums.
Then there is the issue of the Staff council with the other unions, notably Unison.
https://twitter.com/natalie_allison/status/1646855386773831680
Only 2 with fieldwork entirely in April
Both by Omnisis
Incorrect code for the carpark on the app
Automated phone line thought l was an a, c was an o...
Just hopeless really
This is from Unison:
The threshold for turnout is 50%, but a simple majority of the votes need to strike, so in theory 25% +1 voting to strike is sufficient. Though a 40% threshold is required in some services too.
The Unions know the numbers as they have the results from other areas too.
Obviously though hard to get a good turnout on those numbers compared to the 98% of a 78% turnout in the Junior doctors vote.
Sunak on his own might edge minor gains, but it'll be a tiny thing in the big scheme of things.
The only thing thing that stops the odds being priced as a near certainty are Labour themselves. Corbyn hasn't gone away.
He remains alive, I grant you.
Bloody Yorkies
"In England and Scotland, the law also states that for workers whose role involves the delivery of “important public services”, trade unions must meet an additional 40% support threshold among all workers eligible to vote, as well as the 50% turnout threshold, for action to be lawful."
Surely NHS nursing must be an "important public service"?
https://www.rcn.org.uk/magazines/Action/2022/Jul/Industrial-action
"Breaknews A growing number of #SNP politicians removing any mention of the #SNP from their social media accounts appears to be a first step to resigning the whip before the party is declared bankrupt? However the membership data cannot be used for a new party. Big Trouble"
https://twitter.com/DavidDhenry/status/1646870302851203073?s=20
"Does anyone in the Twittersphere have any idea why a number of SNP MP's and MSP's have deleted reference to the SNP from their social media bios? I've asked my own MSP but she hasn't responded yet."
https://twitter.com/CameronMcNeish/status/1646914129913888770?s=20
"They aren’t. If you use web archive to look back you will see they haven’t changed. Only exception I have seen was when Nicola updated her bio and she simply deleted SNP leader.
It’s a mental conspiracy theory and I wonder why people think this is a great use of their time. "
https://twitter.com/AustinRSheridan/status/1646923375946653718?s=20
Branding adherence seems to be spotty across the board, and if there’s plot afoot by SNPers, many of them did not seem to get the same memo.
We can't afford any more of this. The government should tweak the offer, say 7% pay and 4% bonus and get acceptance. And junior doctors should be offered the same.
Because it shows how bad things are for the Nats, that lots of people will easily believe they are indeed about to go bankrupt
Even better is the fact that only Sturgeon and Murrell knew that the SNP auditors had resigned, for six entire months. Just two people in the whole of Scotland, apparently. And when asked, Sturgeon told people to "shut up talking about the finances. The finances are fine"
Delicious
Odder than the obviously odd thing about then.
USA Williams on today's indictments against the Chapitos and 25 others: “For over a decade, the illicit fentanyl trade has created a plague of addiction, death, and misery for Americans and New Yorkers of all walks of life. 1/6...
https://mobile.twitter.com/SDNYnews/status/1646901757405020160
https://wingsoverscotland.com/progress-to-nowhere/#more-136982
Ouch, And again it's the relative SMALLNESS of the alleged corruption that makes it worse. Billions corruptly wasted on PPE by the Tories is too big to comprehend, and your eyes glaze over. £110k on an unused campervan or £300,000 siphoned off a non-functioning company - people can relate to that, all too easily
The best bet for the Nats is that the entire leadership resigns and hands over to Forbes? Or this is going to go on and on and on
"Boris Eldagsen himself has come out and stated after the winning result was announced that this isn’t a photograph at all. It’s an image generated by inputs he provided to the Open AI photo tools".
https://mobile.twitter.com/javilopen/status/1646804222187393030
So there’s a kind of shock, and embarrassment, and a clinging sense of culpability.
The government had a pretty good March, which included getting (possibly reluctant) acceptance of the NHS pay offer by union leaders. That started to unravel as the details became clearer- the clever-clever structure is one of the reasons that teachers were so pissed off, along with the "it's got to come out of existing budgets" thing.
The boat-stopping is similarly looking less impressive now than earlier, and rightly so. So what exactly is a Sunak government for?
So yes, the government has deservedly improved in the polls since the start of the year, and if they can continue that (harder) things get spicier. But lest we forget, the current wikiworm average is L44 C29; this time last year it was L40 C33.
The housing market has been more resilient than I thought possible in recent months. And it appears first time buyers are responsible. Clearly the rental market is in a terrible (insert swear word of choice) state and so buying is still preferable. But how are they affording it?
https://twitter.com/resi_analyst/status/1646769169214455809
No prizes for guessing the answer (revealed in the thread): ultra-long mortgage terms.
We'll start seeing inter-generational mortgages - with terms of 50 or more years - being marketed, in London at first, in another five or ten years' time. Watch.
It is going to be a torrid few years for the Nits anyway, and recovery has to start somewhere
I guess, however, there is an argument for allowing Humza to stay in office and take the kicking at the next Westminster GE, then she can take over and start afresh. But then the counter-argument is how much MORE damage the Sturgeon loyalist idiot Yousaf will do interim?
Fun times!
So what are these marathon mortgages about?
It feels v southern, culturally, despite abutting the Mason Dixon line.
My org has a hub in Dallas, I’ve just spent a week checking in on the team there.
People Polling were always good for a truly spectacular Labour lead, mostly becasue they put the Conservatives so low.
We've not heard for a couple of weeks. That might be sensible (polling at holiday times is always a bit wobbly), but should someone do the equivalent of knocking on their door and checking they are OK?
https://twitter.com/bnhwalker/status/1646870585010429952
(1) Who wins a public popularity contest - or a blame gain over service disruption - in a contest between the Conservative Party and nurses?
(2) Unlike most private sector workers, for whom declaring open war on their employer may carry the risk of being made redundant further down the line, the nurses are completely unsackable. Everyone knows about the number of NHS staff vacancies, and the dire waiting lists. The system cannot afford to lose them.
The advantage in this situation lies almost entirely with the nurses. All the Government has left to try to dissuade them from holding a strike every week 'til Kingdom Come is moral blackmail about the harm caused to patients. But it's obvious that the nurses think that the decay of the NHS under current management is going to keep harming patients anyway.
If I were advising them, I'd tell them to settle for nothing less than the 10.1% that the Government is giving the elderly, plus an agreed timetable for further increases over the coming years to compensate for the diminution of their real-terms incomes caused by pay restraint during austerity. This is going to look reasonable to the public - it's not the 35% all in one go being demanded by the junior doctors - and the Government can afford the expense. It just doesn't want to, that's all. If ministers claim they have no more cash then they can simply be told to tax wealth more.
What we all have to appreciate about industrial relations - and this applies to both the private and the public sector - is that most employers don't want to pay people a single penny more than they really have to, and there are always justifications for pay restraint. When the environment is inflationary then the employer pleads poverty and claims that decent pay rises will simply lead to a wage-inflation spiral. When inflation is low then the employer suggests that employees don't need more money as a consequence. There are always excuses and always heel-digging.
This is why workers, when - as in the case of the nurses - they have their boot on the neck of a tight employer, should apply firm downward pressure until the employer surrenders. This Government resorts to all the standard ploys. It whinges about the wage-inflation spiral. It pleads poverty - though notice how it can always find another few billion quid down the back of the Treasury sofa to pay off its favoured social groups with pension rises and tax cuts. It's time, I would suggest, for the nurses to ignore this nonsense and keep applying boot to neck, until Jeremy Hunt feels sufficiently motivated to go rooting down the sides of the sofa again.
Classy top weighted thoroughbred caught on the line by a nag.
Topical - it's tomorrow!
Indeed they have to ballot their membership to continue strikes beyond 2nd May, and with effectively 30% of their overall membership rejecting the deal there is a very real possibility the membership will vote against further strikes at which point the union leadership will no doubt have to resign
It's 7th July 1994 on BBC4. Top of the Pops re-run.
But bear in mind that the 54/46 vote was with RCN leadership recommending acceptance of the offer. People working for the state are really annoyed. The government needs to be very careful that it doesn't end up with the sort of victory that creates more ongoing problems.
I fear it may have to go
Unrelatedly, how does one declare bankruptcy?
But I will be sad. My beloved Mini JCW 56 with the unique blue-black shaded roof. SIGH