The Chancellor says they will spend anything necessary to make schools safe. Strange how they find money for this but not NHS wages to make us all safe? Basically it is just another bill for the next Government to pick up! More duplicity.
ENVIRONMENT
Labour is showing no commitment to environmental standards. Lis Nandy says labour would not repeal the Nutrient Neutrality bill which will land the taxpayer £280m. Starmer has criticised Khan over ULEZ rollout. If Labour do not make a stand on the environment they will lose out to the LibDems for disaffected Conservative voters and many Labour voters. Bye election results have not mirrored opinion polls in favouring Labour. With perhaps the most incompetent and appalling governments for decades Labour should be 50 points ahead – but people are still confused at what, if anything, they stand for, other than gaining power. They are no longer socialist – and I could not swear hand on heart that I could guarantee thqt they would be a marked improvement on the present disgraceful shower. Party conference season is coming up – this maybe the last chance for Labour to make a mark with public at large.
What we have been told so far is no return to the EU or Customs Union; no tax on high earners; no repeal of anti-demonstration laws; no repeal of environmentally harmful policies; no repeal of the HoL; To be honest – what is the point? Shit is still shit – even if it smells less!
INCOMPETENT
Incompetent in the extreme . When you think tey cannot get any worse they manage it! 11 months ago surveys were sent to schools about RAAC. Only when pressure was applied from outside did the Government respond by closing over 20 school completely with over 100 partial closures and over 500 results pending. Yet Gibb takes credit for being proactive and closing down buildings – the week before school starts again. Schools are left to sort out a problem that has existed for months and have been shut for 5 weeks. Other public buildings are in the same situation with courts being closed and some police buildings. Until yesterday the plan was to have schools prepare evacuation procedures! Were they planning on issueing body bags?
Rather than take credit for closing the schools he should resign. Schools are also expected to provide home tuition where relevant and send out lunch credits for thosd entitled. The position that England had done more than Scotland and Wales may be fair, but finding someone worse than you was always the cowards way!
SUNAK APPEALS TO THE POPULIST MORONS
In the UK we lock up 136 per 100000, in the Netherlands it is 53. Crime rates are lower too. And at the cost of
Over the past decade, crime rates in the Netherlands have continued to fall annually. Even though it is impossible to conclusively determine the drivers behind this statistic, it is possible to discern several regional conditions that may have contributed towards the decline.
As judges tend to rely on less severe penalties such as fines, electronic tagging or community service, it is quite rare for convicts in the Netherlands to face lengthy jail time. Furthermore, the Dutch punitive system generally favours rehabilitation over punishment and considerably less criminals reoffend after serving their sentences than in other countries. In fact, over 20 prisons have closed in the Netherlands since 2013 due to the dwindling number of incarcerated convicts in the country.
At a cost of £46000+ per year that is a huge burden on society – and we can see it does not work (except for the vindictive in society, aided and abetted by the right wing media.
The same mentality is applied to asylum seekers – lock them up and stop them working and getting a better life – Insensitive twats.
CHAOS
More chaos in government as perhaps the only person they’re seen to be vaguely competent is replaced by another lap dog. With change every 10 minutes it does give them an excuse for their incompetence. One would presume that all Ministry’s take time to understand and work efficiently. Shapps does not appear to be the sharpest tool in the box! I thought Coutinho was still with Aston Villa, but becoming energy Minister at this time must be a bit of a poisoned chalice with Shapps having done nothing remotely useful in his short time there, and more pain to be experienced this winter. Surprisingly he did not use the opportunity to weed out the rotten apples in his cabinet – perhaps the ERG did not allow it?
BREXIT AND BUSINESS
Gove announces plans to reduce requirements for new housing not to pollute rivers. The Express claims this is a benefit of Brexit – a benefit for fuck sake! The government has allocated £140m of taxpayers money to offset this pollution. So firms like Barrett’s can maintain their profits (£50000 per new house average) and payouts to executives and shareholders. There have been no new houses in Lake District or Solent area for 4 years due to restrictions. I personally say great, houses should be built to be water efficient as well as energy efficient. Another Brexit benefit – apparently we are importing eggs from Mexico ! Whatever happened to the concept of food miles.
PESSIMISM
It is hard not to be pessimistic in the light of scientific consensus. Ocean temperatures are at a record level, CO2 in the atmosphere has exceeded levels considered to be safe. Crazy weather events around the world are becoming more common. Yet the political and industrial leaders continue to advocate the burning of fossil fuels – how bad does it have to get before action is taken. If the Gulf Stream falters the UK will be setting records for low temperatures in winter and highs in summer. El NINO is on its way in the Pacific and is likely to result in more extreme weather events.
Meanwhile in the UK the Conservative Party is undoing green policies daily, they have committed to a campaign against Labour whereby they claim that Labour is waging war on motorists. For too long the car reigned supreme in our cities. Housing areas became rat runs for motorists and polluted our children. During Covid traffic calming schemes were introduced in many areas. The gxvernmentwants to undo these improvements to the standard of living and support and encourage the vandals who destroy bollards. As already stated in previous posts – charging by the m/km is entirely sensible. The ULEZ scheme is just a sticking plaster – fundamental change in our use of cars and transport generally is needed.
The disruption to air travel caused by the IT fault showed us how ridiculous the travel industry has become. Fuel is not taxed and air travel has become a right rather than a privilege to be used with circumspection.
CARS
The Mail on Saturday accused the Labour Party of having a secret policy to tax car transport by the mile or even km! They really are treating the motoring public as morons! By taxing petrol/deisel the motoring public are already beingg taxed per m/km. A fact that motor companies use to advertise the more efficient cars.
The government is already losing income on E.V.s which avoid road tax (£7billion)and fuel tax (£26.7 billion). So a £33 billion shortfall income and the roads need repair and improvement – so a better way than charging per m/km? This would be fair and acceptable to all – except the Daily Mail which is trying its hardest to agitate its motorist readers against Labour and especially Khan.
Places such as rural areas like Cornwall may need some amendments to a pay by the m/km scheme. Could it be like income tax? The more you travel, the more you pay? With registered companies allowed to offset the cost against tax?
Every town should have airport style buses from Park and Ride sites at a cost of £1 plus the parking. City centres could be totally car free and be regenerated into great places to gather, have a coffee/meal do a bit of shopping and exist in a quiet’ish and pollution free environment. Smaller towns have parking near enough to walk. Even taxi’s should only be allowed around the perimeter. Whether this is a decent plan, I have no idea, but something needs to change in our use of city centres and the car.
DIET
So an attempt at public outcry regarding diets and the prevalence of Ultra Processed Food. However the odds are stacked in favour of the processing corporations who dictate to the farmers the prices paid. if processed food was charged VAT then the price difference of fresh produce would be more affordable. This would also encourage more locally grown produce. Jamie Oliver is correct in his campaign for free healthy school meals – as creatures of habit our children would grow up with a taste for healthy food. Farmers would benefit and I am sure local stores in poorer areas would also adapt quickly, Perhaps even the regrowth of street markets in newly establish car free zones!
All this will be a red rag to the right wing who oppose any redress in the balance between free enterprise and the individual. They even railed against the sugar tax.
FOOTBALL
So the euphoria for Spanish women’s football has been extinguished by Luis Rubiales. I am not sure if this is a reflection of Spanish society or just the knobs who run international sport. For a fleeting moment I believed that the Spanish victory, although sad for England, would benefit the quest for equality – certainly in Western Europe. Quite how anyone can justify a solicited kiss on the lips is beyond me. The fact he has refused to resign is also indicative of the way the ruling class treat the rest of us. This country is no exception – cost of living crisis “I know we will double the pay off for MP’s who lose their seats (often due to gross incompetence)”.
Manchester United looks like it will be sold for about £6billion. Thus giving the Glazier family a really obscene profit despite running the club and its facilities to a sorry state.