UK Politics Thread (Part 4)

First step is to fix the leaks in the boat. Second step is to bail the water out. Only then can you actually set a new direction. I don’t think most Britons really understand how dire the finances of the country are.

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You’re different

Yep, the gif posting plebs think we’re in a right good place

You make it sound so easy.

Apparently the population of the UK is set to grow by another 5,000,000 in the next 8 years.
That means building millions more homes, building more schools, building more hospitals, improving public transport, improving the roads, recruiting more doctors, recruiting more nurses, recruiting more police, building more prisons, clamping down on crime.
Does anyone think these things are achievable given the absolute fucking state of the place as we speak? If you do I’ve got a bridge you may be interested in…

No, it is not easy. Canada was in about the same place in the early 1990s, and it was brutal. What is the alternative?

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The vast majority of migrants to the UK are of working age, which is good for the economy.

An infinitely bigger challenge financially is people living much longer on the gold plated pensions they’ve been promised

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I think you may have it backwards…

That figure I think is based on people moving to the country and who will be doing so to work in the very areas you mention. With an ageing population we are in need of more working age people moving to the UK to work in services or building the infrastructure the country so badly needs.

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All sounds good in theory.

However, I’m predicting the population in 8 years time will have increased by the number quoted and the country will still be on it’s fucking arse. 60 years life experience here tells me that. Feel free to differ.

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I detect a sense of resentment about people receiving pensions?
We have enough old people haters on here already

Yes, it’s very strange imo.

Somebody works all their life and pays their own money into a company pension. That money is invested by the pension company and grows in value. The person retires and they live on that money. They are taxed on it. They spend it in the local economy and elsewhere. If they need to go into care they will pay for it out of their own pocket while Joe Bloggs in the next room has his payed for because he pissed all his money up a wall.
I’d say Joe Bloggs was the bigger challenge financially.

Except Joe Bloggs doesn’t really exist in significant enough numbers to be the issue.

Your entire post sums up the problem that many younger people have with older people. The generation enjoying gilded defined-benefit pensions, which by the way, existing employees pay into to fund the system, not the retired employees building up a pot, also happens to be the generation that voted for a lot of the short-sighted policies and politicians funnelling money to the rich.

The same generation that continues to fall hook, line, and sinker for exactly that kind of narrative that you’re repeating here. Few people “pissed all their money up a wall” the way you describe, it’s more often the case that they never earned that much to begin with.

And yet these people never seem to look at themselves as the problem. They keep blathering on about how “other people” did this, “other people” did that, but never about how their own actions, their selfishness, led to this situation that they’re complaining about.

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Relevant here I think, given the recurring theme of how rubbish UK infrastructure is.

@Noo_Noo

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And that’s a perfect example of why we are almost guaranteed of a right wing government in 4 years. And one likely leaning more towards fascism than to centre right.

If you can’t see the damage you are doing not just allowing, but supporting, a right winger making comparisons between the government he supports, the carnage they left, the damaging ideologies they have and are continuing to implement, and a lousy Labour government trying to put together some pieces, then there isn’t much helping you.

I think there aren’t many people on here left who truly support the Kier Starmer government and what they believe in. He clearly isn’t vouching for the Left. Even if at this time there is little path to support the Left when there are so many spot fires to put out. But we knew this before he was elected. We knew the Tories left a poisoned chalice.

But the next 4 years are the UK’s (edit: second) greatest ever test. Musk will go in raw trying to influence Brits into voting for Reform. How successful he is in that will ultimately be correlated to how successful (democratically successful rather than Project 2025 successful) Trump is and the signs are not looking promising for Americans, but I hope that Brits will see the absolute folly of electing a fascist into government.

I get it. The entire world has gone backwards in so many ways in at least this generation. And it feels like the vast majority of the world doesn’t even care. It sucks. But I’ll be fucked if I casually sit by and let Fascism take hold because the current Centre/Centre Right government (admittedly that’s what they are at least in the old way of thinking) isn’t doing enough for the downtrodden. Don’t down tools on everything that is right because the current government doesn’t inspire you. We have seen across the pond (and in parts of Europe) what happens if you sit idly by and don’t fight back.

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^^^

Great post except…

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Probably controversial but I’d say I agree with @JU97ICE. It’s not just an external threat of weaponry that’s the issue, it’s the undermining of the social fabric, the fomenting of discord by external agents, compounding the very real danger from the unravelling of the social contract brought on by the economic situation.

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I think this is really important. Trump burning the US to the ground could be really beneficial to keeping Farage away. It leaves a massive void though.

But i’m not convinced people are switched on enough yet.

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There’ll always be a Muslim to blame for that :frowning:

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That may well be the case - but it won’t be because of the increase in people coming here.

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Detect whatever you want. I was just stating facts