UK Politics Thread

Tell that to Musk, Trump, Dyson, etc.. though.

And I think we can add United Utilities to that list for this alone.

I'm not against private companies being involved in the delivery of provide public services as a blanket rule, but without competent regulators it's bound to end in substandard services and profits for the private companies and their shareholders.

I think it's clear Ofwat aren't fit for purpose - it seems they do have powers but not the capacity (or is it will?) to ever enact them. Similarly Ofgem and Ofcom seem to be in need of some serious attention.

Admittedly I spend alot of time in the Lake District, but the revelation that United Utilities have been pumping shit into Windermere for years, for what I can only imagine is a cost cutting measure makes my blood boil.

Complaints at the time of all the green algae painted as some kind of mystery or even natural phenomenon when it was clear all along what they were doing.

Actively destroying the ecosystem and water of one of the most incredible parts of the country for the sake of profits is as criminal as it gets. As mentioned above they should absolutely focus on holding them to account. At the very least, it would be something the general public would massively support.

Or given top jobs at the Environment Agency!

Yes, but won't somebody think of the investors? Please...

Sod pillories, take a tactic from Pinochet and throw them out of a helicopter above the lake, can even do it from a survivable distance if you're feeling charitable.

First example for the new online safety law:

"You fucks allowed this?, not anymore"

Is she going to get dropped into Windermere?

It’s nice to not be purdah innit? 😀

I don't know a reference doc for this as it's been repeated in articles/podcasts so I can't think of a specific place to dig the stats out from.

It's specifically not sick days. It's long term sickness and more generally working age people dropping out of the workforce entirely. Some of which go on to benefits and therefore there's information on why. But a lot of them just go dark so the reason why isn't recorded. It's incredibly unlikely British people are just work shy, as Badenoch would claim. But the percentages are far higher in the UK than other similar economies.

So an example would be. Someone works in a warehouse, as a driver or even in a bookshop. They need to carry shit around for their job. They develop a minor back problem.  If the NHS was working correctly they'd see a physio, get their health sorted out and then be back in the workforce in no time. Good for them because they're not in pain and good for the economy: as they don't take benefits; they pay taxes and spend in their local economy. Virtuous cycle.

What in fact happens. Is it's non-urgent. It takes 6 months to see a physio. They are in constant pain and unable to work. They end up signing off as long term sick. Or drop out and rely on their partner's income. Similar things happen around obesity and the complications of pre-diabetes and so on.

Ditto NHS workers getting extremely stressed out, due to overworking. End up signed off. The NHS ends up paying a fucking idiotic amount in temp workers. They then have less money for hiring new people to deal with the overworking. You end up in a vicious cycle.

Or childcare costs being fucking insane. Mothers just drop out of the workforce for years. Etc. etc.

That all then feeds in to skills shortages and a lower tax base. Which increases the urgent need for immigration. That then feeds back into making our politics toxic.  Which then feeds into the Tories getting more votes, causing the NHS to get worse. It's a doom loop.

I kind of assume Streeting was basically going. If the NHS can afford X amount of ozempic, it's better used getting out of work people healthy enough to work again, trying to break the whole cycle. Plus it costs the NHS less in the long run. Rather than giving it out to middle class people who can work the system better. But it is Wes Streeting and it's almost guaranteed he phrased it in the most agro way possible as he's a bit of a dick.

I'm still thrown a bit off by the way Labour is approaching things in a grown up and sensible way, rather than just attacking everyone and everything.
www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/oct/18/lisa-nandy-announces-plan-to-restore-charities-to-centre-of-national-life

It needs a holistic approach. Prevention os better than cure and all that. But everything is so disjointed and short term, it's hard to see change. To really see a difference, we need to provide jobs that afford people to live, fund things like school meals for all kids, affordable housing, address unaffordable essential services ans utilities, regulate the internet, mental health support where needed and much, much more. Put the foundations in place and the back end cost will be much less - both literally and figuratively.

This is basically the same as my list. Someone just has to muscle through a load of unpopular headlines, bad polling and shitty local elections for a few years to actually get any of this on track.

Also probably fucking off a load of "interest" groups along the way.

Also it's not that bad after a while. Once houses start getting built, people are happier, more productive, back in work, tax receipts then go up etc. People often think Keynsianism is just spending shit (Corbyn times) the point is you don't need to keep spending so much once you get everything in to a virtuous cycle.