General Election 2024: Gone on the 4th of July

[Luke Emia]

Truss gone. :lol:

Played my part. Fact she has swanned around the last 18 months like Billy Big Bollocks and took the seat for granted is what did for her.

[igor_balis]

I just fucking hate Starmer's voice WHY DOES HE SOUND LIKE THAT

[Jimmy Floyd]

I meant what made you think that.

The way results were going.

This result is the strength of first past the post. Labour the only party popular everywhere and rewarded with a stonking mandate. Those backed by particular communities find a voice in parliament. Those with a thin spread of cranks rightly find no representation and are not allowed to drag everyone else into the shit.

PR we'd be looking at Keir 'reaching out to' Ed Davey plus the Greens or something for a shithouse coalition. FPTP there's a government and we crack on with our lives.

[Giggles]

The SNP took some bumming.

[Kikó]

Baker interview with Balls and Osborne was great fun on ITV.

[Lofty]

Labour won mine, Tory seat since 2005 with an average 15,000 majority, 30,000 last time only managed 13,000 this time.

Reform nicking 9,000 off them here :D

[Spikey M]

Every single Tory twat that lost their seat now needs to be kicked out of the party.

Also lol at the Exit Poll and lol at Baz.

[Magic]

The SNP took some bumming.

Humza's fault no doubt about it.

[Lofty]

Not all the scandals, then?

[Magic]

What scandals?

[Yevrah]

Who was heckling Jess Philips?

[Spikey M]

Not all the scandals, then?

The scandals won't have helped, but would you vote for a party that made this cunt the leader?

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People like him are the reason Reform are making in roads too. It needs to be stamped out. Racism isn’t ok and it doesn't become ok just because it's coming from minorities.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Who was heckling Jess Philips?

Pakistani single issue thugs.

[Yevrah]

I hadn't seen that. :D What the fuck does he think he's doing?

"The vast majority of my voter base, white"

[Lofty]

What scandals?

The Krankies and the unaccounted cash?

[Magic]

The Krankies and the unaccounted cash?

Nobody gives a shit about that lol. It's almost entirely Humza.

[Luke Emia]

Yeah that’s madness bearing in mind that a quick Google indicates nearly 96% of the country is white.

[Jimmy Floyd]

That's not the headspace that Muslims occupy. Only the Islamic world exists to them and other types of people, even in an overwhelming majority, are a frustrating inconvenience.

[Waffdon]

Jeremy Corbyn :cool:

My GOAT

[Lewis]

The Labour Vote up not even two per cent, and turn out down almost eight per cent. Any post-mortem fixating on what Labour did is a waste of time.

[Lewis]

lol Jonathan Ashworth lost what a little rat.

[Luke Emia]

Ex Southampton chairman Rupert Lowe turning up as a Reform candidate and winning is something I wasn’t expecting.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Wes Streeting nearly lost to the caliphate. That would have made life interesting.

[Spikey M]

Sad times as this is the death of my near 10 year running prediction for Jeremy Cunt to be PM. Had virtually every other job.

Has anyone ever done the grand slam or all the major offices of state?

Jeremy Hunt held his seat somehow. Now, if he can find a way to switch his allegiance to the Labour Party, the run for PM is ON.

[Shindig]

I wake up to see Baz's bet is toast. :D 3rd in the popular vote, though. :uhoh:

[Ben]

The Labour Vote up not even two per cent, and turn out down almost eight per cent. Any post-mortem fixating on what Labour did is a waste of time.

A 1997-style majority but they’re one and done if they don’t get a lot of shit sorted.

[Spikey M]

Which they won't. I give them 6 months before the in-fighting leaves them unable to function.

[Spikey M]

Lowest vote share of any majority in history. :D

[Jimmy Floyd]

Second election in November, Reform majority, the gassings begin by Christmas. A new dawn has broken, has it not.

[igor_balis]

5% less popular vote than 2017 is pretty fucking funny.

[Spikey M]

Jeremy Hunt held his seat somehow. Now, if he can find a way to switch his allegiance to the Labour Party, the run for PM is ON.

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:sherlock:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Hitchin have only been red from 1945-1950 and 1964-1970 before today.

[randomlegend]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2024/uk/constituencies/E14001365

Those reform votes in my constituency :face:

[Spikey M]

Just the 7000 votes for them in this area. Which is impressive, considering Reform dropped him at the last minute for this. (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13573895/Reform-candidate-Leslie-Lilley-said-slaughter-migrants-families-taken-response-small-boats-social-media-post-joining-list-Nigel-Farages-controversial-election-hopefuls.html)

I fear Sir Boyds dream of a Far Right Britain could well be on the cards.

[Yevrah]

Sadly there is clearly a venn diagram overlap between people who actually want to do something about immigration and absolute racist scum.

Would be avoided if any of the main parties had a coherent plan, but they don't, so we are where we are.

[Yevrah]

Just been reading about the Jess Phillips stuff. How was that not given more coverage? I know the answer, but still.

[Spikey M]

Just been reading about the Jess Phillips stuff. How was that not given more coverage? I know the answer, but still.

And the answer is exactly why 7000 of my neighbours were happy to vote for a man that wants to drown women and children in the sea.

[Shindig]

Reform getting 25% of the vote in our area. 2nd above the Tories. Fucking horrid.

[Yevrah]

They hoovered up over 4,000 votes in Oxford West and Abingdon, a Liberal Democrat stronghold forever and affluent area.

Still, if people had more opportunities and a better life, they wouldn't be voting reform. :nuts:

[Spikey M]

Reform getting 25% of the vote in our area. 2nd above the Tories. Fucking horrid.

It is, but it's also understandable. People have had enough and they aren't being listened to. Populists will be more than happy to mop them up. Labour are going to have to be very, very careful. If they are seen to be pandering to minorities, it could get very nasty out there.

The Tories really have ruined this country.

[Spikey M]

It's already started on my Facebook. A lad from my school is ranting about Labour requisitioning P&O Ferries to ship the entirety of Pakistan in now.

History really does repeat its self. And it's maddening that people can see what the Tories have done to the country (making everyone poorer, protecting house prices over people, dismantling the NHS, etc) but then still go on to blame brown people. Including my friend that is the son of immigrants. Baffling.

[Manc]

Greens almost surpassing the Tories in my ends for second place. Feels good.

[niko_cee]

Jeremy Hunt held his seat somehow. Now, if he can find a way to switch his allegiance to the Labour Party, the run for PM is ON.

Yeah, unbelievable, not sure I can see the path for him but who knows. Keeps his head down for a bit, doesn't be the next leader, anything can happen.

144 years of continuous Tory representation over in Horsham which is pretty lol seeing as the candidate, probably Kiko's former boss, had a stated life plan of Oxford Union President > Investment Banker > Safe Tory Seat.

The exposed and denounced reform candidate got more votes than the Labour guy did, so it's a geriatric Lib Dem as the MP. All round head in hands stuff.

[SvN]

My Tory Father in law is on Facebook fuming about the "glee" in the voices of the presenters and pundits on the BBC :D So much for impartiality!!!!

[Magic]

4000 people in my constituency voted for Reform lol.

[Luke Emia]

My constituency probably shows how much Reform have hammered the Tories. They took 9900 votes and then there was a centre right independent who has always been Tory who took 6200, she lost by 600 odd votes. Like the perfect storm of shit show in that she has dropped 16,000 votes from last time out to other right wing candidates. You have to wonder if the Tories can win back those Reform voters over the next 5 years. Bearing in mind Farage doesn't actually have to do anything with any of his policies and will now get even more coverage you would imagine it will be a struggle for them to do so.

You also wonder who they choose to be the new leader but they need to realise that if they go for someone brown and further to the right(Braverman, Badenoch or Patel) they won't be winning next time round either because there will be a large section of that Reform support who just never will vote for someone like them or Sunak.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Worst thing the Tories could do would be to try and play Farage at his own game, i.e. tubthump powerlessly. They actually need to drive a wedge between themselves and Reform, not between themselves and Labour. A Braverman figure would lead them into proper oblivion. Someone like Hunt would repair some of the reputational damage, simply by existing for a while and not being massively objectionable in ways that voters notice. Opposition parties can learn a lot from Starmer's successful strategy of the last four years.

[Luke Emia]

This is it with the Tories, traditionally I have always voted Tory up until 2016. But, I didn't want Brexit(that's my choice) and I have felt disenfranchised since this point. It may work out better for the country in the long-term but at the minute I just cannot see it and a lot of the things that are supposed Brexit benefits seem to be the cutting of red-tape and regulation which is actually in place to make people safer. I would also never say that the EU is perfect, but if we tried to have some kind of input into things like the French rather than constantly railing against it maybe it could be made better.

I also think something does need to be done about immigration but things like Rwanda and blaming illegal immigration for all the countries ills are not the answer. About 10% of immigration is from the boats it's still a lot and it does need to be stopped but the biggest reason it needs to be stopped is because people are dying in the sea trying to get here and that shouldn't be happening in the 21st century. The proper way to stop it is to process the arrivals as quickly as possible and get anyone without entitlement to stay deported as quickly as you can not have each case take 2/3 years to get heard and sorted.

But, the actual biggest issue with migration is the huge amounts of people we are letting come to the country legally. Nobody, actually talks about this and the fact that this could be stopped pretty much immediately if we wanted it to and would potentially bring immigration down to the tens of thousands everyone talks about.

I could and would vote Tory again in the future but as long as the shit above continues there is no chance I will do and if they continue on this path of seemingly moving closer to being in line with Farage then it will turn off a lot of moderate voters like me who you need to win elections.

[Spikey M]

Worst thing the Tories could do would be to try and play Farage at his own game, i.e. tubthump powerlessly. They actually need to drive a wedge between themselves and Reform, not between themselves and Labour. A Braverman figure would lead them into proper oblivion. Someone like Hunt would repair some of the reputational damage, simply by existing for a while and not being massively objectionable in ways that voters notice. Opposition parties can learn a lot from Starmer's successful strategy of the last four years.

They could always try actually being Conservative.

[Spikey M]

He's being an insincere fanny already.

[randomlegend]

Brexit was fucking idiotic. Every single person who was an expert in their field said it would be a disaster for their particular field and they were completely right on every count. Surprising that.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I am going to enjoy Twitter relentlessly pounding him from the left over the next few years.

[Luke Emia]

Brexit was fucking idiotic. Every single person who was an expert in their field said it would be a disaster for their particular field and they were completely right on every count. Surprising that.

Well yes. But, I think we probably have to let the boomers let this play out. Then when they are all dead we can maybe move past it all, probably should have just let Covid rip on them.

[Boydy]

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[Spikey M]

Just seen that Galloway lost his seat. Lol.

[Spikey M]

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I mean. He's not wrong.

[Yevrah]

That was the sort of seethe I was expecting last night, he's bang on as well mind.

[randomlegend]

He's got some brass neck to call any other government a "circus".

[niko_cee]

How we have let Ed Balls become some sort of enduring thing in the national arena should be the source of yet further deep national shame.

[Yevrah]

He's got some brass neck to call any other government a "circus".

I don’t know much about the man but it’s possible he might have been half decent in a sea of shite.

[Spikey M]

Indeed. I've no idea about him. He may well be full of shit, but if he was saying the things he said he was saying, then it's a shame we didn't hear more from him, because that's the first intelligent thing I've heard from a Tory mouth in about 6 years.

[Lewis]

Steve Baker was the Minister of Sound and right about most things, but then he seemed to have a MELTDOWN over actually being in government and/or retaining his seat full of foreigners. That speech might be a dead cat bounce of sorts.

[niko_cee]

This Farage press conference. :face:

[Boydy]

That Steve Baker clip (I quite like him, he was decent as NI Minister and genuinely seems intelligent and thoughtful even if I disagree with him on many things) really shows up what passes for political journalism in this country. The standard of it is absolutely atrocious. It might well be the biggest problem our political system faces.

How much scrutiny did Starmer face during this campaign? They basically cheerled him into Downing Street (as they did Boris in 2019).

[Lewis]

Reform must be secretly delighted that they only won a few seats. The more they won the more weirdos and spastics would have come along for the ride, where as this gives them a few years to find some 'respectable' people. That or Farage and Richard Tice fall out before the latter defects to the Conservative Party.

[Jimmy Floyd]

There's no market for decent journalism anymore. People refuse to pay for it, ergo where we are.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Reform must be secretly delighted that they only won a few seats. The more they won the more weirdos and spastics would have come along for the ride, where as this gives them a few years to find some 'respectable' people. That or Farage and Richard Tice fall out before the latter defects to the Conservative Party.

Don't they get some sort of funding / establishment with this many MPs?

And yeah, I was thinking if it was going to be 13 as per the exit poll, at least 5 of them would have been complete retards. With these four they have three experienced campaigners and Rupert Lowe can't be a complete idiot, so it should be a disciplined place to start.

[Boydy]

There's two seats left to declare, one of which is a recount and Farage seemed confident they were going to win it so they'll probably have five.

[Giggles]

We need something like Reform here. That vote is far too splintered at the minute.

[Yevrah]

Do the Tories have to pick a leader and shadow cabinet from however many MPs they have left? If we thought they were scraping the barrel before...

[7om]

Ben Habib sounds mentally ill on Question Time. He also sounds scarily similar to Tony Blair which is throwing me off.

[Yevrah]

Yeah, it's utterly ridiculous that we gave 105,000 Visa's for care workers in a single year. Complete madness.

[Yevrah]

Ben Habib sounds mentally ill on Question Time. He also sounds scarily similar to Tony Blair which is throwing me off.

He definitely has a touch of the Mr Burns about him, but he's made the most sensible point on immigration (and the wage suppression it causes when done on a mass scale).

[Spikey M]

Yeah, it's utterly ridiculous that we gave 105,000 Visa's for care workers in a single year. Complete madness.

It's either that, or treat care workers well and pay them a decent wage. What do you want, Harvey Yevrah? Do you want vulnerable people to be looked after or something?

[Lewis]

Proper civil service thinking goes into that. Pay British people less, and then it costs more to support all of the foreigners and their dependents/descendants as well as the British people not working because of them, but because that all Comes Out of a Different Pot, the Treasury can put it down as a saving.

[niko_cee]

Is there any way to stop that? It seems to infest every aspect of the public services and is equal parts maddening and baffling.

[Spikey M]

Cultural change. At the moment saying "we need people in work and off benefits" is treated as if you said "I want to kick the disabled in the face". We need a complete change in mindset, because firstly, most people out of work aren't disabled, and secondly, many disabled people COULD work.

We also need to force employers to increase wages, and that includes cutting off their access to imported labour from the third world that is willing to work for a pittance. It's insane that you can have someone working full time and STILL be on benefits because their wage is so low.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c16jpl6707eo

He should refuse to have his picture taken from the front.

Head looks like a Disney animated villain.

[Spikey M]

Oh, and we need to fuck off whatever is insentivising employers from hiring 4 staff on 10 hour contracts over giving one person a full time job. That shit needs to stop. The number of tenants I have stacking 3 or 4 jobs and working horrific hours is all kinds of wrong.

[Yevrah]

It'll be the employment protections a person on a full time contract would get as opposed to a casual one. Unless they close that loophole Labour are about to make this much worse by scrapping the two years you had to be employed to take your employer to a tribunal for unfair dismissal.

[niko_cee]

I see Tony Blair is straight out of the woodwork touting his fucking ID cards again.

[Boydy]

Probably has a company all ready to go with the conteact for them.

Fucking Jacqui Smith, the corrupt old cunt, is back too. :sick:

Also, only found out today that Sue Gray's son is a Labour MP now.

They're every bit as incestuous and corrupt as the tories.

[niko_cee]

Labour wrote the book on corruption.

[Lewis]

The Grown Ups are Back. He looks so Prime Ministerial.

[Magic]

Are we hoping for an outright far right victory in France for the lols?

[Pepe]

That is the hope, yes.

They'll get what?, 30% of Congress? Then everyone will just pile against them, so they will be as good as useless.

[Giggles]

100%, but not for the lols.

[Ben]

I’ve not really kept up on the French this time around, is the RN popularity all because of immigration? I can’t imagine they’re being backed over economic literacy.

[Magic]

Been declared maximum risk of violence if it happens. :drool:

[Pepe]

They're so dangerous that we will smash things if they win!

[Magic]

Should that read *Muslim violence*?

[phonics]

Left wing absolutely smashed the right and suddenly there’s nobody posting about it.

[Pepe]

The Republic is saved!

Still baffling why Macron decided to call this election.

[Waffdon]

Did mbappe not tell everyone in a press conference not to vote for the far right mongos? That influence :cool:

[Pepe]

He is best buds with Macron allegedly.

[Waffdon]

He is best buds with Macron allegedly.

Le Pen tried to box with Mbappe and realised her hands were too short to box with god. My goat

[Lewis]

Unless Macron has some plan to come out the other end of it with all the credit/none of the blame it sounds like a massive suicide pact.

[Lofty]

Interesting there are an alleged 60 Reform candidates that got nearly a quarter of a million votes between them that no-one can verify are real :uhoh:

[Jimmy Floyd]

They'll all be paper candidates that do exist somewhere but didn't campaign. This is actually the most plausible reason for Sunak having called the election when he did, to stop Reform having time to get their shit together, although as it turns out they did alright.

[niko_cee]

Didn't help that one of their real guys looks like an AI generated person.

[Lofty]

The more candidates you stand the more you are allowed to spend on national promotional campaigning it seems, that might explain it somewhat.

[Spikey M]

They'll all be paper candidates that do exist somewhere but didn't campaign. This is actually the most plausible reason for Sunak having called the election when he did, to stop Reform having time to get their shit together, although as it turns out they did alright.

I think it kind of worked out the best for them. If they'd had more time, there would have been more closet Nazis taken on and outed.

[igor_balis]

As much as I should be really concerned by Farage and co getting so many votes, I just remembered that he was literally doing cameos saying things like, and I quote:
""Remoaner big chungus has launched a military coup and only you can stop him, sign up to Nord VPN using the code amongus to beat the totally sus chungus", and it's actually pretty funny.

[Ben]

I get the feeling this Wes Streeting weasel is going to privatise the NHS in a time the Tories could only dream of.

[niko_cee]

Wasn't the argument always that any necessary reform of the health service would have to be done by Labour as they won't be immediately tarnished with SELLING IT TO AMERICA on the off chance that someone has a good idea how to make things better, unlikely as that might be?

[Jimmy Floyd]

Sell sell sell. I won't rest until the last stethoscope is on ebay.

[randomlegend]

Sell sell sell. I won't rest until the last stethoscope is on ebay.

Imagine thinking the NHS supplies staff with stethoscopes.

[Shindig]

I assume you get one when you leave medical school.

[randomlegend]

No, you buy your own. Cheap and cheerful ones which are useable are about £80, good ones are >£150 (edited down from £200, misremembered how much my last one cost).

We did get given one which Fisher-Price would've been ashamed of and had VAGIFEM written on it by a drug rep at med school. It was completely useless.

[Boydy]

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Good that our current PM has a sugar daddy who buys clothes for him and his wife though. Glad we got the Tories out and really ended all the corruption and austerity.

[Magic]

They've just taken it back to standard Tory capitalist corruption which is acceptable now given how far the previous mob took it. Just vile all round.

[niko_cee]

That all reads like industrial grade twaddle.

[Lofty]

Good use of the word 'Cabal' there when moaning about Corbyn being nobbled by anti-semitism complaints.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The left-left have properly dodged a bullet with Corbyn not getting in, it would have been a Truss-like reign and the end of the ideology for 100 years. As it is they might well get another crack after Starmer if they can find someone palatable.

[Lewis]

With the benefits of hindsight I would have voted for - probably even campaigned for - Wor Jezza had I known that the alternative was working ourselves into a shoot and building that disgusting Holocaust memorial.

[Boydy]

1836803672107327921

I see Peston is remembering how to do his job now.

[Yevrah]

Back to Spikey's point about the media being a problem/almost pointless, it really is. Correct me if I'm wrong but I can't remember him drilling through P&L's during the PPE/Covid contracts scandal.

[Boydy]

It was only once Starmer made Labour safe for capital (Corbyn was gone and it was clear his policies weren't going to be continued) that the press started to take a serious look at the Tories/Boris and start asking questions.

The Labour right were playing on easy mode the last year or so, it's funny watching them actually face some scrutiny now. It's also funny watching them tear each other apart already with factional squabbles - see the Sue Gray pay stuff - when those camps in Downing Street have no fucking ideological differences anyway.

[Yevrah]

The Sue Gray stuff was hilarious from a BBC perspective. Break a story which no one should really care about, but as she's a Woman it's perceived to be an argument against equality and they're forced to release a hasty follow up article justifying why they did it.

And back to Labour, I'm increasingly of the opinion that their approach to this budget has been moronic. It's fair enough not sugar coating the situation we're in, but to do so in the language they have when the budget was still 3 months away from the point they started using said language is just no good for anyone. Fair enough if you're saying that and the budget is a couple of weeks away, but we're still over 5 weeks from it now and it's just killing consumer and market confidence.

[Spikey M]

The winter fuel allowance stuff is completely amateur hour. How they've allowed it to be framed as old people shivering in their 1 bedroom, black mould infested tower block hellscapes, rather than - you know - not unnecessarily paying for the heating of the most wealthy demographic in the country, is beyond me. It's been a long time coming and the vulnerable are still getting it.

[SvN]

It's absolutely insane. A few weeks ago my Facebook feed was full of 30 somethings all virtue signalling how pensioners will be freezing to death come Christmas. Yet my Tory-suppprting 72 year old father in law is in full support, saying he doesn't need it, so why should he be getting it?

[Boydy]

The cut-off should have been a bit higher though, shouldn't it?

If you're on the bare minimum pension but not getting pension credit, you're not particularly wealthy.

It should have been kept universal but clawed back from wealthy pensioners through tax. But these fuckers just love means testing.

[Lofty]

The two sets of pensioners I know personally who have moaned about it: one couple recently spent £600 on a pair of fucking gig tickets and the other just bought a £20k caravan :D

[Yevrah]

Given it's only saving £1.4bn and our overall annual expenditure is something like £1.2tn, it's a massive messaging own goal for something that will barely even touch the sides.

[Magic]

The two sets of pensioners I know personally who have moaned about it: one couple recently spent £600 on a pair of fucking gig tickets and the other just bought a £20k caravan :D

Boasis?

[Spikey M]

The cut-off should have been a bit higher though, shouldn't it?

If you're on the bare minimum pension but not getting pension credit, you're not particularly wealthy.

It should have been kept universal but clawed back from wealthy pensioners through tax. But these fuckers just love means testing.

It's a big "meh" from me. These fuckers have lived life on easy mode, bought up all the houses and/or sold everything that wasn't nailed down to China / Russia / The Saudis, leaving the country in the mess we currently find it. Well sorry. As a consequence you'll be paying for your own heating like the rest of us, Dorris. You can give your bus pass back while we're at it.

All of this stuff was put in place when the old were struggling. They're now struggling far less than everyone else on the whole. So fuck 'em. Age is a terrible way to identify need.

[Luke Emia]

The cut-off should have been a bit higher though, shouldn't it?

If you're on the bare minimum pension but not getting pension credit, you're not particularly wealthy.

It should have been kept universal but clawed back from wealthy pensioners through tax. But these fuckers just love means testing.

If you only receive state pension and live in social housing then you should keep it. But, the percentage of pensioners who fall into that is probably pretty small from my knowledge of giving advice to the fuckers.

Most of the people who receive these benefits now will also be in receipt of some kind of final salary pension, the state pension, potentially a small pension pot and own their own houses as they bought them for peanuts 40 years ago.

You’d think from the reaction in the press they didn’t have a pot to piss in.

[Spikey M]

Given it's only saving £1.4bn and our overall annual expenditure is something like £1.2tn, it's a massive messaging own goal for something that will barely even touch the sides.

Indeed. They also announced honouring the climate change payment to developing nations at the same time, just to double down on the terrible optics. It's a good job all the far right headline writers are in prison.

[Pepe]

Government should be doing less giving money to people for random shit and more taking less money from people in the first place. All these 'programs' always end up a massive clusterfuck.

[Spikey M]

Government should be doing less giving money to people for random shit and more taking less money from people in the first place. All these 'programs' always end up a massive clusterfuck.

We're experimenting with still taxing people a fortune but providing no services. It's a bold strategy, Cotton.

[Boydy]

If you only receive state pension and live in social housing then you should keep it. But, the percentage of pensioners who fall into that is probably pretty small from my knowledge of giving advice to the fuckers.

Most of the people who receive these benefits now will also be in receipt of some kind of final salary pension, the state pension, potentially a small pension pot and own their own houses as they bought them for peanuts 40 years ago.

You’d think from the reaction in the press they didn’t have a pot to piss in.

What if you only received the state pension and rent privately? Surely you'd be worse off then than someone who only has the state pension and lives in social housing?

Obviously the pensioners you talk to as a financial advisor are the better off ones. :cab:

[Boydy]

It's a big "meh" from me. These fuckers have lived life on easy mode, bought up all the houses and/or sold everything that wasn't nailed down to China / Russia / The Saudis, leaving the country in the mess we currently find it. Well sorry. As a consequence you'll be paying for your own heating like the rest of us, Dorris. You can give your bus pass back while we're at it.

All of this stuff was put in place when the old were struggling. They're now struggling far less than everyone else on the whole. So fuck 'em. Age is a terrible way to identify need.

Generationally they had it much easier than us, yes, and a lot of them are very wealthy or at least very comfortable. But there are still poor old people.

[Magic]

Generationally they had it much easier than us, yes, and a lot of them are very wealthy or at least very comfortable. But there are still poor old people.

This is correct. The well off ones will be relatively more well off than the next generation but poor people are still poor as fuck.

I wonder if pinhead has lived a sheltered life or something?

[Spikey M]

Pinhead works with the poor ones. The poor ones are still getting it. Keep up.

[Pepe]

Pinhead lives off the poor.

[Spikey M]

Pinhead wants to eat the rich ones.

[Luke Emia]

What if you only received the state pension and rent privately? Surely you'd be worse off then than someone who only has the state pension and lives in social housing?

Obviously the pensioners you talk to as a financial advisor are the better off ones. :cab:

You will still get the equivalent of housing benefit on top of your pension if you are renting regardless as your income would most likely be below the thresholds.

[Boydy]

Pinhead works with the poor ones. The poor ones are still getting it. Keep up.

The very poorest, yes. Those who are still poor but not quite the very poorest are not.

[Boydy]

Pinhead wants to eat the rich ones.

Lol, do you fuck.

[Spikey M]

Lol, do you fuck.

I absolutely do. Wealth inequality is the key issue of our time and it's only accelerating. The world would be a much better place if everyone with >£10 million in cash and assets dropped dead tomorrow. Especially the Boomer ones.

[Lofty]

Boasis?

Chris Stapleton.

[Pepe]

Lol, do you fuck.

Only once he is done with the poor.

[Spikey M]

One winter left bebeh.

[Giggles]

Chris Stapleton.

:drool:

[Dquincy]

The world would be a much better place if everyone with >£10 million in cash and assets dropped dead tomorrow. Especially the Boomer ones.

Wouldn't that wipe out a lot of innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders? Would be interesting to see what impact that would have on civilisation.

[Boydy]

1837069897563578610

Mental

[Boydy]

1837150074238800292

:lol:


At this rate he'll be gone sometime in 2025. Can't wait for Prime Minister Wes Streeting. :sick:

[Boydy]

1837616818304979265

:lol:

[Yevrah]

How the fuck has he managed that? Actually fuck this budget up as opposed to just hinting at it and we could be in for an interesting period.

[Jimmy Floyd]

An interesting period ending in Reform with 150 seats - which, by the way, will happen anyway if they keep letting Indians in at the rate they currently are.

[Kikó]

What Indians?

[Spikey M]

Kiko dropping another national identity. :cool:

[Jimmy Floyd]

What Indians?

The gazillions of Indians that have been let in last 2 years due to some crap agreement with Modi.

250,000 arrived in 2023 alone - 127,000 to work and 117,000 to study.

[Ben]

Anecdotal evidence (but who doesn't love an anecdote), my cricket club until 2 years ago had never had an Indian signed as a playing member. Now, we have 14. As far as I'm aware, they're all students.

[Jimmy Floyd]

We have absolute shit tons of them try to join, I let very few in, the ones who are demonstrably serious people. Students and other fly-by-night idiots I have absolutely no interest in letting piss everyone off with their lax attitude to turning up and helping out.

[Manc]

That's the spirit.

[Lofty]

The benefits of Brexit: more visas to secure trade deals without the backing of the EU :drool:

Designated shitting streets to be a key election battle ground next time round.

[Spikey M]

The same is happening in the EU - albeit from different third world countries - so I'm not sure this can be laid at the feet of Brexit.

The main issue is that we're unwilling to let our Universities - of which we have far to many - fail, so we allow foreign students to bring their entire family with them to keep them attractive to Jonny Foreigner, who they rip off. That and a complete inability to deal with illegal immigration.

[Kikó]

That's complete nonsense.

[Yevrah]

I know it doesn't fit with your political leanings Kiko, but I'm not sure how any of what has been said can be described as complete nonsense when the numbers are absolutely wild over the last few years. It's all there within them.

[Giggles]

The same is happening in the EU - albeit from different third world countries - so I'm not sure this can be laid at the feet of Brexit.

The main issue is that we're unwilling to let our Universities - of which we have far to many - fail, so we allow foreign students to bring their entire family with them to keep them attractive to Jonny Foreigner, who they rip off. That and a complete inability to deal with illegal immigration.

Same shit happening here, import arrives on a flight from somewhere like France or Netherlands and suddenly loses their 'passport'. Are they turned straight back around? Are they fuck, people are absolutely coining it off this industry.

[Yevrah]

Then there's the care homes racket, which is a disgrace frankly.

[Ben]

I know it doesn't fit with your political leanings Kiko, but I'm not sure how any of what has been said can be described as complete nonsense when the numbers are absolutely wild over the last few years. It's all there within them.

It's not even political at this point in my opinion. I suppose you'd call me a leftist (at least from an economic standpoint) but as you say, the numbers don't lie here.

[Spikey M]

That's complete nonsense.

https://i.ibb.co/Yf3brzJ/Screenshot-20240923-093630-Samsung-Internet.jpg



India sent the most students to the UK in 2021/22, 126,600 entrants in 2022/23; this was more than ten times the number of entrants from India in 2017/18.
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7976/#:~:text=Overseas%20student%20numbers,of%20the%20t otal%20student%20population.

On the bringing the Family point, apparently this changed earlier this year, but it was the case until then.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/news/international-students-no-longer-able-bring-dependants-uk-student-visas

[Luke Emia]

I think this will always be my biggest issue with Brexit in that we have replaced one form of immigration with another(I'm not anti-immigration at all by the way) all that's happening now is we have loads of cheap labour coming in from Nigeria and India rather than from European countries and still are unable to stop the people who are entering the country illegally from doing so. I'd hazard a guess that those people who voted for Brexit based on taking back control of our borders didn't do so based on changing where the people were coming from.

As for Starmer and Labour as a whole some of it is increased scrutiny based on them now being in power but things like the holidays and the clothes are not a good look but aren't even touching the sides of what the Tories have been up to over the last few years. The budget I almost feel like they are trailing it as being so bad that when it comes round it's not quite as bad as they were making out and therefore they can put a slightly more positive spin on it. Or failing that it is as horrendous as they are saying and everything is going to shit.

[Yevrah]

It's not even political at this point in my opinion. I suppose you'd call me a leftist (at least from an economic standpoint) but as you say, the numbers don't lie here.

Indeed. Anyone sticking their fingers in their ears and crying racist at this point just hasn't looked at them as they are absolutely insane. And those people can continue to stick their fingers in their ears if they like but they should at least be aware that by doing so they're ushering in an era of Farage.

[Yevrah]

As for Starmer and Labour as a whole some of it is increased scrutiny based on them now being in power but things like the holidays and the clothes are not a good look but aren't even touching the sides of what the Tories have been up to over the last few years. The budget I almost feel like they are trailing it as being so bad that when it comes round it's not quite as bad as they were making out and therefore they can put a slightly more positive spin on it. Or failing that it is as horrendous as they are saying and everything is going to shit.

I genuinely think it'll be terrible for anyone on PAYE/saving for a pension. Which will be a complete betrayal of what they've been spouting over the last 15 years and a tacit admission that despite the noise about going after big business and properly high earners it's not actually that easy to do.

What comes after that I'm not so sure. Might even be Kamikwasi levels of fallout.

[Jimmy Floyd]

This whole century is going to be about the global south trying to migrate north in their tens of millions, to what extent they are successful, and the implications of it for north and south.

It'll end wishy-washy liberalism as a concept in the north. People of said persuasion aren't ready for that but it's coming. Soon you will either have to be 'fuck it let's let them all in and willingly destroy western norms' or 'build a huge wall around Europe' and my money is on the latter being more popular as a position.

[Lewis]

The Johnson government stapled a two year work visa to every university qualification, so crap universities flooded the market with cheap Masters degrees (some of them laughably short), essentially allowing them to sell two year work visas. That is why literally every single shop now has useless fucking Indians working in it.

[Spikey M]

I genuinely think it'll be terrible for anyone on PAYE/saving for a pension. Which will be a complete betrayal of what they've been spouting over the last 15 years and a tacit admission that despite the noise about going after big business and properly high earners it's not actually that easy to do.

What comes after that I'm not so sure. Might even be Kamikwasi levels of fallout.

Starmer won't survive 2025 and I think we're going to see just as many changing PM's as we did under the Tories. Systemic changes are needed and this lot, just like the last lot, don't have it in them.

I'm not sure who does, because it sure as shit isn't Farage or Davey, but sweeping change is needed. The system has been broken by the rich, wealth inequality and wage suppression. It needs a pair of very large testicles to sort it.

[Lewis]

'Free Gear Keir' isn't going anywhere. He's the most sanctimonious man in the country (which is why he has blundered into this ultimately trivial freebies stuff), and the Labour Party have been out of office too long to start getting self-indulgent and thinking the grass is greener. Their biggest risk is thinking that they are actually popular and governing like wankers.

[Magic]

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/monkeys-save-6-year-old-girl-from-rape-attempt-in-uttar-pradesh/articleshow/113588323.cms?from=mdr

Bring them here. The monkeys, I mean.

[Baz]

The Johnson government stapled a two year work visa to every university qualification, so crap universities flooded the market with cheap Masters degrees (some of them laughably short), essentially allowing them to sell two year work visas. That is why literally every single shop now has useless fucking Indians working in it.Does this explain the useless Nigerian bumbling their way through a masters at my work?

[Kikó]

I know it doesn't fit with your political leanings Kiko, but I'm not sure how any of what has been said can be described as complete nonsense when the numbers are absolutely wild over the last few years. It's all there within them.

The students can bring their entire family thing is nonsense.

[Magic]

The students can bring their entire family thing is nonsense.

What about workers?

[Spikey M]

The students can bring their entire family thing is nonsense.

It wasn't. Until this year the right to bring your partner and children was included with the student visa. It's been removed this year, which I was unaware of.

[Yevrah]

I cannot fathom why it was ever a thing. These are adult students right, what possible benefit could it bring to the UK having them uproot and bring their entire family with them? Have we reached match fixing levels regarding immigration now?

[Ben]

I cannot fathom why it was ever a thing. These are adult students right, what possible benefit could it bring to the UK having them uproot and bring their entire family with them? Have we reached match fixing levels regarding immigration now?

If the NHS is anything to go by, desperation.

My wife was the last year of nurses to train with funding before the Tories yanked it away. Homegrown trainee numbers immediately plummeted (shock) and now 8-10 years later after a few cycles of nurses leaving the industry and retirements, the ever widening gap needed to be plugged. The Nigerians managed to get the same sweet deal as the Indians did. Problem is, they're shit nurses and their English is terrible. At least all the Filipinos who came over years ago on the less extortionate deal are decent and can speak the lingo.

[Lewis]

It would appear to just be classic Treasury maths, whereby allowing universities to sell visas saves having to increase their budgets, which looks good on the spreadsheet, because all of the external costs associated with inviting all of India and Nigeria Comes Out of a Different Pot.

[Spikey M]

Desperation, yeah. Our Universities are a mess and they need foreign students and the huge fees they can charge them to stay afloat. However, they are in competition with America, Australia, France, etc. as well as every town in the country having its own uni these days.

https://www.newstatesman.com/comment/2024/04/university-funding-is-in-crisis


After years of headlines about lowering net migration figures by “clamping down” on foreign students – who were supposedly “squeezing out” their UK counterparts from university places – it is now being realised just how dependent domestic students are on this subsidy. At many of Britain’s leading universities, more than half of their income from fees comes from international students.

[Kikó]

I cannot fathom why it was ever a thing. These are adult students right, what possible benefit could it bring to the UK having them uproot and bring their entire family with them? Have we reached match fixing levels regarding immigration now?

Post graduate students are older and might have a family. What benefit do you get from stopping Post grads coming with their wife and kid?

[Kikó]

The gazillions of Indians that have been let in last 2 years due to some crap agreement with Modi.

250,000 arrived in 2023 alone - 127,000 to work and 117,000 to study.

This is interesting. Cheers for the answer.

[Spikey M]

Post graduate students are older and might have a family. What benefit do you get from stopping Post grads coming with their wife and kid?


On an individual level, none at all. But when you add it all together you get very fast population growth. I think we're running at 600k a year at the moment. Which would be fine, but we aren't building any infrastructure to deal with it.

If this is the course we want to follow then we need more hospitals, doctors, schools, roads, etc.

[niko_cee]

I genuinely think it'll be terrible for anyone on PAYE/saving for a pension. Which will be a complete betrayal of what they've been spouting over the last 15 years and a tacit admission that despite the noise about going after big business and properly high earners it's not actually that easy to do.

What comes after that I'm not so sure. Might even be Kamikwasi levels of fallout.

Think this is probably a little OTT, even if it is a fair response to the doom-mongering the government seems keen to foster. At worst they'll reform/undo the [frankly insane] pension reforms brought in by the last government under the auspices of getting more NHS consultants to not retire or whatever back to what they were before. Of course Kier will keep his bespoke Act of Parliament scheme. If they start trying to bring in income tax rises for people they don't consider to be 'working people' then they'll be falling into the trap Lewis describes of thinking their majority means they are in anyway popular with the electorate, which they plainly aren't. That said, that's how all major European countries raise tax, go for the high earning employed people who, in part, act as the servant class to the people you'd like to tax, but can't. Obviously lot of collateral damage that way but OUR NHS isn't going to pay for itself, is it? Or even satiate itself in consuming half of the country's GDP.

[Pepe]

Are Indians in the UK like Mexicans in the US? Do you have Spanish radio stations? Is everything written in both languages in supermarkets, etc?

[Jimmy Floyd]

Pakistanis are more like Mexicans. Indians in the UK are like if about 8-10% of the US population was Cuban.

[Lewis]

Indians used to be a good minority insofar as they were relatively successful and went about their business, but in recent years their numbers have exploded and we are importing absolute retards to deliver takeaways, sell phone cases, and be the world's most useless security guards. The Pakistanis have never been good because America gets all of the educated ones and we get inbreds from places like Mirpur that even the Pakistanis think are retards.

[Ben]

Hard to argue with that. :D

[Spikey M]

Are Indians in the UK like Mexicans in the US? Do you have Spanish radio stations? Is everything written in both languages in supermarkets, etc?

You're thinking of the Welsh.

[Yevrah]

Think this is probably a little OTT, even if it is a fair response to the doom-mongering the government seems keen to foster. At worst they'll reform/undo the [frankly insane] pension reforms brought in by the last government under the auspices of getting more NHS consultants to not retire or whatever back to what they were before. Of course Kier will keep his bespoke Act of Parliament scheme. If they start trying to bring in income tax rises for people they don't consider to be 'working people' then they'll be falling into the trap Lewis describes of thinking their majority means they are in anyway popular with the electorate, which they plainly aren't. That said, that's how all major European countries raise tax, go for the high earning employed people who, in part, act as the servant class to the people you'd like to tax, but can't. Obviously lot of collateral damage that way but OUR NHS isn't going to pay for itself, is it? Or even satiate itself in consuming half of the country's GDP.

Out of interest, which pension reforms do you think they'll reverse if they do?

[Spikey M]

Hopefully the triple lock. Zimmerframes flying through shop windows nation wide.

[Lewis]

The proliferation of foreign 'security' is a weird one. Not just because half of them are ten stone, or are constantly on their headset/phone to some relative somewhere (a cultural phenomenon that deserves greater study), but you would think that an industry like that would require reasonably stringent background checks given that aggro can happen at any moment and everybody involved would want to be covered. In the event that anyone even bothers to contact the Indian police, which they probably won't, how thorough a job are they doing? The same goes for the agency deals that fill every stadium with African stewards who just let you take your bag through rather than try arguing with you.

[niko_cee]

They'll put the cap back on annual and lifetime contributions I would have thought, to the extent that those have been removed or whatever. Not that i really have any idea about the subject. It just seemed those were extremely regressive moves ushered in under somewhat false pretences. Feel free to correct any egregious errors in those thoughts.

[Spikey M]

I still think they'll go in hard on inheritance tax. All those rich boomers ready to die.

[Luke Emia]

Out of interest, which pension reforms do you think they'll reverse if they do?

My thoughts are that they will bring back in the lifetime limit and put the maximum amount you can put into a pension back down to £40,000 annually. I also think there is a chance they get rid of the opportunity to get rid of using previous years unused allowances.

[Luke Emia]

I still think they'll go in hard on inheritance tax. All those rich boomers ready to die.

Possibly. But, the issue with IHT is that anyone with money pre-plans and gets out of it anyway. The people who get caught are the people who bought a house in London for 20 quid 40 years ago and now it's worth £4,000,000. But, they will always catch those people anyway because they don't have it in their mind to plan for it.

[Yevrah]

I'm banking on that annual limit staying at £60k as it's my route to retire at 57-60. Lifetime limit is ok as no one really needs more than whatever it was anyway.

[Luke Emia]

If they get rid of the lifetime limit. As much as it's a ballache just put the money into stocks and shares ISA's. No you aren't getting the tax relief at source. But, you are then getting the tax relief at the other end which is pretty decent anyway. Shouldn't make a huge difference on your retirement plans.

[Shindig]

Aye, I would just change lanes. Chuck it in another savings account and crack on.

[Lofty]

Post graduate students are older and might have a family. What benefit do you get from stopping Post grads coming with their wife and kid?
Presuming the courses aren't being offered by the University of Trumpton running out of a flat above a takeaway.

[Jimmy Floyd]

All this stuff about Labour politicians getting Taylor Swift tickets from the Premier League is insane. How stupid do you have to be as a politician not to think that that's going to look corrupt?

Maybe they're just all entitled as fuck and have no idea how it looks.

[niko_cee]

I am slightly amazed that in the age of the Bribery Act, where in the private sector it seems almost impossible to accept a cup of coffee, that MPs are allowed to simply accept so many obvious bribes on condition that they write them down on a list. Really doesn't help with the feeling that literally everyone in life, and particularly public life, is/are on the take.

[Spikey M]

We had some training recently and we're unable to accept anything of greater value than a notepad. But it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that the rules don't apply to the people that make them.

[Shindig]

In our line of work, the only realistic opportunities for bribery would come from claimants / tenants who are already skint.

[Spikey M]

Yes and no. I have been offered sexual favours in the past (declined) and colleagues have been offered hush money from those involved in crime. Without wanting to throw shade at my colleagues, I suspect there are some that have not declined. But yeah, when it comes to everyday bribery. Opportunities are few and far between. I'm not even allowed to accept a glass of water (albeit, not on bribery grounds).

[Giggles]

I used to get loads of shit from customers, though when some started to try make you feel obliged the next time round I stopped.

[Yevrah]

That's the real problem with politicians accepting this stuff, there is never something for nothing.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Hence the Premier League (and Liverpool, lol) giving Swift tickets to random MPs being ludicrously transparent (they are desperately lobbying against the introduction of a football regulator). As an MP, why would you be stupid enough to accept and put yourself in that position?


Independent

Byrne, Ian (Liverpool West Derby), William Hogan CEO Liverpool Football Club Foundation, two tickets, £900

Liberal Democrat

Davey, Ed (Kingston and Surbiton), The Football Association, two tickets, £584

Labour

Carden, Dan (Liverpool Walton), Liverpool Football Club, two tickets, £900

Johnson, Kim (Liverpool Riverside), Liverpool Football Club, two tickets, £900

Jones, Darren (Bristol North West), The Football Association Premier League Limited, four tickets, £3,400

McKinnell, Catherine (Newcastle upon Tyne North), The Football Association Premier League Limited, two tickets, £2,000

Morris, Joe (Hexham), Premier League, two tickets, £1,660.

Like, what are they doing?

[Magic]

Networking, surely.

Do you think they just go and enjoy? This is where deals are won and lost.

[Boydy]

Maybe they're just all entitled as fuck and have no idea how it looks.

It's this.

[Boydy]

1838499806072750380

This is pretty much bang on.

[Kikó]

We had some training recently and we're unable to accept anything of greater value than a notepad. But it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that the rules don't apply to the people that make them.

Same in financial services. Anything above €50 is a red flag. Should have been a politician :(

[Boydy]

1838269708790870345

These stupid fucks aren't even good at taking bribes either. They're being bought off so cheaply.

[Magic]

What's worse than genuine absolute corruption on a massive scale?

Small time pretend corruption by noobs.

[Lewis]

I think the only way you could bring in appropriate pay for politicians in Bucket of Crabs Britain is if you had some Trump-like figure who didn't claim a salary whilst doing so. Anyone voting to pay the Prime Minister a million quid a year that rightly belongs to Our NHS would have their house torched.

[niko_cee]

Isn't it a bit early for Sir Kier to be now promising "light at the end of the tunnel" as is being trailed? Seems it must have been an awfully short tunnel, unless this is some extended metaphor tracing back through period of Conservative government, as it's not like they've actually taken/implemented any of the TOUGH DECISIONS yet.

[Ben]

Their messaging ever since being elected is absolutely baffling.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Brings to mind a HMHB lyric, 'the light at the end of the tunnel is the light of an oncoming train'.

[Yevrah]

Indeed. I'm sure Reeves is eminently capable at the numbers side of things, but proclaiming doom and gloom at least 2 months before she needed to (whilst seemingly not realising that doing so would have an impact on the actual numbers) is proper amateur hour stuff.

[Magic]

Their messaging ever since being elected is absolutely baffling.

It isn't though, is it? It's to placate all sides, tentative, nervous and wishy washy. It's a carefully considered legal approach. Which is exactly what the country doesn't need, but was always going to get with SIR KEIR.

[Lewis]

'The return of the sausages' is amazingly funny to me. Proper leaning in to it like what he says matters, and then he says fucking sausages.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I like to think some sort of Corbynista/Tory deep plant in his team edited that into his autocue to fuck him over. How else do you end up saying 'sausages' in that situation?

[Alex]

My personal, preferred take is that the breakfast spread at the conference was lacking this morning and he actually really did want the return of the sausages.

[Kikó]

The UK demands more sausages and they demand them now.

[Shindig]

Bangers. Mash. Equality.

[Boydy]

1836442693708222556

1838313090414448914

Everything's shit and nothing's getting better and soon you won't even be able to drown your sorrows.

[Magic]

In fairness drinking is shit and a boomer millennial past time. Close them all, I say.

[Spikey M]

Problem drinking is done in living rooms far more often than in pubs and that will remain the case. Firstly, because you can buy 2 litres of cider for £2 and secondly, because you don't solve addiction by making it more difficult. And let's face it, it is an addiction for a scarily large number of people. Many of who would never admit it.

[Shindig]

"Study finds people drink less when served less drink." :dc:

[Jimmy Floyd]

Problem drinking is done in living rooms far more often than in pubs and that will remain the case. Firstly, because you can buy 2 litres of cider for £2 and secondly, because you don't solve addiction by making it more difficult. And let's face it, it is an addiction for a scarily large number of people. Many of who would never admit it.

This is so blindingly obvious that it must have eluded them. Living rooms don't employ people either or give potentially lonely people vital social opportunities. If I were PM I'd introduce a huge pub subsidy and fund it with a massive dog tax and also a specific sales tax surcharge on everything that Jeremy Vine likes.

[Lewis]

The Public Health cranks will be all over this. There will be smoking-style warning labels on frozen pizzas by the end of the parliament.

[Spikey M]

I just don't understand the thinking. Do they think people drink / eat shit food because they are unaware that it's bad for them? Because they don't. Half the time they do so because their lives are shit, so, you know... maybe stop making our lives worse.

If they did want to make somewhat of a change on this front, they should stop companies targeting children and parents. Like Coco-Pops putting cutesy monkeys on the box along with a load of bullshit health claims. Sprinkling iron on top of processed shite does not make it healthy and they shouldn't be able to pretend otherwise.

[Spikey M]

"Study finds people drink less when served less drink." :dc:

Even then, it's people that have a healthy relationship with alcohol. The alcoholics would just buy more.

[Lofty]

The best one is when you end up in a wanky pub serving schooners instead of pints but they cost the same.

[Ben]

Stopping Brits having a piss up down the boozer is a one way ticket out of Government.

[Shindig]

Even then, it's people that have a healthy relationship with alcohol. The alcoholics would just buy more.

Aye, or they'll be in a situation where someone will buy it for them.

[niko_cee]

The best one is when you end up in a wanky pub serving schooners instead of pints but they cost the same.

This is the thing isn't it?

Whatever serving sizes you want are fine, as long as they are priced commensurately. That won't happen and anyway, fuck it, if they want less let them drink halves. [/MarieAntoinette]

[Spikey M]

It really does feel like this is just another Tory leader and reshuffle. It's only marginally less shambolic than the Truss effort.

We have some serious issues in this country. A country of stagnation and decline, and all they've managed so far is to release a load of prisoners, lock up a fresh load of thick cunts, kill Boydy's nan, get embroiled in a donations scandle and threaten to make life even harder for pubs that are already going bust up and down the country.

Still no mention of taxing the wealthy, council tax reform or landlord and dividend taxes. Get Two Tier, Free Gear, No Beer Starmer in the fucking sea. Jesus.

[Shindig]

I'd stick with him in the sense that no other cunt would do anything different.

[Manc]

Any update on the sausages?

[Spikey M]

Still long dead and never coming back.

[Lofty]

It really does feel like this is just another Tory leader and reshuffle. It's only marginally less shambolic than the Truss effort.

We have some serious issues in this country. A country of stagnation and decline, and all they've managed so far is to release a load of prisoners, lock up a fresh load of thick cunts, kill Boydy's nan, get embroiled in a donations scandle and threaten to make life even harder for pubs that are already going bust up and down the country.

Still no mention of taxing the wealthy, council tax reform or landlord and dividend taxes. Get Two Tier, Free Gear, No Beer Starmer in the fucking sea. Jesus.

The irony being tory voters hate him. I did say in the run up Starmer's as much of a Tory PM as Cameron or Major.

[Kikó]

If you're going to do unpopular things do it at the start. I think sir Beer will be fine.

[Giggles]

They tried half litres here back in the late 90's and it lasted about 3 months.

[Jimmy Floyd]

It's one of the things I find laughable about France. 'I'd like a beer please'. 'Certainly, sir, will that be twenty-five centilitres, or fifty centilitres?' 'Oh, fifty for me, I have a real thirst on!'

The word 'pint' is a success story in itself. You try and rip that out of the language, it's a thousand years of cultural and linguistic evolution up the swanny. One syllable, meaning clear.

[Yevrah]

I hate this sort of Ill thought out and borderline pointless meddling with things we enjoy in the name of public health. Why should my infrequent trips to the pub be curtailed because someone else has an alcohol problem and they’ll just drink at home anyway?

[Shindig]

The benefit angle will be tricky. He wants to tackle fraud but also says, "People need to look for work." One of these is a lot easier to sort than the other so I guess they should keep filling in their job search diaries.

Is there some kind of benefit fraud whistleblower line? Throw some Amazon gift vouchers out for information.

[niko_cee]

It's one of the things I find laughable about France. 'I'd like a beer please'. 'Certainly, sir, will that be twenty-five centilitres, or fifty centilitres?' 'Oh, fifty for me, I have a real thirst on!'

The word 'pint' is a success story in itself. You try and rip that out of the language, it's a thousand years of cultural and linguistic evolution up the swanny. One syllable, meaning clear.

Can you not just go pression grand or whatever? Although I do like the, in my mind, incivility of just saying fifty. Kind of fits the French.

In other thousand years of history down the toilet news clickbait local media is railing against single file queues (https://www.google.com/search?q=single+file+pub+queue&sca_esv=d63eb84656ac4be5&sca_upv=1&rlz=1C1CHBF_enGG897GG897&tbm=nws&sxsrf=ADLYWIKLd8vAzH4HaEgHNz5yrzpsEPGtqw:172725331 9314&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiBtqOE2N2IAxXaWUEAHWmyDSkQ_AUoBHoECAUQB g&biw=1536&bih=695&dpr=1.25) in pubs today. Yeah, that can do one.

[Spikey M]

Is there some kind of benefit fraud whistleblower line? Throw some Amazon gift vouchers out for information.

You can report it online. I have to do it frequently and I have never - as in not once - had them come back to me for more information. Nor have they ever suspended the claim off the back of my report. It does need addressing. The amount of benefit fraud going on will be unreal.

[Lewis]

I think most people hear 'benefit fraud' and think people working whilst claiming or something relatively well-organised, when in fact everybody knows [of] somebody who will be claiming as a single mother and living with somebody etc.

Elsewhere, 'they never cost the taxpayer a penny' is a good defence for taking freebies to be fair. Well, would you rather we just embezzled it? Would you?