POLITICS CORNER

[Stanley]

Well done David. And well done Speaker Hoyle. From his mouth to God's ear as my Jewish friends would say.

[Big Kev]

Words fail me.
Everyone in the Commons to wear face coverings except MPs.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59056316

[Stanley]

Indeed Kev. I remember when we were in the middle of the Brexit shenanigans wondering what the world must think of our Parliament. I fear this is another such moment. The bottom line is we have a weak buffoon as PM who can't see that what is needed is leadership and example. He is ruled by creeps like Rees Mogg telling us that the Tories don't need masks because they are a fraternal body. (And I suspect Carrie....)

[Stanley]

And the first thing I hear about the Budget is that there will not be a response from Kier Starmer because he has tested positive for COVID. Labour must not be as 'fraternal' as the Tories....
Later, I had to stop listening because he was making me so angry. All the old lies particularly 40 new hospitals and 70 major capital projects in the NHS and thousands more nurses and doctors.
He has just said that the Tories are truly the only party to be trusted with the public purse and that debt is falling. Sorry, I can't take any more.

[PanBiker]

I saw an interview on the news with someone from senior health management. She said that chucking money at surgeries, new scanners, day centres or whatever is totally irrelevant as there is no staff to run them which is the crux of the matter. Sound good at the dispatch box but it is just the normal smoke and mirrors. Unfortunately a lot will take the sound bite as a done deal and continue voting these buggers in as the best thing since sliced bread.

Actually that's not a bad description as modern sliced bread made with the chorleywood process is about as crap as you can get! It's all very depressing that folk can't seem to see that they are being lied to.

[Big Kev]

The budget is the same every year, lots of empty promises. Sadly, at present, there is no viable option to the current bunch of clowns in my opinion

[PanBiker]

I would agree with you there Kev and that is from a Labour Party member. Nothing in the current leader to become impassioned about. Socialism has become a dirty word again in the party. Coupled with that you can be expelled from the party for criticising the policies of the State of Israel and branded as anti-Semitic. The current stance of the party is seriously testing my continued membership. I only stay because you can't influence anything from the outside. I firmly believe it could be time to form a new party based on solid socialist principles. That would test where the rank and file membership stand. Take the activists away and the current incumbents would be stuffed.

[Tripps]

I didn't watch the budget as it was delivered - had something more important to do - I was washing my hair. I usually do watch, but couldn't tell you a single measure from the last one. I see now on the news, Rishi and Boris in a beer cellar manhandling kegs and pouring (in a very amateurish way) 'pints'. Boris took a swig but Rishi is teetotal and didn't. Pathetic.

The cause of all this rejoicing / spin - they've reduced the price of a pint by 3 pence. That will make no difference whatever to the price in the pub, since it's about £4.00 to £5.00 per pint. I read Rishi is worth £200 million, and his wife is richer than the Queen. Man of the people. He made a 'joke' about beer barrel politics. Compared to ' pork barrel ' geddit? (It's Eye day today) .

Stop the world etc. . . . . .

[Stanley]

I agree with all of you and particularly every word that Ian wrote. Like you all, Sunak hasn't fooled me, he's a spiv seeking re-election. I can remember a time when the Budget was serous economic management and social engineering, now it's just balancing the books and keeping the party funders happy.
Despite all the fine words about a buoyant economy I don't buy it. I still think we have a hard winter coming and I notice he seeded his speech with vague allusions about paying the price for progress and revolution. They will come in handy later when the single mum from Stalybridge is evicted..... Remember he is still on his personal quest, to move into No 10.
If you can bear it have a look at THIS. (I note that they have recognised the fact that not wearing masks leaves them dangerously exposed, not only medically but electorally, as COVID numbers rise again and Plan 'B' or its equivalent becomes more and more necessary.)

[Tizer]

I firmly believe it could be time to form a new party based on solid socialist principles. That would test where the rank and file membership stand.

I agree with you on that, Ian. Labour is now two parties trying to exist as one. Then I'd want the Tories to make a natural split too - right-wing on one side, moderates on the other. Then the voters would have more choice.
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`Impact of Brexit on economy 'worse than Covid'' LINK
`The impact of Brexit on the UK economy will be worse in the long run compared to the coronavirus pandemic, the chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility has said. Richard Hughes said leaving the EU would reduce the UK's potential GDP by about 4% in the long term. He said forecasts showed the pandemic would reduce GDP "by a further 2%". "In the long term it is the case that Brexit has a bigger impact than the pandemic", he told the BBC.'..

[Stanley]

I heard that and also I heard Sunak denying it was true when it was put to him this morning on Today.
Good to hear someone speaking truth to power! I Googled him.... LINK.

[Stanley]

THIS BBC fact checking report on Sunak's budget is worth reading, it dispels some of the smoke.
I see also that The Daily Mail is criticising Rishi Sunak and made this interesting observation....
"He also faced criticism from within Tory ranks from MPs who accused him of being too interested in 'Brand Rishi' and warned he could end up like Gordon Brown - a chancellor who took the top job and lost power. "
It would appear that I am not the only one to mistrust Mr Sunak.

[plaques]

Just a thought on Minimum wage. The government said the minimum wage will rise. But who pays for the rise. = the employer who has three options., absorb the cost. pass it on or go bust. So wages go up which increases tax revenue. + National insurance. The question now is who is the real winner out of this largesse after the rise in the cost of living is factored in ?

[PanBiker]

Did folk pick up on golden boy Rishi's geography gaff yesterday while slumming it up North? He was in a market and extolling the virtue of the "world beating" Burnley market where he was shopping. Big spender, (he bought a bag of sweets). Problem was he was in Bury market, Doh! That blokes in charge of the brass and he doesn't even know where he is!

[Tizer]

He probably said Burnley because he doesn't know how to pronounce Bury!

[Stanley]

I missed that gaffe! By the way, did I hear correctly, was Colne mentioned in the budget?
Ken, as usual, spot on. Raising the minimum wage is a no-brainer for the Treasury as they don't pay. In fact any rise tends to increase the tax take to the Treasury.
As usual with the budget, in the period after the speech as the effects start to sink in we realise once more that the main fact embedded in the budget is that the Treasury are going to take more from the country than any administration since Atlee in 1945 and he had the excuse that WW2 had left us bankrupt. Despite that his administration produced the biggest increase in housing, the welfare state and health ever seen in Britain. Sunak is not even close on any of these areas. The man is a shifty unreliable spiv who is looking after his own interests.

[Tizer]

Switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy provides a great opportunity to create more and better jobs and greater education and training. The government will say this but only makes token attempts and fancy words to give the right impression.

[Stanley]

The French have made a big mistake by writing to Ursula von der Leyen saying that the UK should be made to suffer to prove that we would have been better in the union. This gives the Brexiteers the perfect argument when it becomes obvious that the economic case for leaving was unjustifiable. They can turn round now and say it's all the fault of the French.

[Stanley]

I saw this in Private Eye Ian and thought of you.

[PanBiker]

Indeed Stanley, there is a pressure group that has been formed called Labour against the Witch-hunt. Designed to counter and harass the arbitrary decisions of the party against individuals and CLP branches alike who have felt it necessary to question policy or challenge the State of Israel over their persecution of Palestine. Membership or support of the group can be terminal as far as your party membership is concerned.

We walk a very tenuous line on the normal procedure of motion making at branch and constituency level which is the bedrock of the party, certainly as I and many others know it. It smacks of the "Thought Police" from Orwell's 1984 and in my view not too dissimilar from the workings of the Nazi regime in it's rise to power. If you relay these concerns to the national party you run the risk of branches being suspended or individuals expelled from the party.

We need another left wing side of the party where healthy debate is encouraged and criticism is not judged by expulsion.

I could get chucked out for this post. I have made the decision though to stay and will have to be expelled if they want shut of me.

[plaques]

The only answer to the first past the post dictatorship that gives the Tories and right-wing media a permanent advantage is proportional representation.
That way people would not be losing their vote in areas that have a strong majority in one direction. The media will claim that we will have a parliament of Raving Monster Party. Better to have the odd one or two of these rather than 360 that we have got at the moment.

[PanBiker]

Agreed Ken, we need a massive change in how we do politics to make it fairer. Gladiatorial two party contests "across the house" have had their day. I would force everyone to vote as well, time folk stepped up and made a choice instead of waiving their responsibilities and then bitching about the consequences.

I cant see what the problem is against this as far as democracy goes as we have recently stuffed the country completely on a recommendation and virtually 50/50 to boot!

[Stanley]

"I could get chucked out for this post."
Which proves how ridiculous the Starmer policies are. He's not cleaning the stables, he's demolishing them.
I agree with both Ken and yourself, we need to change something!

[Stanley]

See THIS for the state of play in UK France relations. Johnson never told us that part of the consequences of Brexit could possibly be bad relations with the EU. Do you think he just didn't see it coming?
I see the Noble Lord Frost is continuing to cry foul as the EU tries to find a way of making the protocol that we negotiated work.
Meanwhile we stumble towards even more consequences.....
Later.... I am getting very angry with Useless Eustice as he starts almost every answer by saying 'Well, look here'.

[plaques]

In my opinion this fishing dispute has been manufactured by the UK to make it appear that the EU are villains and the Buffoon did a good job of getting the UK out of it. Then with a backbone of steel he will go for a general election. On the dispute itself I have come across a suggestion that when we were in the market there was no requirement for small boat to have a licence therefore asking them to now prove they had been fishing before is impossible. The licencing is a new requirement that the UK have imposed since our leaving. The EU are very good at understanding rules and no doubt after a lot of huffing and puffing from our right-wing media it will all go quiet followed by a headline that the French have backed down. Meanwhile prices continue to rise, Industries go bust, supply chains break down, people get poorer. But what really matters is we showed the French who was boss.