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The Frack is back in the UK. The ban on the development of shale gas fields has been lifted. Areas that approve drilling will see a decent level of local investment. This could help see significant investment in the northern region. Green blob won't be happy (but when are they ever).
Expansion of nuclear energy, new gas and oil licence round to open up new fields. 2040 net zero targets will be reviewed to ensure they are align with the government's pro-business/pro-growth agenda. Britain to aim to be a net exporter of energy by 2040.
I'm not sure on the energy price cap (I think it is a gamble), but the investment in energy supply and the decision to at last use the energy resources available to the UK is a welcome decision.
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@stodders said in British Politics:
The Frack is back in the UK. The ban on the development of shale gas fields has been lifted. Areas that approve drilling will see a decent level of local investment. This could help see significant investment in the northern region. Green blob won't be happy (but when are they ever).
Expansion of nuclear energy, new gas and oil licence round to open up new fields. 2040 net zero targets will be reviewed to ensure they are align with the government's pro-business/pro-growth agenda. Britain to aim to be a net exporter of energy by 2040.
I'm not sure on the energy price cap (I think it is a gamble), but the investment in energy supply and the decision to at last use the energy resources available to the UK is a welcome decision.
Very positive second day at work
Well played
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@MiketheSnow said in British Politics:
@stodders said in British Politics:
The Frack is back in the UK. The ban on the development of shale gas fields has been lifted. Areas that approve drilling will see a decent level of local investment. This could help see significant investment in the northern region. Green blob won't be happy (but when are they ever).
Expansion of nuclear energy, new gas and oil licence round to open up new fields. 2040 net zero targets will be reviewed to ensure they are align with the government's pro-business/pro-growth agenda. Britain to aim to be a net exporter of energy by 2040.
I'm not sure on the energy price cap (I think it is a gamble), but the investment in energy supply and the decision to at last use the energy resources available to the UK is a welcome decision.
Very positive second day at work
Well played
Yep, no complaints so far. Will create more debt which is not great, but nothing compared to the trouble 600-1000% increase in energy bills will do to the economy.
Hopefully this is all done in synch with the big energy firms so they don't start using British Government as a cash cow.
Unrelated but funny story. Watching my daughter play netball now, her team was miles ahead ... and they got a rough call and ball to the opposition. Bloke beside me says "windfall tax".
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@MajorRage said in British Politics:
@MiketheSnow said in British Politics:
@stodders said in British Politics:
The Frack is back in the UK. The ban on the development of shale gas fields has been lifted. Areas that approve drilling will see a decent level of local investment. This could help see significant investment in the northern region. Green blob won't be happy (but when are they ever).
Expansion of nuclear energy, new gas and oil licence round to open up new fields. 2040 net zero targets will be reviewed to ensure they are align with the government's pro-business/pro-growth agenda. Britain to aim to be a net exporter of energy by 2040.
I'm not sure on the energy price cap (I think it is a gamble), but the investment in energy supply and the decision to at last use the energy resources available to the UK is a welcome decision.
Very positive second day at work
Well played
Yep, no complaints so far. Will create more debt which is not great, but nothing compared to the trouble 600-1000% increase in energy bills will do to the economy.
Hopefully this is all done in synch with the big energy firms so they don't start using British Government as a cash cow.
Unrelated but funny story. Watching my daughter play netball now, her team was miles ahead ... and they got a rough call and ball to the opposition. Bloke beside me says "windfall tax".
The windfall tax. In one foul swoop, Labour, Lib Dems and the SNP would mark Britain out as a country not to do business in. Something that would take an awfully long time to forget and would make any strategic energy policy incredibly hard to implement. Nationalisation isn't the answer to corporatism.
I do hope that the UK political leaders look at ways and incentives to get energy companies to invest their record gains back into R&D and to invest in the communities that help them. Make that capital work hard. People do quickly forget that the likes of BP and Shell had to write off billions in investments made in joint ventures with Russian energy companies to develop fields in norther Russia and the Russia owned areas of the Arctic.
I hope in years to come people will see the benefit in finding solutions for themselves amongst their communities rather than using the common refrain of "the government needs to spend more". If the government spends more, we all lose out long-term. People have forgotten this and have bought into the fantasy of the magic money tree.
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@stodders said in British Politics:
I hope in years to come people will see the benefit in finding solutions for themselves amongst their communities rather than using the common refrain of "the government needs to spend more". If the government spends more, we all lose out long-term. People have forgotten this and have bought into the fantasy of the magic money tree.
I agree. The only way this will happen though is when people look at the cards in front of them, and start playing them. A good government should never be the key thing behind a populations success or failure. They are there to provide an infrastructure. Nothing more.
The Britain I once knew, and loved, appreciated that. I'm not entirely sure thats the case anymore.
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@MajorRage said in British Politics:
@stodders said in British Politics:
I hope in years to come people will see the benefit in finding solutions for themselves amongst their communities rather than using the common refrain of "the government needs to spend more". If the government spends more, we all lose out long-term. People have forgotten this and have bought into the fantasy of the magic money tree.
I agree. The only way this will happen though is when people look at the cards in front of them, and start playing them. A good government should never be the key thing behind a populations success or failure. They are there to provide an infrastructure. Nothing more.
The Britain I once knew, and loved, appreciated that. I'm not entirely sure thats the case anymore.
You only have to look at the NHS to see it isn't
What was once there for births, deaths and emergencies has been destroyed by people unwilling to help themselves
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@MiketheSnow said in British Politics:
@MajorRage said in British Politics:
@stodders said in British Politics:
I hope in years to come people will see the benefit in finding solutions for themselves amongst their communities rather than using the common refrain of "the government needs to spend more". If the government spends more, we all lose out long-term. People have forgotten this and have bought into the fantasy of the magic money tree.
I agree. The only way this will happen though is when people look at the cards in front of them, and start playing them. A good government should never be the key thing behind a populations success or failure. They are there to provide an infrastructure. Nothing more.
The Britain I once knew, and loved, appreciated that. I'm not entirely sure thats the case anymore.
You only have to look at the NHS to see it isn't
What was once there for births, deaths and emergencies has been destroyed by people unwilling to help themselves
Which is why I'm firmly behind it being charged for. What is free, will be wasted. That is one of lifes rules.
If you cut taxes by 5p in the dollar, and then charge 50% of cost for NHS, with your total costs capped by that same 5p in the dollar, watch what happens then. It'll very quickly revert to being for births, deaths emergencies. And it'll be much better funded with people taking better care of themselves.
Those that don't pay tax will of course be disadvantaged. And I say, fuck 'em.
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@MajorRage said in British Politics:
@MiketheSnow said in British Politics:
@MajorRage said in British Politics:
@stodders said in British Politics:
I hope in years to come people will see the benefit in finding solutions for themselves amongst their communities rather than using the common refrain of "the government needs to spend more". If the government spends more, we all lose out long-term. People have forgotten this and have bought into the fantasy of the magic money tree.
I agree. The only way this will happen though is when people look at the cards in front of them, and start playing them. A good government should never be the key thing behind a populations success or failure. They are there to provide an infrastructure. Nothing more.
The Britain I once knew, and loved, appreciated that. I'm not entirely sure thats the case anymore.
You only have to look at the NHS to see it isn't
What was once there for births, deaths and emergencies has been destroyed by people unwilling to help themselves
Which is why I'm firmly behind it being charged for. What is free, will be wasted. That is one of lifes rules.
If you cut taxes by 5p in the dollar, and then charge 50% of cost for NHS, with your total costs capped by that same 5p in the dollar, watch what happens then. It'll very quickly revert to being for births, deaths emergencies. And it'll be much better funded with people taking better care of themselves.
Those that don't pay tax will of course be disadvantaged. And I say, fuck 'em.
Sadly, suggesting this is political suicide. the NHS has become a sacred cow that nobody can touch. But someone has to offer their neck to get it done; you may as well burn any additional money rather than give it to the NHS for all of the good it will do in its current form.
This is not a sleight on the medical professionals who work within the system. The majority give their all and I am grateful for their service. But record numbers are leaving the NHS and they cannot be replaced fast enough. Like Mike has said above, we need to get back to seeing at as a last stop service for births, deaths and emergencies.
And once we have started fixing the NHS, we can focus on modernising the welfare system. This has been bastardised from the original concept that Beveridge proposed in the 40s. Again, it should be safety net of last resort for those who cannot work, not a means to live on for those that can.
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@MajorRage said in Passing of Queen Elizabeth:
Boris may be hated by many, but this is as a good a statement as you'll see, anywhere.
He can turn a word, but he's still a turd
That needs to be flushed -
@Catogrande said in British Politics:
but the buggers won’t work
The 1945 Attlee government was the closest to a socialist administration Britain has come. Its policy of nationalising industries to secure control of the “commanding heights of the economy” was what the unions represented in these industries wanted. But not even that government could avoid industrial disputes: a dock strike provoked Ernest Bevin, foreign secretary and former leader of the Transport and General Workers’ Union, to grumble that “the buggers won’t work”.
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@Catogrande said in British Politics:
I can’t remember if it was Beveridge or Bevan who’s last word’s reportedly, we’re “but the buggers won’t work”.
If you're referring to Nye Bevan - who founded the NHS - he was, in many way was a prototype of today's hate-filled, divisive, extremist politicians and had a visceral hatred of people who didn't share his political views. I read a fair bit about him a few years back and he came across as a really odious individual.
Like almost all good socialists who made a career of bashing the rich, he died a multi-millionaire land-owner
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@stodders said in British Politics:
@Catogrande said in British Politics:
but the buggers won’t work
The 1945 Attlee government was the closest to a socialist administration Britain has come. Its policy of nationalising industries to secure control of the “commanding heights of the economy” was what the unions represented in these industries wanted. But not even that government could avoid industrial disputes: a dock strike provoked Ernest Bevin, foreign secretary and former leader of the Transport and General Workers’ Union, to grumble that “the buggers won’t work”.
Have you read Corelli Barnett's The Lost Victory: British Dreams, British Realities, 1945-1950 ?
It's a pretty devastating critique of Attlee's government which argues (among other things) the Welfare State & NHS was flawed from the start, Ministers knew it but were more interested in building power within the Labour Party and bashing the rich than actually improving lives.
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See also Labour Party governmental management 1945-2009
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@Catogrande said in British Politics:
See also Labour Party governmental management 1945-2009
Both parties, TBF.
Lack of long-term ambition, defeatist attitudes, running away from tough decisions..... The list could go on.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in British Politics:
@Catogrande said in British Politics:
I can’t remember if it was Beveridge or Bevan who’s last word’s reportedly, we’re “but the buggers won’t work”.
If you're referring to Nye Bevan - who founded the NHS - he was, in many way was a prototype of today's hate-filled, divisive, extremist politicians and had a visceral hatred of people who didn't share his political views. I read a fair bit about him a few years back and he came across as a really odious individual.
Like almost all good socialists who made a career of bashing the rich, he died a multi-millionaire land-owner
Different person
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Beveridge, Bevan, Bevin. I can't tell these buggers apart - they all look the same to me.
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Amazing budget from Kwasi today. Staying the course would guarantee defeat to Labour in 2yrs, at least he's having a swing for the fences.
For all the left wing bleating about tax cuts for the rich, primarily from those who don't pay any tax at all, this graph is extraordinary:
Astonishing the increase of the tax take since New Labour, and then continuing post the Cameron/Osborne austerity. Corresponds to a massively inefficient and bloated NHS and civil service, and a dire lack of productivity growth. Covid then reinforced this culture of "the government must fix my problems".
Massive radical change is needed, it'll all probably be undone by the 2024 general election, but good on them for having a crack.
If only they'd cut VAT to 10% and eliminate stamp duty altogether, and use that change to reform a council tax system that is laughably still based on 1991 property values.
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@TeWaio Watching the Sterling today has been completely destructive, but I know that this is the right thing to get the country back on the right path. A growth strategy. A plan to make people get back to work and get above the 16 hour a week bullshit planted by Labour many moons ago. Better reward for the workers, fuck the rest of you. It's as simple as that.
Yes, the Yanks may not like it, but regardless of what is posted, there are still an awful lot of metrics which are much stronger in the UK than Europe / US. In my view it is being rather unfairly picked on, in some ways to deflect from own national issues, but at least by the EU, to keep the "Leaving the EU is bad" narrative afloat.
I acknowledge that some of these views are in a bit of hope, and perhaps the country is way more fucked than any other Western nation on the planet, but I struggle to comprehend that. I am also in hope, that the tax cuts are going to be offset in the near future by some serious NHS reform. It still fucks me off the way the Brits approach this piece of shit health system.
Actual conversation today with a British colleague who has moved to the Netherlands. He earns basically the same gross, pays more in tax but was raving about it. He said that in NL it's much better as he "only pays 120 a month" for health care, and for that he gets appointments quickly as well as referrals. Yes mate, that's called private health care. I have that as well, and unsurprisingly, I get the same service. Amazing how many of my colleagues rely on the NHS when we all have the same private health care which as 100 GBP per year excess.
Anyway, fingers crossed this works. Don't know if it will, but the left, and especially the far left seem to absolutely hate it. So it must be good.
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Went up to the Yorkshire Dales for a week and based ourselves at Keighley (Bronte country). Bit of a revelation race-relations wise.
Unlike London or even Cornwall, there seemed almost zero cultural mingling between Muslim groups/people and others, and the divide seemed stark in dress, day-day interactions and conversations. Go into any shop in the South and you'll see all sorts working there - hijabs, scarves and all. In Keithley it seemed all Muslim (only male) or non-Muslim. The owner of the B&B mentioned it too, saying many Muslims, even those born in the UK, wanted to keep to themselves and didn't want their children to become too westernised.
I know it's only a microcosm but there really did seem to be two worlds. Still don't know quite what to make of it, but was quite taken aback
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