POLITICS CORNER

[Big Kev]

and that

[PanBiker]

Indeed and despite all of these there are still 20% who have none of them. 20% is a big number when the regular turnout is usually less than 50% and quite often a lot less in local elections. The ones that are disadvantaged in this respect are the same ones that are disadvantaged already on the social scale. The very ones that need things to change to improve their lot. But of course that is the plan, keep the plebs down. I keep saying it, Lords of the bloody Universe. We should have swept them all away at the same time that the French got revolting.

[plaques]

Lets not forget the mighty Google.
A little story that makes you wonder.
Lived in Burnley and Colne with a big interest in Rolls Royce. Don't talk about it on OG only to ask what's going on. Then yesterday a friend mentioned someone we both knew who in the past had worked at RR. Sadly he'd died. That evening I opened up the local news on Google and there in big banner headlines was his name. What sort of algorithm is it that can select the news I read on the flimsiest of information? More than spooky... Frightening.

[Stanley]

Identity cards worked fine during WW2....

[PanBiker]

Identity cards worked fine during WW2....

Yes they did and there was no pussy footing about quoting human rights and big brother etc. Time someone got a grip and just got on with it.

[Stanley]

We gave up a lot of freedoms to aid the war effort. One of the most common sayings when someone complained was "Don't you know there's a war on!"
The difference was that in those days we trusted the politicians because we knew their agenda was the same as ours. Now we know that many of them are on the make and/or are liars. Even out PM is a proven serial liar!
What did we fight that war for?

[Stanley]

Later... I've just been listening to Profile on R4 which was about Angela Rayner. (LINK) I knew nothing about her and was very impressed by what she has done from such a difficult start. Mention was made of her as a possible party leader. I previously supported Rebecca Long Bailey but I think I am now a Rayner fan. (Fickle these old blokes!)

[Tizer]

What did we fight that war for?

That reminds me of Alf Garnett looking out of his window and saying "There's bloody German cars all down the street! What did we fight that war for?" Not that I'd ever suggest you were like Alf Garnett, of course!

Angela Rayner was the subject of Saturday's two-page interview in The Times yesterday and she came over very well. Knows about life because she was brought up on a council estate in Wythenshawe and left school at 16 with no qualifications because she was pregnant. That's why the current nasty jibes from another Labour politician roll off her like water off teflon. When she was asked how she reacted to Johnson describing her as a lioness feeding on Starmer's job offers she said "I'll eat eat the little mouse!" Starmer and Rayner make a good double act - the cool lawyer and the fiery warrior queen! (When the news broke that she was angry because she couldn't buy a pair of Star Wars themed shoes on Ebay she ended up with a fan club of American men who say she's their favourite British politician!)

[Stanley]

I have to agree about Angela, I'd give her a stab at the job of leading Labour any day. We have had enough of grey faceless men, let's have a sparky woman and give her her head.
Later at 05:45.... I've just heard that IDS says that to allow the Indian variant of Covid to delay opening society would be bonkers as our vaccines were effective against them. That is a recommendation to extend lockdown for me!
I can't help thinking that he has missed the point. For a vaccine to work, people have to have had it....

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report of Matt Hancocks statement about the spread of the India variant and the possibility that the later elimination of all restrictions might be delayed.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC account of the latest report from the National Audit Office on how the pandemic has been handled. By the time Johnson gets round to his enquiry a lot of the problems will have been exposed and there will be a massive agenda. This makes the official enquiry look more and more like a can-kicking exercise.

[plaques]

I see Mat Hancock is promoting the Tory success of building NEW hospitals. Now claiming, indirectly of course, that a refurbishment to an old one now becomes a NEW hospital. Also in the mix is the additional grey area of adding a new wing etc: while simultaneously demolishing half the old one reducing the overall services is now also classified as a NEW hospital. "Words mean what I want them to mean Humpty Hancock".

[Tizer]

The lawyers are closing the net around Donald Trump - but of course his fans say it's a Democrat plot...
`New York prosecutor says Trump inquiry now criminal' LINK

[Stanley]

But Ken, everyone knows they have built 40 new hospitals!

[Stanley]

See THIS for a BBC report that there is to be a new body running the railways, Great British Railways. sounds good but Johnson says it will be world beating and that has so far proved to be the kiss of death for anything it is associated with. Also it still involves the private sector so don't hold your breath.

[Whyperion]

' levelling up' tends to be increase house prices in cheap areas so that those with money will move to there, those without will have to find cheaper accomodation elsewhere.

Problem with Railways is that they eat money - forever - and dont always go to the places where they would be useful. Buses, maybe, mostly because changes to wages and lack of running subsidies means the smaller family companies are falling away.

I'll repeat myself, anyone got idea why I should change my view ?

(I note Lancashire CC has tended to do for Bus Services (around Burnley/Colne/Clitheroe) what the national government is planning for the Railways, which has consolidate the operator which at least means transdevs paid for tickets can be used on more local services (even though the one serving where I used to live has doubled the frequency yet cut the route back to avoid that estate (maybe the use of longer buses was a reason for that - walkable for some to the bus stop - up a hill - maybe a canal boat service would be nice from Burnley to Skipton !) Everytime I see the speakings of the transport minister broadly contradicting the reasons given by a previous conservative administration for privatisation yet promising the same outcomes. While I know TfL do want to expand their management role in certain London services, most of the metropolitan counties already have control on all their local services, will that be lost, or expanded to more local boards, like the metropolitan city regions or county councils. The moderate (but) slow success of integrated Rail Privatisation- the Chiltern Line to Birmingham is always ignored, it has upgraded, sped journeys, increased destinations, re-opened closed lines (though at a very slow pace really), as is the London/Southend Route which did it just by new reliable rolling stock- present delays on it at weekends caused by Transport For London's new junctions for one overground line extention.

Overall its an adminstrative re-arrangement that wont bring real difference in the next five years, dont expect any reduction in overall fares, possibly even an increase as fare setting I doubt has really been though of at the DfT. To some extent the timing of the change might benefit the Tories, as the issues say Northern had with new train deliveries as knock-on expectations didnt happen as the original plan was (which was the Govt fault in part), Route upgrades were also delayed by Network Rail, they are now done, but the through trains in Manchester have actually shown the capacity at Manchester Piccadilly Platforms is insufficient for the train types being sent there. (again a DfT plan error).
Of course no-one knows what a covid-free? world will look like.

[plaques]

Everytime I see the speakings of the transport minister broadly contradicting the reasons given by a previous conservative administration for privatisation yet promising the same outcomes.

Overall its an adminstrative re-arrangement that wont bring real difference in the next five years, dont expect any reduction in overall fares, possibly even an increase as fare setting I doubt has really been though of at the DfT.

Forgetting what utopian plans have been said in the past has become the standard escape route for the Conservatives. Out with the old and in with the new what people should be concentrating on is the promises for tomorrow. As we know tomorrow never comes but as we get nearer to the jam tomorrow date there will be some more promises to take the place of the old ones that have been forgotten.

It is already on the cards that rail fair are going to increase.

inflation has doubled in one month to 1.5%. The Bank of England expect a LITTLE overshoot of the 2% benchmark but expect it to drop as time goes on. Who are they kidding.

The global warning people are suggesting that Joe Public stops burning fossil fuel. No petrol no diesel no gas. Expect your bank balance to come under a bit of strain.
Electric car £30,000.
Gas replacement boiler £7,000+
Gas hob replacement £200.

But the good news is you can still go to the pub and go out for a meal.

[Whyperion]

I would have thought rental for leccy cars would reduce the bank outlay (I dont understand why battery packs are not done on lease separately, and engines 9motors?) - they are a quick , clean , swap nowdays for electrics ). Bit of a Flatley Dryer when you rented the telly, do it long enough and they give it to you as its not worth the value of collecting it unless they can rent an upgrade (made sense to vendors when VAT was reclaimable on business assets and 100% corp tax allowances on 'plant' as the VAT advance effectively went in the bank and earned interest !)

Inflation prices are a funny thing, mostly driven by higher fuel prices this year compared to last years bottom lows (20% plus at pump prices - the pipeline software problem in USA and Suez Blockage also were one offs ). Longer issues are the costs of container shipping and unloading with lack of cheap far east goods (covid related). Farm costs and fallout from Brexit. Never mind that govt will tread between indirect taxes (measured in inflation) and direct payroll taxes (which are not). House price inflation knocks on Capital Gains Tax for some - a 40% chunk of at least 20% increase in property prices is more than the stamp duty the Govt has lost out on (plus VAT on the services in house changing !) If only the Govt spent sensibly they might have ended up in profit. But it goes to their mates and the UK population has this odd desire to fly away and spend their money in Europe (which they just voted to leave). Unemployment Issues - essentially its not the lack of skills but the vacancies being the wrong kind - Software Engineering is so mind-numbing and a lot in financial services are a make money on myths, smoke and illusion (crypto-currencies).

[Whyperion]

While Network Rail still realise they have a property portfolio with a rail system attached , bringing the franchises back to the Govt brings all the smaller stations too, many ripe for either increasing the rentals for businesses or expanding the nearby footprint of residential. (Burnley Central could have been better developed in the nearby area for new build residential , no one appears to have taken the risk to do it - at some time Manchester will get full up - not that the line from Central runs direct to Manchester - a fast link to west yorkshire might be handy though.

[Stanley]

Just heard Laura Kuenssberg reporting on the failure of the Test and Trace to alert councils to the Indian Variant for 'Three long weeks'. There is no such thing as a 'long week', this is using dramatic language to increase the impact of a report and not objective reporting.

[Whyperion]

The Test and Trace Alert App failure seems interesting. Another data parsing error to the Tracers it seems. Those identified with Covid (any variant ?) apparently were told by the App, but not the Local Council Trace Teams (whom give support as well as calling people).

BBC Reports Govt Response ..
Downing Street has denied NHS Test and Trace failures were partly to blame for the surge in the Indian variant in one of the worst affected parts of the UK.

A report seen by the BBC revealed for three weeks in April and May, eight local authorities in England - including Blackburn with Darwen - did not have access to the full data on positive tests in their area, meaning more than 700 cases were not reported and traced locally.

The prime minister's official spokesman has told reporters all positive cases were contacted and told to self-isolate for 10 days.

He says: "There was a short delay when asking some of those positive cases to provide details of individuals they had contacted since contracting Covid.

"This issue was across a small number of local authority areas and was quickly resolved."

Asked whether the government accepted the failure contributed to the spread of the variant, the spokesman says: "The spread of the variant will be down to a number of factors - this was an issue that occurred across a small number of local authority areas, so I don't think it is possible to draw that conclusion from this."



- Hmm, Eight fairly large (and why just them ?) areas and Three Weeks apparently is not a long time and a quick resolution.

[Stanley]

News is coming in that there is preliminary agreement in trade talks with Australia that envisage the removal of tariffs and quotas over the next 15 years. Even though this will slow the impact, what it means is that, like fishing, farmers have been sold down the river if that is what it takes to get a deal.

[plaques]

Our fantastic farmers are entrepreneurial enough to take every advantage of the global opportunities that this deal has created, I'm sure that they they will respond with the same spirit they showed during WW2 when they had their backs against the wall. Of course there may be a slight delay until they have sold their land to building speculators who will fulfil the need for houses that the country desperately needs.

[Stanley]

Ken. That, though satirical, is a fair summation of the Tory view of farming. They have never understood stock or crops. As far as they are concerned these are simply commodities. As food prices rise, which is another consequence of Brexit, they will gradually realise that the only way to control prices is home production. As things stand they are quite happy for us to be at the mercy of foreign beef barons and flock-masters who work on scales unimaginable in the UK. They will then realise that it takes four years to restart a cattle based enterprise and 3 years for sheep.

[chinatyke]

...As food prices rise, which is another consequence of Brexit, ...

I can remember the naysayers going on about "bread will be ten bob a loaf" after we enter the EU, it was less than two bob at the time. And I was earning about 20 quid a week.

Quoted elsewhere on OGFB: average wage for a nurse 36,000 pounds per annum. Wages go up, prices go up, get used to it!