UK Politics

[Tangled Metal]

I'm possibly the type of voter labour needs to son, centre right, but in in a libdem safe seat. Despite that I see Starmer as someone I could only vote for if they made a few changes. One is presenting their policies not just rely on criticising the tories. I know how bad the tories are but not how good or bad Starmers policies are.

Second thing is I feel they're a little bit taking over as the nasty party. For a party that quite rightly argued for changes in political nastiness after the Labour mp got killed they've forgotten it now. A deputy who sees no harm in using inflammatory language like tory scum. Others having to delete twitter posts due to language used, plus a few others. Then there's the reports into labour action on antisemitism. I personally took their deputy leader is one of the best politicians of her generation but she has poor judgement over tone of her language. As a serious candidate for top government positions you can't just appeal to a section of your party faithful but to those of the other side. How on earth do you expect to do that when you call them or the people they last voted for with those terms, simply put a politician needs to be above gut emotions and the language of the more forceful party members. Certainly in her position.

Finally trade unions. I agree with upthread, there's a lot of mistrust and current actions don't help. Labour needs to show more independence from them. I think after Starmer instructed MPs not to stand with rmt strikers to not expel those who did I think sends a poor message.

[Dingdong]

I agree that the Unions have to be if not better controlled by Labour adherents, then certainly a distance put between the Labour party and public suppor for strike action. In fact, less reliance on Union funding would definitely go a long way to make the party more viable in an election scenario.

That said, Sunak faces tremendous trials in the next six months, and if there's even a hint of another market crisis, or serious, continued strike action, or the likelihood of civil unrest when the real chill of winter bites, his days are numbered. The biggest challenge politically will be the local elections in the spring. Even a by election, at precisely the wrong moment could be enough to trigger a GE.

It's clear that the red tops (especially the Sun) are gearing up for a shift to support Starmer and the Labour party. What it will take to declare outright support, I don't know, perhaps it will be the steady drip of small crisis after crisis?

I don't buy into this whole 'Sunak saved Covid UK', what he did was borrow large amounts of cash to sustain the furlough, which will clearly cost in the long run.

He's between the devil and the deep blue: another round of austerity will cost the Tories the election, and continued spending will rattle the already frayed nerves of the markets. I can't see a future, or a way out of this winter for the Tories past the May elections. Miracles do happen, but after 12 years of corruption and betrayal it seems clear, even to those that don't want to hear it, the country is begging for a change.

[cycle tramp]

Ages ago society moved forwards when it accepted the idea of democracy, rather than appointment by God..
..we now need to take another step forward and remove personalities from poltics and we need to do this by voting for policies rather than personalities, and on a case by case basis..
..so the public would vote for a farming policy, an education policy and so on and so forth..
..the changes in each policy would be suggested by various interested parties with the final say being made by the Public and central government would be reduced to a custodian level to ensure the completion of each policy change...
..critics would argue that have more national votes a year would cost the country alot of money and I wouldn't deny this, however what we would have is a far more engaged and empowered public.

[thirdcrank]

Consider why Liz Truss and now Rishi Sunak have inherited such a big parliamentary majority.

Having blobbed over the referendum, David Cameron resigned, leaving delivery of Brexit to Teresa May, whose sole attraction was that she was not Boris Johnson. Eventually and almost inevitably, Boris Johnson succeeded Teresa May and tried to break the parliamentary stalemate through the wheeze of prorogation. Thwarted by the enemies of the people, he went for a general election, offering am "oven-ready" Brexit. The simple attraction of that concept swept him - and the Conservatives - to a huge majority. That "keep it simple" strategy guided everything he announced.

It doesn't suggest an engaged electorate

[PH]

I agree that the Unions have to be if not better controlled by Labour adherents, then certainly a distance put between the Labour party and public suppor for strike action. In fact, less reliance on Union funding would definitely go a long way to make the party more viable in an election scenario.

The union making the biggest noise at the moment is the RMT, they're not affiliated to the Labour Party, they neither contribute to it's funding or have any vote on it's policies. How much distance would you like?
Unions in the UK operate under stricter control than just about anywhere else in the western world, including how they make political donations, It's not the 80's where some bolshie shop steward can call everyone out on a minor grievance, however the media would like to portray it. Look at the workers taking, or considering, industrial action, from nurses to barristers, supporting these workers ought to be a vote winner and something the Labour Party should be doing.

[Nearholmer]

The Unions are a perfect bogeyman, something that the newspapers can conjure-up from c1978, with which to provoke fear and outrage in their readers; rational facts rarely come into it, as the reporting of particular disputes demonstrates.

But, that very situation represents a problem for Labour when seeking election. Union-phobia is quite widespread, even among workers who would blindingly obviously be in a better position if they banded-together and formed a branch of a union themselves, because it is consistently used as a “wedge issue” by the right, who stoke jealousy between unionised (mostly public-sector these days) and non-unionised workers by talking of “union greed”, “holding the country to ransom” etc. I’m also convinced that a lot of people who would self-identify as middle-class have a nagging feeling that well-organised workers represent a threat to the social order, a sort of “class fear”, which touches on their personal status.

It’s just one of those things Labour has to factor into it’s approach, and live with, like the weather, because it is very deep-seated

The only time right wing populist newspapers find it tricky is when nurses go on strike, because even they struggle to demonise the same people they’ve five-minutes before angelised as the living spirits of Florence Nightingale.

[Cugel]

The Unions are a perfect bogeyman, something that the newspapers can conjure-up from c1978, with which to provoke fear and outrage in their readers; rational facts rarely come into it, as the reporting of particular disputes demonstrates.

But, that very situation represents a problem for Labour when seeking election. Union-phobia is quite widespread, even among workers who would blindingly obviously be in a better position if they banded-together and formed a branch of a union themselves, because it is consistently used as a “wedge issue” by the right, who stoke jealousy between unionised (mostly public-sector these days) and non-unionised workers by talking of “union greed”, “holding the country to ransom” etc. I’m also convinced that a lot of people who would self-identify as middle-class have a nagging feeling that well-organised workers represent a threat to the social order, a sort of “class fear”, which touches on their personal status.

It’s just one of those things Labour has to factor into it’s approach, and live with, like the weather, because it is very deep-seated

The only time right wing populist newspapers find it tricky is when nurses go on strike, because even they struggle to demonise the same people they’ve five-minutes before angelised as the living spirits of Florence Nightingale.

Neoliberals are keen to reduce human work to nothing more than a commodity ("human resources") like everything else, that has only one value - it's monetary value. They like to keep labour in plentiful and cheap supply by ensuring that there's more unemployed labour than less, which reduces it's value as there's a surfeit in their market.

But should this "resource" seek to increase its own value, the humans involved in doing so are immediately recategorised from "resource" to " evil devil folk" who are intent on destroying the wonderful edifice of big business and it wonderful goods and services - the same ones that have polluted the planet probably beyond redemption and reduced every aspect of life to being nothing more than the progres of a resource into a grinding mill.

No one wants to go on strike - it means an existence already full of hardships imposed by mean & grasping employers' low wages becomes a whole lot harder since there's not even the paltry pay of the day-to-day grind. But how else is a "human resource" to increase its value other than by making it more scarce? It's only neoliberal economics, after all.

Cugel

[Jdsk]

An important turn in the management of immigration.

The relevant inspector has described the conditions at the detention centre as inhumane:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics ... ossings-vn

And the local MP has blamed the Home Office:
https://news.sky.com/story/conservative ... s-12734816

Jonathan

PS: And of course the current Home Secretary is tangled up in security breaches and how they were reported.

[simonineaston]

And as climate chaos ramps up and more and more regions suffer extreme weather conditions, the number of persons who view their lives as impossible and who will attempt to enter regions they regard as a better bet, will turn from a trickle to a flood. A serious, wide-ranging and no doubt expensive solution will be essential, sooner or later - the gov. should simply view what's happening now as a rehersal...
And then I recall Cygnus.

[Jdsk]

Screenshot 2022-10-27 at 08.37.46.png
https://twitter.com/PiersUncensored/sta ... 4062058508

It now seems that someone is telling some other people that MI5 don't trust her.

She didn't turn up to answer an Urgent Question today.]

"I'm told cabinet secretary Simon Case is NOT launching an investigation into Suella Braverman's re-appointment and the circumstances around her original departure as home secretary."
https://twitter.com/breeallegretti/stat ... -live-news

We'll see.

Long letter from Braverman to the Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... letter.pdf

"35.The review of my use of Government and personal IT has now concluded and that matter is now closed."

We'll see.

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

An important turn in the management of immigration.

The relevant inspector has described the conditions at the detention centre as inhumane:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics ... ossings-vn

And the local MP has blamed the Home Office:
https://news.sky.com/story/conservative ... s-12734816
...

"Suella Braverman failed to sign off on measures which could have eased pressure at a migrant processing centre, sources have told the BBC.
"The home secretary was warned by officials the government was acting outside the law by failing to provide alternative accommodation."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63458493

Jonathan

[djnotts]

Starmer v Sunak is an irrelevance. Extreme right global capitalism has won the class war. In the UK context only TUs could have challenged the ruling classes, hence the long efforts to defeat organised labour.
So successful was the campaign from Thatcher onwards that even the working class were persuaded to see their only salvation as an enemy!
It's all over now. Bar the screaming from the correction camps.

[Jdsk]

An important turn in the management of immigration.

The relevant inspector has described the conditions at the detention centre as inhumane:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics ... ossings-vn

And the local MP has blamed the Home Office:
https://news.sky.com/story/conservative ... s-12734816
...

"Suella Braverman failed to sign off on measures which could have eased pressure at a migrant processing centre, sources have told the BBC.
"The home secretary was warned by officials the government was acting outside the law by failing to provide alternative accommodation."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63458493

Report on Manston by HM Inspectorate of Prisons:
https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk ... all-boats/

“Inspectors recognised the work done in setting up the facility at Manston and improvements to Western Jet Foil, but also noted a number of risks. When I visited Manston in September, some of these risks had begun to materialise and I met detainees who had been held for more than four days in a facility that was not designed for overnight stays and in which there was no access to the open air. I was also concerned that there were still no mobile phones available, which meant that many detainees, including some who were very young, had been unable to contact their families.
“Recent intelligence from a number of credible sources, including the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, the Independent Monitoring Boards and staff associations, suggest that the current situation at Manston has significantly deteriorated since our July inspection. We are hearing that detainees are now being held in greater numbers and for much longer periods of time in cramped and uncomfortable conditions, often supervised by staff who have not been suitably trained.
“As a result of these concerns, the Inspectorate is planning a swift return to Manston and will expect to see substantial improvements. In the meantime, the Home Office and its contractors need to get a grip and urgently act on the findings of this report to make sure all detainees are held in safe, decent and humane conditions."

Jonathan

[Psamathe]

An important turn in the management of immigration.

The relevant inspector has described the conditions at the detention centre as inhumane:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics ... ossings-vn

And the local MP has blamed the Home Office:
https://news.sky.com/story/conservative ... s-12734816
...

"Suella Braverman failed to sign off on measures which could have eased pressure at a migrant processing centre, sources have told the BBC.
"The home secretary was warned by officials the government was acting outside the law by failing to provide alternative accommodation."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63458493

Report on Manston by HM Inspectorate of Prisons:
https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk ... all-boats/

“Inspectors recognised the work done in setting up the facility at Manston and improvements to Western Jet Foil, but also noted a number of risks. When I visited Manston in September, some of these risks had begun to materialise and I met detainees who had been held for more than four days in a facility that was not designed for overnight stays and in which there was no access to the open air. I was also concerned that there were still no mobile phones available, which meant that many detainees, including some who were very young, had been unable to contact their families.
“Recent intelligence from a number of credible sources, including the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, the Independent Monitoring Boards and staff associations, suggest that the current situation at Manston has significantly deteriorated since our July inspection. We are hearing that detainees are now being held in greater numbers and for much longer periods of time in cramped and uncomfortable conditions, often supervised by staff who have not been suitably trained.
“As a result of these concerns, the Inspectorate is planning a swift return to Manston and will expect to see substantial improvements. In the meantime, the Home Office and its contractors need to get a grip and urgently act on the findings of this report to make sure all detainees are held in safe, decent and humane conditions."

Jonathan

On becoming PM Sunak promised 'integrity, professionalism and accountability' yet after no time there is Braveman failing to answer questions about her alleged failing to report her own ministerial code breaches, using language designed to enrage those strongly anti-asylum seekers (the “'invasion' of asylum seekers across the Channel". Yet she continues to be protected by the support of No 10. So much for promises made only a few days ago by our new PM (putting Party management over 'integrity, professionalism and accountability').

Ian

[Jdsk]

On becoming PM Sunak promised 'integrity, professionalism and accountability' yet after no time there is Braveman failing to answer questions about her alleged failing to report her own ministerial code breaches, using language designed to enrage those strongly anti-asylum seekers (the “'invasion' of asylum seekers across the Channel". Yet she continues to be protected by the support of No 10. So much for promises made only a few days ago by our new PM (putting Party management over 'integrity, professionalism and accountability').

Well said. This won't go away by itself.

Jonathan