Was watching Snowflake and Tornado with my wife just a few days ago.
He is feckin fantastic.
This is the link from the original story:
Apparently, the football tickets are being provided by Arsenal themselves.
Of the other gifts, there seem to be a substantial amount from Waheed Alli who appears to be a long term Labour supporter for over 30 years (and a Lord at 34!):
His interests (and potential conflict of interests) appear to be in the media. He also has interests in human rights legislation which I would have thought would make Starmer of interest to him.
Of course, the media are picking these things up because they are going on the register of members interests. What they donāt cover is the shady arrangements whereby ādonationsā are made that result in hefty contracts, huge advances paid for books that are effectively pulped on publication or never materialise at all, or non-executive directorships given to ex-ministers who have little if any relevant experience. You can read about those in Private Eye.
As stated in the Zarah Sultana video I posted.
They always want something in return!
What do you think the solution should be? Certainly, in the civil service, there are limits on what can be received in terms of gifts and hospitality - which is effectively nothing. Should this apply to MPs?
When I worked there, there were a large number of gifts that were received unsolicited. Often these were bottles of wine or whisky around Christmas. In general they were pooled together and raffled off, with the money raised going to a local charity.
If this applied to parliamentarians then it would leave the issue of MPs, and ministers, in particular, incurring costs that are a direct result of their position. Would it be reasonable for the PM to have his security detail paid to attend the match with him, or for a minister to have a tailor and hairdresser so that they appear in a presentable manner on the world stage? Iād say it would be, but you can guarantee that the media would lay into them for wasting tax payers money.
Normal people can make themselves look perfectly presentable to attend job interviews, client meetings etc, should they expect reimbursement?
To be clear, this is a problem across ALL parties.
Does ANYONE need Ā£2500 glasses?
And, as already highlighted, these āgiftsā are not really gifts are they?
If you want to be philosophical about it. All non-anonymous gifts have a quid pro quo about them. Do you think the civil service guidelines would be a good place to start?
Are politicians paid so little they canāt afford to buy their own things
I mean why the hell should they not have the same rules as civil service/public sector workers? We arenāt allowed to accept any gifts. Itās consistent and been well understood for many years. If anything itās far more important that MPs should be banned from accepting gifts, given the impact that their vote could potentially have
Just find it strange that if this was the Tories , there would be non stop posting about it ( and there was under their government)ā¦just seems so strange the tumbleweed moment when itās Keir doing it.
But again they arenāt all the same
How many people do you have on ignore if you havenāt noticed the discussion going on above or in previous posts?
I saw a link to this on the US politics thread:
The main message is ādonāt copy the US health systemā but it is interesting to see the areas that the UK does well and badly in.
The UK comes top in terms of Administrative Efficiency which seems to be related to the āfree at the point of useā and bulk compensation for providers. In fact, it isnāt all free at the point of use as there are often payments for private providers such as pharmacies, opticians, and dentists (at least in England).
The UK does badly in terms of Care Process, which reading as to why New Zealand and the Netherlands do well, may be related to GP access.
The other area that is bad is health outcomes. This is actually one of the biggest problems because it affects the rest of the economy and it isnāt just determined by health provision. I can remember someone referring to the NHS as the āNational Sickness Serviceā as it deals more with people when they become ill rather than taking preventative measures.
Based on that, Iād say that there are two areas that the NHS needs to improve. GP access and prevention and screening services. However, there are other areas that need addressing such as alcohol and food industries, public health and environmental measures. All things that governments usually get it in the neck for.
Yup and same goes for meeting facists and abstaining on UN votes on Israeli occupation
Because the right thinking (like what I did there?) handful of us on this forum are swamped by those left in the winter of discontent. When in doubt, strike and complain.
Case in point, this would have been lept on like a deer in a velociraptor pen under the Conservative Party.
You too must have missed the discussion above.
Serco? Was that jumped on?
This is the contract that the previous administration awarded them last November:
https://www.adsadvance.co.uk/serco-wins-uk-moj-electronic-monitoring-contract.html
This is also the same Serco that the Serious Fraud Office prosecuted over electronic tags:
I donāt recall that being a huge news story at the time. However, this is the very same contract that has yet again let the country down. I think it is worth asking why they were ever trusted again.
I wonder who the CEO was?
https://x.com/zarahsultana/status/1316444006944051201?lang=en
Or just having a busy time and not able to be annoyed with things like these simply because they havenāt read them?
Iām pretty sure your dungeon-mate has only been on here occasionally for the last few weeksā¦
Maybe not this particular example, but in general, every day this forum was rabid, with the gingerbread house dwellers leaping on everything the Tories did wrong (and yes there was a lot they did wrong).
Comparing that, to the in comparison occasional remark weāre seeing recently about Free Gear Keir is pathetic apologist behaviour
Ah, so itās the fault of the last government. Odd that the day they were released, none of the staff now employed effectively by Labour noticed. But we can blame the Tries for what actually happened yesterday, tomorrow and Iām sure in 6 months / 6 years time.