UK General Election 2017 - 8 June

[Shindig]

Wikipedia has them all along the coast.

[niko_cee]

Isn't that just where everything shit in Britain has been put for 50 years?

[Shindig]

Probably. We're not going to dump it in the middle of populated areas so Seaton Carew will have to do. Whack up a sea wall and you're sorted.

[Lewis]

They need water for cooling, but people are stupid about it, so they stick them near the coast instead of just next to big rivers like every coal and gas power station.

[niko_cee]

I assumed it must be a water thing. You can see the big one at Flammanville from here [I remember much bed wetting when it was built about how we were all going to die] but now I think we get most of our power from it/the French grid, which is one of the few things the French seem to have got right over the years.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Just looked up the cabinet having ignored the news all day. Zero white men in the great offices of state is quite clever, until you realise that she's just made Jacob Rees-Mogg the Business Secretary at a time when basically every small business in the country is threatened with cost-induced closure.

Also, why is she persisting with 'Levelling Up'? Easiest possible win to make yourself seem different to the hated Boris, but I guess they are still living under the illusion that Boris was popular.

[Spikey M]

Isn't that just where everything shit in Britain has been put for 50 years?

Birmingham is famously the furthest place in the country from the sea. So no.

Edit: granted it wasn't built 50 years ago, but it has only managed to get more shit over the last 50 years, so you can take it as the exception that proves the rule anyway.

[Lewis]

1567115750006980610

Look at his enormous hands.

[Kikó]

"You fat handed twat"

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EakbWGXXYAIFkiT.jpg

[Lofty]

Therese Coffee as Health Secretary and deputy PM, a debout catholic nutjob with an addiction to hob nobs is just what the doctor ordered :nono:

Also, isn't JRM against using email? Top, top Business Secretary pick :D

[Ben]

It will be hard to beat Boris' final cabinet for incompetence but this one is certainly laying the groundwork.

[Spikey M]

I generally think things probably won't be as bad as I fear they will be, but I think they probably will be this time. She's an utter cunt with a cabinet of weirdo's and nobodies. I wonder whether she will achieve war with Russia or EU sanctions first.

[Don]

Let's see what this PMQ delivers, hopefully much lols.

[7om]

“Can the Prime Minister commit to a 10 year plan to tackle childhood cancers?”
“Cancer is heartbreaking” *sits down*

[Lewis]

It will be hard to beat Boris' final cabinet for incompetence but this one is certainly laying the groundwork.

The recent ones haven't been great, but when did we have these supposedly heavyweight, serious ministries that everyone compares the recent ones to? Maybe the eighties.

[Jimmy Floyd]

You get better ones at the start of a party's time in office, as the talent hasn't been churned through yet. Cameron's first squad included (as well as the useless Lib Dems) Osborne, Hague, May, Hammond, Ken Clarke, Gove, Hunt etc which is a different standard to recent setups.

[Lewis]

Oh yeah, the effective government of George Osborne and Theresa May. I forgot about all of that.

[Jimmy Floyd]

They're big beasts, Lewis. Massive, massive beasts.

Kudos to Lord Frost, who is the first ever self-declared Big Beast.

[Lewis]

I always liked Ed Balls being known as a 'bruiser' because he was a bit fat.

[Don]

Stamp duty cuts to be announced on Friday? Mon Lizzy.

[Ben]

Yeah because the last thing the property market needs is another shot in the arm. That would literally be at the bottom of things to address, but donors gonna donate. No point celebrating saving 5% up front if it's putting 10% on your price which you'll then have to pay interest on for 35 years. It's going to benefit nobody but the slumlords and the inflation figures. All these cuts when we've already got high inflation is risky AF.

But they'll keep telling us about trickle-down economics and the public will continue to nod along with it.

[Don]

Bro, we need to attract the top talent in the banking sector and we most certainly need this measure.

Friday kicks off what should be a real lolathon.

[Shindig]

We don't need that. All we need is a royal 'something' every week and the money will print itself.

[Yevrah]

It's quite frustrating listening to the NARRATIVE around the bankers bonuses, which is actually a sensible move.

[Spikey M]

All of this helps the main people struggling the same way that Rishi cutting VAT on solar panels did.

[Yevrah]

All of this helps the main people struggling the same way that Rishi cutting VAT on solar panels did.

Well yeah, but that’s a separate issue and one the government are being allowed to get away with because once again everyone’s attention is elsewhere, this time on the bankers.

It’s so unbelievably predictable yet ‘we’ fall for it every fucking time.

[Dave.]

It's quite frustrating listening to the NARRATIVE around the bankers bonuses, which is actually a sensible move.

Why is removing the cap on bankers' bonuses a sensible move?

[Yevrah]

Why is removing the cap on bankers' bonuses a sensible move?

For several reasons:

'The cap', such as it is/was, seems to be misunderstood as a cap that's fair or reins in what bankers can earn to the level of us mere mortals. I would bet my life that 99%+ of the public would say it was a good thing and then be horrified when you told them that the cap meant that they could only earn 100% of their salary as a bonus or 200% with shareholder approval. So for a start, it doesn't even do what the vast majority of the public think it does.

And what banks couldn't pay in bonus, they just paid in other means, Long Term Incentive Plans or annual share options, so where a banker couldn't get by on 200% of his salary as a bonus it was just made up in other ways. But the crucial thing here is that share based payments are subject to capital gains tax and not income tax, which is far lower, so the overall tax take reduces. And given these guys earn hundreds of grand a year and into millions in some cases, the reduction is huge. Now, that assumes that these people aren't managing their tax affairs in such a way as to avoid some of it, which they clearly will be, but it's so much harder to do that when you're paid through PAYE, which I'd think the vast majority will be as they're all direct employees of these organisations.

There's also the argument that it boosts foreign investment and encourages people to come and work here which in turn boosts growth, which I hold less truck with, but it is human nature to take a lower cash number now than something that might be worth more in the long run, so even if the increased tax take wasn't reason alone (which it is) there's that to consider too.

So all in all it's a sensible thing to do, but the public are driven by the fact it sounds bad on face value and no one in the media seems to be explaining the situation properly. It's like student loans all over again, in that illustrates how innumerate people are and when it comes to numbers how ill prepared they are to actually understand these things. The government will also be loving it, hell they're probably even briefing the media as to what shitty spin to put on it, as once again it's diverting from the things we should be questioning.

[Don]

Your first point is irrelevant, what John Pleb thinks it did is neither here nor there when talking about the policy effect.

And the rest seems to be it will i) increase tax receipts and ii) attract the top talent, both of which are more than fair game to dispute in discussing the merits of it.

All in all, the idea that this is one of the main priorities at this time is questionable at best, don't play it down like a mug.

[Yevrah]

If it's increasing tax take, probably significantly, it's worth doing, 'we're' the idiots making it a top priority by pissing and moaning about something we don't even understand, because 'we're' too stupid and/or lazy to.

[Yevrah]

And look, the cap manifestly wasn't working, to the point where it shouldn't even be described as one:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/feb/16/weve-had-a-run-on-champagne-biggest-uk-banker-bonuses-since-financial-crash


Two UK-based asset managers were paid between €38m and €39m, and one merchant banker was paid €64.8m. That banker received fixed pay of €242,000, topped up with a bonus of €64.6m.

I wasn't paying attention at the time but presumably it was only brought in to placate idiots who were butt hurt about bailing the banks out, as nobody with half a brain would actually think it would lead to bankers being paid less for a sustained period of time.

[Yevrah]

And in terms of what should be being talked about, I'll give you one for a kick off, we have no staff anymore. Huge swathes of our economy was built on cheap foreign labour and due to a combination of Brexit and Covid, they've fucked off en masse, we have nothing to replace them with and worse still, seemingly not even a plan to attempt to.

[Yevrah]

I should clarify on the share based payment thing in the interests of not spreading misinformation, that they can be subject to income tax, but there are schemes where an employee can pay in a nominal amount and receive shares at a later date which are only subject to capital gains and it'll be this sort of thing or whatever variation banks use that's harming the tax take.

[Lewis]

If Big Liz can get all of the sugar tax/'anti-obesity' totalitarianism stuff junked under the radar I will hand out leaflets for her at the next election.

[Lofty]

These charter zones sound dodgy as fuck.

[Magic]

These charter zones sound dodgy as fuck.

They are. Linkedin is awash with begging nonsense for each individual city by BUSINESS LEADERS so you know its disgusting.

[Ben]

Now the NI increase has been reversed. This is some fucking dangerous economics if you ask me. Net borrowing every year since 2008...

[Raoul Duke]

Better this than CHAOS WITH ED MILLIBAND

[Shindig]

Was this hike the one they were looking to use to fund care/NHS with?

[Ben]

Yeah, one step closer to American insurance. Aneurin Bevan turning in his grave.

[Giggles]

Where has the £100m a day or whatever Brexit was bringing the NHS gone?

[Jimmy Floyd]

Jacob Rees-Mogg as the business secretary is past my tolerance limit unfortunately.

[Luke Emia]

Where has the £100m a day or whatever Brexit was bringing the NHS gone?

Probably around about the same place as the fucking easy to sort trade deals we were promised. Or the frictionless trade with the EU.

[Lewis]

They pencilled the £350 million a week extra in in 2018. It's just that nobody noticed because it's still shit.

[Luke Emia]

I heard on the radio today and I don't know if it's true but the NHS takes up 44% of what the government spends. That is absolutely fucking crazy and I am someone who thinks there should be an NHS. How in the actual fuck are we spending that much money on it. It's also probably a good indicator of why no money is spent on infrastructure because we are just pissing it up the wall with the NHS.

Someone really needs to have the bollocks to go in and look at it with a 10 to 15 year plan to modernise it and make it better but nobody ever will because they aren't around to see the benefits of the restructuring that obviously needs to be done to fix it.

[randomlegend]

The biggest issue with how money is spent in the NHS as far as I've seen is that everything is split off into separate little budgets. It doesn't matter whether something saves money overall, it only matters if it saves money from the right budget at the right time.

An example I may have mentioned before is the rota in my current job. We cannot fill it sufficiently with the number of people we have, so there are often locum hours available. We do not manage to fill all the locum hours (particularly on nights) which leaves us short staffed semi regularly. The consultant who does our rota has been told to come up with a solution to this, so she rewrote the rota with one additional person. She presented this to management who told her this was not feasible as they could not afford to fund the post. She pointed out that funding the post would be a lot less than we currently spend on locums AND would fill all the gaps rather than just some of them. The response was that it doesn't matter, the locum budget is a different budget. They genuinely told her that the optimum scenario would be to stick with the current arrangement but to manage to fill all the locum gaps, and so spend even more than we currently do.

Absolute nonsenses like this are rife. I myself was told they'd prefer to keep me on a 60% time contract and them pay me locum to do the other 20% worth of shifts rather than move me up to fixed 80%. That is worse for them and better for me in literally every conceivable way, but paying me locum comes from a different budget which we currently don't overspend on as a department. I get paid more to work the same amount and I have flexibility over which locums I take, or if I take any at all. It's nuts that this is deemed their "better" option.

This is true on a bigger scale with things like underfunding preventative medicine and then dealing with the much more expensive consequences which may have been avoided. Or with the separation of social care and NHS budgets, where we end up paying drastically more to care for someone in hospital because there's no funding for them to have the social care they need. People literally sit in acute hospital beds for MONTHS because of disagreements around funding carers coming in a few times a day.

It's all completely mental and broken.

[7om]

From my experience, the NHS is too big of a monster now. I don’t know how you could actually make it tangibly better without having to nuke the entire fucking thing.

[Don]

I thought appointing RL's mum as health secretary was bad but seeing James Cleverley at the UN addressing the world is special. We're headed for some nuclear action, boys.

[Lewis]

Say what you will about nuclear annihilation, but if it stops Gordon Brown getting his hands on the constitution again then roll on.

[Don]

SDLT changes are meh. Higher rate of income tax abolished though, anyone earning over £150k no longer taxed 45% but down to 40%. BRING ON THAT GROWTH BABY.

[Waffdon]

Imagine actually voting Conservative. Absolute crackheads.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I've always doubted the balls about previous Tory setups being in hoc to 'their rich friends', but the Truss incarnation seems like they are. I can't explain these tax cuts otherwise.

[Yevrah]

Even the ones that benefit the less wealthy in society don't seem to make any sense in conjunction with what the Bank of England are doing. They're putting interest rates up so we spend less and keep inflation at bay (I mean, lol, but anyway) at the same time the Tories are giving everyone more money to spend.

Anyone have any explanation for that?

[Spikey M]

Dribble down spacanomics.

[Boydy]

I think they're just gonna go nuts on the tax cuts for now because they know they probably aren't going to last that much longer in government.

[Don]

What Boydy said. Pour a load of money into the economy and it'll look like you're managing to save the sinking ship for a year before you get fucked off and can safely blame the carnage and everything on Labour.

I think I heard that top rate tax benefited 600,000 individuals to the tune of an average £10,000 each. If that doesn't solve the cost of living crisis for the fat crackheads of Northern industrial towns, I don't know what will.

[Yevrah]

Indeed. Removing the top rate of tax is genuinely offensive.

[Don]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/23/liz-truss-power-extreme-neoliberal-thinktanks

[Boydy]

1573240544553205766

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

1573240544553205766

1573249403795939328

[Jimmy Floyd]

I might try a career change, to butler. At least then I'll literally be able to get the crumbs from the table.

[randomlegend]

I might try a career change, to butler. At least then I'll literally be able to get the crumbs from the table.

https://www.reddit.com/r/LeopardsAteMyFace/

[Spikey M]

Jim, lad, have some shame.

[Boydy]

I might try a career change, to butler. At least then I'll literally be able to get the crumbs from the table.

What's your butler going to do then?

[Ben]

Spent my morning 360 metres underground sweating my nuts off. Come back up to see this shite. Might go back down.

Utterly mental. At least they're being up front about helping their rich mates and not trying to justify it with mental gymnastics like previous incarnations.

[Ian]

There's got to be an easier side hustle than being a coal miner, Ben.

[Lewis]

It's all a bit pointless without lots of other structural reforms, so hopefully that starts to follow.

[Manc]

Has anyone worked for a think tank?

[Jimmy Floyd]

Jim, lad, have some shame.

It's Lewis you want for this kind of Toryism. I'm more of a Ken Clarke/Rory Stewart wet tosser. I'm 'tax cuts, yeah, but some other time'.

[Boydy]

1573300031704137730

My two year fix ends August 2023. Great.

[Ben]

Same. :cool:

[Boydy]

1573311044554035200

We're absolutely fucked.

[Giggles]

I’ll never understand how it all works, but for the vast majority do things ever get as good or as bad as the story sellers say?

[Andrew]

Congratulations if you’re in the top 1% of earners. If you earn a million pounds a year you are now £54,400 better off.

Don’t worry if you earn around £25k, you’ll be around a massive £280 better off.

[Giggles]

What's enver factored in though is what a person has done to get to the stage the either earn 25k or 1m.

[Ben]

“Worked harder for it” is rarely the answer though.

[Giggles]

From what I've ever seen here, people making fuck all have never done a single thing in their lives to not make fuck all. I couldn't see it being that drastically different there.

[Shindig]

People settle into their ruts, for sure.

[niko_cee]

Larry Summers, famously a man to listen to when it comes to economic policies. Oh wait . . . (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/28/opinion/larry-summers-inflation.html)

[Ben]

From what I've ever seen here, people making fuck all have never done a single thing in their lives to not make fuck all. I couldn't see it being that drastically different there.

How does one break through when they’re already working 60 hour weeks just to keep up with rent? It’s not always the fault of the person.

[Giggles]

I know it's not that straightforward in every case, but what real effort have they ever made to not work 60 hour weeks to keep up with the rent?

[Giggles]

Actually I sound like Jimmy when I read back, but you know what I mean. Everyone can't cry hardship when they're just happy to ease into hardship and cry.

[Spikey M]

You still sound like Jimmy (not that I've ever heard this line if thinking from him tbf).

People are out there being Teachers and Nurses and still find themselves needing food banks to scrape buy. When people working some of the most important jobs going can't afford to eat, there's a problem and it ain't them.

[Giggles]

You still sound like Jimmy (not that I've ever heard this line if thinking from him tbf).

People are out there being Teachers and Nurses and still find themselves needing food banks to scrape buy. When people working some of the most important jobs going can't afford to eat, there's a problem and it ain't them.

That's most likely where I'm falling down. When I see 25k I'm not thinking of the nurses and teachers, I'm thinking of the shelf stackers and factory operatives (mot likely imports).

[Don]

What the fuck are you on about you dirty leprechaun?

[Giggles]

What the fuck are you on about you dirty leprechaun?

Just shooting the breeze you sweaty raghead child trafficker. You?

[-james-]

Yeah I fucking hate those scummy shelf stackers.

[Giggles]

Not as much as they hate themselves I'd say.

[Jimmy Floyd]

What if they all pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, and became investment bankers? Who would stack the shelves then?

[phonics]

The conservatives are so bad that Jim reads like a 2008 Boydy and yet they’ll remain in power forever due to Scottish Nationalism. It’s incredible. I don’t agree with it but I’d give them Scotland just to save England.

[Spikey M]

What if they all pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, and became investment bankers? Who would stack the shelves then?

Orphans. Like the good old days.

[randomlegend]

Jim posting like this when he's guaranteed to go and vote Tory again next time is nauseating.

[Dave.]

Jim posting like this when he's guaranteed to go and vote Tory again next time is nauseating.

I wouldn't be so sure. I can see him and those with similar views voting elsewhere. If the Tories continue with this sort of policies, they won't be winning at the next election even with the useless Keir Starmer in charge at Labour.

[Offshore Toon]

People don't vote tory because policies, they vote because they want to feel part of the club.

[Jimmy Floyd]

People vote Tory because they are content with their lives and don't want Labour fucking it up. This is the natural state of things. Labour only win elections when they manage to convince lots of contented people that they won't fuck it up (Blair, Wilson the only leaders to accomplish this since 1950).

With no such person on the horizon for Labour at the moment, the danger for the Tories is that they run out of contented people, which they will do in about 5-10 years once the current renting classes in their 30s are still renting in their 40s, having to look after both kids and also their dribbling, yet home-owning boomer parents. Then they'll be back once the boomers are all dead and the next gen has inherited.

[Lewis]

'I will not be voting Conservative again...'
*cheers*
'Because I am a racist.'
*CHEERS*

[Spikey M]

People vote Tory because they are content with their lives and don't want Labour fucking it up. This is the natural state of things. Labour only win elections when they manage to convince lots of contented people that they won't fuck it up (Blair, Wilson the only leaders to accomplish this since 1950).

With no such person on the horizon for Labour at the moment, the danger for the Tories is that they run out of contented people, which they will do in about 5-10 years once the current renting classes in their 30s are still renting in their 40s, having to look after both kids and also their dribbling, yet home-owning boomer parents. Then they'll be back once the boomers are all dead and the next gen has inherited.

Considering the state of interest rate increases at the moment, there will be home owners losing their homes and returning to renting soon enough. I haven't looked at how much mine would go up, but Martin Lewis reckons the average 2 year fixed term ending today, would cost an extra £200 per month if fixed for another 2 years.

[Lewis]

Interest rates should have started clicking up ten years ago, so anyone who has over-borrowed on the assumption that they never would is a bit of a tit.

[Yevrah]

If it hits 5% next year mine will be an extra £500+ a month if fixed again. Which I can afford if I have a job, but who the hell knows whether I will by then and a shit tonne of people won't be able to regardless, which in turn will lead to a house price crash which fucks a shit tonne more people.

We need to sort the Ukraine situation out sharpish, everything else is either frigging round the edges or (on the basis of today) insanity.

[Yevrah]

Interest rates should have started clicking up ten years ago, so anyone who has over-borrowed on the assumption that they never would is a bit of a tit.

That'll be millions of people, who to be fair to them, had little choice given where house prices are.

[Lewis]

I sympathise on house prices, but I borrowed significantly less than I was offered precisely because the margin for error was non-existent. And not because I expected rates to shoot up like this, but just generally, what do you do if your washing machine packs in and you've mortgaged yourself to the hilt?

[Yevrah]

Isn't that the reality of how a lot of people live though, whether they have a mortgage or not - JAM's, was it? :vomit:

[Lewis]

That seems like a case for lower taxes/better benefits rather than keeping rates low forever.

[Boydy]

I sympathise on house prices, but I borrowed significantly less than I was offered precisely because the margin for error was non-existent. And not because I expected rates to shoot up like this, but just generally, what do you do if your washing machine packs in and you've mortgaged yourself to the hilt?

Presumably people could still afford it if interest rates go up (that's what the [recently-scrapped] affordability tests are about, isn't it?) but it'll be shit having another couple of hindred quid of your income eaten up by your mortgage.

Also, for the wider economy, people's disposable income being eaten up by rising mortgage costs, rising energy costs and rising food costs and leaving them with less disposable income can't be good, can it?

[Spikey M]

Exactly. It's not just mortgages. Someone that took out a mortgage at 0.25% 10 years ago could probably see that 2.5% down the road was a decent possibility, but exponential rises across other essentials (gas, petrol, electricity, food) at the same time? Probably not. Especially alongside stagnant wages in alot of industries. Even those that have had a pay rise (3.5% come @ me bro's), very few people haven't received a substantial real terms pay cut over the last 12 months.

And the ones that haven't have just had their tax cut by 50k per year too, so happy days.

[Lewis]

This is why we're getting tax cuts and energy support. Is this the ideal time to be putting rates up, no; but when you put it off and off for a decade you eventually lose the luxury of being able to do it on your own terms, and the people who did well out of that are now paying for it (same with all the pandemic support).

[Ben]

Interest rates should have started going up 10 years ago. BoE were an absolute liability in the last decade.

Normally in a recession you’d be cutting interest rates, and we’ve squandered one of the only tools we had to fight it in that regard.

[Spikey M]

1573747739719933952?t=eTBXf7JwyuWjg4HYP1p72g&s=19

Well, I'd love to see Ol' Kwasi K wriggle his way out of THIS jam.

[Ben]

All the main papers are on board with this budget so they’ll bury it.

[Lewis]

Do people really believe that he has colluded with that investment fund to deliberately do something that won't benefit the economy (and therefore his political party, and therefore his career, and therefore his future capacity to collude with investment funds) for twenty grand? Last week it was Truss not imposing a windfall tax because she worked for Shell when we were at primary school, because her loyalty is apparently to them rather than wanting to be Prime Minister for more than a year.

[Don]

Massive Attack leading the charge :D

[Dave.]

Massive Attack leading the charge :D

Sounds like a Football Manager tactic.:lol:

[Ben]

Do people really believe that he has colluded with that investment fund to deliberately do something that won't benefit the economy (and therefore his political party, and therefore his career, and therefore his future capacity to collude with investment funds) for twenty grand? Last week it was Truss not imposing a windfall tax because she worked for Shell when we were at primary school, because her loyalty is apparently to them rather than wanting to be Prime Minister for more than a year.

No but that’s besides the point. The papers have form for ending careers for things more trivial than this. My reply was just highlighting that no major publication will even bring light to it so it won’t get off the ground, even though this kind of thing has happened plenty of times when it suits.

[Spikey M]

Do people really believe that he has colluded with that investment fund to deliberately do something that won't benefit the economy (and therefore his political party, and therefore his career, and therefore his future capacity to collude with investment funds) for twenty grand? Last week it was Truss not imposing a windfall tax because she worked for Shell when we were at primary school, because her loyalty is apparently to them rather than wanting to be Prime Minister for more than a year.

Obviously not. Engaging in insider trading for personal profit, however...

[7om]

Twitter coming up with 45 to the question of 1+1 again. How shocking.

[Jimmy Floyd]

As far as I can see it's a punt, on the basis that they think they are electorally fucked and their only hope is to get slightly more money into people's pockets between now and 2024 than would otherwise be the case. A forlorn punt, I think.

[Lewis]

They think that it will grow the economy, because the Conservative Party can't think beyond tax cuts and more immigration as means of growing the economy. It's not a conspiracy. This is what they believe.

[Lewis]

Obviously not. Engaging in insider trading for personal profit, however...

The time machine they've built to take him and his tips back to 2011 would surely make more money for all parties.

[Lofty]

Not like he is an incompetent politician looking to feather a nest for when his political career crashes and burns.

[Spikey M]

I checked my porfolio (such a wanky word) this morning and was surprised to see my Yank stocks in the green, considering how the markets are bleeding. I had a quick look and it's purely down to "FX impact", which is the difference between the £:$ when I bought and the £:$ now.

6% on some of them. That's a bit scary.

Considering the dollar is the international currency for trade, that's going to make barrels of oil / litres of gas, etc even more expensive. Nice to see Liz Truss ignoring economists paying off.

[Spikey M]

Just found one at nearly 10%. Jesus. Our Currency will end up pegged to the Turkish fucking Lira for stability by the end of this parliament.

[Ben]

There's a real danger of it falling below parity and shit will properly hit the fan then. I mean, we're way down on a decade ago anyway so things are already shit but it will be such a symbolic event that markets will get spooked further.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I was surprised to drive around France and see petrol as low as 1.33 (euros) at times. Are we taxing it higher or what?

[Lofty]

The RAC did a report a while ago saying that the oil price had gone down but our forecourts had not tracked the price decrease. Basically just another example of rip off Britain.

[Ben]

BP are steadily dropping a penny a week. It’s obviously cheaper now but they get away with it because as a country we accept it. The French would be rioting at £1.79.

[Ben]

Kuenssberg is a right joke. She grills Starmer, the opposition, about how long energy support should last beyond April, but is all “wel dun m8” to Kwarteng about tax cuts.

[niko_cee]

Starmer going all God Save the King seems to have brought Labour Republicanism into focus. Whilst I sympathise with the cause, to an extent, are they just trying to find new and improved ways to make themselves forever unelectable?

[Jimmy Floyd]

One of the reasons I would like to see Labour get in next time (aside from giving new Tory talent a few years to develop) will be to see what lefty twitter does. Will they do a volte face and suddenly become pro-the British government on every issue, or break down into nuance and wish it were Corbyn?

[phonics]

Nobody better at fighting the left than the left. It’s why the conservatives always get back in. They’ll follow any idiot over the cliff.

[Lewis]

Interesting to note that Labour have only said they would reverse the cut to the top rate, having shit all over the wider package as risky and all the rest. Obviously that five per cent of the cost was the main worry and spooking the currency. My remaining - that is to say made up to justify it - fear of a Labour government, now that the Conservative Party has legalised crime and wants to turn us into India, would be letting them have another rape of the constitution. Everything else would just be the same but gayer.

[Spikey M]

How do you have gay tax cuts? Reduced VAT on tapdance lessons? Subsidised knitting lessons?

[7om]

Lewis

Can you tell us how policing is handled politically (in your opinion). Because in my simpleton world I’d just recruit more officers and have them “visible”. You’d think higher police officer numbers and the subsequent “tough on crime” stance would do wonders for your poll ratings.

[Lewis]

The law 'n' order issue is an excellent example of how the right is functionally useless beyond cutting taxes. Conservative politicians like to whinge about 'woke' policing like the coppers themselves come into work and decide to police like melts, rather than being legally obligated to spend increasing amounts of their time on hurt feelings and recruit women with degrees instead of people who can actually batter shoplifters (I feel like a lot of visibly crap policing is down to coppers being unable to back themselves in a physical confrontation). Unless you amend/repeal the various New Labour laws that you have spent twelve years moaning about the effects of, nothing will change.

As for me, I would be more than happy to send fewer people to prison, but the people who do get sent down for serious offences should be in there for longer. I would also like to see hanging brought back for murderers, and even introduced for particularly bad nonces, but we might just have to dream about that one.

[Spikey M]

We don't need more police, we just need our police to actually be police, rather than spending 90% of their time acting as mental health support workers and the remainder of their time dancing at various festivals and carnivals to show how lovely they are.

[Lewis]

Yeah, people seem to conflate the creaking legal system and terrible prisons, which do need more money (why we run haunted old expensive prisons in city centres instead of building a few mega prisons in Liberal Democrat constituencies is beyond me), with wanky policing, which isn't about money.

[7om]

The law 'n' order issue is an excellent example of how the right is functionally useless beyond cutting taxes. Conservative politicians like to whinge about 'woke' policing like the coppers themselves come into work and decide to police like melts, rather than being legally obligated to spend increasing amounts of their time on hurt feelings and recruit women with degrees instead of people who can actually batter shoplifters (I feel like a lot of visibly crap policing is down to coppers being unable to back themselves in a physical confrontation). Unless you amend/repeal the various New Labour laws that you have spent twelve years moaning about the effects of, nothing will change.

As for me, I would be more than happy to send fewer people to prison, but the people who do get sent down for serious offences should be in there for longer. I would also like to see hanging brought back for murderers, and even introduced for particularly bad nonces, but we might just have to dream about that one.

Why don’t they just go and repeal the wanky New Labour laws, then? If that’s the problem with policing.

[Lewis]

Who knows. It could be incompetence, whether through not knowing how power works or subscribing this weird idea that the state can only reform one thing at a time ('bandwidth'), or maybe they just agree with it all deep down and just want to make a show of complaining and expecting crime to be prevented/solved. It's the same with the migrants coming over the water. It can only be solved by repealing certain laws, but they want to try literally everything else first.

[7om]

This is what I don’t get. If they can’t / don’t want to change the laws of policing then just do something purely that you *can* control. Go ahead and sky rocket copper numbers and wear it as a badge of honour when it comes round to election time. Instead, they end up doing nothing and everyone comes out of it looking like mugs.

Some of my family are in the police and they keep telling me how frighteningly incompetent some parts of West Midlands Police are. In my (possibly wrong) view, coppering seems to be one of the easiest things to get right. How did Theresa May / the government think reducing numbers after 2010 was going to go down well?

Then again, they’ve won every election since so maybe they got right.

[Yevrah]

They've won those elections because Labour have been absolutely useless in offering a credible alternative, not because they've particularly done much right.

[Ben]

Other than 2017. Corbyn was very much a credible alternative at that point. He didn't torpedo himself until the Salisbury poisonings.

[Yevrah]

He was never a credible alternative, as his election results show.

[Spikey M]

While our media are all gushing for the Tories it is pretty much impossible to have a credible Labour leader. Even eating a sandwich "wrong" is fatal.

There's a programme on iPlayer about Murdoch and his influence. Tony Blair may have actually sucked him off to get him onside.

[Yevrah]

It's a dogshit and unfair situation, but I guess that's one of the reasons Blair was so successful, he understood pragmatism. Everyone since (with the possible exception of Starmer) didn't seem to get it at all.

[Lofty]

He was never a credible alternative, as his election results show.

He forced May into deepthroating the DUP strap on.

[Yevrah]

He forced May into deepthroating the DUP strap on.

Which does not a credible alternative make. He got more seats in 2017 than people were expecting, but that's literally it.

[Lewis]

They did well in 2017 because they gave both sides of Brexit the impression that they were going to do what they wanted. I think they would have got away with it for the most part as well, but would have then lost the 2022 election for literally every other reason.

[Lofty]

To be fair this is the electorate that believed 'chaos with Ed Milliband' and has continued to fall for similar wanky slogans 'Strong and Stable' despite all evidence to the contrary. The only reason Starmer might net more seats than Corbyn is he is up against the literal skidmarks on the worn underpants of the Conservative party.

[Ben]

Which does not a credible alternative make. He got more seats in 2017 than people were expecting, but that's literally it.

Credible alternatives don't need to win. Labour had a massive surge in popularity in the campaign to the point they gained almost as many popular votes as the Conservatives, who then needed the psychos in NI to form a Government. I don't know what more an alternative would need to do to qualify as credible. Whether Labour would have been a car crash in power or not is besides the point.

[Yevrah]

Credible alternatives don't need to win.

They really do and if they were credible, particularly up against the shitshow the Tories have put forward, they would have done.


gained almost as many popular votes as the Conservatives

If elections were decided by popular votes that would be relevant, as it is, it isn't.


I don't know what more an alternative would need to do to qualify as credible

Win.

[Yevrah]

I appreciate this might be veering into the same territory as Steve Bruce being a good manager or not, but the left seemed to be plagued by not understanding that winning is everything, which is so frustrating as they can't do anything without it.

[Shindig]

Great, now I'm imagining a Labour Party led by Steve Bruce.

[Spikey M]

I appreciate this might be veering into the same territory as Steve Bruce being a good manager or not, but the left seemed to be plagued by not understanding that winning is everything, which is so frustrating as they can't do anything without it.

No, you're right. The Conservatives main strength is squashing any right wing parties that pop up. UKIP, The BNP, etc. All dead in the water. Meanwhile the left has The SNP, The Greens, The Welsh Version of the SNP, and (kind of) The Lib Dems, but that's clearly not enough as nonces like Boydy are more interested in splitting Labour into 2 parties, rather than just supporting Starmer and getting this shower of shite out.

[Yevrah]

To clarify, I meant the semantic side of the Steve Bruce argument, as in what defines 'good', or in this case 'credible'. But yeah, the left's whole approach is utterly tragic. The excellent Blair/Brown documentary on iPlayer shines a fascinating light on it all. If John Smith hadn't died I don't think we'd have had a Labour government in my lifetime.

[7om]

That’s true actually. Every time I’ve heard someone from the SNP / Lib Dems / Labour asked about a possible left coalition they immediately reject it. Now these aren’t stupid people, so why can’t they see that they’re essentially shooting themselves in the foot?

[Lofty]

In football terms the Tories are Bayern, steamrollering everyone 99% of the time and Labour are Dortmund, unwilling to admit they are actually a feeder club.

[Boydy]

In football terms the Tories are Bayern, steamrollering everyone 99% of the time and Labour are Dortmund, unwilling to admit they are actually a feeder club.
And the media is a bent ref giving everything Bayern's way.


The tories play ploitics on easy mode in this country.

[Boydy]

No, you're right. The Conservatives main strength is squashing any right wing parties that pop up. UKIP, The BNP, etc. All dead in the water. Meanwhile the left has The SNP, The Greens, The Welsh Version of the SNP, and (kind of) The Lib Dems, but that's clearly not enough as nonces like Boydy are more interested in splitting Labour into 2 parties, rather than just supporting Starmer and getting this shower of shite out.

Fuck off, you lib dem.

[Boydy]

Although, I can't even bring myself to care any more tbh. Which is probably what Starmer and the dickheads in control of the labour party now wanted.

Hopefully within the next decade Giggles' worst nightmare comes true anyway.

[Manc]

Could be worse. Italy are about to swear in Mussolini's granddaughter.

[Yevrah]

Although, I can't even bring myself to care any more tbh. Which is probably what Starmer and the dickheads in control of the labour party now wanted.

Hopefully within the next decade Giggles' worst nightmare comes true anyway.

What exactly is the problem with Starmer?

[Boydy]

He's abandoned every one of the pledges he made to the membership during his leadership campaign.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Starmer is the most astute leader they have had since TB and is very likely to win. He's a complete snake who would sell his principles down the river for 500 votes in a marginal seat, but that's part of the game.

And yes, it would be lovely if it wasn't a 'game', but this is democracy, so it is.

[Don]

Anyone still dragging JC's name through the mud needs eradicating from the face of the planet.

[Yevrah]

He's abandoned every one of the pledges he made to the membership during his leadership campaign.

Is that these?

https://www.clpd.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Keir-Starmers-10-Pledges.pdf

If so, I've got as far as number one, which is something he can't keep or break until he gets into power. :cab:

[Lewis]

I would Michael Stone an 'elected chamber of regions and nations'.

[Giggles]

Although, I can't even bring myself to care any more tbh. Which is probably what Starmer and the dickheads in control of the labour party now wanted.

Hopefully within the next decade Giggles' worst nightmare comes true anyway.

It’s minimum 30 years away.

[Yevrah]

What's your worst nightmare Giggles?

[Giggles]

What's your worst nightmare Giggles?

Us having to take on Boydy’s lot.

[Boydy]

What's your worst nightmare Giggles?

A united Ireland.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Labour getting in here will kill off all the nationalist movements for a while, particularly if they aren't a disaster and get a second term.

[Yevrah]

I, see.

Anyway, so back to these pledges, give they're mostly things you can't deliver on until power is won, what's the real reason you don't like him?

[Lewis]

Labour getting in here will kill off all the nationalist movements for a while, particularly if they aren't a disaster and get a second term.

How will it? They will give them even more powers and direct influence in the 'union of equals' that isn't a real thing, which, as we know from Scotland, will just encourage it. Gordon Brown should be pre-emptively assassinated to stop it happening.

[Jimmy Floyd]

How will it? They will give them even more powers and direct influence in the 'union of equals' that isn't a real thing, which, as we know from Scotland, will just encourage it. Gordon Brown should be pre-emptively assassinated to stop it happening.

As far as I can see most of it comes from the fact that they 'feel' different to English Tories, particularly the rah rah Boris Johnson types. The SNP won 6 seats in 2010. It exploded after that because they don't like the Tories. I think it has relatively little to do with devolution or institutional issues. Sturgeon's job becomes so much harder with Labour in power here.

This is Scotland and Wales, NI obviously has a whole different set of issues, although I reckon some of that may feed in somewhere as well. Once you have Labour back in UK Gov, the vibe changes even if the policies might not.

[Lewis]

No need to worry about them dissolving the unitary state when we can rely on a change of vibe saving the day.

[Jimmy Floyd]

It's vibes that drive that.

[Spikey M]

I heard on the radio the other day that the Catholics now outnumber the Protestants in Norn-iron, so them leaving must be all but nailed on now.

[Giggles]

I heard on the radio the other day that the Catholics now outnumber the Protestants in Norn-iron, so them leaving must be all but nailed on now.

Couldn’t be further from it. People identifying as British and “Northern Irish” (ie: also British) far outweigh people that identify as Irish, by a large margin too.

That said it’ll keep moving in the other direction if loyalism can’t move itself out of the 1700’s at some stage.

[Lewis]

I also read nominal Protestants are increasingly just putting atheist on the survey. The margin of error is probably Eastern Europeans as well.

[Spikey M]

All time low of £1 : $1.04 this morning.

:sick:

[Giggles]

I also read nominal Protestants are increasingly just putting atheist on the survey. The margin of error is probably Eastern Europeans as well.

A lot of Catholics will be putting down 'Northern Irish' too, which means they're unlikely to vote to leave the UK if there was a referendum because they've taken the time to look at the mess that would be left once the UK wasn't propping them up with free money. This number will grow too as young Protestants tire of the neanderthals representing them in government up there and turn their back on the outright Britishness too.

The only way I could see any future that lies with us is some Federal type thing, but independence or a tie-in with an independent Scotland is probably more likely.

[Spikey M]

Isn't your economy doing pretty well? Admittedly I don't keep up to date with Irish politics, but I'm sure I saw you on a list of growth economies.

Given the choice, I would take being a member of up and coming Ireland over King Chaz's dying empire any day.

[Giggles]

Isn't your economy doing pretty well? Admittedly I don't keep up to date with Irish politics, but I'm sure I saw you on a list of growth economies.

Given the choice, I would take being a member of up and coming Ireland over King Chaz's dying empire any day.

We have massive problems with housing successive governments Dublin-centric policies, and are heading for a big recession. It also cannot be underestimated how big a financial suck Northern Ireland is. We couldn't afford it as it is, but take away all the UK public service jobs and the place would be even more like the 1800's in about 6 months. Not to mention what another civil war brings to the table.

[Lofty]

All time low of £1 : $1.04 this morning.

:sick:

Traders betting on interest rates of 6% by the year end and letters of no confidence in Truss already being drafted :D

[Ben]

We might even get an emergency interest rate rise next week for the first time ever.

[Yevrah]

So it is the case then that this policy is at direct odds with what the BoE are doing?

Utter madness.

[Lofty]

The tories are the fiscally responsible party though!

[Yevrah]

I guess if you get through enough of them you’ll eventually find some who aren’t.

We’d better have a group behind the scenes who’re capable of pulling the plug on this shit.

[Lewis]

And what, just keep doing what we were doing for the rest of time? The course has been set. They need to hold their nerve, and, as somebody said somewhere, use it to bounce all the MPs into backing actual pro-growth structural reforms that they would otherwise oppose because of badgers or whatever.

[Yevrah]

And what, just keep doing what we were doing for the rest of time? The course has been set. They need to hold their nerve, and, as somebody said somewhere, use it to bounce all the MPs into backing actual pro-growth structural reforms that they would otherwise oppose because of badgers or whatever.

At the very least if they're going all in down this road they need a policy aligned with what the BoE are doing. If not, what they give in tax cuts with one hand is just going to be eaten up with interest rate rises.

Surely you can see that's insane, right?

[Kikó]

Enjoy the IMF bailout for the sake of doing something different.

[Lewis]

It's not ideal from the perspective of making people temporarily better off, but as a general correction it makes sense.

[Kikó]

From someone who knows what's going on

"She is taking actions that will drive up inflation and reduce the market's confidence in Sterling and the Government's ability to pay off its debts. At the same time, the BoE are trying to bring inflation under control and also reduce the levels of domestic debt on their books. Add to that the colossal spend on Covid and our woeful productivity and we are really deep in the shit.

The BoE is supposedly independent and have to take whatever actions they see fit to enforce their mandate, which is primarily to protect the Pound and curb inflation. Their main lever will be large hikes in base rates, but that in turn makes the Government strategy of increasing debt even less sustainable. We are entering the kind of basket case cycle you see when an emerging market loses the confidence of the rest of the world. It could genuinely end up in an IMF intervention, it is that serious."

[Lewis]

The Bank of England suddenly remembering what its mandate is after twenty years asleep is unfortunate timing admittedly.

[Spikey M]

"It would have been worse under Labour"

[Ben]

"It would have been worse under Labour"

That will actually be the argument from a not-insignificant number of eligible voters. Not saying Labour are even decent, but they won't be trying some A-level economics on the country at least.

[Lewis]

It would be comparable. The left-wing solution to this would be ramming up taxes and borrowing more, but directed at different voters, which would just have the same effects on 'confidence'. It's why there isn't any point freaking out about it.

[Yevrah]

It's not ideal from the perspective of making people temporarily better off, but as a general correction it makes sense.

It’s not ideal from a growth perspective either though, is it? Which I thought was what the government were aiming for.

[Boydy]

If Corbyn had been overseeing a fall in the pound like this, the army would have couped him by now.

[Ben]

It's hard to grow when the fuel needed to produce the growth has gone up 22% since January due to currency depreciation alone. Not to mention actual dollar price increases too, which are even more.

[Spikey M]

Growth in this economy is basically impossible. It's insanity to even try. But then it's all insanity, isn't it? Our nations government is trying to borrow its way out of debt and our nations bank is trying to price people out of borrowing. It's basically a financial civil war.

[Jimmy Floyd]

They seem to be unwilling to accept that the conditions around them seriously limit the choices available, and as such that blowing up the national revenue carries far greater risks than it might have done at other points in history.

[Lewis]

It’s not ideal from a growth perspective either though, is it? Which I thought was what the government were aiming for.

Tax cuts alone aren't, which is why they need the rest of the package. We've painted ourselves into a corner. Any conceivable way out isn't nice.

[Manc]

Go big or go home politics. As Spikey has said, now is simply not the time.

[Lofty]

There needs to be a more severe consequence for fucking the country than just parachuting into a top job and getting 5 figure for after dinner speaking. If this course of action completely wrecks the economy when it was shown to be a bad idea and the relevant authorities were silenced, they should execute the cunts live on TV. Maybe include all their living relatives to expunge their DNA from the gene pool. Be a bit less gung ho then.

[Raoul Duke]

Britain should join the EU and take up the Euro :henn0rz:

[Lewis]

The big question here is: had we lasted this long, would this have buried the Bazbot in a day, or would we be skyrocketing?

[Spikey M]

Bazbot is old news. I'm riding Niko's gravy train (that lost about 15% of my money because I didn't check the spread and hasn't moved at all ever since) :cool:

[Jimmy Floyd]

Anyway, I'm renewing my call on Truss not making it to Christmas.

[Spikey M]

Honestly can't believe they managed to do worse than Boris. Incredible.

[Kikó]

https://www.thenational.scot/news/22640902.letters-no-confidence-liz-truss-already-put-in-says-tory-mp/

Lol if true

[Ben]

The big question here is: had we lasted this long, would this have buried the Bazbot in a day, or would we be skyrocketing?

Complete annihilation. That was the bot's problem, it couldn't cope with volatile days.

[Yevrah]

I could well believe it's true. Having a policy that the bank of England will come along and try to reverse the impact of (and that they're well within their rights to do currently) is genuinely one of the more batshit approaches I can ever recall.

[Kikó]

Taking on more debt while cutting taxes has completely spooked the markets.

1574329999636791296?t=puPT-ka0wG11PCZBiy6H7w&s=19

[Boydy]

1574321288025616384

Mental. Used some calculator thing this morning and mine will probably go up about £300 a month when it comes to the end of my fixed period in August. I think that was only at 5.5% as well.

[Ben]

Joke's on the banks when everyone defaults.

[phonics]

Joke's on the banks when everyone defaults.

Last time that happened the government just gave the banks our money anyway. Jokes always on us.

[Don]

1574321288025616384

Mental. Used some calculator thing this morning and mine will probably go up about £300 a month when it comes to the end of my fixed period in August. I think that was only at 5.5% as well.

I thought I had it good with COVID lockdown and energy bills but the govt robbed me of the joy of watching the destruction thanks to printing more money. I suspect this will be far harder to solve with a simple support package.

Someone talk dirty to me and tell me what kinds of outcomes we're on for.

Disposable incomes no longer being a thing, I suspect all spending on recreational activities will be a thing of the past. And that'll cause massive job cuts. Huge house price correction also seems unavoidable. Inject it :drool:

[Boydy]

If everyone defaults it's just more cheap properties for landlords to hoover up too.

Do you still have to pay an early repayment charge if you do a product transfer with the same lender during your fixed period?

I could seemingly get a 5 year fixed period with my current lender for about £50 more a month at the minute.

[Ben]

I think they will waive it if you stay with them.

[Yevrah]

Someone talk dirty to me and tell me what kinds of outcomes we're on for.

Millions up shit creek who can't pay their re-fixed mortgages or even get a re-fix in the first place, those who in theory can still utterly fucked due to the house price crash resulting from all of the defaults of those who can't pay. This is proper grim stuff, hell it was anyway, Truss has just made it worse/brought the bad times forward and the only hope we have now is the wing of the conservative party that like winning leaping into action, combined with a dose of Ronnie Real regarding the West's approach to Ukraine.

[Boydy]

I think they will waive it if you stay with them.
Might see if I can get that sorted soon then.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I'm no financial adviser but I'd get a 5 year fixed anything if you can afford it.

[niko_cee]

Bazbot is old news. I'm riding Niko's gravy train (that lost about 15% of my money because I didn't check the spread and hasn't moved at all ever since) :cool:

Strong and stable.

I have no idea how they are positioned, but as I don't imagine they are overburdened with debt at the moment these current market conditions are the sort where fuckers like this could absolutely make out, if they aren't too busy Soros-ing the pound. Fingers crossed.

[Ben]

My fixed is up next July but we want to move by then at the latest. Pretty fucked either way.

[Luke Emia]

If everyone defaults it's just more cheap properties for landlords to hoover up too.

Do you still have to pay an early repayment charge if you do a product transfer with the same lender during your fixed period?

I could seemingly get a 5 year fixed period with my current lender for about £50 more a month at the minute.

Yes you still have the early repayment charge if you do a PT with the same lender.

My opinion my mortgage is due about this time next year. By that time I think the majority of the rate rises will have taken place and I will be going on a tracker of some variety. As for changing now personally again if you are paying 2% now why pay 4% for an additional period of time than you need to.

Options to keep the payments down if the shit does hit the fan in terms of rates increasing are probably to increase your term. Final bit on this would be how much is on your mortgage and what's your current rate? If you've got £70,000 on a mortgage I wouldn't worry about it so much.

[Luke Emia]

I'm no financial adviser but I'd get a 5 year fixed anything if you can afford it.

At the minute I advise pretty much everyone to take a five year fixed. But, once the rates hit their peak then that will change.

[Ben]

At the minute I advise pretty much everyone to take a five year fixed. But, once the rates hit their peak then that will change.

If I’m set on moving, would you recommend now/ASAP or next summer after most of the rate rises have happened?

[Boydy]

Yes you still have the early repayment charge if you do a PT with the same lender.

My opinion my mortgage is due about this time next year. By that time I think the majority of the rate rises will have taken place and I will be going on a tracker of some variety. As for changing now personally again if you are paying 2% now why pay 4% for an additional period of time than you need to.

Options to keep the payments down if the shit does hit the fan in terms of rates increasing are probably to increase your term. Final bit on this would be how much is on your mortgage and what's your current rate? If you've got £70,000 on a mortgage I wouldn't worry about it so much.

Ah bollocks, really? Even if it's the difference between me fixing with them for 5 years now or fucking off to someone else in a year's time?

[Yevrah]

Some lenders are now withdrawing new mortgage offers. Not entirely sure what that would include but fucking hell either way.

[Lewis]

Building on this, as the Growth Plan set out on Friday, Cabinet Ministers will announce further supply side growth measures in October and early November, including changes to the planning system, business regulations, childcare, immigration, agricultural productivity, and digital infrastructure.

Next month, the Chancellor will, as part of that programme, outline regulatory reforms to ensure the UK’s financial services sector remains globally competitive. He will then set out his Medium-Term Fiscal Plan on 23 November. The Fiscal Plan will set out further details on the government’s fiscal rules, including ensuring that debt falls as a share of GDP in the medium term.

Ed Davey executed. Supply-siders in control. Trust the Plan.

[7om]

On a scale of 0 (“covid will bring about the fall of civilisation”) to 10 (Tony Blair), how fucked are we actually?

[neo_hippy]

You maybe able to port the existing mortgage. I did it back in July with TSB.

You don't pay the repayment charge, stick with same mortgage terms and just have separate terms for the extra borrowing.

So I've got 2.5 years left of the majority of my mortgage borrowing on decent terms. Then still pretty good terms fixed for 5 years for the extra top up required for the new purchase.

A bit awkward with there being 2 parts to tge mortgage. In the end I might be best to go SVR for the first bit until the end of the 5 year fixed and then marry them up again.

[Magic]

My mortgage advisor said interest rates would be low for the next 10 years lol. Only fixed for 2. :happycry:

Edit: I'm £780 a month at a rate of 1.65% for 29 years. Gubbed.

[Waffdon]

1574497783410835459

Before the £ even dropped loool

[SvN]

Our mortgage is going up from a grand to £1,400 at least in December when our fixed deal ends.

[Lewis]

I think every percentage point my rate goes up will cost me an extra seventy quid.

[Lewis]

What was Rachel Reeves on giving that speech? Proper weird speaking.

[Boydy]

Prediction: the pound goes below the dollar, the Tories coup Truss and we end up with Boris as PM again.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Another six-week leadership election in order to restore Boris Johnson to number ten is what this country needs. Bring Dom back while you're at it (Cummings, not Raab).

[Spikey M]

Ahhh, a man driving a car, whilst blind, with his kids in the back, to look at a castle he couldn't see.

We didn't know how good we had it. Halcyon days.

[Lofty]

1574496964254875667

'Avin a piss lol

[Spikey M]

:lol:

[Lewis]

Boosting Alastair Campbell is like trying to get Ian Huntley over because you don't like Manchester United. People need to stop it.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Fucking lol at this MP managing to trample some of Labour's momentum by saying Kwarteng 'doesn't sound like a black man'.

[Lewis]

Akwasi Addo Alfred Kwarteng. He should style himself as Alfred 'Alfie' Kwarteng now he's in the big job.

[Waffdon]

Fucking lol at this MP managing to trample some of Labour's momentum by saying Kwarteng 'doesn't sound like a black man'.

It’ll help them if anything in England.

[Lofty]

Didn't realise it was Konnie Huq's sister.

[randomlegend]

More on NHS money-wasting nonsense.

My wife has the worst hayfever I've ever seen. Despite being on top doses of everything, it's still pretty unbearable in the season.

Today I took her to Addy's to see an allergy consultant. They want her to have immunotherapy. The best way to deliver this is with tablets taken at home for a few months of the year for at least three years.

However some Lee in Norfolk (where we live) decided not to fund immunotherapy for Norfolk patients, so she cant have the tablets.

The other way they can deliver immunotherapy is by injections given in clinic. Because this would be funded by some part of the Cambridge Secondary Care budget and not the Norfolk Primary Care budget, they can offer her this despite her being based in Norfolk.

It is a worse option for literally every party involved. She will have to drive to Cambridge once a week for 6 weeks for the next 3 years (taking time off from teaching to do so) rather than being able to have the treatment at home. She'll have to have injections instead of tablets. Someone will have to take time away from doing something else to administer them. Overall it's worse care for significantly higher cost, again because of stupid arbitrary budget pots.

[Lewis]

Is there not some way that you can pass these money-saving tips to the relevant people? It seems like an easy thing to resolve.

[7om]

Our NHS :harold: