UK Politics Thread (Part 1)

That’s always been small c conservative (centre-right) ideology.

Agree on where the cuts will come but I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of these roles are redesignated towards more regional services than just removed entirely.

I guess I meant more the Republican dogmatic approach to the ideology.

Traditional conservatives always struck me as being proud of our civil service, our police, judges, the institutions of the UK. I guess harking bark to a past era.

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BJ’s current status as the British MP is not Starmer’s fault. But if he were any good at politics, he’d have dispatched him some time ago.

I did expect more from Starmer, I must admit.

My take from afar, just on the working, eating together, drinking together thing… is that things are very polarized so there is no good will and a general sense of trying to catch each other out.

Boris is a wrong ‘un on any number of levels, and he should be ousted, if not by his own party, then by the public as soon as they have the opportunity.

But limiting the observation to curries and parties, the Tories have been much worse. Starmer is only dealing with the curry thing because the Tories were caught bang to rights. Personally I don’t care about wine in the garden, or Boris’s wife flitting about. None of that bothers me much. None of it seems worth the steam off my piss compared to more substantive issues. It’s odd that it has had so much coverage.

With that said, the one where it looked like a proper piss up, juxtaposed with the Queen sitting there alone at the funeral, due to covid rules, gets under my skin. I’m not even a Royalist, but she showed such dignity and stoicism, while the dicks in government filled their boots.

The ‘crimes’ on each side of this one are far from equivalent, but heads should roll on the Tory side for that, and then a line drawn under it all.

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Yet another government u-turn:

So much for being serious about tackling obesity.

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That is what they usually refer to as “One Nation Conservatives” which was more aligned to, for example, Christian Democrats in mainland Europe. That tended to be more socially conservative but also quite paternalistic. I think that changed with Thatcher although John Major very much fitted that role even if his party didn’t.

I don’t think the current bunch even have an ideology other than thievery.

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That seems to be the odd one.

How so?

There’s a cost of living crisis.

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So the answer is to eat more cheap, unhealthy food?

How about fixing the system that has led to so many people living on the breadline in the first place?

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Ryan Reynolds Reaction GIF

“Perhaps MPs should learn to cook properly for themselves.”

While many are struggling with the cost of living crisis, we discovered that MPs enjoy restaurant-quality meals on the cheap, thanks to ✨PUBLIC SUBSIDIES✨.

🔎 Here's what @martinrw found: https://t.co/UHAWX5t7eJ pic.twitter.com/XUiX5DWNMB

— openDemocracy (@openDemocracy) May 13, 2022

I don’t know how to embed tweets (maybe I should ask @Livvy for some lessons :joy: ) but this sums up the despicable attitude of the so-called “caring” Conservatives.

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I presume you have a slightly different meaning to this rather than the immediate reaction that springs to mind?

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Just think of that popular staple north of the border, deep fried snickers/mars/etc, that will now be beyond the reach of everyday folk…

I don’t follow. It seems to me a strange thing to get upset about considering this will have impacted the poorest most during a period where incomes are already massively squeezed. But at least the ban on foie gras has been parked, something we know cynicaloldgit will be delighted about. :man_facepalming:t3:

2 for 1 generally only happens on the unhealthiest products in store. Plenty of 2 for 1 offers on doughnuts but not so much on apples for example. They also tend to be cheaper. Yes we have a cost of living crisis but also a health one so removing, or I’d argue changing the “rules” on 2 for 1 offers is no bad thing. Let’s have those 2 for 1 offers on apples and if people want cheap doughnuts then they can buy a single pack at a time.

Interesting that this arrived at the same time as a government MP making a tit of himself having visited a food bank that week. But he did speak some truth, in that people need to get back to prepping food etc. Diets and behaviours do need to change. Having crap on the shelves that is cheaper than the good wholesome stuff is not helping. A cost of living crisis only deepens the problems arising from that “backward” cost model.

I think the problem with 2 for 1 is that it artificially inflates the base price to encourage people to buy more than they want or need.

This type of ban was introduced in Scotland for alcoholic drinks around 10 years ago and the same reasoning was used.

The offers typically had some (not very good) wine advertised as £4.99 or £5.99 per bottle but 3 bottles for £10. Obviously if you bought the one bottle that you actually wanted rather than the offer you were being massively ripped off so people bought the 3 and would typically end up drinking more of the stuff than they otherwise would have done.

After the multi buy offers were outlawed in Scotland the same offers still existed in England but the Scottish shops sold the same bottles for £3.33.

These bans typically mean the food will be cheaper and people will only buy what they need.

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Too big government! And, it takes away peoples choice to drink more!..

Too sensible an outcome to boot…

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A classic case of you can’t control your drinking so I have to pay more.