Youtube comments of 80s Music (@eightiesmusic1984).

  1. The most egregious treatment was heaped on him without any justification. More than any previous Labour leader combined. The behaviour of many in the PLP and the media towards him was an utter disgrace. History will be kind to him for saving socialism from oblivion in Britain. Future generations will sing his praises.
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  2. His mental state should be seriously questioned by journalists and his own party. It goes beyond the usual parameters of obsession with power in a so called democracy.
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  3. Vile Vance is an abject disgrace.
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  4. The average age of the first time buyer in 1990 was 23 and in 2025 it is 38. The previous rites of passage taken for granted that supported social cohesion, such as buying a house in your twenties, having independence and your own space, and starting a family, are denied to millions. As ever, the rich are unaffected by the house price crisis. No wonder so many people are stressed to the max about whether they can afford to pay their mortgage. The boomers have failed their children as they benefitted from the thirty year post war consensus. Right to buy and councils not being able to replace sold off stock is a huge contributor to extortionate prices, not forgetting foreign purchases of housing. Housing booms have suited government for decades as a means of sustaining the deluded narrative of a successful economy. Rentier UK, Thatcher's Britain.
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  5. It is remarkable how pleased with himself he appears whenever he is in Parliament or interviewed. Cringeworthy and the weird hand gestures and grinning when Truss walked onstage at the Tory Party conference were beyond cringe. Smirking while the economy is on fire. There are no words to describe how awful this government is.
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  6. Labour betrayed the workers decades ago and by the time of Blair it was all over with the capitulation to neoliberalism. Weak unions, low pay, precarious employment, income inequality, tax cuts for the rich and privatisation are all design features of neoliberalism. It has worked a treat since 1979, defeating the last vestiges of socialism in Labour. The establishment stitch up of Corbyn was essential for the continuance of the wrecking spree transferring wealth to the rich. The chances of the left ascending to the leadership of Labour again are very remote- Starmer and those around him are intent on eradicating the left once and for all. Democracy is dead in Britain and it died with the defenestration of Corbyn.
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  7. Great to see Cameron back. Said no-one. He brought us the catastrophe of Brexit to appease the hard right of his party, failed to plan for post Brexit, needless austerity that has destroyed public services and deepened poverty/ inequality, and the effects of the removal of Gaddafi in 2011 (Sarkozy also involved) fuelled terrorism in the region, according to a Foreign Affairs Select Committee report in 2016 ( Independent article, September 15th 2016). An open goal for Labour to exploit and a sure fire sign of Sunak's desperation.
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  8. Heseltine has been right in everything he has said about Brexit all the way through. I am a democratic socialist but I have respect for him because he is a patriot wanting the best for the UK. He is/ was a one nation Tory with a belief in public service and the need for the state to provide a safety net for its citizens. On industry he was right in calling for an interventionist state- neither party has had an industrial strategy of any meaning for around 40 years. It would be easy to find fault with the Tories and they have wrecked Britain for over forty years ( longer) but Heseltine deserves respect for his position on Europe.
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  9. ' I recently suggested to a radio audience that he supposes himself to be Winston Churchill, while in reality being closer to Alan Partridge. Johnson would not recognise truth, whether about his private or political life, if confronted by it in an identity parade.' Max Hastings article in The Guardian, 2019.
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  10. Orange Jesus looks like a man about to lose big in November. His situation is unravelling at speed. Pass the popcorn. Greetings to all democrats from the UK.
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  11. Libertarians on the side of the rich do not believe in regulation of the market. Therein lies the problem. Coffey is out of touch giving the impression of someone who simply does not care. Absolutely laughable that she was selected as an MP never mind becoming a cabinet minister including Deputy Prime Minister under the joker Truss. Many MPs are really weird.
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  12. George Monbiot is excellent- committed, genuine and with total integrity. He was also brilliant yesterday on Politics Live on BBC2.
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  13. Make America Moron Again. Job done.
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  14. He is worthy of the highest respect. We saw Mr Kasparov at the Hay festival over ten years ago where he spoke with erudition befitting a chess genius and former World Champion in his sport. I recall he referred then to the protection he needs due to having taken the selfless course of action of opposing Putin when he could have opted for an easy life instead. A brave man indeed.
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  15. Zinger guaranteed with every question from Stephen Flynn. Go SNP!
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  16. Truss is a gift to Labour. She should appear on television as much as possible to boost the Labour vote. Her problem is that she cannot come to terms with her own failure as Prime Minister. Shame this had to play out on the national stage with disastrous consequences for the economy and millions of people. History will damn her arrogance and ignorance.
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  17. There must be a leadership challenge to Starmer, the wrong leader for Labour and the country if he becomes PM. The split over Israel/ Gaza/ Palestine is real and deep- it is not going to resolve on its own. There are also wider issues about the eradication of the left through the Blairite ascendancy. Unless Labour confronts the issue of his deeply flawed project ( putting it charitably), the fissures will only worsen. The Australian Labour Party changed its leader weeks before the 1983 election and won- it can be done. It is high time he goes to save the party.
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  18. Dave Ward working class hero. Rightly condemned the Blairite virus in the Labour Party a few years ago.
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  19. Working class hero leading where others have failed workers. Regardless of the outcome of the strike ( I hope they succeed), Mick Lynch has changed the dynamic in the British economy for good in all probability. Without effective union leadership things are not going to improve on their own. Power does not make concessions willingly. The RMT leader has provided more education on the realities of hard line capitalism's impact on workers in the last few days in interviews than almost anybody else in the last decade. Not only has he made the case lucidly for the rail industry but he has put it in the wider context of the bigger picture applicable to millions of others who are subjected to downward pressure on their wages year on year. The biggest cut to living standards in 50 years and average weekly wages on course to have increased by £18 a week by 2025 compared to 2008. Yet still the workers vote against their own self interest under FPTP. Time to wake up.
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  20. This makes me want to lock the front door and not go out again for at least ten years.
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  21. The cost of giving crisis- the wealth of the majority being transferred to the Tories must come to an end.
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  22. From The Guardian, 13th April 2023, 'A former senior minister from Boris Johnson’s government told the Guardian they believed Braverman was a “real racist bigot”.'
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  23. Incredibly arrogant for absolutely no reason. Very pleased with himself. I had the misfortune to see a few minutes of an Oxford Union speech he made, which was long on apparently self-deprecating digressions/jokes but short on substance. It is a mystery how he went from the London Assembly to Foreign Secretary.
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  24. The demeanour of many on the Conservative benches when immigration is discussed does not suggest they are concerned about the human cost. They are motivated by hate and othering/ dehumanising desperate people is important to them, not stopping suffering. If humanitarianism was their concern, safe and legal routes would be the priority. Instead they demonise those on boats and use the issue as a distraction from the real issues in the British economy, which are all caused by their mendacity and incompetence.
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  25. Sunak mispronounced Brianna's surname compounding the insensitivity previously shown in his exchange with Starmer. Every week Sunak shows with crass comments and actions how out of touch he is. His defenders sometimes claim how nice he is-a fundamental part of being nice is sensitivity to others, respect for difference and self awareness so that comments are calibrated appropriately. Sunak singularly failed at this today in PMQs.
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  26. In Truss we did not trust, in Trust we are bust. Adapted from slogan about President Hoover in 1932, widely blamed for failing to tackle the Depression (retrospective spoiler alert- he was to blame).
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  27. How incredibly surprising and unpredictable. The biggest surprise of the day, month, year and century.
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  28.  @Da_Big_G  No such thing. Figment of the imagination. In case you have not noticed MPs are part of the establishment not outsiders. Think about it and do keep up at the back.
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  29. Yes he is about to win in Rochdale.
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  30. Ironic that the most effective questioning of the Tories is from the SNP, a party that does not even want to be in Westminster, but speaks with passion and concern about the plight of the millions of victims of Tory policy. Labour, with some exceptions, is half hearted by comparison. No wonder when it hopes to enact the same Tory policies if it wins the GE.
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  31. All those who thought Labour would be bad ( wrong) cannot complain about this government. It is the worst in living memory and indeed since universal suffrage but until working people stop voting against their own interests by propping up the Tories, nothing will change at all. Only had 120 years to realise this. Here's to the next century of Tory dystopia.
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  32. Braverman must resign or be sacked. Labour needs to keep up the pressure until she is removed from her post as Home Secretary. She is wholly unfit to be a minister and an abject disgrace. Her language on a number of issues is incendiary and extremely concerning to say the least. Britain is becoming ungovernable, in large part due to the mendacious and incompetent behaviour of a Tory Party unhinged from reality and any sense of decency on a range of issues.
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  33. Britain is well on the road to a far right authoritarian regime. It can be traced back to the illiberalism of the Thatcher government. Neoliberalism has failed yet no-one in the public square will call it out. The political system is not working and reactionary forces are a clear and present danger. Remember this is a far right government already, not the traditional Conservative Party, which has been too right wing since Thatcher won power in 1979.
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  34. Spot on for the SNP to focus on Tory economic disaster. The coming housing crisis with repossessions on a vast scale is going to cause even more dislocation and trauma in society to many families. Hundreds of thousands are at risk of repossession due to the hike in interest rates caused by Truss's disastrous budget. Starmer focused mainly on Ukraine with a load of cliches about a conflict where no Russian leader will be brought to justice, there is no quick end in sight, the war will not end in a clear cut comprehensive victory to Ukraine and the war may very well go on for up to another decade. Zelensky's presence in the chamber was designed in part to neutralise the opposition; Labour fell for it. The SNP leader had the good sense not to play the Tory game.
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  35. @Discodave007licencedtothrill. Time for Disco Dave to take a break to go for a walk in the fresh air to let off some steam and shed the ludicrous comments with unnecessary capitalisation and use of emojis. He can then return as a new man capable of writing calmly.
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  36. He talks slowly to sound clever but really it is because he is thinking slowly. Nobody is fooled. Listen to his vocabulary too and it is clear he is a limited thinker. Not the brightest MP. Very arrogant too, with an entirely misplaced view of his own ability. Ludicrous.
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  37. Fiona Bruce smirking while Mick Lynch is speaking, making a serious point. As a rule and out of courtesy I only smile when someone is making a joke and being intentionally funny. In a recent episode she referred to the Prime Minister as Boris. This is not acceptable. I have not heard any other presenter on any political programme for the last forty years refer to the Prime Minister of the day as by their first name only. Ever. That is because it is not deemed appropriate. Jo Coburn is a good example on Politics Live- she never refers to Johnson as Boris. Incidentally, the BBC should have given her the role of presenting its political programme on a Sunday as she is scrupulously even handed. The BBC claims it believes in impartiality.
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  38. Look at the big picture- neoliberalism since 1979 has caused every single problem the audience member cites. The voters have backed it in every election since 1979, including Labour, which capitulated to its poisonous effects when it embraced Thatcherism/ neoliberalism under Blair. Britain has the widest income inequality in Europe except Bulgaria- it is not a bug but a design feature of neoliberalism, the system most voters support even though they can see the impact all around them. Until the conversation is about income inequality and taxing the rich properly in the sixth richest nation on earth, it cannot be fixed. Most of those complaining now supported austerity for years, of course. Wake up before it's too late ( spoiler alert- it almost certainly is).
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  39. No sense of regret from all the media enablers of the Tories who worked hand in hand with the Tories to prevent a mildly left wing government under Corbyn that made it clear it would adopt a different course for British society and the economy. No point complaining about the current government when the media helped deliver it. What's not to like?
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  40.  @FelonyBellend  Corbyn and McDonnell would have been excellent. McDonnell is a working class intellectual who has done more than most to develop an alternative economic framework for addressing a modern economy that serves the needs of people not profit.
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  41. The Tory creed is that the poor deserve to be poor because it is their own fault. This is fundamentally wrong and immoral, of course, but this is the dystopia we live in. The largest fall in living standards since the 1950s makes little difference to the big picture, which is that working people will continue to vote against their own self interest by aiding and abetting the return of the Conservatives at the next election. Labour has been in power for around 30 years of the last 120 yet the penny has still not dropped- Conservativism is bad for individual and the nation's health. Political literacy is so low in this country and levels of masochism so high that the punishment meted out by the Conservatives in the 21st century iteration of feudalism is embraced by millions who show no inclination to challenge their own thinking and the egregious policies of a government that clearly does not serve the best interests of the majority in society. The Conservatives won big in 1931 ( National Government) and 1935 despite the poverty of the interwar years they created. Ditto in 1983, 1987 and 1992 despite destroying the economy and social fabric ( if I had a pound for every time someone praised Thatcher for taming the unions for at least twenty years after she took office, I would be a millionaire) and in 2015 and 2019 despite needless, cruel and economically illiterate austerity which not only caused thousands of deaths ( fact) but inhibited recovery. Countries with strong unions co-existing with the state have less inequality and more stable economies. Not Britain. Nothing is going to change- that ship sailed with the Corbyn interregnum.
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  42. Agree. Very good point about the timbre ( English spelling- I am in the UK) of his voice. He spoke very well throughout under intolerable pressure from vile bullies in a planned ambush. It was a masterpiece of measured and reasonable comments in response to being attacked by two freaks.
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  43. The Blairites have their way- they hollowed out the Labour Party under Blair and Starmer is heir to their legacy. Hubris, events, inexperience, inability of some ministers to grip issues in a Labour government, and lack of any meaningful policies to address the issues confronting Britain, will expose the emptiness of the Starmer project. Radical in UK terms means moving back to policies that are part of the mainstream in most European countries, such is the extent to which Britain has succumbed to the extremist ideology of neoliberalism. It is no accident that the Anglo Saxon iteration of capitalism has grotesque inequality hard baked into the system. Britain is the most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria because wealth has been transferred to the rich. Labour has no intention of reversing this.
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  44. The more voters see of her the more they will dislike her- this was predicted by one of her own party recently. She also went to a good school, growing up in a middle class area. What is her problem with the truth? There's a deep-seated resentment of her education without any reason. She will not be PM by Christmas and will soon have to come to terms with the reality of her own failure for the first time in her life.
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  45. Keynesian economics is the answer. Neoliberalism has to be reversed to start undoing the disastrous consequences of policies pursued since 1979 by successive governments. The Trente Glorieuse was the outcome of Keynesian levers in France, and here it was the less glamorous sounding post war consensus. Labour must tax the rich and inevitably will, no matter what it says this side of the general election, and borrow on a large scale to invest in infrastructure. Will the Blairite right be able to shake off its belief in neoliberalism as an article of faith? I doubt it but events will probably force the issue. Britain is in a crisis more complex and deep rooted than the war and that was colossal in 1945; nothing less than the abandonment of neoliberalism by the public and ruling class is urgently needed. Will Hutton nailed the issues in The Observer last Sunday.
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  46. Most Tories are seriously odd. Yet the country wants to be governed by them and has done since 1900. It is remarkable how entitled, arrogant and mean spirited so many of them look. You can see their beliefs about people and human nature written all over their faces. Appalling.
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  47. Starmer out. Labour MPs need to do the right thing and organise a leadership challenge. Even if it fails. It is the moral stance needed to chart a way back for the soul of the Labour Party.
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  48. She governed with integrity and deserves respect. When the history of Scottish independence is written she will be given the credit due for its eventual success. I am a socialist and nationalism runs counter to this. However, in the context of the car crash that is the UK, Scotland needs and deserves its independence to carve out a better future away from the dead hand of hard right English nationalism. Sincere and above all incredibly successful in winning elections.
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  49. Reverse Brexit, which Scotland voted against. A united Europe must stand together against the trashing of the post second world order by America under Trump if it transpires. Taggart forever.
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  50. Stamer must resign. The sooner the better.
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  51. The Liberal Democrats enabled this government by forming the coalition in 2010 and endorsing austerity, going after the weakest and most vulnerable in society. They are classical liberals, therefore had no problem accepting the economic illiteracy of austerity ( not just cruel, it is also dumb) because they believe in the small state and balanced budgets at all costs. In other words, they are the same as the Tories economically. They walked away from talks with Labour and had the cheek to claim it was the other way round. Not so. Without the coalition there would have been no austerity which has wrecked public services and no Brexit. Just let that sink in.
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  52. Truss resignation to be announced this afternoon. Repeated assertions that there is a good reason why not in the chamber but cannot say why indicate she has resigned. One MP asked if she was on her way to the Palace.
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  53.  @chrisj9700  Of course there was/ is money. Where's britain? The issue is England's privatised water system. Nationalisation will pay for itself in a decade and bills will be much lower. It is a natural monopoly and profit should not enter the equation. Water was privatised because the policy is a key tenet of the neoliberal project to undermine the state and transfer wealth to the rich. It was done for ideological reasons not the red herring you cite.
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  54. Watch the nurses settle for a poor pay deal below inflation. They will still be using food banks because pay is so low. In France the average family is 10% better off than in the UK and in Germany it is 20% wealthier. Strong unions means good pay via collective bargaining. Weak union leadership in some of the unions is part of the problem here as well as anti union legislation. Other European nations are SERIOUS about their demands and don't stop until they win. Not here.
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  55. Daily Mail full-page editorial headlined ‘ ‘Hurrah for the Blackshirts’ in January 1934. The story, bylined to Viscount Rothermere, praised Mosley for his “sound, common sense, Conservative doctrine." Beyond the pale, utterly disgraceful.
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  56. The Telegraph is the in house newspaper of the Tory Party.
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  57. Don't write them off. Because working people are easily fooled, the Tories are the most successful electoral machine in the world with a gift for reinvention. No matter that they are dishonest and are bad for the economy, they are adept at blaming Labour for problems they have caused. Labour used to offer a radically different set of policies but now they are on the same page as the Tories on so many issues. Yes, the Tories need to go, but we have been here before with false hopes for Labour.
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  58. The voters of England mostly voted Conservative. Millions could not be bothered to vote Labour because the Daily Fail told them not to. Corbyn would have been excellent on the pandemic and the rest, but in a conservative country where millions don't care about fellow citizens even if they pay lip service to it, the hard line political cult masquerading as a Conservative government is the inevitable result of forty years of demonisation of the state and any individuals/ groups who do not conform to multiple prejudices about them. Either the Conservatives will be consigned to the wilderness where they belong ( it was predicted in 2001 when Labour won again but Cameron superficially reinvented/ repositioned them) as a result of the car crash that is this government if the voters wake from their false consciousness or something even worse and more extreme will emerge to exploit the selfishness and I'm alright jack instinct of much of the electorate. If so, the next decade is going to be even worse. Many of the voters see something of themselves in Johnson which is why he has got away with so much thus far. I never heard anyone provide a coherent explanation of why a Corbyn government would be so bad in endless idiotic vox pops on the street. But that was the established narrative even though it was evidence free.
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  59. He is a disgrace.
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  60. Kudos to those who have spoken up for the acceptance of her apology. The silence from those who probably have a similar perspective on accepting the apology is deafening. John McDonnell spoke correctly on this matter recently and showed commendable loyalty, not surprising from him. John McTernan from the right of the Labour Party has also spoken in her defence in respect of how the controversy should be responded to. Credit is due to him as he had no reason to speak out. The onslaught against Diane Abbott is, as least as far as the right is concerned, yet another excuse to attack her.
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  61. True. France has the 35 hour week, with exemptions but its productivity is higher than the UK. Bureaucracy in France is a nightmare but one way or the other it works. Low productivity has bedevilled the UK economy since 1980 with neither party capable of solving it. Lack of investment in skills and training, long hours, presenteeism, weak unions with little bargaining power, lack of collective bargaining, and many workers just going through the motions are all factors in the malaise.
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  62. A former Tory minister in Johnson's government is reported in The Guardian as saying Braverman is a 'real racist bigot'. She is a disgrace to parliament, her office and the Tory party. She was made Home Secretary as the price for ERG support for Sunak but only 25 of them voted against the recent Northern Ireland deal. She should be sacked on principle but Sunak does not need her anymore- time to send her to the backbenches.
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  63. Looks like any ambition she had for a big job in a Labour government is now unlikely to be fulfilled.
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  64. She comes across so poorly. There is no way she would make it to ministerial level in any government before 2019. Poor communicator, not the brightest and not exactly personable. More or less the norm for most Tory ministers.
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  65. Forget the traditional family nonsense- many of them are dysfunctional. Nothing wrong with single parent families, most of whom do a fantastic job in often challenging circumstances. The Tories have been moralising and pontificating about the breakdown of the family since at least the eighties while creating the economic chaos that means families do not have enough money for a decent standard of living. The Tories have cut the welfare state to the bone for over 40 years out of cruelty- if it did more for people families would be stronger and more stable as a unit. Tory finger pointing is out of order and helps no-one.
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  66. England is the only country on the planet where water is privatised in the way it is here. Even in America most of the water industry is nationalised. Only 34 years for the British public to wake up to the reality of the disaster predicted when privatisations took place in the 1980s.
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  67. The agenda should be hope not hate. Solidarity with all vulnerable groups targeted by the Tories. There are far more who oppose Braverman's appalling rhetoric than support it.
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  68. His political career is over. To adapt a well known quote from Churchill, two leaders united by common failure- Trump and Johnson, fellow travellers on the political road to nowhere.
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  69.  @chrisj9700  On what planet could government not afford the money necessary? England is the only country in the world with water privatised on the model used here. If every other country can manage nationalised water so can England. You are talking absolute nonsense.
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  70. This is what America wanted and deserves. No complaints. Four million people may lose their health insurance after 2025- lots of them voted for Trump. Oh well, never mind. Millions love chaos and are certainly going to see a lot of that- enjoy. Own what you have allowed.
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  71. Have I missed something obvious? Less than 24 hours ago he said he was going nowhere! Incroyable et je vous remercie Ms Truss. I read before that he wrote a dissertation on The Great Coinage crisis of 1696. If so, the irony is spectacular. Truss is on her way out too. She deserves our gratitude for all she is doing in the service of the destruction of the Conservative Party as a viable force in UK politics. Only a couple of hundred years overdue but better late than never.
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  72. The eighties were sensational for music. Eyes Without a Face without doubt one of the best songs of the decade. The decade gave us so much to be grateful for with this song being one of the best of 1984 and the entire era.
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  73. Once again laser focused on the issues, skewering the Tories and Labour for their total inadequacy to the task of governing Britain. Two sides of the same coin to put it politely. Go SNP!
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  74. Thatcherism set this process in motion. Many of her cabinet were the generation that came out of the second world war and were cut from a different cloth. The same applied to the Labour Party. A younger generation of Tories emerged who were die hard ideologues with unswerving devotion to her creed or how they interpreted it. The public have endorsed neoliberalism in every election since 1979. They want inequality and for money to be transferred to the rich. They are content to be poor and to blame the very poor for their own predicament. They do not want strong protection in the workplace or to support colleagues who are bullied. Labour accepted the Thatcherite settlement under Blair, which is why there is no chance of anything changing. Less than 5% of politicians are from poorer backgrounds but even if more were it does not guarantee anything would improve.
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  75. Incorrect. Don't let facts get in the way of your view. They have the right to claim asylum in a country of their choice. The majority of asylum seekers settle in other countries. Look up the figures and you will see that very few have settled in the UK. Would you support a programme for countries to share the numbers of asylum seekers allowed to settle if it meant Britain actually had to take more? No, I thought not. Most right wingers do not want anyone to be allowed to settle here unless it is migrants doing poorly paid jobs to keep the country going. Then it is ok.
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  76. It is the most unequal country in Europe, except Bulgaria. The poorest third of the population in Eastern Europe are richer than the poorest third in Britain. If the economy of London and the South East is taken out of the equation, Britain's economy overall is worth less than that of Mississippi, America's poorest state. Private affluence and public squalor is the result of 43 years of Thatcherism/ neoliberalism, aided and abetted by Labour's' surrender to the toxic ideology that has destroyed the UK economy and its society. We live in Thatcher's Britain today as a result of her egregious policies and the way neoliberalism is woven into the fabric of almost every facet of society/ economy.
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  77. Tory anti strike laws should be reversed if Labour forms a government but it will not happen, of course. Just like Blair did not reverse them 1997- 2010. Weak unions are key to the neoliberal project precisely to keep wages down so the rich can prosper at the expense of the workers. Yet even if they were reversed in some parallel universe there is so little solidarity in many sectors of the UK economy and many unions are so poorly led that it would be unlikely to make much difference to wages and conditions of service.
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  78. The level of hate they possess towards others is astonishing.
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  79. Labour is a political party, labour is a concept Rishi Sunak has limited understanding of. The pesky worker bees who serve the rich.
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  80. Britain is the most unequal country in Europe, except Bulgaria. The poorest third of the population of Eastern Europe is wealthier than the poorest third in the UK. Most people have no idea of this. If the economy of London is removed from the equation the entire UK economy is worth less than that of Mississippi, America's poorest state. Britain is doomed without reversing Thatcherism.
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  81. The dogs in the street know it. Everyone does.
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  82. Full nationalisation is absolutely the answer.
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  83. He should have been our first lacoste wearing Prime Minister. History will judge him kindly. He saved the idea of socialism in Britain and if the public ever repudiate Thatcherism, which is desperately needed, the country will be forever indebted to Jeremy Corbyn for making sure socialism was not extinguished. He kept the flame alive.
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  84. Billy Idol was a star who seemingly didn't care what anyone thought. The result; some of the best rock/pop releases of the eighties, Eyes Without a Face being one such tune. The sneer too, once seen never forgotten!
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  85. John Nicholson is a first class MP. He speaks the truth and from the heart. He was excellent as ever on Politics Live today, speaking eloquently on a number of topics, including the fact he did not see his mother in the last two months of her life due to the rules under Covid prohibiting visits due to the risk of it being introduced to the respite centre where she was being looked after. Very moving. He said Johnson will receive his comeuppance- let's hope so. No-one is stupid enough to tangle with him either because he is not soft and knows what he is talking about.
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  86. Neoliberalism is the root of the problem- it is the word that should be part of every conversation for those interested in a route map out of the mess. Until it is widely understood and the dots are joined, nothing will change. The SNP and Greens have rejected neoliberalism in favour of social democracy or democratic socialism in the case of the Greens, while Labour and the Lib Dems cling to its wreckage as society and economy collapse in front of their eyes. Labour abandoned its founding purpose to represent the workers against capital under Blair when it embraced Thatcherism. No wonder she described 'new' Labour as her greatest achievement. Starmer has nothing at all to offer.
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  87. Awarded the Newcastle prize at Eton for academic achievement yet has spectacularly miscalculated as Chancellor- removed Permanent Secretary to the Treasury and his deputy in purge of 'orthodoxy' ( that's going well according to the markets), refused to let the OBR assess the budget ( apparently it has prepared report and it is bad), doubles down on tax cuts at the weekend just after the budget spooked the markets on Friday, thus causing more panic on Monday and has given Labour an open goal due to tax cuts for the rich. He will be remembered as one of the shortest serving and most disastrous Chancellors.
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  88. Then what? More Tory policy?
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  89. This argument plays into the hands of the right. Neoliberalism was plotted for decades by those who put Thatcher and Reagan in power in 1979 and 1980 respectively, in order to reverse the post war consensus. Both were based on ideology- Thatcherism's sole purpose is to transfer wealth to the rich and has been wildly successful in this to the detriment of the majority. The post war Keynesian consensus was designed to reduce the income inequality of the interwar years and consolidate the gains of new liberalism in using the state to protect its citizens through the welfare state. Neoliberalism's pernicious ideological fundamentalism posits that the market will solve everything and individualism is all there is to life, with a minimal role for the state. Democratic socialism or social democracy provides an opposing world view whereby the state facilitates the framework that allows the the economy to flourish and individual agency within this, combining the I and we in society. The surrender of Labour to Thatcherism and the purge of the left in the party creates the impression that neoliberalism is not the extreme ideology it is. One of the victories of neoliberalism is to have created the notion of capitalist realism as the late Mark Fisher described the bogus position that there is no alternative to market fundamentalism. Ideology matters hugely, especially if the mess of the last forty six years is going to be resolved.
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  90. Burgon should be Prime Minister. Not going to happen because he is perceived, wrongly, as too left wing. He is credible, sincere, knows the detail, real and is an excellent communicator. It is a mystery to me why he is not seen widely in a more positive light because he is exactly the sort of genuine politician we need.
    31
  91.  @tonyb9735  It was biased towards the Tories, no doubt. Some of them were looking at Mick Lynch with contempt and this was evident in the tone of some of those in the audience who spoke.
    31
  92. Well said. It is important to keep calling this out- the message might cut through eventually though I won't be holding my breath.
    30
  93.  @americanpatriot3874  I bet it took you all day to construct a sentence. Shame you rounded the post off with a moronic comment and emojis. Make America moron again.
    30
  94. Like winning elections and a load of other good things. I am English but have a lot of respect for the majority of SNP MPs who as a group are serious, committed and effective parliamentarians. Go SNP I say and long live the cause of independence. No matter the travails of the SNP in Scotland the idea of independence is not going anywhere and its day will come.
    29
  95. Dave Ward and his deputy spoke at the CWU sponsored event in Manchester Cathedral in 2015 just after Corbyn had been elected Labour leader. He spoke well after Corbyn received a rock star welcome because he represented hope of change. I am not holding my breath seven years later, far from it, but Dave Ward, Mark Serwotka and Mick Lynch are exactly the type of union leaders who should be in charge of every union precisely because their analysis is correct and they are backing their members. This is what a union should do but not all do. Whenever I think back that event, I remember the great anti austerity speech Mark McGowan AKA The Artist Taxi Driver gave when he condemned it in withering and heartfelt terms.
    29
  96. The country has the government it deserves. Everything happening today from the hard right policies of the worst government in history not just living memory to Starmer's determination to maintain neoliberalism by continuing Tory policies, is the inevitable consequence of the electorate voting against its own self- interest all the time. That includes the so called 'new' Labour era when the party accepted the Thatcherite settlement. Most switchers who voted Labour in 1997 identified with Tory policies according to focus groups afterwards, and millions never bother to vote. This hard right, overtly racist government, is way to the right of UK politics in the 1990s and is worse than Thatcher even. Almost no solidarity in the workplace and poor union leaders also mean nothing will change. The voters ignored Kinnock's warnings in the 1980s because they think they know better. Fools.
    29
  97. There is no doubt that Braverman is a malign force in UK public life and should resign. She is completely unfit to hold ministerial office. There should be widespread and sustained calls for her resignation from all quarters but the silence of many is deafening. We must not accept the worst among us ( Johnson/ Sunak/ Braverman and the whole rotten Tory government) wrecking the values Britain is supposed to stand for. Solidarity with all vulnerable groups.
    28
  98. Thatcherism and neoliberalism are the same thing. Only when the electorate understands the crises in UK society and the economy have been forty three years in the making is there any chance it can be reversed. That will also entail rejection of Starmer's adherence to neoliberalism in the form of copying Tory policy. Thin gruel will not do.
    28
  99. I am very much on the left. Me and my wife saw Rory Stewart in 2009 or 2010 at the Hay Festival in a talk in a small tent chaired by Jon Snow. It was very good and he came across as highly intelligent and interesting. He was wearing a very stylish ( and seemingly expensive) jacket which I think he said he got in Paris, if memory serves me rightly. Prior to this we had not heard of him but he has continued to impress with his interviews on a range of topics in the years since. I would no doubt disagree with him on a number of issues but the ability of politicians on both sides to be able to engage with each other in civilised discussion as exemplified by Rory Stewart is important to democracy and public life. He is positive about Theresa May; she cut police numbers disastrously under austerity as Home Secretary and oversaw the hostile environment policy to immigration, both unacceptable. The Guardian has published a timeline of the policy. Even Johnson when Mayor of London called for an amnesty for illegal immigrants, recognising their contribution to the economy.
    28
  100. Never is the answer. You are quite right to say the French would not tolerate this but the British are mugs and always have been. Most are profoundly ignorant of the most basic facts never mind possessing the ability to formulate a coherent argument. The education system and bread and circuses is to blame for this- addressing productivity is a decade long project and there is no prospect of that improving with such poor education with only a few pockets of excellence. Forty years of Thatcherism and looking the other way when the most egregious things are done to others and re-electing Tory governments no matter how badly they treat people or the economy performs under them ( rate of growth 1997-2010 double that since 2010), and the same pattern going back to 1900 ( universal suffrage only arrived 1928) means that no matter the evidence of Tory failure, under FPTP millions enable them to form a government. There is a notice board in Paris listing all the strikes taking place at any time and general strikes are relatively common. The only one here in 1926 lasted two weeks, never to be repeated.
    28
  101. Abysmal performance from Truss. Repeatedly not answering questions by talking about energy help. Dishonourable and disreputable. Britain cannot be governed this way, nowhere can. The markets will react to the claim that there will not be any cuts to public spending- the numbers do not add up. Starmer weak compared to Blackford and some other MPs. The call for a GE was the right one- it needs to happen immediately.
    28
  102. Adios, au revoir, good riddance ( English for goodbye Johnson). It is remarkable that the bible survived contact with Johnson's hand.
    27
  103. Thanks Rachel.
    27
  104.  @JetTech1992 He is defending democracy and sovereignty. If America continues to back Ukraine ( almost certainly about to stop) alongside Europe then Ukraine could win.
    27
  105. The Americans should be telling Putin to get out of Ukraine otherwise sanctions will remain and be added to. Giving Putin everything he wants is an outrage. There should be no mineral deal with Ukraine as it is colonialism no doubt on unfavourarable terms. Foreign aid should not be cut to appease Trump via increased defence spending. Tax the rich to pay for increased defence and more welfare- yes, an enlarged welfare state just like in many other European countries. The two are not mutually exclusive.
    27
  106.  @norwegianzound  I am a socialist but your comment is uncalled for and highly inappropriate. You should be able to make a distinction between politics and family. I don't agree with Margaret Thatcher's policies but she was known for her kindness to others individually. It is entirely conceivable and I don't doubt it was the case.
    27
  107. Adil Ray is excellent on GMB. Fair, well briefed and not afraid to ask tough questions. His instincts and heart are both in the right place- definitely an asset to the programme. They should make him a permanent member of staff and give Madeley his marching orders.
    26
  108. Labour should be supporting rent caps- it did under Corbyn. I rarely hear any Labour politicians talking about mortgages and rent. Labour should not have abandoned its opposition to right to buy in 1987, Tory gerrymandering that is largely responsible for the high price of property in the last twenty or so years. Council housing was also good for social cohesion because people in different jobs with varying salary levels lived in the same community- that has broken down since the eighties. The voters have been supporting Tory policies since 1979, including under Blair and Brown, so cannot complain about the state of housing and rent. It's the market, it's the wild west capitalism that the people bought into. The average age of the first time buyer in 1990 was 22.
    25
  109. Would that be a bold vision similar to the one outlined in the 2017 and 2019 manifestos yet roundly condemned by the right wing press? Would that be the vision outlined in the manifestos that many in the PLP were content to stand as candidates in support of yet opposed the elected leader of the Labour Party? Labour may well have won in 2017 if not for the egregious way in which Corbyn was undermined. McDonnell is Labour's lost leader. I don't recall the New Statesman backing Corbyn.
    25
  110. Her behaviour in her life would suggest she may be on the spectrum. There are traits that would be consistent with this. No hard evidence of course but it would not be surprising. The inability to think flexibly is an obvious potential sign.
    25
  111.  @PFVideoAce  It is not appropriate or necessary to make a point and what you say is completely false. The comment about Bjorn was not ageist because it was making a fair point about his knowledge of technology in the context of the fact it is relatively unusual and out of the ordinary for someone close to 80 to be so well versed. It is a compliment and I very much doubt many people would take offence.
    24
  112. The civil service is impartial. Suggestions to the contrary are very dangerous. Banning work drinks, if it happened, out of sensitivity to others is to be welcomed. The country is saturated in alcohol. It does no harm to give it a miss every now and again. Education is not 'rotted' with the left. That is not remotely true. Teachers have a duty to be impartial and adhere to this. Many teachers vote Tory and identify with Tory policies, not hard given that Labour is Tory anyway.
    24
  113. 'As you was coming into the building'. Aside from how badly Anderson comes across as a person and MP he cannot speak properly. It is 'as you were coming into the building'. He is not the only MP that cannot speak English correctly all of the time. It is not asking much for goodness sake. His attitude to the Met Commissioner was extremely rude and disrespectful, adding nothing to the discussion. I will not hold my breath for the next election but public life will be better when Anderson is out of it and forgotten about.
    23
  114. Braverman is an abject disgrace and must resign or be sacked. Her conduct as Home Secretary is unprecedented and shocking beyond belief. Britain is at a dangerous moment in its history when a Home Secretary uses inflammatory language to stoke tensions on the street and interferes with operational independence of the Police. Cross that line and the country becomes a dictatorship. The police are not perfect but Rowley and his colleagues should be applauded for standing firm and doing their job.
    23
  115. The lost Roosevelt of America.
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  116. I was fourteen in the summer of 1984 and knew then that the music of the eighties was something that would transcend time even though it would take years for it to be proven. Here we are in 2021 and it is true now as it was then. The beauty and creativity of the eighties is timeless.
    22
  117. There is no reason to call someone from Ireland this. Just because you claim it is ok does not mean it is.
    22
  118.  @normanfreeman6380 The German or Scandinavian economic models are a different way of doing capitalism. Unions have a place on the boards of companies in Germany, unthinkable here given that smashing the unions was one of the key tenets of neoliberalism, and keeping them weak is very much part of the project. The Anglo Saxon iteration of capitalism is the problem- regulated properly as it was in the post war period until Thatcher and Reagan took a wrecking ball to the post war consensus, it can be made to work for the majority. Where there is a will there is a way.
    21
  119. Centrist is a misnomer. If the Blairites are in the centre who is to the right of them? They are the right, obviously. It is too easy to claim the mantle of centrist to disguise the reality that the Labour right ideologically is largely indistinguishable from the Tories on policies. It also highlights the extent to which the Overton Window has been jammed open as Labour abandons any meaningful semblance of democratic socialism. It doesn't even want to regulate capitalism. Blair hollowed out the Labour Party and now the Blairite ascendancy is going to hammer the final nail in the coffin. The only party democratic socialists of whatever hue can vote for is the Green Party. Anything else is a vote for Starmer's neoliberals. He is bad news for the Labour Party as events are proving, and hubris will be the downfall of the Labour right.
    21
  120. The household finances fallacy. It was used in the 1920s and 1930s with disastrous consequences by mainly Tory governments and the two Labour governments in 1924 and 1929-1931, known as the orthodox approach that eschewed high levels of borrowing. Keynes argued against this and his ideas gained traction after 1936 paving the way for the post war consensus of tax and spend. Thatcher's reversal of it to transfer wealth to the rich and shrink the state ended up with Osborne's cruel austerity on entirely bogus grounds- fixing the roof, risk of bankruptcy, comparisons with Greece, etc. Austerity delayed recovery and failed even by its own targets.
    21
  121. I am loving December 2019 right now. Trump should be in asylum.
    21
  122. The Tory benches were subdued at PMQs today as their 'leader' blathered on about nothing with answers that would be considered poor in a Sixth Form debate. Starmer was his usual inspiring self ( don't call him boring) while Stephen Flynn dispensed a zinger about Johnson and truth.
    21
  123.  @sudnam1142  The bots are soon going to be multitasking by posting while digging trenches. Should be fun for them.
    21
  124.  @ZiggyMercury  Tax the rich- income and wealth. There is enough money to go around. Life expectancy in Britain has gone down across all ages in the last few years- you should be aware of this. Mitterrand put the pension age in France down to 60 so it can be done- it needs to be lower in every country.
    21
  125.  @paulsamson6039  No. The Tories want to return workers' rights to Victorian times, i.e non existent.
    21
  126. Assumptions about some kind of unravelling of the power structures that prop up the wealthy are premature to say the least. Britain has been one of the most unequal countries in the world for years yet keeps on returning Tory governments or Tory lite under Labour from 1997 to 2010. Under FPTP the voters never ever learn and are often detached from reality in a way that their counterparts in most other nations are not. A guide is the interwar years when the Conservatives dominated despite the Great Depression and widespread poverty for many. In 1935 they won a huge victory over Labour and it took a war for the voters to wake up and throw them out of office ( coalition during the war from 1940). They were far more politically literate and engaged and the unions had mass membership. Britain has needed a peaceful revolution for decades but it is highly unlikely the voters will wake from their sleep no matter how bad it is in the next two years before the 2024 election.
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  127.  @islaypupdog6750  Austerity is part of neoliberalism meaning both parties are wrong to support it. Labour surrendered to Thatcherism under Blair and therein lies the problem. Austerity is also economically illiterate as it inhibits recovery and worsens living standards- the poor spend a greater proportion of their income on goods and services locally. The whole neoliberal paradigm since 1979 needs to be reversed. Period.
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  128. The work environment in the UK in general is toxic. Countless lives and careers have been destroyed through bullying and nothing is done about it. Colleagues look the other way- no solidarity in most UK workplaces, and victims are on their own. Most unions are weak. Parliament reflects the state of this society and the public has what it deserves.
    20
  129. It sounds like you have never actually spoken to and listened to a teacher, odd considering there are over 400,000 of them in the UK. If it is such an easy job why are so many leaving within five years? Perhaps you might consider teaching as an alternative job at some stage given it is so easy.
    20
  130. Yet millions defend them time and again and will vote for them at the GE. The victory is all theirs- they forced Labour to surrender to neoliberalism under Blair and now Britain is totally doomed for all eternity. For this to be wrong the ruling class and public would have to reject neoliberalism but there is zero sign of that. It is so embedded that the public barely realise its insidious effects on every aspect of life.
    20
  131.  @PFVideoAce  It is not ageism and why on earth do you need to use capitals? Don't shout.
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  132. Three options. Multiple choice answer. 1. Resign 2. Resign 3 Resign
    19
  133.  @stephanguitar9778  Well said.
    19
  134. Just get on with the leadership challenge necessary either now or soon after the GE. Starmer is the opposite of what Labour needs in a leader for a variety of reasons, not just the appalling stance on Gaza. The Australian Labour Party replaced its leader shortly before the 1983 election and won- it can be done and Labour MPs must call time on his disastrous leadership. For the sake of the country and survival of the party.
    19
  135. I have been saying for some time there should be a leadership challenge now while there is time before the next GE or within the first year if Labour wins.
    18
  136. Absolutely. I saw all the coverage yesterday and have seen it replayed numerous times today. His English was excellent regardless of the odd minor error. The flow and meaning of what he said was not affected. He spoke clearly and powerfully. Lots of liars out in force today denigrating how he spoke to suit their agenda.
    18
  137. Precisely. The poor spend a higher proportion of their income on goods and services in the local economy.
    18
  138. Fantastic. Well deserved. Very articulate and modest. The best of luck at Oxford. She will go far!
    18
  139. Most of Britain is countryside once you leave the cities. Any train or car journey illustrates this. Don't tell the little Englander's though, they will be upset by facts.
    18
  140. Red Tory nirvana is going to be amazing. The disappointment of all the deluded who think a Labour government is going to be any different to the Tories will be quite something. Starmer needs to be removed as Labour leader before he does a lot of damage that will pave the way for a hard right nationalist Conservative resurgence at the following GE.
    18
  141.  @RC-9  Not necessary to put it in perspective for me. The economy was growing in 2010 when Labour left office. The Tories lied continuously claiming that the economy was left in a mess by Labour, making false comparions with Greece to justify austerity. Austerity held back recovery, and the Tories failed to reduce both debt and deficit by their own measures. Britain was not bankrupt in 2010-countries that issue their own currency cannot go bankrupt. Pay attention at the back. The BMA estimated that the Iraq war killed up to a million citizens in the country. Labour failed on many levels but its biggest mistake has been to capitulate to Thatcherism/ neoliberalism. the root cause of all UK problems since 1979.
    18
  142. Wrong on Brexit but still a working class hero.
    18
  143. It is still there as far as I can tell. Amazing.
    18
  144.  @utterlee  Right to buy is one of the major reasons for the housing crisis. It gerrymandered votes for the Tories and the fact stock sold off was not replaced has created a shortage of council housing. All for votes and ideological hatred of the state. Labour should not have abandoned its opposition to right to buy in 1987. Thatcher destroyed Britain. Never mind trite comments about a Brucie Bonus.
    17
  145.  @SmileyEmoji42  You have missed the point and obviously have nothing intelligent to add.
    17
  146.  @ChrisHopkinsBass  No, Thatcher destroyed the post war consensus and Blair's conversion of Labour to neoliberalism ensured her revolution could not be reversed. She described 'new' Labour has her greatest achievement. To the cost of the nation and most of its inhabitants, she was tragically correct.
    17
  147. A number of reasons. One is the thickest electorate in the world bar North Korea. Millions will never learn and it will worse than this in a decade, two decades, take your pick. On and on.
    17
  148. Or even lose.
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  149.  @chrisj9700  There is always a magic money tree when it suits the Tories to find it. Name countries with privatised water that follow the same model as England if you can disprove the so called falsehood.
    17
  150. Used to annoy the hell out of me. Cannot explain as it makes no sense but the irritation factor was high.
    17
  151.  @Dougvp112  You are clearly not an economist. On the money with that observation, pun intended. I doubt you are a brain surgeon either. Right wing ideology compares government spending to household debt but they are different, not least because government can borrow at lower interest rates to spend and for a longer period of time. The obsession with balanced budgets is economically illiterate. Keynesianism is the answer. Tax and spend.
    16
  152. I noticed exactly that with Obama avoiding eye contact. He looked uncomfortable but was probably intentionally helping the others avoid having to speak to Trump or shake his hand. It probably would not have made any difference in retrospect but Bush should have endorsed Harris for the election. When people in the first two rows and beyond laughed and smiled at some of the comments in the eulogies about Jimmy Carter, not once did Trump smile when the camera showed him. Carter's grandson's and Biden's words were excellent and landed so well on every level.
    16
  153. Starmer out. No fan of Andrew Pierce but he said this morning on GMB that more resignations will follow.He may have inside knowledge.
    16
  154. Another Times Radio video about how badly Russia is doing in the war it is actually winning. Very odd.
    16
  155. Well said Pat. Hundred percent correct.
    16
  156. 18 months ago average dual fuel bills were £1000 a year. Now they are going to be approximately £5000 per year by next April. This is not a saving, far from it. This time last week the energy support package was going to be in place for two years, now it has been scrapped to reassure the markets. Reinstatement is inevitable but in the meantime, millions will be terrified that they will not be able to pay, with all the attendant stress it will cause.
    16
  157. Voting Labour is the same thing. Have you not noticed that both parties are determined to maintain inequality, low taxes for the rich, denuded workers' rights compared to other countries, lowest pensions in Europe, poor pay, precarious employment, austerity, lack of investment in infrastructure and public services and more? Vote Labour get Tory.
    16
  158.  @alanhynd7886  The peak year for disposable income in the UK was 1976, the so called bad old days according to Tories. Many families did well enough on just one wage too. Since all the money was transferred from the workers to the rich ( shovel up has been a roaring success for the Tories), many parents have to do two or three jobs between them, and then often topped up by tax credits. Tories are not cheap.
    16
  159. @Bessie Hillum They voted against their own self interest by letting the Tories con them.
    16
  160.  @cuebj  Britain cannot have Scandinavian levels of public service with American levels of taxation. Public squalor and private affluence. Time and again, working people vote against their own self- interest. FPTP is definitely a problem yet at the same time if the 15 million who do not vote in General Elections got off the sofa and abandoned the false comforts of bread and circuses to vote, the Tories would be out of power for decades. The old and rich always vote, of course- Tory.
    16
  161.  @alexharrington6459  Exactly. It is by no means certain that Labour will win the election but even if it does, it will make little difference because it will follow the same policies.
    16
  162. She comes across very badly.
    16
  163. @ You fail to point out that asylum seekers are waiting for their claims to be processed due to the Tories deliberately not dealing with this for fourteen years due to a combination of incompetence and deliberate inaction in order to use the issue for political point scoring against Labour. You also fail to make a distinction between legal migration and asylum seekers. Immigration rose massively under the Tories due to Brexit and half of all asylum seekers are deported when their claims are rejected. The cost of energy is so high due to privatisation by the Tories in the 1980s. The most expensive rail fares in Europe are due to privatisation by the Tories in 1994. In a parellel universe it might have dawned on you that Thatcherism is the root cause of Britain's problems, every single one of them. You should like the red Tories of Labour- they are the heirs to Thatcher.
    15
  164. Working people are constantly voting against their own self interest. A Corbyn government no matter what its actual or perceived imperfections was the last chance for Britain to change course. Most voters are ignorant and ill informed about basic issues yet their minds are crammed with trivia from social media and mindless television programmes but cannot find the time to educate themselves about matters that affect their daily lives and all of society. Whether people like it or not, the solutions to Britain's issues are from the left; neoliberalism has destroyed the economy and society, though has succeeded in transferring money from the poor to the rich, its real aim.
    15
  165. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Working class hero. A proper trade union just like the PCS, CWU and a few others. The unions that have failed their members by standing by while pay and conditions worsen year on year need new leadership of this calibre. The teaching unions are threatening to ballot for strike action after pay has decreased by 20% since 2010. Yes, it is the fault of the government but the unions don't seem to think this is anything to do with their failure to secure pay rises. I can't see the RMT allowing such a precipitous decrease in pay over twelve years. One union is needed in teaching and new leadership.
    15
  166. This has been known for some time so why have channels like this not highlighted it? It is a disastrously one-sided deal. Another Truss failure.
    15
  167. Labour will have to put up taxes, no doubt at all. People are not as thick as it seems to think. Either the majority pay more or the rich are taxed more- time for them to pay their fair share. Nothing wrong with being rich per se although they don't need most of it to live in the lap of luxury but it does need to be fairly redistributed.
    15
  168. Shocking but not surprising. Britain is in a doom loop with poor calibre leadership in many areas, which is not going to improve anytime soon. Quite the opposite. The culture of the country has changed to one of fundamental unseriousness. Johnson as the first celebrity Prime Minister of Britain was the culmination of this process. The red Tories of Labour have no meaningful answers to the systemic issues confronting Britain- a Labour government is likely to flounder and lose public confidence rapidly. No wonder when it is committed to Tory policy.
    15
  169. Show some respect and compassion.
    15
  170. Scotland has a right to decide on its future- if the will of the majority is for independence, so be it. The English have no right to deny this. I am English but there is no future for the country and the rest of the union under failed neoliberal policies that have caused the only destruction you should be concerned about, i.e of economy and society.
    14
  171. Is this the same Liz Kendall who lost to Corbyn in the Labour leadership contest? Thought so. Labour under Starmer supports neoliberalism which has killed far more people through neglect of their needs on many levels than the pandemic has. Tory handling of the pandemic is a disgrace but Labour has no intention of reversing neoliberalism. The Corbyn government many in the PLP fought to prevent would have listened to the science and the result would have been a much lower death toll. The irony of Kendall and the rest of Labour beggars belief.
    14
  172. Well done the 57% of nurses who did not post a ballot form in the strike ballot. The outcome undermines all of the other unions and will not exactly help with efforts to pay the rent or the mortgage. Is it any wonder the bosses pay peanuts in the UK when there is little to no worker solidarity? Power cedes nothing without a struggle- the RCN has just lost the battle for the foreseeable future.
    14
  173. @ Myth.
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  174. Magical thinking. Incompetence.
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  175. Starmer is the establishment pick to maintain neoliberalism. It is as simple as that. Labour surrendered to it under Blair and has nothing to offer. The SNP acts and sounds like an opposition and clearly has a critique of the wild west capitalism that has destroyed Britain,making it the most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria.The Green Party also understand the issues. The gap will widen under Labour if it forms a government and every problem of today will worsen while it keeps the seat warm for something worse under the Tories in five or ten years time. Under Starmer Labour will be a disaster.
    14
  176. Precisely. The government is happy to host the rich from anywhere in the world, no questions asked about dirty money in the money laundering capital of the world but compassion for the world's dispossessed is a different matter altogether. Talk about Britain being big hearted is cheap and blatantly false- the Conservatives would not let anyone settle in Britain from the Ukraine if they could get away with it. Watch the numbers actually let in. This is the country that passed a law in 1905 to restrict immigration from Eastern Europe and imposed strict conditions on the Kindertransport refugees fleeing the Nazis in 1939.
    14
  177. If you think the front bench is left wing you have not been paying attention. Keep up at the back.
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  178.  @gio-oz8gf  It is a perfectly reasonable observation. Odd that you think it warrants a snarky response with an absence of any insight of your own into why the suggestion may be wrong.
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  179. No. I hope this helps.
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  180.  @catpaladin1  Tax the rich properly and the problem disappears- income but more importantly wealth and assets. Introduce the Tobin tax on international transactions ( floated by some after the 2008 crash) as well. Reagan decreased taxes for the rich. Under Eisenhower the top rate was about 91% over whatever the threshold was for higher earners to pay the extra. He was a Republican as you know.
    13
  181.  @jakel8627  Their support for austerity is one of the reasons why Britain is in dire straits. Orange book liberalism has a lot to answer for. They walked away from a coalition with Labour which would have been the least worst alternative given all three main parties' commitment to neoliberalism.
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  182. Stamer out, new party needed to represent the workers. Very articulate contribution from the councillor. Far more fluent and committed than many MPs in putting the issues into context.
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  183.  @jrobs1133  Disgraceful comment but not surprising. Show some humanity. Get used to this issue continuing in vast numbers as migration drastically increases due to failure to tackle global warming. The numbers now are nothing to migratory flows coming in the next few decades to all of Europe.
    13
  184.  @gitgudgaming506  Nonsense. They are invested in the UK in more ways than just money. They will stay.
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  185.  @alexday5892  Jon Snow is one of the good guys and great at his job ( the two go hand in hand in his case). Interested in everyone and every topic, with humanity at the heart of every question.
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  186. The Tory government is the worst ever in British history. But the calibre of many in the PLP leaves a lot to be desired. If Labour forms a government anyone who thinks it matters should be very concerned about the number of lightweight politicians in Labour's ranks. It is very doubtful that on the whole they will be a revelation in terms of how well they command their brief. Worrying.
    13
  187. Increase overseas aid. Legal aid is not widely available for asylum seekers. Asylum seekers are not illegal as they have a right to claim it. There are no luxury hotels either. Hope this helps to correct your ignorance.
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  188. Because Lend Lease was abrubtly cancelled without warning by Truman in 1945. Britain had to go begging cap in hand for the loans granted that were finally paid off under Blair in 2006. Keynes led the delegation and the British knew they were being shafted. On the one hand Britain was a major recepient of Marshall Aid but on the other the debt to America reduced the amount available to spend on welfare to look after people. The analogy with paying back loans after the war with Ukraine does not stand up to examination. The minerals deal for Ukraine will be one sided exploitation of the country by America. Economic colonialism punishing a sovereign country for being invaded by a brutal dictator whose regime has killed thousands, razed areas to the ground and committed heinous war crimes.
    13
  189.  @MCDONALD6969  Spoiler alert- Britain is an extreme right wing capitalist country. Tories should be deliriously happy with inequality, poverty, crumbling public services, sewage in rivers, poor education outcomes, high levels of violent crime, stagnant wages, weak unions and the rest. I know it could be more hard line but the path to even more extremism is safe in the hands of Labour and Tory for the next few decades. Soon it will be the 100th anniversary of the 1979 election and we can all celebrate even greater inequality then. First the 50th anniversary in 2029. Roll on the good times.
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  190. There are two ways of looking at it. There was an article in The Guardian following the interaction which put it in a different light. Some of the criticism of Sunak on this occasion was unfair. To be clear that is not a wider defence of the Tories as they are the worst government of all time in the UK bar none.
    13
  191.  @ssorcnivek  Net zero is essential to the planet. Your comment about open borders is nonsense. Hope not hate.
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  192. Nonsense. There is plenty of money in the pot- the rich have got it all. Do not defend the indefensible.
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  193.  @saulgoodman2278  Blackford is an effective parliamentarian. His opponents will recognise this if they are honest just as Sturgeon's opponents understand that she is a formidable politician. Both are playing their part in delivering independence, which is inevitable. It is coming. I wish them luck from England so the Scottish people can be freed from the dead hand of English nationalism.
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  194.  @stevebell6057  What does that mean? Did neoliberalism suddenly become the answer to Britain's problems? It is the wrong medicine which is why the patient is so poorly after being given it for forty three years.
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  195. MPs should take a worker's wage. How many do? Dave Nellist did in the eighties and nineties when he was a Coventry MP. The Labour Party is committed to the same neoliberal policies as the Tories. Turn out in London is not that high considering how serious the plight of workers is. Do not be surprised if the Tories win the next election. The canary in the mine is the 1992 election when Major won against the odds.
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  196. Thanks Yvette.
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  197.  @skippy9659  Orange Satan.
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  198.  @dartskipper3170  Nonsense. Economic growth under Labour twice the rate under the Tories since 2010. Wage growth higher. Poverty decreased, inequality reduced. Various other achievements. Labour did nowhere nearly enough but this has been the worst government in UK history bar none. An absolute catastrophe on every level. The peak year for disposable income was 1976 in the so called bad old days of the 1970s that the Tories have weaponised for political capital ever since. Thatcherism/ neoliberalism is the root cause of every ill facing Britain- we live in Thatcher's Britain due to the disastrous consequences of her policies. Each assertion you have made is not backed by evidence- cite your sources for your bogus claims.
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  199.  @bartman01021988  Nonsense. There is no foundation to your unsubstantiated assertions whatsoever. Shameful. Solidarity with all vulnerable groups targeted by Tories.
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  200. The story of the day was only reported at about 8pm by Sky, that Hunt's statement this morning was to avert a pensions crisis engulfing the market today. This could, of course, spark contagion through the rest of the Uk financial system just as it threatened to a couple of weeks ago. The reversal of the budget is one thing and hugely significant but the choreography of Hunt's statements today is startling in terms of the criticality of the situation.
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  201. It has seen massive depopulation in the last four decades. Most who move away are glad to and only return for family reasons. The delusions of grandeur many in the place suffer from are a good example of surrealism.
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  202. Absolutely. He is a hero with a sharp mind and a good sense of humour too.
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  203.  @trevortrevortsr2  if it happens to you don't expect a 'lefty' lawyer to provide the legal assistance needed to overturn an injustice. Perish the thought.
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  204. Bibles and sneakers need to sell in larger quantities. All will be well once sales take off.
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  205. The class system explains everything about Britain. France and other European countries have been far more egalitarian for decades. Britain is the most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria yet the word 'inequality' and discussion of higher taxation for the rich are not even on the agenda, proof of the triumph of Thatcherism and its grip on the Labour Party which has no intention of changing the status quo to give the workers the money they deserve. Thatcher's anti trade union laws which make strikes difficult will not be changed by Labour either. Sold down the river.
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  206.  @theracer6882  False. Do not lie or if you do not know get your facts right. VAT is the most regressive form of taxation because the poor pay more proportionately. The rich can afford VAT far more easily but you probably knew this anyway.
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  207. MPs should be paid less. Some on the left ( very few) have led by example by taking an average worker's wage. Dave Nellist is a good example ( former Coventry MP in the eighties and early nineties). He is principled and articulate, yet was demonised by the media. Union leaders should be paid less. Never mind pay being set fairly via a process- it is not the point. MPs and union leaders are paid excessive salaries and no-one should be fooled into thinking they are not an integral part of the establishment. Let's not forget the much bigger picture is the unseen and overlooked salaries of the mega rich in other sectors.
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  208. Her modesty and humility is self evident in the leaked clip. Hands down she is the best Education Secretary since the last incumbent and probably of all time. It is puzzling that many of the public cannot see what a good job she has done over the aero concrete crisis. Perhaps now they will see the light.
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  209.  @jamesthecat Wrong. If it is intended in a derogatory manner it is unacceptable. What do you not understand about that? Don't bother answering-it is a rhetorical question. I dread to think of some of the appalling attitudes that exist on building sites.
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  210.  @phoenixshade3  Tell me without looking it up why MAGA is moron.
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  211.  @tiredoftheentitled9009  Try teaching yourself to see if you could manage. Highly unlikely.
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  212. He is much better than Starmer, quicker on his feet and more articulate by far.
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  213. It speaks volumes about the state of UK politics that some regard Lisa Nandy as a heavyweight politician. She may be a good communicator by the standards of today but the bar is low across the board. Would many Labour MPs in 2023 be given Shadow Cabinet portfolios in the Kinnock/ John Smith era in the eighties and nineties or in government under Blair and Brown? Very doubtful. Any ambitions Lisa Nandy may have had for high office under a Labour government look likely to be over. I do not doubt her sincerity and she seems personable and down to earth, speaking 'human', unlike many politicians on all sides ( SNP excepted). The good news is that the eradication of the left under Starmer, will fall prey to the law of unintended consequences. Hubris will backfire on the right just as it did with the rise of Corbyn. Events, as MacMillan said.
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  214. Great post. Thank you for being part of the UK and I hope you know how many people value EU citizens.
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  215. The money is there but the political will to do the right thing is lacking. It is also a moral issue because the country has lost its bearings in the last few decades. There should be no debate or need to argue about the merits of paying people enough to maintain a decent standard of living; it is not happening in other wealthy countries. Public support for the strikes across the board seems to be split down the middle, which is an indictment of the large numbers who are content to see people struggle to afford to live. It would be unthinkable in the not too distant past. Spending on healthcare in France and Germany is 7% higher than in the UK and I think it is 15,000 beds that have been lost due to austerity. No wonder the system is creaking at the seams. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly many in the UK are to accept regressive measures as part of the landscape with a resigned shrug- foodbanks and appalling wait times for ambulances, to name but two. In France and some other countries the people would take to the streets ( peacefully should be the default).
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  216.  @errolmichaelphillips7763  You might not know this but it transpired afterwards that Britain did not need to go to the IMF as it miscalculated the figures, so no bail out was needed. The peak year for disposable income post war was 1976. Strong unions and collective bargaining meant wages were able to cope with prices. Inflation has been higher in the past than now, but it was around 20% in the early eighties when Thatcher had been in power for three years. The Tories spent the eighties fighting inflation. More recently economic growth under Labour 1997-2010 was double the level under the Tories 2010-2022. They have been a catastrophe which finally more and more people are waking up to.
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  217. Nailed it. I think the same. Magical thinking on so many issues. No wonder the country is in such serious trouble compared to elsewhere.
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  218. Ungrammatical sentence. Do some studying yourself.
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  219. French and German families 8,000 euros better off than average UK family per year. Let that sink in before you vote the Tories back in.
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  220. Power cedes nothing without a struggle. Bosses are definitely not the friend of workers.
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  221. Britain would have finally repudiated neoliberalism, the root cause of all our ills since 1979. The unwanted gift that keeps on giving.
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  222.  @bchristian85  2130s you mean. Do not be carried away with optimism.
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  223. Divide and rule. There should not be a race to the bottom, I agree. But whataboutery is part of the problem. The turn out in London is not that high- this does not augur well for the chances of the strikes succeeding.
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  224. There are stupid people in every country although there is a markedly high number of stupid racists in Britain.
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  225. The insouciance of the Conservatives in Parliament this afternoon is astounding even by their standards. The IMF has again expressed concern for the second time in two weeks, the BOE is having to take more action to prevent financial contagion and Kwarteng has said nothing that will calm the markets. The numbers simply do not add up and £60 billion of austerity is the only path they will go down unless a U turn is on the cards. Doubtful because they want a lean hollowed out state. MPs on all sides will have to block them in Parliament.
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  226. They are more focused, across the issues and their own brief ( if they have a portfolio) and serious in their politics. They have played an important role in holding the Tories to account for their egregious mismanagement and trashing of the economy/ society.
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  227. She may be on the spectrum. There are a number of traits that would be consistent with this. Rory Stewart has said it is difficult to have a conversation with her. The failure to engage with the questions of interviewers goes beyond the usual avoidance tactics of politicians. It suggests she is detached from the reality of what is happening.
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  228. They are going to have to post comments while digging trenches- multitasking.
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  229. No. Asylum claims are rightly subject to due process and most are granted. I bet most claimants can spell area and use punctuation in the word he's. Just saying.
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  230. Richard Murphy is excellent but do you not read more widely? Try Will Hutton, for example. There are numerous others.
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  231. Heroic figure for his contribution to the arts and culture. Erudite, always interesting and larger than life. Amazing television presenter on So It Goes, Granada Reports and Up Front, the late night somewhat unpredictable late night show he co-presented with Lucy Meacock. He is sadly missed but not forgotten. The manner in which he faced up to cancer and refused to go private to pay for treatment that would have extended his life showed pure class. Shameful that Granada sacked him in around 2004 for accidentally swearing in an afternoon news bulletin watched by a few pensioners. No disrespect to pensioners, of course.
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  232. It is Brexit, in large part. The wider context is key. Neoliberalism led to austerity ( one of its key tenets). Austerity led to Brexit because in many ways it was a howl of rage by those left behind by neoliberalism, who thought they had nothing to lose by leaving the EU. How misguided this proved. Neoliberalism, austerity and Brexit are all part of same issue. Everything wrong with UK society and the economy is underpinned by neoliberalism. Britain was used a laboratory for extreme right wing policies by Thatcher which have become normalised and hard baked into the fabric of most areas of life. Without Brexit the economy would have been in a much healthier position.
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  233. Asquith replaced by Lloyd George in 1916, Chamberlain replaced by Churchill in 1940 and Thatcher replaced by John Major in 1990 after Iraq invaded Kuwait and prior to the first Gulf War in 1991 when the international coalition was being formed. Rightly, you point out we are not at war.
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  234. @Tom Answer then is to increase wages and improve conditions as well as abolish agency rates so that everyone is paid the same. Immigrants make a net contribution to the economy anyway.
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  235.  @wozzer3wa Because you cannot.
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  236. Government to blame above all for low wages since 2008 and arguably way before this, obviously. Public to blame for looking the other way when they know full well of the suffering in supposedly the sixth richest economy in the world ( where is all that money? Oh, yes, it's hidden away by the rich). Most people don't want to be in a union because they only care about themselves and want the approval of their boss, and many who are members are still apathetic and do nothing. Many unions are weak and have stood by while wages have declined, which is why living standards are plummeting. Average workers in France and Germany earn £8000 more than in the UK. Watch the unions cave in with paltry pay awards that will continue to depress living standards. The TSSA has just accepted a deal that includes a no compulsory redundancy agreement until January 31, 2025, and a minimum pay rise of at least £1,750 or five per cent (whichever is greater) backdated to January 1, 2022, which it is said is worth at least seven per cent to staff earning £25,000 or less. Around seven percent- utterly ridiculous in the face of rampant inflation, which will still remain too high even if it decreases. Only two years for a no compulsory redundancy agreement. A rubbish deal. The workers will be betrayed by the union movement and have no support from the Labour Party.
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  237.  @siddyskip  You are so rude and should be embarrassed by it. Try instead to post a considered comment that constitutes a reasoned argument. Even if you dispute the figure (without evidence- anecdote is not the plural of data), living standards for most in |Germany are much higher than in the UK, without the desperate inability to make ends meet in the low wage, long hours economy of the UK. Unions are stronger in Germany so it is obvious that wages and conditions of service are stronger. I hope you interact with people better in day to day life than you have managed in this brief discussion.
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  238.  @grahamelliott6041  Both.
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  239. Would you prefer it if they talked about the price of eggs and petrol?
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  240. Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh. Starmer is on his way out.
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  241.  @haydens.p3597  It's an idea any sensible person would fully endorse but it is likely to make the gammon tendency to become puce with rage. Sane ideas must be broken in gently.
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  242.  Jack Frost  Bread and circuses. Most Britons are politically illiterate and I have thought for decades that there must be millions who really do not care about their own children and grandchildren. It is clear in France that this is a cross generational movement opposing the pension age increase- solidarity across society in the interests of fairness. The retirement age in every country should be reduced.
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  243. ​ @thespian1961  Let me guess you are not an economist.
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  244. He cannot be taken seriously.
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  245. He will do his best to. This is new Labour mark 2 re running the nineties. Never mind that the nineties look like a utopia compared to the problems of today, new Labour is back to serve the interests of the rich.
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  246. Why was he not suspended? The Speaker should have taken action. Labour should have submitted a complaint using procedure. Britain is in the gutter. I disagree Gullis is exceptional. He vocalised what a lot of people in Britain think and no doubt plenty of Tory MPs too, and therein lies the problem. The fact he was a teacher is utterly irrelevant; there are plenty of teachers who do not care even though they pretend to- talk is cheap. No solidarity in education which is in free fall for a host of reasons.
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  247. Looking forward to more Times Radio predictions about Putin's imminent removal as Russian leader in 2026, 2027, 2028 and so on. Strangely, it has not yet happened.
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  248. Well said. No grounds for complaint. As the late, great Desmond Tutu said, if you are do not speak out against injustice you are on the side of the oppressor. That applies to most people in Britain who are selfish, and do not care about all the dreadful things happening around them in plain sight. The Tories were returned to power in 2015 with the largest number of seats since 1992 after five years of needless, callous and economically illiterate austerity. Most voters backed austerity, swallowing hook, line and sinker the lies about debt and deficit peddled by the Tories. The treatment of disabled people in Britain is a disgrace. Amnesia rules in Britain with the worst death toll in Europe due to Covid now consigned to the dim and distant past in most people's minds. At every turn the voters have failed to reject the Tories. Most voters who switched to Labour in 1997 identified with Tory policies. Neoliberalism has won hands down and destroyed Britain. No going back now.
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  249.  @annother3350 Not true.
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  250. @ I am scared of tariffs and wordplay. I will discuss it with my counsellor.
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  251. Hoovervilles here we come. The 1930s all over again with the possibility of back to the future with a 1929 style meltdown. The world needs Roosevelt not the make America moron again catastrophe.
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  252.  @user-xx7tv7cc1y  What was radical? Explain. Compare the 2017 and 2019 manifestos with 1945 which was to the left of both and tell me what was radical? Lazy 'thinking'. There is a large print simplified version online. Just had a quick read of it to see if there was anything alarming or distressing in there that anyone should have been frightened of and drew a blank. I wonder why. Nothing more than moderate social democracy. Nowhere near radical enough, actually, given its moderate ambitions ( still good) and the scale of the problems facing Britain that have been neglected for years. No-one in mainland Europe ( except some right wingers in former communist states) would see the Corbyn manifestos as radical, not even many on the right in other nations.
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  253. Look forward to the update on Putin quitting in two years time. He is evil but the idea he is going to quit seems far fetched.
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  254.  @ruthguthrie1099  I did not know ( should have). Thanks for pointing it out. It sets an example, no wonder it is not mentioned in the media.
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  255. It is clear the BOE took action to buy government bonds thus preventing insolvency in pension funds two days ago and that if it had not been independent this critical action to prevent contagion throughout the whole financial system would probably not have happened. Truss is a disaster but if she hastens the demise of the Conservative Party she will have earned her place in history. Just don't take the economy down with you on the way out of office, thanks Liz.
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  256.  @sboubalouta  Right side of history indeed regardless of the outcome. He will be vindicated for doing what a trade union leader should do.
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  257. Well said. I watch Politics Live every day and sometimes watch debates in Parliament. The arrogance of the Tories never ceases to amaze me as well as the nastiness of many of them. It is not just what they say but also the demeanour through the negative body language the men exude. The way some of them congregate on the back benches like a gang is unedifying. The Labour MPs do not do the same.
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  258. Low productivity has been an issue with the UK economy since the early 1980s for various reasons, including the appalling management culture that has worsened considerably in the last 25 years. Bullying is rife in the UK, a nasty country where the nastiest go getters are often to be found in managerial positions in different sectors. Nothing is done about it most of the time, and lives and talent is destroyed without anyone batting an eyelid. Until bullying carries jail sentences ( not likely but the point is valid), nothing will change. It would drop precipitously overnight. There are other countries where the culture in the workplace is far less hierarchical, more collegiate, and workers have more protection. Workers show little to no solidarity in the workplace, too scared and spineless to support victims of bullying. Pastor Martin Niemoller's famous poem is apt about the importance of standing up for what is right but no-one is listening in Britain. No-one is talking about the fact that bullying is one of the major reasons for the exodus of teachers in the UK, either.
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  259.  @tiredoftheentitled9009  You don't know what you are talking about. Have you done the job? The pay works out as about £10 an hour even for a teacher at the top of the pay scale if unpaid overtime is factored in. Most teachers work between 60 and 90 hours a week depending on the amount of work needing to be done, and many hours are worked at weekends and in the holidays too. Teachers in Canada earn the equivalent of £55,000 approximately. Teachers in the EU are not subjected to ludicrous and unnecessary accountability measures that do not add value to delivery or prove competence. They have a work life balance. Anyone who has taught abroad after the UK attests to the difference. There should be accountability but the way it is done in education is not fit for purpose.
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  260.  @Z65-p9o  It is close to a minimum wage job when unpaid overtime is factored in. Have you considered teaching? There are plenty of vacancies.
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  261.  @Elisa-ul2we  Disgraceful comment. Shameful.
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  262. Keynes has the answers. Truss had no answers.
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  263. The best expert on Sky without doubt. I bet he is an excellent teacher in lectures.
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  264.  @Noel-ji8nm  That is the essence of the problem. Even if he is forgotten for a moment ( he lives rent free in the heads of red Tories and the Conservative Party which shows how lacking in confidence they are in their own lack of solutions to the mess), the ideas espoused in 2017 and 2019 are the only route map to a different type of society and economy that works for the majority. Call it mild socialism, the mixed economy, the smurfs on acid or regulated capitalism, only the dismantling of Thatcherism brick by brick will halt UK decline. Smurfs on acid is not a political system for the avoidance of any doubt by the way though they are blue like the Tories. So no to smurfs on acid too.
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  265.  @thecheesefactor  Many of the unions are a waste of time and do not support members properly. It is shameful but all too common.
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  266. This clip is ridiculous. Typical unserious British reaction. There is no financial black hole and no cuts are necessary. Labour is accepting the Tory measures, which means there is no point in Labour.
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  267.  @andy1way  The fact you need to ask speaks volumes. No, I won't. Not can't. I think your mind is already made up.
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  268. @ Your inability to use a full stop suggests you have some way to go before you start commenting on the IQ level of anyone else. Work on it. Britain is supposedly the fifth or sixth richest nation on earth according to frequent reports that cite both. It is also one of the most unequal countries in the world because the wealth is concentrated in the hands of the few. The top of rate of tax was reduced in 1988 by Lawson to considerable outcry and it has favoured the rich ever since. Income tax is only one means of taxation- wealth and land are two other ways the rich could be taxed. The transaction tax ( Tobin tax) was advocated by some after the 2008 crash. Reducing income inequality by taxing the rich will change society for the better and the wealthy will still be rich. A win win for all.
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  269.  @johng1181  Know your history. It was not meant literally. It was a tradition for the outgoing Chancellor to leave a note saying this for their successor. It was a wry comment on public finances and understood that it was not to be taken seriously. Not surprisingly the media failed to point this out as the Tories lied and lied by using this against Labour.
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  270.  @waynebradford7779  It is en route not on route. Pay attention at the back. En route is French- France being one of the countries you seem to think should take all asylum seekers and economic migrants instead of Britain. Breaking news- France and other European countries take in more than Britain! Responsibility for asylum seekers should be shared by different states. They have a right in international law to claim asylum here. They are not illegal either unless a claim is rejected. These are facts- I know they may be hard to compute but it is possible. Most of the criminal gangs involved in people trafficking are in the UK and the authorities know where they are- it is up to them to go after them. I wonder why it is not happening as it should? Let me think; a vile strategy of stirring up race hate by using talk of invasion, cynical electioneering to make it sound like the Tories are dealing with asylum seeking, deliberate conflating of asylum and economic migration, Braverman's leadership ambitions before the national interest, and a backlog created by the Tories who have failed to reduce it by their own actions. Solidarity with all asylum seekers and economic migrants. We need an influx of intelligent, hard working people to the UK. Hope not hate.
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  271.  @onlyme8117  Like waiting for Godot. Never arrives. Look it up if you are not sure. As a general rule of thumb Brexiteers are probably not that big on theatre. Too 'woke'. Love woke by the way, the more the better. Next level woke is what the world needs right now.
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  272. There are many reasons not to vote for Labour under Starmer, including his stance on Israel. There should be a ceasefire. The idea of pauses in action by Israel for humanitarian reasons is reprehensible- there should be an immediate ceasefire and peace talks. The wheels are coming off the Starmer leadership of the Labour Party, that is clear. He should be replaced as leader because if Labour wins the GE, he will be a disastrous Prime Minister. I will vote Green.
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  273. Biden nailed it with an unusual intervention to say Truss has erred seriously all said casually while eating an ice cream. He even gave up making his point because the ice cream was more appetising than wasting time talking about the disaster movie unfolding in Britain. Classic. Halfon's point about libertarian jihadists to describe the government's recent behaviour will go down in the history books and be remembered.
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  274. Starmer must resign. He is the opposite of what Labour needs in a leader. Two Lancashire council leaders have called for him to resign. They are right and more should break ranks to call for him to resign. The sooner the better. Let's restore proper Labour values to the Labour Party before it is too late.
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  275. Cats can remember for 6 years. Much better than most humans.
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  276.  @jeanniesmith3356  Liar. They did shout. Have your hearing and/ or TV set checked.
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  277.  @alan_davis  Nonsensical response. Labour is committed to Tory policy. Neoliberalism 1979- is the problem. Wake up.
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  278. Untrue and unacceptable comment. Show some respect.
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  279.  @Alex-cw3rz  Well said. Immigrants contribute more to the economy than they 'take' out. This is an irrefutable fact. It is an utter tragedy that people from Ukraine are fleeing but we should welcome them with open arms and hearts on humanitarian and moral grounds first and foremost. A secondary benefit is the immense contribution they would make to the betterment of society. This is a nation of immigrants for goodness sake and all the better for it. Everywhere is.
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  280. America will be scarred by the disaster of the Trump Presidency. It is also scary.
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  281. He is excellent in interviews, very intelligent and thoughtful. A good advocate for Labour values.
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  282. Nothing funny about the damage to the economy while she was Prime Minister.
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  283.  @generalpeeps  Should not have signed off the Iraq war as Chancellor but to block it would have split Labour and brought the government down quite probably. Iraq unforgivable stain on Labour's reputation but it cannot be changed tragically. Brown has avoided self- aggrandisement and is now a charity worker in Scotland in stark contrast to the approach of some of his fellow former Prime Ministers.
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  284. Richard Burgon should be Labour leader in my view and would make an excellent Prime Minister. It will not happen because UK politics is in the gutter. However, MPs will continue to make money separate to their paid income for the role they are elected to because there is no appetite to change. It takes a lot to persuade the rich to alter the system they are the beneficiaries of. Why would they? Therein lies the problem. Kudos to Richard Burgon.
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  285. I thought he was Jesus according to some of his supporters. Is Jesus not a more senior title? Orange Jesus.
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  286.  @carlscott7533  Thank you.
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  287. Have I Got News For You style set. I had vowed not to watch this programme now Laura Kuensberg is presenting it. It was never robust under Frost or Marr ( he could ask tough questions at times and was intelligent). This supposed flagship political programme is a dumbing down dream and came across like a chat show. Looking forward to Alan Titchmarsh giving gardening tips next week and the new single from Steps. More seriously, Sunak actually conceded he has lost when he said he sees his role as supporting the Conservative Party going forward yet she did not pick up on this obvious admission he has lost the contest. Headline opportunity thrown away. Marr and Frost would have seized on it.
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  288. No- totally inappropriate. Read some history.
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  289.  @Sayitlikitiz101  It is obvious that if the rich have got it all ( or most of it for the benefit of pedants), it is not distributed properly. Self evident.
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  290. Her modesty and humility is self evident in the leaked clip. Hands down she is the best Education Secretary since the last incumbent and probably of all time. It is puzzling that many of the public cannot see what a good job she has done over the aero concrete crisis. Perhaps now they will see the light.
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  291. Read up on Munich 1938 and enlighten yourself.
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  292. Just replay the cheese speech to the delegates. It is a zombie government so the hall won't notice but it will give the public another cringe and mild amusement in these desperate times.
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  293.  @adida.sativa-dv2el  It's a good word to use. Perhaps you were surprised to see it on You Tube, not exactly the home of articulacy.
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  294. No such thing as radical left. The Corbyn era is dismissed as radical or extreme by the right of the party but its policies were to the right of the 1945 manifesto and would be considered part of the mainstream in mainland Europe and much of the rest of the world. It is a mark of how neoliberal extremism has captured British politics and forced the surrender of Labour since Blair ( except the Corbyn interregnum) to its poisonous embrace that moderate policies can be so easily demonised. There are right wing parties in the rest of Europe that would have no qualms about so called radical left policies here.
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  295. Well said. Nailed it.
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  296.  @harryhazard719  So why is it underfunded then? It is one of the most efficient health services in the world for the amount it spends. But it is significantly underfunded and understaffed which is the heart of the issue.
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  297. Irrelevant and deeply unfair. I am not a fan of Carol Vorderman based on her television persona though I could be entirely wrong. There are plenty of people who are intelligent who do not obtain a high degree classification for one reason or another that is nothing to do with their intelligence levels. Intelligence cannot be narrowly defined either or boiled down to passing exams in a system little changed for one hundred years. She used to live opposite my great aunt in Barnes, South west London in the early nineteen eighties, and apparently she was very pleasant to talk to.
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  298. A horror movie.
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  299. Your screen name suggests very much that your comment cannot be taken seriously.
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  300. The Guardian supports neoliberalism, the cause of inequality. Britain is the most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria. The Guardian described Jeremy Hunt as a Tory moderate two weeks ago! He is a right winger who is about to usher in more austerity. Foodbanks are a symptom of austerity and inequality. Don't expect The Guardian to oppose neoliberalism any time soon. It will stick to its faux concern for its victims, i.e most of the population.
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  301. Immigration and asylum are not the same thing. I know you will find this hard to understand so read it slowly. Asylum seekers have a right to have their claim processed and if it is rejected ( 50% are) they are deported. Immigration can be legal or illegal. Legal immigrants work and pay tax. Illegal immigrants work and contribute to the economy. Even Boris Johnson called for an amnesty for illegal immigrants in London when he was mayor in order to regularise their status because he recognised that London would grind to a halt if they were not contributing to the economy.
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  302. No to Orange Jesus.
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  303. Kleptocrats.
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  304.  @erongi233  You have misunderstood. Look up the meaning of opium of the people. Don't be dumb.
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  305. Not a fan of confrontation- that is why Britain is in a mess. For most of the last 123 years the public has been looking the other way, blaming others for everything, keeping its head down and sticking it in the sand, not always at the same time. It has accepted Thatcherism since 1979 and until it is forcefully ( and peacefully) repudiated in robust intellectual and practical terms, the doom loop it has created will continue unchecked. Apathy and timidity are the faithful allies to the Tory project.
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  306. It won't make any difference- the system is broken to an extent that is hugely underappreciated, including by those who work in education.
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  307. I am not sure many in the Conservative Party would know what antithesis means. Is it a type of plant?
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  308. This is a misreading of how it is being seen. Labour is right in the arguments but Starmer is not concise enough and Sunak always finishes his answer with a strong point to round off his counter argument. I do not agree with what he says but this is what will resonate in the headlines of the right wing echo chamber ( most of the media) and sink in with millions of voters who will not think for themselves. I bet a lot of lawyers watch Starmer and wonder why he is so ineffective in Parliament.
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  309.  @albal156  Have you thought your comment through or did you just post nonsense while the kettle was boiling?
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  310. Ironic to say the least that Trevor Kavanagh wrote a recent column in The Sun about the state of politics including the cost of living crisis that was to the left of anything Labour has to say under Starmer. Speaks volumes about the failure of the political class on both sides. Not the main issue and I do not like the obsession with uniform and protocol in Britain but why on earth is Truss wearing trainers in her interview with Beth Rigby today? She is the Prime Minister of the country (for the time being) and is at her own party conference. It beggars belief and shows how out touch and arrogant she is. If Corbyn/ Starmer/ any Labour politician did the same, it would be all over the media. It's like going to an interview in flip flops.
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  311.  @robynmurray7421  Spot on. I am in the UK and read the book at the end of 1983. The miners strike of 1984/ 85 saw Britain turned into a police state as the Thatcher government (inspired by the Reagan playbook) used the force of the state to destroy the miners' union and the wider union movement as a result of defeating the strike. Organised labour was broken and has never recovered. At the time there was a lot of concern about civil liberties being undermined with new laws and technology- for years now Britain has been the country with the most CCTV in the world, yet it has high levels of violent crime due to inequality ( no excuse but there is a causal link). Orwell was prescient and if he was alive today he would recognise the dystopian future he warned against. Trump is the fulfilment of the extremism Reagan unleashed.
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  312. There is a typing error in your post. Labour will be the same as the Tories under Starmer. It is committed to the same policies as the Conservative Party. Nothing will change.
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  313. Blair hollowed out and now his heir is going to finish off the job once and for all.
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  314. She is a gift for the opponents of neoliberalism. The more she speaks the better. Eventually, she will realise that she is on the wrong side of history and even if she fails to, it does not matter.
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  315.  @geoffpoole483  True. By the intellectually challenged standards of modern Britain we are still going to plumb new depths with this incompetent PM elect. She is so weird she makes Johnson seem relatively normal and he is an odd ball in so many ways.
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  316.  @Soraviel  I meant to type £5000 approximately when the energy support runs out in April 2023. Yes, it will be a disaster. Labour was only committed to 6 months support, which is what the Tories have now reverted to. I have edited my post to correct the figure.
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  317. By the people you mean the oligarchs. Generous to bracket them with the majority, 60% of whom are living from one pay cheque to the next.
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  318. Taxing wealth/ land/ income of the rich ( delete as applicable) is not part of neoliberal ideology. Labour is a neoliberal party under Starmer, on the same page as the Conservatives. It surrendered to this poisonous ideology under Blair and Brown. The whole rationale for neoliberalism is to transfer wealth to the rich, hence the grotesque inequality in Britain. High taxes for the rich are not part of the project at all. The Blairite ascendancy under Starmer is a continuation of this after the Corbyn interregnum. The post war Keynesian consensus is the only blueprint for the future but there will be no Keynesianism under Starmer. Labour has already made it clear that it will be implementing Tory policy. The Tories are obsessed with the fallacy of balanced budgets at all costs, which justifies austerity, also satisfying their need to punish the poor and shrink the state. It is not just about the last 13 years- it is the last 43 years that need to be reversed. Keynes is not even taught in many universities such is the dominance of group think but his ideas hold the key to national revival. But Starmer is not going to deliver anything like the 1945-1951 stimulus required. No vision, no bold policies, ergo no Keynesianism.
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  319. Your qualifications?
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  320.  @michaelrch  Don't be silly. Labour is on the side of corporations. You would love Polly Toynbee's praise for Labour in today's The Guardian.
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  321. Tory disasternomics 1900-2022. General election needed urgently.
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  322. Across all ages since before Covid. But not for the rich. Life expectancy in Kensington, the richest borough in Britain yet also home to the grinding poverty of Notting Dale the site of Grenfell Tower, is 85. In some parts of Glasgow it is 55. Labour has no intention of reversing it because to do so would mean taxing the rich properly. That is what levelling up should be about.
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  323.  @DannyTimms-j8q  I know Make America Moron again is celebrating the most spectacular victory of the idiocracy in the election but even its devotees must realise that the 78 year old in question is Trump. I have tried not to use complicated words in order to help you understand.
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  324. The level of determination and articulacy of Mrs Webber in seeking justice for her son and the other victims of the terrible crime in Nottingham in 2023 is simply remarkable. The public inquiry should result in concrete change to the benefit of society and will be vindication of the efforts of all the families affected by this tragedy. GMB has been very good in the way it has interviewed the relatives with sensitivity giving them the space to express their grief and concerns in their own words. It is shocking though not surprising it has taken the determination shown to force the authorities to address the issues via a public inquiry but the fortitude, resilience and persistence of the families deserves enormous credit.
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  325.  @rilla64  You can read up on it yourself once you wake up from slumber. No good asking me- find out for yourself. Give those synapses a workout.
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  326. Nonsense. It was a peaceful protest and caused no disruption at all. As you very well know, so why claim the opposite? It is clear that what you mean is protest is ok as long as it is invisible and has no effect. Read some history to find out what protest actually is. Not my King.
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  327. I hear you and I am so sorry you feel this way. The anti racists far outweigh the extremists but your concern is understandable in the current climate. Solidarity.
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  328.  @jamesoakley4570  Explain.
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  329. Starmer out indeed. There is no future for the Labour Party unless the Blairite ascendancy is defeated. At the moment it looks highly unlikely although it is difficult to predict events. I left Labour due to the treatment of Corbyn and will not vote for it while it remains under the control of the Starmer project or any similar iteration. I will be voting Green in my constituency which is a safe Labour seat.
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  330.  @tekay44  That's why the SNP is so popular. Independence will happen no matter what unionists claim. Confirmatory bias will not prevent it.
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  331.  @annapachaclarke2392  The hate is from the right.
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  332. It was a peaceful protest so no threat to safety. This post is childish and has more holes in the 'argument' than a Swiss cheese. Is this really the best you can manage? Not my King.
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  333. Rent controls. Labour did it in 1924 and the need is even more urgent now. It also legislated to ensure houses built were for rent only so middle class speculators could not buy them to sell. Where there is a will there is a way to put people before profit. That's what Corbyn promised but the Starmer Labour Party is fully signed up to neoliberal economics and a seamless transition to never ending Thatcherism.
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  334. Well said.
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  335. Nothing. It is not indicative of anything except complacency and arrogance.
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  336. It is much better in 2024 in so many ways.
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  337.  @blackbulldog4897  It is about socialism for the rich and capitalism for the majority. It is about using the state to serve the interests of the rich, most notably in reducing taxation and smashing the power of organised labour. It has succeeded comprehensively in this.
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  338. It is a pity you cannot write a coherent sentence.
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  339.  @indricotherium4802  Parliament should be moved out of and left as a historic building for people to visit. Procedure should be streamlined to make it less cumbersome and bureaucratic.
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  340. I am very sorry for your loss. My dad died in June 2020 out of the blue. I spoke to him on the phone the night before and 36 hours later was being told he had been found.
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  341.  @catman6257  What planet are you on? A state visit only takes place if the government decides it. The King will have agreed to the letter being presented to Trump. Use your loaf ( brain) to think.
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  342.  @darrensweeney2376  The Tories voted against the NHS three times before conceding it was the will of the public so do not try to make out it was their idea- not true. Labour drove domestic policy in the war, planning for the peace. The NHS and the other welfare state legislation was central to this.
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  343. Empire was bad, no room for doubt.
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  344. Pointless discussion as even though Johnson did purge the Tory Party in 2019 the Tories have moved inexorably to the right since Thatcher. Austerity was the policy of Cameron and Osborne borne out of a desire to punish and discipline the poor. The Tory creed is to protect the rich and keep the poor in their place, especially as they believe poverty is self inflicted. Labour under Starmer is on the same neoliberal page as the Tories so nothing will improve under Labour. It sold out the workers decades ago and now there is nothing left.
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  345. It is Lloyd George's fault that the Anglo Irish Treaty 1921 was signed, after he threatened to restart the war against the Irish Nationalists. Atrocities were committed on both sides and violence solves nothing but the British establishment created a settlement that resulted in a civil war and set the stage for the Troubles of the 1960s- 1990s. Lloyd George was privately sympathetic to the nationalist cause but the minimum the Conservative and Unionist Party ( still its official name, which they reverted to for expediency in the referendum over Scottish independence in 2014) would accept was the six counties remaining part of the United Kingdom, hence partition. LG was a Prime Minister without a party at the head of a coalition dominated by the Conservatives, having split his own Liberal Party ( again at the behest of the Conservatives) in 1916 when he replaced Asquith as Prime Minister. Time and again, the Conservatives have been on the wrong side of history yet it is an abiding mystery why they have been allowed by working people to subjugate them in every conceivable manner for over 120 years largely uninterrupted. A united Ireland is inevitable and I hope all sides can live in peace and build a future together.
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  346.  @zuluwarrior1648  Nonsense. He spoke very well on Politics Live and made very good points on all the topics. His sexuality is irrelevant to the issues discussed.
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  347.  @Kassidee_Skyye  I thought Obama was impressive in the way he handled himself and the situation. Trump is a disgrace and sadly for me proves there is little hope for humanity.
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  348.  @aidanrock8719  They cannot define woke. If it is the opposite of the reactionary beliefs of most of those who criticise so called 'woke', we need next level woke. The more the better.
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  349.  @andrewrobinson2565  Food, pharmaceuticals, sport, fashion, cosmetics, literature, film, culture, history, and so much more. France has faults and some very serious issues it has failed to tackle, such as racism on different levels and the threat of the far right, but it is a much more equal society than the UK with a strong welfare state. The French sense of stasis and decline is strong but there is far more to the country than your reductive observation.
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  350. It goes much deeper and wider than the last thirteen years. Austerity is a key component of neoliberalism, the extremist ideology practised in Britain since 1979, and which Labour converted to under Blair. Too many people are only focused on the period since 2010 when it is Thatcherism that is the cause of all our ills- we live in Thatcher's Britain in 2023 and it is set to continue for many years to come. That is why Corbyn had to be stopped. There is no turning back now. The ideology is not for turning to adapt Thatcher's own words.
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  351.  @zerotolerance924  Nothing wrong with the words used, the volume or tone. Protest is not conducted in whispers although it is clear that the only type of protest reactionaries accept is either the non existent or silent variety. As long as it has no impact.
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  352.  @Dr_MKUltra  Benefit payments are too low- they should have been raised to prevent people from living in dire poverty. Why should they when the rich wallow in unearned wealth? Lots of people are on benefits and work too because their wages are too low. Pay people properly instead of exploiting their labour.
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  353. Just don't vote Labour. Vote Green or spoil the ballot paper. My local MP is Bill Esterson and he cannot fail to win the seat but I am not voting for so called Labour under Starmer. Wild horses would not persuade me to vote for Tory policies.
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  354. I am sorry for your loss. Me and my wife think cats are fantastic, especially Norwegian forest cats.
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  355. Disagree. It is The Guardian conveying the impression that it is concerned about deprivation and related social issues. The root cause of the issues is neoliberalism, which The Guardian supports. Its stance towards Cobyn underlines this as it carried a large number of articles opposing him even though the Labour offer in 2017 and 2019 was nothing more than moderate social democracy. It was to the right of the 1945 manifesto, which shows how far Britain has moved to the right in the last five decades since 1979.
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  356.  @fibson9775 The extent to which her mindset was fixed is disturbing although she was, ironically, more flexible than the public image suggested. When ministers challenged her she would listen.
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  357.  @ai-d2121 The Scandinavian or European model of regulated capitalism, stronger welfare states, Keynesian economics, stronger unions equating to higher living standards, inequality reduced through taxing the rich properly as used to be the case. Democratic socialist policies can exist within a capitalist framework. Something tells me you are not really interested in my view but you did ask.
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  358. No need for capital letters. If the experts are here it is fairly certain that they can read. The answer is for the political class and voters to reject neoliberalism but that is not going to happen. The establishment and voters conspired to allow it to continue unchecked in the last two elections and indeed every one since 1979. That includes the Blair era during which Labour capitulated to the Thatcherite settlement. We are living in Thatcher's Britain today- her legacy is all around in public squalor and private affluence. The most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria with grotesque inequality. This is the country the voters allowed and they now complain about the system they have endorsed. It did not have to be this way ( to paraphrase The Blow Monkeys) but the voters would not have it any other way under FPTP. There really is no way back- it is too far gone.
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  359. God knows why but You Tube keeps on showing Jordan Peterson segments that pop up despite the fact I keep saying I do not want to see it and do not like the clips. I really object to seeing him appear.
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  360.  @xxsaruman82xx87  In Brexitland 15 million is less than half a million. Not that Britons are not very bright sheep or anything. No disrespect to sheep, which are very nice.
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  361. Scotland had a large number of Tory MPs in the 1970s so not quite correct. It was the eighties that changed things so that Labour dominated until it threw it all away by surrendering to Thatcherism.
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  362.  @johnnerding8551  Said almost no-one ever.
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  363. Brexit yesterday's news according to many of its advocates yet very much today's ongoing disaster. Torybour is silent about it while the SNP rightly calls it out for the car crash it is. It is one of the factors destroying living standards pushing up import prices and having a knock on effect on so many areas. Want to renew your insurance for car and home? That will cost more in part due to Brexit. Labour is a disgrace under Starmer and there should be a leadership challenge to replace him with a better leader before Labour run the risk of throwing away the GE.
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  364. Not the brightest let's face it.
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  365. It is self evident that she is intelligent but if you cannot discern this it is very telling.
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  366. Vaccines save lives. You cannot write a sentence properly either- it is 'have' not 'of'. I suspect their is a direct link with your nonsensical comment.
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  367. Teaching assistants perform valuable work but according to research there is no evidence that they add anything to attainment outcomes. Clearly there is more to the role than contribution to attainment but it does call into question the cost benefit of the job. Nearly 8 million adults are functionally illiterate in the UK, which should be a source of national shame. Predictably, it is not. Something is clearly not working in the primary sector, which undermines their claims. The horse has bolted on pay- teachers should have taken action over a decade ago but because there is little solidarity in education, they did not. The hours are punishing in teaching but the educational outcomes deserve to be questioned, especially in primary.
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  368. Wesley Streeting has a majority of 528 in his constituency. He was almost defeated by an independent candidate in 2024. Fortunately for the voters in Ilford and the wider public he is unlikely to retain the seat at the next election. That is the good news. The bad news is that if a leadership challenge to Starmer occurs in the next eighteen months ( spoiler alter- it is highly likely), Streeting may well be the red Tories chosen candidate to rescue the party from defeat by the Conservatives and/ or Reform. Nigel Farage as Prime Minister due to Labour's failures? Very, very possible.
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  369.  @DavidKnowles0  Corporations can still be rich in a mixed economy but they have to be regulated and taxed properly. They have to be required to exercise social responsibility for the common good. Corporations as friends sounds like a Blairite euphemism for deregulated laissez faire, entirely fitting for a Labour Party that has betrayed the majority. Corporations have captured the state when it is the state that has the power to legislate in the interests of the common good but is too timid to do so- another victory for neoliberalism. Roosevelt was no socialist but he recognised and acted upon the urgent need to reign in business in the New Deal. By the standards of Starmer's Labour he would be a communist.
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  370. True. Academisation has been a disaster in education. Government should be taking swift action to dismantle multi-academy trusts where many of those in roles are on excessive salaries that cannot possibly be justified. Just look at the number of positions created in both MATs and individual schools. No school should need three deputy head teachers and five assistant heads plus a whole raft of other roles, but many have. Nor does any school need a head teacher and executive head teacher which is often the case too. There is always money for management but not for salaries to employ enough suitably qualified staff. The quality of education in Britain is dire overall too, with many students arriving to secondary unable to read and write to the expected standard.
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  371. First sentence absolutely nails it. Commodification/ neoliberalism has infected almost every aspect of life for decades that most people have no clue that it was and could still be very different. That said, the fact it is embedded so successfully and people do not join the dots makes it much more difficult, perhaps even impossible that it will be reversed, especially as the political classes are committed to its maintenance forevermore.
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  372.  @Linda-dc7rl  Are you intending to teach given it is so easy?
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  373. Rubbish. I see you have liked your own evidence free comment. Cite the source(s) for your claims. Students for whom English is a second language actually do very well in their GCSEs and many groups are outperforming white English students. Look it up. The anti learning culture and aversion to intellectual endeavour goes back decades in Britain but it is not shared by families whose heritage is from other countries; they take education seriously and provide the support in the home for students to make progress at school.
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  374.  @californiadreamin8423 Undeniable truth. Explain yourself if you can.
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  375.  @zippymufo9765  Labour had specific policies. None of them said 'the world is not fair'. It had detailed plans to boost the economy that had the tacit approval of the city and business. John McDonnell and others did a lot to prepare the ground with business leaders. Britain is a basket case and cannot improve with the same failed policies it has had since 1979. Labour in 2017 and 2019 offered social democracy or democratic socialism with policies to the right of the 1945 manifesto. If the media, establishment and many in the PLP had not relentlessly worked to undermine Corbyn, Labour would have won in 2017. Any Labour candidate who could not endorse the policies in the manifesto should not have stood or been deselected. Not surprisingly, this did not happen. Most MPs are career politicians who do not believe in much and are motivated by self interest. It is completely ahistorical to have equated Corbyn with so called hard left politics when every single policy in the manifesto can be found as part of mainstream thinking in many other countries. The idea of the Labour right being moderates/ centrists is risible. They are, in truth, neoliberals, the hard line right wing ideology that has captured government for decades, and destroyed the economy and society. It is simply not credible for them to claim to be the moderate voice of reason.
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  376. It is true that most Brexiteers have not yet learned the lessons of Brexit's failure. A catastrophe.
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  377. Productivity has not gone up. It was 17% lower than in France and Germany even in 1980. There are many reasons for it and the unions are not militant, having been neutered by the Tories in the 1980s and Labour's failure to reverse anti trade union laws under Blair and Brown. Productivity is a huge issue the political class has failed to address, It is one of the reasons for relatively low unemployment because it takes two or three workers to do the work that one would be doing in France or Germany.
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  378. @eriklarsson3188 See you liked your own comment there. Well done. Russia should withdraw.
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  379.  @chrisgray4651  Not true. Higher growth than the Tories but not record.
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  380. But Britain is world leading for racism. Immigrants make a net contribution to the economy. This is a fact not opinion. Other countries have far more migrants and asylum seekers. Far more.
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  381. Watch most unions sell out the workers for pathetic, below inflation pay cuts. The money is there all right, just in the wrong grasping hands of the greedy rich. It is available at the press of a button and is small change in the big scheme of things to fund all pay demands in full. But the unions will capitulate. There is billions for various other things and we print our own money. The argument about a wage price spiral is nonsense too. The unions have taken since 2008 to wake from their slumber in most cases. No wonder living standards have plummeted. Government's fault first, obviously but the union movement is weak all day long.
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  382.  @steveparker8065  All good points. I am 52 and have given up hope of anything changing. I see a future of decreasing living standards in a distorted economy unless there is a repudiation of neoliberalism by both the ruling political class and the voters. I am not holding my breath. I have been saying the same things for forty odd years but it is hopeless. The Corbyn interregnum was the one recent moment of hope but he was blocked. Even in 1924 when Labour governed for the first time for only 9 months, the left felt it was not radical enough ( I agree) and it was the same in 1929-1931 and 1945-1951, although by today's standards the post war government was tantamount to communist ( it was social democratic or perhaps democratic socialist). Most of the key figures in Labour's history would be aghast at the hollowing out of what the party was supposed to stand for. Thatcher sowed the seeds of the destruction of the Tory Party and Blair hollowed out Labour. Now both are boxed into pursuing a failed set of neoliberal policies when the opposite is needed. I have noticed a few of your posts by the way- plenty of good comments.
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  383. State propaganda.
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  384. I hope the profoundly ignorant and selfish Tory members who put Truss in power are happy with their handiwork and proud of what they have done. If the economy goes down so do their investments and pensions. This is not just about the magnitude 8 richter scale failures of Truss but also the dysfunctionality of the political system in Britain which is manifestly not fit for purpose.
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  385. No she succeeded on merit. Your qualifications?
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  386.  @briancarno8837  The British economy has not got over it as it has resulted in a 4% drop in GDP already and the trade deals are rubbish. Ask British farmers. They should know. It is a catastrophe and a monumental act of self harm.
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  387.  @bernardmauge8613  I bet Mr Kasparov knows how to start sentences with capital letters and use full stops. He must be capable of analysis unless he learned to play chess by mistake and faked genius.
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  388.  @alfredbrennand9907  Well said and good for you for telling the truth to racists.
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  389. He has no reason to under the French constitution. France's debt to GDP of 110% is in the middle for European countries therefore the only reason it is an issue if for those who want to slash welfare and cut taxes for the rich. Not forgetting the forces that want chaos in France including Putin.
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  390.  @runedova126  Because Britain is Tory under FPTP. Most people don't understand why socialism is or why it is supposedly such a threat to them. Pensions, the energy support measures, the NHS, free education, etc are all socialism. Corbyn was depicted as a hard left extremist yet none of the measures he pledged were anything more than moderate social democracy that would not raise an eyebrow in mainland Europe.
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  391.  @carol-f8f7d  He is a disgrace but it is the system that is the problem. It goes much deeper than an individual or group of people. Mark Fisher wrote about capitalist realism, the notion that there is no alternative to the wild west capitalism we have laboured under since the days of Thatcher and Reagan. Theirs was a counter revolution to destroy the post war consensus, with the connivance of the Democrats in America, Labour in Britain and the socialists in France who all abandoned their belief in the role of the state to regulate the market, thus losing millions of votes, undermining faith in politicians further ( a third of UK voters expressed distrust in politicians in 1945, now it is over 60%) and creating space for the normalisation of the unfettered market forces that have turned people's lives upside down due to increasing inequality, the cycle of boom and bust, high unemployment, the working poor barely surviving and job insecurity. Labour under Starmer does not see any reason for fundamental change. Even if it is elected there is no prospect of meaningful change. I am old enough to have seen hopes dashed time and again.
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  392. Ear syringing is on the NHS. Ditto hip replacements. The story reported does not accord with NHS guidelines. I had my ears syringed recently on the NHS and it was suggested I might need a hip replacement even though there was no clinical evidence for this once an x ray had been taken.
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  393. Epitomises why the eighties were special.
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  394.  @moonmonkey303  Precisely. Jail sentences for bullying need to happen because it will drop precipitously. The Orange case in France shows there can be legal consequences for bullying workers. Overall, notwithstanding this dreadful case employees have it much easier in France compared to the Anglo- Saxon model of capitalism, which gives cover for workers to be treated so badly in many workplaces.
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  395. Excellent analysis. Totally correct and superbly articulated.
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  396.  @deelawdazhahs1078  Have you not been paying attention?
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  397. Violent crime is a feature of unequal societies. Naturally, in a society that is the most unequal in Europe except Bulgaria, no-one is going to discuss this because the establishment is committed to maintaining the neoliberalism that has seen violent crime increase exponentially in the last few decades. Most people are so conditioned by neoliberalism that they do not see the problem. There is never any excuse but violent crime is most prevalent in poorer areas. The UK iteration of capitalism is so corrosive that it has eroded morality to the point that violence is widespread and become normalised. Even in Glasgow where a public health approach has been taken to knife crime, it has only reduced it by 50%. Better than nothing but the figures for violent crime in Britain started to rise from about 1987 once Thatcherism had really hit its stride and had a destructive impact on society. Don't expect anything to change in this circular discussion unless inequality is reduced and that is self evidently not going to happen.
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  398. Did you say that about the Tories when they were wrecking the country for fourteen years? If so, explain as clearly as you can. I look forward to hearing your thoughts as it will shed light on your understanding of democracy and politics.
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  399. The Daily Mirror, I think. He should never have been invited but it definitely should be rescinded.
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  400. Wrong on Corbyn. The British voters will never learn under FPTP. The Labour manifesto in 2017 and 2019 was to the right of the 1945 Attlee manifesto. No-one in their right mind would argue for the reversal of the NHS which began in 1948 due to Labour. The Tories voted against it three times in parliament during the war, no surprise there. See Owen Jones' article in The Guardian today on the undermining of the left under the Starmer project- his analysis is correct. The penny is always slow to drop in Britain, usually it takes decades. Starmer is continuity Thatcherism the poisonous and failed ideology Britain has followed since 1979. That is why Britain is in such a mess. If it does not reverse it, nothing will improve. If that is what the voters want and they are happy to see continuous decline in living standards and for the next generation to live lives of hopelessness and lack of opportunity, so be it. The public gets the government is deserves.
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  401. I don't remember seeing him at the World Cup in 2006 with the other Wags. He must have passed on by then.
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  402. @ As someone who regards football as the modern opium of the people I could not agree more.
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  403. Explain your odd comment about Marxism.
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  404.  @markwelch3564  Well said. The notion that Labour voters have nowhere else to go speaks to the arrogance of a Labour Party that has always taken its vote for granted, and can be disproven. It needs to be otherwise there is no hope.
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  405. The video clearly does not do what you claim. It is a summary of an aspect of the Covid Inquiry. Your interpretation is wide of the mark.
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  406. Notting Dale was historically the poorest area in London. I used to work near Grenfell Tower and know the Lancaster West Estate and surrounding area. I used to drink in The North Pole and The Pavilion.
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  407. Multiple issues-bullying of staff is rife but not even discussed as a national issue, poor behaviour is a major impediment to learning, the exodus of teachers is continuing rapidly, standards are lower than most other European countries, 90% of schools have asbestos in them, and there are various other issues.
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  408. Hurrah for neoliberalism, the gift that keeps on giving to the rich and taking from the rest, especially the poor. Austerity is a design feature and will be continued by the red Tories of Labour under the guise of iron discipline. Taxes are too low, especially for the rich who have been getting away with it for decades. Wages are too low and need to rise significantly to enable workers to cope with the cost of greed crisis that has widened the already massive level of income inequality in the UK. Income, wealth and land belonging to the rich are all going to have to be taxed by the next government. It makes no difference if it is the red Tories who have almost eradicated socialism in Britain or the hard right iteration of the Tories in power now. Britain is in the middle of European nations in terms of the taxation- societies with higher taxes are more equal. Neoliberal laboratories like the UK and USA are the most unequal places on the planet, which has resulted in private affluence and public squalor.
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  409.  @JustinTimeEnglishClip  I am glad you see it. Trouble is only around 20% of the population if that sees the issue in these terms ( as an estimate, which is also probably wildly optimistic). But as a rule of thumb in general, for every progressive, principled stance on a given issue, most of the time it seems to be the case that for every two or three people who subscribe to it, there are reliably seven or eight reactionaries who oppose it-no wonder Britain is in s desperate state. The attitudes of most of the public ( and many of the Tory Party) to so many issues are in the sewer. Britain is not only doomed economically if it continues the current trajectory, but it is on the verge of moral bankruptcy ( in a secular sense). Truly frightening times we live in.
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  410.  @b0sH  There is no enough time to respond in detail to such a patronising comment, dripping with condescension so I will not bother. Blair hollowed out the Labour Party, despite three election victories. Most voters who switched to Labour in 1997 identified with Conservative policies when interviewed in focus groups. Labour governed from the right by choice and failed to make substantive changes to move Britain away from neoliberalism. Responsibility for the current government does not lie with Labour members at all. It was most of the PLP who egregiously undermined Corbyn because they would not work with the left. Contrast this with John Smith, on the right of the Party but comfortable with working with the left, including Corbyn, Abbott and Livingstone. It is not about Corbyn either- he happened to be the leader when the left was for once not in retreat. The right of the Labour Party is bizarrely obsessed with Corbyn like a broken record. Not enough time as I said, but the response is littered with inaccuracies and demonstrates the immaturity wrongly ascribed to those who wanted to see Labour in government in 2017 and 2019.
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  411.  @Jase29  Nonsense. It is they're not their but never mind accuracy either in spelling or facts about Brexit. Britain is the money laundering capital of the world, much of it Russian money. There was Russian influence in the Brexit referendum and the report on this was watered down and brushed under the carpet by the government, the most incompetent since universal suffrage but that's ok in the eyes of those duped into voting against their ( see what I did there) own self interest by a Prime Minister who does not even believe Brexit is in the best interests of the economy regardless of the lies of the leave campaign. In France, the abject failure of Brexit means the calls for Frexit by Le Pen's party have faded away. Putin apologists on the far right in France have gone quiet now they have been exposed for undermining France and the EU, precisely what Putin has wanted all along.
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  412.  @gerardmackay8909 I lived through the Blair/ Brown era and there is a whole raft of legislation that was implemented which did a lot of good, there is no denying that. However, on the economy Blair accepted the Thatcherite settlement instead of reversing it as Labour should and could have done easily with a huge majority. Thatcherism is the root cause of every problem plaguing Britain- we live in Thatcher's Britain due to the egregious effects of her policies and Labour's failure to reverse her creed. Most voters who switched to Labour in 1997 identified with Tory policies, thus there was no shift to the left in the country under FPTP. But Labour could have done so much more to build a fairer society and prevent income inequality from widening further while in office, as it has continued to relentlessly since 2010. The left behind voted for Brexit in large numbers in 2016 because their lives had not improved. It was against their best interests, of course. You mention the minimum wage- while better than the alternative it was set too low and allowed employers to avoid paying a living wage. Tax credits also subsidised low wages. If John Smith has become PM, although he was on the right of the party he would not have shifted even further to the right as Blair did, inequality would have been substantially reduced, left and right could have co-existed effectively together, and there would have been no Iraq in all likelihood. I can still remember the shock of his death in May 1994 and exactly where I was when I was told. Britain has been ill served by so many of its politicians but he was an exception and exceptional individual.
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  413. I saw him in The North Pole pub in West London near the BBC sat on his own having a pint where me and others used to sit just over 20 years ago. I was already familiar with his work up to that point but did not want to disturb him by saying hello. He already had a strong reputation for his work at that point.
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  414.  @bendreczko9054  You have entirely missed the point. I would proof read your post in future as well.
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  415. There are no far left extremists in Britain except as a figment of the imagination of Tories and red Tories in the Labour Party.
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  416.  @andydyer6591  Truth. He is the establishment pick to maintain the neoliberal status quo. No doubt and he will be a disaster. The world is spinning out of control on so many levels. At a time when Britain needs an Attlee to reverse neoliberalism it is quite possibly going to have Starmer as the Tory/ establishment continuity candidate. The future is bleak.
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  417.  @RonaldChump  The rich would have still been rich but expected to make more of a contribution for the common good. Fair.
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  418. The red Tories waiting in the wings are the same.
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  419.  @jazztec4255 As an NHS employee you should know it is not funded properly. Or had you overlooked that?
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  420. Nonsensical post.
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  421. Not my King. Britain should be a republic. Timmy Mallett for President. The mallet can be used in the swearing in. It would make as much sense as the pointless pantomime of monarchy.
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  422.  @dominictemple  You really do not understand. Labour and Tory are almost identical. Spend some time reading and learning about political history before making baseless assertions.
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  423. Keynesianism is the answer but Labour will not adopt tax and spend. All those who are hopeful and or deluded into thinking that a Starmer government will enact a progressive agenda are going to be very disappointed. This is a harbinger of an extremist Tory Party revival and will pave the way for their return after one or two elections. The NS should be analysing the glaring inadequacy of the Starmer project owing to its lack of any meaningful solutions to the problems facing Britain. Laughable that Starmer referred to Sir Kiernomics a couple of weeks ago. Absolutely meaningless and ridiculous.
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  424. Labour has had multiple meetings with business leaders and business has confidence in it as a prospective government. Business leaders despair of the Conservatives. Working people have been voting against their own self interest since 1900 by voting for Tory governments but until now have never learned. A right wing Labour Party is little different to the Conservatives in many ways but chaotic government cannot go on like this. However a Conservative victory is still very possible given the unlikelihood of losing an 80 seat majority.
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  425.  @jordondraggon1459  The post said 'little hope'. You have misunderstood it.
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  426. I doubt it happened. Did you report it to the surgery or the Police? It is highly likely that others would have done so. If you wept as you claim that is a ridiculous, hysterical reaction. Britain is not a developing country although it is in a doom loop due to Tory incompetence and failed policies on every level. Advice for the future- only report things that have actually happened. Very important.
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  427.  @lizziebkennedy7505  Leave won by a narrow majority in an advisory referendum called to manage the Tory Party by Cameron. It did not have to be implemented as an advisory referendum, and there should have been a super majority required given Cameron called it. One million of those who voted for Brexit have died since 2016. It has contributed to inflation, made trade with Europe more difficult and reduced GDP by 4%. The biggest act of national self harm since Suez. It does not affect me personally, but I am entitled to express an opinion as are the millions of others who oppose Brexit.
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  428. The attack on teachers has been happening in the UK for a number of years to the point that over 44,000 of working age have left the job in each of the last two years. They are often bullied by parents, students and management. The guardrails that exist in other sectors of the economy here do not exist in education, especially with weak unions that often taken the path of least resistance and are not on the side of teachers like they claim. Matt Damon reminds me of Bernie Sanders in how direct he is in telling it like it is. If the Democratic Party had more politicians like this America might have escaped the four years of turmoil coming up under Trump, the very definition of the fact that bad prevails. Happy Christmas everyone.
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  429. He wrote a book a few years ago about money ( not Britannia Unhinged to which he contributed) and demanded to be told by Larry Elliot one of the judges why it did not win. This was at the ceremony. David Dimbleby said on the BBC last week that when Kwarteng was on QT he was voluble, which I took to be an implicit criticism. He did not elaborate but the point was made. Arrogance is a major problem in the UK and has been for years. In many other nations it is possible to combine a host of leadership qualities without the posturing and conceit so prevalent in the British political class. Arrogance is seen in many aspects of the culture, especially in football. I dread to think how Britain is going to cope with issues in the next thirty years because its education system is mostly poor and will not produce the calibre of leader (in all fields) needed to navigate a complex world. One thing Labour must do if it forms a government is strengthen the civil service as this is one area of public life that it was still producing people of intelligence and wisdom committed to providing impartial advice (and still does), until the Conservatives decided to wage war against it, a process that began under Johnson. Sacking the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury and his deputy (still not replaced) shows staggering arrogance and political naivety. The public is paying the price for Truss and Kwarteng's colossal errors, and they will face a political reckoning in the next few months or at the ballot box.
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  430. You can't have been paying much attention to the extremism of the Truss policy agenda.
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  431. Even well before the 2016 referendum Scotland had rejected new Labour.
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  432.  @peterrowley8377 Is that your most hilarious observation?
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  433. I live in Formby. My wife is French and her birthday is 8th December. She remembers Lennon's death very well for this reason as well as the obvious shock of what happened. She is 53 tomorrow. I have just read an article in The Morning Star by Rebecca Long Bailey about the battle of Bexley Square. It reminds me we must go to the People's History Museum again, a great venue.
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  434. I wrote to the head of the Trussell Trust about a decade ago to say that they should be campaigning for their own abolition. I was not impressed with the reply. This is the landscape of the USA with low levels of taxation for the rich responsible for hollowed out public services. Labour is committed to maintaining the status quo and the same neoliberal policies that are the root cause of inequality and poverty. Britain is the most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria. The Guardian described Jeremy Hunt as a Tory moderate last week. It published a huge number of articles opposing Corbyn 2015-2019 and supports the same system that leaves people dependent on food banks. Spare the faux concern for the poor.
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  435.  @danielnewton5867  If you sell your labour you are working class. Anything else is pretence for most people. The class system is real in that it is a prism through which to gauge your perceived place in the system by looking up and down.
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  436. State schools not public- in the UK public schools means private. There are lots of mediocre private schools which many parents do not realise, otherwise they would not waste their money if they knew that the quality of education is little different to a good state school. Private education should be abolished or the charitable status of the schools removed at the very least in order to level the field in education. Yet the dilemma for parents where there is a good private school option is understandable given that the quality of education in a lot of state schools is not high- poor behaviour and disengagement are a growing problem but no-one is prepared to address it. The educational establishment is in denial, not surprising really given it is a vested interest. An OFSTED report in 2014 said that up to a day per week of learning time is lost in some schools due to poor behaviour, a shocking figure. It will be a lot worse now nearly ten years later but most schools and teachers think they do an amazing job. Odd too that there are nearly eight million adults in Britain who are illiterate , which clearly indicates a massive failure of state education.
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  437.  @SmileyEmoji42  There you go again spouting nonsense. I would brush up on the quality of your own arguments before commenting on others. The inability to contribute anything intelligent to discussion you exhibit is remarkable.
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  438. New Labour and Blairism are the same thing. What distinction are you making? I have never heard anyone delineate differences between the two. New Labour was more of a marketing ploy but both are shorthand for the same right wing support for neoliberalism.
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  439. Without thinking too by the sounds of it. Read Will Hutton's This Time No Mistakes which sets out the problems besetting Britain and solutions, placing them in the context of the history of the last hundred years of missteps by governments. How we got here and the road map out of the crisis. Ideology underpins everything, it is a question of which worldview society wants to adopt- rampant individualism with minimal help from the state, which does not serve the needs of the majority, or a compassionate society where the active state uses the levers at its disposal in partnership with private enterprise to facilitate better outcomes for the majority, combining the I and We in society that is the antidote to the wild west capitalism of the last forty six years that has failed the majority. Ideology is the set of beliefs that underpin how to achieve the transformation needed.
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  440. Including RMT support for Brexit?
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  441. Nels was excellent in challenging Kwarteng this morning. Twice corrected him for mispronouncing his name.Good on him. Kwarteng should not be on GMB as he has no worthwhile insights and is not credible to say the least. His arrogance is appalling.
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  442. Me and my wife moved out of London in 2001 at a time when there were a lot of concerns about knife crime. We moved to the North West in a relatively safe area but knife crime in the North West and West Midlands is actually higher than in London. That is not to downplay the significance of the issue in London and people's understandable concerns. Even in Glasgow where they have taken action to reduce knife crime, it has only achieved a 50% reduction according to figures I saw some time ago- this is to be welcomed but still nowhere near enough. Knife crime in London is correlated with the affluence of the area. We lived in Wimbledon which was one of the least affected areas as well as one of the wealthiest parts of London. It still is. There is no excuse for knife crime and the full force of the law should be used against culprits but the reality that poverty is a key driver of crime in modern society ( it was not so much in the past)is not something policy makers and the public want to engage with. Until then it will worsen over time.
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  443.  @davidalderson4980  The old left of the Tory party was not obsessive about tax cuts as the hard right iteration of the last few years.
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  444. Most voters are thick but are blissfully unaware of their lack of knowledge about the basics but express the little they know with confidence.
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  445.  @noneofyourbizness  Well said.
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  446. Well said. I am voting Green and will never vote for the Starmer Labour Party in a month of Sundays.
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  447. Precisely, that has been true for decades, at least since 1979 and probably for most of the last 100 years. There is something wrong with the psyche of most Britons. They like to have their cake and eat it but you cannot have Scandinavian levels of public service with American levels of taxation. Most voters are not very bright either, another major problem. They do not join up the dots. It will never change here.
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  448. Poor behaviour is endemic in many schools and is often not tackled properly. Lack of support, low pay relative to the hours worked, poor behaviour, planning in own time, box ticking and lack of respect from society are all drivers for the recruitment and retention problem. It is not going to improve any time soon.
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  449.  @jamescaley9942  Explain the first of those.
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  450. Monarchy should be abolished but an incremental approach is best, in order to build a consensus around it. Not sure how this could be achieved but immediate abolition is probably not practical in the British context of millions who would resist this. Perhaps other countries have models for how it can be done. A slimmed down monarchy in terms of its wealth not just size would be a good start.
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  451. More unions should cut ties with Labour and leave it to its neoliberal delusions. Some have seen the light in this respect and more broadly there is a recognition by the union movement that it is wasting its time with Labour to a large extent, hence the focus on winning industrial disputes. Labour's lack of support for this speaks volumes and vindicates the changed approach by the unions.
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  452.  @Joseph_Says77  Nonsensical. She destroyed the UK economy and society. income inequality rose drastically due to her policies. We live in Thatcher's Britain today due to the egregious effects her policies. Britain is the most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria. Thatcher did nothing for women, only one woman Lady Younger was briefly promoted to the cabinet, and she was famously anti feminist. The wealth from North Sea oil was used to fund tax cuts for the rich instead of for the common good through a sovereign wealth fund like Norway's. Mass unemployment, industrial decline and little to replace it, and the smashing of the unions was also part of her toxic legacy. Countries with strong unions have higher wages and are more equal. The sobriquet 'Iron Lady' was first used as an insult by the Russians in 1976 not as a mark of respect. It seems clear to me that you know little about Thatcher.
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  453.  @marksieczko7766  Thanks. Solidarity.
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  454. There is a good chance that either Badenoch or Truss will lead the Tory Party after the next election. Their humility, intellectual rigour , finger on the pulse of public opinion and the national interest is something the nation should be grateful for. Britain is in safe hands in a future Tory government the other side of the red Tories hoping to keep the seat warm.
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  455. Reduction of bed capacity due to economically illiterate austerity from 2010 was the key reason why Britain could not cope with Covid as hospitals were overwhelmed.
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  456.  @upshankkumalu9301  Incorrect. A number of unions are not affiliated to the Labour Party. Statistical evidence ( look it up) shows that wages have fallen in real terms since 2008 and over the longer term.
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  457.  @tiredoftheentitled9009  Try teaching and then see how easy it is. If it was that easy and conditions of service were so good there would not be a recruitment and retention problem compared to other European countries and elsewhere. No capital in mob, which suggests you need to brush up on literacy. Most teachers used to be in the job for thirty years or more so something must have gone seriously wrong for one third to have left within five years. Basic arithmetic.
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  458.  @Ouroboros542  Another nail hit on the head. Power does not make concessions lightly as you say. Thank goodness for someone who actually gets it.
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  459.  @steveparker8065  Lack of support for unions is definitely a huge part of the problem and the anti trade union laws should have been reversed by the Blair government, but of course were not in order to appease the establishment and define the government against those it should have been supporting in terms of workers' rights. It is a vicious circle of anti union legislation, public apathy towards the concept of unions and not enough individuals seeing the importance in joining a union and being active. I have witnessed the apathy in the workplace. Some unions just describe the problem and pay lip service to conditions of service issues, of which pay is usually the most important. Certainly, in countries with strong unions there is less inequality; changing the UK economic model to strengthen the role of unions is key but I cannot see it happening in the next few decades. Thatcherism has had such a deep and deleterious impact on the economy and society that its tenets are hard baked into the fabric of almost every aspect of life, probably more than anywhere else, except perhaps America. No coincidence that her and Reagan were the standard bearers who carried neoliberalism into government in the late seventies/ early eighties, doing the bidding of the libertarian ideologues agitating since the 1950s for deregulation. The unions are going to look stupid if they settle for paltry sums ( notwithstanding the tactic of asking for more than you are likely aiming for), and it will undermine their ability to secure good pay deals in future if the government sees that they are a pushover.
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  460. Sentences are too weak. However, the idea that prisons are cosy is nonsense. Norway has a drastically lower recidivism rate but its prisons would be considered to be luxury hotels by right wing British standards of discourse. If you want to rehabilitate prisoners you have to teach them to read and write properly and provide support when they are released. This is not the norm in Britain, far from it. Tougher sentences are not necessarily the answer as the deterrent effect may not be sufficient. Reduce inequality in the most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria and violent crime will come down significantly. Its increase since 1987 is due to Thatcherism, copied by Labour while in power too.
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  461.  @saulgoodman2278  Whatever. They should be accountable as a government. The reason the SNP is in government is that there is significant support for independence, and it will come. Lower case v for vanity by the way.
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  462. Very good point.
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  463.  @HappyDinosaurFossils-xf4zw  Eh?
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  464. Labour needs a new Shadow Chancellor. Never sounds convincing and had to be reminded by own colleagues that borrowing has gone up when she listed issues. Very poor. Most of the public will have no idea who she is when she should be a household name if Labour was making an impact on the economy.
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  465.  @wozzer3wa  Explain.
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  466.  @bernardmauge8613  Brave and smart. Putin is neither. He is a brutal dictator responsible for heinous attacks on innocent people in a sovereign country.
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  467. Go Tories (as in leave office) Go Blairbour. One and the same. By no means certain the Tories will lose but the red Tories might win. Change and continuity all at once.
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  468. No-one has ever accused the Tories of providing hope of any variety. Just like someone said of Starmer's Labour tough on hope tough on the causes of hope. Leadership challenge urgently needed now or Labour could lose the GE. If not now it will be within two years of taking office.
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  469. Never mind this- stop talking about it. In the real world, teachers in NASUWT have just voted for their own pay to be cut as the ballot has not reached the threshold for strike action. No surprise at all- no solidarity in teaching. Irrelevant that most who voted backed strike action-in other unions turn out overwhelming. Watch NEU follow suit on Monday. The unions should hold numeracy lessons for members who clearly do not care about catastrophic pay losses since 2010.
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  470.  @ince55ant  Exactly right. The Greens have my vote.
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  471. By the end of the week it might be at 100% !
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  472.  @mikematusky7717 Not true about population- it is projected to fall in the next 50 years. The world is a truly dreadful place at the macro and micro level, with plenty of people who do good at the same time. However, global warming is out of control and likely to be worse than commonly supposed. Bad actors either deliberately cause harm or are indifferent to the havoc that they cause. No- one asks to be born into this world which makes all the unfairness and pain meted out to the good people all the more egregious. Life could be simple and much happier for billions if only humankind would co-operate and share the wealth.
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  473.  @americanpatriot3874  There you go again. Make America moron again and again ad infinitum ( look it up as your vocabulary and cognition will be limited). Ask someone to explain.
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  474. Agree but the second version was very good too.
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  475.  @PorthLlwyd  Exactly. Two nations for at least a hundred years divided between south and the rest of the UK and London is now, to all intents and purposes, a city state on its own. Totally divorced from the rest of the UK.
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  476.  @hmq9052  Anarchist solutions to the crisis of government. The answers are in on piece of A4. It is blank.
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  477. Well said. No-one talks about council housing. Right To Buy is one of the key causes of house price unaffordability. Labour should not have abandoned its opposition to the policy in 1987.
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  478.  @drkjk  Excellent response. Well done.
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  479. He is a great MP. I saw him take part in a debate about dementia earlier this year and he spoke eloquently. Many years ago in London my wife went to a dinner he was present at and she said he was very pleasant. He is articulate, knowledgeable and principled. Nobody's fool either, he is robust when necessary.
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  480.  @Infundibular  Well said. Tax is barely spoken about except on the left and even then not much, such is the extent to which it has been neutralised by the right, which is exactly what it needs to maintain inequality in its favour. Roosevelt ( no socialist he but rescuer of capitalism from itself) said he welcomed the hatred of the rich as he set about making them pay their fair share in the New Deal from 1933 onwards. Keynesian tax and spend is the answer, it is not rocket science. Nothing wrong per se with being rich but income inequality cannot be allowed to prop up private affluence at the expense of public squalor. Reduce income inequality as governments did from 1945 to 1979, and people will be broadly satisfied, faith in the political process will be boosted, and political stability can return. What's not to like?
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  481.  @piccalillipit9211  Precisely the problem. Greed must trump all in the minds of big business and its backers.
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  482. French people study philosophy and therefore are able to reason and argue a case. Imagine it being taught in the UK except in some private schools. There would be little interest and widespread disengagement from it, a growing and serious problem in many schools. Naturally, no-one is willing to admit it let alone address it because it cannot be due to poor parenting. This is endemic. Britain has the most politically illiterate electorate across all ages this side of North Korea. Wilfully ill informed and invariably proud of it.
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  483.  @andy1way  On the contrary, I refuse to engage with any suggestion of denial about the racism and xenophobia of the Tory party, an extremist cult far removed from any previous government in Britain. Nothing more to add.
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  484.  @normanleighton6526  Totally irrelevant. They are not illegal either pending processing of claims- do not mislabel on purpose. The backlog is due to the government's failure to process claims.
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  485. You are right but Americas deserves Trump. At least his presidency will teach them what a tariff is while the price of eggs and petrol quadruples in 2025. Greetings from the UK.
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  486. An inappropriate comment that should be deleted.
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  487. You need to work on your sentence construction and thinking. It is Labour not labour and there is a full stop at the end of a sentence. Surely you know this? Similarly, you should be aware that councils have had their funding cut by nearly 50% in the last decade, the financial stability of a number of other councils is cause for concern, Tory Woking council has also been in the news recently due to its problems, hence it is not a Labour issue as you falsely imply. Your comment makes no sense either.
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  488. Braverman must resign. All decent people (there are some) must shout it from the rooftops and incessantly that she is unfit for public office after the latest reported remarks about homelessness. Labour should be out in force all over the media with condemnation as well as the other parties. There should be no place in public life for any minister or MP acting in this manner. Stand up for the vulnerable in society. They are us and we are them. No to divisive hate.
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  489. Orange Jesus will not win in November. Biden is going to defeat him comprehensively.
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  490. Ludicrous comment.
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  491. On the contrary. No.
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  492.  @enlightenme8524 The problem is too deep seated for anything meaningful to be done to address it. It is too far gone. One union with a much more proactive leadership is needed but there is no sign of that happening. Teachers need to show solidarity across the board in the workplace and support for the union but that is not going to happen. Bullying is rife in education and needs to be tackled but it will not be any time soon. Managers are, in practical terms, not accountable for their actions except in rare instances. Teachers need to stop moaning as a substitute for action and ditch the idea that conditions of service are more important than pay- it is both that matter and it should be possible to hold two ideas in the mind at once- they are not mutually exclusive. Poor behaviour is not being dealt with properly in many schools and is worsening significantly. An OFSTED report in 2014 said up to a day of learning is lost in some schools per week due to so called low level disruption- it will be a lot worse nearly ten years later. Staff are often not supported over the simplest issue when they try to enforce the school's own rules, and parents appeased time and again, which undermines teachers. The NEU said recently that behaviour is not a major concern of members- if true, this shows that disruption to learning and appalling lack of respect for people trying to do their job has become normalised. Funding needs to increase but even if it did ( it won't) a root and branch review of the basics would be needed to address the multi layered problems in schools that are rendering many of them dysfunctional places. Anyone who can leave teaching should do so as it is not worth the pressure and stress for hourly pay that is little more than £10 an hour for a 60 hour plus week.
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  493. You cannot define centrist. See Steve Richard's article about the concept from two weeks ago. Labour are not remotely centrist- they are right wing neoliberal, the only kind of neoliberalism.
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  494.  @saturday7  Not true but how about state funding of political parties? Create a level playing field. Oh hang on, the public don't want it. But they should.
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  495. I hold no brief for the Tories but there is no doubt that the generation of politicians who emerged in the decades after the second world war were cut from a very different cloth and were motivated by a sense of public service on all sides. Some serious figures on all sides but that cannot be said of today's generation. The poor calibre of many of Labour's MPs is very concerning given that if it forms a government there will be a lot of lightweights seeking preferment as cabinet ministers. It will turn out that many are simply not up to the job much like the current government.
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  496. No point in capping bankers' bonuses because the salaries are simply increased to compensate. Tax them properly including all of the rich, not just on income but also assets. Progressives rarely talk about tax, so successfully have the neoliberals removed it from the agenda. Higher taxes for the richest to pay their fair share are essential to reducing inequality- this is what most other European and Scandinavian countries understand. Here Thatcherism does not allow for higher taxes on the rich.
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  497. Including ' new' Labour, since 1979.
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  498. The TUC is weak, more of a lobbying organisation than a robust trade union body demanding and achieving good pay deals from government alongside the individual unions which are affiliated to it. Where has it been for the past decade? Rarely heard from. Many of the unions are not on the side of the workers that they purport to represent. A lot of hot air. Watch some of them fall like a row of dominoes by accepting pathetic pay deals that do nothing to address the cost of living and the worst decline in living standards since the 1950s. If the RMT accepts 9% over two years, it is game over. It is suggested this morning that the NEU might accept a one off payment to avert strike action. The government might as well offer free cake and gong bath vouchers each week. At least a bit of ying ( cake) and yang ( gong) would balance it out. A lot of teachers would accept it as there is no solidarity in teaching. They say they care but really most don't. NASUWT must be the Tories' favourite union after 52% of its members failed to vote in their strike ballot. No surprise either that the NAHT did not meet the threshold for strike action.
    5
  499. My reply expressing solidarity has been removed.
    5
  500. The amount of fraud is miniscule. Barely a rounding error in government expenditure.
    5
  501. Abandoning the party's opposition to right to buy in 1987 was a catastrophic mistake. Council housing was good for social cohesion until the Tories gerrymandered votes through flogging them off.
    5
  502.  @wltdo6930  Well said.
    5
  503. Explain your wisdom.
    5
  504. Lycette. Joe Lynette is very left wing. Polar opposites.
    5
  505. Jesus.
    5
  506.  @dominictemple  Not going to happen. Magical thinking.
    5
  507. Or Grifters. Big in the early 1980s before the BMX.
    5
  508.  @EightThreeEight  Neoliberal Tory Britain has been going since 1979. Blair capitulated to it ensuring continuity and Starmer offers more of the same- he has no meaningful answers to Britain's problems.
    5
  509. Broke? How? Broke financially or broken?
    5
  510. Centrist means Blairite means right wing. The most sensible discussion of this is Steve Richard's article about it in the last month. Most people have not got a clue about what centrist means in 2023. British politics is mostly on the right because it accepts the premise of neoliberalism, an extremist ideology. Thatcher converted Labour to neoliberalism under Blair. The centre has moved historically over the years and differs from one country to another. The Overton Window makes the term redundant in the UK.
    5
  511. Not the same tragedy of course but I remember Radio City playing Eternal Flame by the Bangles all afternoon in between reports of Hillsborough on the day of the disaster in April 1989. I was home from university in Southport and had the radio on in the background. I could not believe the news as it unfolded. Radio City was a great station and it did well that day to cover the news with sensitivity and dignity. I often associate the song with the disaster to this day.
    5
  512.  @SarahRickard  I am reading The Prime Ministers by Ian Dale at the moment. Yes, history will damn this government. It is the worst of the last 123 years hands down.
    5
  513.  @niteglow980  You cannot be serious. The calibre of Labour politicians is very low on the whole. There may be exceptions but if it forms a government Labour will struggle to govern, at least in part due to its lack of strength in depth.
    5
  514. Just one problem- the majority of people in the UK don't care about inequality. They used to but that time has long since gone. It will not change and there is not much point in trying to help the victims of it because mostly they simply do not care. That is why the Tories have been in power for all but 30 of the last 123 years and the Labour Party has surrendered to neoliberalism and speaks with forked tongue. It's over.
    5
  515.  @michaeld5888  Rubbish.
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  516. Define centrist. I am sure you cannot.
    5
  517. You could be learning Russian in a few short years. Money will need to be spent on Russian lessons which will present problems for many people in Britain who are not exactly keen on learninig foreign languages. The comparison with Iraq is nonsensical.
    5
  518. It could be a different word beginning with the same letter and containing the same number of letters. I am too polite to type it.
    5
  519. The great Keynes. His 1936 treatise was the basis for post war economics and the stability that lasted until the oil shock of the early 1970s. Labour wrongly repudiated Keynesianism under Callaghan and mistakenly went to the IMF for a bail out when Healey was Chancellor in 1976. It turned out they overestimated the scale of the problem in hindsight. Thatcherism was a project to roll back the state and undo the post war consensus underpinned by Keynesianism, aided by right wing think tanks from the 1950s onwards. For all her faults she (and Reagan) was the conduit for the rich to claw back the money they were losing in the form of higher taxation post war. Keynes proved that austerity does not work. The most incompetent government in UK history ( Truss) is about to unleash more austerity to shrink the state as part of the Brexit fantasy of completing the unfinished Thatcher revolution, using the market loss of confidence as the pretext to slash spending to signal stability. Public services will disintegrate further. I sincerely hope it fails as they test the limits of their ideology to destruction. We might finally see the repudiation of Thatcherism after 43 years. I am supposed to be learning French this morning but just had to write this. Au revoir et a bientot!
    5
  520. Just one problem. The world as we know it is not going to exist in fifty years. There is a grab by the rich and powerful ( businesses and countries) for scarce resources in which the majority of the world's population will lose out by design of those with the power to do what they can get away with.
    5
  521. Moschington.
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  522. With wages so far behind inflation it is impossible for wage rises to cause a price spiral.
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  523.  @cidertom5140  Eh?
    5
  524. They had to give two weeks notice so for most it is no more than inconvenience. No one likes it but the world does not revolve around the needs of individuals alone. The claims that the strike is responsible for deaths due to medical treatment deferred is disgusting. It is up to hospitals to work around it as I am sure they have. Austerity was responsible for thousands of deaths according to official figures. If pay had not been depressed in the interests of the rich, there would be no need to strike.
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  525.  @Carroty_Peg The retirement age should be lower across the board. There is enough money to go around. The rich are not cheap and I know they expect to be subsidised by the workers for all eternity never mind thirty years after a hard life of work. But the workers should have the same benefit of a good retirement just like the idle rich have an easy life from exploiting their labour.
    5
  526.  @keirmitchell5560  If you are going to describe someone else's contribution as pish, learn how to spell Israel. Don't blame it on predictive text or your phone either.
    5
  527. Times Radio should be having second thoughts about posting its sometimes not very plausible videos all day long.
    5
  528. Stewart Lee- Britain's funniest comedian. Not according to The Sun though. Genius comic.
    5
  529.  @bethanduke2566  Well, I am very sorry it happened to you as it certainly should not have. I went to secondary school from 1981 to 1988. There were one or two sarcastic teachers but nothing overt as that or if there was I have forgotten it. I take back my doubt. I have deleted my comment. A lot of schools today are toxic environments. Arguably it is worse than in the past but that is not to downplay negative experiences of individuals in the past.
    5
  530. A contributor to a discussion about the OFSTED reforms said today that Philipson will be replaced at the next reshuffle. She is not a serious, high calibre politician and the backbenches surely beckon after the latest debacle to affect education. She is robotic and does not convey sincerity, which would really help when navigating such a sensitive issue on many levels.
    5
  531.  @-kaijamesy-3056  No it is riding a unicycle dressed as a clown while juggling. Obviously.
    5
  532. Zelenskyy. You are right about the disgusting treatment of him.
    5
  533.  @alanhindle3149  Fair enough, understood. If John Smith has not died tragically and prematurely Labour would have won the next election with a majority of around 60 ,according to estimates, and Britain would have embarked on a path of social democracy similar to many other European nations. Instead Blair capitulated to Thatcherism by embracing the tenets of neoliberalism, perpetuating the inequality that defines neoliberalism as the rich help themselves to the wealth. I also blame the voters- 1992 was a hugely consequential election in which they passed up the chance to reject Thatcherism decisively but in their wisdom opted to embrace its continuance. Without this Blair would not have been able to move Labour even further to the right so there was nothing left of the core values of the party. There would have been no involvement in Iraq and no Brexit.
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  534. The polls will narrow and scrutiny of Labour/ discontent with its lack of vision and commitment to Tory policy will be a major problem for Blairbour. This government needs to go as it is the worst in UK history bar none ( that includes Thatcher, which is saying something) but more Tory policy under Labour is the opposite of what Britain needs. Starmer is the establishment pick to maintain the disastrous neoliberalism that has destroyed Britain.
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  535. No chance at all. Anyone who has studied UK political history knows that the Tories have been the dominant party of government and this is unlikely to change unless PR is brought in. Labour is not a socialist party by any stretch of the imagination and has only been in power for 33 years. The Tories dominated the 1920s and 1930s despite poverty and depression ( 1929-1932) and Labour has only been in for short periods. Even Lloyd George ( Liberal) and Baldwin ( Tory PM in the 1920s and 1930s)were way to the left of Labour now. There is nothing viable to the left except the Greens but they cannot make progress in parliament without PR. In summary, no hope.
    5
  536.  @andrewoliver8930  Precisely. History is about rigorous analysis not neat cliches to suit a political narrative. Most people know or care little for how controversial Churchill was and seem to think he won the war on his own, as if the allies were nowhere else to be seen. The government from 1939-1945 was also a coalition, mainly Labour and the Conservatives. Labour focused domestic policy and planning for the peace ( wartime reports) while the Conservatives dealt with the strategy of winning the war (alongside the allies). Churchill's record demands scrutiny instead of the halo assigned to him by those who know very little and do not want to confront anything that shatters their preconceptions. There is no denying he was an effective war leader but there is a lot more to the man than this and it is only right it should be examined.
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  537.  @nicolamarter8587  Many thanks.
    5
  538.  @KB-sb8wy  Labour could have done so much more and was far too timid. No excuse but its timidity was due to, yes, you've guessed it, the Tories!! It capitulated to Thatcherism/ neoliberalism instead of reversing it. Most voters who switched to Labour in 1997 were Tories according to focus group research after the election. Tories!! Always the Tories. Still, economic growth was double 1997-2010 than it has been in the last 12 years of the Tories. Don't let facts get in the way, ever.
    5
  539. It is toxic.
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  540. Apropos of nothing this comment appears again. Copied and pasted?
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  541.  @danh5637  Not true on all counts. Privatisation has driven up costs for consumers- gas, electricity, water and rail. Britain has the highest rail fares in Europe. Walk on fares are outrageously expensive. The quality of service on almost every metric is abysmal. Nationalise it all because they are natural monopolies and should be run for the public good. Cost to consumers is far lower in countries where they are nationalised because the greed of shareholders does not have to be satisfied. Either your comment is satire or you do not know anything about the history of utilities in the UK or other countries. I would advise doing some reading before making ill informed comments.
    5
  542.  @frederickmiles327  The world is facing ecological collapse and yet despotic egomaniacs play their mindless and stupid games at the expense of the interests of the masses. Tragic and pathetic. Putin is a menace and wrong if he really thinks NATO is a threat to Russia but the Cold War mentality of both sides can be seen at play here. NATO is a defensive alliance, fact, but it was the same in the Cold War when the Soviets felt encircled ( wrong then too) and under threat. But if Ukraine not being in NATO is the price of a rapprochement it is a price worth paying. I hope the Americans and the British et al have got professional historians as well as Russia experts advising them ( and good interpreters who do not miss the nuances in what is said), as Russian history and sense of itself is a feature that cannot be ignored. Putin is bad news and it is not in the best interests of the Russian people for him to be in charge. But they have been duped into thinking he is protecting their national interest from an abstract threat. He is also a creation of the west after the shock therapy and misguided triumphalism at the end of the Cold War created a power vacuum into which stepped oligarchs and a 'strong man' dictator. The west has also been complacent in not standing up to him over Crimea but this time the situation is too dangerous to allow hubris to obstruct the need for a diplomatic solution. Just like occurred in the Cold War when required.
    5
  543. The majority of people in the UK are Tories and lap up Tory policy whether served up to them by the Conservatives or Labour. Stop complaining and get on with it- it is what the majority want. The British public has a deal with the Tories, to be gaslit and made poorer year on year. What's not to like?
    5
  544. Precisely. The gap reduced in the UK post 1945 for thirty years- the Thatcher/ neoliberal project was designed to reverse this, and succeeded beyond anything it could have imagined.
    5
  545.  @racerook7237  Wealth creation is to be welcomed but the proceeds have to be shared equitably to avoid the grotesque levels of income inequality in the UK unless society is prepared to go back to the future with 1920s/ 30s levels of poverty. Some take risks but many do not yet still make vast amounts of money. The rich can still be rich but those with the broadest shoulders must pay more in tax, be it in the form of income tax, corporation tax, wealth and land taxes, or a combination of any of any of these.
    5
  546. Poor parenting and an anti learning culture are a large part of the antipathy towards school. The anti learning culture goes back decades in Britain but the acceptance that attending school is necessary as a means to an end in gaining an education has started to break down. Cite the source of your claim that over 50% of students claim school as the reason for their mental health. There are many issues with schools that there is not enough time to debate in a few sentences below the line on You Tube but they are a microcosm of society and even if you created a perfect curriculum ( there is no agreement on what it would look like anyway) it would not be a panacea. Behavioural expectations that are frequently described as draconian now in Britain were the norm not so long ago here and still are in many other countries. Poor behaviour in schools is preventing well brought up students from learning which they are entitled to.
    5
  547.  @ironbutterflyrusted  Not at all.
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  548. She did not. I remember the interview and was appalled at the tone of the questioning. Rightly, government should be held to account but there are effective ways of doing so. I do not believe Morgan was a good interviewer.
    5
  549. The cost of living crisis so called is a cost of greed and income inequality issue. Wages have stagnated for fifteen years yet the Labour Party will not support strikes. Reprehensible but unsurprising, given that it is a neoliberal party having surrendered to it under Blair- where unions are strong, wages are higher and society is more egalitarian. Britain is the most unequal country in Europe, except Bulgaria, and one of the most unequal on the planet. All this is due to Thatcherism, the creed that Labour now believes in.
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  550. I do not find her delivery persuasive at all. There are excellent speakers on the left like John McDonnell and Richard Burgon.
    5
  551. Compared to Braverman anyone sounds intelligent and across the detail. But Cooper is a lightweight politician from the Labour right, which means that if it forms a government to continue the same policies as the Tories, she will no doubt be rewarded with high office. The calibre of the front bench is very weak with a small number of exceptions, which should worry anyone who is anticipating a Labour administration.
    5
  552.  @sidcrowe7301  Precisely. Power, legacy of empire and arrogance.
    5
  553. The media hysteria over the SNP will in the long run fuel the cause of independence. The law of unintended consequences will apply.
    5
  554. Patten is correct and was from the left of the Tory Party. However, he was the party chairman in 1992 and played a key role in defeating Labour in the shock return of John Major to power seemingly against the odds. He lost his seat in Bath on the same dramatic night. If Labour had won there would have been no Blair ascendancy, no Iraq war and no Brexit.
    5
  555. The poor calibre of many Tory MPs is self evident but it is also going to be glaringly obvious and problematic if Labour forms a government. Don't expect anyone to be describing it as a government of all the talents anytime soon!
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  556.  @jessery475  Exactly. In France everyone has to study philosophy which teaches the ability to think critically. Levels of political illiteracy in the UK are off the scale. The neoliberal vandals who have wrecked the economy and society since 1979 are determined to preserve their project at all costs. First and foremost because it makes the rich wealthier and keeps them there, and secondly because they are ideological extremists. They cannot accept or admit the effects of what they have done. The education system is in serious trouble like never before- the quality of teaching is often very poor and indiscipline/ disengagement has been worsening year on year for at least a decade.
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  557. Prime Minister Grimsdale is not the man for the job. It is important to keep a straight face when interviewing Tory party members. Surely they are having a laugh. Tories are not generally known for compassion and grasp of economics but they make up for this with a strong sense of humour.
    5
  558.  @kevinbrown5737  Explain.
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  559. Don't be silly. Why?
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  560. It was the Russians who christened her the Iron Lady in 1976.
    5
  561. In the land of make believe ( the Pete Sinfield lyric in the Bucks Fizz aong about something nasty in your garden is reputed to be about the Tories) Rwanda is a safe county and the will of the people is behind this fiction. Heath found out the answer to the question who governs? was not the Conservatives and Sunak is going down to defeat as a footnote in history. Deservedly so for many reasons, including the performative obscenity that is the Rwanda policy all to appease Tory members and the UKIP/Reform vote. Reprehensible.
    5
  562. 1985 was a great year for music.
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  563. In the court of public opinion- guilty. In the eyes of the committee- evasive, self justificatory and unrepentant. Chances of political comeback approximately zero. His teacher was right about the rules not applying to him. Good riddance.
    4
  564.  @towenaar4142  Cite the source.
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  565.  @towenaar4142  Cite the source in any reputable newspaper where the report will have been fact checked. I assume you know what a newspaper is?
    4
  566. Some of the people interviewed do not seem to have much grasp of the issues, spouting platitudes. Glaringly obvious that none of the vox pops include anything remotely left wing. What a surprise for the NS.
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  567. Kudos to any Labour MP who supports the strikes as the entire party should be doing. But the workers are up the creek without a paddle because if and when Labour takes power, it will not support strikes, it will continue to side with the rich, it will not tax the rich properly ( it should be shouting from the rooftops for higher taxes for the wealthy for a fair society), it will leave anti union laws in place and it will preside over ever widening inequality. Already Britain is the most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria. Labour is a neoliberal party on the same page as the Tories on most issues. The narcissism of small differences. Living standards will continue to plummet and the UK will be governed by a weak party with no vision for the systematic change of direction urgently needed.
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  568. Good to see you are happy in Liverpool but when I lived in different parts of London in the 1990s and early 2000s I did not encounter snobbery towards the north west or elsewhere in the country. It is a myth peddled and believed by many that the north west and elsewhere is friendly. One of the friendliest places I lived in is Wimbledon Park, which had its own community association and a really positive vibe in the area generally.
    4
  569.  @JamSoupMusicLols  Explain.
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  570. Prescott tweeted a picture of him on a pocket line with miners in the 1984/1985 strike recently.
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  571.  @jameshansing5396  Precisely. You nailed it.
    4
  572. Precisely. Economically illiterate austerity as any serious economist would aver. We need Keynesianism not failed austerity which inhibits recovery, hammers the poor and serves the rich. Labour is a busted flush before or if it gains power, committed to a disastrous path that will pave the way for a hard right Tory return to power.
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  573. Broken not broke.
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  574. It had a number of Tory MPs until the 1970s and a Liberal controlled Council in the 1990s. The idea of Liverpool as a socialist bastion is wide of the mark.
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  575. Well said.
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  576. All forms of religion are nonsense. Humankind should do all it can to free itself from it. I doubt humans can ever truly be free but religion is certainly not the answer. Religion and money are the root of all our problems now and in history.
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  577. It's the same option- that is the point. Two neoliberal parties not fit for purpose.
    4
  578.  @tonycowin Thanks for the patronising response and permission to hold a view. You clearly do not get it- neoliberalism is the source of every single problem since 1979. A Labour Party committed to it has nothing to offer. That's it- a political dead end for any progressive shift in Britain. Nothing less than the reversal of neoliberalism is needed but there is no chance of it with the right of Labour in charge and the left being completely marginalised. Continuing Thatcherism is pointless and will compound the damage done over not just the last 13 years but the last 43. You are welcome to your delusions but don't be surprised when Britain is mired in an even deeper mess presided over by a Starmer government that will fail miserably on so many levels to effect the necessary changes or even begin to do what is needed in its first two to three years. All the answers lie on the left but the abject surrender of Labour to the neoliberal consensus means it has no vision, nothing to offer. Thatcher described 'new' Labour as her greatest achievement- she was right. Starmer is a re-run of the Blair period and the establishment pick to ensure nothing changes.
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  579. No shouting match because Zelenskyy did not take part in one. He was shouted at by vile bullies who want to sell out Ukraine on Putin's terms. Democracy will be over and no justice served for the illegal invasion of a sovereign country, destruction of vast areas, thousands of deaths and war crimes committed. The rest of the region and Europe will be in peril as the build up to the outbreak of war in 1939 is repeated once more. Zelenskyy was superb in how he handled the ambush by the thug in chief who clearly wants to find a pretext to end American aid to Ukraine. All in the service of Putin. Russia won the Cold War when it got its candidate in the White House- it has taken the world 34 years to realise.
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  580. Educate yourself. They are fleeing criminal gangs in Albania. There is an agreement with the country to return any asylum seekers who do not have a legitimate claim. Fifty two percent of all claims are successful against a high threshold. Don't let facts impede your bogus argument.
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  581. Cincinnatus only returned for three weeks so a Johnson return, egregious as the prospect is, would only be short lived. Thank god for small mercies. Once Sincinnatus Johnson has left office, a GE would be the most obvious and desirable course of action. In an ideal world it should happen now but the Tories are determined to put party before the national interest. They could yet bring the whole economy down if the markets take fright again.
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  582. Recent poll in last few days showed 70 % against the Conservatives and 30% for Labour. Proves your point.
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  583. Most Tory voters support nationalisation of the railways according to polls. It is going to end up the same with water if it is not already ( not seen polls on water). The Labour majority of 1997 was so huge because Tory voters switched to Labour because it had abandoned democratic socialism or social democracy under Blair- its relentless move to the right has continued ever since except under Corbyn. Even in 2017 and 2019 Labour offered policies to the right of the 1945 manifesto. Most people don't know left from right anymore, such is the extent of the ideological victory of Thatcherism/ neoliberalism- it is this that the ruling class and voters must reject in full for there to be any chance of Britain reversing its decline. I won't hold my breath. No wonder Scotland wants out.
    4
  584.  @theconversationalelitist6423  No, the Liberal Democrats walked away.
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  585.  @timothyhaines4238  Perhaps the walls will be painted blue.
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  586. Bullying is rife in Britain. It has been out of control for years. There is very little about it online which shows the extent of the denial of the problem. It is a major issue in education with thousands of staff victims of being targeted for no valid reason. Yet no-one talks about bullying in schools. Staff are scared of management in many schools when if bullying was not an issue they would not be, obviously. There is no solidarity in UK education as staff look the other way as they keep their heads down in the hope that they can avoid bullying themselves. Academic research is needed into the reasons why thousands of teachers have left education in the last twenty years- I am certain that bullying would feature in many cases.
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  587.  @massivehero4871  Stop scapegoating immigrants. Shameful.
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  588.  @arethereanyuniquehandles  No, you have a literacy problem. It is Starmer not Stammer and there is a full stop at the end of a sentence. Obviously this is beyond your comprehension but the issue is the terms of any cessation to the fighting and how the peace is guaranteed. Next time write clearly and do not defend the indefensible- Trump is a Russian asset acting for Putin.
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  589.  @richardhands904  Explain.
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  590.  @k.j.hulander2204  Right wing nonsense. You'd be better off preaching to the converted on a right wing YT channel. They are excellent echo chambers.
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  591. Self evidently a majority of teachers do not want a pay rise. Short of extra catch up classes to tutor them in numeracy to help all of them understand the disastrous drop in pay since 2010, nothing will get through to them. NASUWT did not meet the threshold. Only one of the unions is on strike, left out on a limb. The Tories must have been delighted at the outcome of the NASUWT ballot.
    4
  592.  @Youmissedme-i5z  Basic knowledge about the world. I know many Americans think the USA is the world but it is not. I am in the UK and find your ignorance appalling though not surprising. It is Mandela not Mandella, too. South Africa is a country on the continent of Africa. Surely you studied basic geography in school. Have you heard of Europe, the capital of Buenos Aires?
    4
  593. What is a tariff? Asking for MAGA. Thanks for your help.
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  594. One union needed in education but are teachers demanding it? Of course not. Two unions makes strike action much easier to avoid. The teacher unions recommending the 6.5% effective pay cut to their members is diabolical. Compare and contrast with the BMA who have said no way to such an insulting offer. Compare also to teachers in Scotland who have a 15% deal. If and when Torybour get in there will be no more money for the public sector in the name of fiscal rectitude but plenty for the rich.
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  595.  @aaarghzombies640  Do you have actual first-hand knowledge of education in the UK?
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  596. I would be interested to know the opinion of Steve Richards who is an expert on politics and has written two books about UK Prime Ministers. Truss does not have the temperament to be PM which will be very clear in short order. Mathew Paris has written an article which refers to her leadership credentials.
    4
  597.  @colloquialsoliloquy6391  Two wrongs do not make a right. Some would cite the saying that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, although it is not something I am endorsing in these remarks. The oppression of the British state was unacceptable for certain, and the actions of the Black and Tans were condemned by the Liberal and Labour parties. Asquith compared the actions of the British state to despots elsewhere. The Conservatives wanted Ireland to remain in the empire ideally and approved of the repression as long as they thought they were going to have their way. The ceasefire of July 1921 changed the dynamic and LG outmanoeuvred Collins and Griffiths in the talks in London. De Valera sent Collins because he knew he could not return with a deal for independence and the British would insist on the oath of allegiance to the Crown. That is why de Valera did not go himself.
    4
  598.  @Alex-cw3rz  Well said.
    4
  599.  @curtisalex456  Labour has abandoned the working class ( as far as I am concerned that is most of the population unless they do not need to work due to wealth) and given up on its historic mission ever since its formation in 1900. There is no excuse for voting Conservative but the truth is they are a mirror to an ugliness and fundamental unseriousness in many of the public, who hold odious views about others. Labour is the problem because it has no vision for fundamental change and the voters who will not oppose a party that is a conspiracy against them in plain sight are to blame for their own predicament by voting the Conservatives in time and again. They will never learn.
    4
  600.  @tompearce3610  PR is essential, agreed. But the root and branch reform of the economy and society that is so badly needed if there even the slightest chance of addressing the problems of the UK must begin with rejection of neoliberalism by the political class and public alike. Unless this happens the most that will happen will be tinkering at the margins, the result being ever widening inequality, a stagnant economy, lack of investment in industry, education and training, etc. I see no prospect of the establishment accepting that neoliberalism has failed ( except for the rich) or the public joining up the dots in sufficient numbers. Why would they? Only had 43 years for the penny to drop but under FPTP Britons love to vote against their own interests. Masochism on steroids. I hope I am wrong but there is at least another two decades of this never ending nightmare.
    4
  601. In the toilet. I hope this helps clarify the position. A doom loop would be grounds for optimism but it is not even in that good a condition. Reverse Thatcherism. Tax the rich and adopt Keynesian stimulus. He has the answers.
    4
  602. Excellent comment. Breath of fresh air ( pun intended) to see this. I will be going for a walk a bit later and if I see anyone with a newspaper ( I shall try to avert my eyes), in all probability it will be the Daily Fail. While I take issue with The Guardian for being a neoliberal paper and part of the same media ecosystem that perpetuates inequality, it is always refreshing if, on the off chance, I see a copy of the paper. A Daily Mirror sighting is even rarer!
    4
  603.  Mishmash  Untrue. History will look on him favourably.
    4
  604. Performative cruelty. Welcome to another twisted episode of the compassion free malevolent clown show. Every week a new low.
    4
  605. Bernie Sanders' analysis is all you need to know about why the Democrats lost.
    4
  606. Not only have the crashed the economy and increased mortgage rates for years to form with a housing crash on the way as a result, they have brought M People back into public consciousness. Unforgivable. I know they were successful but Heather Small's voice is awful, on a par with Mel C. Both nice people but cannot sing in my view.
    4
  607. Foodbanks are now firmly embedded in the landscape just like in America. Britain is the second most unequal country in Europe after Bulgaria. Strong unions deliver higher wages via collective bargaining- Labour has no intention of reversing the demolition of unions that was/ is key to the success of the neoliberal project to transfer wealth to the rich. The Tory philosophy has always been that poverty is your own faut but don't expect Labour to reduce food bank use by raising incomes.
    4
  608. Yeah, he would he be an amazing Prime Minister. Even better than Cameron, Johnson, Truss and Sunak. Even more betterer ( made up word to avoid confusing his supporters) than Church Hill who won every war on his own for Britain.
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  609. @@martinevans9812Labour is committed to the same policies as the Tories. The voters are essentially Tories on the whole, even those who think they are left wing. Almost no-one knows left from right.
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  610.  @riaz8783  Exactly. The voters bought into wild west capitalism under Thatcher ( FPTP) so cannot complain about its consequences now. I am on the left but Kinnock ( he took Labour to the right but by today's standards he would definitely be on the left, or what passes for it) warned people repeatedly in the eighties about the consequences of supporting Thatcherism but they ignored him. The evidence was there all along and we live in Thatcher's Britain today because the UK voter ( FPTP) in their ignorance will not listen to those trying to act in the best interests of the majority.
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  611.  @joetrent4753  Blairites are no doubt upset by it but as a shorthand reference to a specific issue it fits. It is likely that it has appeared in articles that may not endorse it but cite it in context. It is notable how sensitive the right are to any criticism of Starmer and the red Tory project. It is not a term I would use myself but I understand why others have. The Blairites need to accustom themselves to a lot more scrutiny of the Starmer project before and after ( if) Labour wins the GE. It is a project built on very flimsy foundations because it is not tenable to govern without the substantive change Britain needs. Currently, Labour has no meaningful answers to the overlapping and complex problems facing Britain. Like it not the only way is to turn left and the Blairites are not going to like it. Needs must and all that.
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  612. @@yakovshani240Either Labour abandons neoliberalism and adopts democratic socialism, transforming itself into effectively a new party or going back to its roots, whichever you prefer, or it continues with Tory neoliberalism which will wreck Britain even further. It is a long way down and the worst is yet to come with the same failed policies. Neoliberalism is the cause of this mess.
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  613.  @owendallison6913  The speed of deterioration is not the issue, it is the neoliberal ideology Labour has capitulated to. Unless it rejects it which the Starmer iteration of the party has no intention of doing, Labour has no answers. Try to understand this simple concept.
    4
  614.  @aaronaaronson7600  Higher tax on the rich to pay for public services, higher wages through collective bargaining, reverse anti trade union laws as societies with strong unions are more equal regarding income, large scale government investment in infrastructure and public services. A massive drive on public health to make the nation healthy by tackling the food industry on sugar and fat content. Two thirds of adults are overweight. Life expectancy had gone down across all ages due to austerity and obesity will worsen quality of life and the overall statistics. A high wage economy should run alongside higher taxes for the rich and unions should have a place on the board of companies like in Germany. Compulsory voting is needed to make people participate as citizens and the voting age should be 16 as it was in the Scottish referendum in 2014. Last but not least, rejoin the EU.
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  615.  @aaronaaronson7600  I am not optimistic. I think the chances of improvement are close to zero because all of the main parties are committed to neoliberalism, the root cause of all the problems plaguing Britain. We live in Thatcher's Britain due to the egregious effects of her policies. Most people do not understand its pervasive impact because it is embedded so much in the fabric of society. She converted Labour from socialism and described 'new' Labour as her greatest triumph. Starmer needs to be removed as Labour leader- he is the opposite of what the party and country needs. Unless neoliberalism is reversed, there is no prospect of Britain climbing out of the sewer it is in. It is an economic basket case with an unstable, weak economy that does not work for the majority- wages are lower in real terms in 2023 than in 2008 when the financial crash occurred. Society is fractured, divided over many issues, including relations with Europe. Britain has always been right wing, except for brief interludes such as 1945-1951, but the right has won so comprehensively that it was possible to demonise the manifestos of 2017 and 2019 ( Labour) as extremist/ communist/ radical left, when in reality they were to the right of the 1945 manifesto. Most people have no idea of left from right- talk of centrism beggars belief when it is actually right wing. Austerity was even described as centrist a couple of weeks ago, which shows how far down the right wing rabbit hole the UK has tumbled. So in short, no reason for hope. That ship has sailed and it is why Corbyn has to be stopped by the establishment.
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  616.  @ITS1985  It was a narrow majority in an advisory referendum, in other words not legally binding. It should never have been called in the first place but given that it was, there should have been a super majority if it was going to be adhered to.
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  617. Unfair and inaccurate about Andrew Marr. The default of the BBC as an organisation is to tread carefully with the government of the day and the establishment more widely. It is the state broadcaster after all not independent. He asked much tougher questions than Frost when hosting the Marr programme for over a decade. Marr is not to blame for the Conservative hegemony. He writes very well as a journalist and author of books and his history of modern Britain series covering the twentieth century was superb. Elizabethans is also an excellent recent book.
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  618.  @patlaing4489  Explain using your superior intelligence.
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  619.  @nifralo2752  Are you serious? It is understaffed relative to need and underfunded. Not complicated to understand.
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  620.  @skolbob1667  Thanks for replying. I thought you would say something like that and I am pleased to hear it. I have always held him in high regard.
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  621.  @trapsman6496  Eh? Did you think about your question or just post it for the hell of it?
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  622. Don't be so dismissive of your own comment.
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  623. Comes across as really humble and modest.
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  624.  @Heretic-007  No. There is no far left. Define it. Policies derided as far left today were adopted by Tory governments in the past. The Tory party has moved inexorably to the right culminating in the purge of the so called moderates in 2019 under the guise of Brexit. To all intents and purposes UKIP has taken over the Conservatives, pursuing a hard right agenda.
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  625. I once said hello to former Radio 1 DJ Peter Powell in Hammersmith. Equally significant.
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  626. Noodles have also gone up in price, especially the supersized ones. It is price gouging more than anything else. A tin of soup should be one of the cheapest items to buy, it is worth no more than 50p and should be relatively inflation proof give or take a few pence over a number of years. Many products have nearly or at least doubled in price in the last year or so- it is diabolical. People should organise boycotts whereby they limit what they buy on purpose in order to damage the profits of the supermarkets. Prices would decrease quickly if they did.
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  627.  @leachimy24  You have no reason to seek asylum. A ludicrous comment. There is a process and if you think you have a claim then contact the authorities.
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  628.  @leachimy24  Use of the word flood is very telling about your attitude. Very telling indeed.
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  629. Nonsensical comment. He is a highly competent journalist who is merely asking a question at the start of the interview. Perfectly normal.
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  630. Too right. It took me two seconds to grasp your point. I am not even privately educated. God knows how much quicker I might have been if I was so lucky!
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  631. Eh?
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  632.  @marksmith7425  Extreme left? How?
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  633. Immigration has reached its all time record under the Tories. It is expected to decrease to less than 300,000 a year by the middle of the decade. Unemployment is relatively low and there are large numbers of jobs that need to be staffed by immigrants because poorly skilled and often lazy British born workers do not want to 'lower' themselves to do unskilled work.
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  634.  @adamsimmons631  You are confusing him with Thatcher. Blair surrendered to Thatcherism and that it is why Britain is in a doom loop.
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  635. The Addams Families.
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  636. What are your qualifications?
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  637.  @davidtaylor351  Thank you for checking in with such an educated, intelligent, well thought out and incisive comment. You must be very proud to possess the gift of conflating active participation in politics with analysing polls and trends to predict the outcome of an election. Lichtman predicted Republican and Democratic victories for decades. In case you are unaware they are two different parties.
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  638. Yes, but not much point when there is little solidarity among UK workers who are mostly just out for themselves, do not see the point of unions, selfish and largely on board with the bosses' agenda even though it is hurting them in many ways, including pay. The teachers in England settled for 6.5% which is a joke compared to the 15% in Scotland, and the RCN voted not to continue its strike. Most prefer whingeing to action.
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  639. The question should be why was violent crime much lower decades ago? The rise in violent crime can be traced back to 1987 when the figures show it started to rise significantly. There is no excuse for violent crime and it is also a crisis of morality in society- the genie is out of the bottle for a host of reasons. We live in Thatcher's Britain- violent crime is a symptom of the broken society that she created. To repeat, there is no excuse, but violent crime is higher in unequal societies. Britain is the most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria. Given inequality is only going to widen in the coming decades in view of the establishment's determination to maintain neoliberalism, there is no answer to the problem of violent crime. Everything tried so far has failed because the wrong question is being asked. Even in Glasgow where a public health approach has been taken to knife crime, it has only reduced by 50%. Better than nothing of course, but still exponentially higher than what it was before the Tories destroyed society from 1979, aided and abetted by Labour's acceptance of neoliberalism.
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  640. The two are not mutually exclusive.
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  641. Make America Moron Again. Job done.
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  642. I wanted Labour to win in each election through the eighties and nineties and the defeats were desperate. The 1992 defeat still hurts me and was one of the saddest days of my life. I am on the left but had faith in Kinnock in his pitch to become Prime Minister. By today's standards he was way to the left of the Labour Party. However he moved the party too far to the right. Yes, he paved the way for the 1997 victory but the price of this was that Labour accepted the Thatcherite settlement. The treatment of Kinnock by the media was egregious but the Labour right's attack on Corbyn for advocating nothing more than social democratic policies that were to the right of the 1945 manifesto was unforgivable. The left of today is nothing like the left of the past yet both have been conflated. This was a moving interview.
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  643. Brexit is responsible for much of the UKs economy. The RMT supports Brexit. Lexit makes no sense just like the right wing stance in support of Brexit from its perspective.
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  644. Gone into effect not went into effect.
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  645. I do not think she comes across well at all. Not remotely funny.
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  646. Blairbour on the march. Or is it? The polls will narrow and scrutiny of Labour's lack of vision and commitment to Tory policy will raise lots of questions before the GE. One by-election is not especially significant. Not surprisingly many in the commentariat are getting carried away. By- election results before the 1992 GE and high poll leads pointed to a Labour victory but it was not to be, tragically. Kinnock moved Labour to the right but by today's standards he would be decidedly on the left. Tory lies about tax won the election for them in 1992 and they are well down the road of using wedge issues to attack Labour. Starmer's Labour has nothing to offer Scotland except more failed neoliberalism.
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  647. Out of interest do you condemn Putin and accept Ukraine is the victim of an illegal invasion?
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  648. Only one reason why Reform is good news for UK politics- it will split the Tory vote. Excellent. Let's hope its 10% in the polls rises to 15%. Goodbye Tories hello red Tories.
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  649. Hi Chris.
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  650. These women are intelligent. But those that lack it do not recognise it anyway, it goes with the territory. Not many teachers are intelligent these days but they used to be. The older generation have retired, are leaving or being 'managed' out on spurious grounds because they are too expensive. I realise this will probably sail over your head.
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  651. Wage stagnation since 2008 is the issue. The average family in France and Germany is £8000 better off per year than in Britain, the poor man of Europe. It has the lowest growth of any European country with an economy that does not work for millions. Put the rent down. Sunak will make us poorer yet Red Wall voters reported to be willing to give him a chance. They never learn. Ever.
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  652. Ludicrous figure. The complaint used to be of style over substance. Clearly no substance evident in what she says.
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  653.  @californiadreamin8423  The Lexit case against the EU is just as dogmatic and misguided as the hard right case, UKIP et al. No-one has questioned the RMT on Brexit to my knowledge- a free pass every time. The RMT is fighting the consequences of the policy it supported. You could not make it up but no-one sees the contradiction.
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  654. The strike was a different time- much more solidarity, despite the traitorous actions of the UDM. Breakaway undermining the strike had a long tradition in Notts and Derbyshire going back to the 1926 General Strike. There is no way workers today have the stomach, solidarity and resilience for prolonged strike action. As you will know, miners' benefits were cut and they were on the brink of starvation in many cases. The strike was the most important turning point since world war two because defeat meant a rout for the unions, underpinned by anti strike legislation which Labour failed to reverse post 1997. The miners who went on strike were rock solid in the principles of what they were fighting for- jobs and communities; it was not even about pay. I think they had a commitment to working class solidarity, class struggle and unions that just does not exist any longer. Public support for the miners was nowhere near as strong as it should have been when it counted- the hypocrisy of middle England marchers in the Cotswolds hailing Scargill as a hero in 1992 when more closures were announced speaks volumes. By that time it was too late. Labour failed to back the miners in 1984/ 85 just as in 1926, and here we are in 2022 with it failing to back them yet again.
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  655. Brexit is the elephant in the room. RMT backs Brexit.
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  656. No such thing as an eco nutter. The word is also offensive. Keep up at the back.
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  657. @D C I agree. The food is rubbish, many people are cold, you never know where you stand with people either. I was born here and I am 52 but frankly wish I had been born in any other European country without right wing governments most of the time. Even some right wing governments in other nations in the last half century have presided over stronger welfare states than the UK, which has been a laboratory for neoliberalism. It will never change in my life time because most Britons could not care less about the greater good. It is me, me, me all the time except for lip service to the idea of the collective good.
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  658. Born In The USSR.
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  659. Price gouge not gauge.
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  660. Turnips disguised as minerals. The dollar replaced by the Wurzel as the new reserve currency. Solidarity with Ukraine.
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  661.  @alexanderson3290  Exactly. I must be suffering a fever induced by the Tories as your response has prompted the lyrics of True by Spandau Ballet to run through my mind. Sorry!
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  662. Cancel the visit. Handing the letter from the King to Trump on Thursday was no different to paying homage to a medieval king. Disgusting and humiliating.
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  663. There is a major generational problem in Britain that has been developing since the 1980s-just because people complain about things being worse than twenty or thirty years ago does not mean they are automatically wrong per se. The sense of entitlement, lack of respect for others and selfishness has definitely worsened. I think it is primarily down to economic factors driven by neoliberalism which has torn society apart, as well as the negative impact of (anti) social media on the way people think and behave, and do not see national service as the answer to anything. There are no votes in tackling poor parenting and the educational establishment is not interested in maintaining high standards of behaviour in schools for the most part, and parenting has largely collapsed compared to twenty or more years ago. There are no solutions because it is too late. That is how bad it is.
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  664. Mike Peters of The Alarm does features in an excellent programme called In A Big Country in which he talks of his love of the song and its influence on him as a musician in the early days of The Alarm. It is very moving and you might want to check it out. Mike became lead singer for a few years some time after Stuart Adamson's very untimely and tragic death.
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  665. Where have the unions been for the last 13 years of austerity? Many of them have said and done very little about declining wages, which will never be clawed back. Right wing policies supported by a right wing electorate ( yes, even most of the Labour voters are neoliberals at heart) have destroyed the UK. Anyone who thinks it is going to change is deluded. It is too late. Neoliberalism is hard baked into the system. Thatcher won and we live in Thatcher's Britain today. That is the tragic truth.
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  666.  OakwiseBecoming  Brilliant comment. It looks like you have peaked for today with that one. Well done!
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  667. He is a first rate journalist, thinker, writer of history and presenter. He does have a genuine and insightful understanding of history and how it relates to the travails of today. He is an excellent communicator, commanding the listener's attention. His recent book The Elizabethans was really good. The Making Of Modern Britain is a tour de force of television. Even the acting and role play works!
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  668. 10 million is wrong. Cite the source for this.
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  669.  @babymonalisa  Yes, true. Brexit is a catastrophe and should never have happened. I voted remain and would do so again a hundred times or more. It is the idea that the music industry or other forms of entertainment contribute significantly to the economy that needs scotching. In Germany, the night time economy, for instance ( admittedly not the same as the music industry) is not even counted as a central part of its GDP calculations because it is seen as so insignificant relative to more important sectors. Other countries actually make things in factories unlike Britain, which exists in a fantasy world of make believe. I say that as a lifelong music fan too!
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  670.  @gio-oz8gf I suggest you try to contribute to discussion by providing intelligent observations/ opinions/ insights/ predictions or whatever passes for intellectual thought in your head. Alternatively, stop making pedantic comments that add nothing to discussion. You chose to make an unfair comment about a post for no good reason and then failed to substantiate your reasoning.
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  671. How about explaining this what aboutery? Evidence?
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  672. @Eternal Ments Offensive nonsense. He is on the right of Labour and I am on the left but he seems principled to me. Diane Abbot is an excellent MP and the treatment of her by many on the right is a disgrace.
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  673.  @MrAzboGaming  He is. Don't lie.
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  674. Labour is not on the side of the workers and in some ways Sunak is more personable than Starmer. Yes, the Tories policies are dreadful on every level but in an era of post truth, personality politics, Labour will have a problem on the door step with voters who do not think about the issues, know little and are persuaded by simplistic ideas like stop the boats. Delivered by someone they perceive as personable, it will play into the Tories' hands. The polling is already suggesting Sunak is gaining popularity.
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  675. How could he have been John Major when he is Michael Heseltine?
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  676. Sunak PM, Hunt Chancellor, Mordaunt Foreign Secretary. This ghastly combination has been floated as a done deal in some quarters.
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  677. The wheels are coming off the Starmer leadership. Laughable to think he is being presented as a Prime Minister in waiting. The party has been so busy quashing the left and brooking no dissent that Gaza is now both a litmus test about the urgent need for a ceasefire and a lightning rod for the wider questions that must surely be raised now about his judgement and leadership credentials both as party manager and putative PM. There needs to be a leadership challenge before the next GE or as soon as possible after it.
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  678.  @felixarbable  No. Vote Labour get Tory policies. If you think otherwise you are delusional. Red Tories are on the same page as the government on policy. Ken Clarke, former Tory Chancellor under Major, has endorsed Reeves as Chancellor. Says it all.
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  679. My wife is from near Marennes the oyster capital of France. Nearest town is Rochefort and she is two hours from Bordeaux. The departement is Charente Maritime or Nouvelle Aquitaine as it was renamed under Sarkozy. Which region are you in?
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  680. The left should be concerned about this petition. It may be entirely forgotten soon but it might suggest the space exists for hard right populism to feed on discontent with Labour. However, there are caveats to taking this petition seriously-the petition signed by the 6 million opposed to Brexit was ignored and social media is fuelling the idiocy of the petition. It is concerning that those signing it cannot accept the result of the election and there should be concern at the lack of political literacy in the country. It is hard to believe that a similar petition in any other country would gain traction- Britain has sunk to new depths of stupidity.
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  681.  @californiadreamin8423  You did not ask a question. But even if you did it will not be answered. Well done for being half right.
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  682. Keynesian tax and spend is the only answer.
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  683. Get them out of power. This government is absolutely despicable beyond words. They stoke up hate, lie all the time, obfuscate, gas light with words and ideas that are insane. They display a level of irrationality that is rarely seen in other countries, except in dictatorships. There really needs to be a reckoning for their extreme arrogance and a change of direction for the UK. The only thing the voters can do is to go the polls in droves to throw them out. Every single Tory MP. The task is urgent.
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  684. Did you read that in a Tory paper? Utter nonsense. Cobblers.
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  685. Britain's Trump. The coming catastrophe is truly frightening.
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  686.  @rogerwood4846  Eh?
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  687. I do not know if any school has insisted on permission being sought to pick up a pen. But poor behaviour, disengagement and outright hostility to any form of authority are major issues in many parts of the UK education system. Poor parenting is the root cause as students spend 80% of their time outside of school. How they are brought up in the first five years determines outcomes later on in life. Many parents cannot control their own children and do not want to take responsibility for doing so. Others do not know how to as the 'art' of parenting has been lost in many cases for a number of reasons, including selfishness, not spending time speaking as a family, distractions in the form of electronic media, and the long hours culture in the UK that means a lot of parents do not see their children much across the week. The social contract between parents and schools is breaking down but I guarantee that if schools become lax on expectations as some are now advocating, behaviour will worsen and more students will not be able to learn. OFSTED is not fit for purpose but in 2014 a report found that in some schools up to a day a week of learning is lost due to so called low level disruption- it will be a lot worse now. Many teachers cannot control their classes, there is inconsistency across schools ( even allowing for different styles and personalities- you need different types of teachers in schools), and very often managers do not provide the support they are meant to if it is required. Most teachers try to resolve issues themselves in the first instance, rightly so. But many managers do not command the respect of students and teachers are blamed for poor behaviour they simply should not have to put up with as part of the job. Education is broken and no-one knows how to fix it. The parents who resented authority when they were at school have won though and Britain will pay the price for decades as a consequence when it finds many of today's generation are not equipped to cope with the requirements of the workplace.
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  688. Labour has ruled out PR despite a vote at party conference in favour of it.
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  689. BBC News bulletin at 9 or 9.30pm reversed the footage to show miners charging at police when it was the other way around. Someone made a decision for this to happen. Britain became a police state in the miners' strike, with road blocks set up to prevent freedom of movement around the country in the name of the Tories ideological war against the NUM.
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  690.  @kernalization  December 25th at 6am when no-one is around. The protest should only last for one minute and should not be reported in the media. The ideal protest that no-one sees. Not my King.
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  691.  @segovia5758  I appreciate your fair and reasoned answer. I am in the UK so cannot claim first hand knowledge of the situation in Greece. I wrongly assumed your response was coming from the right as there is a bias towards this in many of the comments on You Tube. I will endeavour to read more about Greek politics as I ought to know far more. I have always found Varoufakis accurate in his analyis of world politics, including the UK. He writes in The Guardian sometimes. I am a lifelong socialist but here the left has been purged by the neoliberals in charge of the Labour Party, which means there is no prospect of the necessary reversal of Thatcherism to correct the fault lines in UK society and the errors of successive governments since 1979 on so many levels. Most voters are obsessed with immigration and there is a lot of ugly racism openly expressed in the country which is deeply concerning. It is in danger of turning even more to the right as working people put their faith in the very policies that have ruined their lives believing that more of the wrong medicine is the solution. I do not think there is any way of reasoning with people any longer, especially in the post truth age of lies and misinformation fuelled by extremists like Trump and the pernicious role of social media in shaping what passes for debate. I wish you well.
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  692.  @rowejon  A mouthy radical? Is that supposed to be a serious comment?
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  693.  @ironbutterflyrusted  Explain.
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  694.  @1inchPunchBowl  You mean 'were you?'. Now I have deciphered your poor grammar. Oh dear indeed.
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  695. Unbelievably rude to do it on purpose and then act like it had not happened. Weird.
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  696.  @JP-jz4uq  An effective opposition with a clear vision for the transformation needed. Labour does not possess this. Do keep up at the back.
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  697.  @tiredoftheentitled9009  Literacy means the ability to read, write, speak and listen effectively. Punctuation is part of this. You made other errors in your comments which underline your poor literacy. No full stop at the end of this comment, for example.
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  698. Nonsensical. Read Steve Richard's article from the last few days about the notion of the centre ground.
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  699.  @douglasmacari8707  I don't know why my comment is not gaining traction. I thought it was my good deed for the day. It is upsetting that my efforts to give credit where it is due appear to have fallen on deaf ears!
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  700.  @fang_xianfu Yeah, right. Better to have Labour in power following the same failed policies that will guarantee nothing ever improves. Take your head out of the clouds and engage with reality. It is grim on the ground.
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  701. @ He is appalling. He should resign.
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  702. I am a socialist and republican but in terms of the historic moment she carried out the role with aplomb. Very accomplished in a ceremony that was historic regardless of differing views on monarchy and politics. Credit where it is due.
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  703. How can working class communities deserve better than the wealthy? I voted twice for Corbyn but this makes no sense- everyone should have the same quality of education. Abolish private schools or at the very least their charitable status in order to level the field in education. NASUWT and the NAHT headteachers' union did not meet the threshold for strike action. Clearly most NASUWT members do not want a pay rise or improvements in education otherwise a majority would have voted to strike- this is the only logical conclusion. No solidarity in education and it will not improve- it is a system in freefall.
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  704. Nonsense. Explain.
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  705. ​ @davidantony2734 Explain your unsubstantiated assertion.
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  706. It is not proof of anything.
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  707. It's gonna be great when the red Tories are in power. Blairite neoliberal heaven. Wonder when the penny will drop that nothing has changed, just the name on the door.
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  708.  @justinquinn5780  The bar is low. Let's see how long your optimism lasts.
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  709. Precisely. The Tories would call them bosses or barons. Mick Lynch has made it clear they are not barons on a number of occasions.
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  710. Crush by Jennifer Paige was a hit in the UK.
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  711.  @_lmagine  Anti semitism is wrong. I condemn it. All forms of racism are wrong. Hope not hate.
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  712. Lack of training and a poor education system too. State education is in freefall with so many problems that are systemic and will not be addressed ever- it is too far gone to turn it around. Bullying of staff is rife and should be a national scandal- good teachers leave because of how they are treated. It is a lottery and can happen to anyone for no reason ( it is never justified). Poor behaviour is endemic in many schools- an OFSTED report in 2014 said that up to a day per week is wasted in some schools due to poor behaviour. It is a lot worse now nearly ten years later. The age profile of staff has changed- cannot remember the figure but the number of older staff has decreased by a few percentage points in the last few years, a trend that will continue. A mix of staff across all ages is needed. Many younger staff cannot control classes and lack of support from management is commonplace. Disengagement is on the rise in many schools and little is done. It is possible to sit in lessons and refuse to work and almost certainly nothing will be done to address it by the school. One hundred thousand students are not even attending school which is going to have a major impact on their life chances and the economy in the next decade. The workforce will not be capable of sustaining the economy in the next thirty years. It really is game over.
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  713. It was Gerald Kaufman who coined the phrase though he was happy enough to be elected on the 1983 manifesto. April 9th 1992 remains one of the saddest days of my life as I really thought change would happen but it was not to be. In hindsight it was not going to as Thatcher changed the country forever, unfortunately.
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  714. Hope not hate. Solidarity with all targeted and vulnerable groups.
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  715.  @johnberesford9906  The bar for charisma must be very low. He was a salesman full of hot air.
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  716. It's maroon.
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  717. I had forgotten the adverts referred to in a comment below. I would not do an advert for anything that could negatively impact the living standards of others.
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  718.  @laurieharper1526  It is a mystery why the Tory Brexiteers do not support the EU because of free movement and frictionless trade. France and Germany had a five year delay on migration from eastern European accession nations but Britain did not bother. The answer was and is as Dennis Skinner said, to abolish agency rates and pay all workers the same. Immigration numbers are higher now than before the UK left the EU and more workers are needed from abroad to fill vacancies. We should embrace immigration and pay everyone good wages and build infrastructure.
    3
  719.  @ConstructiveMinds100  As an expert in policing explain why it was impossible for the police to apprehend him without killing him?
    3
  720.  @dionyates2482  Excellent. I had not analysed it this well. I am impressed. The Sleeper video to Nice Guy Eddie is a good example of the trend.
    3
  721.  @jonnylumberjack6223  Well said. Context is everything.
    3
  722. Do you know 50 cent?
    3
  723. 'Gareth Tucker' from Moscow. How's the weather?
    3
  724. He's binned the idea of inviting anyone.
    3
  725. The red Tories can be relied on to continue neoliberalism. Starmer is the establishment pick to maintain and further entrench the status quo. Nothing will change and an extremist nationalist populist ( a lot of ists)Tory resurgence is on the cards owing to the likely Labour failure if it continues with business as usual.
    3
  726. Can't complain- teachers have accepted pay cuts for over a decade. If they were so bothered about the students all three unions would have gone on strike a long time ago. There is some confusion about what they are striking for- it is about pay and funding for schools not one or the other. NASUWT and NAHT did not vote to strike which shows that thousands of teachers are fine with low pay and deteriorating conditions of service and funding. No solidarity in teaching. The union will settle for a deal that is a real terms pay cut and that will be the end of the matter for at least a decade while pay and conditions continue to worsen.
    3
  727. The only US President in the last 100 years not to declare a war. He said that was his proudest achievement. A great figure, unfairly maligned by right wing propaganda for weakness in the face of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.The Carter administration did increase defence spending and took sanctions against the Soviets as well as cancelling SALT 2 which otherwise would have been ratified. Reagan was able to portray him as weak as he positioned himself as a hard-line Cold War anti-communist. I regret not buying tickets to see him at the Hay Festival in the UK just over a decade ago as it would have been a once in a lifetime opportunity to see a US President speak. Some I would not want to hear speak, of course. The tickets were £50 each which, at the time, I thought was too expensive. The Reagan era was a disaster for America and the world, the consequences of which we are still suffering today in myriad ways.
    3
  728. Disgraceful comment.
    3
  729. One of the greats for sure. On a par with Roosevelt, Churchill, Martin Luther King and Jesus.
    3
  730.  @AdrianNelson1507  I prefer Abba. More melodic.
    3
  731.  @richardmaynard4942  Thank you. PR is vital but Labour has ruled it out, another example of its timidity and hopelessness in the face of growing support for it and the fact it would clearly help to make democracy more representative. It does carry the risk of extremist parties gaining seats which no right thinking person wants to see but they would not have much influence ( hopefully). Neoliberalism is an extremist ideology that is so insidious, not just because of the damage it has caused, but also the way it has infected every aspect of life to the extent that much of the time people do not even notice it. The price of everything and the value of nothing to coin a well known phrase. Lack of faith in politicians is both dangerous and understandable in many ways but it is up to the public to channel that disenchantment into demanding more from the system and properly engaging in the issues. Knowledge is power, etc.
    3
  732.  @chrisjones3901  France 4 Holland 0. Not likely and no chance of solidarity in Britain. Zero.
    3
  733. Britain already had control of its borders. Immigration is needed. Unemployment low ( until the coming crisis caused by the Tories) due to low productivity meaning it takes more people to do the same work as in nations with higher productivity. Take France, for example. The 35 hour week decried by free marketeers is still in place ( with some exemptions) and it has higher productivity than Britain. Higher wages, less hours, better education and training makes for a happier workforce. The penny is always slow to drop in hard right Britain. Ideology before evidence. Always.
    3
  734. Nonsense. Perfectly clear and should have become PM.
    3
  735.  @JustForFun-mt9og  Grate expectations.
    3
  736. I love cats and yours seems to be very nice. Taking a close interest in the crises the world is facing!
    3
  737.  @MissRG_THFC  Exactly.
    3
  738. The right of the Labour Party will be delighted to hear this. The left not so much.
    3
  739. How many are in the room with you?
    3
  740.  @bigkuriboh3814  Either this is not your most intelligent comment or your keyboard developed a fault. I sincerely hope it is the latter.
    3
  741. It is borders. Not boarders. Borders surround a country. Boarders stay in a place such as a bed and breakfast or hotel.
    3
  742. You are joking.
    3
  743.  @besserman1  He walked a line between outright support and wanting to show solidarity. The Labour Party should have been unequivocal in supporting the strike, of course. I think Kinnock calculated that it would play into the hands of the Conservatives and the media if he had supported the strike, and undermine his efforts to make Labour electable for 1987. I think it was the wrong call at the time and from a historical perspective, and that Kinnock moved Labour too far to the right thus paving the way for Blairism from 1997. Thatcher said New Labour was her greatest creation and with tragic consequences she was right.
    3
  744. Paved with gold. I don't think so. It is for the rich but not the majority. The UK is not overcrowded.
    3
  745.  @silversmoke4902  Exploit, exploit, exploit tenants! Never rein in landlords ever, ever, ever. Worship the rich.
    3
  746. Lego.
    3
  747. Careful with big words on You Tube. People will think Primark has renamed its sale.
    3
  748. Def Leppard.
    3
  749. The last paradigm shift was in the second world war when wartime planning for the peace laid the groundwork for the establishment of the modern welfare state ( building on the work begun by the Liberals from 1906 to 1914), and set the template for the next thirty years. The neoliberal counter revolution was more incremental but it has destroyed the economy and society. It is now so embedded and has wrought so much damage that the situation is irretrievable. Late stage capitalism is rotten to the core and no-one in the ruling class is making the arguments that it must change. The corporations and other vested interests have captured the state. Widening inequality is here to stay because the ruling class see no reason to change it and the workers are too weak/ apathetic to challenge it. Fatalism is also the friend of the establishment because it shores up its position.
    3
  750. Solidarity for the good you are doing.
    3
  751. Is that supposed to be an intelligent observation?
    3
  752.  @enlightenme8524  Thank you for your kind words. I don't have all the answers but in a sense it is academic because unless the scale of the problem is recognised, nothing will be done to address it. The educational establishment is in denial about many of the issues and many teachers do not realise the extent of the decline in the system, not least of all because many were not in service even ten years ago. Too many vested interests actively want to muddle along, fudging issues, or actively collude to obscure the reality- poor literacy and behaviour being two examples. Little is done to support students whose literacy is below the expected standard and it is a scandal that so many reach the end of primary education unable to read and write properly. Similarly, most teachers do not think there is a problem with behaviour despite the evidence of it on a daily basis. Brushing problems under the carpet is the default in many schools even though it is preventing many from learning. A Labour government might put more money in but the problems are too complex for money alone to solve them as well as infinitely worse than only a decade ago never mind further back.
    3
  753.  @GenuinePluko  It is like a mild cold for some but not others. Accuracy matters.
    3
  754. He says he is not tetchy so how can he be rattled? The use of the word rattled to describe the uber zen like and serene demeanour of the Great Leader Rishi Sunak is very wide of the mark. Politics Joe must try harder to accurately reflect the good Rishi Sunak is doing. I watched most of the committee proceedings and it was heart warming to see how much he is is doing to look after Britain. I had tears in my eyes.
    3
  755. The same approach as France and Spain to energy is needed to minimise the cost increase. Labour's plan is useless as it only buys time for six months. Rapid move to renewables urgent too. Not nuclear which is far more expensive than wind at today's prices, never mind in ten years.
    3
  756.  @eddiegulley1510  He does not exist and if you are religious you should not judge others. I'll take my chances without your dumb counsel. Referring to Trump as Orange Jesus is not blasphemy anyway. Keep up at the back.
    3
  757.  @guynorth3277  Cheesius.
    3
  758.  @seafoodpizza  Red Tory nirvana. Down with neoliberalism and in with democratic socialism.
    3
  759. Average family in France and Germany £8000 per year better off than in the UK thanks to Brexit which the RMT supports. Why on earth is no-one challenging the RMT to justify its support for Brexit? It is a total disaster and the Lexit case has played into the hands of the Tories. Yet no mea culpa. Trade with the EU down 16% and £90 billion pounds being lost each year. There are not enough people earning way more than they are because of Brexit.
    3
  760. Neurotic.
    3
  761.  @Iosephus_Michaelis  Are you sure? The Blair and Brown era was neoliberal- that is right wing.
    3
  762.  @notch7139  On the contrary. Starmer is not an effective Labour leader- there is a broad consensus around this except among the Blairite right whose confirmatory bias that they have all the answers never wavers. He is the wrong leader for Labour and will be a disastrous Prime Minister if he wins the election. That too is now in question- Labour may lose to the Tories, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
    3
  763. Is that the extent of your analysis?
    3
  764.  @TheGava4  Absolutely disgraceful. Denial of reality won't make the dire consequences of Brexit go away. Starmer is shaping up to be a disaster as PM.
    3
  765. Is that because you cannot abide the fact he knows what he is talking about, is excellent at explaining often complex issues in a very clear manner and has a grasp of detail most people do not? What exactly is your area of expertise?
    3
  766.  @peterclarke7240  Do you not know that Labour is the same as the Tories? Where have you been?
    3
  767. It was. The next best thing to not calling it in the first place would have been to ignore it.
    3
  768. Gravy train? Have you lived on benefits? Are you planning to as an experiment to see how easy it is?
    3
  769. Have you heard of the 1980s? Or do you think the Cold War jumped from the 1970s to its end in 1991?
    3
  770. Right to strike is fundamental and they can succeed. But the workers this time are sadly deluded if they think they are not going to be sold out by many of the unions who will settle for pathetic pay deals that are still pay cuts in real terms. Led to the top of the hill and then that will be it for another decade or more as pay worsens year on year. The workers have not woken up to the fact that this is it as the UK economic model implodes- low pay is the new normal and it is not going to change. Labour is no friend to the workers as they will find out if and when it is in government. Many of the unions have stood by and done little about pay for over a decade, which is reprehensible, and they will not be advocating rolling strikes as pay deteriorates in the next two decades.
    3
  771. Pizzas?
    3
  772.  @Gph0367  Let's see how well your comment ages two years into a Labour government. The Labour right has more in common with the Tories than the Labour right pre Blair. Kinnock moved Labour to the right but would be well to the left by today's standards. Ditto John Smith who was on the right, yet had no problem working with the left. The Campaign group has lots of good MPs but it numbers around 100. The left has been side lined. Labour was historically a broad church since its inception in 1900 but it is obvious to most except the disingenuous that the party is to all intents and purposes little different to the Conservatives. You better come to terms with the sentiment because under a government in waiting with no meaningful answers to Britain's serious crises, it is not going away. Quite the opposite.
    3
  773.  @toughercoot0518  I'm not voting for Labour under Starmer- I will vote Green. Choose who I want, like you say. Thanks for the permission. I remember 1994 to 1997 when people who believed Blair was a bad choice of leader were told to suspend their doubts and vote Labour for the greater good. That is nearly thirty years ago and now the Blairites are influential again ( to say the least) thinking they can re-run the same neoliberal prospectus that is the root cause of every problem facing Britain since 1979, which they surrendered to under Blair. Owen Jones' comments about Labour today are on the money.
    3
  774.  @TomNoles007  Thank you.
    3
  775.  @aaronaaronson7600  The Nordic model or something similar to Germany or France. The rich will not leave as increased taxes on them would still be lower than in some other countries. They like Britain for various reasons and the idea of leaving is a bluff that should be called.
    3
  776. Are The Rubles a band? Never heard of them. At least you are not a bot unless they are now sowing confusion in a new and novel way.
    3
  777. A lot of teachers are not very bright. You would be amazed at the lack of intelligence many of them demonstrate.
    3
  778.  @gustavodeugarte9460 Jesus does not exist. I hope this helps.
    3
  779. Nonsensical idea. Totally impractical.
    3
  780.  @timwoodger7896  You are in a minority of one if you really think your idea would work. If it is satire, not bad for a Sunday morning.
    3
  781.  @BigHenFor Of course it is impractical to have people voting constantly on everything. Completely stupid.
    3
  782. The last part of your post especially is really moving. I hope you are doing well these days and would like to think it all worked out with the woman you were with although that is your business, of course.
    3
  783. What was he like to talk to?
    3
  784. Praise being heaped on Starmer on LBC. Oliver Eagleton's book The Starmer Project is a must read for anyone interested in his career. Will he be interviewed any time soon? No, I thought not. He was elected on a false prospectus and has waged war against the left. He is committed to the same neoliberal policies that got Britain into this mess and fuelled the Brexit fantasy ' economics' of the Truss domesday cult. Yes the Tories need to go as they have crashed the economy and there are not enough words to describe how wrong and bad they are but unless and until Thatcherism is repudiated by the public and ruling class alike, the dysfunction of the British economy and political system will never end. In five years time if Labour form a government, few will be heaping praise on the 1990s tribute act in the form of Starmer as Prime Minister.
    3
  785.  @JoelJoel321  Starmer's personal ratings as a prospective PM are low actually.
    3
  786.  @janewright2800  Absolutely. Me and my wife saw him at Manchester Cathedral in 2015 just after he was elected leader. He was the main speaker at a CWU event. He received a rock star welcome from the 1000 people inside the cathedral. There were 8000 outside. It really seemed to be a moment of hope but tragically the path to being PM was thwarted in the next four years. The last few years would have been very different to the chaos Britain has endured if he had become PM and the damage of Thatcherism would have started to be reversed. Solidarity.
    3
  787.  @rosskrizevac9777  Nonsense. Explain.
    3
  788. Country's. Shakespeare would be proud of the knuckleheads. Not.
    3
  789.  @chrishampton2565  Fair enough. I have not seen the interview you refer to but it is time for Brexit to be discussed in the media and by the Labour Party which is derelict in its duty to face up to an issue of national importance by colluding with the silence from the Tories about its disastrous effects.
    3
  790. All this information is available via television news reporting and discussion ( they interview clever people called scientists who are also good communicators in explaining complex science in an easy to follow way), and via newspapers that do explainers and carry articles putting everything in context. I am referring to the broadsheet newspapers, not tabloids.
    3
  791.  @therealxcii  Look at the behaviour in schools- it has been deteriorating for at least twenty years. It all starts in the home, of course, with eighty percent of time spent outside school. However, the schools are allowing unacceptable behaviour to flourish with a whole army of people to make excuses rather than deal with the behaviour to stop it worsening. You can go five years in many secondary schools behaving badly, disrupting the learning of others, and unless very foolish or unlucky in your actions, little will be done. Most teachers cannot control their classes and there is little support from so called management. It is an unholy mess.
    3
  792. It is an incredible song. One of the last great pop/ rock songs in my view. I remember thinking most nineties music was very poor but that stood out as a track that could have easily stood with the best of the eighties.
    3
  793.  @melgrant7404  Mr Grimsdale.
    3
  794.  @grahambrooks2652  Cite the international law that states this. Deal in facts not make believe to fit your narrative.
    3
  795. Well said. At least someone understands. Only another 30 million voters to go.
    3
  796. He left it to escape homophobia. Liverpool is not the tolerant place it likes to pretend it is even today. In the 1970s and 1980s there was not even the pretence.
    3
  797.  @KryptonitetoallBS  True but Liverpool is unique in proclaiming how virtuous it is compared to everywhere else when the reality is that there are a lot of ugly facets to the place now and in the past.
    3
  798.  @KryptonitetoallBS  Many of the people in Liverpool are very brittle and defensive for no good reason and are quick to perceive slights that are not there. They wonder why there is indifference to or dislike of the place sometimes. I have the misfortune to live in the suburbs but wish I had never moved to the area. I am yet to see the league table that shows how Liverpool is the friendliest, funniest city in the world, probably because it does not exist. There are so many amazing cities on the planet, including in the UK, but Liverpool is not one of them in my view. There is little of interest compared to elsewhere. But the bragging will never change.
    3
  799. No.
    3
  800. It is funny but there is no significance in it beyond the theatre of PMQs. I don't actually think she has been that impressive in her contribution to Parliament overall since election- in recent years she has been low profile in the media it seems.
    3
  801.  @jackdubz4247  There is no fools errand. One opinion does not mean everything is seen through the lens of Anglo centric unionism. Presumably, if a supporter of Scottish independence who lives in Scotland expresses an opinion that might be critical of something to do with the SNP or disagree with someone else or something, it does not mean that they are seeing everything through the lens of Anglo centric unionism. I am very well aware of the biased way the English media and establishment frames discussion of the SNP/ Scotland so you can keep the facile point about a fools errand.
    3
  802. The party of the workers (supposedly) should be an advocate for the majority against vested interests in the name of a more equal society. That includes those in work and most definitely the unemployed. Ironic that full employment used to be a Labour objective and it actually achieved it under the Attlee government.
    3
  803.  @ow124-k3z  Contradiction in terms- boldly left of centre would still be very, very right wing. Centre ground simply means right wing- the so called centre has shifted inexorably to the right in the last 10, 20, 30, 40 years.
    3
  804.  @hull5768 Money goes to money- the rich make free money off the backs of the workers.
    3
  805. Sunak 7 years as an MP. Biden 50 years experience as a senator, 8 of those Vice President and two as President. No contest.
    3
  806. John McDonnell is Labour's lost leader. He is insightful and has a fully formed and coherent worldview that he articulates consistently. Starmer must be replaced because he is the opposite of what Labour and the country needs. The poorest third of the population of eastern Europe is richer than their equivalents in the UK- anyone who thinks that will change under Starmer has not been paying attention.
    3
  807.  @PriHL  Say Hello Wave Goodbye. Soft Cell.
    3
  808. RealGone Kid by Deacon Blue is about the performance of Maria McKee at a concert Ricky Ross attended.
    3
  809. Correct. It is too late. Unlike 1945 when it was possible to turn the ship around in extremely difficult circumstances, Britain is facing an existential crisis that is too complex to resolve anytime soon. The calibre of the political class is woeful whereas there were politicians of heft in pre and post war period.
    3
  810.  @richardlawson6787  What is odd is that you don't know what you are on about. Stay ignorant.
    3
  811.  @zeddeka  He was not verbose. It was a right wing slur used against him. It is not hard to follow what he is saying in the slightest. I think he should have backed the miners and I do not agree at all with his views of Scargill but he was not verbose. The strike would have been won if Labour and the TUC had backed it. Just like 1926 the miners were betrayed by their own side.
    3
  812.  @MrGoneTroppo  Adds nothing to the discussion. The Sheffield Rally had nothing to do with Labour's defeat. Another Tory fiction.
    3
  813. The SNP leader comes across well in parliament as do the rest of its MPs. Serious, down to earth, in tune with real issues and focused on the needs of Scotland and the goal of independence. Unfortunately, the departure of Sturgeon has thrown the party into disarray and may well have set the cause of independence back by at least five years. The UK government blocking a referendum boxed the SNP into a corner, hence the understandable miscalculation of treating the next general election as a referendum on independence. Strange how quiet the deputy leader is. I thought she was a firebrand in the best possible political sense of the word.
    3
  814.  @PennyBloater  Well said. Many thousands of party members have left Labour due to disillusionment with Starmer. Vote Green.
    3
  815. He should still have to resign. Where is Labour on this? Forget Xmas, every day it should be calling for his resignation.
    3
  816.  @jamesbong4928  Correct.
    3
  817. Idiotic comment. You have missed the Peasants Revolt by several hundred years.
    3
  818.  @evokestudiosbrighton  It should be obvious- by definition, it will worsen in view of the fact that Labour under Starmer has no meaningful solutions to the existential and overlapping crises that Britain faces. It is bad now but will be even worse in five, ten years time with the same failed policies being followed. Work it out.
    3
  819. Sounds like you don't agree with him. Whataboutery.
    3
  820.  @senanur1983  The richest in society pay the top rate on anything over £50,000 which you should know full well. Yes, anyone earning over £70,00 is comfortably in the top five percent of earners, so by definition they must be rich. The rich are not going to struggle to put bread on the table and pay bills. Nothing wrong with being rich as long as they pay their fair share. Whinge all you like; Britain is in such a parlous state caused by the greed of the rich for decades that Labour, if it wins the GE, is going to have to tax wealth more- the good news is they will still be rich but hopefully accepting when they see it is helping just a little to reduce the grotesque inequality the rich have engineered since 1979.
    3
  821.  @VPhantom-rf3qo  Cite your sources.
    3
  822. Edwina Curry. Resigned December 16th 1988. British egg industry decimated. My dad picked me up from university for Xmas on that day- I remember it very well.
    3
  823.  @phil8528  Explain in what way she is on the left of the Labour Party. Go on, put your mind to it.
    3
  824. Grayling. Not difficult.
    3
  825. Tories and red Tory Labour one and the same. Blairite nirvana awaits under a Labour government. This is the worst government of all time in the UK by a long stretch but the prospect of inexperienced Labour ministers struggling to master their brief, fire fight and effectively run departments of state is frightening. The calibre of many Labour MPs is very poor and it is going to be very obvious very quickly.
    3
  826.  @DJB01  Green. I will vote Labour only if it ever returns to democratic socialism. I will not vote for a party pretending to be different to the Tories when it is plainly committed to the same ideology/ policies.
    3
  827.  @DJB01  Thank you. I am in England in a safe Labour seat with a soft left MP). I think the cause of the SNP is noble and hope it succeeds. I am very impressed by many of its MPs, including Pete Wishart ( any former member of Big Country and Runrig must have a lot going for them in my book), Stephen Flynn and more. They are serious, well briefed and effectively make the case for Scotland. I don't see the Greens making progress under FPTP but it is a vote for principle and they are on the right side of history. Parliament is the establishment and Labour has really only ever been about managing capitalism ( one aspect of how democratic socialism can be interpreted) since the first Labour government of 1924. The split between left and right then about what its purpose in government should be and also in 1931 under different circumstances is lost in history, especially so since the party was re-made since the Blairite ascendancy of the 1990s, which is in full swing once more under Starmer. Two main parties with little difference between them means democracy is a sham.
    3
  828.  @garyb455  Tory lies at the time, again. Anyone with reasonable intelligence can understand him. He was not longwinded at all and was an excellent orator, one of the best.
    3
  829.  @RichardEnglander  Vote Little Englander ( don't really).
    3
  830. The point about calibre is correct but it is commonplace for MPs to decide against standing in a GE. I suspect a comparison with previous elections would not necessarily show a huge difference in numbers. In any case, the numbers not standing does not say anything about the likelihood of a convincing Tory defeat as many are inferring.
    3
  831. Yawn. Why not spend the time scrutinising the fact Labour has similar policies to the Tories and promise to do no more than copy them, only a little bit better? Britain is in terminal decline, sleepwalking into further disasters than it has already inflicted on itself by continuing to endorse neoliberal governments.
    3
  832. Scargill did no such thing. The labour movement let the miners down. The strike was close to being won when the pit deputies were on the verge of going on strike in the autumn of 1984, regardless of stockpiling of coal. 'Scargill came crawling back' makes no sense. Scargill is a working class hero and history will judge him favourably. Everything he said proved true. The miners were fighting for jobs and community, which the Conservatives destroyed. Even Norman Tebbit has said they may have gone too far in not understanding or anticipating the consequences of their economic policies. The defeat of the miners was the most significant event in industrial relations of the twentieth century and has had far reaching consequences still being played out today. It was about destroying union power and the tragedy is that it succeeded.
    3
  833. Not true. He is zen like. Spiritual.
    3
  834.  @FunnyBunny-pd5xx  Ok, it is a well known device to make observations that most people will realise are so opposite to the reality of the issue being described and of the writer's actual view. In this case it was used to criticise Sunak through mockery. An example would be a programme like Have I Got News For You? where both team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton often make such statements which the other on the panel and audience realise are sarcastic or intended as satire. To be clear, I do not find anything funny or amusing about the awfulness of this government, the worst in UK history. But comments like this ( I will not be the first or the last) are often a reflection of dissatisfaction towards an issue. I appreciate that it is sometimes hard to infer what is meant by an online comment just as with email compared to a conversation in person and I hope this helps. All the best.
    3
  835.  @royboy565  All true but it does not change the fact that Labour was timid and failed to use its massive majorities to effect more radical and lasting change to reduce inequality and address the structural weaknesses of the British economy. Iraq was a moral abomination as an illegal war that destroyed trust in politics and destabilised the region, giving rise to Isis which started as al Qaeda in Iraq from the remnants of the regime. The truth is that the Blairites have hollowed out the Labour Party and it is now unelectable because there is no point in swapping the Conservative Party for a Tory lite one. The loss of thousands of members (100,000)since 2019 speaks volumes. Just because some good occurred under Blair it does not negate the wider picture that he was a disaster for the UK. Your analysis is too simplistic.
    3
  836. The total eradication of the left in Britain is the end game of the Starmer project. It is already well underway. There is no future for Britain with two parties committed to the same failed neoliberal policies that have served the rich only since 1979. That is where we are and the voters only have themselves to blame.
    3
  837. It should be adjusted to one rouble a letter and two potatoes a week to take account of inflation. Bots cannot post on an empty stomach.
    3
  838. The strike had already begun. A ballot in the context of the time was not necessary although in principle ballots should usually be held in advance. The strike was still legitimate.
    3
  839.  @DJWESG1 I said in my comment that I see no reason for national service. I am opposed to it.
    3
  840.  @dannyeleternity7390  Too far gone. Thatcher hollowed out communities and the sense of the collective that made people better to each other. There was no perfect past and in some ways things are better today but neoliberalism has changed the very nature of how people see themselves and interact with each other over a period of time. There are exceptions, of course, but footage from 15, 20, 25 or more years ago on You Tube or television does highlight the differences in the way people acted and came across. Some English speaking countries are very ' in your face' cultures, and have become louder and aggressive in ways unheard of within living memory. The internet and ( anti) social media has definitely had an impact on people's behaviour.
    3
  841. Tax the rich. They are obscenely wealthy and make money off the backs of the workers. They hoard money and live longer because they do not do all the work. tax their income and wealth to pay for it. Nothing wrong with being rich- we would all accept it but at the same time there has to be an understanding that if you have lots of money you do not need it will be taxed more for the common good. Thatcher and Reagan reversed the consensus on this in a project dedicated to protecting the rich- it has succeeded beyond anything they could have hoped for. Enough is enough.
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  842. In 1989 Jason Donovan warned that Nothing Can Divide Us.
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  843.  @daxiom6119  I would not describe my view as defeatist. I think it is an accurate assessment of the situation that the voters have put themselves in by failing to support even moderate social democracy. I do not subscribe to ' know my place', quite the opposite. I want to see a genuine change in Britain and firmly believe that democratic socialism has all the answers to the UK and the world's problems. However, experience and knowledge of UK political history in the twentieth and twenty first century tells me that the conditions for a different type of society do not exist in Britain, no matter how much I or others might hope for it. I am 52 so I have seen how the situation has worsened since the 1970s/ 80s, with widening inequality, etc. I am very much aware that fatalism can only play into the hands of the Tories and fellow neoliberals in the Labour Party ( and Liberal Democrats) but the voters have had their chance to force a change of direction but rejected it. In essence they want the same policies they complain about. Until they realise this by rejecting neoliberalism, nothing will change. The reaction to the Corbyn interlude ( forget him as an individual, it is about the policies), proves this.
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  844.  @jellslixcy6168  Vote red Tory get Tory- it is the same thing. Wake up.
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  845.  @freko106  Ludicrous analogy. Red Tories are the same.
    3
  846.  @jonathankennedy1715  A very narrow majority. Over a million of those who voted for it have now passed on and there are patently no gains from Brexit. It is the single largest act of national self harm since Suez., and its reversal both inevitable and necessary.
    3
  847.  @seniorwille3446  Ironic that you have used a word that you have spelled incorrectly to criticise Corbyn. Corbyn made his points very well in the face of hostile questioning most of the time too.
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  848. This is the culmination of over forty years of Thatcherism which Labour capitulated to under Kinnock. Acceptance of the Thatcherite settlement by Labour 1997 to 2010 gave rise to Brexit due to the abandonment of workers who took a wrong turn by aligning themselves with the Tories in 2019. Thousands of people left the Labour Party as they lost the faith until Corbyn gave them hope for once until the establishment and media did everything to deliver the Tories to power in 2017 and 2019. Austerity also gave rise to Brexit. Without Brexit an opportunist like Truss would not have been PM and could not have crashed the economy and forced mortgages up by an extra £5000 per year, the equivalent of 5p on income tax. Eye watering. The political class is the problem, including Starmer's Labour. Its blind faith in neoliberalism as an ideology has destroyed the UK economy and society with serious consequences still to come for decades. The Tory death cult is a symptom of neoliberalism's failures.
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  849. The idea of a cat playing with a race track is fantastic.Sounds like it made them happy!
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  850. Labour poll lead now 33%. I never thought it would happen in my lifetime but it looks like something seismic might be about to happen. I do not think Starmer is a good leader and I am on the left but the priority is to remove the Tories and then see what can be done to turn the sinking ship around. Yesterday the poll lead was 17% but that was from before the budget. Only twice has Labour achieved a landslide, in 1945 and 1997. The voters moved left in 1945 but 1997 switchers were mostly Conservatives. Only time will tell if we are about to witness the rejection of the failed Thatcherite experiment of the last 43 years.
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  851. You misunderstand centrism. Labour is a neoliberal party under Starmer committed to its continuation and implementation of Tory policy. The Labour Party capitulated to Thatcherism under Blair and has become even more right wing since, except for the Corbyn interregnum. The Overton Window shows the extent to which Britain has moved inexorably rightwards since 1979, aided and abetted by the SDP keeping the Tories in power for another fifteen years and Labour's abandonment of socialism. Centrism is a misnomer.
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  852. Is your television set faulty?
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  853. Swearing is banned, the Education Secretary would not approve.
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  854.  @edwardbrady5843  Commitment to the same policies as the Tories is not Tory lite, is it? It is the same thing. Blairbour has nothing to offer.
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  855. The music industry does not contribute much to the economy. It is a typical British delusion that the entertainment sector is a major contributor to the economy. The music industry has been in long term decline for at least two decades due to the collapse of CD sales and the old model of distribution. What is the figure for the tax revenue? No, I thought not.
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  856.  @alanhindle3149  Ok, but Britain is a boastful nation with little to boast about. A legacy of empire, which also goes a long way to explaining Brexit, its last gasp. Co-incidentally, my weekly shop was delivered today by a driver who is going on holiday to Canada soon and has been before. He was praiseworthy about the Canadian people being friendly and down to earth. I noted their healthy scepticism towards America, too. The nonsense spouted by the hard right government in power in the UK at the moment about trade deals outside the EU ( that go nowhere near equalling the value of trade lost) is also an attempt to re-create empire free trade,which failed in the early 1930s because the Dominions, such as Canada, were not foolish enough to trade with Britain in terms unfavourable to them. Then the brilliant Bryan Adams came along and all was right with Anglo Canadian relations again!
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  857. Trump is 78. You must be thinking about someone else.
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  858. 80 minus 2.
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  859.  @DannyTimms-j8q  The letter T in the screen name needs changing to a D. More apt and scans better.
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  860.  @Tmueller2366  Welcome to the new Finland.
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  861.  @numberstation  Same habit of repeating point two or three times and using interviewers name when irritated by question.
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  862. There can never be enough proper punctuation. No comma in experts.
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  863. It will not happen. Levels of political literacy in the UK are very low and it is too late to change. It is simply not in the culture to read about things to become more informed. Too many swallow lies and propaganda uncritically and allow the tabloids to tell them what to think. It is interesting to watch clips of QT from thirty years ago- audiences are more intelligent in their grasp of issues and articulate. Compare that to QT now and it is common for audience members to make comments or ask questions that are garbled and confused. Embarrassing. One of the distinguishing characteristics of so many Britons is how proud they seem to be of their wilful ignorance which they mistake for definitive knowledge of any given topic.
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  864. Cites.
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  865.  @richardrhodes5323  No one is disputing productivity is a problem. The Tory explanation for the reasons is the problem as it is false.
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  866.  @jennyd255  No, I am too thick to understand. Thanks for enlightening me but it still isn't funny.
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  867. MLK absolutely nailed it. One of the few true heroes for the ages.
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  868.  @annphillips1086  Tragic beyond words. His speeches and actions were amazing, including the speech the night before his death when he almost prophesised what would happen. It certainly has an eerie ring of prediction to it. So sad.
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  869. Assuming the Chancellor resigns this afternoon, Truss must also resign at the earliest opportunity. This is a self-inflicted crisis by a bunch of extremists with no mandate from MPs and the public. Truss has defined herself by what she is against and as an advocate of disruption. Detached from the real-world consequences of her government's actions, she has collided with reality and for the sake of the country must go. She has made history for all the wrong reasons, now there must be a general election. In office but not in power.
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  870. The Live Aid performance by Bowie is one of the greatest things on film I have ever seen. Every time the band are introduced ( with the backing singers misnamed as Tess Niles points out in her autobiography) it is so exciting to see them launch into the most sublime performance of 'Heroes'. Thomas Dolby's role as musical director for the brief rehearsals in the week before set the scene for an amazing set that has not dated one bit since that glorious July 13th day in 1985. I bought the DVD in 2004 and watch it periodically all this time later.
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  871. Profound comment. Thank you.
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  872. What about a def leppard? Can its hearing loss be cured?
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  873. Benefit fraud is minimal. There is £10 Billion pounds of unclaimed benefits that those who are entitled to them either do not bother to claim, are unaware they can or do not know their way around the system due to problems with literacy- there are millions of adults in Britain who are functionally illiterate. This is not their fault. I do not see features on the BBC or elsewhere devoted to how the rich are getting richer through one means or another as millions struggle to afford to live. But there is plenty of coverage of benefit fraud to distract from the real issues. Benefit fraud is wrong but it is not the most pressing issue by a million miles.
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  874. The comments here betray an ignorance of UK politics and the wider context of Thatcher and the philosophy of Thatcherism that she gave her name to. She adopted policies used in Chile by dictator Pinochet in the early 1970s that came to be known as neoliberalism- low taxes for the rich, deregulation of the economy, privatisation and outsourcing, smashing trade union rights and strident anti-communism. She destroyed the fabric of the UK economy and society and we are still living through the consequences today. Her fellow traveller Reagan also did great damage to America.
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  875. Not true- the City of London was clear it would support a Labour government under Corbyn. McDonnell and others did a lot of work to reassure finance and would not have embarked upon ideologically driven policies that were self evidently going to spook the markets before they were implemented. The fact you say this shows a lack of understanding. System is broken not broke.
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  876. ???
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  877. Torybour.
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  878.  @buzzukfiftythree  Red, White and Blue Brexit. Nonsense. Rejoin the EU as soon as possible.
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  879.  @upshankkumalu9301  No, it is a realistic assessment of how weak the unions are. Best not to get hopes up when low living standards are here to stay. I was a union rep. for 12 years in total in the 1990s and 2000s, and despite trying to help people it was overall a waste of time.
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  880. Said no-one ever.
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  881. Exactly. This has happened countless times to the point I see little point in watching all of an interview.
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  882. RMT backs Brexit. No-one challenges it on the single biggest act of national self-harm since Suez. Question the RMT on Brexit- interview coming soon in a parallel universe. Look forward to it.
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  883. Leaving to one side the idiocy of your comment how about you explain what you mean by that? Looking forward to a coherent explanation.
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  884.  @barryc1968  Your comments are not very intelligent Baz. You must try harder to write something coherent. When would be a good time for protest?
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  885. Tax the rich. There is plenty of money. The war machine is almost a bottomless pit when it comes to finding billions for war. Of course there is plenty of money for nationalisation. Rail nationalisation will pay for itself in about a decade.
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  886. Not once but twice the country had the chance to remove the Tories in 2017 and 2019. But no. Cannot complain. The public also swallowed the lie that austerity was needed even though it held back recovery and missed its own targets for debt and deficit. Austerity and Brexit are the twin horsemen of the apocalypse we are living through.
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  887.  @Crashawsome  I think you have misunderstood. It is a statistic produced by economists and does not refer to specific jobs in a list by occupation. It is an aggregate. Why don't you look it up in order to verify it instead of asking me? Rest assured though it is fact. French productivity is higher and it is surprising you are unaware.
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  888.  @leighparr7961  Explain. Good luck.
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  889.  @andrewnock7622  You do the job. If it was so easy over 44, 000 of working age would not have left in each of the last two years. Teach four or five lessons a day properly ensuring everyone can learn and see how well you can do it.
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  890.  @BillDavies-ej6ye  Looks like you will have a long wait for a coherent answer from Erik Larsson.
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  891. Rubbish. He is excellent. Which party in Greece do you support? Don't be shy in explaining where you are on the political spectrum.
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  892.  @adrianred236  Well said. Neoliberalism underpins everything though- low wages are part of the deal, which is why Thatcher smashed the unions. Instructive to remember that neoliberalism was first applied in Chile under Pinochet in the 1970s before it was then adapted for 'democracies' in the UK and US. Weakening union rights is a key tenet of the neoliberal project and it has worked like a dream for the extremists who have inflicted it on workers.
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  893.  @jmshrrsn  Well said. Joined up thinking is sorely lacking in Britain. Mick Lynch's analysis is correct except he misses out the effects of Brexit because the RMT supports it. Denial of reality is a problem on both left and right of the political spectrum, at least where Brexit is concerned.
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  894.  @matthale5526  Precisely.
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  895.  @taras6806  Ok, fair enough. You are absolutely right to give kudos to her.
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  896. Power to the establishment more like. The workers have been broken by forty four brutal years of Thatcherism.
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  897. True. It is also due to lack of training and investment. Foreign companies that invest in Britain have higher productivity.
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  898.  @Nawitisnae  Yes, they are incompetent as government but the interview was appalling. I could put someone under pressure in such a setting if I wanted to but just because I could does not mean I would because it is wrong and coarsens the culture we live in.
    3
  899.  @karenlp5867  Precisely. PR is also desperately needed.
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  900. 90 million failed to vote. Well done.
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  901. Excellent satire. Go to the front of the class. A future in comedy is assured if you want it.
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  902.  @s0ycapitan  Your expectations must be on the floor if you really think that.
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  903. The centre can never be clearly defined. The perceived centre in Britain is not the same as in Sweden, for instance. The so called centre in Britain essentially means adopting the same policies as the Tories- capitalist realism as the late Mark Fisher described it. There is no alternative as Margaret Thatcher said in the early eighties. The perceived centre shifts- Britain has an extreme right wing government compared even to other right wing parties elsewhere. The Overton Window is the idea coined in the 1990s that what is politically acceptable can be altered-the ideas, prejudices and atttitudes of the Conservatives in the last forty years were on the fringes in the years after the war but have been brought into the mainstream with the help of the right wing echo chamber in the media. There is no doubt that the Right has won but the destruction left in its wake is immeasurable. Nearly half a century of neoliberalism has left its mark.
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  904.  @laurieharper1526  Thanks for stating the obvious. It is about content. Agreed. There is no suggestion of a template that everyone should conform to- makes no sense. I don't think Ian Lavery is a persuasive speaker either although the content of what he says I would agree with. I disagree with the right of the Labour Party on most things but some of them are good communicators.
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  905. It is idiotic. Stunts like this have achieved precisely nothing and will continue to fail. Do you really think the French would tolerate this? Think about it. A nanosecond will do.
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  906. Trump is not capable of anything approaching articulacy or even the appearance of it.
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  907. To replace the Tories with the red Tories. It won't change anything.
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  908. The unions are not immune from criticism and I have said government is to blame first and foremost. Many unions in Britain are ineffective and have failed to effectively press the case for workers for decades, not just the past 12 years. Living standards in France and Germany are much higher for average earners, where the unions are stronger and accepted as part of the social contract ( look it up). The economic model runs differently by choice and unions are taken seriously, unlike in the UK. Pay has been falling for workers in Britain since 2008 and if it was not for the surge in inflation, it is likely that many unions would have acquiesced with below inflation pay deals for their members. There is a lot of hot air from the unions but the test will be whether they deliver anything meaningful. I doubt it.
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  909.  @steveparker8065 Absolutely. It is always refreshing when constructive, informed discussion occurs! All the more so for its rarity in the age of what should be called anti social media.
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  910.  @steveparker8065  The manifesto in 2017 and 2019 contained lots of sound policies. Any candidate that disagreed with them should not have stood or been deselected. The undermining of Corbyn by many in the PLP was reprehensible and he received the worst treatment of any leader since the formation of the Labour Party in 1900/ 01. I well remember the shocking treatment of Foot, Kinnock and Miliband but it was even worse for Corbyn.
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  911.  @steveparker8065  I saw him at Manchester Cathedral in 2015 at a CWU event. It was just after he had first been elected. He received a rock star welcome from the 1000 people inside and there were 8000 outside ( it transpired later via Sky News) who could not get in. Me and my wife were amongst the last 150 to be let in and had arrived an hour and a half before the start, so we were lucky not to be turned away. It was an incredible moment of hope for once. He is not the greatest speaker but gave a good speech. Dave Ward and his deputy spoke as did Owen Jones and Mark McGowan aka Artist Taxi Driver. His speech was the best of the lot as he mixed humour with a heartfelt condemnation of austerity. I think he has been a real force for good in challenging the Tories via his You Tube channel.
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  912. Last time I checked land is fixed. Hopefully Santa will bring you a map for Xmas.
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  913. What difference does it make? None. This is a Conservative voting country ( most of the last 120 years) wedded to neoliberal economics that fails the majority who still vote for it. No-one stops to ask why other capitalist countries manage to have a greater role for the state, wealthy businesses, rich individuals and higher wages without the grotesque levels of inequality exemplified by the proliferation of food banks in the last decade. Even when Johnson has left office the circus will continue with both parties committed to policies that continue to serve the rich at the expense of the majority.
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  914. Exactly. I am not voting Labour to enable the same policies to be enacted. It is a wasted vote but I will vote Green.
    3
  915. Why are there reports on this channel about how badly the war is going for Russia when it is clear Ukraine is nowhere near victory and its summer offensive of 2023 failed?
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  916. Nonsense.
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  917. Partition should never have happened. It was the fault of the LLoyd George government in bouncing the republicans into the Anglo Irish Treaty in December 1921 ( ratified March 1922) under threat of resumption of the war of attrition if they did not agree. Violence occurred on both sides and is always wrong, of course. But the minimum the Conservatives would accept was partition creating NI rather than allow independence from the empire for the island of Ireland.
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  918.  @hschsc1300  Well done. That puts it exactly in context which proves that everything the Blairites say about the supposed failure in 2017 and 2018 is arrant nonsense.
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  919.  @guitarlight3935 There is no proof.
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  920.  @guitarlight3935  Funny and offensive at the same time. I thought religion said not to judge others. First god's portal and now a cell in hell you say- quite a turn of phrase. I have not heard of cells in hell before but seeing as hell does not exist it is a minor detail of no importance.
    3
  921.  @guitarlight3935 No proof. Repeat 100 times a day to help cure your delusion.
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  922.  @ukmaxi  No, Labour lost due to the idiocy of the electorate who voted against their own self interest. Major won also by virtue of not being Thatcher- he was able to portray himself as having detoxified the Tory brand after the Thatcher years. You do not back up your assertion about Labour. Tory cruelty was on display throughout the eighties but a lot of voters just don't care. They were given a clear choice in 1992 about the type of society they wanted- they chose more Thatcherism and Blair capitulated to it completely in 1997. The rest of the sorry mess is history.
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  923. Either Braverman or Truss is likely to be the next leader of the Conservative Party. Or Badenoch.
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  924. Disaster on so many levels. Not the main issue but why on earth is Truss wearing trainers in her interview with Beth Rigby on Sky? The Prime Minister of a country ( for now) at their own party conference. I know standards are poor in Britain but it is another example of arrogance and how out of touch she is. It's like going to an interview in flip flops, you get the picture.
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  925. Not properly challenged on it either, surprise surprise. Brexit not mentioned in the interview either-also entirely predictable.
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  926.  @wboyle9721  Delta was more transmissible and resulted in more hospitalisation and deaths than Alpha and Kent variants. It is reported today in the UK media that hospitals are expecting the death toll from Omicron to be higher than the peak in January 2021. This does not support the hypothesis without evidence that previous variants were more deadly and the wishful thinking of those who regard Omicron as like a cold and nothing much to be concerned about. It is a serious concern as was clearly stated by a virologist from University of Leeds interviewed on the BBC today. He said Omicron is out of control due to the failure to put in place measures to control its spread. No room for delusional complacency.
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  927. Unclear. Stick to football please Gazza.
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  928.  @raquetdude  The Fabian Society is not on the left in the same way as the Campaign group of Socialist MPs.
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  929. What is that going to look like out of interest? Please outline your vision.
    3
  930.  @DJFAmenHeavy  You do not have any credible suggestions but thanks for confirming this.
    3
  931.  @DJFAmenHeavy  Very silly. I am a socialist but regardless, it should be possible to give at least some indication of your alternative if you assert that the current system is broken. It is a discussion thread; others might be interested in your thoughts.
    3
  932.  @tombartram7384  Let's stop following football would be even better. The obsession with it for the last twenty years is mindless and perfect bread and circuses as far as power is concerned. If the energy wasted on football was put into understanding politics and power structures as well as workers showing solidarity with each other society would be transformed.
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  933. Eating biscuits while waiting for the kettle to boil works wonders for me.
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  934. Freedom for Dagenham. Big up East London!
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  935. Not a cost of living crisis, for sure. Only partially a cost of greed crisis. The elephant in the room that the political class and voters refuse to recognise is that this is an income inequality crisis. Income inequality is rife in the sixth richest country on earth and the most unequal in Europe after Bulgaria. The average family in France and Germany is 10 and 20% better off, respectively. Income inequality is key to the neoliberal project ( also embraced by Labour since Blair) in order to transfer wealth from the majority to the rich one per cent. Without solving income inequality, nothing will improve for the majority.
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  936. Steve Richards referred to the misplaced confidence of Truss and Kwarteng more than once on last night's Sky newspaper review. Their arrogance is staggering and they will go down in history for their actions. The parallels are not precise but this is on a par with the expulsion of the pound from the ERM in September 1992 which ironically resulted in a stronger economy. The loss of economic credibility and sleaze allegations led to Labour's 1997 victory. Truss should never have got anywhere near being Prime Minister and is manifestly unfit to hold any elected office, even local councillor, let alone the highest office of state. The markets have spoken and there is no way out of the crisis- reversing course is not in the ideological DNA of the Tory domesday cult and deep cuts to welfare and the public sector will not be accepted by the public despite shrinking the state being the key objective of the Brexit. They are on their way out sooner or later but the question is how much lasting damage will they inflict on the country before they are ejected? I wonder if Truss still thinks she is a wizard at Maths!
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  937. You are either being disingenuous or just do not know what you are talking about. The peak year for disposable incomes in Britain was 1976 but fifty years of Tory propaganda has created and nurtured the myth that the seventies were the worst of times in Britain. Strong unions mean better wages as is the case in many other countries. The cuckoo in the nest in Britain since 1979 is neoliberalism, a project so successful it has dismantled the unions, lowered taxes for the rich significantly, deregulated the economy, privatised natural monopolies for profit and transferred wealth from the workers to the rich on an hitherto unimaginable scale. It has achieved these objectives beyond its wildest dreams. It may be true that Britain will not embrace democratic socialism because the public are too susceptible to lies and demonising of anything that might involve abandoning neoliberalism. But unless it is rejected and reversed by the ruling class and public alike, the same failed policies will result in the same bad outcomes for the majority. Public squalor and private affluence for the few. Owen Jones and a few others have correctly called out the Starmer project, and will be proved right if Labour forms a government. His iteration of the party has no meaningful answers to the crisis facing Britain.
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  938.  @HaiderShami12  ??
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  939. Starmer out, new leader of the left in to really stand up for what the Labour Party was formed for; to make life better for working people. That is ninety nine percent of everyone.
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  940.  @julianshepherd2038  Starmer is not Kinnock, he is heir to Blair. Pay attention.
    3
  941.  @Pobotrol  If you are naive enough to be convinced, that it up to you. Starmer has broken pledges so there is no reason to believe Labour will stick to its word. Zero hours contracts suit some people- as long as they are not enforced, there may be a place for them in limited instances.
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  942.  @brynleytalbot778  Perhaps. UK productivity has been poor for forty years and policy makers have failed to address it. One of the key reasons unemployment has been relatively low in the UK ( although at least 1 million throughout the interwar years was far more controversial then) recently is that it takes two or three people to do the same work as one in France, even with the 35 hour week ( subject to some exemptions). The French approach is to work quite intensely on the task in hand without dead time and they find time for a two hour lunch. There are many reasons for low UK productivity, including lack of investment in training and skills. The education system is patently not fit for purpose, with huge numbers leaving at 16 without 5 good passes at GCSE, including Maths and English. Poor literacy and numeracy should be a national scandal but the education sector is very good at brushing its failures under the carpet and singing its own praises- no-one should arrive to secondary school unable to read and write to the expected standard unless they have special needs, which is obviously where more support is needed to help them catch up with their peers. There are major problems in education with recruitment and retention, disaffection by increasing numbers of students and a curriculum that does not accommodate the needs of the individual. I dread to think how this is going to feed into productivity in the next 15 years- it is going to be grim because the workforce is going to lack the necessary aptitude and work ethic needed to compete with other countries where attitudes to education are much better. Neither Labour or the Tories have had a proper industrial strategy for the last forty years, and Britain has floundered for a long time relative to many other nations. If the 1970s and 1980s was about the slow decline of the UK despite surface appearances to the contrary for some of the time, the economic model is in danger of imploding in the next two decades. The Germans got it right with the split between vocational and academic, whereas Britain blew the historic opportunity to chart the right course under the Butler Act 1944- the grammar schools were and are divisive, and the technical schools in the middle between grammars and secondary moderns were few and far between, and almost an afterthought.
    3
  943.  @jonnutter  Nonsense. Student activist politics? The manifesto in 2017 and 2018 contained moderate social democratic policies that would not be out of place in Tory administrations in the forty years after the second world war. This shows how extreme the Tories have become. 'The Late 70s', why the capitalisation? It was not a television programme. Labour did not swing to the left under Miliband. It moved slightly to the left, away from the right wing party under Brown and Blair. Either you exaggerate for effect or your understanding of politics is somewhat limited.
    2
  944.  @gregorypalamas4998  There are more holes in a Swiss cheese than some of the arguments that pass for debate on QT. The programme is a joke.
    2
  945. There is no hard left in Britain. Corbyn offered no more than moderate social democracy or democratic socialism. Labour policies under him were to the right of the 1945 manifesto. Labour under Starmer is committed to Tory policy and has no meaningful answers to the major crises facing the UK. Labour has been stripped of its soul and founding principles and turned into a neoliberal party indistinguishable from the Tories.
    2
  946. Precisely.
    2
  947.  @TheLockSmith1800  Just read a report which states that it is not officially confirmed that he was a dual national but it makes no difference- the police actions were wrong. That is why an officer is being investigated.The issue is the violence and racism facing many people in France. All racism is wrong be it the state or individuals. I am not wrong but your attitude is objectionable. It's you're in denial not your. Hope not hate.
    2
  948.  @lisah9561  Disgraceful shameful comment. Hope not hate.
    2
  949. Jon Snow should have been kept on. He did not plan to retire as I understand it. If so, why was he replaced. By far the best presenter of the programme by a country mile, empathetic and engaged in stories. He had the best and most moving interactions with the public I have seen of any journalist on television, notably though not exclusively when he reported from Grenfell Tower for several days in the aftermath of the disaster. Channel 4 has other excellent journalists like Krishnan Guru Murthy and Alex Thomson but Jon Snow is the best in the last forty years.
    2
  950. The Irony Lady as I think she was referred to on the Sky newspaper review last night. It is unpatriotic to even contemplate any criticism of the leadership of brave Brexit Britain ( copyright Artist Taxi Driver). Anyone who thinks the government is leading Britain off a cliff into the abyss ( artist taxi driver again) is deluded. Anyone who thinks Britannia Unchained ( some of whose authors are in the first rate cabinet, one of the most competent in British political history) is unhinged should take a long hard look in the mirror and realise the error of their ways.
    2
  951. One off payments being mooted for health and education. Don't be surprised if the unions cave in to this bribe showing they are obviously not serious about proper pay. They have led members up the hill to strike action having failed to negotiate decent pay for well over a decade and now look set to back down at the first opportunity. It is not compromise to accept paltry pay deals- it is weakness and failure. The NEU wants members to vote for strike action which would result in a pay deal close to what the pay review body has recommended and government accepted in full. The sticking point is government will not fund it all, meaning schools would have to make redundancies to pay for it. That is for the union to tackle in talks with government and not justification for strike action that will result in little to no gain. The teaching unions have stood by for over a decade while pay has decreased by 24%. Cart before the horse, too little, too late.
    2
  952. It di not. It was a media invention and was mainly made up of rehashed, derivative sixties music. A lot of blinking for some reason too.
    2
  953.  @michaelsavage5346  Aha? What have they got to do with it?
    2
  954. My wife lost her grandmother who brought her up from aged 8 to dementia in June 2020 and did not get to say goodbye due to Covid and her being in France in a care home which notified her too late that palliative care had started. Less than three weeks later my dad died out of the blue in a tragic accident. He had only gone out for the day because he could after the lifting of restrictions. Just the most horrific of situations none of us could have imagined only a few years ago. Please accept my sincere condolences.
    2
  955.  @adambrickley1119  Very true.
    2
  956.  @keithhobbs1  I have been having my ears syringed since I was 18 and I am now 53. Once every year to eighteen months on average. It is a pain but I am used to it. Where I live now I have been referred by the GP to a local NHS clinic over the last twenty years and more recently to a seven day a week GP service that does it. I am also booked into the system to have it done by micro suction ( the safest method) at the local hospital. I requested referral for this knowing that micro suction is safer in terms of minimising the risk of perforation ( still not likely using the traditional water method), given the frequency with which I have to have them done. I recently put back my appointment at the hospital because they were really blocked and needed to be done asap at the seven day a week place but still have an appointment I can go to in the autumn at the hospital when they will probably need doing again near the end of the year. Admittedly, this would be twice in one year but the norm is less than that. I would ask to be referred for micro suction or at the least ask what the guidelines are- it should be free on the NHS.
    2
  957.  @danw5760  Litany of studies but you cannot even provide the name of any of them. Ludicrous.
    2
  958.  @davidhooper1767  Well spotted. I expected a comment like that. The point is that both Tory and Labour are committed to the same policies overall, legislation often depends on Labour votes in Parliament for it to go through, and neither party has the answers to Britain's problems. You have probably also spotted that some people are talking about Labour as an incoming government at the next GE.
    2
  959.  @davidcanning-co1su  Who is Ian Blacklaw?
    2
  960. Tool makers of the world unite. Every worker has been sold down the river by the neoliberal gang who have served the interests of their rich paymasters by transferring the money upwards to the few. No so called ' Sir' should be the leader of the Labour Party. A joke at the expense of ordinary people.
    2
  961.  @Cornodebassetto  Labour had committed to it in advance of the election.
    2
  962. @Tab Ford Nearly a decade ago. This does not negate the argument for and inevitability of another one. If independence is so unpopular, unionists can be relaxed about the result as a foregone conclusion unless they fear the outcome. Independence is bound to happen- try to engage with that reality.
    2
  963. Meaning what?
    2
  964. It is not clear cut. Two out of eight complaints upheld. Bullying is rife in the UK and will continue unchecked. Colleagues do not support victims who are left to suffer the trauma alone and unions are mostly useless and spineless. The idea of people vomiting before going into meetings does seem to stretch credulity though. I abhor Tory policy but don't tell me Labour ministers have all been perfect when they were in power.
    2
  965. When I think about money I get anxiety. When I think about the universe I don't understand. Not thick but a relatively simple soul, that's me.
    2
  966. Putin 'ok Google, take me to Saudi Arabia/ China/ North Korea. Delete as applicable. It's nice this time of year in Seoul but I might have to head north.
    2
  967. It still is. No to racism and yes to multiculturalism. No need for capital letters.
    2
  968. I have heard this on a number of occasions. His death was very sad.
    2
  969. I hope the beef bourguignon went down well! Just remembered your comment from last week. Vive la France!
    2
  970. How long would you suggest for the typical investigation and what is your expertise in these matters?
    2
  971. They will not. The arithmetic is against Labour forming a government on its own and even a minority government would depend on co-ordinated tactical voting by all of the opposition acting together. No sign of an informal or formal pact on the part of Labour and no commitment to electoral reform, which is the only way to stop the Tories from governing with large majorities with only 30 to 40 percent of the vote. England is mostly Tory except the urban areas, including London and this is enough to deliver the never ending horror of Tory rule to the millions who do not want them, including the victims of their disgusting policies. The only time they have been hammered in an election was 1945 after six years of war and 1997 after 18 years in power. This does not count really as Blair accepted the Thatcherite settlement, which is part of why we are in such a mess like never before twenty five years later.
    2
  972. Sorry for your loss.
    2
  973. I am voting Green. I cannot vote for Labour under Starmer.
    2
  974. EU migration down due to the calamity of Brexit. We needed foreign labour; we need foreign labour, and we will continue to need more foreign labour in future- immigrants have always made a net contribution to the economy. What's not to like? Food being buried in fields due to lack of workers and massive shortages in the NHS to name but two sectors in serious trouble and now Braverman putting a trade deal with India at risk. No wonder the Indian government is considering ditching it. I hope it does because we are already losing £90 billion trade per annum due to leaving the EU. It won't make much difference to the economy, and I fail to see why India should be insulted by Britain. Goodness knows empire was bad enough and now this. There are no words to adequately describe how egregious this government is.
    2
  975.  @simonkapadia7582  Patronising response. I do know plenty about the 'new' Labour period. You write poorly and are nowhere near as clever as you think you are. Corbyn lives rent free in the heads of the right, as always. Surprising that they are not more confident in the ideological purity of neoliberalism.
    2
  976. Angela Rayner.
    2
  977. A lot of people are leaving Britain. Nurses who do not want to work for poor pay in poor conditions are being charged thousands to extricate themselves from contracts. Disgraceful but not surprising. Anyone with any sense should get out of Britain to live and work elsewhere as it descends into Singapore on Sea as the Brexit extremists try to complete the Thatcher revolution. Never mind that the 1980s is irrelevant to 2022.
    2
  978.  @SUSSYMEMES  Over 100,000 NHS vacancies, 50,000 shortage of nurses. Agricultural shortages, food being buried in fields because EU workers left and will not return. Yes, more immigration needed. It is higher now than it was a couple of years ago but not enough to fill shortages. Do the maths.
    2
  979.  @jeremymanson1781 Accurate comment. It is wrongly perceived by many, not just its opponents on the right, as being a left wing publication. It included a large number of articles opposing Corbyn 2015-2019 even though none of Labour's policies in 2017 and 2019 were a threat to capitalism, the party offering nothing more than moderate social democracy positioned to the right of the 1945 manifesto. The Guardian may support some measures to ameliorate the excesses of capitalism but little more. Capitalist realism as the late Mark Fisher said, i.e there is no alternative.
    2
  980. How Bizarrre by OMC was a huge hit in Britain in 1997. Sadly the singer died in a car crash some time later.
    2
  981. Only one problem- there is no god. Never mind.
    2
  982.  @jackdeniston59  Cars are parked on car parks in France. I spent six weeks there in the summer and every one was in use.
    2
  983.  @juliemissick4206  I am reading a book that mentions that Eisenhower was not especially ideological and was invited by the Republicans to stand for them so he did.
    2
  984.  @vincentramirez6967  Not in MAGA world. They are still trying to figure out the abacus.
    2
  985.  @patricayoung6711  Lloyd Cole is not heard of much these days. He was big in the eighties with his Commotions.
    2
  986. Laughable suggestion. Not going to happen. Your humour is appreciated.
    2
  987. Democracy for Sale- Peter Geoghan. Shocking expose of how corporate interests have captured the government and the Conservative Party via the Institute of Economic Affairs. It will explain a lot and offer little hope ( I am half way through it, perhaps the second half is undimmed optimism). The window for change was Corbyn but that moment has passed due to lies of the media and Conservative Party in the 2019 election. The Electoral Commission is weak and the penalties for breaking electoral law no deterrent. George Monbiot is right and sincere but unfortunately he is preaching to the converted and those who need to be converted are not listening because they are persuaded by digital lies to vote against their own self interest. The digital wild west of the internet means that Cambridge Analytica was only the start of what is to come unless urgent corrective action is taken. But it is unlikely. Sacha Baron Cohen's speech to the Anti Defamation League about the need for the power of social media companies to be brought under control is a powerful call to action-recommended.
    2
  988.  @Altair885  Homeless people and children were amongst those issued fines for breaching the Covid regulations. There has to be accountability.
    2
  989. With little to no solidarity amongst workers, that is the reality in Britain. The public have voted for this under FPTP, falling for the lies that unions are a bad thing. Clearly they are happy with dire pay and conditions compared to countries where unions are strong and pay is higher. Such an obvious and verifiable correlation yet the average worker/ voter in the UK has their head in the sand all the time and prefers to be poorer than the rich they idolise.
    2
  990.  @mrpaulhutchison249  Gang's?
    2
  991.  @johnmackenzie6181  If the debate constitutes accepting Tory measures, it is not a debate, is it? It is a consensus. I suggest you read a couple of the articles in The Guardian in the last couple of days that make it clear no cuts are necessary. Permanent austerity is not necessary. Simple.
    2
  992.  @johnmackenzie6181  They have said nothing to oppose them. It was put to Pat McFadden Labour MP on the Politics Live programme today that Labour is accepting the measures and he did not disagree.
    2
  993.  @markwelch3564  It might not sound like it but what has Labour said to oppose it? What measures has it rejected? None.
    2
  994.  @johnmackenzie6181  Which measures is Labour rejecting? None.
    2
  995.  @johnmackenzie6181  Don't be so rude. If you are not sure what rejected means, look it up. It was put to the Labour spokesperson on the BBC Politics Live programme today that Labour will be accepting the measures in the budget. He pointedly did not deny it. There is a difference between commenting on the measures and actively opposing them. Obviously. Look it up on the BBC to see the exchange for yourself.
    2
  996.  @scepticalsaint Standards of literacy in secondary school are definitely in decline in the last ten years. There are many reasons for this. Poor behaviour and disengagement has been a growing issue for about 15 years despite the nonsense that it is solely due to Covid. Education in most countries around the world has probably returned largely to normal in the last eighteen months but in the UK Covid is being used as an excuse to explain away issues that schools are incapable of dealing with. While I disagree with many of the methods of the Michaela School, its results are remarkable. The extremely muted response of the educational establishment to its achievements speaks volumes. If its results had been disappointing there would have been wall-to-wall coverage and plenty of gloating. Students spend 80% of their time outside school, hence the impact it has on attainment is limited by definition. Income inequality is the key determinant of outcomes but this incontrovertible truth is not even part of the discussion. No wonder, given that Labour and the Conservatives are wedded to the neoliberalism that explains this.
    2
  997.  @scepticalsaint  Fair enough. Enjoy your weekend and the best of luck in work. I lasted nearly thirty years until recently but threw the towel in for a number of reasons. Wild horses would not drag me back- I would sooner be poorer than continue working myself into the ground for the sake of money in the bank. At the age of 18 I was content with a good cup of coffee, a bite to eat and all the music I could listen to, and my outlook has not changed. Work is a means to an end and I firmly believe that under the soul destroying conditions of service since academisation, that most teachers would quit if they could with immediate effect. According to government figures 44,000 of working age have left teaching for other jobs in the last year. I have spent the last 18 months catching up with the house and watching television without a shred of regret after nearly three decades of working between 60 and 80 hours per week. Never again. Apologies for any repetition in my posts- I tried to avoid it but was not entirely successful!
    2
  998. Wreak not wreck.
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  999. Thatcherism is an outdated dogma that ruined Britain in the eighties and in the years since, gave birth to New Labour which accepted the Thatcherite settlement and has no answers to the problems of the twenty first century. Whether this becomes obvious to its adherents sooner rather than later remains to be seen but one day it will be a truism.
    2
  1000. It is obvious that ridicule is the tactic of the right to discredit Just Stop Oil. It would be surprising if they have not been infiltrated at some point and on some level as all organisations the state objects to are likely to be. Throwing a jigsaw is ridiculous and plays into the hands of their opponents. Britons have not got a clue when it comes to protest.
    2
  1001. The More You Live The More You love is the best Flock of Seagulls track in my view.
    2
  1002.  @andrewoliver8930  There is merit in the argument.
    2
  1003. Nonsense. Justify it if you can ( spoiler alert- you cannot).
    2
  1004. Sence?
    2
  1005. Does the NS ever criticise the Starmer project? Asking for a friend.
    2
  1006.  @valeriethompson3584  Precisely.
    2
  1007. Thatcher destroyed Britain and we are still living in Thatcher's Britain today. Wealth has been transferred from the workers to the rich in the most unequal country in Europe apart from Bulgaria. The overwhelming majority have not benefitted from Tory government no matter how deluded millions are in this belief or the amount of propaganda they swallow. A special kind of stupid to keep on voting against their own self interest.
    2
  1008. No such place.
    2
  1009. Tubthumping is an amazing song. Their disruption of the Brits in 2997 when they poured water over John Prescott was something else. Not saying I approve but it was a shock on a par with Eric Cantona's kung foo kick of a fan at the match against Crystal Palace in 1995.
    2
  1010. Well said. There are myriad other issues too that are not discussed. Education is in a serious mess that the educational establishment will not address. Standards are poor with high levels of illiteracy and innumeracy. Indiscipline in schools has been a problem for well over a decade- an OFSTED report of 214 said that in some schools up to a day a week is lost in learning due to so called low level disruption ( a misnomer that shows how poor behaviour has been normalised for so long as most poor behaviour stops lessons in one form or another). It will be far worse now. Many teachers lack either the will or skill to control a class, and often receive no support which compounds the issues. Persistent absence is very high and I guarantee nothing will be done to stop it. A parliamentary select committee has launched an enquiry but it will lead nowhere. The recruitment and retention crisis is worsening year on year. In a few short years the workforce will simply not be fit for purpose because of what is happening in schools now- watch this space. Neither the Conservatives or Labour have an industrial strategy and chronic underinvestment in industry will ensure anaemic performance. Poor productivity has plagued the UK economy since 1980 and there is no indication that anything is being done to address it. The poor attitudes of many students to learning and authority will feed into this. Ali Miraj nailed it in his comments about schools on The Jeremy Vine Programme two days ago. He is on the right but talks a lot of sense on some issues.
    2
  1011.  @grahamjordan1040  Not true. State your evidence.
    2
  1012. Most other democracies have realised that strong unions result in more equal societies and better wages. Why has it taken 42 years to even start discussing this in Britain? No wonder political literacy is so weak ( academic research) here compared to other countries. The public, most of the unions and the ruling class are clueless. The latter has deliberately transferred wealth upwards. His analysis is right but the unions are going to cave in by accepting very poor, below inflation pay deals. Most of them are hot air. RMT also supports Brexit, the primary cause of the disastrous state of the UK economy, yet no-one questions the fact it is, in part, fighting against the consequences of the Brexit it supports. The Lexit argument is just as dogmatic and misguided as the hard right delusions and lies about the benefits of leaving the EU.
    2
  1013. Neoliberalism is the problem. The main parties, except the SNP, are signed up to the most destructive project of the last hundred years. It emerged after World War Two and found its expression in the election of Thatcher in 1979 and Reagan in 1980. Its poison has spread around the world ever since and wreaked havoc. Every problem is rooted in neoliberalism. Poor mental health is worse where income inequality is highest- this is a design feature of neoliberalism, not a bug. Britain is the most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria.
    2
  1014. Ormskirk is not just outside Liverpool.
    2
  1015. Absolutely not. There must be a GE. The Tories need to be removed from power before they can do any more lasting damage to the UK. Sunak is more personable, professional and experienced as a politician but he was committed to the same policies as Truss but at a slower pace. As a recent article in The Guardian put it, the narcissism of small differences. It is the Tory ideology that is the problem- small state, low taxes for the rich, privatisation of public services, reducing workers' rights and the calamity of Brexit (£90B lost each year so far). Any form of National Government is not the answer either as this would ultimately play into the hands of the neoliberal status quo that is the root of the problem. Only its repudiation in the next few years will provide a road map out of the UK's woeful economic performance. We could do worse than copy Germany and numerous other European nations.
    2
  1016.  @darkwoods1954  Do you have the statistics to back up your argument? The fact you grew up in the countryside is irrelevant. The use of the word rats is telling. It speaks volumes about your view of others.
    2
  1017. Russia is winning. How come it has not been defeated if the war is going so badly for it? When Putin has taken over Moldova or is menacing another neighbouring state will the penny finally drop that he has won the war against Ukraine. Must the delusion continue until then?
    2
  1018.  @k.j.hulander2204  Britain is not Sweden. No comparison.
    2
  1019.  @sellingacoerwa8318  It's margarine.
    2
  1020.  @carmenl163  I taught for nearly thirty years in the UK. I did not witness bullying by teachers.
    2
  1021.  @graceomalley4  I believe any incidents of bullying are very rare and there are procedures for reporting concerns. Schools are risk averse and will want to be seen to address any such issues. Any notion that it is widespread is false although it does not surprise me in the slightest that there will be many who perceive that they have been bullied even when teachers are simply doing their job in a professional manner in line with school policy. There is a very strong anti learning culture in the UK and a lack of respect for education and teachers. No wonder so many are leaving when it is not worth trying to educate people who treat the staff with contempt. It is a generational problem now that is too late to solve. The quality of education will suffer for years to come as a consequence.
    2
  1022. The only party with the policies needed that address the crisis of capitalism caused by neoliberalism, fully supported by Labour. The Labour right should be in the Tory party.
    2
  1023. You are wasting your time in a smaller party because the genuine left is so fractured. TUSC got nowhere about ten years ago. Therein lies the problem- the eradication of the left in Britain has been a roaring success due to the abandonment of any socialist policies by Labour over a number of years, except for the Corbyn interregnum.
    2
  1024. No hope at all with a Starmer Labour Party. There should be a leadership challenge as soon as possible the other side of a Labour government forming if wins the GE.
    2
  1025. Poland. Full stop. I hope this helps.
    2
  1026. Wrong.
    2
  1027.  @angelachanelhuang1651  Stella and Staropramen actually.
    2
  1028.  @notmenotme614  Freezing. Don't give up the day job. Comedy is not your best skill.
    2
  1029. Yes, it is a failed policy but forty five years after Thatcher started, thirty years since Blair began the process of Labour accepting her settlement, repeated election defeats under FPTP due to the myopic electorate voting against its own interests time and again, economic growth and wages flatlining since 2008, economically illiterate austerity ( a key tenet of neoliberalism), the disaster of Brexit which Labour will not confront, the highest levels of inequality in any European country except Bulgaria, and some countries moving away from the failed dogma of neoliberalism, Britain is set for decades more of it under the red Tories of Labour. Starmer is heir to Blair and the opposite of what Britain needs. We live in Thatcher's Britain in 2024 due to the egregious impact of her policies. Doomed.
    2
  1030. Word.
    2
  1031. Labour poll lead now 33%. I never thought it would happen in my lifetime but it looks like something seismic might be about to happen. I do not think Starmer is a good leader and I am on the left but the priority is to remove the Tories and then see what can be done to turn the sinking ship around. Yesterday the poll lead was 17% but that was from before the budget. Only twice has Labour achieved a landslide, in 1945 and 1997. The voters moved left in 1945 but 1997 switchers were mostly Conservatives. Only time will tell if we are about to witness the rejection of the failed Thatcherite experiment of the last 43 years.
    2
  1032.  @JunkerOnDrums  I agree. Standards in countries such as Denmark are high.
    2
  1033. Will Truss even turn up? Might as well resign before hand in order to become Britain's shortest serving Prime Minister. If it had not been for the hiatus in normal politics due to the period of national mourning, she might have resigned by now. Spectacular catastrophe!
    2
  1034. Life expectancy across all ages decreased even before Covid. Most of the population in Britain will not know or would not care if they did. There is a thirty year gap in life expectancy between males in the richest borough of the UK Kensington and in the poorest parts of Glasgow. Income inequality and the class war waged by the rich against the rest are the two defining characteristics of British society. Address this and everything changes for the better for the majority.
    2
  1035.  @zoranblackie5921  Solidarity for the work you are doing.
    2
  1036. A long standing senior Tory not in government currently ( cannot remember who right now) said on QT a few months ago that the UK political establishment was going to have to level with the public about how bad things are in terms of the dire state of the UK economy.
    2
  1037. Tasmin Archer's Great Expectations album is superb.
    2
  1038. Too much and their. Not hard. Tax is lower than in other European countries. It is a Tory myth that taxes are too high. Wages are the issue not taxes, which need to be higher if the public want better public services. For thirty years Britain has failed to address this issue- you cannot have Scandinavian quality public services with American levels of taxation.
    2
  1039. What was wrong with Carlton?
    2
  1040. Not at all. My wife has not recovered from the death of her mother in 1999, her grandfather in 2004 and grandmother in 2020 from alzheimers. She brough her up from the age of 8. She is braver than she knows and has learned to live alongside her grief. Grief is the price we pay for love. I am a republican but this comment has been attributed to the late Queen.
    2
  1041. You cannot have listened to that many interviews then.
    2
  1042. There is no legal limit although there is probably guidance and common sense should prevail.
    2
  1043.  @odinallfarther6038  Precisely.
    2
  1044. Politics Joe really does need to sharpen up on its analysis of issues. Wider reading would inform the quality of its questioning and analysis.
    2
  1045.  @deelia88  Precisely.
    2
  1046. Is it 1989? I have not seen shoulders pads like that since the eighties. Absolutely ludicrous. Beyond parody.
    2
  1047. That reflects extremely badly on you. She got into Cambridge on merit as one of the brightest of her generation. She did very well at school and clearly possessed an intellectual capacity that qualified her for entry. Unless what? Unless nothing. Her educational history is documented in the excellent biography by Robin Bunce. Perhaps you would care to share your educational achievements? Did you have the ability to go to a top university? Shameful post.
    2
  1048.  @nebtheweb8885  A stable genius or Orange Jesius.
    2
  1049. He claimed credit for the freedom bus pass that Elsie sits on to stay warm because she cannot afford to heat her home. One meal a day means she is not eating anywhere near enough to stay healthy, especially at her age. This is Britain in 2022, beyond parody, beyond hope. I am not holding my breath but the opposition parties should repeatedly hone in on how utterly and callously detached from reality Johnson and his party is. Government by the rich for the rich. Whose Lorraine? should also be utilised endlessly to highlight the issue. It is a lie ( surprise surprise) to say it is a global issue. Brexit has a lot to do with rising costs but of course Labour cannot talk about that because it wants racists to vote for it, which is unacceptable to anyone who claims to be on the left. In France, evidence shows that it is the bottom five percent of earners whose income has been hit in terms of cost of living- the rest are barely affected, if at all. Here is is far more systemic and is affecting millions because the government does not care. Watching the reference to choices on how to spend money in the interview this morning reminded me that this is at the heart of the Tory creed if you are not rich; you are on your own and if you cannot manage, it is your fault. Yet the people think these con artists are on their side.
    2
  1050. Scottish independence will prevail. Good luck from England.
    2
  1051. The RMT have not given power to workers. They have made a lot of noise and highlighted the issues, but their strike campaign has not succeeded to date. The rhetoric is compelling, but it is short on results. Most workers are not unionised and there is little solidarity in many sectors. Only half of teachers are in a union, remarkably (or not), and it is unlikely the NEU ballot for strike action will reach the 50% threshold needed for action. It is notable that teachers in Scotland where there is a more solidarity have voted to strike- I don't think their ballot was open for anywhere near as long as NEU and NASUWT, which is telling about the difficulty of securing support for action. Even a pay cut of over 20% since 2010 is not enough to persuade teachers to strike. Shameful and predictable. Unite is effective as are some other unions, but some are weak. Less than 5M people in Britain are in unions and most members don't care about issues much, if at all. Millions are largely unaffected by the cost of living and will vote Tory. Working people in England can be relied upon to vote against their own interests in the never ending Tory nightmare.
    2
  1052.  @mairethompson2552  Nonsense. No need for capitals- it does not make nonsense coherent . Grow up.
    2
  1053. What is wokeism? Do share your wisdom.
    2
  1054.  @davidwilkins683  He is not a communist. But only in the UK is communism such a charged accusation- it speaks to the immaturity of the voters and how extremely right wing Britain is that communism is seen as apocalyptic. I am a democratic socialist but communism formed part of the European mainstream on the continent for decades until the end of the Cold War. I don't think it works but the extremism of neoliberalism is just as pernicious in the destruction it has caused, including the existential threat of global warming. Communism deserved to be consigned to the dustbin of history but its polar opposite ideology is hell bent on destroying the planet. Truth.
    2
  1055. Channelling Paul Daniels there.
    2
  1056. High crime and levels of ASB. A culture of silence when it comes to speaking to the Police. Most gun crime in Britain has links to Liverpool according to official figures recently reported in the media. Boastful unsubstantiated claims about being the friendliest and funniest people in the country/ world/ universe. Not statistically possible but reality rarely intrudes. McDonalds in the centre of Liverpool had to impose a curfew due to ASB. Poor quality education in general and high levels of poverty just outside the centre. Entrenched for decades. The negative attitudes of many of its citizens have spread out to other places in the area- it can be seen on the street. A major drug problem too.
    2
  1057. Lord Jim O Neil says that the markets do not have confidence in the British economy and the government's budgetary plans. The most incompetent government in UK history has crashed the economy despite being warned of the consequences. Not only might they take the economy down with them when Truss inevitably resigns but the instability in the UK economy unavoidably caused could create contagion elsewhere. The Tory client media is out in force today pushing the same lies to divert attention from reality; claiming it is the same across the world ( lie), the main measure in the budget was about energy ( lie), that there is no link between the budget and the crash of sterling ( lie) and that it is all due to Putin ( lie). They are saying it's really just about presentation not that their numbers do not add up. It is working as commentators nominally on the left are being confused and losing focus on the real issues. Never ending gas lighting.
    2
  1058.  @markhayward7400  I read your post too quickly and thought you were supporting Trump. I apologise for my misunderstanding. I am in the UK and cannot wait for Trump to be defeated in November. I watch Meidas Network for excellent commentary on US politics. It is vital for America and the world that the Democrats win. The VP pick is excellent for a number of reasons; he is a good communicator, he is normal and down to earth, appeals to the middle classes and cannot be painted as too left wing ( almost no such thing in my view as far as democratic socialism is concerned) despite Republican attempts to do so. His experience as a teacher and sports coach will also stand him in good stead when it comes to dealing with people. He is impressive.
    2
  1059.  @markhayward7400  I have deleted my posts based on misunderstanding what you said originally.
    2
  1060. Why is the deal terrible?
    2
  1061. gods not Gods and there is no god.
    2
  1062. Agree. If every Green candidate at the next election was an inquisitive bald person they would sweep to power ( though comb overs would not be possible).
    2
  1063.  @paul8161  Perhaps you did not read my comment properly or understand it. I do not agree with the content of what Sunak is saying but he is making points in a way that will advance the bogus arguments the Tories want people to believe. It is not a complicated point- it is about how the Tories frame the arguments in order to outdo Labour on perception.
    2
  1064.  @tisFrancesfault  Labour is a neoliberal party under Starmer and was under Blair and Brown- it accepted the Thatcherite settlement. Neoliberalism is the root cause of every problem facing Britain and the world, including climate change. A Labour party committed to its maintenance serves no purpose regardless of where it receives its votes from. Most voters who switched to Labour in 1997 identified with Tory policies then at a time when they were to the left of where the current iteration of the Conservative Party sits. There is no point replacing the Tories with a slightly paler version in the form of a Starmer led Labour Party. Until or unless the ruling class and public rejects neoliberalism there is no future for Britain. I am not holding my breath.
    2
  1065. Are the Tories the new UKIP? Is the Pope Catholic. Yes to both.
    2
  1066. The RMT has been on strike for 6 months now and is clearly not close to winning its justified battle. The RMT supported Brexit but has yet to clarify its position on this monumental act of self- harm to Britain. Socialism in one country is not possible amidst the complexities of the twenty first century and the workers' rights it seeks to protect are about to be trashed by the Brexiteers on the right for whom Brexit was always about shrinking the state and a bonfire of rights. The RMT is fighting against the consequences of the Brexit it backed. The Tories must have been laughing at the naivety of the Lexit argument because it plays into their hands. Mick Lynch is starting to sound like a broken record and the RMT should be called out for its ludicrous stance on Brexit, the rupture with Europe that is damaging the living standards of workers- GDP is already down by nearly 5%.
    2
  1067. Worship the rich. Britain 1979-2024. Capitalist realism ( the late Mark Fisher). There is no alternative and therein lies the problem, i.e the big lie.
    2
  1068.  @calderarecords  Excellent comment. Very true. Sustainable growth is needed across the world and GDP is not the correct measure of success or happiness in a nation.
    2
  1069. The chances of Farage ending the Ukraine war are zero. Ditto Trump. If they both tried, their efforts would cancel each other out.
    2
  1070.  @AJTrain  No need for a thesis- that might be beyond you. A few cogent sentences would be a start. Liking your own comment is not cool either.
    2
  1071.  @AJTrain  Try to write better comments that show some thinking. I don't need to work on my social skills but it is an amusing suggestion- well done!
    2
  1072.  @AJTrain  Excellent response. Well done!
    2
  1073. Fair enough but there is a wide need for it in a country where standards of literacy are so low and declining further. Oracy will give the majority more confidence although it is only one strand of enabling people to be able to communicate effectively. I was terrified of speaking in front of others for a long time but overcame in advance of teaching for nearly thirty years. I appreciate everyone is different and this should not be overlooked. I always avoided putting students ' on the spot' to answer questions as I never forgot what it was like to sit there hoping not to be noticed in a classroom. Shyness and reticence are frowned upon in schools and wider society and have been for years, when they should have been accepted and not seen as a personal failing.
    2
  1074.  @powderandpaint14  Explain the difference.
    2
  1075. Valid points but MPs are part of the establishment. First RCN strike in 106-year history and that is lauded? Why have they waited this long to act? The strike will be called off anyway in all probability. Labour does not represent working people- it is committed to neoliberalism and is on the same page as the Tories on many issues. It capitulated in the 1980s- Thatcher described 'New Labour' as her greatest achievement, in the nineties. Labour supported austerity under Cameron and was still going to implement it if it had won the 2015 election. Swearing does not bother me personally, but no MP who is serious about changing the political weather will convince the unpersuaded by swearing. Very immature.
    2
  1076. Gary Linker is always right. Everything he says is right. If he says it is Monday on a Sunday, he is right. In the recent controversy he was 100% right.
    2
  1077. On the contrary, he is one of the few in the media to analyse issues coherently and be able to articulate them clearly. Even thickos can comprehend if they take their blinkers off. He also speaks the truth about issues and is objective. He has also called out Braverman's speech in robust terms far more than many other commentators. Listen to him and you might learn.
    2
  1078. The thick of it- write out 'I must not swear and boast about the job I have done', one hundred times.
    2
  1079. Woo han. The source of Covid according to the Americans.
    2
  1080. @ Woo, Gary Davies was also the refrain to the jingle on his Radio 1 lunchtime show in the eighties, adapted from Small Town Creed by the brilliant Kane Kang.
    2
  1081. Arrogant extremists. A Brexit domesday cult detetermined to put ideology before the national interest. History will damn them and this must be a turning point on a par with 1945, 1979 ( for all the wrong reasons) and 1992. I exclude 1997 because Labour accepted the Thatcherite settlement which has led us to the calamity of the crisis of 2022. The public and the ruling class have to repudiate Thatcherism because it has been failing the economy for decades. There are plenty of high tax, higher growth economies in Europe and in America the states with the highest tax have higher growth. The Tories are not fit for office and must be on their way out, the sooner the better. But if it takes office Labour must repudiate Thatcherism and develop an economy for the many, not the few, which is eminently possible. Nothing wrong with wealth as long as it is fairly distributed. We need more champagne socialism for everyone- it should not be a perjorative term. Business is on side with Labour, with many meetings having taken place to prepare for an incoming Labour administration. Brexit will have to be reversed but that is for another day.
    2
  1082. Immature xenophobic comment. Au contraire. They did become a republic in 1789 ( violence is wrong but it is a historical fact) while Britain labours under the absurdity of monarchy whereby everyone is a subject not a citizen.
    2
  1083.  @pierremartini2229  Of course it is. Class consciousness is much weaker compared to the past even though class defines everything. Most people do not realise it, thus hampering understanding of the predicament the workers are in. The unions are hobbled by the most restrictive anti union legislation in Europe. They cannot organise properly in the private sector due to the transience of the workforce. Apathy and fatalism are major impediments to change. Poor political literacy and lack of knowledge of history means few understand the struggles of the past, even in the last forty years. Public opinion is very fickle and blows with the wind, easily manipulated by the media. A poorly educated population is unable or unwilling to question the lies and propaganda. Neoliberalism is broadly accepted by the public whether it realises it or not-a coherent vision of a better society is not being articulated as part of a national conversation. The primary vehicle for this capitulated to neoliberalism under Blair and will make the same mistakes under Starmer. The problems of today have been 43 years in the making and there is little reason to believe that the ruling class and public are prepared to repudiate neoliberalism, the root cause of all of our ills. Only this would create the space for a different settlement but Britain is in all probability too far gone.
    2
  1084.  @kentonian  In that case why has neoliberalism not been repudiated by the ruling political establishment of the three main parties? It is hard baked into the economy, political discourse and the social fabric. Time and again working people vote against their own interests under FPTP and apathy towards unions is rife. Only a minority are politically minded.
    2
  1085.  @joetrent4753  It is a widely used moniker. Do you not follow what is going on? Have you heard of Thatcher the milk snatcher or Bliar? Where have you been?
    2
  1086. The NS is Blairite.
    2
  1087. Neoliberalism is the essence of every problem facing Britain today. The post war consensus delivered full employment, stability and reduced inequality. Keynesianism is the answer , exactly what Labour offered in 2017 and 2019 and precisely what Thatcher was determined to undo in order to transfer money to the rich. She set about undoing the post war consensus, succeeding with the connivance of Labour under Blair/ Brown, who accepted her settlement. The defenestration of Corbyn put paid to that so that the ideological folly of neoliberalism can continue uninterrupted in the most unequal society in Europe, except Bulgaria. Strong unions equal higher wages ( who knew?) and more equal, stable societies. Exactly what is needed in 2023. The peak year for disposable income was 1976. The not so bad old days despite Tory propaganda. Starmer has nothing to offer that will reverse the toxic neoliberal consensus that Labour has surrendered to. Three million unemployed in 1993 by the way, it was not just a scourge of the eighties post 1979.
    2
  1088. The Guardian has never been on the left despite what many people think. It supports neoliberalism. It published many articles undermining Corbyn which contributed to ensuring he was blocked as the only Labour leader committed to reversing Thatcherism.
    2
  1089.  @Wigglewonks  A sandwich? I hope its not soggy.
    2
  1090.  @joshsmitch5641  Really insightful response. Thanks for sharing.
    2
  1091.  @aaronaaronson7600  Starmer is an obstacle to progress- he must be removed as Labour leader. He will implement Tory policy- it is clear Labour would not govern any differently in terms of policies. There is no future for Britain unless neoliberalism is reversed- the poorest in Eastern Europe are richer than the poorest in the UK, and if London is removed from the equation the UK economy is poorer than America's poorest state, Mississippi. Most people are unaware of this- if they were you would think it would be a wake up call. Anyone who is able to leave Britain for a new life elsewhere and better prospects should do so.
    2
  1092.  @aaronaaronson7600  Neither.
    2
  1093.  @scepticalsaint  Eight million adults are functionally illiterate in Britain yet the teaching profession thinks it is doing a superb job. There is no excuse for students not being able to read and write to the expected standard by the time they start secondary school. Usually, those who cannot fail to catch up because they do not receive support. If primary schools did their job properly it would not be necessary to a large extent. Education is broken for many reasons. The calibre of new entrants to teaching has been sorely lacking for well over a decade, with honourable exceptions. Bullying by SLT is rarely mentioned as a key driver for lack of retention but it is a major issue in education. A 2019 survey by one of the unions showed a majority of teachers said they had witnessed or been the victim of bullying in the workplace in the previous two years. It will be worse now.
    2
  1094. Not true. I am a socialist and Heseltine recognised the need to arrest urban decline as a one nation Conservative. He genuinely listened to people in Liverpool and most of the recommendations of his report into the riots of 1981 were implemented. Huge problems remain but the alternative was the managed decline of cities like Liverpool which some Tories qdvocated at the time. Heseltine has been spot on about Brexit and Johnson too.
    2
  1095. Nothing. The same.
    2
  1096.  @blazzz13  Labour only in power for 30 of the last 123 years. Labour 1997- 2010 was neoliberal having capitulated to Thatcherism.
    2
  1097. France has higher productivity than the UK, works less hours and has more time off.
    2
  1098.  @storres976  Jesus does not exist. Other than that you are 100% correct.
    2
  1099. It would be no surprise if there is a repeat of the riots of 2011. Law breaking is not acceptable, however unrest on the streets cannot be ruled out. I doubt the claimed 12,000 police on the streets of London actually happened in 2011 to stop the riots, not least because there were no pictures of the massed ranks of police on any television channel. Police cuts ( they have been reversed but it will take time to cancel this out entirely) will make it far more difficult to keep the lid on it this time and the anger is even greater than 2011.
    2
  1100. It would not be surprising if the saving on HS2 was roughly equal to the cost of a tax cut. Word from a Tory commentator last week ( forgotten who) on television is that a tax cut is definitely planned before the GE.
    2
  1101.  @Miguel...160  Correct but Labour will not call it out and instead avoids telling the truth about the catastrophe of Brexit. It wants racists to vote for it at the next election. Disgraceful.
    2
  1102. Hurrah for neoliberalism, the gift that keeps on giving to the rich and taking from the rest, especially the poor. Austerity is a design feature and will be continued by the red Tories of Labour under the guise of iron discipline. Taxes are too low, especially for the rich who have been getting away with it for decades. Wages are too low and need to rise significantly to enable workers to cope with the cost of greed crisis that has widened the already massive level of income inequality in the UK. Income, wealth and land belonging to the rich are all going to have to be taxed by the next government. It makes no difference if it is the red Tories who have almost eradicated socialism in Britain or the hard right iteration of the Tories in power now. Britain is in the middle of European nations in terms of the taxation- societies with higher taxes are more equal. Neoliberal laboratories like the UK and USA are the most unequal places on the planet, which has resulted in private affluence and public squalor.
    2
  1103.  @davecross4493  That was an empty word salad. Labour has no policies for economic growth. It is about to abandon its £28 Billion pound green strategy, which experts have warned is a retrograde step. Labour is committed to the same failed neoliberal economics that has not worked for the majority for forty five years. It is focused on balanced budgets at all costs, which anyone with the briefest knowledge of Keynesian economics knows is not the way to achieve growth. This is a disastrous government in waiting. Until the public realise that Thatcherism has to be repudiated and reversed, the doom loop will continue.
    2
  1104. The culture of silence in Liverpool suggests strongly that the sense of justice is selective. Heysel has been largely airbrushed from history. Shameful.
    2
  1105. Yes, shrink the state and give all the money to the rich. Never mind the 60% of Americans who live hand to mouth- what matters is ideology and greed. Be assured the victims of the Republicans will be lining up to vote for them again in 2028. Let the party begin.
    2
  1106.  @darkplainsdrifter3499  It must have been hard to type your post while looking in the mirror. No need for capitals.
    2
  1107.  @korolev-musictobashbrexitby  Thank you.
    2
  1108. Or Albania.
    2
  1109. Except the music of Adele which sounds dull to me.
    2
  1110. What on earth does this comment mean? It makes no sense.
    2
  1111. @Bessie Hillum No.
    2
  1112. Keynesian spending is THE answer. See Will Hutton's excellent article in The Observer last Sunday comparing Britain to other countries. Everything he wrote is correct.
    2
  1113.  @patriciarowe6685  Hope not hate.
    2
  1114.  @martm216  Nice to read some honest self-reflection for a change (I daresay you were probably much better at the job than you thought). The dysfunction in the UK workplace is a product of the culture of individual self-advancement at all costs that has pervaded the economy since the 1980s, resulting in most people being promoted two or three levels higher than they should be. The level of incompetence in many areas is staggering and workplaces are often toxic. The staff who are doing their best to do the job to a good standard are put under extreme pressure and blamed for anything that goes wrong. A much more collegiate approach is needed like in other countries so that people are not encouraged to trample on others and plot for their own self- advancement all the time.
    2
  1115. The root cause of mental health problems is neoliberalism which since 1979 has bred inequality. It is an economic model that only makes money for the rich, and even wealth does not buy happiness. Oliver James nailed the issues a few years ago in Affluenza and other books with detailed evidence of the impact of inequality on mental health. But no-one is listening, especially in Anglo Saxon iterations of capitalism. Reducing income inequality is the answer because there is less mental health distress in more equal societies. Anything less than this is doomed to failure.
    2
  1116. Labour should ask Truss to front its election campaign. It would be a roaring success, the most successful by any party in political history. The Tories would be left with 10 MPs if they were lucky and from this they could save money by holding meetings in a taxi as well form the Ayn Rand Research Group to keep the spirit of neoliberal hard line ideology alive.
    2
  1117. He must be removed as Labour leader- the Australian Labour Party chose a new leader weeks before the 1983 election and won.
    2
  1118. Gotten?
    2
  1119. Stranger things have happened. It cannot be ruled out.
    2
  1120. Satire. Very good.
    2
  1121. As well as Blackpool. The last chance for levelling up promised by the Tories.
    2
  1122. Labour abandoned its opposition to right to buy in 1987, a mistake of historic proportions given the long term consequences. The average age of the first time buyer in 1990 was 23, it is 38 in 2024. Yes, it is understandable that people want to buy their own home but the market has been rigged for decades to buy Tory votes and maintain the illusion of a strong economy. Get the Tories out and abandon Thatcherism ( Starmer must go) to build a society for all.
    2
  1123. RMT backed Brexit which costs £90 billion per year to the British economy. RMT is fighting against the consequences of the policy it backed. Lexit is ludicrous in the context of the 21st century- socialism in one country is not possible. Brexit is about further reduction of workers' rights, low tax for the rich, deregulation of the economy and more austerity. Anyone on the left that backs it has played into the hands of the hard right who must be delighted at this folly.
    2
  1124.  @kanedNunable  I usually preface my comment with ' under FPTP' but for once I did not, and the predictable reply ensued. Even those who vote for Labour and the Liberal Democrats are voting for neoliberalism ( except for the Corbyn period). Capitalist realism is the term coined by the late Mark Fisher to describe the notion that there is no alternative to neoliberalism.
    2
  1125.  @AndrewEdwardBailey  The word you are searching for is refutation not refute. I do not make assertions where there is no evidence. if you are so confident in your refute ( sic), provide the statistics that prove you right. For clarity sic in brackets is used to denote a word not used correctly or in this case, one that does not exist.
    2
  1126.  BurritoWarrior  Burrito Warrior. Possible burrito fan spotted. I am partial to burritos but less so extreme right wing Conservatism.
    2
  1127.  @Towerwatson525  Embarrassing. Weak argument badly made and poor grammar. It is country not contrary.
    2
  1128. Well said.
    2
  1129. Espionage not espianage.
    2
  1130. Well said. Brexit is the root cause of the problem and neoliberalism more widely. Brexit sits in this context because it is about continuing the asset stripping of the state that began in 1979 and shrinking the state. It goes without saying that both are about transferring wealth from workers to the rich. GDP is down 5% already. Mortgage rates have shot up more than they would have due to the budget that crashed the pound and economy, import costs are going to rise, thus increasing inflation, and the BOE has been forced to spend £65 billion to prevent the collapse of pension companies. This is more than the billions soon to be announced as the latest round of austerity. It is vital that the public votes them out before they destroy Britain once and for all. The irony is that despite it being a monumental act of self- harm Brexit was actually a vote for a larger state and Covid has shown that the state is the guarantor of last resort when the private sector cannot deliver. Tragic it took a tragedy ( death toll, incompetence and public money wasted to the tune of billions) for this to become obvious.
    2
  1131. See Bernie Sanders' post about why the Democratic Party lost. He sums it up.
    2
  1132. Never mind the need for good jobs. Manufacturing used to be the core of the UK economy and still is in some other more enlightened countries where finance and the city is not the be all and end all. A new sports centre is part of the service economy, the over reliance on which is a key part of Britain's weak economic performance. Labour and Conservative governments since Thatcher ( and even further back, in the 1920s and 1930s) have presided over the decline of manufacturing and done little to counteract globalisation.
    2
  1133. The Tories are a disgrace but Labour has nothing to offer. Britain is in such a serious hole because it has been following Thatcherism since 1979, including 1997 to 2010. Unless the public realise it is the root cause of every problem there is simply no way out of the mess. It will just continue indefinitely. I will not be holding my breath.
    2
  1134. Excellent contribution to Politics Live from Oli today. Pertinent points made and funny moment at the end when thanking Jo Coburn for having him on the programme when time was running out to say anything else as the titles were about to roll. Really good discussion by all the panel.
    2
  1135. If Labour raises the state pension age to 69 or 70 in this Parliament as it is rumoured it might, it is all over for the next election. Tax the rich who have been given a free ride for decades to pay for this as well as public services. The red Tories have hollowed out Labour since Blair converted the party to Thatcherism. No more socialism for the rich, capitalism for the rest- it is time to reverse Thatcherism and for a new leader for Labour ( not Streeting) who understands politics and Labour values ( not Starmer).
    2
  1136.  @korayven9255  I must be a Tory without realising it. Ironic, given that the red Tories under Starmer will deliver Tory policy in full support of neoliberal ideology. I detest everything the Tory Party stands for and I have been a socialist all my life. This is the worst government Britain has ever seen bar none but Starmer has no meaningful answers to address Britain's problems. There is no vision, no bold pledges or recognition that the scale of the issues confronting Britain is so large that nothing less than a programme on the same level as that implemented by the 1945 to 1951 government will go anywhere near to tackling the problems effectively. Starmer is no Attlee. He is not even William Hague or John Major.
    2
  1137. Written by Nik Kershaw.
    2
  1138. He is an esteemed tech bro leader of men and women.
    2
  1139.  @sam5992  Or compassionate conservatism.
    2
  1140.  @Bottomprem  Mild? Destruction of communities that have never recovered. The Falklands should have been negotiated away. James Callaghan's government sent a warship to warn the Argentinians off an invasion but Thatcher went to war for no good reason.
    2
  1141. The French have nationalised EDF, that's how you do it. Not rocket science.
    2
  1142.  @Russ_Keith  Fair point. On reflection I think you are right. Thanks.
    2
  1143. @ Did you not learn how to use an apostrophe?
    2
  1144.  @BEGGARWOOD1  Exactly and the circle cannot be squared. Incredible they still have not cottoned on after forty three years of Thatcherism.
    2
  1145.  @ltipst2962  Nonsensical comment.
    2
  1146. The Post Office scandal is a disgrace. It is also high time a spotlight is shone on bullying in education that destroys careers. Different issue but long overdue. Anyone wondering why there are less teachers needs look no further than this as one of the key reasons. It is brushed under the carpet but is rife with teachers living in fear of management in many schools despite just doing their jobs properly. It must change.
    2
  1147.  @maxpowerii7368  Agreed. Steve Richards wrote a good article about the concept a couple of weeks ago. Since the Blair era it definitely means neoliberal as far as I am concerned.
    2
  1148.  @alst4817  Stupid comment. Moderate social democracy would be to the left of the extremist neoliberalism inflicted on Britain for forty three years. Which domestic policies could the Blairites not agree with from the 2017 and 2019 manifestos?
    2
  1149. No proof of how thick most people in Britain are is required but this idiotic petition is the icing on the cake. It also shows how many people like and want chaos as they would sooner see Britain ungovernable than accept democracy. Many of these fools are the same people who shouted down anti Brexit voters telling them to get over it.
    2
  1150.  @innocentiii953  Oui, j'ai compris. Solidarité avec les Français dans la lutte pour les retraites.
    2
  1151.  @innocentiii953  I see. My wife is French and on the left. We have seen the news on BFM and it is striking how the extent of the protests and violence is not being reported in the UK. The police brutality is shocking though not surprising given their ignoble history of using excessive force. As well as the pension issue and the risk of it escalating into a wider crisis focused on other issues, lasting damage is being done by the actions of the police towards protestors. Amnesty International has called on them to show restraint.
    2
  1152. Astonishing success doubling the number of Labour seats in Scotland from one to two. Amazing.
    2
  1153.  @jameswarrington9402  Immigration at an all time high post Brexit which was supposed to 'take back control' as advocated by closed border Brexiteers. They have failed, inevitably. Immigration is expected to fall to less than 300,000 per year by 2025 and there remain large numbers of vacancies that need to be filled. Immigration was used to whip up xenophobia against foreigners but the predictable catastrophe of Brexit means that it is way down on the list of the concerns of voters. Labour is bad news for Britain but the worst government in its history bar none is very possibly on its way out to be consigned to the dustbin of history.
    2
  1154. It speaks volumes about the parlous state of UK education that there is so much disquiet about the concept of oracy. It should be woven through the curriculum as a matter of course but anything that enhances it is a good thing, as long as it is not to the detriment of other subjects. Standards of literacy are abysmal in Britain- relatively few who are state educated are articulate, whereas most privately educated can at least speak fluently.
    2
  1155. Excellent contribution to the debate Socrates.
    2
  1156. Bessie Bradock had a statue at Liverpool's Lime Street Station next to Ken Dodd ( not noted for his support of the Labour Party). Both had disappeared last time I was there.
    2
  1157.  @tomtom-gi9eo  He will be a disastrous Prime Minister.
    2
  1158. Only in Britain. The country is a lost cause with this next level stupidity. Not even funny but entirely predictable in this madhouse masquerading as a country ( at least according to the maps). ' No dogs to be found' in the description is funny though!
    2
  1159. Eh?
    2
  1160.  @paulgibbons2320  Forced migration- literacy matters you know. Or it used to. Immigration is necessary to the economy. There are large numbers of vacancies in different sectors. Labour accepted Thatcherism/ neoliberalism- that is the problem. Working people do not want democratic socialism- that is the problem. They cannot complaint at all the suffering the Tories cause because the voters put them in power under FPTP. Britain is broken and the voters don't want to see that they gave the Tories power to destroy the economy. A special kind of stupid for forty four years.
    2
  1161. I also remember the morning after the 1992 election when Corbyn and Livingstone were interviewed in the BBC studio. They were much more magnanimous than the right in recent years in how they responded to the shock of defeat, refusing to undermine Kinnock or blame him which they could easily have done as MPs of the left. Contrast their attitude with the treatment he received 2015 to 2019 and still does with all the nonsense talked about how Labour's defeats in 2017 and 2019 were his fault. Shameful.
    2
  1162. Make America Moron Again. Job done fools.
    2
  1163.  @patrickreade6119  Blair's. Not difficult. Labour is to blame as well for failing to reverse Thatcherism. So too is the public because most people accept the ills of Thatcherism. Most switchers to Labour in 1997 identified with Tory policies. The country has moved relentlessly to the right since then. We live in Thatcher's Britain today- that is why violent crime is so high.
    2
  1164. Everyone should read Media Lens. It shines a light on how the mainstream media in the west distorts or hides the truth. Latest bulletin focuses on the Nordstream pipeline sabotage. If you think it was the Russians, think again. Putin is a menace to world peace for certain but there is also more going to the conflict in Ukraine than meets the eye. I recommend Media Lens.
    2
  1165. Unacceptable comment.
    2
  1166. Yes and no. Neoliberalism is working as intended- division, low tax for the rich, weak unions, income inequality, transfer of wealth to the rich so that the majority do not receive their fair share, privatisation. Food banks are a symptom of the disease but proof the system is working in the sixth richest nation on earth. Britain is the most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria. Average families in France are 10% better off than in the UK. In Germany it is 20%. The Tories believe that poverty is due to personal defects and choice, just as they always did before the Liberals kicked them out and built the welfare state 1906- 1914, added to by Labour 1945-1951. The increase in the wealth of the rich has worked beyond their wildest dreams and they have been in power most of the time since 1979. They also converted Labour to Thatcherism under Blair. A win win.
    2
  1167. It was a tradition going back many years. It was not a literal statement of fact. There is always money- Britain prints its own currency so cannot go bankrupt. Obviously facts must not obscure lies told by the Tories about fixing the roof, being bankrupt like Greece and there being no money. There is always money for the rich- socialism for the rich and never ending austerity for the rest.
    2
  1168. Orange Jesus going to hades in a handcart. Abject defeat in November. Padded cell awaits.
    2
  1169.  @UNITDW  Spot on. The oil shock caused the crises of the 1970s and the Tories used the economic problems resulting as a smokescreen to advance their push back against the role of the state, unions and taxes they abhored as a threat to the rich to parachute Thatcher in to power in 1979. The peak year for disposable income was 1976. Shame the next election is unlikely to be who governs? like 1974 as organised labour has been smashed and the public is not literate in politics any more in sufficient numbers for the propaganda not to keep on working.
    2
  1170. Eh?
    2
  1171. No.
    2
  1172.  @doreenhollywood7459  I hope it does and the right wing press were keen to say Sturgeon would not succeed when she replaced Salmond. Sexist and designed to bolster the union, the usual propaganda. I have not misjudged Scotland at all. I am English but I find the country inspiring on so many levels and admire the determination of the SNP to carve out a better future for Scotland than it would have trapped in the union and at the mercy of the dead hand of hard right English nationalism.
    2
  1173.  @pollytickle8346  Under Starmer Tories out, Labour in is the same thing.
    2
  1174. 2024 was the forty fifth consecutive year of neoliberalism. When I had a serious road accident in 1985 on my push bike while going to a chip shop called Papas Fritas in Southport to buy some food before watching the Saturday omnibus edition of Brookside ( 21st December) I definitely used up one of my nine lives. Back then the nightmare of Thatcherism was a mere six years old, had caused critical damage but there was the prospect of ending if Labour could win an election. A mere thirty nine years later neoliberalism is as firmly entrenched as ever thanks to the red Tories who have continued the work of Blair in selling out the majority. I never did eat those chips but have caught up recently on the Brookside omnibus via the STV replays.
    2
  1175.  @kayedal-haddad  For the public to join the dots ( highly unlikely) to see that the majority do not benefit from a rigged system. Progressive taxation to make the rich pay their fair share. The Labour Party to fail in government by following the same failed policies as the Tories to jolt the public out of its false consciousness ( not going to happen). More politicians from less affluent backgrounds ( won't happen). Proper regulation of the media to rein in its excesses. Proper industrial policy with long term goals. Green industrial revolution. Investment education, skills and training. Productivity to be tackled. In short, no answer as none of the issues will be addressed. Make the economy work for most and the slide towards fascism will have no space to breathe as part of the political culture.
    2
  1176. The teacher exodus will continue ( 44,000 of working age left for new jobs last year) due to the multiple issues in education. Bullying of staff is rife in schools but little to nothing is done about it- this must be one of the drivers for leaving. Poor behaviour and lack of support from management in not enforcing their own rules is also a major problem but like bullying is rarely discussed. Poor parenting and failure to support schools over the basics is a serious issue, but again no debate about it. Class sizes of 26 in secondary schools was considered too high in the mid nineties but for nearly thirty years it has been brushed under the carpet, like so much else.
    2
  1177.  @minskysfeedbackyianni1302  Just checked outside. There is water falling from the sky and no signs of any illumination from a round yellow object so that must mean the sun is out.
    2
  1178. Without a sea change in the mindset of the people in the UK by rejecting neoliberal economics wholesale and demanding a Labour Party that works for the majority, the never ending nightmare will continue. Ask everyday why the metrics of cost of living, wages, interest rates, rent and housing costs are vastly different in the rest of Europe and there's your baseline for demanding change. Spoiler alert- Starmer will not deliver it.
    2
  1179. The British are pathetic. Always have been and always will be- mumbling about things but doing nothing.
    2
  1180.  @romo9802  It would go a long way. The whole Thatcher and Reagan project ( neoliberalism) was designed to reverse the higher levels of tax on the rich post world war two and the strong welfare states in many countries. They succeeded more than they could have imagined possible, which is why inequality is out of control.
    2
  1181.  @jordicanals6246  The rich have got it. Britain is the most unequal country in Europe apart from Bulgaria yet is supposed to be the sixth richest nation on planet earth. The rich are taking the mickey out of everyone and will continue unchecked unless the voters wake up and demand change. That is why the establishment and media ( same thing) had to stop Corbyn because he would have started to reduce inequality.
    2
  1182. Performative point scoring. Meaningless theatre, tomorrow's fish and chip paper as the saying used to go. Labour trying to outdo the Tories on immigration is deeply concerning because it is distasteful and also a trap for the Tories to pin immigration numbers on Labour the other side of an election. Anyone who thinks Britain needs a new direction should be very afraid at the prospect of Starmer implementing Tory policy in government. The opposite of what Britain needs to improve life for millions.
    2
  1183.  @mandywithell  No need to type 'are' in capital letters. The calibre of teachers has declined significantly in the last twenty years, particularly in the last ten. There are excellent teachers, of course, including new entrants to the profession. There should be a good mix of early career teachers, those with a few years experience and others in their forties and fifties ( or sixties if they so choose though not many would) because a school benefits from this in terms of the energy and dynamism of newer teachers alongside the experience of others. Not to say experienced teachers are not dynamic because they often are. But with many over the age of 50 leaving if they can afford to due to disillusionment and untenable workload and a third of new entrants gone within three years, the system is facing meltdown. Poor management is a major issue in schools but no-one is going to admit this never mind tackle it. Bullying is rife in schools- a union survey of 2019 highlighted this with a large number of respondents saying they had been bullied or witnessed it themselves over a relatively short timescale. Lack of support for teachers is engrained in the culture in many schools whereby they are blamed for poor behaviour and how they deal with it. So called low level poor behaviour has been accepted as the norm when it did not used to be- any disruption is a stop to the lesson and inhibits the flow for students and the teacher. Education is broken and cannot improve due to weaknesses in the workforce, lack of funding, lack of parental support and increasingly bold challenges to the most basic exercise of authority by staff simply doing their job in line with school policies. This does not augur well for the next decade or more in Britain. Even if funding levels were restored to pre 2010 levels, there are so many countervailing problems in place now that I really don't think it would make much difference at all. I sincerely hope I am wrong because the future of the economy and well being of society and individuals within it are both at stake.
    2
  1184.  @MrBurtonshaw  Arrogant response. Assuming you are educated it should not have been too difficult. Stay open minded to different views.
    2
  1185. From The Guardian this evening (below). Absolutely spectacularly shocking beyond words. Truss has started an international contagion for no reason. The worst government in UK history since the last one a few weeks ago. She has made history for all the wrong reasons. 'However, reverberations from the Bank of England’s £65bn rescue on Wednesday of Britain’s final salary pension funds were felt across international financial markets, sending shares plunging across Europe, the US and Asia. The FTSE 100 slumped by 160 points to 6,858, matched by a similar 2.4% fall in the value of the top 500 US firms. Economists and investor groups said the lack of stability in a previously robust financial centre like the UK should be a warning against excessive risk-taking by governments and financial institutions.'
    2
  1186.  @gio-oz8gf  Excellent response. Well done!
    2
  1187.  @monkeymox2544  The Australian trade deal was not signed in 2016.
    2
  1188. I grew up in the same road as Marcus Wareing and used to deliver the Southport Star for five years down the street and neighbouring road. The family Doberman scared me when it barked behind the gates but then I was scared of dogs anyway. He used to do a lot of running around the block in the late eighties while I was stood on the street corner eating chips from Papas Fritas ( legendary chip shop). I knew he was a boxer. Moving to London was brave and the rest is history. He is right about slipping through the net and education. I won't elaborate on my first hand knowledge of the system except to say UK education is broken. There are many reasons for this but leadership is a critical issue. If every school had an Alex Ferguson or similar in charge there would be a commitment to excellence woven in the fabric and the impact on life chances would be transformative. Stanley High School in Southport had a poor reputation in the 1980s. There is a culture of low expectations in many schools yet many teachers think they are the best thing since sliced bread. Obviously no link between low expectations/poor teaching and the eight million adults in Britain who are functionally illiterate.
    2
  1189. The Daily Mail is a disgrace and always has been. Truth. But the RMT backed Brexit and now fights against the consequences of what it supported. Why is its stance on Brexit not questioned? The right is dogmatic about Brexit and should own this mess but the Lexit argument is also dogmatic, for different reasons. Both are in denial about how disastrous it has been. The cause of the strike is right but little progress is being made, mainly due to government blocking a deal. But the media should also be asking questions about the effectiveness of the RMT campaign as it is not working. What happened to the co-ordinated union action in different sectors slated for October? No sign of it.
    2
  1190.  @rhysholdaway  It is because 1984 was the peak year for music in the eighties according to many of its devotees, including me. I like an eclectic mix of music across the decades from the 1970s to now but the eighties were something else in terms of creativity, variety and deployment of new technology to create sounds not hear before.
    2
  1191.  @rhysholdaway  PR is essential and long overdue. Labour conference voted for it but Starmer has, to all intents and purposes, ruled it out by saying in response that it is not a priority. It would lock out the Tories permanently from forming majority governments and democratise Britain at a stroke. There has been some recent discussion of Rawls and doubt cast over his ideas in some of the commentary I read. I have just had a quick read of The Guardian obituary from 2002. Roy Hattersley has written favourably about Rawls. Hattersley is on the right of Labour but ended up to the left of Blair and compared to Starmer would qualify as a radical in 2023.
    2
  1192.  @MrStejefferies  He made the most catastrophic decision to call the referendum and presided over cruel and self defeating austerity. Also he backed the removal of Gaddafi which resulted in civil war in Libya, alongside Sarkozy. Cameron was disastrous and history will not judge him favourably.
    2
  1193.  Missandry  Who knew?
    2
  1194. Keynesianism is the answer but Labour will not adopt tax and spend. All those who are hopeful and or deluded into thinking that a Starmer government will enact a progressive agenda are going to be very disappointed. This is a harbinger of an extremist Tory Party revival and will pave the way for their return after one or two elections. The NS should be analysing the glaring inadequacy of the Starmer project owing to its lack of any meaningful solutions to the problems facing Britain. Laughable that Starmer referred to Sir Kiernomics a couple of weeks ago. Absolutely meaningless and ridiculous.
    2
  1195.  @keithparker1346  Exactly. They have already set out their stall. People should take them at face value and stop deluding themselves that Labour has any meaningful solutions to Britain's problems under Starmer.
    2
  1196.  @Carlos12330  Paris is the capital of Japan as well.
    2
  1197. Mark Serwotka is an excellent union leader and honourable man. However, this is all too little, too late. Forty four years of neoliberalism has led to this. Austerity is a component of the framework that has destroyed Britain and demolished living standards for millions. Most of the voters accept it and millions vote for it, including Labour, which capitulated to Thatcherism under Blair. This is Thatcher's Britain and nothing is going to change. That is it now, just like Orwell's 1984. Living standards will continue to fall steeply because the voters and the ruling class they accept will not reject neoliberalism. The pay lost since 2010 will never be recovered and the hike in prices fuelled by greedflation by companies is permanent. Game set and match to the Tories.
    2
  1198.  @martinkillips180  Very well put and wise comment. Kudos to you and sorry for your loss.
    2
  1199.  @mattwoodhead2441  Substantiate your claim with evidence.
    2
  1200.  @ThePereubu1710  Labour is committed to the same neoliberal policies so nothing will change even if it forms a government, which is highly doubtful. The last chance for change was Corbyn in 2017 and 2019. There is no hope.
    2
  1201. Theatre of the absurd. Adds nothing to anything.
    2
  1202. Too late, the horse has bolted. It is in the fifth field down the road heading to the next village. It is over for Britain.
    2
  1203.  @flomccarther5632  A lot of people probably smell their own flatulence in dreams and mistake it for bacon and eggs gone off.
    2
  1204. Well said.
    2
  1205.  @Ma55ey  The quality of teaching in the UK is variable to put it kindly. It is often mediocre at best, with many teachers who are not specialists in the subject they are delivering. The quality of delivery during lock down was very inconsistent as well- the materials on the government website that teachers were encouraged to use were not particularly good. Remote teaching is not easy but the idea that every school was delivering high quality lessons during lock down, which I have seen suggested by some, does not stack up. It is also doubtful that all students signed in to lessons or stayed present even if they did, which would adversely affect the quality of learning. I doubt many did homework set either, which will have undermined efforts to consolidate or extend learning. Education is in a mess and the calibre of the workforce should be of serious concern to government but it won't be.
    2
  1206. Unfair on Iain Dale. He is one of the more thoughtful figures on the right and can be quite incisive as an insider when commenting on Tory issues. I think he is sincere in his comments as he understands the wreckage of the last few years and the way the Conservative Party has transformed into a hard right nationalist party.
    2
  1207. A Trump win is inevitable then! Orange Jesus Jesius cannot fail in November. Meanwhile in the real world.....!!!
    2
  1208. What are you answers? Cite the evidence that Keynesian stimulus has not worked in other countries.
    2
  1209.  @gowanlock  Ludicrous to state that £84,000 is ' not all that'. Tone deaf to the realities of pay in the UK. The argument that they need to be paid more to attract the best talent ( implicit in your post) is well rehearsed and without evidence to back it up. Instructive to note that a former Tory MP with a business background who is no longer in parliament has observed that they were surprised by the poor calibre of some MPs when they arrived to parliament. MPs make it to selection lists for many reasons in all parties, and it is obvious that many of them are no better than the average middle manager. It is generally understood that many people are promoted one or two grades above their ability. I have watched politics programmes every day this year, and a number of parliamentary debates. Some MPs make erudite, thoughtful contributions, but many are distinctly ordinary. The calibre of politicians today is probably at its lowest since the second world war, on all sides. There are plenty of capable individuals from all walks of life who would be able to do an MPs job effectively for much less.
    2
  1210. How do other small countries manage?
    2
  1211.  @casperwallace9685  Maynard Keynes' Consequences of the Peace about Versailles sold 100,000 copies in 1919. It said peace and the European economy would suffer if Germany was punished too harshly. Public appetite for knowledge and understanding was clearly much stronger then. In 2022 a similar publication would be lucky to sell a few thousand copies.
    2
  1212. @@abitmorerational It has embraced social democracy though in a rejection of neoliberalism that places it to the left of Labour, admittedly not difficult. There are many of its policies that democratic socialists in Labour could happily subscribe to.
    2
  1213.  @DJB01  I have deleted my previous comment in a spirit of intended goodwill.
    2
  1214.  @danielcrafter9349  For what?
    2
  1215. Define far left. There is no such thing in the UK Labour Party.
    2
  1216.  @joefortey4  Well done for confirming that you do not have a clue. If that is your best you know nothing about politics. Desperate.
    2
  1217.  @joefortey4  There is no far left.
    2
  1218.  @RichardEnglander  Vote Green.
    2
  1219. I can see North Wales from the beach near where I live on a clear day. Not quite the same thing and I am not as intelligent as Sarah 'beyond the' Palin.
    2
  1220. Unthinking ideology, prejudicial thinking and English exceptionalism is a toxic combination with serious consequences.
    2
  1221.  @dcmastermindfirst9418  Funny. Not.
    2
  1222.  @iainprendergast8311  How about you share your original analysis? It would be fascinating to hear it.
    2
  1223.  King Royal  I am aware of this but the strike was used for political purposes by the Conservatives and there is no getting away from the dreadful impact this had on society and mining communities where little was done to replace the jobs lost as crime and hopelessness replaced stable communities.
    2
  1224. Neoliberal.
    2
  1225. Scotland will achieve independence. The English establishment/ media hysteria around the SNP currently will fuel independence. It is a good example of the law of unintended consequences. England does not care for the union, for Scotland or anything except money for the rich. The law of unintended consequences will apply.
    2
  1226. The term illegals is unacceptable. Immigration and homelessness are separate issues. Can you not see something so obvious?
    2
  1227.  @dendog13  Nonsense- it is completely right that they are accommodated and it should be as humane as possible. You would expect exactly the same if you were in their position. It is a shame they are not in five star hotels, but this is a myth put about by those who lack compassion. Hope not hate.
    2
  1228. What on earth is hit the streets solidarity?
    2
  1229.  @jenny4204  You can type and spell ignoramus so I am confident you can work it out yourself. Good luck!
    2
  1230. Was he nice to talk to? The 1992 defeat was the first time I was old enough to vote and I desperately wanted to see a Labour government. I think he would have made an excellent Prime Minister.
    2
  1231.  @OrwellsHousecat  Clearly you cannot point to any evidence. Happy to read it if you can. Not difficult if you are so certain. The plural of anecdote is not data by the way. The evidence for the sky being blue is verifiable so it is an odd example to use. There is a question mark missing from your comment by the way.
    2
  1232.  @aweescotsdog8358  Thanks for your thoughtful comment. Most people jailed will be released at some point so it makes sense for society to rehabilitate and would cost less money than the constant cycle of crime does currently. The tabloid press drives the hysteria about supposedly soft prisons hiding the reality from the public. Being deprived of liberty is a punishment as it should be but the idea that having a television in a cell is a luxury is absurd. Prison staff know that televisions help maintain order. Although smoking is bad for anyone I recall a government plan to ban it in prisons not too long ago was dropped because it realised it would add to disorder. I also recall moves were made to restrict access to books, which is both outrageous and not surprising from the Tories. Inhumane, especially when you consider the high levels of illiteracy that nothing is done about. Many prisoners would struggle to read a book, sadly.
    2
  1233. Also part privatisation of the NHS under Blair, PFI which loads the cost onto the taxpayer for thirty years delivering obscene profits for private companies and scandals to do with quality of care. Cancer outcomes of treatment are poor compared to other European nations. The NHS is underfunded by seven percent less than France and Germany. Not enough beds and staff to tend patients. The NHS is efficient with limited resources but other countries have better healthcare without fetishizing it.
    2
  1234.  @ianl1052  The fact is that a lot of care in the NHS is substandard. GPs repeatedly missing serious conditions necessitating several visits before a referral is made, delaying urgent treatment. Too many GPs are arrogant and probably disdain many of the people they treat, with honourable genuinely caring exceptions, of course. They stitched Labour up in 2004 with a deal for a massive hike in pay and less hours. The idea that they are experiencing massive stress is a myth. Average consultation length is seven minutes, which is not safe in terms of the quality of care and diagnosis. GPs themselves have said this. In some areas I am sure they are under more pressure than others and the fear of being sued is very real and must be a cause of deep unease. But they should be working on a Saturday and there should be continuity of care, which will improve efficiency in the system and save lives. Statistics back this up- Phil Whittaker wrote an article in The New Statesman which referenced this. My own experience of the NHS has been mixed but mostly positive, with most people reporting a positive experience when surveyed. But the deification of the NHS needs to stop as it is out of all proportion and certainly was not the case in the seventies and eighties when it was relatively new compared to its age now. PFI was a Conservative policy under Norman Lamont as Chancellor but Labour ran with the ball in order to keep spending under PFI off the books to avoid accusations of profligacy. It also showed a blind faith in the private sector and has not been value for money in any way.
    2
  1235.  @royboy565  No WMD. None found and no evidence that they were moved. Labour has been in power around 30 years in the last 122. England is the problem, true. Even if Labour under Starmer formed a government ( not going to happen unless it is a coaltion), unless there is a paradigm shift in thinking about the state of society and the economy, it will make little difference. Two parties committed to austerity and the neoliberal nightmare. Labour in thrall to the Blair era and approaches that have no answers to the problems of the twenty first century and the Tories wedded to the failed Thatcherism that Blair accepted and showing every sign of driving the country over a cliff as they go full Trump.
    2
  1236. Leave the Prime Miniature alone.
    2
  1237. Failed Tory leadership candidate and controversial as Health Secretary to put it mildly. His presence as Chancellor underlines the fact that Truss' agenda has crashed and burned as was always inevitable due to its economic illiteracy and extremism. The Tories will fight GE on a ticket of having wrecked the economy, hiked interest rates for years to come with an avoidable insane budget and more austerity when public services are on their knees and the public has finally understood that austerity does not work. Better late than never but only 10 years ago most of the public regurgitated Tory lies about fixing roofs, credit card maxed out, and was content to see the poor punished for the 2008 crash that they did not cause. Remember too that Labour was committed to austerity (just less of it) until Corbyn took over but the public rejected him. Beware of a Starmer government unlikely to deliver the radical transformation akin to the scale of the challenges of 1945 that is required to drag Britain out of the mire it is in.
    2
  1238.  @allip4226  Labour is the only alternative, unfortunately, but it is committed to the same neoliberal policies that are the root cause of our problems ( Brexit for the right was intended to deliver the small state, low taxes for the rich and limited public services of their dreams). Labour is nowhere near repudiating Brexit because it wants and fears losing the votes of white racists who voted Brexit ( most of it was a racist vote). The left has the best ideas for rejuvenating the economy but it has been purged which does not augur well for a Labour government. The left of Labour today is to the right of Labour thirty years ago, which shows how far it has sold out working people.
    2
  1239. Well said.
    2
  1240. Could have prepared better? The Tory hustings repeatedly showed what she was planning and now it has come to pass in full technicolour. It was reported on by the national media. The message is that it is not the policy that is wrong just the presentation. The implication is that if you cannot see the rationale behind the policy, you must be thick. The true sound of zealotry too. Astounding, given that the reaction of the markets has just called time on Truss' time as Prime Minister (it is a question of when she goes not if) the Tories have done more damage to their wholly undeserved reputation for economic competence than at any time previously, including 1992. At least then events were out their control (ERM) but crashing the pound and the economy in the space of a week was entirely self- inflicted. A monumental act of self- harm, just like the Brexit that is at the heart of the poison in British politics.
    2
  1241. He has a very feminine way of speaking. Odd it is rarely remarked on. Ditto his feminine mannerisms.
    2
  1242. Ian Kershaw is the definitive author on Hitler.
    2
  1243. The whole point of neoliberalism is to transfer wealth from the majority to the rich and any tactic to achieve this end will be deployed. It is an ideology as insidious if not more so than Soviet inspired communist dictatorship post 1945 but is dressed up with ribbons to confuse people into thinking it works for all and is the only workable form of capitalism. The late Mark Fisher described it as capitalist realism. Vulnerable groups are predictable targets by the right.
    2
  1244.  @worldofameiso5491  Don't talk nonsense. Labour has never done anything more than regulate capitalism ever since the first Labour government of 1924. That is not Marxism, nowhere near.
    2
  1245. Steady on. Labour is on course to be the largest single party at the GE according to analysis reported on Sky. A lot can happen between now and the election. Starmer is a serious liability for Labour as events will continue to prove. He is not trusted by the wider electorate or by most of the party membership. He lacks the principles, sincerity, humour and communication skills of Ed Miliband who, of course, failed to win in 2015. There is still a narrow path to victory for the Tories. Some comparison with 1992 is apposite- Labour was expected to win and tragically fell short. The Labour council election results in 1995 projected a Labour victory at the next GE but theses results in 2023 do not put Labour in the same position. Far from it.
    2
  1246. The cornettos have shrunk, lucky dips are double the price of a few years ago and newspapers cost a fortune these days.
    2
  1247.  @JoelJoel321  It is deeply dysfunctional and I wonder why those who want to make society better for the majority even bother given the apathy and habitual voting against self interest displayed by the millions who vote Tory as well as the greed and selfishness of those who should know better.
    2
  1248.  @stormsprite  Patronising and poorly written comment. It is not well understood and if you find it a boring whinge, that speaks volumes about you. The failures of democracy and what can be done to address the democratic deficit are not widely discussed. It is self evident that democracy is preferable to any alternative despite its weaknesses but it was not necessary to qualify this. The premise of your question makes no sense and I will not be wasting time discussing the problems of democracy with you.
    2
  1249.  @danw9464  Nuanced perspective? Explain. The choice is either austerity or Keynesianism. The Tories favour austerity due to their myopic and economically illiterate belief that the state is the same as a household when it comes to spending.
    2
  1250. Orange Jesus. Laughable. Britain is insane but no-one believes in the Rapture. Most people don't know what it is and probably think it is a band from the seventies or eighties.
    2
  1251.  @gilliandownend8414  Bear not bare. Ironic given you mention the Education Secretary.
    2
  1252.  @dannyeleternity7390  A generation is 25 years so both. Del Amitri's 1989 hit Stone Cold Sober has a line in it ' whole generations thinking of themselves as infidels and pop stars', which sounds like a comment on individualism and narcissism even then. The reference to infidels sounds appears to be about secularism/ atheism.
    2
  1253.  @lorettaruckle8336  Early onset is often in the 50s or 60s not aged 78.
    2
  1254. What are you talking about? Did you study Geography at school?
    2
  1255.  @catgladwell5684  If Labour is committed to the same policies as the Tories, which it is, it cannot serve the interests of the majority. While I understand the rhetorical caution in the context of a hostile media ( it was ever thus going back to the first Labour government of 1924), the problem is that the Starmer iteration of Labour means it. The name on the door will change but the policies will remain the same- the ruling class and the public at large ( most of whom do not even see the problem as neoliberalism because it is so embedded in every aspect of society and economy) have to reject the system that has widened inequality since 1979 for there to be any chance of living standards and life chances improving for the majority. I see no prospect of that happening- Thatcher converted Labour and described 'new' Labour as her greatest triumph. She was right- we live in Thatcher's Britain, which Starmer can be relied upon to continue. Tell me I am wrong in five years and I will be the first to admit it- I have spent my entire life hoping against the evidence for a better society but I know it is no longer possible in Britain because the preconditions have been removed comprehensively.
    2
  1256.  @catgladwell5684  This is the worst government ever to be in office in British history of the last 123 years bar none, no doubt of that at all in my mind. I am familiar with the history going back to 1900. I respect your differing view because you are right to express it and the conversation should always be ongoing but it is clear from the marginalisation ( others would put it more strongly, I am sure) of the left taking place in Labour under Starmer that a Labour government will not even move to moderate social democracy or democratic socialism. Without doing so, it cannot effect meaningful and systemic change. Nice to have conversed with you and all the best.
    2
  1257.  @craigandrews2089  have not of. The premise of your comment is nonsensical.
    2
  1258.  @indivisible4835  Both. Only in Britain does grammar not matter. Or should that be Britian? I bet there is no-one in France or Germany who cannot spell the name of the country they live in. Bad grammar is a national scandal in the UK but few care.
    2
  1259. On the contrary he is one of the contributors in the British media who is an effective communicator with principles he sticks to. I can see why this might upset a lot of people who are troubled by this, especially right wingers.
    2
  1260. @ Dumb reply- well done.
    2
  1261. If he has the numbers why not declare today?
    2
  1262. Great anecdote.
    2
  1263. Is your television working properly? There are some good Black Friday deals you might need to consider for a new one.
    2
  1264. Russian lessons should be compulsory for everyone in America. They are going to need to speak the language soon. It is quite tricky with more complicated words and phrases than the average MAGA moron is able to use. It's going to be a challenge.
    2
  1265. Interesting in Britain that Trump winning is being discussed as a foregone conclusion in many quarters, with no recognition of the counter arguments self evident in a cursory glance at some of the segments like this and below the line comments that give a clearer sense of what is going on in America. Too many vested interests in Britain on the right that don't see anything too threatening in a Trump Presidency ( they should be very afraid and have misread him) and too many people who are just happy to see the world burn literally ( climate emergency) and figuratively. Love of chaos is a vastly overlooked factor in the appeal of lunatics like Trump. We are doomed unless good people do the right thing.
    2
  1266.  @redlightmax This is a hard right government but it will be even worse. Far worse.
    2
  1267. Mental health is worse in the most unequal countries. Britain is one of the most unequal countries on the planet. The answer is reversal of Thatcherism but this is precisely what the establishment is determined to avoid. The penny never drops in Britain except when it is too late and enormous damage has been done- forty five years of neoliberalism yet the voters keep on voting for it at every election. No wonder Corbyn was stopped. He and Miliband were the last chance to change course but it is very unlikely to happen now unless a Thatcher of the left emerges. Oliver James wrote and spoke extensively about the impact of income inequality on mental health a number of years ago but since then it has widened relentlessly. Wild west capitalism has caused this mess but neoliberalism dictates that there is no alternative-capitalist realism as the late Mark Fisher described it.
    2
  1268.  @Superman-nr8ce  Exactly, which is why the establishment blocked Corbyn. Britain is finished with the continuation of the failed neoliberal policies that have destroyed society. With Starmer in power nothing will change and the income gap will widen even further.
    2
  1269. So stupid. How often should an election be? Every six weeks or would one a week be better?
    2
  1270.  @sw1000xg  Economy was growing in 2010 when Labour left office. Fact. The note was a tradition going back decades and was not to be taken seriously. It was not meant literally. The Conservatives decided to exploit it by lying to justify austerity in order to punish the poor. The deficit and debt both increased meaning they failed by their own measure. Peak year for disposable income in 1970s was 1976 due to strong unions. Tories have destroyed society but one day people might learn to stop voting for incompetence and greed.
    2
  1271.  @markdavidson9743  Funny. Right wingers love calling others snowflakes but are the first to take offence when challenged. The word snowflake is designed to close down challenge to unacceptable language and behaviour. It is 'dares' not dears by the way.
    2
  1272.  @rocoe9019  You do not speak for Ireland.
    2
  1273. 100%. Well said.
    2
  1274. Members not representatives.
    2
  1275. Brexit, Covid and Ukraine are the horsemen of the apocolypse that will continue to deliver the nightmare of all nightmares under the extreme right English nationalist party that used to be called the Conservatives. This is the end game of Thatcherism as they try to create Singapore on sea. It is a turning point; either the British accept the deregulation the ideologues seek or reject it. All bets are off.
    2
  1276. Well said. The issue is not just anti-union legislation, it is also weak unions in some cases, that have failed to make the case robustly enough for wages to keep pace with inflation. No wonder it is an uphill battle to make progress- too little, too late. Apathetic workers are part of the issue too. The teacher unions have surrendered to 6.5%, a pay cut. At least the BMA has called the government's bluff by saying it is not accepting it. As a rough calculation teachers who went on strike for eight days losing pay and pension contribution will gain about £2000 at best for the next year as it is only for one year. That is a loss of at least £1000 to gain a few hundred pounds which will be taxed anyway. Every worker who is not asleep needs to demand strong leadership from every single union and elect executives that will do what unions should be doing, fight properly for their conditions of service, including pay.
    2
  1277. Apropos of nothing, Burnistoun is the best comedy on television. Highly recommended.
    2
  1278. Neoliberal is not centre right. He is very right wing by the standards of British politics in the last fifty years.
    2
  1279.  @AnonIllumi  No need for capital letters- people can read.
    2
  1280. Fig rolls are also magnificent. A whole packet is eaten at a time in my house. Only solution to the problem is not to buy them.
    2
  1281. Stupid comment. Woke is right wing culture war distraction from social justice for marginalised groups. There is no going back to the 1950s.
    2
  1282.  @alanhindle3149  Fishing is worth less than music. I was aware of this but it does not prove anything. Both make a minuscule contribution to the economy. Britain's cultural reach is nowhere near as wide as many people like to think. Constant references to things being known around the world, etc, is empty boasting. Most of the rest of the world's population could not care less about what is going on in Britain and does not think about it ninety niner percent of the time. There are plenty of other cultural reference points in other countries. It may surprise the average Briton to know that some of those come from other countries too. Amazing!
    2
  1283. No need for capital letters. Step Right Up Jaki Graham.
    2
  1284. They have to learn Russian. Easier to pay up.
    2
  1285.  IsraelDiegoRivera Genius2 The real Genius  Yes to public health measures to protect people. Yes to vaccines, mandates and lockdowns where necessary.
    2
  1286.  IsraelDiegoRivera Genius2 The real Genius  They do work and are based on science. Ignore conspiracy theories.
    2
  1287. Bullying in education is a hidden national scandal in the UK and nothing is being done about it. Almost nothing online about it is testament to this. It is time people started speaking out about it. I am surprised academic research has not been carried out into the reasons why thousands of teachers have left education in the last 20 years and the role that bullying has played in this. I am sure it would be a large component in many cases. Weak unions do not have the will or skill to back staff most of the time, there is no solidarity in teaching, staff are scared of management in many schools and anyone over 50 is more vulnerable to pressure being put on them because they are more expensive. Unless the silence is broken it will never end and the roll call of victims will continue unchecked.
    2
  1288. It is illegal. Union funds would be frozen. Co-ordinated action is the closest thing possible. I am afraid the unions are going to sell out the workers with pathetic pay deals way below inflation. Notwithstanding the obvious negotiating tactic of asking for more than you are likely to win in a deal, already the TSSA has settled for around 7% for many of its members and a no compulsory redundancy clause until the start of 2025. Only 12 months away and the merry go round will probably start again. The TSSA is supposed to be one of the more determined unions. The workers are led up the hill to strike action and then betrayed with rubbish, risible deals. Ergo they are powerless. Needless to say, they do not have the support of the so called party of the workers that calls itself Labour.
    2
  1289. For the few, not the many. Thatcherism rules!
    2
  1290.  @davidjupp961  Don't be so harsh on yourself. I have stated the truth. Do some reading and thinking about politics. It will do you good.
    2
  1291. She destroyed Britain and we are living in Thatcher's Britain today. She was the best Prime Minister for the rich, no doubt. The decay of today is the legacy of Thatcher. Britain is the most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria. Once upon a time enlightened Tories from the one nation tradition understood that workers' wages had to be maintained at decent levels and the state had to do more than it does today to help people in need. But the Tories have been in thrall to her failed ideology since 1979, which has achieved nothing except for the minority of the rich.
    2
  1292.  @SteveStevens-sp7ly  Only in Norway. Great guitar work for Billy Idol by the way.
    2
  1293.  @puclopuclik4108  Striking in line with the law is not missing work for no reason and is not a sackable offence.
    2
  1294.  @puclopuclik4108  No need to explain it to you.They are separate issues. Prior to recent strikes in education which were a last resort after years of pay decreases in real terms, there had not been strike action for decades. It sounds like you have a problem with anyone striking if you seriously think fines are appropriate. I would be worried about your reasoning skills if you think the issues are comparable. You are in a tiny minority if you think any sector should be fined for going on strike. Weird.
    2
  1295. The comments were completely unacceptable. The excuse that age must be taken into consideration does not stand up to scrutiny-awareness of anti-racism and political correctness (not a pejorative in my view) goes back at least 30 years. The excuse of age keeps on being used to rationalise unacceptable comments. However, the matter could have been dealt with differently without the need for a resignation and banner headlines. I write as a republican and I hold no brief for the establishment and all its ills. Where age is relevant in this story is the human frailty in an 83-year-old woman being forced to resign over an issue that could still have been addressed but differently.
    2
  1296. Just seen a flying pig go past the window. Starmer has broken pledges already. Anyone who believes that Labour will do precisely what it says here is living in cloud cuckoo land. Even if it did, it is nowhere near enough. A sticking plaster at best when the wholesale junking of all Tory policies is what is needed, not duplicating them.
    2
  1297.  @markwebster5749  Hilarious.
    2
  1298.  @markryan3498  It does.
    2
  1299. The Jeremy Days Brand New Toy 1989.
    2
  1300.  @ScottishRoss27  Tory vote collapsed. Torie (sic) vote did not.
    2
  1301. A really weak argument. Do you have anything more original than repeating one of the right wing talking points trotted out with tedious regularity by the echo chamber online, in print and on television? No, I thought not.
    2
  1302. Less of the oxy.
    2
  1303. Bobby Seagull could do the maths. Ukraine 5 Putin 0. When did Wagner switch from music to insurrection?
    2
  1304. @Well said.
    2
  1305.  @Support-your-local-team  Government overreach. Utter nonsense. This is what the Conservatives thought of the NHS, voting against it three times in Parliament before conceding it was inevitable and necessary.
    2
  1306. The prescience of Nostradamus right there.
    2
  1307. More to it than that. He made a cultural impact. Read up on it.
    2
  1308.  @watchfan6180  Is that you Johnson? I refuse to call him by his first name, which is actually Alexander.
    2
  1309.  @ZiggyMercury  Put it down in every country then.
    2
  1310.  @CasV44  It is beyond redemption as it currently stands. Difficult to see how that could change. I would love to be proved wrong.
    2
  1311. Absolutely right. I read that for years they would turn up to support various campaigns when almost no- one else did from the PLP. I am proud to have received an email from John McDonnell a few years ago in which he addressed me as comrade. That made my day.
    2
  1312.  @janewright2800  Thanks!
    2
  1313. See Owen Jones The Guardian article about the Blairite ascendancy in Labour (4th September 2023). I am a socialist but cannot vote for a neoliberal Labour Party with absolutely no vision and nothing to offer for a better society and economy. I will vote Green at the next election and am now a member of the party. Labour sold its soul under Blair and Thatcher's description of 'new' Labour as her greatest achievement is one hundred percent the tragic truth.
    2
  1314. Appalling and disrespectful comment.
    2
  1315. To not like the eighties is misguided, Eyes Without a Face in particular.
    2
  1316. Exactly. There is no evidence for this. Only stupid people make such boasts about being the friendliest and funniest people in the UK. Absurd.
    2
  1317. Neoliberalism is the problem. Weak unions, income inequality, low pay, precarious jobs, tax cuts for the rich- all part of the project since 1979. Voters have been stupid enough to fall for it.
    2
  1318. Don't be silly. Under the UK system any party in power is entitled to wait five years until it calls an election.
    2
  1319.  @garethjohn5345  Think it through.
    2
  1320.  @tonycowin  The bit about there being a good chance of either leading the Tory Party is indeed correct.
    2
  1321.  @davidporter2828 Those who are well brought up were largely able to cope with Covid. Poor parenting, inequality, excessive working hours often for low pay, poverty and a culture of excuses that takes the easy option of blaming problems on Covid, are all issues. Poor parenting cuts across socio economic 'status', contrary to the right wing media narrative that likes to punch down in blaming the poor for problems not of their own making in terms of economic circumstances and blighted life chances. Covid exacerbated pre-existing problems but it did not create them as many like to conveniently pretend.
    2
  1322.  @markohenry5891  Under Labour from 1997-2010 the economy grew at an average of 2.3% per year. Since the Conservatives took over in May 2010, the UK economy has only grown at 1.2% per year. This is verifiable fact. Obviously you will not like it but before you write a post falsely accusing someone of being wrong, you should spend more time fact checking. I cited Labour MPs as stating it without refutation- there are any number of places where this might be asserted. You have no idea who I vote for but it is irrelevant.
    2
  1323. Hurrah for neoliberalism, the gift that keeps on giving to the rich and taking from the rest, especially the poor. Austerity is a design feature and will be continued by the red Tories of Labour under the guise of iron discipline. Taxes are too low, especially for the rich who have been getting away with it for decades. Wages are too low and need to rise significantly to enable workers to cope with the cost of greed crisis that has widened the already massive level of income inequality in the UK. Income, wealth and land belonging to the rich are all going to have to be taxed by the next government. It makes no difference if it is the red Tories who have almost eradicated socialism in Britain or the hard right iteration of the Tories in power now. Britain is in the middle of European nations in terms of the taxation- societies with higher taxes are more equal. Neoliberal laboratories like the UK and USA are the most unequal places on the planet, which has resulted in private affluence and public squalor.
    2
  1324. Completely wrong. Illogical.
    2
  1325.  @tomnewell8886  The fools that blame everything on woke would probably be the first to blame wok on woke too. I think we need next level woke, the more the better.
    2
  1326. He is able to make a point articulately unlike most of the commenters here who clearly were not paying attention to the need to develop coherent argument.
    2
  1327. Education should be independent of political control. Academisation was designed to undermine and remove the role of local authorities in education in the most significant act of centralisation ever seen. It was sold as local democratisation of the system but it is self evidently the opposite. It is surprising you do not appear to realise this. It is correct that the Finnish approach to starting primary school later is the right one.
    2
  1328.  @Tybourne1991  I doubt Labour will reverse academisation as it is committed to the role of the market, including in health care. Labour started the process with schools but it was limited to some parts of London in order to drive up standards. The Tories under Gove gave it rocket boosters and turned it on its head. It became ideologically driven as a means to undermine local authorities owing to the predictably tedious and erroneous belief that they were inherently left wing. Not sure what is left wing about fixing a boiler or servicing the lights but reds under the bed are everywhere to the Conservatives. Some academies have raised attainment from a low base but the claims that the reforms have raised standards overall are bogus. When I started teaching the NC was in its infancy and there was a lot of disquiet about it constraining teachers from offering the broadest possible curriculum, especially in London where ILEA had recently been abolished. The reason- you guessed it, too left wing!
    2
  1329.  @Tybourne1991  I did not know that about Saskatchewan but I am not surprised the curriculum was effective. Ideology trumps evidence most of the time in Britain, which is why it performs so badly relative to many countries in different fields. The Finnish model is correctly identified as highly successful but education policy in Britain is a million miles away from replicating it. Ironic that if Bernie Sanders had won the nomination in 2016 for the Democratic Party, he would probably have become the first socialist President of the United States. He would have received the nomination but for the fact that Hilary Clinton was chosen over him. She was the wrong candidate to defeat Trump.
    2
  1330.  @smellslikethinice1107  Class based society, more than anywhere else, lying right wing press filling people's minds with propaganda, poor quality education meaning most of the population cannot think critically, the toxic legacy of empire, and a diet of bread and circuses to distract people from anything that actually matters. These are some of the key, insurmountable problems that guarantee Britain will continue to slide into the abyss compared to many other nations.
    2
  1331.  @vancemead5956  Agree.
    2
  1332.  @janinedalbey2448  Explain.
    2
  1333. Britain in a nutshell since 1900. Thanks. Well before the Spanish Civil War.
    2
  1334. This is Braverman's fault- she should own the disgraceful scenes she caused and resign. Bravo for Politics Joe getting close to knuckleheads to interview them. The true patriots are on the left not these poseurs and nasty, sad 'men'. Hope not hate. Solidarity with all immigrants, targeted groups and those who want peace.
    2
  1335.  @CupOfTeaX  I certainly do not wish to discuss it any further or add to the matter but the way you have reflected on the issue does you credit and is a rare example of someone not digging in their heels below the line. I mean that sincerely and wish you well.
    2
  1336.  @CupOfTeaX  Thank you. Have a good evening and I would forget all about it if you have not already!
    2
  1337.  @CupOfTeaX  I will delete my original comments in view of your genuine response. Happy to do so.
    2
  1338. Many of the unions are going to sell out the workers with pathetic pay 'deals' that will do nothing to halt the worst drop in living standards since the 1950s. It is not like this in many other countries. Government is to blame first and foremost but workers are ill served by many ineffective unions that are full of hot air and deliver little. The NEU may not reach the threshold for strike action, which speaks volumes about the lack of solidarity in education. Even if it does, it is advocating strike action which will end in a deal close to what the pay review body has recommended and the government has already accepted. The NEU issue is the fact government will not fund it in full which raises the prospect of redundancies in schools. But this is for the union to address not every single teacher it is leading into strike action that will achieve almost nothing in terms of pay.
    2
  1339.  @upshankkumalu9301 Nonsense. Most unequal country in Europe apart from Bulgaria. Use of selective figures cannot disguise the fact that rampant inflation and year on year poor pay deals wipe out any supposed increase in disposable income. I won't be responding to anything else you post as it is clear you possess a very negative attitude towards the real difficulties millions are facing.
    2
  1340.  @demianschultz3749  I am happy to be corrected and will amend the post but I do not appreciate your rude tone. It was an error which does not detract from the substance of the point being made.
    2
  1341. The Tories are the worst government in British history bar none against stiff competition. But Labour has no vision for the country and now the left has been purged no answers to the problems of Britain. It is not on the side of the workers and will do nothing to steer the country in the right direction by reversing the effects of neoliberalism. It is neoliberalism and for that reason Britain is doomed under the Tories and the same if Labour forms a government. Starmer will be a disaster.
    2
  1342. Bone's first GE was Islywn against Kinnock in 1992. A desperate tragedy that Kinnock did not win- he moved Labour to the right but by today's standards he was way to the left of where Labour has ended up.
    2
  1343.  @lkyuvsad  No solidarity in education except in a few places, mostly in inner city areas but not exclusively. Newsnight feature on possible strikes in schools last night said many teachers did not want to say if they voted for strike action. Only in education and Britain. The unions have failed to secure decent pay rises in education for well over a decade offering little in return for the steep subscription fees. They are good at putting surveys out that confirm what the last survey told them. Long hours have been an issue in teaching for at least 20 years and nothing has been done about it. Many work up to 90 hours a week easily. Two working weeks in one but many are not in a union and it looks like NEU might not reach the threshold for strike action.
    2
  1344. Cerebrally.
    2
  1345.  @Pobotrol  Excellent response. Well done!
    2
  1346.  @davidpryle3935  Patronising response and stupid question. I know their position but think they should be challenged on it, not least of all because RMT has not come up with a persuasive critique of Brexit as far as I am aware. Cite any links or articles to the contrary by all means. There is a tradition of opposition to the EEC/EU going back to the 1970s on the left but there are plenty on the left who do not share this. Labour's pro European position emerged in the 1980s because it calculated that social protections would provide a counterweight to the Tory onslaught against workers' rights.
    2
  1347. Putin is evil but do not let the Russian people off the hook. In contrast to the brave people who opposed dictatorship in eastern Europe during the Cold War, Russians have accepted it for decades with a few honourable exceptions. They are to blame.
    2
  1348.  @FromEarthfornow  Different issues. Governments have the power to confront repressive regimes.
    2
  1349. The tide has turned against Torykip. They are on their way out and soon to be consigned to the dustbin of history. The system is not rigged against the British people, this is utter nonsense. Let refugees work while waiting for claims to be processed and ensure the backlog is cleared properly. It is morally reprehensible to deport people to Rwanda. Braverman may lead the Tories after their coming defeat but she will have no political credibility with the country.
    2
  1350.  @thebunit6492  It does not take months. Seven weeks, just under two months.
    2
  1351.  @thebunit6492  It is something I am aware of from general knowledge. Not an assumption or made up. It is the case.
    2
  1352. Braverman says unpalatable things with a smile as if that makes it ok. Far from it. Overconfident, arrogant and thinks she is a future Tory leader. In reality she is about to play her part in the removal of the Conservatives from power at the next GE. A plane to Rwanda on the front page of the Telegraph? The idea of that as an ambition is disgusting. The reality is that most of the population is not preoccupied with people arriving in boats from France in the way hard right Tories think and want it to be, realising that there are far more important and serious issues going on that do impact on their daily lives and prospects for the future. The politics of hate has no future. Braverman's political career is going nowhere fast as no-one would be able to trust her in future. A commentator on Sky today said that she should have been nowhere near a cabinet position.
    2
  1353.  @Hangingshawlevel  Agree. UBI is the way forward and it is sustainable growth the planet needs. The obsession with GDP is central to the problem but most people fall into the trap of talking about it. But in the current context which no-one is willing to change at present, low productivity does put Britain at a disadvantage. Climate meltdown will change everything and it is probably already too late, it is that bad. Not an argument against trying but the situation is bleak. We have arrived at this point due to the greed of the bosses and exploitation of workers. The US government was warned in 1977 about the risk of runaway climate change when Jimmy Carter was President but action so far is too little, too late.
    2
  1354. MPs should not be allowed to have second jobs. The Tories have often done so for decades. They are arrogant, entitled and often self-serving. Being an MP is, in truth, not the big deal it is made out to be by the public projecting an image of power on to them. Yes, they have power to legislate, but the approach to the exercise of power is so different in many other countries. Arrogance is not a bug in UK society these days, it is a built-in feature. Unless they are in the cabinet or occupy another ministerial position, MPs are like glorified social workers. It is time for people to treat them with the respect the role warrants but stop being impressed by them as individuals unless they deserve it for how well they do the job. Many of them are not especially gifted as one ex Tory MP appeared to suggest in a recent interview, when they observed how surprised they were at how lacking in talent many MPs were when they arrived in parliament after working in business for a number of years.
    2
  1355. The UK is a dreadful place for most of the population, who still vote Conservative, of course. Not the brightest in the world. Austerity is a political choice not a necessity. There is no fiscal black hole as the government pretends- the money could be paid off at a slower pace and taxing the rich will pay for it. Instead as ever the focus is on punishing and disciplining the poor to pay for the mistakes and greed of the rich. £30 billion of the non-existent black hole was created by Truss' disastrous budget.
    2
  1356. Talk is cheap. Anyone can say that. She may be sincere but a Labour government will not reverse the worst anti trade union legislation in Europe. It is no friend of workers. As a neoliberal party it will maintain hostility to organised labour as one of the key tenets of the creed that has ruined the UK and many other countries since 1979.
    2
  1357.  @West1Think  It is not a diatribe, quite the opposite. I have made reasoned arguments. The vote was narrow and an advisory referendum, not even legally binding. One million people who voted for Brexit have died since 2016. Evidence based argument may be wasted on you as you state, which speaks volumes. Many of those who voted for Brexit remain impervious to reason. What is hadst and why use a capital letter for public?
    2
  1358. True. Totally.
    2
  1359. The average French family is 10% better off than in the UK and in Germany it is 20%. Yet this has got a long, long way to run. Monarchy and the coronation is part of the choreography of the establishment designed to tell you to accept being poor because you deserve it and it is not going to change.
    2
  1360. Labour not labour. Different meanings.
    2
  1361. No, the French state has created the poverty in many parts of France. It alone is to blame.
    2
  1362.  @Tombola8610  He does not have the ability to be PM, is tetchy and does not like being held to account, all part of the job notwithstanding the poor quality of media questioning. The Tory party is split and Johnson supporters will work relentlessly to undermine him. The degree to which this will happen remains to be seen because he has angered many of them by suddenly pulling out of the leadership. They are deluded anyway but Johnson's hopes of returning are over. Reports say he was telling MPs he rang up to garner support that Sunak would be caught up in the Privileges Committee enquiry. Hopefully the voters of Uxbridge will vote him out if a by election results from the findings of the committee. Sunak cannot unite the Tory party and will be trying to ensure he can get legislation through parliament. With a majority of 71 and the risk of Tory MPs voting against the government on different issues this might mean a GE has to happen if government grinds to a halt by virtue of this. He will be firefighting all over the place and his premiership is likely to be relatively brief. He only has to serve 45 days to avoid being the shortest serving PM in history!
    2
  1363. Don't complain. The NAHT did not reach the threshold for strike action yet so called leaders will continue to complain about funding cuts. Money should be poured into education but obviously the Tories will not do this. The majority of NASUWT members did not vote to strike ( total membership) because it did not reach the threshold. Yes, the threshold is too high but the result of not meeting it is that strike action cannot take place. The NEU met the threshold but without the other two unions, its argument is severely blunted. It shows there is no solidarity in teaching and the NASUWT must be the Tories favourite union. The NEU is out on a limb. Education is in free fall with multiple problems and it is going to be even worse in two to three years from now. Teachers are leaving for various reasons. Pay and unsustainable workload are two without doubt but the elephant in the room that is not being addressed is also worsening behaviour and bullying of staff. Unless the culture in schools changes ( spoiler alert- there is zero chance of this), nothing can improve and the exodus will quicken. Watch this space.
    2
  1364.  @everestyeti  There is no black hole- it is a fiction. A decision to close the gap over a longer period of time would eradicate it easily. Stopping legal tax evasion would also rake in a large amount of money for government. It is a smokescreen to justify more austerity. Do not fall for it.
    2
  1365. It does not matter what she looks like. She is not in the workplace in the street. The obsession in Britain with appearance ( highly subjective anyway and a matter of personal choice) and notions of what is professional is ludicrous. The country is falling apart yet trivia is uppermost in most people's minds.
    2
  1366.  @cathalduffy1618  Comment does not make sense. Cite the source for the productivity issue starting in the 1950s.
    2
  1367. What on earth do you mean?
    2
  1368. Agreed, someone with an incisive, considered comment. The coverage of the bacon sandwich had anti semitic overtones some argued at the time although it was largely ignored. He is decent and serious which a lot of people in Brtain have a problem with. Earnestness is seen as a problem in the UK but not in other nations. There is an interesting chapter in Steve Richards' book about the prime ministers we never had about Ed and his brother David. Ed spent election evening in 2015 planning his cabinet as it was expected that Labour would win so the shock of losing must have been acute to say the least. Over a decade ago me and my wife saw him at the Hay Festival site with his wife who smiled at me for no reason other than just being pleasant ( I might have looked lost while waiting for my wife!). The treatment of Ed by the media was disgraceful but worse was to come with Corbyn. I seem to recall that Ed was also fair minded towards Corbyn unlike the majority of the PLP many of of whom failed to support him.
    2
  1369.  @BoyeeSmudger  Ok, I will delete it then. Thanks.
    2
  1370. Looks like the comment was intended unless this post is satire!
    2
  1371. Starmer out. He is absolutely the wrong leader for the Labour Party. If he becomes PM he will be disastrous. It is self evident he is divisive and has alienated many with his stance on Israel. Immediate ceasefire now. Dialogue leading to peace and an end to violence.
    2
  1372.  @GlennLeinster  Well said. A proper socialist party.
    2
  1373.  @karimtabrizi376 I am on the left but Ali Miraj nailed the issues with regard to poor discipline in schools in a discussion on the Jeremy Vine Programme three days ago. He is on the right but often makes incisive comments that anyone sensible can agree with. About time the problems in schools over behaviour is addressed. The NEU appears to think it is not high priority according to a recent comment from it.
    2
  1374.  @ecnalms851  You do not know the meaning of radical and clearly lack any historical context. Use a dictionary and do some wider reading.
    2
  1375. Good to see that most of the below the line comments can see Truss's failure for what it was like most of the rest of the population regardless of political affiliation. She is a gift to Labour and should continue to appear on television/ write articles as much as possible. Labour, of course, will follow the same failed neoliberal policies, but the removal of this egregious government is a necessary corrective if there is to be even the slightest chance of things changing for the better in Britain. Spoiler alert- they will not. History will damn the political class for its adherence to neoliberalism.
    2
  1376. Profound contribution. They should make you Prime Minister.
    2
  1377.  @mrmensa1096  Are you sure your Mensa membership is up to date? Immigration is expected to fall to about 250,000 a year by 2025. Keep it quiet, best not to mention it unless it diffuses the panic about it confected by the right. Really, they should love immigration because it means a source of cheap labour. Some of these Thatcherites have forgotten what their creed really means.
    2
  1378. Don't bet on it. Labour will struggle to form a majority. Only highly targeted and effective tactical voting organised with the other parties will give it any chance of being the largest single party. Time and again for 122 years the voters have had the chance to reject the Tories but England is the problem- it does not want what it (wrongly) fears is socialism no matter how mild. The Labour politicians who have moved the party to the right are culpable but many of them were motivated by the intransigence of the voters who keep voting against their own self interest. Must not complain.
    2
  1379. It is about the miners strike of 1984/ 85 though your description is apt in that its defeat signalled the death of socialism in Britain and was the decisive turning point in British post war history, possibly the century as far as far as the economy and society was concerned ( excepting the unique circumstances of the second world war). We live in Thatcher's Britain today because she destroyed the country and its effects live on.
    2
  1380. For a Rachel Reeves speech to be describes as brilliant is ridiculous. She is a terrible speaker and is monotonous. Labour is agreeing with the Tory measures so what is there to praise here? There is no financial hole- it is a Tory fiction and choice to raise taxes and cut spending in a recession. More madness which Labour condones. What is the point of a Labour Party that is not on the side of the workers?
    2
  1381.  @rugby86  I wish you all the best. I would consider moving abroad as an option if possible, although realise it is not practical for everybody for various reasons.
    2
  1382. Very good. I hope as a son of Birmingham Jeff Lynne is a fan of the ILO and on the left. I hope 1986 album Balance of Power was named in tribute to workers' rights.
    2
  1383.  @letsdiscussitoversometea8479  Bizarre explanation and analogies.
    2
  1384.  @letsdiscussitoversometea8479  Ok, I acknowledge this. I also appreciate that people will have different views on things and that many people are loyal to a particular channel for whatever reason. I lived in London from 1993 to 2001 and thought London Today/ Tonight were both excellent, as well as many of the other programmes LNN produced. Most of the staff were the same as I understand it when Thames ceased to exist. I grew up with BBC North West Tonight and Granada Reports, the latter especially being an excellent regional programme and Granada a renowned channel. Many Thames programmes were broadcast across the UK and so most people over the age of 50 will be familiar with the ident, which indeed even my French wife knows from programmes broadcast in France made by Thames in the eighties and nineties before she moved to Britain. I am puzzled at the number of comments lamenting the loss of Thames when it was replaced by Carlton but the lack of reasons why Carlton was so poor and/ or Thames was better.
    2
  1385. Ending neoliberalism is the answer to Britain's problems. Scottish independence is the answer to Scotland's problems because all of Britain's problems are rooted in the poisonous policies emanating out of England since 1979. Recent research has shown that if London is taken out of the equation the total value of the UK economy is less than Mississippi, America's poorest state in the Deep South. Keynesian tax and spend is the answer to Britain's problems! National service for a couple of weeks as reported recently is a waste of time- unenforceable due to refusal ( even if compulsory, there would be no sanction) and lack of parental support. It is high time for a widespread realisation and conversation about the collapse of parenting in the UK which is causing major problems on so many levels in society- national service is not the answer, especially tied to bogus Tory ideas of patriotism and community. The Tories have destroyed community and they can stick their brand of patriotism where the sun does not shine. Happy Saturday!
    2
  1386. Can't wait for red Tory government delivering neoliberal policies after the GE. The elephant in the room will continue to be ignored in the most unequal country in Europe, except Bulgaria. If the poor in Britain could swap places with the poor in Eastern Europe they would be richer than now. If London is taken out of the equation Britain's entire economy is worth less than Mississippi, America's poorest state. Is Starmer going to fix this? No way.
    2
  1387.  @tomg268  As a socialist the Green Party has my vote at the GE.
    2
  1388. Notable that the coverage shown in the UK is sanitised- footage broadcast by the pro Macron BFM in France is hair raising, truly shocking. Clearly the UK media does not want to accurately report the extent of the anger and violence in France.
    2
  1389. The more so called woke the better. Most people dismissing things as woke do not know what the word means. Would you like to share your definition?
    2
  1390.  @cjh0751  You don't understand? Think about it. Read up on differences between other countries and the UK. Educate yourself.
    2
  1391. No point in capping bankers' bonuses because the salaries are simply increased to compensate. Tax them properly including all of the rich, not just on income but also assets. Progressives rarely talk about tax, so successfully have the neoliberals removed it from the agenda. Higher taxes for the richest to pay their fair share are essential to reducing inequality- this is what most other European and Scandinavian countries understand. Here Thatcherism does not allow for higher taxes on the rich.
    2
  1392. Not true- the US made it clear to Britain that it could pull out of the war even after the commitment had been made. Harold Wilson refused to send troops to Vietnam around thirty years earlier. There was no need for Britain to be involved in the war in Iraq. France made the right decision to condemn it.
    2
  1393.  @starmersbarber  Let me help you out although if you had any perspective you would not need to ask the question. In 1997 a number of Labour shadow cabinet politicians were major players with large followings and massive public profiles, such as Jack Straw, Mo Mowlam. Harriet Harman and Robin Cook. IPSOS has done polling in recent years about the impact of those who hold portfolios for the incumbent government or opposition. Labour's ratings have been poor. Few of the curent shadow cabinet have made an impact with the public in their role. Many voters are disillusioned with the Tories but corresponding enthusiasm for Labour is absent. It has no vision for the good society and most of its politicians are barely known to the public.
    2
  1394.  @iberian5319  It is the worst mess since 1900 and definitely since universal suffrage ( 1928).
    2
  1395.  @skindawg3615  No apostrophe in worlds.
    2
  1396. Labour has never lurched to any extreme at all. The first Labour government in 1924 set about managing capitalism in order to prove it could be trusted and to increase its chances of winning future elections. Labour has always been about managing and regulating capitalism at most, not replacing it with socialism, ill defined and subject to disagreement as it is. Labour under Corbyn was to the right of the 1945 manifesto but Britain has moved so far to the right since 1979 that most people are unaware that Corbyn offered little more than moderate social democracy. By today's standards Kinnock and Smith, both on the right of the party, would have been left wing if they had become Prime Minister.
    2
  1397.  @edwardbernthal160 There was division between left and right in the party, despite its considerable achievements. I think it is well known that the NHS was set up in 1948 but thanks for the reminder.
    2
  1398.  @edwardbernthal160  It is accepted as modern twentieth century history. Respect to you for your lived experience of the post war period, of course. I mean that genuinely.
    2
  1399.  @steveparker8065  Solidarity.
    2
  1400.  @steveparker8065  Corbyn would have turned the dial back towards moderate social democracy ( not even socialism). Accusations of being hard left, communist and extreme were outrageous and absurd, and show how far to the right Britain has moved since the 1980s/ 90s. It is diabolical and most people now have no idea the extent to which this has happened. All the talk about the centre is nonsense too, as it is not fixed. Labour figures on the right in the 1980s like Roy Hattersley ended up to the left of Blair, for example, which underlines the point. Corbyn was seen as a threat to establishment interests, hence the fact he had to be stopped at all costs.
    2
  1401.  @steveparker8065  Absolutely. Both were to the right of the 1945 manifesto.
    2
  1402. Keynesianism is the answer but Labour will not adopt tax and spend. All those who are hopeful and or deluded into thinking that a Starmer government will enact a progressive agenda are going to be very disappointed. This is a harbinger of an extremist Tory Party revival and will pave the way for their return after one or two elections. The NS should be analysing the glaring inadequacy of the Starmer project owing to its lack of any meaningful solutions to the problems facing Britain. Laughable that Starmer referred to Sir Kiernomics a couple of weeks ago. Absolutely meaningless and ridiculous.
    2
  1403.  @dekmackie  Well said. Solidarity with Scotland and long may it prosper. The different vision of society it represents is one of the main reasons why the hard right extremists oppose independence. More help for people has to be paid for, the last thing they want because it means less money for the rich. It is all about the cold hard cash to the rich.
    2
  1404.  @CerridwenAwel The overwhelming majority of immigrants do assimilate and are very keen to play a full role in contributing to society and do so with often very little appreciation or recognition. Brazil may be an open country but your attitude is the opposite. Immigrants to the UK have faced so many hurdles to assimilation due to barriers put up by racism from institutions sometimes as well as individuals who hate foreigners. Multiculturalism has been a resounding success in Britain and long may it continue. Do not bother replying as I am not wasting any more time in discussing immigration with you. Hope not hate.
    2
  1405.  @leighparr7961  A right wing PLP committed to largely the same policies as the Tories. Unless they are more radical in government the Tories will be back as both parties are on the same page on many policies.
    2
  1406.  @saulgoodman2278  Could be a lot worse. Independence will fix it.
    2
  1407.  @containsthestrange3902  Time will tell.
    2
  1408. She destroyed Britain. We are living in Thatcher's Britain because of the consequences of her disastrous, cruel and callous policies. Plebs is an inappropriate word to use. Churchill was a racist too.
    2
  1409. No to Orange Jesus. America really needs to raise its educational standards and do more to tackle cults because Maga is unhinged.
    2
  1410.  @pseudonayme7717  Well said.
    2
  1411.  @matomatic4599  Neoliberal is not centrist or centre right- it is ideological extremism.
    2
  1412. Diversity officers are needed in a large organisation employing thousands like the NHS. Absolutely no reason why anyone reasonable could object to it. There are not many of the posts and it is ridiculous but not surprising that the right focuses on it as a distraction from the real issues. It is too not to by the way- the NHS is one of the most efficient health services in the world in relation to funding. The issue is that it is underfunded and understaffed compared to other large European states, such as Germany and France. Britain spends 7% less than both. Fund it properly and recruit the staff, including from Europe by reversing Brexit, and the problem goes away. The Tories know this, of course, but want to privatise health.
    2
  1413.  @californiadreamin8423 Ignorant response.
    2
  1414.  @photoisca7386  Why have you put the word seer in inverted commas? The winning numbers are 1 2 3 4 5 6, not sure which week or year.
    2
  1415.  @EessaTube  Good tip.Thanks very much.
    2
  1416.  @jackdshellback3819  It is obvious you have little to no understanding of political history.
    2
  1417.  @guitarlight3935  Why are you bothered about others in this context? Mind your own business and stick to your own beliefs if you wish but do not impose them on others. God's portal- utter nonsense. You have no proof whatsoever. Faith is not proof of anything. If you had not been conditioned by religion, you would not believe in it. Thousands of years ago pre Christianity, there was no religion and no-one spouting nonsense about god's portal, which sounds like something out of Silicon Valley. Life is a mystery but it cannot be explained by reductive, delusional 'thinking'.
    2
  1418.  @marvintpandroid2213 An article on the BBC website from 2014 refers to him as the mastermind of the Tory election victory. The party chairman as I understand it plays a key role in organising and overseeing the campaign in the general election. I don't know the details of the Conservative Party's structure at the time but I do remember he was high profile in the campaign. It is a long time ago now, but it was a disaster that Labour lost but in retrospect no surprise given that the electorate keep on voting against their own self interest. History would have turned out differently.
    2
  1419.  @ZeroCharisma  The Bush administration gave Britain the option of not participating but Blair refused. Harold Wilson refused to send troops to Vietnam in the 1960s. Just like Blair should have done over Iraq.
    2
  1420. Bad-enoch is doing an amazing job, just not the one she thinks. She is sending the Tories into political oblivion. Starmer is an ineffective Prime Minister in so many ways and the oppposite of what Britain needs but he is making a fool of her every week. She makes a speak your weight machine sound animated and sincere. She had the nerve to speak of arrogance last week, supremely ironic coming from her. The Tories know it, the public can see it and even the Downing Street cat, Larry, knows it. Her soon to be forgotten 'leadership' of the Tory Party is coming to an end. Cometh the hour, cometh the Philp. The new Churchill.
    2
  1421. This sentence is grammatically incorrect though.
    2
  1422.  @caitlin.6167  Here in the UK Orange Jesus has not caught on but I am doing my best to popularise it even if take a while. The comments about him in the US are much more mocking and incandescent with anger, rightly so.
    2
  1423. Let's not forget that all of this could have been avoided if the client media and many in the PLP had not egregiously undermined Corbyn. I saw the poll last night and nothing indicated it was a joke not even for a split second. Yes the Tories need to go but the root problem is the dysfunctional political system that gives rise to gross incompetence in government, of which the client media is a crucial element. Without their collusion with the establishment it would not be possible for Britain to be governed so disastrously compared to many other European nations. Like 1984 now they tell you to chant against the side they have been backing all this time.
    2
  1424. Eh?
    2
  1425.  @davidroome3211  Ok, thanks for clarifying. It is indeed a distinctive surname and one that sticks in the mind- all good!
    2
  1426. It was not certain for Labour in 1992. It was the most consequential election since 1979 though because the voters had a choice between Thatcherism and democratic socialism but chose Thatcherism and would continue doing so for the next twenty seven years. Kinnock was on the right of Labour then but would be to the left by today's standards. Everything he warned about in 1987 and 1992 ( and Foot before him in 1983) has come true and worse under the Tories. The 1992 election was actually lost as soon as the Tories put out their propaganda lies about Labour's tax proposals even though the average family would have been better off under John Smith's shadow budget plans.
    2
  1427. What is thwere?
    2
  1428.  @andrewrobinson8305  Precisely. Well said. Time was that longform interviews allowed issues to be properly discussed in an era of more serious politicians and higher calibre interlocutors. Bryan Walden is a good example of this. His hour long interviews were a tour de force, more like a courtroom than television studio.
    2
  1429. It is a total disgrace that GPs in the UK ( and no doubt elsewhere) are so keen to prescribe anti depressants to patients who do not need them and would benefit from any number of other non medical interventions or support. It is against the guidelines yet it goes on unchecked. It happened to me last year when a GP I had never met before decided on the basis of a 5 minute conversation about a physical symptom that I was ' a bit on the anxious side' and therefore should be prescribed anti depressants. I declined politely and calmly, saying that I did not believe there was any grounds for this at all. It made me wary of going to the GP surgery again to see any GP because of the tendency to conflate physical symptoms with anxiety/ mental health issues. Yes, they can overlap in anyone but it does not necessarily follow. Suffice to say, I have only been back to the surgery a couple of times since and made sure to go via NHS111 which assesses symptoms and makes a judgement on the level of care needed. This way the surgery cannot infer or it is much more difficult to do so that the patient's judgement in seeking an appointment is flawed. Most people do not need anti depressants.
    2
  1430. The French have done it with EDF for about 10 billion. It is a bargain over a number of years. That's nothing compared to the billions wasted on covid contracts by the Conservatives. Two thirds are going to be in fuel poverty so the some who can afford it are the richest. Starmer is a neoloiberal with no intention of making the systemic changes needed to society and economy to put people before profit. Nothing wrong with profit as long as it is regulated and fairly distributed. Italy is paying householders 110 percent of the cost of insulating homes while in Britain nothing is happening at all.
    2
  1431.  @135Ops  Entitled to them as someone on the left who wants to see the Conservatives out of office. Justify why I am wrong. If you think she is effective in the role give your reasons.
    2
  1432.  @TheUltimatePoofter  Bring back the Hacienda. Tony Wilson RIP.
    2
  1433. You said it.
    2
  1434.  @stephenhill545  Incessant. I have been hearing it since the 1980s. I lost count of the number of times people observed that Thatcher tamed the unions in the late eighties and we'll into the nineties. The peak year for disposable income was 1976, no co-incidence that union power was strong too.
    2
  1435. Well done to NASUWT members who did not take part in the ballot for strike action, all 58 % of them who could not be bothered to post a letter and/ or deliberately did not vote to ensure the threshold was not met. Teachers claim to care but lack the self respect to value their own labour and conditions of service. The favourite union of the Tories will now be NASUWT as the ballot result means the government can say that teachers are happy with their pay and conditions. The wider union movement has been egregiously undermined as a consequence and the Tories must be smiling from ear to ear. Expect the NEU ballot to not meet the threshold on Monday as trailed in The Guardian last weekend. The story of today's ballot result not even on The Guardian's front page when it is the most significant story of this week so far. I wonder why? A lot of teachers clearly need numeracy lessons if they are content with depressed wages for the foreseeable future although a lot of them would not turn up based on the ballot outcome. E minus, must do better. Pathetic but not surprising.
    2
  1436.  @steflift5165  Thatcherism. Where have you been?
    2
  1437.  @lizparker8431 I have no faith in the Starmer iteration of the party and would not want to be involved in it for this reason alone but it is clear from things I have read over the years that it can be very problematic for people who have clearly done nothing wrong yet are caught up in the machinations of others- I fail to see why anyone would put themselves through all that stress for something that is voluntary. It is bad enough in the paid world of work.
    2
  1438.  @therealrobertbirchall  I will be doing. No doubt.
    2
  1439.  @jstraziante  I know. It is a sign of getting older (I am 52) that music like this does not annoy me as much as it did. I can even listen to Sade or Swing Out Sister and not mind it these days), Both talented artists in their own ways undoubtedly, but I have always found them bland. I would not go out of my way to listen to them at the same time. I have always loved a wide range of music (hence the not very original screen name) but my taste definitely broadened in the last 20 years. I still draw the line at Who Let The Dogs Out? by the band whose name I cannot remember. Now that is the definition of irritating right there!
    2
  1440.  @bernardmauge8613  Who did?
    2
  1441. Funny I could never get into any other Toad The Wet Sprocket songs, struggling to see where the melodies really were that would grab me but All I Want is a great track I was very impressed by at the time.
    2
  1442. Zelenskyy offered to stand down if security guarantees are provided by America. Zelenskyy stayed in Ukraine to lead the defence of his country when the Americans offered him safe passage to leave the country. Putin wants a puppet govermnent in Ukraine and Trump's ganging up on him yesterday is part of helping to facilitate this by selling out the country 100%. Trump is a traitor to America and Europe must unite in defence ot Ukraine with a massive arms programme funded by borrowing ( a £10 billion pound investment can leverage £100 Million pounds quite easily), a European army, collaboration on a pan European nuclear umbrella, kicking America out of NATO and accelerating Ukraine's membership of the EU and NATO. Russia can be defeated in this war without America as well as contained moving forward. Its economy is fragile and Europe is much stronger and more capable than it might realise.
    2
  1443.  @djdinosaur  Not the point is it?
    2
  1444. Paula Cole. A hit in Britain.
    2
  1445. I was 27 and it was a sunny day in West London. The atmosphere was amazing and everything seemed different, although the left rightly was suspicious of Blair and what would happen under Labour. It did a lot of good things domestically 1997 to 2010 but failed to reverse Thatcherism thus betraying the historic mission of Labour to advance the interests of working people. Britain became more unequal in the years that followed and due to Tory vandalism of the economy and society since 2010 it is now in a hole it will be almost impossible to climb out of unless the Thatcherism Blair accepted ( Thatcher described 'new' Labour as her greatest achievement because it meant the end of socialism) is reversed. That is not going to happen under Starmer who is heir to Blair. Corbyn was the last chance and the only hope now is for a Thatcher of the left to emerge but there is no sign of anyone currently.
    2
  1446.  @aggie9487  Efficiency is not a hard argument to understand- it is verifiable fact backed up by comparative evidence. Cancer outcomes is a different issue to overall efficiency- separate them out. Easy.
    2
  1447. Putin to estate agent 'have you got any large properties for sale in Saudia Arabia with vacant possession?' Estate agent ' yes, how much money do you have to spend and when would you like to move in? Putin- 'next week'.
    2
  1448. The RMT has been on strike for 6 months now and is clearly not close to winning its justified battle. The RMT supported Brexit but has yet to clarify its position on this monumental act of self- harm to Britain. Socialism in one country is not possible amidst the complexities of the twenty first century and the workers' rights it seeks to protect are about to be trashed by the Brexiteers on the right for whom Brexit was always about shrinking the state and a bonfire of rights. The RMT is fighting against the consequences of the Brexit it backed. The Tories must have been laughing at the naivety of the Lexit argument because it plays into their hands. Mick Lynch is starting to sound like a broken record and the RMT should be called out for its ludicrous stance on Brexit, the rupture with Europe that is damaging the living standards of workers- GDP is already down by nearly 5%.
    2
  1449. Wrong. Kinnock moved Labour to the right ( though would be well to the left of where it is now), Blair even further to the right and Miliband moved it slightly leftwards, though still would have implemented austerity, a key element of neoliberalism, and Labour voted for welfare cuts under him in 2015. Smith was on the right of the Labour Party but again, way to the left of where Labour is today. The old right and the left co-existed- Labour has always been a coalition of different groups. The old right was not intent on eradicating the left and even under Blair the left was tolerated, probably because the huge majority meant it posed no threat.
    2
  1450.  @jasontennant8994  More so called woke is needed- next level woke. Banish reactionary prejudice causing misery for people for no reason.
    2
  1451.  @michaelpaulcampbell37  The Barber budget of 1972 was a disaster. Correct.
    2
  1452.  @julianshepherd2038  Absurd response. Most voters who switched to Labour in 1997 identified with Tory policies, according to focus group evidence conducted shortly after. Since then Britain has moved even further to the right. I am fully conversant with reality. Forty three years of neoliberalism backed by the British people under FPTP means its toxic legacy has left the country on a path to terminal decline. Starmer's commitment to more Tory policy is the opposite of what Britain needs. Wake up.
    2
  1453. It took this government a couple of weeks to ruin the economy. History will judge it as a revolutionary faction that destroyed the Conservative Party on the altar of the Brexit failure and fantasies of finishing off the Thatcher revolution. Thatcher reshaped Britain and made her mark for all the wrong reasons, the consequences of which are being played out five decades later, including the Brexit catastrophe. Truss has made history too as the PM who crashed the economy by testing the limits of ideological purity to destruction, in the process creating an era defining turning point akin to 1945 given the economic challenges Labour will face.
    2
  1454.  @mikematusky7717  Not due to tipping points .More birth control in developing countries and smaller families as a result will see world population decline. The fear of environmental collapse and concern over economic prospects may deter people from having families. It is a long time since I have read about it but there is good reason to think overall population will decrease. Fred Pearce is a UK writer who has argued this, I think.
    2
  1455. Rubbish. Cite the evidence.
    2
  1456.  @Lord.two.a.penny.  Any reason why you write in capital letters?
    2
  1457. Banterous?
    1
  1458.  @chelseapoet3664  Is ding a type of incense? I used to love incense but my wife objects to the smell so that was the end of that.
    1
  1459.  @jlrockafella  Don't bring John Waite into this. He is a great singer but probably does not know the answer to the meaning of life.
    1
  1460. Fascinating.
    1
  1461.  @charlesbadoola535  Excellent point.
    1
  1462.  @andypeterson3070  Never mind that recent reports have stated Britain' s performance is dire compared to other industrialised nations apart from Russia. Just keep on ignoring reality, it is easier until it isn't. Head stuck in the sand, it is the best way to look at life, oblivious to reality.
    1
  1463.  @paulhanck1123  Precisely.
    1
  1464.  @MontyComedyOfficial  Done? It is did. If you cannot use grammar correctly it goes a long way to undermining your point.
    1
  1465.  @jimr1603  Very true. The Tories have gone further than she would have done on a number of issues. The 1980s were a nightmare but the last few years have been a total nightmare. Blair caved in to Thatcherism and she described 'new' Labour as her greatest triumph.
    1
  1466.  @sulalee7413  Thatcher forced the surrender of Labour to neoliberalism. It did not have to capitulate but that is what has happened.
    1
  1467. Because the Tories have become a free market cult impervious to reason. The disastrous recent budget is a case in point. They were warned repeatedly in the leadership campaign and by treasury officials that their actions would spook the markets, and so it has proved, with egregious consequences for years to come. Not just higher mortgage payments, but also higher rents and a likely housing market collapse in the next few months. The Tory Party purged one nation Conservatives in 2019 and entered into a fantasy world of boosterism underpinned by gaslighting of the public on a hitherto unseen scale. Even Thatcher said you cannot buck the market and she was right. None of this would have happened under her in the eighties. Britain is now blighted with a political class that is fundamentally unserious, another reason for the mess it is in.
    1
  1468.  @DJWESG1  Labour has compromised to the point of selling out everything it ever believed in. Most switchers in 1997 identified with Tory policies in focus groups conducted after the election- Britain is more right wing in many ways now than then, or at least it is under FPTP. Britain has always been right wing except perhaps for the 1945-1951 period in the exceptional circumstances of the aftermath of the war and the twenty years preceding it. Millions have cold hearts and lack compassion for others in the modern era, making it even harder to make the case for democratic socialism. It has always been difficult for Labour under FPTP but copying the Tories is pointless.
    1
  1469. There is no way Labour is going to win back Scotland. Polls show it is likely to take votes off the Conservatives but not the SNP. Therefore winning back Scotland is not going to happen. The SNP has won successive elections and is 20% ahead in the polls. The people of Scotland are not stupid, they will not vote for a neoliberal party hell bent on implementing the policies that have destroyed UK society since 1979. Scotland has embraced social democracy under the SNP which is to the left of Tory lite Labour. The legacy of Thatcherism in England and Wales is the hollowing out of society and the economy plus a neutered, largely docile population that does not know left from right quite literally. Scots are more canny and can see through Labour. I am English, on the left, and wish Scotland the best as it continues to pull away from the dystopian nightmare of life in the rest of the UK.
    1
  1470. Not true. Wages need to catch up with inflation. Higher wages for the rich are ok but not for the rest. Private sector pay rises are at 8% so the public sector should have a fair deal too.
    1
  1471.  @paulungureanu937  Prices keep on going up while wages fall. This proves that inflation is not caused by wage increases, obviously. Rich salaries keep on going up but that is ok. If this is allowed to continue capitalism will implode. It only works when workers are given a fair share of the proceeds of their labour.
    1
  1472.  @paulungureanu937  Indeed. Time will tell.
    1
  1473. I am not religious but the hatred for asylum seekers and migrants is ungodly and obscene. There are often double standards from the churches to say the least but in the absence of a completely secular society ( which would be a good thing), they have a role to play in speaking out against the hatred towards others that animates so many in this country. Utterly shameful and shameless.
    1
  1474. In Truss we never trusted, In Truss we are busted (adapted from slogan about Herbert Hoover US President at time of the Depression/ 1932 election he mercifully lost).
    1
  1475. Conservatives support privatisation so why complain about sewage in the sea if it saves money for the water profiteers? Ditto water leaks if it saves money for the profiteers because they have failed in their duty. They are being given until 2050 to halve water leaks. Another 28 years to half fix problem that is already at least twenty years old. That means they might manage to halve leaks over a timespan of 50 years. Why is Ferrari talking about jail sentences when privatisation is what has caused this to happpen? The corollary is to nationalise. I don't hear any Conservatives calling for that .
    1
  1476.  @dmwallacenz  Scrapping health care for 4 million which may happen will not take two weeks to prepare. Five minutes more likely. Disgusting, rancid lack of compassion.
    1
  1477. Not true at all. More immigration now than before Brexit, which the right wing extremists and racists wanted to keep people out. Lack of investment in public services means they are falling apart. Germany took in 2 million Syrian refugees in 2015 and successfully integrated them into the economy and society under a right wing government. A remarkable act of humanity. Britain takes in less refugees than any other country. Asylum ( refugees) and migration should not be conflated, but this is what the racists of the right always do.
    1
  1478. 1979 lowest levels of inequality post war in UK and 1976 the peak year for disposable income. Reason- strong unions.
    1
  1479.  @NobodyYouKnow98  Trump is a traitor to America who has changed sides over Ukraine. He wants to sell it out endangering European and world security. Sanders is right to call for a politcal revolution with people out on the streets in order to stand up to Trump. Peaceful and democratic protest within the law is essential to stopping American democracy being trashed by Trump. Greetings from the UK where everyone thinks Trump is a moron.
    1
  1480. Khan has not destroyed London. He has been elected twice- it is called democracy. Your comment is completely inappropriate in response to the passing of Terry Griffiths and it is ridiculous to even make such a comparison. Something wrong with you for certain.
    1
  1481. Brexit is a disaster but there is a long standing left wing tradition of opposition to the EU as a capitalist club.
    1
  1482.  @notgarybrown  Media not as powerful as it used to be or likes to think it is. Even in 1992 when The Sun's notorious headline about the last person to leave Britain turning the light out with Kinnock's head in a bulb the day before the election ( April 8th) and the headline on 10th April claiming it was The Sun ' wot won it' masked the fact that half of all The Sun readers voted Labour. Even today half of Daily Mail readers vote Labour. Hard to believe but suggests media influence not that strong. Print media massively in decline for the last 20 years too.
    1
  1483.  @notgarybrown  The media is an establishment mouthpiece. It pretends to be holding power to account but does nothing of the sort. I recommend Media Lens and Noam Chomsky for a thorough analysis of how the media fails in its duty. BBC is state propaganda. The media has the nerve to claim to be impartial when it is the opposite.
    1
  1484.  @notgarybrown  Not sure print media is and don't know about the impact of social media on elections as not on it ( except You Tube). Labour seems to be good at messaging on social media or at least was under Corbyn but I don't know how much misinformation is out there peddling right wing lies. The public is so ill informed it beggars belief. Academic research in America found many of Trump's speeches used language easily understood by those aged 10, which appears to have been a deliberate strategy for ease of understanding on his part. Here The Sun has a reading age of about 10, which speaks volumes. It is a complicated picture in that Trump also garnered a lot of support from middle class professionals, not just the stereotypical blue collar voters from poor backgrounds. As a general rule in the UK those who are better educated are more likely to vote on the left as academic research has also shown. Not saying much though given how right wing Labour has become except for the Corbyn era and to some extent under Miliband.
    1
  1485.  @lydiamalone1859  The great reset is not a conspiracy. Immigration is necessary and good for the economy and society. Deregulation and tax cuts for the rich will drive the economy over the cliff under the hard right Tory Party.
    1
  1486. Heir to Thatcher presiding over the continuation of Thatcher's Britain which we live in. A dystopian nightmare.
    1
  1487. She does not. Richard Burgon would make an excellent leader as he is very eloquent and impassioned when the occasion demands it and measured in other contexts, while making the same fundamental points. Rosena Allin-Khan would also make an excellent leader but lost in the vote for Deputy Leader to Angela Rayner. She is an effective parliamentarian, but I was perturbed that the party had passed up the chance to elect a deputy leader who was highly articulate and would have been a great advocate for the left both within the party and in the media.
    1
  1488.  @rosaleeabbey8114  I would like to think so but all bets are off given the post truth age created by the MAGA cult. I am in the UK which is made at the best of times with more than its fair share of lunatics and ignoramuses but compared to the morons who voted Trump it looks like an oasis of sanity. The far right is a serious problem as the riots in the summer showed and inequality is fuelling support for extremism here. Trump's election in 2016 and 2024 has given the green light to worsening racism and xenophobia across Europe, Britain is not immune to it. Unless the Democratic Party sorts itself out it will not win in 2028. I read an article last week that said that the Democrats will have no ability to block Trump's legislation and are about to be reduced to giving press conferences decrying his actions. Two parties destroyed by Trump- the Republicans and Democrats.
    1
  1489.  @daveabbott  There are right wing parties in other countries that are to the left of the Tories. The right of centre Tory party was purged in 2019. There are almost no so called Tory centrists left. To all intents and purposes this is a UKIP government in office. There is no point pretending otherwise.
    1
  1490. Egotistical observation.
    1
  1491. The Democrats should be ashamed of creating the monster Trump by abandoning their core support for over three decades. They created the vacuum for him to exploit the left behind. It is that simple.
    1
  1492. Maybe in terms of the electoral arithmetic. But Labour is the Tory Party to all intents and purposes. It sold its soul under Blair and is committed to the same policies as the Tories. The name on the door may change but that is all.
    1
  1493. What is kabour and calked?
    1
  1494. The Tories are not very bright.
    1
  1495. Hello Patrick. I am sorry for your loss. Me and my wife have experienced bereavements in shocking and traumatic circumstances in short succession- her grandmother her last surviving relative who brought her up, died of Alzheimer's in 2020 after suffering from it for four years. Less than three weeks later my dad died in a fell walking accident on the Cumbria/ Yorkshire border. A lifelong walker, he had gone out for his first walk since being given the all clear from prostate cancer and once the Covid regulations around movement had been relaxed. There will never be any closure as the inquest was inconclusive as to whether the cause was a fall resulting in a heart attack or the other way around. It transpires someone else died in the same place from a fall a couple of years earlier, which I find disturbing and chilling. I am not religious though my dad was. To lose his life doing the thing that brought him the most comfort and joy is the cruellest irony. Over fifty years up and down the M6 only one last time never to return. Music has been my abiding passion for most of my 53 years but for two years afterwards I could hardly listen to it, which I think must be connected with the sense of dislocation and numbness that ensued. I have since rectified that and it has provided some solace though my bewilderment endures. So many bands and genres have moved me in my life, including the Manics, whose lyrics and authentic spirit resonate with my outlook. I don't know what to believe but it is entirely plausible that consciousness is eternal, in which case perhaps my father is someplace else. If you read this, thank you and I wish you well.
    1
  1496. All talk. Starmer is a disaster as Labour leader and will make an effective PM even if Labour form a government. The left has all the answers to Britain's problems but has been purged by the Labour Party. It has similar policies to the Tories and no plans to reverse neoliberalism. Britain cannot heal and move forward from nearly 50 years of Tory rule under Starmer. The Labour right has no answers and thinks it can re-run the 1990s.
    1
  1497.  @Crookedcaucasian  Religion is nonsense. Try a humanist moral compass.
    1
  1498. Are you indulging in Sunday satire? Democratic socialism and communism are not the same- do not conflate them. Your last two sentences are meaningless. The SDP kept the Tories in power for another sixteen years. Neoliberalism is an extremist ideology, not democratic socialism. The voters have been warned repeatedly of the consequences of voting Tory or for Tory policies, including the Blair era, but never learn. The only solutions to Britain's problems lie with democratic socialism. If the voters choose to reject this, they cannot be surprised at the continued spiral of UK society and the economy. Nor can they complain.
    1
  1499. Prior to the General Strike of 1926, he was delighted when Daily Mail printers went on strike ( unofficial and their own union and the TUC did not know about it until they walked off the job) over an editorial that branded the strike as unconstitutional, i.e an attempt to topple a democratically elected government. It was purely an industrial dispute about pay and conditions. He was delighted at the news of the printers' actions and it is possible ( not proven) that he may have had a hand in arranging for the article to published in the newspaper. He was also Chancellor in 1925 when Britain returned to the Gold Standard, a disastrous decision that left the pound overvalued, making exports too expensive. It damaged the economy and contributed to the General Strike as it made British coal too expensive compared to foreign competitors. In the 1945 election, his claim that Labour would needs its own version of the Gestapo in order to implement the welfare state was offensive, highly inappropriate and absurd all at once. His own wife warned him against the remark but he said it and there was a backlash from the voters.
    1
  1500. Quite right to point out the reaction of dock workers to being told to lower their cranes. It says a lot. Churchill was also against equal pay for female teachers. Utterly absurd.
    1
  1501. The Brexit Tory cult means Brexit cannot be mentioned. These idiots pretend it does not exist and has had no negative effects. If it so good they should be shouting it from the rooftops as demonstration of their genius in getting it done. They have driven the economy over a cliff and then crashed it again via Truss. A lot to celebrate.
    1
  1502.  @ralphmillais5237  No-one is exempt from the law as I am sure you are aware.
    1
  1503. It is still imported from Poland. If it could be made carbon neutral it could be justified as part of the energy mix.
    1
  1504.  @jsi4064  Thank you.
    1
  1505.  @jonwilliams3664  Many thanks.
    1
  1506. Nonsense. White men run society.
    1
  1507. Are you serious? Remote learning was a disaster in most cases due to lack of parental oversight of students. Many will have signed in and out of lessons but not participated and work set will not have been completed. The catch up programme needed was so badly administered that even this government cancelled the contract with the company it had been outsourced to.
    1
  1508. It did not.
    1
  1509.  @MultiMeg101  The polling card is what you can take to the polling station. You do not vote with the polling card. You vote on a voting slip. Happy to explain the difference to you. I think most people would take it as a given that the majority of voters know the difference between the two.
    1
  1510.  @lauramorrow2708  Make America Moron Again. Well done to all the idiots who voted for the orange lunatic.
    1
  1511. The Tories are incompetent, ideologically driven and do not care about public services- a toxic combination. Yes, they have to go at the next election but the so called party of the workers that calls itself Labour will preside over the continuous decline of the NHS, with diagnosis and outcomes lagging behind many other nations. Labour is on the side of business and the rich, not the majority. The NHS does not need yet more top down reform- it needs billions in cash to raise spending to levels comparable to the rest of Europe- Britain spends 7% less on health than France and Germany. Fifteen thousand beds lost due to needless austerity since 2010. Pour cash in and most of the problems will disappear in a few years.
    1
  1512. A sweeping generalisation. Strong welfare states in much of Europe post world wat two were partly a bulwark against the people turning to communism instead. The legacy has carried forward. The French government cap of 4% and now 15% price increase for electricity and gas for 2023 is proof positive of a government that both cares for and fears its people. Unlike in Britain where corporate interests have captured the state and a country that remains a laboratory for the hard right policies first tried out on Chile under Pinochet in the 1970s.
    1
  1513. Miliband has a number of good qualities but all he did was move the party very slightly away from the right as it was under Blair. He would not have been a radical. What are you basing this on? Thin air?
    1
  1514.  @tomgraham3206  Ok. You are right in your analysis. He has just been on Channel 4 News and was asked about being a Brownite in a Blairite Shadow Cabinet. He said the terms are outdated and praised Starmer. I read only yesterday that there are those in the Starmer party who are unhappy with Miliband but he has his own supporter base.That might be part of the problem- all potential dissent is to be stamped out. It will all end in tears for the Starmer iteration of the party for so many reasons. Some can be glimpsed at this juncture, others will depend on how events play out. Britain is in for a very rocky road and it is not going to be pleasant. Not only is Miliband an effective politician ( he would have made a good PM), especially on green issues, but I also think he is decent at heart. This can't be said of many of the odd balls who dominate UK politics.
    1
  1515. It was planned, absolutely. It did not matter what Zelenskyy said he was being set up. He did remarkably well under pressure from two vile bullies who are doing Putin's bidding, including looking to remove him from power in a coup. It is only a matter of time before he is forced into exile.
    1
  1516.  @keithhobbs1  It is free on the NHS. Patients are referred to a nearby centre that will do it on the NHS. This is the case across the country.
    1
  1517.  @keithhobbs1  It is disconcerting. Water can take time to clear after syringing if micro suction is not used. Olive oil is recommended in the UK to prevent build up of wax but it does not work for me. The difference when it is done is always noticeable. Sometimes not all of the wax is removed either due to the skill of the person doing it or because a small amount can be stubbornly difficult to shift.
    1
  1518.  @aob4214  Precisely.
    1
  1519.  @sharonramsey715  Comment makes no sense. Looks like you have tried to be harsh without succeeding. Never mind.
    1
  1520. How is Labour better when it is committed to the same policies as the Conservatives? You do not have to look far for articles highlighting this in The Guardian, which is not exactly committed to democratic socialism. Its publication of a large number of articles critical of Corbyn underlines this.
    1
  1521.  @DJWESG1  My priorities in opposing neoliberalism are doing just fine, if you are referring to me. The BMA published evidence that Iraq resulted in up to I million civilian deaths meaning your figure of 100,000 grossly understates the extent of the culpability of coalition forces for the carnage of that needless conflict. It has destabilised the world and disfigured the UK body politic, undermining faith in what passes for democracy.
    1
  1522.  @wanderingfool6312  Clearly you do not understand. Neoliberalism has been implemented since 1979 under Tory and Labour governments. Blair capitulated to neoliberalism ( also known as Thatcherism) from 1997. Privatisation, austerity, low wages, low taxes for the rich resulting in less investment in public services, widening inequality and weak unions via reducing workers' rights are some of the main planks of the ideology that has destroyed Britain except for the rich. Wealth has been transferred from workers to the rich. Ironic you cite austerity given that it has been used since 1979 and Labour supported it from 2010. Austerity has killed thousands since 2010 and for decades before that. It is not necessary to list every instance where neoliberal policies have caused premature deaths but the broad argument is correct. If you want specifics I am sure you can look it up to do some reading.
    1
  1523.  @call_in_sick  Forget it. No.
    1
  1524.  @williamgannaway8183  Not sure, I'll have to check. Answers on a post card. If you think Starmer is going to fix the country by following the same policies you are delusional.
    1
  1525. Corbyn lives rent free in the heads of many with not much going on in theirs. Reductive ' thinking' is part of why Britain is a basket case and has been for decades. It will never change. Frankly, there is no point arguing for a fairer society because the majority of those who would benefit do not want to know. Yet still they complain. They should just accept the consequences of the Tory policies they have voted for since 1918 and that includes the period 1997 to 2010 when so called Labour embraced Thatcherism.
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  1526.  @JamSoupMusicLols  It does not need statistics to back it up. It is an observation. How a family is constituted depends on a variety of factors.
    1
  1527.  @danw5760  Explain your unsubstantiated assertion. Cite the evidence and sources.
    1
  1528. Putin's Christmases have all come at once thanks to his puppet in America. Ukraine being sold down the river. Europe divided. Zelenskyy likely to be replaced by a puppet regime in Ukraine. An imminent end to US military aid for Ukraine. An end to the war on his terms paving the way for takeover in a few years and the freedom to menace other neighbouring countries. Russia stood down by the American government as a cyber threat which means Putin will be on the inside of American infrastructure. Russian lessons in US schools need to be taught to everyone in readiness for the Russian future just around the corner. The Cold War did not end in 1991- Putin has just won it in 2025.
    1
  1529. Pander not panda. How can you not know the difference? Absolutely ridiculous. Panda, risible.
    1
  1530. Comedy gold. You have a good sense of humour.
    1
  1531.  @annem5899  No.
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  1532.  @gordonstrong5232 Whatever.
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  1533.  @natsdaley9615  Norman Wisdom would have made an excellent leader. Or Mr Grimsdale.
    1
  1534.  @tinataylor2475  Funny.
    1
  1535.  @rrstows3522  Untrue.
    1
  1536. @bina nocht I am aware of that- it is a further ballot. Recently it failed to meet the threshold for strike action. Never mind your inappropriate remark at the end of your post.
    1
  1537. Rawls' ideas have been advocated before. Nothing new and will be forgotten in a year or two as the drum beat of neoliberalism continues to destroy the economy and lives as it sweeps everything before it.
    1
  1538.  @davidhooper1767  Excellent response. Misses the point but well done anyway.
    1
  1539. Given your inability to use a full stop perhaps you should do some reading. Sounds like you have rather limited knowledge of France.
    1
  1540.  @indrinita  It is very concerning that this could happen. The only consolation is that the hard right extremists with evil in their hearts like the fascists are incapable of governing. If Le Pen did form a government it would not last long and France would either revert to the left ( proper left) or something supposedly centrist to stabilise the situation. That said, so called centrist politics under Macron is an abject failure. He has no mandate, is out of touch with delusions of grandeur, and has demolished any fragile trust in democracy by forcing through the rise in the retirement age. This has now become a lightning rod for much wider discontent and the genie is out of the bottle. Hollande has a lot to answer for- his weakness after the crash of 2008 led to Macron and the destruction of the PS as a force in France. The voters are to blame too because the PS would not have presided over this mess by ramming through an increase in the pension age.
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  1541. Labour would have implemented austerity if it had won the 2015 election, even though it is economically illiterate, holding back recovery through inhibiting spending with the least, who spend the most on goods and services.
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  1542. It is reductive to look through the lens of 2010 onwards only- the problem is much more fundamental. It dates back to the advent of neoliberalism in 1979, the true root cause of every problem bedevilling Britain.
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  1543. Independence should be speeded up. No need for that- hold a referendum.
    1
  1544.  @trevorhart545  ? Just ran your comment through google translate but it cannot make any sense of it. I used English to English but it just wouldn't work.
    1
  1545. Those who benefitted from the post war boom and the destruction of the planet with rising wealth in western countries simply pulled the drawbridge up and turned their backs on the reality of the climate emergency. President Carter was warned in a report in 1977 that runaway global warming may well occur without action to stop it. Nothing was done and now we reap the whirlwind. Hearing this Just Stop Oil activist is heart rending and the protestors are truly on the right side of history.
    1
  1546. Anarchism? You have to be joking. I assume you do not have a bank account or have ever formed a contract with anyone, such as buying goods or a ticket for something? No, I thought not. Left wing socialism is the answer but anarchists have never explained how their system would work.
    1
  1547. So called centrists are on the Labour right. It provides the perfect cover for demonising the left as extreme and portraying so called centrists as the voice of reason.
    1
  1548. The media is complicit in this and has been for decades. It fails to hold power to account and as a result facilitates the lies, gaslighting and evasion that means the country is not governed properly by the Conservatives. Anything that challenges the establishment/ Tory narrative is either ignored or demonised. No wonder it is impossible for any sane discussion of how to resolve economic and societal issues to occur. Most journalists are privately educated and probably see themselves as to the left of many of their peers just for not going into other professions. Listening to the BBC coverage of the crisis in government yesterday it is like they are reporting on different events to the reality of the disaster movie we are living through. No analysis and failing to convey the manoeuvres taking place behind the scenes to remove Truss, little economic analysis, etc. Sky is biased but it goes into far more depth and does not hold back.
    1
  1549. It is mystifying how he has become their chief political correspondent. For someone who is supposedly steeped in news he seems remarkably lightweight and incurious when it comes to asking tough questions which the best journalists do. The media are so self regarding and very impressed with themselves. They never appear to question themselves and whether they are rigorous in holding power to account. That is the point, they are not there for that purpose.
    1
  1550. The hall is expected to be half empty due to the train strike. Good timing by ASLEF. That's a lot of Tories having to use Uber to go home- in keeping with the free market ethos they love for everyone but them. Truss is on her way out of office- as expected this conference has been a disaster. Wearing trainers in interviews yesterday suggests arrogance and not someone who expects to be in place for much longer. Interesting article in the New Statesman about the influence of extreme right wing think tanks on government this week which says that Truss likes chaos. She is finding out what happens when untested theories meet reality.
    1
  1551. Absolutely correct. NATO has ceased to have any purpose as it did since 1949 due to the sell out of Ukraine by Trump. Europe must pull together and act on the understanding that the transatlantic alliance has been unilaterally ended by Trump and it is on its own in a hostile world dominated by America, China and Russia.
    1
  1552. UK recessions and election results 1979-2022 1981/2 recession- Tory win 1983 1991/92 recession- Tory win 1992 2008/ 9 recession- Tory win 2010 2022-24 recession- ???? ( Tory win still possible).
    1
  1553. No point in capping bankers' bonuses because the salaries are simply increased to compensate. Tax them properly including all of the rich, not just on income but also assets. Progressives rarely talk about tax, so successfully have the neoliberals removed it from the agenda. Higher taxes for the richest to pay their fair share are essential to reducing inequality- this is what most other European and Scandinavian countries understand. Here Thatcherism does not allow for higher taxes on the rich. Oh n
    1
  1554. Who is Dowdem?
    1
  1555. President Bernie Sanders a Roosevelt for dystopian times. In a parallel universe he would be President.
    1
  1556.  @jonnyk84  I have loved Abba since 1975. I am now 53. You are right about the perception of the band before the first Abba Gold album in 1992 even though it beggars belief that they could have been so widely ignored. I never understood this throughout the eighties after they stopped recording in 1982. I remember seeing Bjorn mention in an interview that he was very much aware of the disinterest in the band in this period. Kudos to Erasure for kickstarting the revival with their affectionate tribute covering Take A Chance On Me in 1992. Even this was misunderstood by many as parody due to the video. What was Agnetha Falkstog like to speak to and what did you talk about, if you do not mind me asking? No need to share any of the conversation if you do not wish to, of course. There is so much hype about bands, many of which are fairly ordinary notwithstanding the fact that music is subjective but Abba are one of the few bands people will still be listening to in a hundred years time, such is the depth and longevity of their music.
    1
  1557. Quite right. Hope not hate.
    1
  1558.  @AtheistEve  What is an inappropriate area? If council house building had not stopped there would be thousands of them all over the place. No-one would be calling for their demolition in 'inappropriate' areas.
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  1559. The government refused the 33 million pound cost of resolving Dover delays, providing 33,000 instead. They caused it through Brexit and then blame the French. It is up the France how its border operates now Britain out of the EU.
    1
  1560. Of course it was a planned ambush. If it looks like a set up, acts like a set up, it is one. No doubt. Calling Zelenskyy a dictator a few days earlier was the prelude to the vile bullying in the Oval Office on Friday. Clearly America is about to stop military aid to Ukraine as Trump does Putin's bidding. He serves Russia as it wins the Cold War that it transpires did not end in 1991. The statements in support of Trump afterwards and condemnation of Zelenskyy also looked coordinated in how they were similar. One of Putin's aims is to remove Zelenskyy from power- he is one step closer to this thanks to Trump's collusion with his agenda.
    1
  1561. Why? He is elected and is doing his job. Do you not understand this? Very articulate and effective as an MP.
    1
  1562. ​ @garyholt4445 You should have your hearing tested. He is perfectly clear.
    1
  1563.  @Ma55ey  Britain is on the extreme right due to neoliberalism, at least economically. Radicalism in UK terms in 2023 would mean moving back to the policies of the 1980s. Moderate social democracy would be a sharp leftward turn for a country that has moved inexorably to the right for forty three years, thanks to the triumph of Thatcherism. The Overton Window effect is alive and kicking all the time.
    1
  1564. Nazis largest single party in Reichstag in 1930 election.
    1
  1565. The media is complicit in deliberately and systematically ignoring or demolishing any alternative ideas/vision of a better society, in order to maintain the status quo and keep Labour out. Especially Corbyn. They helped cause this mess and cannot complain about the Tories as they are hand in glove with them. LBC should be proud of its cheerleading for Torynomics.
    1
  1566. We keep hearing of supposed progress for Ukraine but the conflict is not covered much by the media anymore. It is obvious that the West is going to give up on Ukraine soon and we will be back in the 1930s. Munich Agreement all over again and then the remaining steps to war as an emboldened Russian regime ( Putin is largely irrelevant as at least as bad will follow) menaces Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe. Appeasement and weakness in the face of unprovoked aggression will once again fail to keep the peace.
    1
  1567. I would not use the reference to two jags- it was a right wing attack line to undermine Prescott and the left. He had a second hand jaguar that cost him £14,000 well before he had use of the ministerial one in government. I know these details are ignored but it is how the right works. You are right about the 2017 election. Prescott was superb in supporting Corbyn and true to socialist principles all his life. It is tragic he dies from Alzheimer's and perhaps all those who criticised his speech should reflect that just maybe there might have been a link between the two, as his speech in later years was noticeably different to when he was in his fifties and earlier. Alzheimer's has many symptoms and possible causes, of course.
    1
  1568.  @ggg-rc6ls  People do work hard- too hard. The idle rich profit off the backs of the workers. The real nihilism is the destruction of the economy and society by the greedy rich who only serve their own interests. Now that truly is nihilism.
    1
  1569.  @NoName-y6w3p  You need to accept racism is wrong.
    1
  1570.  @miamitten1123  Thatcher's Britain 1991 and 2024. Destroyed then by her policies and the same now.
    1
  1571. They are not going to reverse the Tory anti trade union laws Blair failed to reverse precisely because red Tories are Tories. Logical.
    1
  1572.  @keithparker1346  Perpetuated by Tory lies and propaganda. In the late eighties and beyond the constant refrain, even from those who saw themselves as on the left and took a dim view of the Tories' other policies, was along the lines of ' at least they sorted out the unions'. The obvious defence of unions that they are essential to workers' pay and conditions was drowned out by myth making by the right wing media and the Tories. Smashing the unions was key to the neoliberal project under Thatcher and it worked with the defeat of the miners in 1985. Industrial relations have always been more adversarial than some other European countries in the last 100 years but the Tories are to blame for that. Stanley Baldwin as Tory PM at different points in the 1920s and 1930s said that the Tories cannot talk about class war because they started it.
    1
  1573.  @veronicaasemota976  The General Strike was in 1926. No-one was hanged in relation to it.
    1
  1574. It is neither here or there, it will be forgotten next week. Funny but that is all.
    1
  1575. Define the extreme left.
    1
  1576. Their not there.
    1
  1577. @Alexei Smirnoff Well said. All correct.
    1
  1578.  @Nick-kb6jd  Inflation is biting hard. The poor can get by eating scraps while the rich must be looked after, no expense spared. I bet they cannot believe how easy it is to fool the voters and how stupid they are in voting for them. The more enlightened Tories will reflect that if they were poor there is no way they would vote for them.
    1
  1579.  @enigmabletchley6936  You cannot refuse to teach the syllabus or examination specification.
    1
  1580. Eh?
    1
  1581.  @suelister4674  Eh?
    1
  1582. @Ed Swann in theory yes but the situation is so bad in secondary schools now that making everyone go to state funded schools would not be a panacea. Poor behaviour is adversely affecting the life chances of many alongside myriad other problems in schools that are not tackled properly, such as bullying.
    1
  1583.  @AStonedLemon  I was not sure about including Jesus because I am not religious and he was just a person with a following. Not up to scratch compared to some modern day politicians.
    1
  1584. Tax cuts will cost over 30 billion in borrowing to pay for them, will cut one thosand five hundred pounds for the rich who do not need it and two hundred pounds for the poorest, so little they will barely notice it.
    1
  1585. No evidence for your claim. It was a pandemic pure and simple.
    1
  1586. Make America Moron Again. Well done from the UK for handing the monster a colossal victory over the Democratic Party. The world just got a whole lot worse for at least the next four years and it will take a long time to undo the damage coming down the track, if ever. Trump is mad but millions of idiots love chaos and don't care about themselves, their families or the future. The Founding Fathers would be turning in their graves. RIP democracy.
    1
  1587. Hay.
    1
  1588. It sold out under Blair.
    1
  1589.  @shoe-string1843  It is nothing to do with so called wokeness which right wing idiots cannot define. We need more so callled woke if it means standing up to injustice and questioning unfair power structures.
    1
  1590.  @XO_2011  Not at all. It is going to be worse under Labour. Quite something when it looks like it will replace the worst government ever in UK history.
    1
  1591.  @ozzie2612  No need for the capital letters. I can read but the help is very kind just in case. More Thatcherism is not the answer. See the 2017 and 2019 Labour manifestos if you want to know what a set of policies to revive Britain looks like. No time to list them all here but they are the ones demonised by the Tories, many in Labour ( because of Corbyn) and the voters under FPTP. So we are stuck with never ending Tory policy. No-one will be able to say they were not warned when it all continues to go pear shaped.
    1
  1592. Well said. So many people have commented along similar lines about how listening to his show in the eighties and nineties helped them and made the world seem a better place or more bearable despite their own troubles. The art of great radio is to make the listener feel as if the presenter is speaking directly to them and part of something- Steve Wright excelled in this. I am 53 and listened to lots of radio in the eighties and nineties, including Radio 1. Paddy O'Connell paid one of the best tributes last week when he held up the radio he listened to Steve Wright on in the eighties when his show accompanied him through exams, etc. I watched the TOTP on BBC4 shown last night in tribute to Steve. I can't help thinking he was so good that it was taken for granted but the outpouring of love for him after his tragic death underlines how much his work meant to so many across the UK. The shock, sadness and respect is genuine and heartfelt.
    1
  1593. If they had due regard for the national interest they would both disappear from political life. They are wreckers putting their own perceived self interest and, in the case of Truss, ideology before the country. History will damn both of them and they are an embarrassment to a country already dragged into the gutter by their conduct while in office.
    1
  1594. Think more broadly for a moment even if it might upset the New Statesman. The death toll would have been much lower under a Corbyn government because it would have listened to the science and acted accordingly. Many in the PLP fought tooth and nail to prevent a Corbyn government and got their way. Austerity has not gone away either, which Labour supports. Under Corbyn it would be a distant memory. Tory handling of the pandemic is a disgrace but so too is Labour's purge of the left and ongoing support for neoliberalism, the ideology it capitulated to under Blair. The Labour right will never learn though.
    1
  1595. Eh?
    1
  1596.  @Red-px1fr  It would not. It implies the maintenance of a privileged class.
    1
  1597.  @peterlogan6422  Half day closing on a Wednesday too. Apathy in the UK.
    1
  1598. Critical thinking needs to be taught as it is in France. Most people in Britain are incapable of conducting a reasoned discussion. The inarticulacy underpinned by the inability to think in depth of most under the age of forty is glaringly obvious.
    1
  1599. They are- for the rich. Class is the defining characteristic of life in Britain. The rich know it and use it to their advantage. Now, more than ever they are exploiting all the levers at their disposal to secure their position, safe in the knowledge that Britons are too weak and apathetic to oppose them. The Labour Party pretends to be the party of the workers yet has no class based analysis.
    1
  1600. Except the red Tories will take over and Thatcherism continue unabated. Establishment job done, Labour Party hollowed out once and for all by the Blairites. Britain is in a doom loop.
    1
  1601.  @comanchio1976  Spot on.
    1
  1602.  @comanchio1976  Spot on.
    1
  1603.  @tonycowin  Be precise.
    1
  1604.  @tonycowin  Funny.
    1
  1605.  @tonycowin  Anout? You clearly cannot substantiate your claims.
    1
  1606. A deadly virus. Vaccination has saved 20 million lives worldwide. Austerity held back economic recovery and thousands died needlessly due to cuts to public services for an economically illiterate and callous policy. The best performing economies in Europe have higher taxes for the rich and the same is the case in American states with the best growth- higher taxes. Biden quite right to dismiss trickle down economics which has been proven not to work- it is a transfer of wealth in reverse from the poor and the middle classes to the rich. A con dressed up as the answer. The markets clearly do not agree with the whole house being bet on a gamble doomed to fail.
    1
  1607. Tax the rich. Growth and taxing the rich are not mutually exclusive. Hot air from Reeves paving the way for a disastrous Labour government if it wins the GE. Labour on the wrong side of the argument all the time.
    1
  1608. Three MPs have called publicly for Truss to resign.
    1
  1609. You have misunderstood neoliberalism.
    1
  1610. Trump is a devil. Evil.
    1
  1611.  @namesurname2958  No, it will be because the democratic will of Scotland is expressed if it votes for independence. There is no equivalence between the far right and the left in the UK either- the Tories are an ideological cult and the so called far left subscribe to policies that are to the right of the 1945 manifesto. Far left is a misnomer because UK politics has moved so far to the right since 1979 and especially from 2019. Thatcher won, unfortunately, and Labour capitulated.
    1
  1612.  @RobBCactive  The Tory Party as a whole is hard right. The old party was purged after the 2019 election. There are very few one nation Tories left in the party.
    1
  1613.  @ChristisLord7777  Not possible if he does not exist.
    1
  1614.  @ChristisLord7777  Stupid question. Frankly, I don't care but religion is superstitious nonsense swallowed by gullible and often not very intelligent people. A comfort blanket to rationalise what we cannot comprehend.
    1
  1615.  @simontemplar404  Don't forget the other banks. They need a bit of love after destroying the world economy in 2008.
    1
  1616.  @preciousmousse  Not at all.
    1
  1617.  @carelgoodheir692  Britain Trump was an incompetent liar.
    1
  1618.  @nipponsuxs  It will be worse, which is a kind of different but the wrong sort.
    1
  1619. Starmer made a point of walking part way along Downing Street to greet Zelanskyy effusively in a pointed show of support. The meeting with King Charles tomorrow is also careful choreography to show backing for him not least of all because it means Zelenskyy is being seen before Trump's state visit to Britain ( the invite that should never have happened and ought to cancelled immediately).
    1
  1620.  @edglue6138  Sefton is separate to Liverpool.
    1
  1621. Labour centrist means red Tory in reality unless those self identifying as centrists do not know left from right. Labour is right wing Thatcherite and the left has been purged. There is no centre in Labour by definition. Think it through.
    1
  1622. According to some another financial crisis just around the corner too. Taxing the rich to reverse Thatcherism is the only answer but the one thing the establishment will not countenance.
    1
  1623. Rubbish. Disgraceful language. You know you are lying. Stop.
    1
  1624.  @alerojas2952  Well said.
    1
  1625.  @wickowicks9719  Poorly written. 'For starters', 'stuff' and 'pencil cases'.
    1
  1626.  @varcoliciulalex  That is why they went up and down the mines because they were hiding millions inside coal seams. No wonder they were upset when the coal mines were mothballed and grass allowed to grow over them- all those millions of pounds trapped underground to this day! There is no comparison between farmers and coal mining.
    1
  1627.  @GeordieFX  God does not exist at all. Gender is irrelevant.
    1
  1628.  @annebritraaen2237  No but I don't listen to nonsense conspiracy theories peddled without evidence by those who are usually poorly educated. Life is too short to waste time looking for conspiracies that do not exist. Science and reason should guide human thinking. That is what the Enlightenment was meant to bring.
    1
  1629.  @mickeypearce244  No evidence at all for the existence of God. Wasting your time.
    1
  1630.  @JAG8691  Never have. Only 1940s music.
    1
  1631.  @annebritraaen2237  I don't care one way or the other.
    1
  1632.  @mickeypearce244  Don't patronise and don't bother.
    1
  1633.  @GeordieFX  No thanks, God does not exist so it is not possible.
    1
  1634.  @GeordieFX  It can't if it does not exist.
    1
  1635.  @GeordieFX  Delusional.
    1
  1636.  @Nickle314  They are not all here. If they were then the Tories should be capable of dealing with the problem. The so called party of law and order- the one that made massive cuts to the police during austerity and then has had to reverse the policy due to the damage caused. Tory fail after fail.
    1
  1637. Labour surrendered to Thatcherism under Blair. Do keep up.
    1
  1638.  @Da1Dez  Is that your best?
    1
  1639. See quote above.
    1
  1640.  @scepticalsaint  Their focus on high standards enables the teachers to do their job, which is what they are paid to do, without dealing with all the baggage that comes with the poor behaviour accepted in so many schools. It is one of the factors causing teachers to leave due to lack of support from SLT and the word of parents/ students being taken at face value with a presumption it is correct. The overwhelming majority of teachers are professional and conscientious in how they carry out their duties. Even if a small percentage of Michaela's methods was adopted or even adapted in every school, it would go a long way to reducing poor behaviour. An OFSTED report in 2014 found that in some schools a day of learning per week is lost due to so called low level disruption. In the best classrooms there is almost no low-level disruption, thus enabling everyone to learn.
    1
  1641.  @scepticalsaint  I am sure you are very good at the job and there will be a wealth of evidence to support this, as you will know. The irony is that teaching lessons is not that difficult although done properly it requires a lot of input and determination on the part of the teacher to promote and maintain high standards when so many factors are conspiring ( not literally) to create diminishing returns. It is all of the other aspects of the job that make it so difficult. I had always planned to go at 55 anyway right from my twenties but in the end I was burned out, and feel no shame in admitting this. I could have gone on for two or three more years, but at what price for my well-being? It is just not worth it. The job is relentless, with completely unreasonable demands placed on staff. I would never advise anyone to become a teacher, but many new teachers clearly draw their own conclusions by leaving within a few years, a terrible waste of talent. I wish you well in your plans to find something else to do with your valuable time but at the same time I am sure your gain will be a loss to education.
    1
  1642. Bring back Animal Nightlife from the eighties.
    1
  1643. Not possible under neoliberalism. It is designed to transfer wealth from workers to the rich. It has been very successful by its own measures in the sixth richest country in the world and the most unequal in Europe apart from Bulgaria. It is too far gone and will not improve.
    1
  1644.  @obtuse1291  By design. That is the intention of neoliberalism. It has worked brilliantly for the rich.
    1
  1645. The end of Conservative England cannot happen unless neoliberalism is reversed. The red Tories of Labour surrendered to Toryism under Blair and Starmer will faithfully implement neoliberalism. That is why Corbyn had to be stopped at all costs by the establishment.
    1
  1646. It always was but the more absurd it is the less likely Britons are to reject it.
    1
  1647. You do not seem to understand that Labour is not on the left. It is a right wing Thatcherite party in thrall to failed neoliberal policies. The left has been purged by the red Tories. Try to keep up with what is going on and while you are at it have a think about the Overton Window and read a bit about the last few decades of UK political history and economics.
    1
  1648. All the ignorant posts on here spouting nonsense- she destroyed Britain. We live in Thatcher's Britain today due to the egregious consequences of her policies. She converted Labour to Thatcherism describing its surrender to her creed as her greatest triumph. The tragedy is that she is right.
    1
  1649.  @piccalillipit9211  Income inequality is a disease corroding society. Oliver James wrote and spoke about it on many outlets up to about ten years ago but his message went unheeded by government. The societal implications for mental health issues in the next decade and beyond in Britain do not bear thinking about because it is going to be very serious. The country is not remotely prepared for a landscape in which large numbers of the population are not going to be able to cope with daily life materially due to poverty and in terms of well being for the same reason. Self medication is already a major issue and it will only worsen.
    1
  1650.  @FNKClassicCars  Absolutely. It was at the tail end of their success too. It did well in Britain but not sure if it was a hit in America. Paul Reynolds was a superb guitarist. No sure what happened to him but he is probably living in Liverpool their hometown ( I live on Merseyside). I had heard he had had problems, which is sad.
    1
  1651.  @FNKClassicCars  Yes, they did. I overlooked this. I suppose I was thinking about what Paul Reynolds did for the next thirty five years after the band split.
    1
  1652. Religion is nonsense. It explains nothing.
    1
  1653.  @andrewoliver8930  Appeasement was a failure by definition because it failed to prevent war and much more could have been done to stop the Nazis in the early 1930s. The League of Nations was the mechanism for enforcing the Treaty of Versailles, which Keynes rightly said was too harsh ( 1919, The Economic Consequences of the Peace) but Britain and France could not agree on what to do. The French, of course, wanted a harsh peace due to the fear of being invaded again and what had happened previously in the first world war and the Franco- Prussian war of 1870- 71. If France had reacted with military force in 1936 when Germany invaded the demilitarised Rhineland, the German army was under orders to retreat which would have been a humiliation for Hitler; he probably would have been toppled and history very different. Fast forward to 1938 and the extra year argument has some merit- Britain was not ready for war in 1938 but it was in 1939. The guarantee to Poland in early 1939 signalled the inevitability of war and the Nazi Soviet Pact of August made it inevitable.
    1
  1654.  @andrewoliver8930  The government's own assessment of its military strength at the time said it was not ready in 1938, I think.
    1
  1655.  @Bertrum123  The lies and deliberate dishonesty is outrageous and daily. It is part of a deliberate and successful strategy to demonise anything that goes against the manufactured neoliberal consensus in order to protect the assets of the rich and avoid scrutiny. Such scrutiny that exists is rendered ineffective. Confusion and distraction are also key elements of the strategy. The left has been very weak in countering the false narratives of the right, especially in the era of so called social media. It is more like anti social media given its pernicious effects.
    1
  1656.  @Rooln1  Orange with a picture of Lucifer for bad measure. He is a devil amongst us. One of many. I am not religious but the comparison fits.
    1
  1657. @ Explain.
    1
  1658. Moral- morale is spirits. Not difficult.
    1
  1659. Is the Pope a Catholic? Yes. Question about the differences between the Tories and Labour answered. Both are neoliberal parties committed to the status quo, which means no change for the majority. The toxic consensus around this extremist ideology that has captured Britain since 1979 is the reason Britain is in a doom loop.
    1
  1660. Appalling. It is very much a secondary issue, but I find him very poor on GMB. He also talks over co-presenters too.
    1
  1661. Funny. It was certainly hard to distinguish between them. Both ludicrous but entertaining tracks.
    1
  1662.  @chorleycc  Evidence for your claim of 95%? Cite your source. A refugee and economic migrant are not the same but you have conflated them. There is an agreement in place with Albania for people who do not have the right to make a claim for asylum in Britain to be returned quickly. The UK government has hailed its success. Are you unaware of this? Lack of GP appointments is nothing to do with immigration or refugees- it is because the NHS is not funded properly due to the Tories mindless and callous policy of austerity, and the fact that Britain spends 7% less than France and Germany on healthcare. Again, you are probably unaware of the underfunding of the NHS. You mention being honest about what it taking place- the best place to start would be refraining from posting inaccurate and misleading comments that you cannot substantiate and which do not match reality.
    1
  1663. @ The left has been purged and that is why capitalist realism, as the late Mark Fisher described it, will prevail. There is no alternative in the minds of the Conservatives, Reform and the red Tories. The British never learn and remain in thrall to a failed ideology that does not serve the interests of the majority. I recommend This Time No Mistakes by Will Hutton as a comprehensive an analysis of the state of the UK as one is likely to find, analysing in detail how it happened and the route map out. He was saying similar things thirty years ago but now the crisis is almost intractable, especially as long as the group think of the political class remains in place.
    1
  1664. It is entirely possible but will make no difference as Labour is committed to the same policies as the Tories. Labour sold out to neoliberalism under Blair and Starmer is a continuation of the Blair/ Brown era. The left is being eradicated in Britain.
    1
  1665. It was despicable. Trump and Vance are vile bullies. Thugs in suits next to a principled, brave war leader in clothing designed to symbolise his country is at war for its liberty and democracy. Trump only became President to avoid jail but this term is going to be highly problematic for him as he fails to deal with the multiple problems facing America and the world. He should be in an asylum.
    1
  1666.  @keithparker1346  If it forms a government Labour will be a car crash that will invite interesting comparisons with the current one in office. Just when it seems it cannot be any worse. Johnson and then Truss proved this.Lightweight ministers in abundance parroting unsustainable mantras about sound finance, very little evidence of intellectual grasp of portfolios, lack of experience really showing in the face of un- met expectations , internal party dissension, and a much needed leadership challenge to Starmer and/ or the beginnings of the break up of the Labour Party, to borrow a phrase from the neoliberal alchemist Reagan, ' you ain't seen nothing yet'. Lordy, we are in for the mother of bad things happening very regularly in the next decade. I have been in France for a while in the summer- just in a week and a half since returning, there has been the RAAK crisis, Birmingham City Council effectively declaring itself bankrupt with more in a parlous state financially, and the escaped prison. It is surreal.
    1
  1667. Fallen not 'fell'. Full stop at the end of a sentence.
    1
  1668.  @donaldhoult7713  Excellent.Well done. Corrected it for you, hope you're impressed.
    1
  1669. 90%. If it is left in situ it is usually safe but there are going to be massive issues with its removal across many schools.
    1
  1670. What is sence?
    1
  1671.  @ozzie2612  ?
    1
  1672. Capitalism is the cause of most mental anguish in one way or another. Right wingers never have anything to say about why there is so much mental illness in modern iterations of capitalism. I wonder why.
    1
  1673. The scouse accent of today is nothing like what it used to be. I wonder what would account for that, let me think. It must be that there are plenty of people in the world's supposedly friendliest city ( not seen the league table to verify this) that have learned to speak in a strong accent heard today. It has not happened anywhere else. ' We seen it in Knowsley' should be 'we saw it in Knowsley'. Not difficult and unacceptable for an MP to not speak properly. No standards in Britain any longer.
    1
  1674.  @eh1702  Perceived not percieved. Poorly written post. For the avoidance of doubt it is my view that many people in Liverpool affect a strong accent as well as absorb it due to hearing others speak in a similar way. I find it odd and cringeworthy that this is the case. I like the variety of accents in the UK but not the scouse one, which grates in my view.
    1
  1675.  @eh1702  Ignorant. It is not about language moving on, it is about correct standard usage. Incorrect spelling is not another strand of language moving on either- it is simply incorrect.
    1
  1676. No such thing as internally consistent grammatical rules. It is either grammatical or not. Should be obvious. Otherwise we might as well invent our own rules as long as they are consistent. Consistent gibberish.
    1
  1677.  @SmithyD86  No connection at all- nonsensical comparison. Poor grammar is due to poor education/ laziness/ refusal to speak correctly- delete as applicable. Don't defend the indefensible.
    1
  1678.  @SmithyD86 The point I made is relevant to large parts of the UK. Nearly eight million people are illiterate in Britain. Everyone should be able to use the language properly regardless of where they are from in the UK or socio economic background. I do know Liverpool and many people put on the accent to make it sound stronger. I know there are others who think the same. There used to be an accepted standard of written and spoken English which most adhered to. There has been a collapse in the standard of education in Britain in the last twenty years or so. Typical defensive reaction often found in Liverpool by the way, and it is 'I have come to accept it's hard' not 'I've came to accept it's hard'. Proves the point.
    1
  1679. Theatre. Nothing more. Most of the unions are going to sell out the workers with pathetic pay 'deals' which will be real terms pay cuts, and do nothing to to arrest the steepest drop in living standards since the 1950s. Around 8 million adults in Britain have the numeracy levels of a primary school student, a national scandal that no-one has ever addressed. No wonder millions have no idea how severely their income has been hammered and will continue to be for years to come. Government is to blame first and foremost but it is clear the RMT is not getting anywhere with its strikes yet no-one questions this.
    1
  1680.  @royboy565  Define centrist.
    1
  1681.  @royboy565  Does not define centrist. You do not know what it is. See Steve Richard's article on how problematic it is.
    1
  1682. Evidence for years has shown that in more equal societies there is less crime. The Tories have widened inequality and we are witnessing the end game of Thatcherism being played out. No excuses but it is cause and effect. The media echo chamber has sustained neoliberal economics for forty years and pretends not to see a connection between the policies it supports and crime. The two are inextricably linked.
    1
  1683.  @unchattytwit  If you knew it and actually understood you would not make such a trite response with vague platitudes about common sense and practicality being radical. Implementation of neoliberalism under Thatcher was purely ideological therefore its reversal would also be an ideological shift which would be resisted by the right. Its echo chamber does not spend all its time denigrating taxation, the role of the state, immigration and the public sector for nothing- it is engaged in a sustained effort to shore up the ideology it campaigned for over decades after the second world war. The right would not see any common sense or practicality in the reversal of Thatcherism.
    1
  1684. The mad or bad question was answered 2016 to 2020 in his first term- Trump is mad and bad. I fail to understand why some on the left are even wondering given the overwhelming evidence. He is also very calculating which means he may be more bad than mad. Being seen as mad serves his purpose. He is also a reflection of a strain in the American psyche as a nation- bullying, high handed, conceited and possessed by its misguided sense of manifest destiny. Only a mental health assessment by a professional could determine his mental state but in the context of history and politics he is unhinged in a way most people would understand.
    1
  1685. The people you refer to are not illegal because they have a right to claim asylum under international law. I appreciate you are probably not across the finer details of international law but that simple fact renders your statement incorrect. Those whose claims are rejected are returned to their country of origin. Not complicated.
    1
  1686.  @dbcooper7326  False. Do not peddle false claims. Homelessness is the fault of the Tories.
    1
  1687.  @moosky7344  Wrong in everything you state. You cannot be a refugee in your own country by definition. Think about it. Cite the figures for the false claim that hardly any refugees are returned. You know you cannot. Your post is not only wrong, it is also incomprehensible.
    1
  1688.  @MegaTaurus777  If you are that bothered about facts look it up yourself. It is 'to date' not 'too date' and there is a full stop at the end of a sentence. I hope this helps with basic English. Ironic that many of the refugees that are hated so much by right wingers speak and can write English to a higher standard than millions of ignorant people brought up in Britain. Tragic.
    1
  1689.  @crayontom9687  Better not to use the word at all as it not applicable.
    1
  1690.  @TomSherwood-z5l  That was before Hole In My Shoe by Neil from The Young Ones made it to number 2 in the UK chart in 1984 at the height of Cold War fear. Not to mention Two Tribes by FGTH, t shirts bearing the legend Frankie Says No More War and Threads putting the fear of god into everyone. Culture actually played its part in society then. Neil was a hippy albeit a fictional representation.
    1
  1691.  @neilrobson3064  Well said. The right wants to manipulate the workers into thinking the root cause of the weakness in the British economy is migration and asylum seekers ( deliberately conflated). It is a fact that migrants make a net contribution to the economy. Even Johnson when London Mayor said there should be an amnesty for illegal migrants. The tax base would benefit from a proper industrial strategy to create meaningful, well paid and stable jobs. No sign of this. The rich should be taxed more full stop. They will still be rich and that is fine but they are not paying enough.
    1
  1692.  @POLMAZURKA  They are. So is my heart. Heart and head both focused on the issues.
    1
  1693.  @simonorr594  How about citing specific examples that are in the public domain to substantiate your claim?
    1
  1694.  @Baron_Blue_Max  Nonsense. Define English culture. Racism is rife in Britain and always has been. For every person who does want to welcome immigrants there are many who do not. Define integration too. This is a loaded word and needs clarification. No-one in their right mind wants to or would be able to live off the dole ( old fashioned word for universal credit or benefits). I thought the right claimed immigrants are taking jobs. Which is it? There is £10 billion of unclaimed benefits each year, which underlines the fact that people are not gaming the system., I suggest you try living off benefits and see how easy it is.
    1
  1695.  @Baron_Blue_Max  The reason for unclaimed benefits is people either not knowing they are entitled to a benefit or not knowing their way around the system in respect of how to apply. The working poor or unemployed do not have the sharp elbows of the middle classes, who for the most part, do not have to claim benefits unless they are very unlucky. It is nothing to do with a bloated welfare state. Racism is wrong full stop and should be challenged in all its forms.
    1
  1696.  @californiadreamin8423  It is state sponsored trafficking. I fear it will win the next election for the Conservatives. It is, of course, a deliberate distraction. There is nothing this fourth rate government will not do to try to disguise its mendacity and incompetence. Good to see Nick Hewer on TV this morning condemn it in no uncertain terms when asked. Those in the public eye usually hold back no doubt thinking about their image and the backlash but he told it as he sees it. Labour can only achieve a hung parliament at best and that is by no means certain, although I have no faith in what it would do with government. Unless I have missed it, Starmer has not condemned the Rwanda plan, just said it is a distraction. Labour once again courting the Brexit vote instead of taking a moral stand. The party with a track record of anti racism achieves a new low. I see there is outrage in The Guardian about the government's announcement. I agree with the righteous indignation wholeheartedly but I am afraid it is making the mistake of conflating this with public opinion. Britain is a hard hearted country in many ways and the Conservatives have just scooped up millions of votes over Rwanda and created a dividing line with Labour. Job done.
    1
  1697.  @californiadreamin8423  No need to provide evidence because it is an interpretation. I am not the first to describe it as that but happen to think it is fair comment. Alf Dubs has referred to state sponsored trafficking ( The Guardian 16th April 2022). You can read the article if you wish but don't expect me to justify it as the issues are set out in the article. There is no need for duplication. Odd that you should be so disputatious when you appeared to be on the same side of the argument. Second sight? I really don't know what you are on about.
    1
  1698.  @californiadreamin8423  Woffel or waffle? I have provided a clear response and will not be adding to it. There is simply no point. Read the article.
    1
  1699.  @ronniedixon1128  Define woke.
    1
  1700.  @ronniedixon1128  No, because it is not a definition. Do you just repeat what others have said without being able to explain your 'thinking'?
    1
  1701.  @ronniedixon1128  Twice you have failed to define it. You really don't know what you are talking about. Were you taught to think properly at school?
    1
  1702.  @ronniedixon1128  You clearly know nothing about history.
    1
  1703.  @ronniedixon1128  Read some books to educate yourself.
    1
  1704.  @middle_of_the_road  Have faith in Orange Jesus to deliver justice by going to jail.
    1
  1705.  @csharpe5787  Their not there. Not difficult.
    1
  1706.  @Turbogaggers123  Your inability to use a full stop suggests you have some way to go before you start commenting on the IQ level of anyone else. Work on it. Britain is supposedly the fifth or sixth richest nation on earth according to frequent reports that cite both. It is also one of the most unequal countries in the world because the wealth is concentrated in the hands of the few. The top of rate of tax was reduced in 1988 by Lawson to considerable outcry and it has favoured the rich ever since. Income tax is only one means of taxation- wealth and land are two other ways the rich could be taxed. The transaction tax ( Tobin tax) was advocated by some after the 2008 crash. Reducing income inequality by taxing the rich will change society for the better and the wealthy will still be rich. A win win for all.
    1
  1707.  @Turbogaggers123  Your inability to use a full stop suggests you have some way to go before you start commenting on the IQ level of anyone else. Work on it. Britain is supposedly the fifth or sixth richest nation on earth according to frequent reports that cite both. It is also one of the most unequal countries in the world because the wealth is concentrated in the hands of the few. The top of rate of tax was reduced in 1988 by Lawson to considerable outcry and it has favoured the rich ever since. Income tax is only one means of taxation- wealth and land are two other ways the rich could be taxed. The transaction tax ( Tobin tax) was advocated by some after the 2008 crash. Reducing income inequality by taxing the rich will change society for the better and the wealthy will still be rich. A win win for all.
    1
  1708. Wrong.
    1
  1709. Ludicrous comment. I would hazard a guess that you do not do much reading or thinking about politics. Right wing media does not count, by the way. Sorry. Did you expect Kinnock or anyone to work for free? Most people will accept the best remuneration available and do not set their salary anyway. Think about it- dust off the old mental cobwebs. It is the equivalent of a brisk walk. Assuming you are not suggesting that no-one ever changes their mind or position on something, there is nothing unreasonable in Kinnock's evolution on Europe. Many people in the Labour Party and wider movement travelled the same road. You may have noticed that Labour changed its position on Europe decades ago. I disagree with Kinnock on some issues but he was a serious politician no matter what his detractors claim. Reading your comment one last time, I am struck by how juvenile it is. It would just about pass muster below the line in the Daily Mail but a few spelling errors would improve it given that most of its readers are thick.
    1
  1710. Think Labour is on the side of the workers? No way. Unions that have disaffiliated are right to do so- no pledge to reverse Tory anti trade union laws from Starmer. Surprise, surprise. He is the establishment choice for Labour to maintain the illusion of democracy. It does not matter what anti trade union Tories say- it has all been said before and is predictably as old as the hills. The workers better come to terms with the fact the biggest drop in living standards since the 1950s is the present and future. It is all over for countless reasons. Think 1984 George Orwell and you have the picture. UK workers sold each other out years ago and the unions are paper tigers at best in most cases. Never mind what the Tories say about unions, it's Labour you want to worry about.
    1
  1711.  Alex Holmes  My comment is from the left. Labour is effectively the same as the Tories.
    1
  1712.  Alex Holmes  Comment amended. I voted for him twice and saw him in Manchester Cathedral in 2015 not long after he was first elected. A brief moment of hope in the air. The establishment ensured he was not elected and Britain will continue to spiral out of control. The seventies and eighties were the managed decline of the economy, the next decade will see its economic model implode. The sixth richest country in the world with the widest inequality gap in Europe except Bulgaria. Shameful but the private affluence and public squalor all around is the result of 43 years of neoliberalism. The nightmare that never ends.
    1
  1713.  Alex Holmes  Terrible times, I am afraid. I am 52 and see little grounds for optimism as everything is sliding backwards. The Corbyn interregnum was a chance to change direction but that ship has sailed. I have no faith in Labour under Starmer. Political literacy is chronically poor in the UK and compassion thin on the ground. Empathy too. I think a lot of people enjoy chaos even if they are the victims of it, whether they fully realise it or not. I cannot remember who wrote that some men ( it is usually men) just want to see the world burn, which could apply to any number of bad actors ( not just Ronald Reagan in his b movie pomp!) who not do things for the common good and do not care about the consequences ( Brexit would be a good example). There are a lot of them in play currently. Solidarity.
    1
  1714.  Alex Holmes Thanks. Best to you and yours too.
    1
  1715.  @perro0076  Thank you. RMT stated on its website that it is not possible to nationalise the railway under the EU- this is not true at all. I daresay many of its members believe this without having questioned the veracity of the claim. Socialism in one country is neither achievable or necessary in today's interconnected world- a prosperous future is only possible if we trade and co-operate with the rest of Europe.
    1
  1716.  @teddansonLA  Regardless, I think the railways could be nationalised. A mechanism could be found ultimately.
    1
  1717. Well said. Truth.
    1
  1718. The client media has been enabling the Tories for decades and proved highly successful at it. They are out in force today sowing confusion and obfuscating the real issues and once again it is working so that commentators nominally on the left to provide the illusion of impartiality are unable to focus on the real issues. The client media understands the need to pollute the airwaves with its lies because they know it works. The left has failed to push back effectively even though the internet has been around for nearly thirty years. The likes of Novara Media and Politics Joe do their best but they are preaching to the converted.
    1
  1719. There was an advertising slogan in Britain in the eighties-go to work on an egg. At least they were affordable during the Cold War. Oh hang on a minute it never ended. Russia won it in 2025 courtesy of President Krasnov the traitor in chief.
    1
  1720.  @simosino6763  Political career.
    1
  1721.  @Gazz9000  Read this slowly Gazz. I understood the sentiment behind the sentence but it is does not make sense and was poorly written. Anything written should be literate. It does not matter whether it is on You Tube or in a newspaper, for example. I have also explained why it is nonsenical too. It should be possible for you to grasp this as long as you take it slowly. No need for capital letters Gazz.
    1
  1722. Dismantling of protections is the fulfilment of the Reaganite dream.
    1
  1723. The Starmer project is the opposite of what Britain needs- it is not going to deliver reversal of Thatcherism, the only way forward. The one thing the establishment will not countenance and most of the public continues to embrace in its deluded collective wisdom. Labour lacks any meaningful solutions or vision to address Britain's deep seated problems. The left has the answers but has been purged, to the detriment of policy and the calibre of ministers who are wedded to neoliberal group think that makes change impossible. Yes, Labour has made a very poor start with numerous self inflicted errors on the economy and much else but the cacophony of antagonism directed at it is driven by right wing fury much of which contains dangerous undercurrents actively destabilising government and what passes for democracy. William Keegan writes well, as ever, in today's Observer. Labour is doing badly, but not as much as the hysteria of its critics make out.
    1
  1724. He does not look like he washes much. The pool of orange goo on the floor must be a sight. Thankfully it is an image that can be cured by intensive therapy.
    1
  1725. Misunderstood. He meant to stop pits from closing under the job losses planned by Thatcher on the basis of the false claim that the pits were uneconomical.
    1
  1726. God bless Jesus.
    1
  1727.  @mikeaddison6651  Hilarious.
    1
  1728. How's that going?
    1
  1729. Religion is made up. Sorry to break it to you.
    1
  1730.  @pixtilla  Tax the rich properly and lower the retirement age for all. The police brutality in France has been shocking even by their standards. Disgraceful. Macron had no mandate anyway given the low turn out and percentage by which he won the election last year. He will be dammed by history for an abuse of democracy by ramming through the reforms without a vote. In doing so he has further discredited himself and potentially played into the hands of the far right.
    1
  1731. Labour is Thatcherism. Widening inequality is here to stay without the reversal of neoliberalism. The Labour right is in the service of the rich. When over 44,000 teachers of working age left in each of the last two years there will not be over 6000 new teachers.
    1
  1732.  @GeoBeatsAnimals  Geobeats is superb. Very moving.
    1
  1733.  @paulwhite7978  Therein lies the problem. The electorate is ignorant and impervious to reason and evidence.
    1
  1734.  @mysecretworld6603  Incomprehensible sentence. Do you understand what you write?
    1
  1735.  @StuartQuinn  Of course the voters ( it is not '' the voters'') are to blame for accepting Thatcherism, which is why Britain is in a doom loop that can only be reversed if the electorate repudiate the ideology/policies that have ripped the social fabric apart. No-one made the voters fall for the Tory con tricks perpetuated on them since 1979 ( and for decades before that), and they were warned time and again but refused to listen, under FPTP. If enough people had heeded the warnings, if Labour had not been taken over by red Tories since Blair (his election to the leadership in 1994 was the beginning of the end as many saw at the time), and if millions who cannot be bothered to vote had got off their backsides on polling day, society and the economy today would be very different.
    1
  1736.  @silversmoke4902  I can and I did. You have not substantiated your contention that rent controls do not work. This is You Tube not the Sorbonne. I note you have not made the same point about a number of other similar comments.
    1
  1737. She is an opportunist and ideologue pursuing GCSE economics in the words of one expert in the last few days. Utterly hopeless and unsuited for public office. As a consequence, the UK is rudderless.
    1
  1738. Except Diane Abbott is not stupid. The opposite in fact. Grammar school educated and extremely high academic performance. She is cleverer than the racists who would have nothing to say if she was white. A great parliamentarian too.
    1
  1739. Lower retirement age creates jobs for the younger generation. Besides, make the rich pay for it. Obscene unearned wealth by exploiting the labour of the workers needs to be curbed. The rich can stay rich but they must be made to pay for the rest of society.
    1
  1740. He should be in an asylum. Caesar's Asylum it could be called for its one resident.
    1
  1741.  @carmenl163  If it happened it would be bullying without doubt.
    1
  1742.  @GWJUK  Factually wrong. Tory talking point, no evidence for it whatsoever.
    1
  1743.  @industrialmonk  Dyslexia friendly spell checkers work for many.
    1
  1744.  @dannyeleternity7390  Correct. It is up to people to wake up to reality but it is not going to happen in my lifetime or beyond. The choice is still there but the reality is Britain is too far gone which is the fault of the public and the politicians.
    1
  1745.  @dannyeleternity7390 As I said, the choice is still there. Neoliberalism can be rejected but I don't think the public have joined up the dots to create a narrative that means it is widely understood that the root cause of every problem in the UK is neoliberalism since 1979. Privatisation, weak unions, low tax for the rich, ever widening income inequality, money being transferred to the rich, etc, are all design features of the system invented to undermine the state and conserve/ increase wealth for the rich at the expense of the majority. It has succeeded beyond its wildest dreams, with the aid of the voters and surrender of the Labour Party ( except under Corbyn). Neoliberalism is so embedded in the fabric of British society and the economy that it is going to be hard to reverse. I do not sense a major shift in public opinion. Thatcher described 'new' Labour has her greatest achievement. The tragedy is that she was correct. I write these words in the hope that I am proved wrong but I think the situation is going to deteriorate significantly in the next few years- on every metric we are heading back to the early twentieth century, which is why it was necessary to form the Labour Party to defend the workers against the exploitation of capitalism.
    1
  1746.  @dannyeleternity7390  True. We are living in Thatcher's Britain today but few who profess to be on the left see the reality of this and even less among the wider public. Another measure of her success in transforming Britain permanently.
    1
  1747.  @dartskipper3170  Right wing nonsense. You know very well interest rates have been very high under Tory governments as well as inflation. Expulsion from the ERM in September 1992 rightfully destroyed the Tories undeserved reputation for economic competence, and was probably the main reason for Labour's victory in 1997. Inflation was high for much of the 1980s and Tory governments have made deep recessions with long lasting scarring effects a speciality. They exist for one key purpose- the transfer of wealth from the majority to the rich. Otherwise, there would be no need for them. They have been wildly successful at it.
    1
  1748.  @steffanhoffmann  Good of you to check in with your counting skills. Excellent!
    1
  1749. No such thing as hard left- it is media and Tory myth. Define it.
    1
  1750. I recall predictions of possible defeat for Putin in 2022, 2023 and 2024 on Times Radio. He is evil, of course, and Ukraine should be supported, but I wonder what the predictions for 2026 and 2027 will be when he is still in power?
    1
  1751. Started out in The Icicle Works, one of my favourite bands from the eighties/ nineties. Ian McNabb is a great songwriter. I don't know the details but I remember reading decades ago that he and Chris Sharrock had a fall out and a parting of the ways. I grew up in Southport and loved a wide variety of music in the eighties and it was great to see Icicle Works and other Merseyside bands make waves although the major success they deserved proved elusive. Time and again they released singles that got radio play but it did not translate into high sales. I think they filmed Who Do You Want For Your Love? on Ainsdale beach if I am not mistaken. Love Is A Wonderful Colour was a hit in America and the UK. I still think they are one of the lost bands of the eighties who should have been really big in many countries. I never saw the band live bu have seen Ian McNabb solo and the more recent iteration of the Icicle Works a few years ago in Liverpool. I read his autobiography around 15 years ago but cannot remember anything from it. I have not listened to them for a while but tomorrow will cue up the best of at the very least and probably If You Want To Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song. Up Here In The North Of England is not the greatest tune ever written but it is one of the most fierce denunciations of the Thatcher government I have heard set to music.
    1
  1752. RMT supports Brexit, the single biggest act of national self harm since Suez. I have not heard anyone question the RMT about this. Fully aware of the Lexit argument and the left's opposition to the EU going back the the seventies but to borrow a phrase from former Labour leader Neil Kinnock used in a different context, it is outdated and irrelevant to the real needs, of the economy.
    1
  1753. They will not. People in Britain rejected moderate policies in 2017 and 2019, proving how extreme right wing the country is. The centre ground argument put forward by Starmer's supporters is nonsense- the so called centre has moved inexorably to the right in the last 15, 25, 40 years and Labour has followed. Britain is an outlier in Europe and the rest of the world in that the policies advocated in 2017 and 2019 rejected under FPTP are part of the mainstream elsewhere. Most Britons whinge and pay lip service but in reality could not care less about inequality, poverty, racism, underfunded public services, low tax for the rich, etc.
    1
  1754.  Dark Jardin Creative  But not full stops, evidently. A contrary view to your own is not brow beating. Think it through.
    1
  1755. This lunatic is making war more likely. Have you not noticed he failed to end the Ukraine war quickly as he promised? Selling out Ukraine on Putin's terms makes war more likely. He is a Russian asset working against America's interests for the first time in history. Russia won the Cold War in 2025 thanks to Trump.
    1
  1756. The Blairites have got it all sown up on the right. I bet they cannot wait to be in power continuing the work of the Tories. Neoliberalism is safe in their hands.
    1
  1757. The Blairite delusionists are out in force all over the media today defending the indefensible. 2017 and 2019 were the last chance. Now it is too late.
    1
  1758.  @RandallSlick  It is the opposite of what you say- reasoned analysis of the fact Labour has no meaningful answers to the problems Britain is facing. It is the red Tories who insist on not changing the record- neoliberalism is the poisonous Tory ideology that has destroyed Britain with the connivance of Labour since Blair.
    1
  1759.  @trevfindley  Nothing at all- the answer can only be more privatisation and profiteering by the rich, disinvestment in public services, a smaller state, low tax for the rich, targeting of the unemployed and benefits claimants, scapegoating of immigrants to appease reactionary and nasty voters, lack of regulation of corporations, widening inequality, private affluence and public squalor, low productivity, the lowest pensions in Europe and lack of workers' rights. Neoliberalism is working so well under the Tories that it can only go from strength to strength under the red Tories. Not to mention the dying planet caused by neoliberalism's rampant excesses that have brought the world to the brink of no return. All good, nothing to see here, business as usual.
    1
  1760. It was mentioned on GMB this morning that benefit fraud is £7 Billion a year. No mention of the £23 Billion not claimed each year. The sharp elbowed middle classes who know their way around systems would claim this if they were entitled to it but instead are among the loudest voices shouting about benefit fraud. The £7 Billion is a miniscule amount compared to the £23 Billion and as a percentage of government spending. Punching down is a national pastime in Britain, egged on by the right wing echo chamber. Instead of demonising benefit claimants, a decent society and government would ensure those entitled to benefits receive them. Fine words eloquently expressed as always in this video. Truth to power.
    1
  1761. The whole comment makes little sense, especially the last sentence.
    1
  1762.  @allisterwhitehead  Another incoherent comment.
    1
  1763. There is no doubt that population movement to escape uninhabitable areas will see people forced to move to countries like the UK. It is heart rending listening to protestors like the person in the clip but they are on the right side of history. There won't be any history to write, of course, if they are not listened to.
    1
  1764. Not heard the RMT explanation of why Brexit is a disaster causing serious damage to the economy. Still waiting. Their analysis of what is wrong is accurate in almost every way but the ideological dogmatism about the EU is woefully misguided. I am on the left, always have been and always will. The Lexit arguments have been around since the 1970s but it is madness to believe that cutting loose from the rest of Europe is in Britain's best interests. GDP already down by 4% due to Brexit with no end in sight yet no-one talks about Brexit on the left and right- wake up!!
    1
  1765. I agree. It is the norm in France and no-one bats an eyelid about ID cards. I support the principle as long as the system is properly managed.
    1
  1766. I bet educational attainment is low in the area, that said it is in so manty parts of the country. There is a correlation between level of education and voting remain or leave in the referendum. Ditto voting Tory, and it shows when they are interviewed. Doubling down is part of the English DNA ( it is an English problem) in this era, and there is a danger lurking to the extreme right ( the government is hard right enough) over Brexit. Watch for more anti-immigrant racism, claims that Brexit needs more time to work, hasn't been done properly and is being thwarted by the EU. There is further to go down the rabbit hole of Brexit yet, I am afraid.
    1
  1767. Rubbish. Assimilation has not been possible for many communities due to white racism going back decades. Don't blame racism to immigrants on the victims. For every example of where someone has felt that they have been able to assimilate and been genuinely welcomed in the community in which they live, there are countless scenarios where it has not been the case. Without illegal immigration ( not to justify it but it is a fact) the economy would collapse, especially in London. Johnson called for an amnesty when he was Mayor. The lack of adequate healthcare and housing is nothing to do with immigration- Right to Buy under Thatcher inflated house prices and shrunk rented council housing and the health service has been starved of funding due to the Tories. Britain spends 7% less on healthcare than France and Germany. Funding is the issue-the priority is to fund the rich by transferring wealth to them which has been occurring since 1979 relentlessly.
    1
  1768. I do not watch the BBC because it pretends to be impartial and hold government to account. It does not such thing as instead it is a government mouthpiece. State broadcaster, after all. GMB is not perfect by any means and sometimes it plays into right wing talking points. It is also clear sometimes where the presenter is coming from politically when their own views should be hidden. But ultimately ITV's objective is to make money through adverts, which is more honest than the BBC pretending it is actually doing what it should be. By far some of the tougher interviews with government or anyone else for that matter are on GMB.
    1
  1769.  @gunnywhite7742  Don't be silly.
    1
  1770.  @HRHooChicken  Tory policies since 1979 have been the ruination of British society and the economy. That includes the New Labour era. Even right wing parties in other European countries have often followed more social democratic policies than Britain. The Tory record is abysmal, especially in the last 12 years. Care to list their achievements?
    1
  1771.  @zeddeka Good point. Compared to today it looked positively left wing which underlines how extremist the hard right policies it has been subjected to have become.
    1
  1772.  @allip4226  The irony is that if the Tories lose lots of seats at the GE there will be a neoliberal Labour Party in power committed largely to the same policies and approaches that have led to this crisis ( over forty years of Thatcherism). It will have purged the left meaning there will be little space for left wing solutions to the problems of the economy to gain traction simply because too few MPs will be on the left of the party. It would, in effect, create a one party state. Whether it is Labour or Conservative in power, given the lack of difference between them, this is the status quo already. But one thing at a time-the overriding priority is to remove the Tories as they are toxic.
    1
  1773. The Cold War did not end in 1991 as we thought. Russia won it in 2025 thanks to an American traitor as President. Ukraine is being sold down the river.
    1
  1774.  @jagaloon216  He makes a valid point and is clearly bothered about the spinelessness of the people in Britain to have bothered making the point.
    1
  1775. Sam Coates appears to be suggesting Truss is resigning this afternoon then rowed back to say there will possibly not be a PM in place. Beth Rigby confirms that Truss is resigning.
    1
  1776. Any evidence for this or do you just like throwing out wild and vaguely ridiculous assertions for fun on a Saturday morning?
    1
  1777. @ Lego.
    1
  1778. Really? You should be able to punctuate a sentence properly.
    1
  1779. As a poster below rightly says Britain leads in world beating incompetence. It pervades most aspects of life in the UK with inarticulate, often poorly educated blaggers promoted way beyond their competence. The main qualification for success in Britain is to have an over weaning level of self- confidence in your own ability regardless of the evidence to back it up. It is not just in government but all over.
    1
  1780. ​ @adriancaraballo9587  90 out of the last 120 too. They do not conserve except for the rich and destroy economy and society
    1
  1781. Another MP has had the whip restored after five months for an incident where she made a comment about Kwasi Kwarteng. No reason why Diane Abbot should not be afforded the same treatment- this would be fair and consistent. The Guardian, of course, because it hates the left of Labour and is a mouthpiece for the Labour right, ran an article this week questioning whether a lengthy enquiry would prevent Ms Abbot from standing as a candidate at the next election. The Guardian then referred to the restoration of the whip to the other MP after five months, a few sentences later. It knows very well that the GE will be in the autumn of 2024, well over a year away. It is widely believed to have been pencilled in before the clocks change. If Abbot is treated consistently, the whip can be restored in a relatively short period of time. Fundamentally, this is really all about eradicating the left from Labour once and for all and the egregious attacks on Diane Abbot ever since she was elected.
    1
  1782. Forty three years of Thatcherism needs to be reversed including Labour's surrender to it under Blair. Starmer is heir to Blair and must go for the sake of the country and party. He is absolutely the wrong leader for Labour.
    1
  1783. America has got what it deserves. Trump is a monster created by the failures of the Democrats for over thirty years- see Bernie Sanders' and Glenn Greenwald comments. The culmination of the neoliberal dream is about to happen and even worse. Millions did not vote and millions voted Trump because Harris had nothing to offer. All the whingeing now it too late. The horse has bolted. The Republicans can look forward to victory in 2028 thanks to the arrogant refusal of the Democrats to learn any lessons. The same inquest took place when Kerry lost in 2004 and he only lost by one state, an amazing performance in retrospect compared to Harris.
    1
  1784. Little England.
    1
  1785.  @denisejp1422  Thank you very much!
    1
  1786.  @PabloDon27  1995 strikes brought down the French government. Macron has limited to energy price rise to 4% and 12% 2022 and 12% 2023. French government even of the right is way to the left of Britain and that includes Labour. Continental European governments actually care more about their people and the system has more robust mechanisms to ensure unaccountable charlatans cannot use power to enrich a tiny elite at the expense of the majority without impunity.
    1
  1787. How come no-one saw Trump's victory coming? A crushing victory. The Democratic Party is now reduced to impotence. The most it will be doing from January is holding press conferences as its ability to block legislation will be nil. Well done neoliberals- you really have rolled over once and for all. It took less than 20 years for the Tea Party movement to take the Presidency and now the MAGA cult stands on the brink of dismantling the fabric of US government and society. Bernie Sanders was the future once but the sell out Democrats stopped him from being nominated in 2016. Now it is too late.
    1
  1788.  @clayhundenshire2643  Make America moron again. Well done.
    1
  1789. Absolutely correct. Starmer got nothing out of the meeting with Trump despite all the media nonsense in the UK hailing it as a success. No security guarantees for Ukraine which is what he wanted, no assurances on tariffs against the UK and hints of a trade deal with America that no doubt will be one sided. Pulling the letter out of his pocket inviting Trump for a state visit looked like paying homage to a medieval king. Disgusting, degrading, and no good will come of it. Cancel the visit.
    1
  1790. Predictions of bad news for Putin. Yet nothing happens time and again- he is not even the problem anymore, given that something at least as bad will replace him. It is self evident that support for Ukraine is weakening. Eastern Europe realises the seriousness of the threat. America is retreating into isolationism due to the Republicans unwillingness to fund the war, and if Trump wins it is a boon to Russia. World War Three potentially beckons just around the corner if Ukraine is sold out in a Munich Agreement style compromise. A repeat of 1938/ 1939 will be catastrophic.
    1
  1791. The Tory Party is an organised conspiracy in plain sight to transfer wealth to the rich. It can only do it with the willing collusion of working people who vote Tory. But the Labour Party has absolutely nothing to offer because it capitulated to neoliberalism/ Thatcherism under Blair. Strong unions mean higher wages/ living standards but Labour will not reverse anti trade union laws. Labour is not on the side of the majority and candidates who support nationalisation, oppose privatisation and want to scrap tuition fees are being blocked from selection for the GE. The name on the door might change but the policies will not. No change, no hope Britain.
    1
  1792. She flew to Australia at a cost of 500,000 to the UK tax payer. France has higher productivity than the UK while working less hours and with more holidays. Lack of investment and training is a key issue in low productivity in the UK. It also explains lower than expected unemployment because it is taking more hours than it should for work to be done.
    1
  1793. That's right. They are superb. Kevin Rowland of Dexys helped them start their career. A number of their tracks sound like they could work with Kevin's vocals.
    1
  1794. Correct analysis. Even Thatcher waited until 1988 to reduce the top rate of tax for high earners from 60 to 40 pence in the pound.
    1
  1795.  @johnmorrissey7873 Not at all on both counts. Merely pointing out facts to you.
    1
  1796.  @ROSE_reddy  Sanders would have won in 2016 and even 2024. He is authentic and entirely convincing. A great figure who would have been a Roosevelt of our times in rescuing capitalism from its worst excesses and stabilising the American economy and society. I am in the UK and people are aghast at the return of Trump but not surprised, unfortunately. He is seriously bad news and the world is in massive trouble once he becomes President.
    1
  1797. If the minerals deal was serious ( let's hope it is Turnips disguised as rare earth) the Americans would have signed it. This was a set up from start to finish with co-ordinated bullying of Zelenskyy and choreographed statements afterwards backing Trump and undermining Ukraine. Zelenskyy conducted himself with dignity and restraint. He is heroic and Europe must unite to defend Ukraine. Let Trump isolate America as its power weakens on its own terms. The American people will have to figure out if they want to live under a dictatorship.
    1
  1798. Lower the retirement age across the board.
    1
  1799.  @feconway5180  What was your routine, if you do not mind me asking? Was it every day of the week? Did you exercise too? I have lost 10kg in 8 months through 1500 calories a day with one day a week when I eat more without really counting, and a combination of walking 40 minutes three times a week on average and for the last seven weeks incline walking on a treadmill for up to 90 minutes at a time five days a week. Sometimes I walk and do treadmill on the same day though not always by any means. I am now 80kg and want to lost another 7 to be at the minimum safe weight for my age range (53) and height. Thanks.
    1
  1800. 20 million lives saved by vaccination. Lockdowns were necessary.
    1
  1801.  @johnl5316  Not the scientific consensus at all. Nothing further to add.
    1
  1802.  @jamesmeade9501  You made a sensible choice to leave. It got worse when Labour brought in some curriculum reform in 2009 though compared to what followed. Academisation and curriculum reform in 2015 with new A Levels and GCSE from 2016 made it a nightmare. Class sizes of 26 were considered too high in the 1990s but the issue more or less dropped off the radar by around 2005 given the multitude of other issues occurring. It should be a national scandal that nearly eight million adults are functionally illiterate but it is not. Primary schools seem to be very proud of their record even though it is abysmal. By the time students arrive in secondary school, if they cannot read to the expected standard for their age they are unlikely to catch up. Intervention is patchy and rarely makes much difference. Behaviour has deteriorated significantly even though most people, especially management, are in denial and brush as much as possible under the carpet. Covid has exacerbated this but I would put money on it not being blamed for the issues in other countries. It is too easy to pin it on Covid- here it has simply exacerbated a long trend. Parental support is in decline as shown by over 100,000 secondary school students who are persistently absent. I am very much on the left but the chaos in many schools is, in part, a result of a society where people cannot abide authority. A 2014 OFSTED report said that up to a day of learning per week is lost in some schools due to poor behaviour. It will be much worse now. Teachers are not supported most of the time which is another reason why so many leave. I hope you are prospering in what you do now.
    1
  1803.  @royboy565  Funding is the issue. Put the money in and most of its problems will go away. With Labour committed to making the same mistake as Brown in a far more benign economic climate preparing the ground for little to no extra spending, nothing will improve without the injection of cash to fund the NHS at the same level as France, Germany and other European countries. Brown stuck to Tory spending plans for the first two years ( an error to appease the markets and bogus accusations of fiscal irresponsibility by the Tories and the client media) but then the money poured into health ( and education), reducing waiting lists and increasing public satisfaction. The NHS was one of the most efficient health services in the world relative to its resources. No sign Labour is willing to follow the Keynesian economics needed to reboot large parts of the economy. Borrowing was 200% of GDP under the Attee government- today is at 100%. Plenty of room for manoeuvre but not when Labour believes in balanced budgets at all costs.
    1
  1804. The Cold War did not end in 1991. Russia won it in 2025. Agent Krasnov handed power in America to Putin.
    1
  1805.  @michaelkenny8540  The media and many in the PLP undermined Corbyn. The policies in the manifesto in 2017 and 2019 were nothing out of the ordinary and would be part of the mainstream in most other European countries. The hysterical treatment of him underlines the extent to which Britain is in the grip of hard right extremism in the form of neoliberal policies that have left millions behind. Labour, of course, is now back on course to implement more of the same if it wins the next election. However, though the right does not realise, its project is over before taking office because it is doomed to fail with policies that will not address the UKs problems. Having hollowed out Labour, the Blairites are now blindly continuing on the same path oblivious to the consequences of their actions, one of which will be the rise of populist forces to fill the vacuum created by the absence of a party on the side of workers.
    1
  1806. Most Britons are pathetic and do not care. If you tolerate this your children will be next as the Manic Street Preachers sang, quoting the famous saying from the Spanish Civil War. Solidarity to all who care in Britain and the French left and all who identify with its spirit.
    1
  1807.  @thomasreilly6362  Well said. Independence is inevitable. The English right do not care for Scotland except to want to subjugate it for their own ends- power and money. If it is so confident Scots do not want independence then grant a referendum to prove the case. The Brexiteers have hastened thew demise of the union they claim to love so much. Hard right English nationalism has played its cards very badly wrong given the evident lack of any benefit to Brexit and the unrest has created with its anti immigrant stirring of hate. Scotland has nothing to gain from being stuck with a failed state, which is what the right has rendered Britain. Well done.
    1
  1808. Cher did Walking in Memphis too I think she covered it.
    1
  1809.  @SanDimas234  Not sure it's available over the counter.
    1
  1810.  @kincaidwolf5184  One paper recently said 80% of inflation is due to Brexit.
    1
  1811.  @jjefferyworboys8138  Like the rich are given money by exploiting the labour of the poor.
    1
  1812. America's President Traitor delivers for Russia's 21st century dictator by working overtime to ensure Ukraine's imminent defeat. Abject betrayal. The Russians must have kompromat on Trump and for the sake of world peace someone needs to get it out in the public domain so he can be removed from office through the appropriate constitutional and legal channels. Trump is wicked beyond belief.
    1
  1813. PSB?
    1
  1814.  @Zarken26  The Republican Party in America fits your description. Disciples of Ayn Rand many of them.
    1
  1815. Loss of culture? Define. 'Its heartbreaking, and I have no faith in the younger generations because they have been indoctrinated by a pernicious, insidious, cancerous ideology. Society has become feminised and subjectivity has replaced objectivity which is a descent into madness.' , makes absolutely no sense at all. What on earth are you on about? I don't think you even know yourself. Apostrophe in it's by the way.
    1
  1816.  @MAZ732  Disgraceful comment. Long live multiculturalism. Hope not hate.
    1
  1817.  @jerribee1  On the contrary. I am disgusted by the disgraceful comments by many on this page.
    1
  1818.  @tinkerno11  It belongs to everyone. Long live multiculturalism. Hope not hate.
    1
  1819.  @AlanBrown-d8w  Opposing disgraceful comments on this page is not trolling. Hope not hate.
    1
  1820.  @user70331  Putin has unshakeable faith in US foreign policy.
    1
  1821. Can you act? Panto pays well. You should try it.
    1
  1822.  @melmorrison1400  Other European countries have far lower infections and deaths than England because they accept science and the role of the state in organising the response to protect the population. France and Germany also spend more on health than Britain- bed capacity has been cut by 15,000 in the last ten years, no wonder the NHS cannot cope. Tory austerity ( socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor) is the reason for the crumbling public realm. The pass sanitaire and masks are all accepted in France. No-one is making out wearing a mask to protect yourself and others is an infringement of civil liberties as right wingers do in England. I don't hear the same argument being used to campaign for the banning of seatbelts in vehicles and for good reason.
    1
  1823.  @djdoolittle1315  ??
    1
  1824. The pubic overwhelmingly backed austerity for the first five years according to opinion polls and those who warned it was self-defeating, inhibited recovery and callous in its pernicious effects on the public realm were ignored or portrayed as flat earthers. The public swallowed economically illiterate lies from the Tories about government spending being the same as a household, bogus comparisons with Greece, fixing the roof while the sun shines, and even Labour in 2015 under Miliband would have continued with so called austerity lite had it won the election. Voters cannot support a policy and Thatcherism broadly and complain about its effects but this is what they have been doing since 1979 with every government in power. Public squalor and private affluence is the result.
    1
  1825. An astute observation. I must admit I had forgotten about this and I usually have a good memory. But then so much has happened in recent years to widen the gap between rich and poor that amnesia about the relentless attack on the poor is perhaps understandable. An onslaught aided and abetted of course by working people who see the rich as their betters and think the right wing media has their interests at heart.
    1
  1826. There must be a leadership challenge if Labour forms a government, within a year. He is on Sky talking absolute rubbish about his top team in the reshuffle. Watch this space for how badly some ministers perform in a Labour government- it is going to be very concerning, and inexperience and poor political judgement is going to show almost immediately.
    1
  1827.  @1milliondogs  Ramsay McDonald, another who sold out socialist principles of the Labour Party.
    1
  1828. Brexit is a disaster but immigration is expected to fall to around 250,000 a year by 2025.
    1
  1829. It has been a spectacular success. Obviously. Resoundingly.
    1
  1830.  @justforfunsies5000 You are dense, no need to ask if you are. Europe is facing an existential crisis similar to the build up to World War Two if Putin is not stopped in his tracks. America has allowed Ukraine to borrow billions in order to purchase US made weapons as well as provide military assistance. Be embarrased at how dense you are and do some reading before your next post.
    1
  1831. Scenes in Budapest reminiscent of the protests against dictatorship in eastern Europe in 1989 resulting in the fall of communism. Shame the Russian people have not protested peacefully against Putin in large numbers, happy to trade western lifestyles for democracy. The silence of the Democratic Party in America is deafening. Trump wants protest so he can use the military on the streets- they would have to defy orders to save democracy.
    1
  1832.  @HowardNukem  Sensitive to social and political justice is just what the world needs- next level woke. The more the better to defeat the ideas of the reactionary dinosaurs. The use of the word woke is designed to cancel all debate about righting wrongs and to allow reactionaries carte blanche to persist with their vile attitudes to those they are prejudiced against.
    1
  1833. I will never vote Labour under Starmer because red Toryism has no answers to Britain's problems. The appalling stance on Israel should be the beginning of the end of his leadership. The wrong leader for Labour and the country, the polar opposite of what is needed. There needs to be a leadership challenge as soon as possible. Owen Jones has consistently called out Starmer more than anyone else in the media that I am aware of. Starmer must go- he has probably just handed the GE to the Tories. Well done Blairites.
    1
  1834.  @BENTWOONEZERO  If you think £8000 is little difference you are mistaken. The figure is not plucked out of thin air.
    1
  1835.  @jujutrini8412  The RMT supported Brexit which served the purposes of the hard right. The RMT is fighting against the consequences of what it supported. I am all in favour of unions and think they should be stronger but the uncritical adulation for the RMT is absurd. Ditto the fact it is making little progress in its strike at least as far as what is known in the public domain yet no-one questions the strategy as far as I am aware.
    1
  1836.  @BENTWOONEZERO  Cite the source.
    1
  1837.  @jameshutton3960  Not true. Nationalisation is possible.
    1
  1838. Neoliberalism has destroyed Britain, not multiculturalism, which has been a fantastic success. Immigrants contribute more to the economy than they 'take out'. Thank goodness Britain is not stuck in the days of empire in the 1950s, which is where reactionaries would like the country to be.
    1
  1839.  @LargeChap  Multiculturalism is great, neoliberalism is the problem.
    1
  1840. Keep up at the back. It's has an apostrophe, no need for a capital in country and there is also an apostrophe in she's.
    1
  1841. Anyone who refers to 'elf and safety' cannot expect their comment to be taken seriously. Ridiculous.
    1
  1842. It had been expected in autumn 2024 but autumn 2022 has now been mooted- watch this space. Cost of living 'measures' and a tax cut is all it will take for them to win it. Labour has no vision and the right wing media will swing into action as ever. Millions will not vote and so it goes on, permanent Tory rule.
    1
  1843. What is a desicion? I have heard him say this before and wondered.
    1
  1844.  @Muckylittleme  ???
    1
  1845. Like Keynes?
    1
  1846. If you think the Democrats are on the left you are truly clueless.
    1
  1847. Juliet Bravo should be appointed.
    1
  1848.  @colleencarpenter8898  Well said. The Democrats have a lot to answer for in selling out the workers of America by becoming a party of middle class professionals. Sanders would have governed for all Americans because he is the real deal with a track record of being on the right side of history for decades.
    1
  1849. Corbyn is the saviour of the left in Britain if it ever has a future, which is debatable. He has been traduced solely because he posed a threat to the establishment and the hegemony of neoliberalism. The Starmer project is doomed to fail because it seeks to enact almost identical policies to the Tories, which are not the answer Britain needs to its problems. The purge of the left will backfire as day follows night but the right of the Labour Party is too conceited to see that. Corbyn will win as an independent and remain a lightning rod for discontent on the left and a salutary reminder of the inevitable failures of the Starmer government, if it happens, in contrast to what he stands for.
    1
  1850.  @testudohorsfieldii7052  The fundamental reason for poor educational outcomes is inequality. It is not even the quality of teaching although this is important, of course. Income inequality drives educational attainment, which is why the schools in affluent areas achieve the best results. It is little to do with class size either as is commonly supposed- research over a decade ago showed that it is only class sizes below 12 that make a difference to outcomes at secondary level. This, of course, can only be delivered by the private sector. One of many good reasons for abolishing it to remove its unfair advantage.
    1
  1851. Keynesianism is the answer. Reversal of Thatcherism the result. The very thing the red Tory disciples of Blair and Thatcher will not countenance under any circumstances. The sole purpose of Thatcherism/ neoliberalism was to smash the post war Keynesian consensus that delivered growth and reduced inequality by taxing the rich properly, in order to transfer the wealth from the majority to the wealthy- it succeeded beyond its wildest dreams. Public squalor and private affluence are all around a society mired in the toxic legacy of Thatcher's egregious policies. Only a commitment to using the levers of government to boost the economy in conjunction with role of the private sector will deliver growth, not soundbites and wishful thinking.
    1
  1852.  @zeldagoblin  Ridiculous. How about another Tory government enacting similar policies to Truss in future. It would be good for branding and re-election chances. Similar policies should be tested to their limits in order to see how miraculous they are in transforming the economy. The default of right wingers is that the reason their failed policies do not work is because they have not been properly implemented- Thatcherism, Brexit, free market economics, etc. Ideological purity betrayed, full of excuses.
    1
  1853. Trump is evil. Ukrainians are dying because of his egregious actions. No wonder people are turning away from him. Wannabe Hitler is finding out that dictatorship is not as popular as he thinks.
    1
  1854. Correct analysis. See John McDonnell and Sharon Graham articles in The Guardian in the last two days highlighting the issues and what needs to be done. Although it is not stated it is implicit that the Starmer project is not the answer. It is obvious to anyone who is not deluded or disingenuous that he has no meaningful answers to Britain's problems. Thatcherism needs to be reversed not continued in a never ending nightmare. Other countries are going in the opposite direction to Britain but here it might as well still be the nineteen eighties.
    1
  1855. It was Tory propaganda aided by the right wing press that secured victory for Major in 1992, plus the fact he was not Thatcher, enabling the Tories to fool people into thinking they were more moderate. The 1992 defeat was a calamity and one of the most consequential elections in UK history; everything Kinnock had warned against in the eighties and in the campaign has come true and worse. If he had won Labour would not have surrendered to Thatcherism as it did under Blair and Britain would be a different place. The same can be said if John Smith had not died and won the next election. I am on the left and think Kinnock moved Labour too far to the right but by today's standards a Kinnock government would have been to the left of Blair and Starmer should he become PM in 2024. His concession speech on the steps of HQ in Walworth Road in the early hours of the morning of the 10th April was profoundly sad and prescient. Glenys Kinnock was by his side, of course. May she rest in peace.
    1
  1856. The Russians are winning the war yet it is not reported in the mainstream media in the UK. Putin is a menace to world peace yet delusional talk of imminent Russian defeat is absurd.
    1
  1857.  @mrfrisky2997  It is utter madness for any leader to say they would use the nuclear deterrent in the full knowledge it will kill hundreds of thousands and there will be mutually assured destruction for all sides. The nuclear deterrent is no deterrent anyway, especially in an era of cyber warfare.
    1
  1858.  @operationgoldfish8331  McDonnell developed a comprehensive plan to address the failures of the economy and make society fairer. Corbyn did come close to being asked to form a minority government in 2017. Any antisemitism is wrong and should be condemned. The number of cases in the party was small and the number found guilty is low too. Corbyn's defeat in 2019 was the last chance for Britain to change course but now it is truly doomed unless a similar figure emerges. Possible but not likely.
    1
  1859. It is a hard right, extremist government, no doubt.
    1
  1860. Same option.
    1
  1861. Good point well made.
    1
  1862. Youth violence is nothing to do with Covid- it has been worsening for at least two decades well before Covid. Stop making excuses for it or putting it in the context of Covid. Properly brought up youths do not commit any violence or ASB. Plenty were traumatised by Covid for one reason or another but did not commit crimes. It is down to parenting in the vast majority of cases. Excuse after excuse until the streets are not safe- this is the Britain we are heading for very soon.
    1
  1863.  @nillehessy  You clearly cannot write a sentence properly.
    1
  1864.  @nillehessy  No god. He does not exist. I hope this helps.
    1
  1865.  @pamelah848  Eh?
    1
  1866. The BBC is establishment propaganda and biased towards the right, by definition. The idea it is out of control is absurd, it is doing the bidding of the right. It is neoliberalism that is out of control, widening inequality, propped up by a right wing media and state broadcaster that is anything but impartial. If those on the right genuinely think that the BBC is left wing, their powers of reasoning and ability to objectively analyse information must be questioned. The licence fee is another bizarre right wing obsession. If the BBC was replaced the right would happily have a British version of Fox pumping out propaganda with no regard for impartiality.
    1
  1867. Oh Patti... is a great Scritti Politti track.
    1
  1868. Be patient and hold on tight. It is going to be a lot worse in the next year with these lunatics in charge of the asylum and if the red Tories win power under the worst leader for Labour and the country in Starmer. Doomed and doomed again.
    1
  1869. Deep state- nonsense. There is no such thing.
    1
  1870. The only answer is the reversal of Thatcherism and adoption of Keynesianism, the last thing the red Tories will countenance because it would overturn everything they believe in and hand ideological victory to the left, which has the answers. Serious times demand serious people to use the levers of power to effect meaningful change. Many in the cabinet were unimpressive in opposition. Reeves has been found out and is one of a number of senior figures who are simply not up to the job of running the country. It's all starting to look a lot like the last 14 years or even the floundering of the short lived ( 9 months) Labour governments of 1924 and 1929-1931, also obsessed with balanced budgets in slavish devotion to Tory orthodoxy. Plus ca change.
    1
  1871.  @bearnecessities9568  Lefty he said. It is simplistic and immature but it works. Therein lies the problem.
    1
  1872. Labour will not speak out against the racism of most of those who voted Brexit because it wants their votes. Reprehensible.
    1
  1873. A survey conducted by Denison University political scientist Paul Djupe recently found that around 30 percent of Americans believe that God has personally chosen Trump as His choice to lead the United States.Trump himself has promoted this idea, as last week he posted a video on his Truth Social account declaring that "God gave us Trump." 30%? If it was 0.3 % it would be concerning but 30%!!! I am in the UK and it would be unthinkable here even though it is a madhouse. Unreal.
    1
  1874. The worst Prime Minister in a hundred years bar none, easily. He is and always was unfit for public office. He should never have been selected as an MP. Too many people in Britain ( mainly England) are fundamentally unserious which is why they see something of themselves in Johnson ( although it is not reciprocated- he would not associate with anyone who is not wealthy and from his class). It is no surprise he was elected as the first celebrity prime minister. He is responsible for the degradation of political life and the coarsening of the fragile construct that passes for democracy ( it isn't much but it is better than the alternative) but so are his enablers in the Conservative Party and anyone that votes Conservative.
    1
  1875.  @zarakikon6352  A packet of noodles last a week if a maximum of three a day is consumed. Needs must for the Maga morons.
    1
  1876. Who does not exist.
    1
  1877. Who cares? The obsession with football in Liverpool is weird and ridiculous. Kicking a bag of wind around a pitch.
    1
  1878. It seems to have affected some people's spelling too. Sense and safely.
    1
  1879. Twitter is a technical problem. People should never have bothered using it. Journalists in the UK treat it like the Bible as if there are no other ways of developing stories. Anyway best of luck to America in playing out the fulfilment of the Reagan project with policies his government would not even imagine possible. At least no one will be complaining about the imaginary deep state- there will not be any state left! Threadbare and non existent deep state removed all at once!
    1
  1880.  @srj34  He does not.
    1
  1881.  @srj34  Pizza is universally popular in the same way I have never heard the suggestion that Eddie Grant sounds angry. Even if he did, it is hard to see how that would sound funny. Pizza is a good example to prove the point. Fair to say the idea of him sounding angry is a niche view.
    1
  1882. It is expected to go down to 250,000 a year by 2025. Small boats were not an issue until the Tories made them one. The y have failed to deal with the issue on purpose for political purposes. Labour has no meaningful solutions to Britain's problems so if it does not move significantly to the left in office if it wins the GE, by pursuing policies that provide economic stability for the majority and reduce inequality at the same time, it will pave the way for an even worse iteration of the Tories than in 2023. The scale of the problems is analogous to 1945 in some ways, but Labour is not up to the task under Starmer.
    1
  1883.  @standfortruth4568  The vaccines and masks were needed. Vaccines saved millions of lives. Do not state misinformation.
    1
  1884.  @iknow6147  Out of interest what is your level of education? I suspect it has not equipped you with critical thinking skills and a respect for science. Those who listen to baseless conspiracy theories are deluded. Anyone can come up with phrases about pandemic of corruption. Conspiracy theorists latch on to conspiracies as an easy way of trying to make sense of things that are complex and difficult to comprehend. They are usually not very bright.
    1
  1885. Only 44 years and counting. It will never end if the establishment has its way, which is why Starmer is their pick to ensure nothing changes for the majority of the population for the better. It is like the never ending nightmare in Orwell's 1984.
    1
  1886.  @hvhvgitaar Labour lost in 2017 in part due to the disgraceful undermining of Corbyn by many in the PLP. If Labour had won in 2017 the course of history would have been different. The Blairites like to accuse the left of not wanting power and ideological purity but the real dogmatism is the insistence of sticking to the disastrous neoliberal ideology of Thatcherism that meant the left behind, for whom capitalism is not working, fell for the lies of Brexit in the 2019 election. The Blairites have hollowed out the Labour Party and are busy again destroying it once and for all.
    1
  1887.  @jonathancarless8496  Correct.
    1
  1888. Burnistoun.
    1
  1889. The rich don't care about exploiting the poor. Wealth is transferred upwards not down. Benefits should be higher and there should be no stigma to them at all. In many European countries, provision by the state is much stronger. I live in Britain and have never had to claim benefits but would if I needed to without hesitation. There is £10 Billion of benefits not claimed each year in the UK because people do not realise they are entitled to them or do not know their way around the system. Literacy is very poor in the UK which means that many people cannot fill in the forms necessary. Benefit claimants are demonised in the media and wider society but the real scroungers are the rich who are happy to preside over ever widening inequality. Britain is the most unequal country in Europe apart from Bulgaria.
    1
  1890. Workers swallow Tory propaganda and vote against their own self interest. Most of the media aided and abetted the egregious undermining of Corbyn and Labour in 2017 and 2019 as well as for decades before that in every election. The media is hypocritical in criticising the Tories when it has done everything possible to prop up the Conservatives in power. The media are very much a key part of the problem.
    1
  1891.  @lobbyskids2  Rubbish.
    1
  1892.  @rayfinkle2805  Comment reported to You Tube.
    1
  1893.  @lobbyskids2  Hope not hate. Justice will prevail.
    1
  1894.  @scotland638  Wrong.
    1
  1895.  @scotland638  Wrong.
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  1896. Labour under Starmer has nothing to offer the country in terms of the fundamental change needed. That ship sailed with Corbyn. The voters don't care for the most part and will never learn. Britain is destined to continue its relentless decline since 1979.
    1
  1897.  @silversurfer640 Wrong. More claims are successful in France per capita than the UK. This does not fit the narrative of the right wing but it is fact. The British government is the problem. Fulminate all you like about the French in a below the line comment that no-one cares about ( including mine) but they could not care less about what the British think in the final analysis. I do not think they are culpable in this issue at all but in broad terms more widely, any country will put its own interests first. France is well disposed to Britain on so many levels and Macron has made clear his regard for the country. Of all the foreign leaders, he gave the most fulsome tributes to the late Queen, going out of his way to emphasise the strong ties between the two countries. Macron is way to the right of me politically but he represents France well. The Tories are to blame for this crisis, having failed persistently to address it fairly and humanely, which it is in their power to do. Vive La France.
    1
  1898.  @narcosniper78  Not just global warming, but wars created by western imperialism. Instead of describing people as demented try to do better than that by explaining your view. I appreciate you might struggle with reasoned argument. Keep it concise though as I don't have too much time to waste.
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  1899. The hypocrisy of Johnson's enablers is consistent with their support for him for three years. Corbyn was the answer so no-one can complain about Johnson.
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  1900. Ridiculous post. Support for monarchy equates to belief in inequality.
    1
  1901.  @johnrussell3961  Wrong. Most on the left have voted for Labour despite their concerns about the constant move to the right in the last three decades. There is recent academic research that if Labour opposed Brexit by highlighting the disaster it has been its vote in red wall marginals would increase. Many in the red wall still voted Labour anyway in 2019. But never let facts obstruct the argument.
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  1902. Sky pretending to be impartial is laughable. It is Tory. What has being a middle aged woman got to do with it?! Ridiculous. Sky backs the Tories. The home of independent news it says on their graphics- I don't think so.
    1
  1903. Most of the population is politically illiterate. It is frightening the extent to which UK culture has been dumbed down in the last thirty years. So many causes and no solution forthcoming because the problem is not widely recognised. But it is real and here to stay- bread and circuses on steroids.
    1
  1904. It obviously deliberate. MAGA supporters are colluding with the rich against their own self interest so the rich can become richer. The stupidity of the MAGA poor is the gift that keeps giving for the rich.
    1
  1905.  William  Brexit too. The decline of the pound has increased inflation but let's not mention reality.
    1
  1906. Demolishing them s such a waste- better to eat them in moderation. Eighteen a week sounds to eat. One is one too many to demolish. Protect the egg. Eggs are pure.
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  1907. Abolish the agencies or make them pay everyone the same and this issue goes away. Have you not thought of that?
    1
  1908. Loosing?
    1
  1909. 90 million idiots did not vote in the election. No wonder Trump won.
    1
  1910. The Tories are the worst government ever in the UK- history will damn them. However, Labour surrendered to the same neoliberal philosophy under Blair and has no meaningful solutions to the problems of Britain under Starmer. His project is doomed to fail and will likely pave the way for something even worse under a resurgent Conservative Party led by an even worse hardliner.
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  1911. @Don Doodat Nothing in your comments that suggest you are a considered thinker. Labour has accepted the Thatcherite settlement since the 1980s, with the exception of the Corbyn interregnum. This means your first sentence is incorrect, given that the right is firmly in control of Labour and some of the key Blairites from the 1990s are back on the scene. Starmer has reverted to type. No need to elaborate on what she said as I observed that she has valid points, therefore I agree with her analysis of the issues she highlighted. I am on the left and always have been, but this speech was preaching to the converted. Swearing is immature for an adult delivering a speech and, rightly or wrongly, will put off floating voters who need to be persuaded, including the 15 million who do not bother to vote in Britain. Look at some of the great speakers of the last 100 years and none of them swear in speeches. Anger can be expressed in all sorts of ways in a speech. No-one will remember Zarah Sultana's speeches in years to come unless she improves. Have a listen to Richard Burgon, who is an impassioned and highly effective speaker very much on the left.
    1
  1912.  @InfiniteBeak  Missing the point by a long way. It is possible to agree with the sentiment in what she is saying and question one aspect of delivery at the same time. Not contradictory to hold two thoughts in the mind at the same time. Find me any great speech from a public figure of the last 50 years where they swore.
    1
  1913. @Don Doodat I made a fair point in response to your previous comment. I do not care but I bet you did read the whole comment. You unfairly commented about me not engaging with the issues and I gave a considered response. I would seriously reflect on your own comments in order to avoid doing precisely what you have accused me of.
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  1914.  @InfiniteBeak  I repeat it does not bother me personally, but it does not strengthen the argument and may fail to convince the millions who do need to be persuaded if real change is to happen. There are plenty of ways to express ideas passionately but swearing is ludicrous in this context coming from someone in public life.
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  1915. Migration is necessary and good for the economy and society. Immigrants make a net contribution to the economy and strengthen society. It is set to fall to about 250,000 per year by 2025 which the right keeps quiet about because it wants people to think that it is out of control and unsustainable.
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  1916.  @catinthehat906  Around 50% of UK asylum claims are approved.
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  1917.  @fridajaspers6066  If you read and think about the sentence carefully ( go on, you can do it), the logic of it would suggest it is not posted by a bot.
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  1918. Presumably about the success in going to Oxford not Everton's likely doomed relegation battle?
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  1919. There are more holes in many of Hitchens' arguments than a Swiss cheese. He talks nonsense much of the time.
    1
  1920.  @The-Anti-Zionist  I would do some wider reading and then you might not be so easily persuaded by what Hitchens says.
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  1921.  @PeteH0121  Thatcherism/ neoliberalism is the cause of Britain's decline on every metric- high cost of housing in large part due to right to buy, unaffordable rents, rip off bills due to privatised utilities, austerity as a cloak to transfer wealth to the rich ( the whole purpose of the ideology, successful beyond its wildest dreams), low growth over time, the squandering of North sea oil profits instead of creating a sovereign wealth fund, lack of investment in infrastructure, failure to replace jobs lost due to industrialisation with good, stable jobs, high crime ( the acceleration in violent crime started in 1987 once the effects of Thatcherism had worked their way through society) and more. Thatcher described so called 'new Labour as her greatest achievement and was right. Countries with stronger unions that work in partnership with government have higher wages and more stable economies and a stronger, less precarious middle class. We live in Thatcher's Britain due to the egregious effects of her policies so clearly the answer must be never ending Thatcherism. Capitalism realism as the late Mark Fisher coined it- the idea that the neoliberal settlement and all its damage is the only possible iteration of capitalism.
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  1922. Free hair gel should be on the NHS although it might have to be mixed with vitamins to make it plausible.
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  1923.  @xellr  Wrong. The police action is inexcusable. Hope not hate. Anti racism will prevail.
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  1924. Diane Abbot deserves respect as one of the most effective MPs. The Robin Bunce book about her is excellent. I recommend that you read it.
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  1925. Define woke. Share your wisdom.
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  1926. It's in a mess because the voters have, under FPTP, voted against their own self interest since 1979, allowing neoliberalism to destroy the economy and society. The Tory party is an open conspiracy against working people but they prefer to believe lies and propaganda about the so called left, which comprises a Labour Party almost identical to the Tories but would have put the needs of people first if it had been elected in most of the elections since 1979.
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  1927. The horse has bolted with the Blairite takeover of Labour and eradication of the left. Neoliberalism is safe in Starmer's hands. '“We think that it is time for a change for Labour. The grip of the Blairites and individuals like Peter Mandelson must now be loosened once and for all. There is a virus within the Labour party, and Jeremy Corbyn is the antidote." “We reject the notion that Labour needs to move to the centre ground of British politics. The centre ground has moved significantly to the right in recent years. We do not see arguing for fairer wealth distribution, decent jobs with good pay, terms and conditions and a substantial increase in affordable housing for the next generation as a leftwing agenda." Dave Ward, The Guardian, July 2015.
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  1928. Truss will do a lot of damage as the end game of Thatcherism plays out. Brexit is the hard right's chance to complete the project. She will be a disastrous Prime Minister and is manifestly unfit to lead on so many levels. The Conservatives have destroyed the economy and society for most of the last forty years and the consequences are clear to see. They are going to drive the UK over the cliff.
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  1929. Even Johnson called for an amnesty for illegal migrants when he was London Mayor. If all the illegal migrants went on strike the country would grind to a halt.
    1
  1930. How come France has nationalised EDF?
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  1931. They cannot win outright. Even with a tactical voting alliance with the other parties that worked as planned they could only deprive the Tories of their majority ba a handful of seats at most. The Tories can easily win the next election and almost certainly will. People are not studying the electoral arithmetic which is against Labour which has no vision anyway except more of the same.
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  1932.  @tamsterdub40  Affected. Agree.
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  1933. Right wing media is really enjoying it when the machinations in the Westminster bubble mean diddly squat to the real lives of the majority of people. Cringeworthy and bad for what passes for democracy all the while it will not entertain discussion of serious issues. Like peace and the climate emergency.
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  1934. Compulsory voting too.
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  1935. Government by the rich for the rich. Now he is pretending to care about Ukraine like a pound shop Churchill ( he was no saint either and there were plenty of others in the Labour or Conservative Party who would have been at least as effective as war time Prime Minister).
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  1936.  @stocko5448  I doubt they do. What is your expertise? Please share it. Even if they did, perhaps they are fans of Robert Louis Stephenson. We could do with some more literacy in the UK. Bring it on I say. I am always impressed by the immense contribution immigrants make to the UK and the work ethic they possess, unlike many people born in the UK. Not all but many who do not want to do the jobs that immigrants do. You do know that crops are going to waste because there are not enough immigrants to harvest them? You are aware that the NHS is impossible to staff because of poor pay and conditions? The idea of staffing it with immigrants from Africa has been floated recently. I dread to think what racism that will unleash in this country never mind the fact it is wrong to take staff from poorer countries with weaker health infrastructure.
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  1937.  @stocko5448  Clarify what you are referring to.
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  1938.  @sasserine  Parklife.
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  1939. You are joking? Britain is, always has been and always will be Tory without a proper opposition that rejects neoliberalism and a change of attitude by the voters. I am not holding my breath. Thatcher irrevocably changed Britain and converted Labour to neoliberalism. There is no way back as things stand. Painful but true.
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  1940. Your user name is completely inappropriate.
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  1941. The public put them there. The public rejected Corbyn and elected the first celebrity Prime Minister in UK history. All under first past the post, of course. The public do not know left from right, quite literally, confusing mild democratic socialism with extremism when the real extremists are the rabble rousers making inflammatory remarks that stir up anti asylum and anti immigrant hatred. The Tories know that millions of boneheads agree with them and that it is a wedge issue they can leverage to help them at the next election- it might just work.
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  1942. Solidarity. The right stoops so low to gather what votes it thinks it will win by made up culture wars that then have real world consequences for vulnerable groups.
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  1943.  @pierremartini2229  Different context. If you think the current wave is going to make any sustainable difference to living standards you would be mistaken.
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  1944.  @kentonian  Not conflating anything. I don't think you understand that weakening workers' rights is a key tenet of neoliberalism. Widening inequality is not a bug in the system in neoliberalism, it is part of the project to transfer wealth from the poor to the rich. Income inequality has been widening for decades yet the electorate under FPTP has returned the Tories to power time and again despite this.
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  1945. Comment reported to You Tube.
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  1946. @ Think it through. You will achieve a breakthrough eventually. If it helps, read my other comment. All explained. Best of luck.
    1
  1947. No chance in view of the Blairite ascendancy in charge of the Labour Party. Attlee was on the right of Labour but by today's standards he would be a communist.
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  1948.  @danielmartin5632  No, just Blairites. Neoliberals.
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  1949. Easy when the party is fully on board with neoliberalism. Labour sold out under Blair.
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  1950. Reverse Brexit. Labour's failure to call out the catastrophe is a shameful dereliction of duty in the national interest.
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  1951. Sky was sold in 2018. Keep up at the back.
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  1952. Abolish private and grammar schools or at the very least remove the charitable status of private schools. The comprehensive ideal is absolutely the right one in principle. Cite the evidence for the claim that comprehensive schools have never worked for the bottom 40%.
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  1953.  @montanasharif  Private schools have had longer holidays for decades and well before holidays became expensive. There would be uproar if the holidays were longer for state schools. Fundamentally, parents want to impose their will on schools in many cases. If it is not term time absence it is something else, which is why education is falling apart. Brace yourself for the type of society this is creating. It is here already and will be even worse in ten years.
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  1954. The increase in energy costs in France is 4% I heard earlier today due, I presume, to government subsidy. It is only 13 miles away from the coast of this blighted country but might as well be on another planet such is the disconnect between this so called government and reality/ conscience. If you have no social conscience there is nothing that will persuade you that the first duty of government is to protect its people, not to shield the rich who have the broadest shoulders from paying their dues in the form of higher corporate and individual taxation. Tax is barely even mentioned in the discourse these days because it has been neutralised so successfully by the Conservative for forty years. It has become an article of faith that society should genuflect before the rich when the obscene wealth that disfigures society ( what is left of it). Private affluence, public squalor. Land taxes, windfall taxes, closing legal tax loopholes for large companies who make millions and pay little tax to the Exchequer and a higher marginal rate of income tax for the rich should all be on everyone's lips who cares about the grotesque levels of inequality in Britain. I applaud business success if it is ethical and does not exploit the workers ( most labour is exploitation to a greater or lesser extent) and there will also be those who are rich in society. But you have to go back 150 years to a time when extremes of income inequality were the norm. The peak year for disposable income was 1976 in the decade the right repeatedly demonise and only a couple of years after the effects of the oil shock. Trickle down economics has left the majority with scraps from the table and is an utter failure. The right wing economic vandals have won up to now but have no answers to the mess they have created, only a continuation of their ruinous neglect of the people they purport to serve.
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  1955.  @jonathan.m8756 There is no far left. The policies espoused in the Corbyn period were moderate social democracy. If you think they were far left you do not understand how extreme Britain is as an outlier in European and world politics. Yes, it is an island cut off from the world but there are books and the internet to find things out from for those that can be bothered. The right has been determined to purge the left since Blair and most of the time has succeeded except 2015 to 2019. Under John Smith, who was from the right of the party, both wings were able to work together. On the morning after the tragic 1992 defeat Corbyn and Livingston were interviewed in the BBC studio and were magnanimous about Kinnock, even though they were from the left and he had moved Labour to the right in the context of the eighties/ nineties. By today's standards, Kinnock would be deemed to be on the left. Thatcher said so called new Labour was her greatest triumph- she was right, given that Labour capitulated to her ideology under Blair. Ideas dismissed as far left are part of the mainstream in most European countries and around the world. While there are plenty of achievements Labour can claim credit for from 1997 to 2010, fundamentally it reinforced neoliberalism, the root cause of all Britain's ills since 1979. I'd do some wider reading and thinking.
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  1956.  @s1lm4r1l6  Nonsensical response. If you understood anything about the last forty five years you would realise Labour has abandoned socialism. It is not even social democratic anymore.
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  1957.  @pjl8119  Explain.
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  1958.  @matthewframpton8737  Labour not Labor. Those who cannot see that Labour under Starmer has no answers to Britain's problems are the ones who need to get a grip.
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  1959.  @s1lm4r1l6  Nonsensical. There is no point voting for them because they are red Tories. I voted for Labour despite the Blairite ascendancy since 1994 but no more. Millions have deserted Labour for similar reasons to me. I do not need your advice and certainly will not be following it.
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  1960.  @mafbmafb  The useful idiots are the ones who make excuses for the lack of meaningful policies of the Starmer project to tackle Britain's overlapping crises. Let's see how well your delusional thinking ages in two years' time.
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  1961.  @petyrkowalski9887  Labour not labour. Read some of the articles about the lack of meaningful policies under Starmer. Do it in the dunce's corner seeing as you don't seem to know the difference between labour and Labour. Spot the difference.
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  1962. Which election were you following? Where have you been for the past fifteen years. Pay attention.
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  1963. Have you noticed Labour is not in power? She is not a minister.
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  1964. Well said.
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  1965. Best of luck to you. Moving comment.
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  1966.  @jimmysandshoe  Trump is not going to win in November. Pay attention.
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  1967.  @chrisdavie8163  Highest growth levels are in the European countries with highest levels of taxation. Highest taxing US states have highest economic growth. Trickle down is disproven nonsense. The rich should bear more of the burden because they can afford it. They will still remain rich, which is fine. Champagne socialism should be possible for all. Why not?
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  1968. True. The hard right populists cannot govern yet people are so thick they fall for their lies all the time.
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  1969. In Truss we never trusted, In Truss we are busted (adapted from slogan about Herbert Hoover US President at time of the Depression/ 1932 election he mercifully lost).
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  1970.  @carnivore2938  To describe Richard Thompson's comment as angry atheism is inaccurate and risible. Creationism is wrong, period and anti science. It should be called out and condemned.
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  1971.  @carnivore2938  sanctimonious.
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  1972.  @carnivore2938  I think you are missing the point. But that is the point. I am an atheist but really I could not care less. I know creationism is false though.
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  1973.  @carnivore2938  Whatever.
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  1974. 'have a STEM degree at all'. Education is broken in Britain and it is not going to change at all for the foreseeable future. The problems are too complex because it has been allowed to reach the stage where the issues are too deeply entrenched to turn it around. The calibre of many teachers today is seriously wanting- this has been an issue for at least fifteen years.
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  1975. What is free lance? Is it a campaign to support Lance?
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  1976.  @r.markclayton4821  Eh?
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  1977. That is why they have repeatedly won elections. The Scots are so confused they keep voting them in. I had always thought the Scots were savvy and intelligent, and still do. They have excellent taste in social democracy because they know that neoliberalism is bad medicine that they are not willing to swallow lest it make them very poorly. See, not daft. There is an inbuilt majority in favour of independence that will ultimately take it over the line. The arrogance of the English has brought it all on themselves. Reactionary bleating from the right is not going to stop independence.
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  1978. Absolutely astonishing still that these two quite old men somehow contrived to have a huge hit that people went crazy for around the world.
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  1979. It can't disappear if it is replaced by Torybour.
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  1980. Braverman is going to launch a leadership bid if she can but it may be that the so called grandees of the Tory Party want to head that off at all costs- she would be a spectacular disaster as PM. The denouement is near but the consequences will be immense. Tobias Ellwood has said that if Truss goes now it will cause a run on the pound and interest rates will go up again. He wants to wait for the fiscal statement on 31st October. Whether she goes now or in a few days or weeks, there is going to be instability. Ben Wallace has just said in parliament that a Russian plane released a missile in the vicinity of a British plane over the Black Sea on 29th September. It is a serious escalation and suggests Putin may seek to provoke further confrontation. Cool heads are needed as anyone who lived through the Cold War will know.
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  1981. It is by neoliberal design in order to transfer wealth from the majority to the rich. Thatcherism spread the message that poverty is your own fault.
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  1982.  @automat3000  Economically illiterate. Heartless too. Wages should keep pace with inflation. Private sector pay awards are higher than in the public sector. There should be no race to the bottom. Government debt is not the same as household debt and government is able to borrow to invest, which pays off in the future. There are plenty of examples of countries with higher tax and higher wage economies where living standards are higher. Britain is in meltdown because neoliberal economics delivers widening inequality and an economy that does not work for millions. Other capitalist countries do much better than the morally bankrupt iteration in the UK.
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  1983.  @roberttreborable  Led countries in rescuing the banks. Therefore does not qualify as the worst.
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  1984.  @joeordinary209  Sounds like you think the ruble might be in the rubble soon. I certainly hope so. Time the Russian people ( with a few exceptions) stopped being cowards accepting Putin. Without the brave souls who defied the Soviet Union in eastern European countries in the Cold War it might have ended much later than 1991.
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  1985. It is available on DVD.
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  1986. It is the heart of the problem full stop. Reverse Thatcherism.
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  1987. I would consider basic punctuation if I were you.
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  1988. Neighbourhoods must have been a different programme.
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  1989. Reform should mean lowering the retirement age.
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  1990. Eh? I don't always agree with what he says but he is always clear. Crystal clear.
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  1991.  @scepticalsaint  How do you explain the eight million adults who are illiterate? It is not a topic teachers or the educational establishment talk about- it is brushed under the carpet but blights the life chances of those let down by the system. Professional autonomy is possible without teaching being a vocation- it used to exist before OFSTED and league tables. It is a job that can resemble a vocation for noble reasons but it is not the priesthood. It is a job at the end of the day, one that is woefully underpaid. An experienced teacher has lost about £70,000 since 2010. OFSTED should be abolished as it is not fit for purpose- it has done a lot of damage since its inception in 1992. OFSTED reports tell you little about the reality of a school. Inequality in outcomes is entrenched by house prices being driven up by perceptions of which schools are better than others. There has to be accountability to drive the standards agenda but it should be on the basis of the old HMI model of a supportive and developmental critique for schools to learn from. Reducing income inequality in society is the only way to drive up standards across the board. Exceptions in deprived areas with good results do not disprove this. Income inequality has widened to make Britain the most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria due to neoliberalism since 1979. Without reversing this ( spoiler alter- it is not going to happen), the comprehensive ideal of a good school for all parents to send their children to is never going to be realised. The unions are weak and have failed to make the case for wages effectively for many years- no surprise that it is being mooted that the NEU would settle for 6.5% as is widely expected to be recommended by the pay review body, which is a real term pay cut. This would render the strike action barely worth it. It is not clear if this acceptance would be on the basis of it being half or fully funded by the government. Regardless, it is an entirely predictable sell-out. There should be one union but even this would not be enough to overcome the lack of solidarity in teaching. Staff rarely support each other, unlike in other areas.By the way, the quality of new teachers is variable- heads have stated recently that they are having to employ candidates to address shortages who ordinarily they would not. I have seen excellent trainee teachers, some of whom were as close to highly accomplished teachers as it is possible to be in such a short space of time, but the overall calibre has declined in the last 15 years or so.
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  1992. Looks like comment removed for no good reason so I will try again. Unless it did not post in the first place. Keeps on saying 'you know'. Speak properly for goodness sake. It is not ' no more', it is 'any more'. Labour is part of the establishment and most shadow ministers will not endorse the strikes. Labour is not on the side of the workers and it is time the voters realised this.
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  1993.  @absy6688  No apostrophe in contents. Full stop at the end of a sentence. Try not to be thick. Correct grammar is not a medical issue except to ignoramuses on You Tube.
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  1994. Eh?
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  1995. The unions are bluffing. They do not have the capacity to continue the strikes long term if no resolution is found. They are weak, and expect an army of strike breakers to step in to cover for strikers. Public support is assumed but is soft in the middle and will prove fickle. There is little solidarity in Britain- Thatcher saw to that and Labour accepted her settlement. Labour is not on the side of the workers- Reeves repeatedly refused to endorse a pay rise when interviewed yesterday. The Labour mantra is we do not know the figures ( public finances), get round the table, and the issues are not just about money, implying that if workload, etc, was addressed lack of money might not be such a big deal. It is about money all day long. £10 billion would pay for all of it, which is a rounding error in the big scheme of things, and the press of a button in a country that prints its own money. It is a fraction of the money wasted due to Truss' disastrous recent budget. Government to blame but watch the unions as some will sell out their members.
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  1996. The right claims to support free speech except when it does not suit its agenda. Strange that. They are the real cancel culture not the fictional left wing one they have invented. Deceivers.
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  1997.  Jabs05  Perhaps featured in a programme on the BBC?
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  1998. Easily understandable.
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  1999.  @raypurchase801  Ludicrous comment. Yemen is not in Europe.
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  2000.  @angelinaknox626  He also does not exist. Trump is a monster created by the Democrats. No need for capital letters, hash tags and emojis- I can read, even without the need for divine intervention.
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  2001.  @Nicholasbroughton0420  Bible bashers are mad and usually the biggest hypocrites. Half of them probably do not even believe, it is just a grift.
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  2002.  @Trish-ur5xk  No. I do not believe in a fictional god, the Bible or Trump- an unholy trinity of things I do not have faith in. I am in the UK where despite it being a madhouse almost no-one would contemplate buying a Trump endorsed bible. That said if the monarchy started selling Bibles to go along the commemorative tat that royalists lap up, it might catch on with a cognitively challenged section of the population. Some people here are gullible but Trump bibles would have a very niche appeal close to zero.
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  2003.  @intherockies  Jesus does not exist but if he did he would be a socialist.
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  2004. Jesus?
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  2005. Heir to Blair, who else? It is self evident that he ran on the basis of Corbynism without Corbyn but has ditched pledges made. No such thing as the hard left- it is a misnomer. The so called centre ground has moved so far to the right in the last 15, 25 and 40 years, that it is meaningless, except as a stick for the Blairites to demonise anything that does not fit their neoliberal ideology. The Blairite ascendancy is exactly what the reshuffle is, nothing less. Starmer is committed to the maintenance of the status quo- Thatcherism led to Blairism; Starmer is part of the neoliberal consensus since 1979 that needs to be reversed.
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  2006. Make no mistake about it the current iteration of Labour is going to destroy the party once and for all. Labour has always been an accommodation between the interests of capital and labour, from the first Labour government in 1924 ( election December 1923) to more recent years. Kinnock moved the party to far to the right in the 1980s in an effort to win two elections and counteract Thatcherism, but this paved the way for Blair, after the tragic death of John Smith in 1994 ( Kinnock resigned in 1992 after losing his second election). Blair hollowed out the Labour Party, accepting the Thatcherite settlement. There is a disconnect between the party activists and the MPs ( PLP), with the activists generally to the left of the parliamentary party. Starmer has purged the left and this will, in time, mean the end of his project. Key figures from the Blair era are back on the scene pulling strings in an attempt to re-run the push for victory in 1997. The problems of today are incomparable to the nineties, far more complex and intractable in many cases. Streeting is an ambitious right winger who is from the right of the party. It is by no means certain that Labour will win the next election but even if it does it will implement the same failed neoliberal policies that have destroyed Britain since 1979.Left wing candidates are not being selected for the next election; there will be no room for debating policy under a Starmer premiership. Anyone interested in his career trajectory so far might want to read The Starmer Project, by Oliver Eagleton. The refrain that Labour is not a party of protest repeated by the right is nonsensical and designed to discredit the left. Every politician on the left has always wanted Labour in power to effect change; they are not in politics to pass the time of day. The subtext, of course, is that Labour under the grip of the right will do nothing to ameliorate the excesses of capitalism. It means the end of Labour and is a dangerous crossroads for Britain; watch the forces of populist reaction step into the vacuum created by a party that has abandoned working people to their fate under neoliberalism.
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  2007.  @owen9461  No need thanks to your expertise. Chile was the guinea pig for neoliberalism under Pinochet so it is no surprise.
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  2008. Neoliberalism is an extreme ideology.
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  2009.  @cormachawkins1628  See how well your comment ages within two years of a Labour government under Starmer. This is the worst government ever in the last hundred and twenty years in the UK on every level but unless you have been under a rock you should have noticed that Labour is going to copy the same policies. I am no Einstein but the great man said that the definition of madness is doing the same thing again and again while hoping for a different outcome, or words to this effect. The problem is the ruling class establishment continuing to implement the same neoliberal policies since 1979 that got Britain into the mess it is in. If Einstein is not good enough for you, how about when in a hole stop digging? The left is being purged in Labour in a way not even seen under Blair and there is no chance of a Starmer government being held to account when it will be full of right wing ministers tightly controlled and on message with right wing policies. I understand the need for hope in desperate times but you will be sorely disappointed if you think this iteration of Labour will change the economy and society for the better. It really is that bad.
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  2010.  @kanedNunable  I'll say what I want. I am a proper socialist and my analysis is, I believe, correct. I would be delighted to be proved wrong because it would mean that there is hope for British society. Let's see how well your ignorant comment ages. Hopefully, you will have learned to construct a proper sentence too.
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  2011.  @scotty6glove  You are clueless about what hard left means and in the British context and your percentage is fiction. The Labour manifesto in 2017 and 2019 was to the right of the 1945 manifesto. You are probably unaware of this. So called hard left policies in the UK are not considered that in nearly every other nation on earth. Explain which so called hard left policies you have such a problem with.
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  2012. Stanley Baldwin.
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  2013. It is self evident that the Starmer leadership is going to end badly for the right. Hubris and the law of unintended consequences will be its downfall- the eradication of the left will backfire as the inability of some ministers to grip complex issues in their portfolio, dissatisfaction within the PLP and party, and widespread public disillusionment with the continuation of Tory austerity and lack of investment in infrastructure all bite hard. If you think it is bad now under the Tories, Labour is already a busted flush before it even enters No 10. Starmer needs to go.
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  2014. If history is a guide Labour will throw away the chance to reverse Thatcherism like it did under Blair. No surprise because the red Tories then and now see nothing fundamentally wrong with neoliberalism. To quote Lindsey Buckingham in Say We'll Meet Again, 'everyone sees the tear in the seam but talks about the weather'. The fissures in society and economy are so glaring due to the egregious effects of Thatcherism yet the Labour Party has been stripped of its purpose by the smoke and mirrors of the Labour right who should not be in the party they have destroyed. Forty five years since the wrecking ball started, the need to reverse Thatcherism has never been greater yet it will continue to be inflicted on the country. The anti politics mood will benefit the gullible susceptible to the simplistic rabble rousing of Reform whose performative divisive attack lines will resonate as Labour's betrayal of its historic mission continues apace.
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  2015. Labour under Starmer is to the right of the now purged left of the Tory Party and certainly way to the right of the left of the Tory Party in the 1980s.
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  2016. The two must not be conflated but frequently are by those who oppose asylum seekers and economic migrants. Besieged is factually wrong and offensive at the same time. There are up to 100 million displaced people in the world in 2023 but only a tiny fraction of this number are actually or have been on the move. That is a fact.
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  2017. To replace them with a party committed to the same policies? The ruling class is determined to maintain neoliberalism, the system that has ruined Britain for the best part of half a century.
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  2018. Their time is not up though because Starmer's red Tory is set to continue the same policies. No-one is going to see their living standards rise if he becomes PM. The wrong leader for Labour and the opposite of what Britain needs. Labour has no meaningful answers to Britain's problems.
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  2019.  @yofinance1777 Elected puppets? I did not know puppets had acquired the gift of speech.
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  2020. What are wggs? Are they bad for people?
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  2021. Labour did have a vision. The British are tories at heart and only rarely have they deviated from the pre-ordained script written for them by their masters in the establishment. The public has only itself to blame for everything that followed because it votes against its own interests time and again.
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  2022.  @wilsonfisk6626  Very immature.
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  2023.  @stevebbuk  He did. If you listen to interviews the points are perfectly clear. The accusations of verbosity were a right wing invention. The man or woman in the pub was not as thick in the eighties as they are today, either. Political literacy is very poor in the UK with a dumbed down education system and culture more widely. Footage of discussion programmes from the eighties and nineties amply illustrates this.
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  2024.  @stevebbuk  The main reason Major won was that he was not Thatcher. Ostensibly he appeared to be a breath of fresh air and was able to present the Tories as more benign than the harder edged persona and policies of Thatcher. Aided and abetted by the media of course. Kinnock did not avoid the media at all. The soap box proved to be weirdly and unexpectedly effective for Major if I recall correctly. I am on the left and think Kinnock moved the party too far to the right although the unpalatable truth may well be that no matter how far to the right Labour has moved/ continues to shift, it will never be enough under FPTP for it to effect a fundamental rebalancing of UK society and the economy. It capitulated to neoliberalism under Kinnock which paved the way for Blair and all that the 'new' Labour era entailed. Not to say nothing good happened in terms of domestic policy, as it did, but Labour has now been well and truly hollowed out so that it is on the same page as the Tories on most issues. From a historical perspective, Kinnock oversaw the start of this process but in 1987 and 1992 Labour did still offer at least, to an extent, an alternative to the Tories. Compared to what followed under Blair and now Starmer, Kinnock was comparatively left wing by modern standards.
    1
  2025.  @stevebbuk  The Sheffield rally is a red herring. It had nothing to do with the defeat- it was praised at the time and not cited as an issue until after the defeat. Labour did allow itself to be distracted by talk of electoral reform. Alwyn Turner wrote an interesting short book about the 1992 election, which is probably still available. I read it a few years ago. Sam Delaney wrote a book about the role of advertising agencies in elections ( forgotten its name), which makes the point that Labour advertising executives knew the Tories had won earlier in 1992 when the 'Labour's tax bombshell' adverts were used to claim taxes would go up under Labour. In truth, evidence after the election showed that most families would have been better off under John Smith's shadow budget but the damage was done. Much as John Smith was a decent and respected figure despite coming from the right of the party, and his death in 1994 was tragic, I would contend that the shadow budget and the way the Tories were able to frame it was the primary reason for Labour's defeat. Frankly, I blame the voters too as they have repeatedly passed up the chance to reject neoliberalism in every election since 1979. Instead working people endlessly vote against their own interests. The 1992 election is very interesting ( at least to me) as it was an inflection point and missed opportunity. Britain would have been a different country if Labour had won. The same argument can be made if John Smith had lived to fight the 1997 election- in all likelihood, Britain would have become much more like continental European democratic socialist or social democratic nations. There would have been no Blairism, further lurch to the right, Iraq, or Brexit. John Smith was prepared to work with the left too, arguably because it was already contained, but he believed in consensus. I am afraid the left is finished in Britain as an electoral force unless a Corbyn like figure emerges in future, but this is doubtful.
    1
  2026.  @stevebbuk  Even in the last 10 years, immigration was way down on the list of voters' concerns. Provide a strong economy, jobs alongside hope and the voters are not that bothered about immigration. Brexit is a disaster. The Lexit argument is just as dogmatic as the hard right position, although for different reasons. The hard right are bad actors, not acting in the interests of Britain. Cameron only called the referendum to head of a challenge from the right of the Conservative Party. An issue of party management was turned needlessly into a national act of monumental self- harm. Steve Richards has presented a series called The Prime Ministers We Never Had. One of the episodes features Kinnock. I think he made errors, most notably not supporting the miners strike, but he was up to the job. Sheffield is irrelevant because the election has already been lost by that point as it turned out the polls were wrong. The public fell for the lies about tax too.
    1
  2027.  @stevebbuk  I don't think there is much more to add. The reasons for Labour's defeat cannot be attributed to Kinnock in my view. He was seen as a credible Prime Minister prior to the election, as the polls anticipated a Labour victory. It was a shock when they lost and the Conservatives were surprised to have won.
    1
  2028.  @stevebbuk  Nothing more to add.
    1
  2029.  @kaywhy245  The problems of the UK are due to neoliberalism dating back to 1979. Brexit is a symptom of this, a howl of anguish by those left behind. No excuse for the anti immigrant racism that motivated many to vote leave but if capitalism was working for the majority leave voters would not have been fooled into thinking immigration was the problem. It is not.
    1
  2030.  @kaywhy245  Blair and capitalism are synonymous not mutually exclusive. Obvious, or should be. Most anti migrant sentiment is not on economic grounds, it is driven by racism. Post war migration did not start until 1946 and there is no relevant link with soldiers not having returned to Britain. Most had by then anyway. Germany and Japan had to be rebuilt to secure the peace ( it is poured not pored). The argument has been made that Britain should have focused on its economy first before the extension of the welfare state begun by the Liberals 1906 to 1914. The abrupt cancellation of lend lease in 1945 by the Americans is why Keynes led the delegation to Washington to negotiate the loan. The comment about Labour house building is nonsense- both parties built hundreds of thousands of homes in the decade after the war. There is no evidence that the buildings were of poor quality or the claim that housebuilding tore the heart of out towns with lasting consequences to this day. Not clear at all what you mean. Brexit has failed on every level and most people know this except the ardent leave voters who cling to the delusion. One million leave voters have died since the referendum of 2016 and there is no appetite for Brexit among voters in their twenties to forties, or indeed the general population. Sunak has not been described by anyone else as brilliant as far as I am aware. Even those commentators well disposed to him have been guarded in their praise.
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  2031. Labour and Tory are the same. Starmer is the establishment choice to maintain inequality, anti trade union laws and low tax for the rich, all key tenets of neoliberalism. If Labour win the election he will deliver. It will backfire, of course, paving the way for an extreme right Tory return powered by a platform of racist, anti immigrant rhetoric. Anyone who can should leave Britain for a better life elsewhere.
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  2032.  @davecross4493  Labour in 2024 is as far as it is possible to be from its founding mission even though that is still very relevant to the twenty first century. The principles of representing labour (the majority are working class regardless of how they perceive themselves). It is nearly thirty years since various voices in the PLP, Labour Party and wider labour movement expressed concerns about the extent to which Labour had moved to the right under Blair. He accepted the Thatcherite settlement, and Starmer is heir to Blair at a time when the country needs the opposite of the timid, managerialism from Labour in 2024. You have not said anything about how Labour is going to deliver growth. No-one else knows this either, because it has no plan. The abandonment of the £28 Billion pound green strategy is nothing to do with prudence- it is a dereliction of duty at a time when the economy is in dire straits. A former senior figure at Goldman Sachs and ex Tory peer has said recently that there needs to be borrowing to invest in the public and private sectors to re-boot the economy for growth. Labour has ruled this out, making a virtue of iron fiscal discipline. Time and again this approach has failed and it will again. Ultimately, it is clear that large numbers of people in Britain are content to remain poor, in low paid, precarious jobs, with few prospects, a lack of ability to buy a house should they choose, lack of workers rights due to neutered unions ( Labour will not be reversing the anti trade union laws from the Thatcher era), poor quality public services due to lack of investment, and the rest. Numerous other countries are way ahead of Britain in providing more opportunities for their citizens and have been for decades. The penny is always slow to drop in Britain with a quiescent and largely politically illiterate population that has the type of government it deserves. That is the tragedy.
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  2033.  @davecross4493  A circular and now pointless conversation. Your comments once more lack specifics in keeping with the vacuous comments from Labour figures about its plans if it wins the election. Let the Blarites have their way and see what a mess Britain is in two to three years from now.
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  2034.  @davecross4493  This is my last comment as I am wasting my time. Starmer is not left wing. It has been reported that those with knowledge of him consider that he does not have any particularly firm political convictions. This would explain why the Blairite ascendancy has managed to re-shape the party and achieve so much success in silencing the left. Five years is not a limited amount of time, far from it. Legislation can be passed relatively quickly, and within two years. It will not be a problem for Labour as it has no substantive plans. In 1997 most swing voters identified with Tory policy in focus groups conducted soon after. Recent research ( reported in the press last week) confirms that parties of the left moving to the right, as Labour has inexorably for thirty years except briefly under Miliband and Corbyn) do not gain votes as a consequence. The Starmer project is the opposite of what Britain needs as it is continuity Thatcherism.
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  2035. The reality is that only the terrible consequences of the extremism of MAGA will possibly result in people coming to their senses. The situation is that bleak. Even then there is no guarantee it will happen as we are in entirely uncharted territory with a second Trump presidency.
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  2036. The Tories are the anti growth coalition. In any case it is sustainable growth that we need.
    1
  2037. Well done America. Justice for Trump. Well done Democrats for losing the election by abandoning workers in the rust belt. You did it!
    1
  2038.  @philipmain5701  Wired or weird?
    1
  2039. Trump has a very feminine way of speaking and mannerisms which oddly have never been remarked upon by the media.
    1
  2040.  @craigsaunders3532  ??
    1
  2041. @sin sot Not at all.
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  2042.  @Mil-w6d  The rise in violent crime started in 1987, eight years after the neoliberal project began under Thatcher. Violent crime and mental health issues are features of unequal societies. Labour has no plans to reverse neoliberalism in order to reduce inequality.
    1
  2043.  @Themistocles30  What?
    1
  2044.  @Dev-ek6qm  Rude and misguided response. It was an advisory referendum that should not have been called in the first place and could have been ignored. Brexit is a disaster and most know it. There are no benefits. The margin of victory was narrow and it does not represent majority opinion. One million who voted leave have died since too.
    1
  2045. Too late. The Democrats had no vision and no policies to address economic concerns about the cost of living. America now has what it deserves. Trump is a monster created by the Democrats who have abandoned their core support for over thirty years. Bernie Sanders and Glen Greenwald's comments this week nail the truth about what has happened.
    1
  2046. Mark Drayford seems very sincere to me as a socialist. If Labour win the election there is every likelihood they will continue austerity due to being unwilling to be as radical as it needs to be by taxing the rich properly, individuals and corporations. The Tories have set a trap for Labour either inadvertently or on purpose so they can challenge Labour on whether it too will implement austerity to balance the books. It is the sort of argument they would have the audacity to make having created the problem in the first place by presiding over a low growth, low productivity economy. If the opinion polls are accurate, in effect it would mean a one party state with Labour committed to the same failed neoliberal policies that are the root cause of our travails. The Tories must go but we must all be careful what we wish for in terms of what it will mean.
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  2047.  @Daisy-yq1gi  Thank you. He has spoken eloquently and powerfully on it since the whole disaster was set in motion.
    1
  2048.  @macswad  Nonsense. There is no capital letter in democracy.
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  2049. The right wing extremist ideologues believe the main reason Brexit Trussonomics failed is because they were not implemented properly and in full. Thatcherism is the problem but with the disastrous Starmer project about to continue it things are bound to deteriorate further. Britain is in a doom loop aided and abetted by an electorate under FPTP still content with Thatcherism even though it does not work except for the rich.
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  2050.  @Glasgow_kiss  Magical thinking is all we need. Just like 1994 to 1997 when countless deluded people held out the hope that Blair would be radical in government even though Labour needlessly committed to Tory spending plans for the first two years in advance. What did they not understand about Blair and the march to the right? It was plain as daylight and so it proved.
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  2051.  @keithparker1346 The NHS is not safe in the Labour Party's hands- watch this space.
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  2052. If the crash is on the scale of 1929 it will take longer for share values to recover. It took until the mid 1950s for shares in America to recover to their pre 1929 levels.
    1
  2053.  @JohnnyDelco  America lost with this loser in charge. Make America moron again is going from strength to strength. When the country is dragged into World War Three due to Russia's agent in the White House don't be surprised.
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  2054. Starmer is the establishment pick to maintain neoliberalism and endless austerity. It is a dystopian nightmare like something out of 1984. Unless the left ever takes over the leadership of the Labour Party there is no hope for Britain but even if it does the majority of the people do not even want even the mildest form of democratic socialism as long as the Tories shout 'communist' or 'radical left' at the top of their voices. Meanwhile in the rest of the world right wing parties are to the left of Labour and the Tories in the UK.
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  2055.  @JoelJoel321  Thanks for pointing out the obvious. Fully aware.
    1
  2056.  @JoelJoel321  Very funny. Factoids is a great word. I didn't know a factoid could be tossed.
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  2057. Excerpts not exerts. Big Mac not bigmac and there is a full stop at the end of a sentence. I hope this helps.
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  2058. @ Stick to emojis. Much easier than writing coherently.
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  2059. What does 'done an amazing job' mean? Do you mean 'has done'?
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  2060. Is that you Max?
    1
  2061. Paul Young's backing singers on second album The Secret of Association and at Live Aid.
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  2062. No, it is a waste of time. On the off chance you read my reply I am in sympathy. Censorship is diabolical on You Tube unless you are posting from Siberia in an effort to sow division in Europe. That is perfectly acceptable but those naive enough to think that free speech exists are disavowed of that on a daily basis on You Tube.
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  2063. Shitain is better. Frankie Boyle described it as this recently. Apt.
    1
  2064.  @christinsongbird  You don't but never mind.
    1
  2065. The eighties time machine departs for 1984 soon. Are you ready?
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  2066.  @Richard-d1y  Which of the Russian objectives of keeping Ukrainian land, ensuring Putin is not charged with war crimes, avoiding reparations, preventing Ukrainian membership of the EU and NATO, installing a puppet government like in Belarus, no US security guarantees, and no European troops in Ukraine do you tihink Putin will make concessions over? Take your time.
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  2067. She leads an extremist party. This would be more accurate than far right which does not fully convey the disgrace that the RN is.
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  2068.  @vroom6591  Whataboutery. There is no comparison between Macron and Le Pen. The RN is an evil racist party steeped in fascism. It is brings shame on France.
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  2069.  @militarymummymackin  Bad attitude. Shocking.
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  2070. Well said- I have commented on this above.
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  2071. Why do you describe it as banal? Do you know what the word means?
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  2072.  @whatwentwrong4599  Well said. The Tories don't want to fix the issue because it suits them to stir hatred against refugees to gain votes. They have miscalculated where people are at currently and will pay at the ballot box for their disgraceful conduct in government.
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  2073.  @rosskrizevac9777  Trump did a deal with the Taliban behind the back of the Afghan government for America to withdraw or have you forgotten that? Trump debased American democracy and the reversal of Roe v Wade which he has expressed approval of has diminished his chances of being President again because millions of women will vote Democrat to prevent this.
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  2074. Torrie?
    1
  2075.  @paul8161  There is only one spelling of the word.
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  2076. The title misses the point. It is neoliberalism that has destroyed the economy, the same ideology Labour is committed to maintaining and oversaw from 1997 to 2010 when in office. It capitulated to it under Blair and the Starmer project is an entirely misguided re-run of the same failed approach. Having purged the left Labour offers very thin gruel if it wins the next election. Tory voters won't care because there will be little difference but those who realise that income inequality is one of the most egregious ways in which life chances are blighted is going to be in for a shock if they think this iteration of Labour has any intention of pursuing democratic socialism. Blame the Tories correctly so but Labour is on the same page as them.
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  2077.  @robinlox99  Aha! Alan Partridge.
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  2078.  @thehomelessproject3784  They are nasty, hateful, thick and pathetic rolled into one. Quite the toxic combination.
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  2079. It is utter nonsense. The North South divide and other regional disparities go back over a hundred years. Thatcherism accelerated it with deliberate and systemic neglect of the north, Scotland and Wales. The Labour Party appears to have few answers ( I am a socialist), committed as it is to neoliberalism which has inequality in its DNA. Labour and the Conservatives presided over the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs in the last forty years, a legacy of disgraceful harm to people and communities. They embraced globalisation ( the rich are the only beneficiaries) and failed to put anything in its place, leaving people at the mercy of the market and scrabbling around for low paid, low skilled dead end jobs with poor treatment and little or no chance of career development. The dystopian future Kinnock warned of in his 1983 acceptance of defeat speech is here- we are living it. He has his faults but he was prescient. London is a city state, divorced from the rest of the country. Overreliance on tax receipts from the city and the casino economy and the obsession with services as the only game in town underlines a totally unbalanced economy built on sand. The Germans and others make things. It might be 'boring; but it makes money. But deluded English exceptionalism means anything that works abroad is ignored. In all matters the English arrogantly think they know best.
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  2080. What about Brexit, which the RMT supports? It is a contributory factor in inflation as the pound has decreased in value against the euro, pushing up the cost of imports. The loss to trade with our nearest neighbours has caused a 4% hole in GDP. Yet no-one questions the RMT about Brexit. A deafening silence.
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  2081.  @derekmcmanus8615  Meaning?
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  2082. Thatcher destroyed Britain. We live in Thatcher's Britain today due to the egregious consequences of her policies.
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  2083.  @karimkamel4295  I doubt it.
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  2084.  @VampExpress  The incident you claim happened says nothing about Britain. Nothing at all.
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  2085.  @moniquebode1655  I exercised my right to comment.
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  2086.  @chrissharp5073  Hope not hate. Solidarity with migrants.
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  2087.  @AlanBrown-d8w  No, but I am opposed to racism and believe in multiculturalism.
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  2088. Utterly tragic. I have given up on politics as a result. There is no hope of change. The establishment has made sure neoliberalism can carry on destroying the country in the interests of the rich. Starmer is there to do its bidding and part of that is to remove the left from the Labour Party.
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  2089.  @grahamhollingworth8253  Tory lies, being undermined by many in the PLP, Brexit overshadowing other issues in 2019, first past the post, neoliberalism having destroyed the country and captured most of the Labour Party, first past the post, tabloid lies via the worst smears any Labour leader has experienced bar none, a hard right political culture detached from reality and unlike most countries in the world, lack of state funding for political parties and the willingness of most voters to believe that moderate social democracy or democratic socialism if you like, is a threat to the existence of the UK. The real cause of its ills is neoliberalism but people will never learn in Britain. Yes, none of the above anything to do with Corbyn.
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  2090. Smoke and mirrors. Labour will preside over the same failed neoliberal policies if it even wins the election and will do nothing for workers. The chance to elect a Labour government on the side of the people sailed away in 2017 and 2019 and every election from 1979-1997. Don't complain, we are all Tories now! Be happy with the income widening inequality millions have endorsed with their votes since 1979 or by sitting at home not voting in their millions. It really is too late.
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  2091. There is no hard left. It is right wing wilful delusion to posit that there is. The left today advocates policies that are nothing more than democratic socialism or social democracy and would not raise any eyebrows as part of the European mainstream. Even right wing parties in some othe countries have no problem with policies dismissed as hard left in the UK, which underlines the extent to which it has shifted relentlessly to the right. Neoliberalism is the real extremism which the right subscribes to and since Labour capitulated to it under Blair, the opposition too.
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  2092. She will not last long in post as Home Secretary. Controversy will not be far away and the opposition parties will keep up the pressure, rightly so. Many Tories know she is manifestly unfit for the job and her appointment shows how weak Sunak is having to give in to the ERG by appointing someone from the most hard line wing of the party.
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  2093. We are not filling a gap. Translation- we are filling a gap. We are not lying. Translation- we are lying. So it goes on ad infinitum. This is what the voters have endorsed under FPTP since 1979. Austerity cuts are hardwired into the neoliberal agenda; this is why we have crumbling services, private affluence and public squalor.
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  2094.  @VPhantom-rf3qo  Yes.
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  2095.  @chloe19815  Bad grammar and nonsensical comment.
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  2096.  @cato9tails612  Bizarre question.
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  2097.  @ejtattersall156  First sentence inaccurate, completely wide of the mark. Second makes no sense. Last sentence baseless. The establishment did everything possible to prevent a Corbyn government. I fail to understand why the Labour right and Tories ( one and the same) continue to obsess over him and allow him to live rent free in their heads. The establishment got their way and neoliberalism will continue to wreak havoc so the rich can pull away from the rest of society. Contrary to the idea that Corbyn ruined Labour, in fact he saved the idea of democratic socialism from being extinguished. Either the public will continue to accept further damage caused by neoliberalism or it will repudiate it and see merit in democratic socialism to tackle economic and social problems. It is a clear choice, but the Conservatives have nothing to offer.
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  2098. Austerity is supported by most of the media including those who regard themselves as on the left. That includes the so called centrists who are, in reality, on the right. Austerity is a key component of neoliberalism and its small state agenda. Can't have it both ways- neoliberalism is not pick and mix. It is all or nothing. That is the Faustian pact the public have endorsed since 1979.
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  2099. Joe Dolce.
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  2100. A dog on a lead lunged at me on the pavement last week. I reported it to the Police but it took a while to convince them it is an issue of concern. After a precise frame by frame explanation they were finally persuaded.
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  2101. Theory meets reality- markets crash. Extremist ideologues have planted their flag in Downing Street as they seek to fulfil the culmination of their outmoded vision of Thatcherism that even she would not recognise. The Tory Party as it existed post war was purged in 2019. The hope must be that in showing themselves clearly for what they are and by being in office but not in power, that the public and Labour Party will finally repudiate Thatcherism. Forty three years overdue- better late than never.
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  2102.  @Heretic-007  No such thing. You have no coherent argument.
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  2103.  @TT-fn1xb  Indeed. Or vote Green. I will be doing as they are a party genuinely on the side of the environment and want to address the climate emergency as well as support sustainable growth for the economy. They are pro people not just profit for business and definitely on the right side of history. Voting should be compulsory as in Australia with an option to vote for none of the above.
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  2104. Read the Guardian article from this week that puts the other side of the argument about Sunak's comments. I am on the left ( the real left) but it is pointless attacking Sunak over this because it is a distraction from the real issues. It plays into the Tories' hands. Yet another mindless pile on over some inocuous remarks that it is actually hard to find major, if any, fault with unless objectivity goes out of the window.
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  2105. In the nineteenth century just before the formation of the LRC in 1900 ( Labour Party from 1906). After that it evaporated slowly over the following ninety seven years until Blair won the election of 1997. Not sighted since.
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  2106.  @supernoodles91  I can see the cost of lighter fuel going up all over the country if stores cotton on to the opportunities for price hikes. If Waitrose hears of it next time you go in there it will be at least £3 for the new improved thimble size! There is a Waitrose in the town where I have the misfortune to live ( Formby, Liverpool) and its prices are beyond ridiculous. I see they have introduced a £5 meal deal presumably due to customers not buying their astronomically priced sandwiches. It does not seem to be working as I rarely see anyone picking them up. It looks faintly absurd to unfurl a Tesco bag at the till to the occasionally self conscious like myself but I refuse to pay £1 for Waitrose plastic bags, recently hiked from 60p. I'm all for the environment regarding plastic but bags are a tiny part of the equation given the ubiquity of plastic everywhere. I don't think bamboo fridge freezers are going to be a thing in the near future!
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  2107.  @obtuse1291  Makes no sense and just wrong.
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  2108.  @weirdlytrue  Too not to. It is too late. Watch some of the unions settle for pathetic pay deals. Once the strikes are over they will not happen again for many years. Once more the workers and the unions will stand by while living standards decline continuously. That is a well established pattern for over a decade now. the voters and ruling class accept neoliberalism- every problem is a result of it. Without abandoning neoliberalism nothing changes.
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  2109. Socialists know how to write sentences with full stops.
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  2110.  @royboy565  What is your analysis? Sounds like you do not have one.
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  2111. Reversal of neoliberalism is the key. Nothing else will work.
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  2112.  Clydesider711  The SDP split the vote and kept the Tories in power for another fifteen years. Kinnock moved Labour too far to the right but by today's standards the party was well to the left of where Corbyn was 2015 to 2019. I do not understand the antipathy of Kinnock to the left when Labour has always been a broad church, and John Smith ( on the right) did not have a problem with the left per se. I still have a lot of time for Kinnock despite disagreeing with him on some issues like the Miners' Strike and Corbyn, and being on the left myself. It is a tragedy that Labour did not win in 1987 and 1992 but I blame the public- they were warned of the consequences clearly and under FPTP paid no heed. Now we live in Thatcher's Britain in 2023 due her policies.
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  2113.  @Clydesider711  Yes and no. Kinnock moved the party too far to the right and lost a lot of core support as a consequence. How this affected the marginals in 1992 though is not clear although the result was even closer than the narrow Tory majority suggested. A Kinnock or Smith government would have done many good things for Britain, reversal of Thatcherism being the most important. His reforms paved the way for victory in 1997 but at the cost of hollowing out the Labour Party once and for all due to Blair converting it to accepting the Thatcherite settlement that is the root of the problem. Still mustn't grumble- the voters are Thatcherite whether they realise it or not under FPTP and keep on voting against their own self interest. Rampant inequality, dire poverty, decaying public services and lack of investment, profiteering by corporations, obscenely high bills due to privatisation and sewage in rivers, are all a small price to pay for colluding with the rich to transfer wealth to them. The SDP/ Liberal alliance kept Labour out of power for another fifteen years. Nearly fifty years after it started the destruction of Britain, Thatcherism is the only game in town Starmer waits to take power as the establishment pick to maintain the status quo. The doom loop continues.
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  2114. Lefties.
    1
  2115. Yet you have not used an apostrophe in it's.
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  2116. Nonsense. Sunak had about ninety billion pounds headroom in the last budget but chose to do little to help people in order to keep it bacck for a cynical tax cut to appeal to Tory voters for the 2024 election.
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  2117.  @markm3436 Many of these issues have been exacerbated by Covid. The NHS is underfunded. Austerity was needless and failed by its own measure ( debt and deficit increased). Poverty and immigration are not linked. Successive governments have failed to build enough houses- it is a forty year problem. The right to buy legislation under Thatcher gerrymandered votes and councils were prohibited from building new houses to replace those sold off. It has been a huge driver of high, unaffordable prices. The right opposes rent controls which would make renting manageable for many. It is common to rent in the rest of Europe. There is no industrial strategy to create well paid, sustainable jobs. The economy is very fragile and requires immigrants to do much of the work that most people do not want to do. Immigration is a smokescreen and diversion from the real failures of Labour and Conservative governments to pilot the economy effectively.
    1
  2118.  @leachimy24  You have already revealed your attitude. Refugees fleeing wars and interventions fuelled by western greed and meddling arrogance is an issue that is only going to increase. The numbers are not that high at the moment but you have not seen anything yet compared to the near future. Global warming is also driving population movement. Of course, many on the right pretend it does not exist but they know it does.
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  2119.  @AndrewEdwardBailey  Evidence?
    1
  2120.  @AndrewEdwardBailey There is no need to. I know what I wrote. If you have evidence to support your refutation, please share it. I would be interested to see the statistics that you are using unless your view is not based on evidence.
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  2121.  @Towerwatson525  I have yet to see a well made argument that uses LOL. Put simply I do not intend to respond to your points because I cannot be bothered as I see no purpose in wasting any more time on the issue. I have expressed my view and that is all there is to it. If you wish to continue to debate immigration it will have to be with someone else because I have nothing more to add.
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  2122.  @globalismoblackman  Precisely. Thick as mince yet convinced that Britain is superior to every other country. They must wear blinkers abroad to have such cognitive dissonance about the differences between well run countries and the chaos of Britain.
    1
  2123. Disgraceful comment.
    1
  2124.  @keithparker1346  Or bowling. Crown green not the ten pin variety- too rambunctious for the genteel Tory shires of the imagined past.
    1
  2125. Tax the rich. Check the tax bands as you are wrong.
    1
  2126.  @annedouglas9769  America deserves this dreadful though it is. Trump is a monster but no-one can say they were not warned. The Democrats caused this over thirty years by abandoning their core support. It would be unthinkable for Trump to be elected a few decades ago. America is the most powerful country in the world and one of the most dysfunctional in many ways. Madness. Greetings from the UK.
    1
  2127. I am on the left and no supporter of Starmer who is not good news for Labour for a host of reasons but the choreography of walking part way along the pavement to meet Zelenskyy and do the same to say goodbye when he left was spot on in making a strong statement of support for Ukraine. Ditto the meeting with the King scheduled for this afternoon does the same. Decent people in the USA will resist peacefully the destruction of democracy by Trump. It was good to see the protests against vile Vance in different parts of America and notable that he has gone into hiding in Vermont while Zelenskyy will be returning to a Kiyev under attack from a brutal invader of a sovereign nation. Vance is a cowardly bully, Zelenskyy is a brave hero.
    1
  2128. Your evidence for this?
    1
  2129.  @ceasarsalad119  There is no proof the vaccine was created deliberately or leaked. 'Were' does not have an apostrophe where you placed it but never mind. I suppose you think good grammar is a conspiracy against the ill informed too. The great reset is nonsense. Vaccine status to get into places- most will be ok with it when it suits them. Give it time. It is not common knowledge that Covid was created to control people as the majority do not believe such absurd notions.
    1
  2130. It is a Tory fiction. They are liars and destroy the economy almost every time they are in power. If the voters were not so ill informed and susceptible to propaganda, they would never be in power. Yet they have been in office for most of the last 122 years.
    1
  2131. Nonsensical poorly worded post.
    1
  2132.  @matthewstokes1608  I understand how poorly worded your post is. Embarrassing.
    1
  2133.  @tomgraham3206  In World War Two Labour took responsibility for planning the peace and when it won the election in 1945, it set about implementing substantial and lasting change with alacrity. Everyone knew it had a vision which it saw through. The scale of the problems facing Britain demands something similar to the Attlee government or the New Deal in America under Roosevelt. Starmer is no Attlee or Roosevelt. He is not even William Hague or John Major. That is how bad it is. Labour is in serious trouble if it does not remove him but that is unlikely in view of the Blairite ascendancy. Their ideological commitment to the religion of neoliberalism will ensure nothing improves for the majority.
    1
  2134.  @tomgraham3206  Labour should be making the case that capitalism is not working for the majority and pledging to fix it. By today's standards Roosevelt, who was a capitalist, would seem like a communist, and so would numerous Tory leaders who were broadly speaking adherents of One Nation Toryism. Labour should be making bold but realistic commitments to fix housing and the NHS. Nonsense about reforming the NHS is an abdication of responsibility when it knows that money is needed not another top down reform. Money is the elephant in the room and talk of reform allows the right to pretend anecdote is the plural of data by singling out examples to 'prove' waste, such as the employment of diversity officers ( not even contentious in my view if it helps tackle discrimination in the workplace) and their usual complaints about waste, which they mostly cannot quantify. Money poured in two years after 1997 ( it was a mistake to stick to Tory spending plans for the first two years- former Chancellor Ken Clarke said so and that he would not have adhered to them if he was Labour), and that is what fixed waiting lists. Starmer is the worst leader for Labour and the opposite of what Britain needs. The calibre of many Labour MPs is deeply worrying too, as it is self evident that the intellectual and political heft of the past is sorely absent, notwithstanding the fact that they have not had a chance in government. The signs are not encouraging, to put it mildly. Covid, Ukraine and the stagnation of wages since 2008, and the climate emergency, four huge events that might suggest that people would be receptive to a message of change and renewal if Labour had a leadership willing and/ or capable of articulating it. All point to the role of an enlarged state to use the levers it has to effect change that delivers tangible results that many voters would buy into. Labour's commitment to the status quo of neoliberalism is the very reason why it cannot be the conduit for the change needed. It is the system in place since 1979 that needs to be junked for there to be hope for Britain's future.
    1
  2135.  @tomgraham3206  Not remotely a political broadcast. Don't read newspaper articles setting out an argument in case you mistake them for War and Peace. It's called analysis in context. Yes, analysis can include interpretation as well.
    1
  2136.  @ascgazz  ?
    1
  2137. Neoliberalism is the ideology that has brough the world to its knees, creating vast inequality as it was intended to, in order to transfer wealth to the rich. In doing so it has imperilled the existence of the planet. The Scots rightly concluded they wanted to reject it, hence successive SNP election victories. Independence will happen in the end. The extreme right nationalists of England can then fight amongst themselves and ruin the remains of the union, which they have been doing without let up since 1979. No, make that 1900.
    1
  2138. @JJONNYREPP Weird comment. Well done.
    1
  2139.  @utterlee  Not rude just pointing out your trite comment.
    1
  2140. Movement from West Acton to Mayfair. Stays in London.
    1
  2141. Brexit is a pack of lies yet I have not heard the RMT condemn it yet. High time the left engaged with the disaster of Brexit because its reversal is vital to any chance of addressing the UK's problems.
    1
  2142. Graceless. Suffice to say Ross will never win elections or be as successful as Sturgeon has been for the past 20 years.
    1
  2143.  @12birddog12  Only for the hard of understanding and wilfully myopic. No lessons will be learned and the result will be the same in 2028. Don't bother explaining why it is too simplistic because that might involve thinking about the issues - better to maintain the delusion that lack of policies that help working people wins enough votes. Of course it does.
    1
  2144.  @kayallen7603  He would have won in 2016. Never mind, ignore all the warnings and look forward to Democrat defeat in 2028. No lessons learned. See Glen Greenwald remarks for some unpalatable truth.
    1
  2145. Well said, you are right. Millions do not care and the culture is rotten to the core on so many levels. The calibre of politicians is lower than ever but the voters are a huge problem due to their apathy, laziness in not taking an interest in basics, choosing to swallow propaganda, not voting and not knowing left from right. Clueless and oblivious to the parlous state of the nation which is only going to worsen in the next twenty years.
    1
  2146.  @thecrimsondragon9744  Correct.
    1
  2147.  @lynnedavies5884  Diane Abbot is a first class politician who deserves respect for her contribution to politics since the 1980s. Robin Bunce's biography of her is excellent.
    1
  2148.  @lynnedavies5884  Use of emojis is no substitute for a reasoned comment and does not alter the truth.
    1
  2149.  @justsayin4017  Mainstream unless you are referring to a main stream somewhere. Where is it?
    1
  2150. Precisely. Legal migration is expected to decline to 250,000 a year by 2025 yet funny how even the so called left does not mention this.
    1
  2151. @@RC-ei5xi Is the figure for legal migration by students that high? I did not know and if it is, it makes it even more beyond the pale ( as if it could be any worse) that immigration is used as a scapegoat in all the egregious ways it is demonised. Labour is a disgrace in not arguing for the merits of immigration.
    1
  2152.  @davecross4493  Red Tory Labour will delivery Tory policy. Watch this space. Guaranteed. The idea of the left expecting too much is ludicrous- many right wing parties in the rest of Europe could agree with the 2017 and 2019 manifestos.
    1
  2153.  @theoneandyt  Your response is ignorant and patronising, to be honest. Do some reading about the similarity between Labour and Tory policy in articles published in the last year. Your reference to Tory policy is very telling. If you are comfortable with Tory policy you are probably aligned with the wrong party if you are a Labour member. Your response is also intellectually lazy because either you have not done any reading or have chosen to ignore the clear evidence that Labour has no meaningful solutions to the massive problems facing Britain. If you were paying attention, the Starmer project has already signalled this. Take it at its word. It means what it says.
    1
  2154.  @davecross4493  You are funny. Blair moved Labour to the right, accepting the Thatcherite settlement. She described ' new Labour' as her greatest triumph. That says it all. My views on Labour are determined by the evidence and in the context of the last forty three years of UK political and economic history, not through the lens of the Corbyn interregnum. Thatcherism also needs to be seen in the context of the thirty years or so after World War Two. Following Tory policy by accepting the principles of neoliberalism/ Thatcherism is the opposite of what Britain needs and will not address its problems. The Blairite ascendancy under Starmer appears to think it is is 1997 and that all that is needed is some tinkering around the edges of the Thatcherite settlement that is the root cause of every single problem afflicting Britain.
    1
  2155.  @davecross4493  Do you not know the difference between illicit and elicit? Embarrassing. It's not me that needs to do more reading.
    1
  2156. Confirmatory bias in action. It will not make any difference to the car crash of the next four years of chaos about to ensue. It is too late. The Democrats will fail to win in 2028- Bernie Sanders is right in his analysis.
    1
  2157. @Erdrick-c9b Don't waste your money. Put a bet on yourself to still be deluded in 2028. I am on the left ( not the pretend Democratic Party left that abandoned its core vote for over thirty years) in the UK, so thankfully do not have to live surrounded by morons, at least not to the same extent as in America.
    1
  2158. @Erdrick-c9b I cannot read, no. Thanks for asking. It is a miracle I have been able to reply. I don't follow American sport either. The discussion is about politics so I gave an answer to your facetious question as I saw fit. Now go away.
    1
  2159.  @thehoneyeffect  Los Del Rios.
    1
  2160. Stop using polystyrene walls.
    1
  2161.  @sajidraja1026  Many thanks. Solidarity.
    1
  2162.  @janetmalcolm6191  I agree. The Tory party is an organised conspiracy against working people to protect the assets of the rich and property. It is that straightforward and if the arguments against them were framed in this context there might be more chance of them being seen for what they are and getting through to the voters who are so easily distracted and confused by the Tories. The most important thing to the Tories is money- for the rich.
    1
  2163.  @johnallen7807  Confirmatory bias on your part, clearly. Champagne socialism is a trite phrase used to denigrate the left. It is good enough for the rich, so it should be achievable for everyone to a greater extent, as long as the rich pay their taxes properly.
    1
  2164. No need to be bold when you are signed up to the same neoliberal agenda as the Tories. Unless the public understands the big picture that neoliberalism is the root cause of all Britain's ills since 1979 there can be no route map back for Britain and it will be doomed to permanent decline.
    1
  2165. Astonishingly, Braverman may be lining up a leadership bid, according to reports on Sky News. Just when it cannot be any worse, a hard-line right winger could somehow become the new PM. If so, it will mean another doomed premiership in short order.
    1
  2166. Disgraceful, shameful bullying by Trump and Vance. Appalling report on the BBC news tonight siding with Trump against Zelenskyy, risibly asserting that the turning point in the meeting escalating was the question by a reporter about what Zelenskyy was wearing. The tone was set from the start- he was bullied. Trump is looking to deliver Putin another item on his wishlist by removing Zelenskyy and installing a puppet leader in Ukraine. UK media reporting what happened as a shouting match is lying- Zelenskyy was harangued and both Trump and Vance raised their voices. He remained calm and restrained throughout.
    1
  2167. He is taking the world to a dark place namely World War Three. Vile, evil, orange and a demon with the fate of world in his tiny hands.
    1
  2168. Powell was totally wrong. A disgrace.
    1
  2169. Bread?
    1
  2170. There is no rabid far left except as a figment of the imagination of the right.
    1
  2171. There was no Corbyn cult but there is a Thatcherism/ neoliberalism cult in charge since 1979. It has worked so well for the rich in transferring wealth to them and is embedded in society and economy to such an extent that most cannot see it before their very eyes. A Corbyn government would have started the critical process of reversing Thatcherism. Its policy proposals in 2017 and 2019 were to the right of the 1945 Labour manifesto and to the right of many conservative parties in the rest of the world. Your inane reference to a non existent Corbyn cult has not exactly aged well. Permanent Thatcherism is clearly exactly what Britain needs to ensure the doom loop continues.
    1
  2172. Economic growth 1997 to 2010 double than it has been under the Conservatives in the last 12 years. Explain that away.
    1
  2173. Bernie Sanders' analysis of why the Democrats lost is exactly right. Everything else is irrelevant. He has been warning for years that abandonment of working class voters is why the Democrats lose. The party transformed into the representative of white collar liberals. No lessons will be learned and 2028 will be the same old story. Arrogant and myopic does not come close to describing the shameful failure to stop the monster Trump, the Democrats own creation caused by throwing their core support to the wolves of wild west capitalism.
    1
  2174. Well said. It is beyond parody that some NS readers seem so enamoured of the Starmer Labour Party. I do not subscribe to it any longer because there is simply no point.
    1
  2175.  @lonewanderer3456  Labour has moved to the right since Kinnock. That is over forty years, the best part of half a century. Most Labour voters who switched from Tory to Labour in 1997 identified with Tory policies, according to focus groups at the time, hence the Labour landslide. The party had moved right again under Blair not the country moving left. The centre ground is impossible to define and is not helpful to anything. The Corbyn interregnum stood for policies to the right of the 1945 manifesto yet has been derided as hard left. It was nothing of the sort- many of its policies Tories could agree with: a majority of Tory voters have wanted nationalisation of the railway network for a number of years, for example. Labour and Tory both support capitalism of the neoliberal variant that is the root cause of every single problem. It is doubtful that you are aware that there are different iterations of capitalism today and were in the past, too. It can be regulated to reduce inequality and make sure the majority have a good standard of living. Yes, the rich can still be wealthy but the link between wealth and taxation was broken by Thatcher. That is why we are living in Thatcher's Britain today, the sixth richest nation on the planet and the most unequal in Europe, except Bulgaria.
    1
  2176.  @MrMoralHighground  Excellent comment. Well done!
    1
  2177.  @MrMoralHighground  Many thanks. Excellent.
    1
  2178. Fiscal discipline- no money for public services, no infrastructure projects to invest for the future, more austerity on the way. Nothing to offer at all. Labour is going to flounder in government unless Starmer is replaced as leader and the party reconnects with its true purpose of democratic socialism for the many not the few.
    1
  2179. It never happened.
    1
  2180.  @dominicparker6124  Aldi.
    1
  2181. Red Tories are the same thing. Neoliberalism is safe in the hands of the so called Labour Party.
    1
  2182. Congratulations to the 90 million Americans who could not be arsed to vote. Well done from the UK. You caused this shit show.
    1
  2183.  @PP237PP  Excellent advice! Much appreciated.
    1
  2184. Same Tories every time. Exactly. Wrong side of history for 200 years, acting against the people many of whom are stupid enough to keep on voting against their own self interest. Labour sell outs have embraced right wing ideology contributing to this mess. I had to laugh at Uncle Algernon- superb comment.
    1
  2185.  @jonsmith5058  The same delusional arguments were made before 1997. The Blairite ascendancy is well and truly in the driving seat and Britain will be heading over a cliff with a Labour government that thinks and acts like it is the 1990s. Balanced budgets are so interwar and Tory punish the poor austerity since 2010 ( which failed to reduce the deficit and debt by its own measures). We need the reversal of Thatcherism and Keynesian tax and spend to boost the economy. It works!
    1
  2186.  @francesbrown5116  No.
    1
  2187. The British are unable to comprehend the mess they are in. They keep on voting Tory and never learn. It will never change. They simply do not care about each other in large enough numbers to demand change. The only time enough took a truly decisive stand was 1945 after a war and twenty years of poverty for millions that preceded it. Solidarity is not in the English vocabulary and I have the misfortune to be British.
    1
  2188.  @AVhq11  Stupid question. Not knowingly.
    1
  2189. Still using echoes of her hustings speeches. Surprised she did not say I grew up in Paisley and Leeds, etc. Ludicrous. No mea culpa and no recognition that the government must change course. The markets will not be reassured. Now the Chancellor has resigned there is no reason for Truss to remain. Her performance in the press conference was absolutely dire beyond words. She did not answer the four or five questions she took and cut the questions short. Cannot face scrutiny, cannot govern and cannot be allowed to remain in office. Sky reporting that senior Tories are discussing how to change leader as soon as possible.
    1
  2190. Its failure to call out the egregious impact of Brexit is a disgraceful dereliction of duty. Shameful and history will record this.
    1
  2191.  @joetrent4753  I have done but it keeps happening time and again. At least once a week. I also have segments popping up on obscure things like generators for living off grid in a forest or some such. I do not live in a forest and have never shown any interest in planning to. I do not live in a right wing echo chamber and abhor right wing views yet it is not unusual for segments from right wing individuals to appear. Usually it does not persist but there have been exceptions.
    1
  2192.  @joetrent4753  Agreed.
    1
  2193. The NS is Blairite is it not ( a new dawn failed to break in 1997 did it not, to coin a phrase?). Labour is right wing. Starmer is heir to Blair.
    1
  2194. Thanks for confirming that you cannot define centrist.
    1
  2195.  @hellious7670  Read Steve Richard's article about centrism. Learn something.
    1
  2196. Society is predicated on the convenient and false lie that if someone has problems it is their own fault. This scapegoats the victims of neoliberalism absolving its proponents of any need to address the root causes instead of the symptoms. To do this would mean a reversal of the ideology that has wrecked societies and economies around the world since Thatcher and Reagan but profit and greed are more important than people to the neoliberals. Tory ideology since Thatcher is that if you are poor or suffer ill fortune it is your own fault. They do not apply this to their own circumstances though-transfer of wealth to the rich ensures a comfortable life. Money is not the be all and end all but having enough to provide the stability that ameliorates a lot of the anxiety many suffer. I realise depression is not the same as anxiety although they often overlap. Mental health is worse in unequal countries, all the evidence supports this. I am glad things have improved for you and I wish you all the best for the future, including a happy New Year for 2025!
    1
  2197.  @ntala  Make America moron again. Job done beyond all expectations. More achieved in one month than four years last time round. Greetings from Britain aka knee bending subject to Dear King Donald.
    1
  2198.  @tomrees4812  Corbyn lives rent free in the minds of the Labour right and Tory Party. All Labour offered in 2017 and 2019 was moderate social democracy or a version of democratic socialism. I have yet to hear the Blairites articulate precisely which policies were so bad that they could not support them. Rest assured that permanent neoliberalism will not resolve Britain's problems ergo Starmer's iteration of Labour is the opposite of what the country needs. More neoliberalism will not deliver for the majority and will pave the way the way for a resurgent nationalist populist Tory Party. Unless Britain wants relentless decline, actual socialist policies are the only way forward for the benefit of the many not the few.
    1
  2199. Britain is an immigrant nation and always has been. Everyone in Britain has antecedents from other countries. Check out your family tree and you will see. Hope not hate.
    1
  2200.  @boredom5132 The statement in the last sentence about views that are antithetical to those of the public is arrant nonsense. Hope not hate.
    1
  2201.  @boredom5132  Shame on you.
    1
  2202. Unacceptable comment. You should know what his name is and should not be posting the comment.
    1
  2203. @ Your comment shows total ignorance of the reality of what Zelenskyy meant. It was not remotely insulting. He was making the point that is obvious to everyone but you that what happens in Europe will impact America eventually unless there are security guarantees for Ukraine. Do keep up at the back. Also learn to spell his name correctly and don't abbreviate it to Zel. That would be swell.
    1
  2204.  @jackdubz4247  Well spotted.
    1
  2205. McDonnell is Labour's lost leader and a first class politician. Abbot is an excellent MP whose contribution to politics should be lauded and Burgon should be Prime Minister.
    1
  2206. Paul Young's voice is not as good as it was- presumably not touring much these days either.
    1
  2207. Well made points. I think it is worse though- he does not care enough, there is no conviction. He was elected on a left ticket of Corbynism without Corbyn ( Corbyn was great and it is one of the worst things in my lifetime that he was not PM) but has gone after the left to suit the right wing media and the establishment. He is leading Labour nowhere. Even if they form a government which is very unlikely tinkering around the edges of the disaster of modern capitalism is not enough. The scale of the various emergencies facing Britain now and in the next twenty years is so grave that only policy prescriptions bold enough to meet the challenges will suffice. It is analogous to World War 2 and its aftermath in terms of the mobilisation of am interventionist state to protect people. Starmer is no Attlee, he is not even Ed Miliband ( who I like and was unfairly traduced). I fear for what is about to unfold in Britain and cannot wait to get out which I fully intend to.
    1
  2208. But you cannot even spell Corbyn.
    1
  2209.  @stevenpaulgoulding  What exactly is the point you are making?
    1
  2210.  @stevenpaulgoulding  You didn't exactly explain it very well. Corbyn was not unelectable but media lies and being undermined by many in the PLP made sure he was not elected. Right wingers and Blairites really do need to stop letting Corbyn live rent free in their heads all the time. Look what the UK got instead- the chaos since 2019. Fine, no problem, neoliberalism won and will continue to wreck the economy and living standards for decades to come. It was not about Corbyn anyway- the policies in the 2017 and 2019 manifesto were nothing more than moderate social democracy, nothing like the crazed left wing platform they were portrayed as. Labour under Starmer offers little and the same failed policies of the last forty years will continue to leave the UK as the 'sick man' of Europe as its economy and society flounders. Stop thinking about Corbyn and look at the bigger picture.
    1
  2211.  @stevenpaulgoulding  Think again. The ideas were not outdated and much of the policies put forward under Corbyn were adopted by Labour under Starmer. Affordable too- the city of London saw Labour's plans as credible and there was no suggestion to the contrary. I don't think you have been paying attention in the last few years. Labour's support is soft despite the disastrous Tory government of the last few years. It is by no means certain that Labour will win the next election. Against the odds, Sunak might pull off a victory like Major did in 1992. How about specifying which ideas were outdated and unaffordable?
    1
  2212.  @stevenpaulgoulding  There was no plan to abolish the armed forces or withdraw from NATO. Nationalisation would not have cost too much but clearly it is better to leave it in private ownership given the success of the model in providing excellent services to customers and the profits made by maximising shareholder value. ' Open the floodgates' sounds like a Daily Mail reader's comment. Your post is barely literate as well as inaccurate. I will not be wasting any more time in discussion with you.
    1
  2213.  @stevenpaulgoulding  Cite the source for this.
    1
  2214. Council tax has gone up due to the grant from central government being cut by fifty percent since 2010. It is nothing to do with pen pushers. Daily Mail myth.
    1
  2215. Teachers caved in for a 6.5% pay rise- this is a real terms pay cut. They cannot complain about underfunding because they did not put up a fight like the RMT, PCS and BMA, to name but three sections of the workforce who have stood up to government and mean business in defending pay and conditions of service. If they cared as much as they claim to they would have continued with strike action to demand both higher pay and real change in the system, including a guarantee that all pay rises would be funded from government not out of school budgets.
    1
  2216.  @gerardburton1081 Correct. He used to be MP for Henley and now Uxbridge and South Ruislip. I don't know why I forgot.
    1
  2217. American traitor. Russia has finally won the Cold War in 2025.
    1
  2218. Eh?
    1
  2219.  @Justin-hb6cg  Would that be cheese roll or ham and pickle? Ploughman's possibly.
    1
  2220.  @Cat-ct2wx  Please explain.
    1
  2221. @Nevertrump923  Eh?
    1
  2222. Labour is implementing Thatcherism. The public voted for its continuation and have been doing since 1979. That is the problem, an ignorant, ill informed electorate that wants Scandinavian style public services with American levels of taxation for the rich. Most people are not rich but happy to be servants to the greed of the wealthy.
    1
  2223. Britain has changed considerably in the last twenty years or more. For every one person who thinks probity matters there are several more who could not care less. The Conservatives know this and it is factored into their calculations. He is the worst Prime Minister of the last one hundred and twenty years but it makes no difference. Even if he is not leader at the next election, the Conservatives will probably win with the usual lies and propaganda pumped out by the media. The voters are gullible and ever willing to oblige. Johnson is both cause and symptom of the malaise but it is systemic. Whether he leads the Conservatives or not the party does not serve the interests of most people yet it is almost permanently in government. The British mindset must change or else this will continue.
    1
  2224.  @thomasmoore1499  Don't even assume a Labour victory at the GE. 14 million vote for the Tories at each election and it is decided in the marginals under FPTP. Tories will not be forgiven? Amnesia amongst the voters has seen them in power for most of the last 123 years. Your post is content free and fails to make any case for Labour being able to win the election after the next.
    1
  2225. Precisely the problem. The Tories need to go because this is is the worst government in living memory and all history, bar none. They are worse than Thatcher in the eighties. I remember it well. But Labour caved into Thatcherite policies under Blair and offers no alternative, no vision of a better society under Starmer. It will never change. Even if Labour wins the GE it will be in office for one term and the Tories will be back with more of their disastrous policies. Britain is finished without a wholesale change in policies but it will not happen. No wonder many in Scotland, especially the younger generation, wants independence.
    1
  2226. The Greens are a left wing party. The post was about the two main parties.
    1
  2227.  @johnburrows3385  No chance. Delusional.
    1
  2228. Makes no difference- the Labour Party surrendered to Thatcherism under Blair and is committed to maintaining the same policies- low wages, low tax for the rich, privatisation, anti union legislation, austerity, all key tenets of the system that is the root cause of everything that is wrong with the economy and society. The left has been extinguished in Britain after the Corbyn interregnum and will not rise again.
    1
  2229.  @keithjohnson49  You are wrong but no I do not understand the difference because I am thick and will check the dictionary to try to clarify the difference between the two. The use of bold to type the word and the rest of your post suggests you have an anger problem. Hope not hate.
    1
  2230. Says a lot about this messed up country ( forty years and counting) that millions are only now concerned about the economy because they cannot afford the mortgage hikes and the cost of living is also affecting the 'middle class'. This is what not paying attention for 120 years gets you- Tory disaster capitalism that does nothing for working people.15 million do not bother to vote in Britain. This disgraceful government is a reflection of a country that has looked thew other way for decades while millions suffer because they thought it didn't affect them. All of a sudden it matters- British hypocrisy and lack of concern for others at its finest.
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  2231. Reply to mbak7801 comments below who thinks revisionism about the damage to the economy caused by the Tories is acceptable. Two separate replies deleted for whatever reason so here is the main one re-posted. It is in response to their claim that the Tories increased benefits and pensions in the last fourteen years. Being ridiculed by someone as ill informed as you is no problem. The Conservatives are commonly referred to as the Tory party or Tories as you very well know. Benefits have been significantly reduced. By 2015 disbursements had decreased by £18.9 Billion compared to 2010-freezing child benefit, reducing earned tax credit, stopping eligibility for aid with council tax, the bedroom tax and the capping of benefit increases to 1% per year. This made life worse for as many as 7 million households. Universal credit or Job Seekers Allowance has declined for a single childless worker to 14 % of weekly average earnings compared to an average of 55% of earnings in OECD countries. Pensions are pitched at 31% of average weekly earnings, the lowest in Europe. Philip Alston, former UN commissioner on extreme poverty and juman rights conducted an investigation into Britain and concluded in 2018 that the government's intent had been to reduce benefits by every means available, and that the basic message is that almost any alternative will be more tolerable than seeking to obtain government benefits. The social contract has been broken as a consequence.
    1
  2232. Most of them do not show solidarity with each other. No support in the workplace, look the other way when bullying takes place, keep their heads down and hope it does not visit them, etc. They are not interested in the unions, with many workplaces having no union representative. NASUWT did not vote to strike recently, sending a clear message that its members ( apart from those who did vote to strike) accept poor pay and conditions. The reason surveys cite pay as less important than workload to teachers is that it gives them an excuse to do nothing about it and many of them like to think of themselves as martyrs. Never mind the physical and mental toll of such a thankless,awful job. Teachers have one of the highest death rates within a few years of retirement too. If they cared about themselves and the role as much as they say they do, they would have been on strike 15 years ago.
    1
  2233. Voted the Tories back in 1992 ( after Thatcherism destroyed society for the previous 13 years), 2010, 2015 and 2019. In 2010 the economy was growing after Labour had stabilised the economy after the crash it did not cause, in 2015 austerity had punished the poor and achieved nothing, with debt and deficit both up, in 2019 the big lie of get Brexit done was enough to fool millions. The Labour manifesto both in 2017 and 2019 contained good ideas to boost the economy but people still did not listen. Kinnock warned in 1983 not to get old, sick or to be in need under the Tories in one of his great speeches. Those words are even more prescient now than at the time, and the eighties were bad enough.
    1
  2234. Ridiculous comment of the day-many congratulations. Obviously, the American healthcare system is the envy of the world and free healthcare for citizens is self evidently communism if the idiots who oppose it in America are to be believed. Good luck with tariffs once the MAGA fools have worked out what one is and hopefully the price of petrol and eggs will rise exponentially in 2025. Enjoy.
    1
  2235.  @franceshinks1810  They are the worst animal on the planet. Cognition and speech has left a trail of destruction for centuries, despite some good achieved. The notion that the arc of history bends towards justice is false comfort- a cursory glance at the last hundred years shows that in most countries advances for the majority only lasted about thirty five years after the second world war with the post war consensus or trente glorieuse as it was called in France. The progressive advances of the Civil Rights era and other causes such as LGBTQ rights and abortion rights are now under dire threat due to Trump's victory. Racism is such a scourge with half of America wanting to return to a time before any of the landmark civil rights legislation of the 1960s. It is that stark and frightening.
    1
  2236. Orange Jesus is going down to a massive defeat in November. Good luck to all democrats and patriots voting for democracy from the UK.
    1
  2237.  @Gph0367  It is not simple at all. There are a number of countervailing factors that make it very difficult to build union power. Anti trade union legislation makes it difficult to strike, the increase in the threshold underlining the point. Sectoral bargaining has gone, weakening workers' power. Mass industries were the backbone of the unions forty plus years ago but have virtually disappeared due to deindustrialisation. Many workers are transient, making it difficult for the unions to put down roots in workplaces/ some areas of the economy. Worker apathy is a major issue, with lack of interest in unions. Many workplaces do not have a union representative or attendance at meetings is poor. Workers are selfish and scared to stand up to management, and cannot depend on their colleagues for support. Keeping your head down and looking the other way is a national pastime in Britain. Thatcherism succeeded in changing the fabric of society so successfully that she described 'new' Labour as her greatest triumph. The Labour Party is not on the side of the workers and will not reverse anti trade union legislation, which Blair should have but was never going to. The point you make has been said countless times in the last twenty years but it is not going to happen. Some of the unions are not as effective as they should be and in some there is insufficient appetite for the sort of robust strike action that will deliver results. Employers and government know this and can relax safe in the knowledge that most workers will take yearly pay cuts lying down. Exceptions like the BMA, PCS, Unite and the RMT are outliers. While I disagree with Mick Lynch on Brexit, he at least has a critique of the rail industry and wider society that his members and the wider public can identify with. Ditto the doctors' leaders are intelligent and fearless in standing up for their members. But the overall picture is bleak.
    1
  2238. It is not the issue. It was much higher in the aftermath of the second world war. What exactly is the point you are trying ( and clearly struggling) to make?
    1
  2239. Disgraceful, shameful bullying by Trump and Vance. Appalling report on the BBC news tonight siding with Trump against Zelenskyy, risibly asserting that the turning point in the meeting escalating was the question by a reporter about what Zelenskyy was wearing. The tone was set from the start- he was bullied. Trump is looking to deliver Putin another item on his wishlist by removing Zelenskyy and installing a puppet leader in Ukraine. UK media reporting what happened as a shouting match is lying- Zelenskyy was harangued and both Trump and Vance raised their voices. He remained calm and restrained throughout.
    1
  2240.  @jeanniesmith3356 When you have had your hearing checked and/ or bought a new television you can hear them shouting when you watch again. Impossible to shout quietly. I hope this helps.
    1
  2241. Neoliberalism is the root cause of most mental distress but almost no-one will talk about the elephant in the room. All of the evidence is there that mental illness is substantially lower in more equal societies. Inequality has widened dramatically since the era of Reagan and Thatcher. Britain is the most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria. The answer is to reduce inequality otherwise the situation will only worsen. Olivia James has written about the impact of inequality. In 2008 James wrote that higher rates of mental disorders were the consequence of excessive wealth-seeking in consumerist nations.
    1
  2242. Torybour.
    1
  2243.  @xzenderx  It only makes sense if it is deemed acceptable to normalise an extreme racist party. Racism is never acceptable. The RN is a racist, fascist party.
    1
  2244.  @hilary.teanti  Exactly.
    1
  2245. Why? The discussions on this channel are less insightful than the average episode of Politics Live or Newsnight.
    1
  2246.  @colinthompson3111  The discussion on this channel is often not very in depth. I should have said there is much better discussion on Novara Media, Owen Jones and Politics Joe, to name but three alternatives.
    1
  2247.  @colinthompson3111  A sweeping statement that does not stand up to scrutiny but it is matter of opinion. I think this one is a case of agree to disagree.
    1
  2248.  @damianuk1509  It cannot be taken seriously.
    1
  2249. Source for claim about 200,000 social homes? Council homes have not been built by both Labour and the Tories for decades. Thatcher's Right To Buy legislation banned councils from building houses to replace those they were forced to sell off. Immigrants and asylum seekers are not to blame for problems they are scapegoated for.
    1
  2250. Trump is evil. Ukrainians are dying because of his egregious actions. No wonder people are turning away from him. Wannabe Hitler is finding out that dictatorship is not as popular as he thinks.
    1
  2251. Good with the economy? 1920s and 1930s they imposed austerity that created widespread poverty and led to them being kicked out by the voters in 1945. 1980s Thatcher destroyed the economy and social fabric, never to recover due to New Labour's acceptance of the Thatcherite settlement save for a few changes to soften the blows of neoliberalism. 1992 Britain forced out of ERM and interest rates shot up. 2010-2022 imposed austerity that killed 300,000 due to excess deaths linked to their cruelty and economic illiteracy. 2022 crashed the economy and caused mortgage payments to go up by an average £500 per month for years to come. Caused numerous house price crashes- e.g, early 1990s and the next one which is going to be horrific. Have I missed anything about their brilliant economic record? I thought not.
    1
  2252. No, it does not start until December 21st.
    1
  2253. Disgraceful comment. Be ashamed.
    1
  2254. @Jordan Reynolds Because working people are easily fooled and happy to let Tories and the Daily Mail do their 'thinking' for them.
    1
  2255.  @chrisbrown6920  Evidence?
    1
  2256.  @chrisbrown6920  Is that proof?
    1
  2257.  @segue2ant395  Adam Ant.
    1
  2258.  @doghouseriley4732  Hyperinflation was not in 1935. The French demanded not induced reparations.
    1
  2259. Well said though mention of both is not likely to find favour with the NS. Livingstone is the most significant left wing politician of the last fifty years. Liverpool City Council showed real bravery in defying the Tories in the 1980s.
    1
  2260. Braverman is likely to replace him. The Tories will return to power in five or ten years at the most on an even more hard line anti immigration platform. Labour will have failed by simply implementing Tory policies the opposite of what it should be doing.
    1
  2261. @@SimonWeston-ms9vs Of course they will. It is too close to the election.
    1
  2262.  @jamesarnold7253  By election not bi election.
    1
  2263.  @alfching2499  He is not but is very wealthy. Facts matter.
    1
  2264.  @UNITDW  Thatcher destroyed the country and Blair hollowed out the Labour Party. That said average economic growth under Labour in thirteen years was over two percent while under the Conservatives it has been half this in twelve years. The economy was growing by just under one percent when Labour left office in 2010 two years after the crash it did not cause.
    1
  2265. Tories out, red Tories in. No point, no difference. Down with neoliberalism. Repudiate and reverse Thatcherism. One hundred years since the first Labour government, Labour has been hollowed out by the Blairite ascendency since 1994 with the brief exception of the Miliband and Corbyn period.
    1
  2266.  @robertscott961  I forgive you but next time ask your carer for permission before you post a comment.
    1
  2267.  @supertorque2176  Unless the Republican Party sees sense and turns on Trump America and the world is in serious trouble. Either the party snaps back to what it was before the madness of Trump or it descends to something at least as bad at the next election, that is if it is not cancelled. America and the world now faces an existential crisis of geopolitics and democracy.
    1
  2268. The bar must be set very low then.
    1
  2269.  @jb894  No. Labour won the 1950 election with a small majority. Churchill was re-elected in 1951.
    1
  2270. Icicle Works wrote some great songs. Love Is A Wonderful Colour, When It All Comes Down and more.
    1
  2271.  @lordflashget8780  Ludicrous comments. Birkenhead is not in Liverpool- it is Wirral as you know. It is mainland not main land. In what way have identities been stolen and manipulated? Liverpool has high levels of ASB, a 'no grass culture', and most gun crime in the UK has links with the place. Liverpool is different but not because it is better as many of the people who live there think.
    1
  2272. This country is a joke. Of course it is a Brexit issue like so many other consequences of the most monumental act of national self harm in decades. But Labour will not speak out against Brexit full stop which it should be doing because it wants the votes of red wall thickos and racists in the next election. It is no good cherry picking some issues like agriculture alone when Brexit needs reversing as the root cause of the problems it has caused. Notice the ridiculous use of the phrase 'mission critical' on the same day Starmer delivered a speech about Labour's five missions. Mission 6 already accomplished- removal of the left from the party. Pathetic.
    1
  2273.  @ro9202  Moved Labour too far to the right but strove valiantly to win elections in 1987 and 1992. The latter was tragic ( both were) because it seemed Labour were going to win, although in retrospect the Tory lies about Labour's tax plans swung it for them. The fact Major was not Thatcher made them seem less toxic in the eyes of many. UK voters don't need much persuading to vote Tory against their own interests.
    1
  2274.  @MrGoneTroppo  The last 120 years has been a Tory nightmare except for a a few of the 33 that Labour has been in power.
    1
  2275.  @tobyalan8874  The Liberal Democrats have a lot to answer for. They walked away from a coalition with Labour in 2010, paving the way for various disastrous outcomes in the last thirteen years. They are holier than thou and sanctimonious, liberal on social issues ( rightly, in my view) but just as happy as the Tories to bash the poor with cruel and economically illiterate austerity which inhibited the (anemic) recovery. The Orange Book Liberals had no problem with austerity.
    1
  2276.  @bendreczko9054  Right wing policies do not win votes for parties of the centre left- pay attention to reality. It is your friend in analysing issues. There is no far left in Britain- Labour under Corbyn was to the right of the part manifesto in 1945.
    1
  2277. The media is on the side of the rich. It has no intention of telling the truth.
    1
  2278. He comes across as robotic. AI sound like it is his metier. Look forward to AI being used in the service of the rich and its slavish endorsement by the neoliberal loving media in an hands to the deck effort to persuade the masses that it is to their benefit to be exploited even more. Marx would be aghast.
    1
  2279.  @pipprecious2869  You do not understand that it is Thatcherism that destroyed society. Do some reading about neoliberalism.
    1
  2280.  @stevenjericho  About twenty years ago, no doubt. But few want to talk about it and it is intractable anyway because parenting has collapsed in the UK and it is now generational. Absolutely no hope for the future and it is being blamed on Covid, the convenient excuse for everything.
    1
  2281.  @forestsunset9617  I thought so and was waiting for someone to point it out. Well done and thanks for being the first.
    1
  2282. @ Washcow works better. Thanks.
    1
  2283. @ Not true and it is affects not effects. Embarrassing that you do not know the difference. No wonder you are clueless.
    1
  2284. @Truth.
    1
  2285. Ridiculous comment.
    1
  2286.  @gordonfleming458  Not in reality.
    1
  2287.  @gordonfleming458  Superb response. Well done.
    1
  2288. Absolutely. Well said and good to see someone with compassion.
    1
  2289.  @justgeneric2876  No it is the 43 year one. It began in 1979 and Labour is an enthusiastic convert to it. End date unspecified but likely to be indefinite. Neoliberalism demands the transfer of wealth to the rich and a smaller state is a key tenet of the project.
    1
  2290. So called health tourism is minimal. A drop in the ocean. Yet another bogus issue raised by the right to undermine the NHS.
    1
  2291. A Labour government with a vision for reshaping society and reducing income inequality in the interests of the majority would not be troubled by Reform in the polls but the red Tories have no intention of reversing Thatcherism and implementing the Keynesian tax and spend required to deliver for the majority. Deficit financing and taxing the rich via income, assets and land are the levers that will facilitate the change needed. Failure to do so ( no spoiler alert required) will be judged as yet another historical error of epic proportions just like the rest since 1945. That said, the polls are nonsense unless the public has truly lost its mind- Thatcherism and never ending demonising of immigrants is not the answer to anything. First past the post is now also favouring the anti Tory vote. Farage will not be Prime Minister, a bit of good news for the weekend.
    1
  2292.  @truckerfromreno  You can. Cite the evidence that shows you are correct.
    1
  2293.  @ianashton1593  Agree unaffordable. Don't Pay campaign is irresponsible as the money will still be owed and the grief people will go through will compound an already traumatic situation. That said, if millions refused to pay the situation would be different. Millions refused to pay the poll tax under Thatcher in the late eighties and it was only in 2006 that the government wrote off losses from money not retrieved from those due to be taken to court. In reality the energy support package will have to be reinstated. Don't Pay did not really gain traction on a huge scale even before the government intervened with the energy support package.
    1
  2294.  @davidwelsh8026  No, they are vile bullies who set Zelenskyy up. He is not gambling with World War Three as Orange Jesus lied, they are through their craven capitulation to Putin.
    1
  2295. It is disaster capitalism. Naomi Klein and others have written about how the rich take advantage of economic problems to transfer money from the majority to the wealthy. Trouble is most of the voters under FPTP are ok with it most of the time, hence the fact they keep on voting against their own interests as elections since 1970 show except for the 13 years Labour were in power. Labour has been in office 33 years since 1900 and before 1997, only 20 in almost 100 years. The people of this country have themselves to blame for its parlous state and their acceptance of Tory policies that cause havoc. Even some right wing governments elsewhere in Europe are more effective in looking after people than here and actually to the left of the Tories in the UK. They are an extremist political cult.
    1
  2296.  @nicksimmons7234  Corbyn lives rent free in the minds of the Labour right.
    1
  2297.  @JoshuaMSP1995  On the contrary. The rich are not taxed enough. Higher rates of taxation apply in many other countries. Odd that you have interpreted the comment literally when it should be obvious that it is shorthand for tax them properly. Your comment is content free and patronising. Explain why Britain is one of the most unequal counties on the planet and yet one of the wealthiest at the same time. The wealth is concentrated in the hands of the minority and the majority are not sharing in the wealth creation even though they do most of the work for the benefit of the rich.
    1
  2298.  @Thesamurai1999  Bogus argument used to deflect calls for the rich to pay their fair share. They will not leave and do not even when they have to pay more.
    1
  2299.  @treadstone1970  Precisely. It was said at the time of the 2008 crash on both sides of the Atlantic. They would have been swapping places- it never happened.
    1
  2300.  @seesidesummerhouse6112  Tax the rich- option number 3.
    1
  2301. Them lot? Bad grammar and factually wrong. The far right extremists were out in force.
    1
  2302. Oh yes. Johnson will not stand. Wonder why when according to reports he had the numbers. What was the number of MPs supporting him? Pray do tell. Sky is questioning whether the claim he had 100 supporters was true. Johnson will hate failing to mount a successful challenge against Sunak.
    1
  2303.  @DanThomas-k1f  Both the word gone and the word went are past tense conjugations of “to go.” However, they are not interchangeable. If you are going to write using proper English grammar, you will need to know the difference between gone vs went. Look it up.
    1
  2304.  @Atmatan  Gone and went are both past tense verbs. The difference between them is that gone is used when something has been removed from a place, while went is used when something is in motion or has moved to a different location. Examples: He went to the store and bought some milk. All the milk is gone, so I need to buy more. Why do people commonly confuse gone and went? People commonly confuse gone and went because they are both past tense forms of the verb “go.” They are used in similar contexts. However, gone is an irregular past participle form of the verb, and went is the regular past tense form. Therefore, gone is usually used in the perfect tense to describe something that has happened and is no longer present, and went is usually used to describe a past action that has already been completed.
    1
  2305.  @Atmatan  You are wrong. It has been explained. Look it up for yourself for confirmation. Don't reply.
    1
  2306.  @petyrkowalski9887  According to the right (Tory) of the Labour Party. If you understood political history and took your blinkers off, you would not fall prey to confirmatory bias.
    1
  2307.  @MrBizteck  It is unfortunate that you really do not understand. Labour has no meaningful solutions to the scale of the crisis Britain faces. It has surrendered to Thatcherism. Repudiation of neoliberalism and its reversal is the answer but it is self evident that Labour will not deliver this having sold its soul under Blair. Naturally the Blairites are in seventh heaven at the prospect of being in office to continue with the failed extremism of neoliberalism. In turn, it will unleash dark forces on the extreme nationalist right as the Tories seize on Labour's faithful implementation of Tory policies as the reason for Britain's problems not being anywhere close to being resolved.
    1
  2308.  @karenhopwood891  You are extremely rude but clearly that is your problem. If you paid any attention to Labour's policies you should have noticed that they are committed to the same failed policies as the Tories. There have been articles in the press about this if you care to read them. The disaster is neoliberalism which both parties agree on. As a democratic socialist I will vote Green as many intend to. I have never voted Tory and never will. If you think criticism of Labour automatically denotes support for the Tories, your comment is not surprising. It is rationale by the way-more reading will help with spelling.
    1
  2309.  @csharpe5787  On the contrary I fully understand neoliberalism. If you think Labour is not fully on board with neoliberalism, you have not been paying attention. One day you might realise.
    1
  2310.  @paulwilson7234  The answer is not more of the same under Starmer's red Tories.
    1
  2311.  @PazLeBon  Don't be too harsh on yourself.
    1
  2312.  @Mandy-dy7nj  It is centrist not centralist. The centre is ill defined and I daresay you probably do not understand what it is. Your conception of it will not accord with that of others. See Steve Richard's article about the difficulty of defining the centre published recently. Ditto articles about how similar Labour and Conservative policies are. Power is entrenched when both parties agree on the same policies- Labour should be opposed to neoliberalism. If you cannot see that your thinking is muddled at best.
    1
  2313.  @Mandy-dy7nj  Not remotely an insult post as you falsely describe it. Perfectly reasonable points made, which you have responded to in a brittle way- again, fair comment. Differentiate between insult ( it is not anything you disagree with or do not like the sound of) and counter argument. If you do refer to centrist as centralist ( sic) and do not demonstrate a grasp of the concept ( not because it is nebulous as Steve Richard's excellent article enunciates), then self evidently you thinking is muddled. I stand by precisely what I said.
    1
  2314.  @alwayslearning4964  Ludicrous to suggest referenda for every piece of legislation. Impractical and unworkable.
    1
  2315. The media is a major reason why Britain is in such a mess. Its lies and enabling of the Tories for over forty years has dumbed down the population and kept hidden from view the truth about the damage the Tories have done to society.
    1
  2316.  @IDontKnow-vh3no  You are right in your observations about grammar schools. The 11 plus was skewed towards middle class students who possessed what would be termed cultural capital today in so far as they had books in the house and access to the knowledge required to answer the questions in order to pass. There is no doubt that grammar schools provided a high quality education for some, including a relatively small number from poorer backgrounds who went on to do very well and contribute significantly to society in their field ( everyone's' contribution matters regardless of income or so called status) but it was an unfair system.
    1
  2317. Well said Liam.
    1
  2318. Are you serious?
    1
  2319.  @Noel-ji8nm  Both but neoliberalism is the cuckoo in the nest.
    1
  2320.  @rhysholdaway  All politics is ideology. Where have you been?
    1
  2321.  @rhysholdaway It could be both but it is neither.
    1
  2322.  @rhysholdaway  It was an amazing year, with so many huge artists at the peak of their powers. 1985 was also excellent. With reference to 1984 the book, I did read it at the tail end of 1983, and it spoke to me about so many of the dreadful things that have happened in the world since with control of people by governments, manipulation of the media via propaganda, the surveillance state, etc. I know it was written in 1948 and the year reversed but it is a warning from another era that has lessons for the modern world too. All the best!
    1
  2323. Labour has nothing to offer- similar policies. Britain cannot ever recover from its problems unless forty four years of neoliberalism/ Thatcherism is rejected. I see no sign of the ruling political class or voters doing that, except in Scotland, where they have their heads screwed on properly.
    1
  2324. John's story is incredibly moving. I saw the original programme in the late eighties ( I think it was) and the follow up in in the mid 2000s. His story and how he has both coped and helped others with Tourette's is inspirational. The fact his dog was his only friend when he was younger stood out in the original. He seems to be doing well these days and it is great that he has friends.
    1
  2325. Affected not effected. The question has been asked if you had been paying attention.
    1
  2326. Nonsense- manufacturing is key. Arts are important but don't tell me a drama qualification is more important than a STEM qualification.
    1
  2327. True. Roosevelt was not even a socialist but due to the Reagan shift to the right and the Trump takeover of the Republicans by today's standards he would be painted as a radical communist. He wanted to rescue capitalism from itself by regulating it and in that he succeeded. I am on the left in the UK ( the real left which has no party to represent not the pretend left of Labour) but a Roosevelt for today would be just what the doctor ordered. Sanders is a heroic figure for speaking truth all his career and it is a tragedy he was denied the nomination in 2016. The course of history would have been different.
    1
  2328.  @ernestthesmallholder559  Liberalism and neoliberalism are not the same.
    1
  2329.  @rtozier2011  Even though Labour did not believe the poll leads were accurate and was in talks with Ashdown about forming a coalition in the event of a hung parliament.
    1
  2330. What?
    1
  2331. Or one where neoliberalism did not destroy the world by spreading its poison around the globe to so many countries since 1979.
    1
  2332.  @bluceree7312  Thanks. Solidarity.
    1
  2333.  @gio-oz8gf  Would you rather read praise for Starmer's empty project?
    1
  2334.  @yamyam3905  State your qualifications and give an honest answer.
    1
  2335.  @yamyam3905  Your response shows a spectacular level of ignorance. Sponging off the state is a right wing trope- there are billions of unclaimed benefits. Try again, what are your qualifications?
    1
  2336.  @yamyam3905  Dianne Abbott went to Oxford and did extremely well. She is highly intelligent and did really well in school and at university. I recommend the biography of her by Robin Bunce- I am sure you would find it very interesting and it will increase your respect for her.
    1
  2337.  @testudohorsfieldii7052  Well said. Many of the comments here are an absolute disgrace.
    1
  2338.  @analoguesoul4594  I appreciate the time taken to read it and the observation about it being lucid and of substance. But it is not a rant. Impassioned yes but simply an expression of views about the mess Britain is in.
    1
  2339.  @alan2007-x8x  I think your television must be faulty.
    1
  2340.  @danielcrafter9349  Not sure from your response that reading is your forte. In the unlikely event it is, read some Keynes, Yanis Varoufakis and Joseph Stiglitz if you want to understand economics. Good luck.
    1
  2341.  @squarewindow  Burgon would make an excellent Labour leader. Long Bailey would not be taken seriously by the media and public.
    1
  2342. The Tories handled Covid disastrously but Britain was in the middle compared to other countries in respect of its deaths from the disease.
    1
  2343. Nik Kershaw is superb. I have been a fan since his eighties breakthrough. I don't think much of his latest albums but the first two are brilliant. I saw him live in Liverpool 10 years ago and he sounded the same as he did in the eighties. He is a great guitarist highly regarded by fellow musicians including Elton John and has a wry self-deprecating take on life and pop stardom. He said in a recent interview that he cannot relate to the eighties version of himself and it is as if it happened to someone else. Refreshing and insightful.
    1
  2344. Very erudite.
    1
  2345. Ironic that many of the teachers in service then will have been part of the emergency programmes to ensure enough teachers were in front of classes after the end of the Second World War, and will not have undergone the same level or type of training that became the norm by the 1970s. Many of them were excellent teachers, partly on account of having been well taught themselves. Discipline was too harsh in this period but the pendulum has swung the other way entirely in the last twenty years.
    1
  2346.  @leah2336  It is in free fall, no mistake. This process has been going on since Thatcher supposedly rescued Britain from the bad old days of the 1970s and the bad men ( almost exclusively male led then) of the unions ( peak year for disposable income 1976 but never mind facts). The selfservatives are not fit to govern but by accepting the Thatcherite settlement under Blair and Brown, austerity 2010- (it has not gone away) and rejecting Corbyn, Labour has nothing to offer as an alternative vision and nowhere to go. At the age of 52 I have never seen this country in such a mess and I thought the eighties was bad ( except the music).
    1
  2347. America has got what it voted for. The Democrats created the monster that it Trump by abandoning its core support for decades. Well done. Bernie Sanders called it right one hundred percent.
    1
  2348. Don't be so hard on yourself. Do better next time.
    1
  2349. Don't be so hard on yourself. Do better next time.
    1
  2350. The post war consensus delivered higher wages, the welfare state and fair taxation of the rich in order for wealth to be redistributed. Thatcher and Reagan smashed this as they took a neoliberal wrecking ball to society and economy. They won but at what price? Brexit, Trump and myriad other ills can all be traced back to their poisonous creed and con trick. Strong unions equal better pay and a more stable society. Unless the right is addicted to chaos, it is going to have to realise this one day and come to terms with the folly of Thatcherism by returning to One Nation Conservatism. Not likely but if they read the runes common sens might prevail.
    1
  2351. He was one hundred percent wrong. A racist and on the wrong side of history.
    1
  2352.  @khar12d8  Well said. Good on you.
    1
  2353. Define woke. Define welfarism. Austerity is the major cause of the mess Britain is in. It is nothing to do with immigration. The Tories are to blame for record levels of legal immigration yet do not accept responsibility for their own failed policies. With over a million vacancies in the economy, immigration is vital to the NHS and social care to name but two sectors that would collapse without migrant labour.
    1
  2354. Its members and its leader not it's.
    1
  2355.  @alanhynd7886  Neoliberalism was also practised in Chile by the murderous dictator Pinochet in the early 1970s after he came to power in a CIA sponsored coup. Thatcher and Reagan went on to implement it in Britain and America- so it predates the late 1970s. Just saying.
    1
  2356. What does it matter if Labour continues neoliberalism ( spoiler alert- it will)? Starmer has nothing to offer and Labour will be a disaster. There is a real issue with the calibre of its politicians which does not augur well for its ability to govern. Labour sold out decades ago under Blair and it is the height of delusion to believe that the same era can be re-run, but that is exactly the prospect facing the country.
    1
  2357. I do not agree with many of its methods but the fact is the school has got excellent results and parents are falling over themselves to secure a place there. It is oversubscribed for a reason. There are over a hundred other high performing secondary schools in London so it is not the only one but in the context of some of the alternatives where the quality of education will not be as good, Michaela does a good job. Silent corridors and such like are not necessary but they should be calm and orderly, which is not the case in many schools. I am a socialist and opposed to academisation which has been a disaster for many reasons but the education establishment does not want to talk about behaviour in schools for the most part. If Michaela's results had been poor we would never have heard the end of it. The fact that there have not been large numbers of parents or former students going to the press to publicly criticise the school suggests that broadly those associated with it must be satisfied with the quality of education and the culture in the school.
    1
  2358. I agree about Rosina Allin-Khan. I could not believe that she was not voted Deputy Leader of the party when she stood. She was the best candidate by a long way for a variety of reasons and would have been excellent in the role. I am voting Green at the GE ( I left Labour some time ago) but the calibre of many in the PLP is cause for concern. I do not see much evidence of many on the front bench being likely to prove to be very effective as ministers. It is a glaring weakness that will only become more obvious if Labour wins power. Though at the moment it looks like the wheels are coming off the Starmer project- the stance on Israel is appalling and also acting as a lightning rod for wider discontent on account of the attempt to eradicate the left. This is rebounding. He should be replaced as leader while there is still time before the election. It happened in Australia in 1983 and the Labour Party won.
    1
  2359. No doubt. Forgotten by most.
    1
  2360.  @paulwalker797  Neoliberalism is not dying. On the contrary, it is accelerating as the rich scramble to conserve their advantages by exploiting labour. You have not explained your assertion. The so called obsession with culture and identity is a creation of the right to distract from the real issues. The left should focus primarily on class in its analysis. There is no self righteous leftist bubble. Except in the mind of the right wing press.
    1
  2361. An excellent MP. Speaks well in Parliament and media interviews. Made an important contribution to the debate about dementia earlier in 2022.
    1
  2362.  @clareowen2047  He means RMT supported Brexit.
    1
  2363.  @StixFerryMan  Level 42.
    1
  2364. Wrong. There is no indication that it is possible to negotiate with Hamas. Only pressure brought to bear by America/ Saudi Arabia and Qatar can bring the crisis to and end.
    1
  2365. Project 2028 Democrats inevitably lose the election by learning zero lessons from 2024. Cue head scratching denial and slagging off Bernie Sanders. How did that happen?
    1
  2366. Is the RU a new organisation?
    1
  2367.  @PP237PP  Funny.
    1
  2368.  @PP237PP  Excellent comment!
    1
  2369.  @zeddeka  It made no difference. It was not focused on at the time.
    1
  2370.  @zeddeka  It was irrelevant.
    1
  2371.  @Prometheus7272  Whatever you say. Not right wing enough for extremists but neoliberal so right wing.
    1
  2372.  @charactername263  UK debt to GDP ratio is in the middle of European countries debt to GDP ratio. Stop the right wing myth making.
    1
  2373. Except you have not. I don't need to be Einstein to work that out.
    1
  2374. Ultravox.
    1
  2375. This is patently not true. There are countless others who do- Diane Abbot, John Nicholson SNP, Caroline Lucas, John McDonnell, Jeremy Corbyn, Dawn Butler, and many more.
    1
  2376.  @LateNightGhost  Ok, fair enough. Solidarity.
    1
  2377. I am in the UK and agree totally. Vile bullies ambushing Zelenskyy in a planned set up. They have already decided to stop US military support in order to sell out Ukraine to Putin. Zelenskyy could not have done better under such intolerable pressure and has acted heroically. BBC Question Time featured an audience of largely Ukrainians two weeks ago- it was heartbreaking and moving to see how desperate they are for support but rightly proud at the same time. They came across so well. Ukraine must be defended and Russia faced down for the sake of democracy everywhere.
    1
  2378.  @scouser2010ify  That is not representation.
    1
  2379. Everyone is ordinary- not even necessary to state it.
    1
  2380.  @shadowside8433  Ideological. Correct.
    1
  2381. It will be the rich.
    1
  2382. The idea of the end of history is a discredited theory. American triumphalism ( and other nations) at the end of the Cold War led to the disaster capitalism imposed on the former Soviet Union that plunged people into poverty, destabilised the entire system and bred the oligarchs. Communism was bad but the wealth of the Russian people was stolen from them twice over, first by communist dictatorship and then by the criminal gang that moved into the vacuum created by the shock therapy applied to the economy. Putin has been allowed to get away with his actions for twenty years by the west all because of money/ greed. A tiny minority of individuals in the west and Russia have been enriched at the expense of the majority in Russia and the playground for the rich that London and other capitals have become. The Conservative party is up to its neck in this, turning a blind eye to the money laundering in the city of London and accepting donations to its morally bankrupt raison d'etre, to make the rich richer. In the process, Putin has been allowed to destroy the security architecture of post World War Two. Putin has been emboldened by western weakness and now the world stands on the brink of the third world war.
    1
  2383.  @benscr  The nineties do not look like the forties unless you mean the 1540s.
    1
  2384. The Sheffield Rally had no impact on Labour's defeat in 1992. It was John Smith's shadow budget plan to raise taxes that the Tories exploited with lies and propaganda. It would have made the average family better off. The rally was praised at the time and made no difference. Neither funny or historically accurate.
    1
  2385. A rockstar mentioned by Roy Jenkins or Jonathan Ross.
    1
  2386. No. Right To Buy under Thatcher is the root cause of the problem. Councils were banned from building new council houses which is why there is a shortage today. Lack of house building by different governments has also driven up prices alongside Russian and middle eastern money in London which has fanned out to the rest of the country. Nothing to do with Attlee.
    1
  2387. There or their?
    1
  2388. Is that an offshoot of WWF?
    1
  2389.  @raymondwebb4179  Agent provocateurs in the 1984/ 1985 strike. Highly likely.
    1
  2390. Big state, state activist state is essential to resolving the chaos of British governance and a sclerotic economy. It is not just the last fourteen years but the whole rotten edifice of Thatcherism since 1979 that needs to be reversed. The red Tories are never going to admit this or go that far but circumstances are dragging them left. Soon they will be on the same page as the man many of them demonised, Jeremy Corbyn. Down with neoliberalism.
    1
  2391. Telegraph reporting that Johnson is to stand for leader. The Tory members are stupid enough to vote for him. The nightmare that never ends .
    1
  2392. The man referring to consensus politics is overlooking the fact that both parties are committed to the same neoliberal policies that have destroyed society and the economy. The other person who mentioned Sunak's background in economics is mistaken as Sunak is committed to austerity and delayed tax cuts for the rich. The narcissism of small differences. Weak and ill informed comments from these vox pops.
    1
  2393.  @BigHenFor  '13 years of Austerity and Financialisation has made the UK economy anorexic' I would not use the word anorexic in the context of the point you are trying to make- somewhat inappropriate. It goes back to decades way beyond thirteen years. The Big Bang in the city in 1986 opened the floodgates to financialisation.
    1
  2394. No way to denigrate the collapse of the UK economy.
    1
  2395. A two for one as Status Quo used to refer to one hit wonders meaning first and last.
    1
  2396.  @joefortey4  Someone else has posted today a spot on reply putting the 2017 result in perspective, which naturally the right ignores. Read it and then disregard it.
    1
  2397.  @joefortey4  @hschsc1300 3 hours ago The only seriously left-wing leader Labour had in decades won 40% of the vote in 2017, a feat only achieved by Tony Blair since 1970. Although he badly lost in 2019, he did so with 34% of the vote. Blair won a large majority with similar numbers in 2005, and Cameron entered Downing St 2010 and 2015 with those numbers.
    1
  2398.  @joefortey4  Excellent response!
    1
  2399. It was a huge hit in Britain. The husband and wife songwriters wrote How Will I Know and I Want To Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston.
    1
  2400. It does need a bold political vision but this must entail rejection of neoliberalism by the ruling class and the reversal of the Starmer project, which is committed to its maintenance through delivering the same policies as the Tories. He is the wrong leader for Labour and the country, the opposite of what is needed. Labour under Starmer has no meaningful answers to the problems facing Britain, precisely because it has no vision and promises to do no more than manage decline at best. The eradication of the left and the Blairite ascendancy are two sides of the same issue- I do not recall the NS supporting Corbyn's Labour, which was the last time and probably the last opportunity to escape the doom loop that the country is in due to the consequences of Thatcherism. We live in Thatcher's Britain today. Unless her philosophy is dismantled brick by brick, nothing will improve for the majority. It is that straightforward. I look forward to the NS having a Damascene conversion in support of the new vision.
    1
  2401.  @DarrenJamiesonJamieson  Vote Prime!
    1
  2402.  @geniemarie7977  ?
    1
  2403.  @PrivateWalker  Increase foreign aid, work with other countries to help refugees, use the full force of the law to jail rioters, support community cohesion to prevent the extreme right from stoking hatred and give asylum seekers more money. Hope that helps.
    1
  2404.  @PrivateWalker  I did. Read it again slowly.
    1
  2405.  @jeffholt9437  Hi there Jeffers. Good of you to check in with a pointless comment. How's your ability to use punctuation properly in a sentence going? Judging by some of your comments it is not yet off the charts. Funny guy and good of you to think of me. Good luck with writing properly.
    1
  2406. What band were you in and in what way were their egos an issue? Out of interest.
    1
  2407.  @DS-wn4dx  Thanks for the reply, appreciated. Interesting insight. I can't say I am surprised as in general their demeanour has always seemed aloof as a band. Transvision Vamp were excellent and I really think their music has stood the test of time. I remember the impact they made in the UK in 1988 was huge. I think Wendy James was made for stardom and handled it so well. She was adept at handling the media and dealing with sexist, patronising interviewers who ended up looking foolish. Someone has commented on YT under one of their songs that they once knew her and how down to earth she is.
    1
  2408.  @DS-wn4dx  Oh right, I see. I had not made the connection as it was a few weeks ago that I read the comment.
    1
  2409. Lineker is right 100%. But I do not want to hear from the RMT the Brexit supporting union. Putin supports Brexit as a way of dividing Europe and is the biggest threat to world peace since the Nazis. Lynch referred to insipid legislation- he meant insidious. Embarrassing. Time the focus moved away from the RMT.
    1
  2410. Hard to understand why anyone would want to live in this awful country but you are absolutely right. When the lie was told that bankers would move to America if they were taxed more after the crash, no figures were forthcoming to show how many departed. If the media was doing its job properly, the lies the Tories tell all the time would be held up to the scrutiny and mockery they deserve but the media manufactures consent for permanent austerity. Tax the rich to raise money for public services and give the poor more money because they will spend it on goods and services, boosting the economy. Keynes would be turning in his grave.
    1
  2411. @D C The defining characteristic of British life is the class system. The Marxist definition is that unless you own the means of production or have wealth that means you do not need to work, you are working class. In other words, ninety nine percent of the population. Yet snobbery and social climbing means people are obsessed with which class they think they are in and see life as perpetual ladder climbing and trampling on others. Nothing wrong with making money as long as it is fairly distributed and those with the broadest shoulders share the burden more equitably. Tax rates in Britain for the rich are lower than in most other European nations regardless of Tory howls of self-pitying anguish. It is telling that most people overestimate which class they are in ( impossible to measure anyway, another reason why the Marxist definition is much simpler!), believing they are middle class when their income does not match. Most Britons are delusional and politically illiterate with barely any meaningful grasp of economics. Hence the mess we are in.
    1
  2412.  @m.g.3013  Explain.
    1
  2413.  @patrickdervan3444  Yes, that is why so many live in the UK. Otherwise they would not be here.
    1
  2414.  @dcmastermindfirst9418 It is both. Liverpool is in Britain. Think.
    1
  2415.  @dcmastermindfirst9418  I know. I think ( see what I did there?) you might need to reconsider your screen name.
    1
  2416. An intelligent, insightful, reasoned comment. Thank you.
    1
  2417. Just get on with the leadership challenge that is vital to save the Labour Party. It has been captured by the right ( red Tories are way to the right of the right in the eighties and nineties who would be on the left by today's standards- see the Overton Window) who are the cuckoos in the nest. The Australian Labour Party changed leader weeks before the 1983 election and WON. Starmer is bad news for Labour and the country- he has shown who he is so take him at his word. For the sake of the country and party he must be removed. Otherwise democratic socialism is finished in Britain.
    1
  2418.  @nicodesmidt4034  Clearly missing the point. The same policies as the Tories is not a plan. It is a guarantee of failure and an admission democracy in Britain is at a standstill if there is no competing vision.
    1
  2419.  @danielcrafter9349  Thanks for the compliment. Do some reading because what I am saying about Labour's lack of vision is the truth.
    1
  2420.  King Royal  I understand there are climate friendly ways to extract and treat coal though I am no expert in the science of it. Coal is still imported and many other countries use it, not to justify any means of extraction that damages the environment. It is the number one existential threat to the planet. But this is not the point; the Conservatives were determined to break union power and if not the miners' strike, it would have been another industry. The destruction of trade union rights is one of the key reasons why the cost of living crisis is so acute because wages are so low while money has been transferred from the poor to the rich for the past forty years. For that, we have Thatcher's misguided and cruel ideology to thank.
    1
  2421.  @CA-ee1et  What did he do? He fought for jobs and community, not even money. The cause was noble and defeat of the strike an utter tragedy. The TUC and Labour Party should have backed it. History will judge Scargill favourably. I am aware that he has his detractors but the idea that his name is mud in a particular town is nonsense. I daresay many of his detractors could be found in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, where the UDM was strong. Strike breakers will, of course, want to make excuses for their own betrayal. History would have been very different if the strike was won. Neoliberalism would have been stopped in its tracks. Destruction of the power of working people via unions was a key objective of the project.
    1
  2422.  @JamesHenderson-wk4hd  Not under the legislation at the time. Cite the basis for your claim.
    1
  2423. Not in Britain where the people are sheep. See the interwar years where the rich did very well for themselves and ignored dire poverty for millions. The Jarrow March 1936 had little impact and was ignored by the Baldwin government.
    1
  2424.  @kanedNunable  Labour has ruled out PR.
    1
  2425.  @royboy565  Some unions have signalled this as a possibility, others have disaffiliated from Labour in recent years and some have cut funding already. None of this has halted the eradication of the left. Something will give in the end when it becomes undeniable that Labour is pursuing Tory policy in office ( if it forms a government) but what that will look like ( such a split in the party) is anyone's guess.
    1
  2426. The farmers have no case on inheritance tax. They should just pay it and shut up whinging about being hard done by. Legislation was introduced in 1984 to benefit rich people who bought land to avoid inheritance tax by guess who? Yes, the Tories those well known friends of the rich and defenders of privilege. Surprise, surprise the ludicrous hyperbolic squealing in London is being co-opted by the Tories today always ready to jump on a bandwagon to attack Labour for their own destruction of Britain since 2010. No, make that since 1979. Labour is Thatcherism in action but even it recognises that to rebuild the wreckage more money has to be spent. Yes, farmers should pay their fair share. Tax is good and the rich have been allowed to pay relatively very little since Lawson's 1988 budget. Tax income, land, assets and other forms of wealth-the rich will still be rich but the inequality that scars the land will be ameliorated. Only 3000 farmers affected by inheritance but over 10,000 on the streets of London. Get back to work.
    1
  2427.  @paul8161  Good of you to check in with an inane comment. As a socialist it is highly unlikely I would vote Conservative, which is why I will vote Green instead of Labour, which is almost identical to the Tories. Don't take everything literally.
    1
  2428. Preposterous speech by Reeves. Not to be taken seriously but seriously bad news for the economy if she becomes Chancellor. Austerity and benefit cuts likely. Growth cannot be achieved without investment and taxing the rich properly.
    1
  2429.  @hazyhayley7488  Read The Starmer Project by Oliver Eagleton.
    1
  2430. The Starmer Project by Oliver Eagleton is illuminating.
    1
  2431. Perfectly intelligible. If you cannot understand that is your problem.
    1
  2432.  @OrwellsHousecat  No evidence at all for your baseless assertions. You cannot back up the claim. Looks like there will be a very long wait for you to share the evidence. If you want people to believe your claims why not share the proof? Embarrassing.
    1
  2433. It is about left and right. Ditch neoliberalism and reverse the failures of 1979 to the present day. Neoliberalism is an extremist ideology that has forced Labour onto its ground, abandoning its core principles and losing hundreds of thousands of votes in the process.
    1
  2434.  @adriftinaboat3452  The Overton Window. Austerity was referenced as a so called centrist concept recently. Unbelievable. Centrist means right wing, which encompasses Labour under Starmer and the Tories.
    1
  2435. I hope I win a prize for being one of the few viewers likely to see your comment on an interview that is five months old! Phillipson is unlikley to be Education Secretary after the next reshuffle. Her cold, robotic manner suggests she does not have the skill set or gravitas necessary to work with different stakeholders. Education is in total free fall with a raft of systemic issues. She is not a high calibre minister and will be replaced by someone who is up to the job before long.
    1
  2436. Define woke.
    1
  2437. The spirit of Glasgow? I suspect he is not very popular in Glasgow and anywhere else in Scotland for that matter.
    1
  2438. Nonsense. Centre right or right leaning is used in the UK media to denote to the right. Hard left is frequently used in the UK media to denote the left but it does not refer to the hard right. Johnson's government is hard right and would be referred to as this if the media was accurate. The BBC is scared of the Conservatives ( UKIP in all but name) and even Channel 4 has gone soft post Brexit.
    1
  2439.  @steve9542000  Absolutely. Form a new party enough to stop Tory majorities and let the right wing Labour Party mop up votes where they can.
    1
  2440.  @infinitedaryl2267  Not exactly a compelling analysis.
    1
  2441.  @danielcrafter9349  Excellent response. Well done!
    1
  2442. RMT supports Brexit. RMT therefore fighting the consequences of the policy it supports. Utterly nonsensical. Time for RMT to be called out on it but no one does. Brexit is the biggest disaster in terms of policy choice since world war two. A monumental act of self harm.
    1
  2443. @ I don't think industry experts spend time posting mineral thoughts on You Tube. As a non expert I can say confidently that the main ingredients to the investment are greed and treachery. Solidarity with Ukraine.
    1
  2444.  @number1genoa  Interesting post, thanks. Hopefully rare earth will not be necessary once the Turnips to the USA programme is underway to help rescue its ailing economy once it has been deliberately crashed by Trump. The game plan is to cause a crash in order for the rich to exploit it to increase their wealth. Text book disaster capitalism/ shock doctrine in action.
    1
  2445. Some of the ethos of private schools should be adopted in the state sector, true. Private schools are wrong in principle but the parental dilemma is understandable when the alternatives are often so poor. There are plenty of mediocre private schools so it is not always a wise alternative or prudent use of money but there is so much wrong with the state sector. Naturally, the educational establishment does not want to talk about it and is denial about the dreadful behaviour in many secondary schools.
    1
  2446. Would you be able to clarify the context of the claim made in the first sentence?
    1
  2447. Silly comment. There are lots of qualities needed to be an effective Prime Minister. It may be that she possesses many of them but this is by no means obvious at this point in time.
    1
  2448. The Starmer project is over before it has even taken office. Corbyn is a symbol of the meaning of democratic socialism in the UK. He saved an idea and Starmer thinks he can extinguish the left in Britain once and for all. Some of the New Labour crowd are back behind the scenes like it's still the 1990s. It is by no means certain that Labour can even form a government. The purge of the left is the beginning of the end for the current iteration of the Labour Party. The left will rise again.
    1
  2449. Who?
    1
  2450. @Dante Agree. He does not do better because he is not on the side of the majority. He is going to copy the same neoliberal Tory policies if Labour wins power and nothing will improve. There is no passion because you don't need it to pursue the same failed, clapped out policies that only serve the rich.
    1
  2451. @Dante The Tories deserve to lose the election but the policies will remain the same. The political class has failed to recognise the need to reverse neoliberalism , a failed ideological experiment in transferring wealth from the workers to the rich, which is the root cause of all of our problems. Needless to say the electorate has failed to join the dots for forty four years. Not the brightest in the world.
    1
  2452. Hurrah for neoliberalism, the gift that keeps on giving to the rich and taking from the rest, especially the poor. Austerity is a design feature and will be continued by the red Tories of Labour under the guise of iron discipline. Taxes are too low, especially for the rich who have been getting away with it for decades. Wages are too low and need to rise significantly to enable workers to cope with the cost of greed crisis that has widened the already massive level of income inequality in the UK. Income, wealth and land belonging to the rich are all going to have to be taxed by the next government. It makes no difference if it is the red Tories who have almost eradicated socialism in Britain or the hard right iteration of the Tories in power now. Britain is in the middle of European nations in terms of the taxation- societies with higher taxes are more equal. Neoliberal laboratories like the UK and USA are the most unequal places on the planet, which has resulted in private affluence and public squalor.
    1
  2453. Big hit in Britain ( Don't Want to Fall In Love)
    1
  2454. It is by no means certain that Labour will win the election-Tory dividing lines are starting to work and it will be nastier still for a Labour Party with nothing to offer thanks to the Blairite ascendancy and commitment to Tory policy. The Blairites are getting ready to party like it's 1997, except it isn't and red Toryism is not the medicine the patient needs to recover. Therein lies the problem- a resurgent Tory Party led by Braverman/ Badenoch/Truss will be poised to return after one term with a hard right economic and political agenda blaming Labour for being a do nothing government. The irony of this being due to the faithful implementation of Tory policy instead of reversing neoliberalism will be lost on most but it is the reason for every single problem Britain faces- the elephant in the room. Starmer out for the sake of socialism and the country.
    1
  2455. Trickle down economics in action. In the alternative universe the Tories live in, this has still not been debunked and is alive and well. However, working people will continue to vote ( or not bother) against their own interests to prop up the Tories, despite all the evidence that they are destroying lives and have done for at least one hundred years through their policies. From the poverty of the 1920s and 1930s to the destructive force of Thatcherism to the projected 10 million in fuel poverty by October 2022 and the consequent deaths from the cold, they have been on the wrong side of history continually, yet are in government almost permanently. The 1992 election ( thirty years ago on April 9th), John Smith's tragically cut short leadership of Labour and Corbyn were three chances to change direction and put people before profits and maintain a strong welfare state and economy built on stable investment and jobs. Most voters who switched to Labour in 1997 identified with Tory policies ( focus group evidence), underlining the lack of support for real change which Blair had no intention of delivering anyway; Conservative hegemony is assured under first past the post. That said, if everyone suffering voted the Conservatives out and stopped allowing themselves to be conned time and again, it would send a message that government has to work for all the people. Another world is possible and in other countries most of the issues tearing the social fabric apart in the UK are not happening to the same extent, if at all. Britain' is rotten to the core. I blame the government but also the voters who do not care about society, are apathetic/ fatalistic or whose self esteem is so low they accept poverty as the default. People have the power but not if they do not use it.
    1
  2456. Unacceptable comment.
    1
  2457. Thatcherism is not the answer. Red Tories are the problem not the solution.
    1
  2458. OFSTED report 2014 ( yes, nearly 10 years ago) found that up to a day of learning per week is lost in some schools due to so called low level poor behaviour. It will be worse now as union surveys every couple of years attest. The pointless obsession with uniform in UK schools is one of the few levers of control exercised by schools because they have given up on proper standards of behaviour. ' Big doors swing on little hinges' is laughable. Other countries manage without uniform and have better standards of behaviour, attainment and a more rounded education. Ironically, there is an outside perception that standards are high in the UK due to uniform when the opposite is the case.
    1
  2459.  @gio-oz8gf  On the contrary. If you had been paying attention you would know that Thatcherism was a deliberate reversal of the post war consensus ( neoliberalism is one and the same thing, in case you are confused). That was its whole point, to reverse the excesses of state power as the right saw it, reduce taxes for the rich, smash the unions to weaken workers' rights, shrink the welfare state, privatise state assets, and let the market decide in most areas of the economy. I have a good understanding of neoliberalism but it sounds to me like you need to work on a better grasp of political and economic history.
    1
  2460.  @peterdollins3610 Right on all counts. Your keyboard must be stuck and you failed to substantiate.
    1
  2461.  @kevinsmarts9953  I think you might have chosen the wrong screen name in view of an incoherent response. Labour has made it clear it will not deviate from Tory policy to all intents and purposes.
    1
  2462.  @kevinsmarts9953  Smarts can have different meanings as you should know, unless you are pretending not to. ' More socialist economic models' you say. This reveals that you do not know what you are talking about. Labour has been committed to the mixed economy since its first government in 1924 when the debate about replacing capitalism with socialism was resolved to all intents and purposes by seeking to manage or regulate the existing capitalist system. For some time afterwards, there remained debate about what Labour should be about in this respect but no Labour government since has operated any differently. The mixed economy is accepted as the default model in Britain. The City of London and businesses were on board with the manifestos of 2017 and 2019 after the work done by John McDonnel and his team to explain Labour's proposals. The non dom measure is supposed to pay for some extra money for education but is a mere drop in the ocean, more symbolic than anything. You have misunderstood the idea of a white elephant ( not so smart) but the absence of vision and bold policies necessary to start addressing the deep seated problems confronting the UK economy is very real.
    1
  2463.  @paulwalker797  I know. They are free to vote for a system that has destroyed society at every turn since 1979. Neoliberalism is an extremist ideology that has captured the two main parties. The Tories have always been on the wrong side of history and are essentially a con trick acting on behalf of the rich at the expense of the majority. Countries make choices, voters decide in democracies but one day the electorate ( England in particular) will have to come to terms with why a system it has backed for forty years has failed and its own role in helping to wreck the the social fabric of the country and failed to deliver significant economic growth by its own measure. Sustainable growth is another story, of course.
    1
  2464.  @50ismjazz  Well said. One hundred percent the truth.
    1
  2465. Why do they keep on winning elections then? Mysterious.
    1
  2466. Labour has ruled out PR due to the delusion that it can win majorities on its own. Never mind the fact it has only been in power for about 30 years since 1900. Arrogant and delusional.
    1
  2467.  @LMC5690  For many Brit pop bands it was a key part of the look for some reason.
    1
  2468. We need democratic socialism but of course there is no chance of it. UK politics is in free fall thanks to neoliberalism, the creed that has destroyed the country since 1979. Now hard right English nationalism is in a desperate scramble to cling on the the union it has done everything to weaken through its actions. Scotland used to have strong Tory support until the 1970s. Thatcher's arrival in 1979 gave opposition to the Tories rocket boosters. It is all cause and effect- the dangerous Brexit ideologues who are way to the right of Thatcher should not be surprised that Scotland will eventually cut free from their wrecking ball.
    1
  2469. Bernie Sanders was the way to stop Trump in the 2016 election. Why use capital letters?
    1
  2470. Trump and Vance are vile bullies. They were described as thugs by one contributor to a UK panel discussion about the horrific ambush on Friday. Trump is Putin's puppet. The Cold War everyone thought was ended in 1991 was won by Russia in 2025. They got their revenge.
    1
  2471. No point. Labour is Tory and nothing will change. It is too far gone in Britain unless the left ever returns to the leadership of the Labour Party but that is highly unlikely and a once in a generation occurrence. Richard Burgon would make a great leader, but again it will not happen.
    1
  2472. Vote them out for this man and millions of people who have suffered in different ways because of this appalling government. Egregious. There are no words.
    1
  2473.  @alunhughes2632  Spencerism in Nottinghamshire goes back to the period around the 1926 strike. The parallels with 1984 are eerie. AJ Cook was a firebrand dedicated to the miners' cause ( "not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day") and Scargill was devoted to the cause. Firebrand is not intended as pejorative.
    1
  2474.  @alunhughes2632  Spencerism goes back to the 1926 strike when the Nottinghamshire coalfield would not support it. The parallels between the two strikes are remarkable; Scargill and AJ Cook were both devoted to the miners' cause, the TUC betrayal in 1926 after reluctantly backing the strike and the failure to support it in 1984, and Baldwin and Thatcher determined to defeat the strike as a referendum on who governs the country, i.e the elected government or the unions. It remains a tragedy that the miners did not win in both strikes. The establishment has made sure ever since 1926 that another General Strike could not happen again, starting with the Trade Disputes Act 1927 which made it illegal.
    1
  2475.  @alunhughes2632  The UDM was a disgrace. Betrayed the strike and gained nothing.
    1
  2476.  @Grubnar  Just A Shadow is great too.
    1
  2477.  @noneoftheabove5816  The Liberals have split the left in various iterations going back to the early 1900s. But millions do not bother to vote. Even if under FPTP they have had repeated opportunities to remove the Tories from power since 1979 and earlier.
    1
  2478.  @SuzanneWilliamson-u4c  No way. I will have my say.
    1
  2479. Waitrose is not cheaper than Tesco. Its prices are astronomical. I have been going there for 15 years. It has always been expensive but since Covid its prices have increased. If it was so cheap why has shoplifting increased by a third?
    1
  2480. @@BercilakdehautdesertA basket of shopping from Tesco is going to be much cheaper than Waitrose.
    1
  2481.  @thetragicyouth  Precisely. Constant excuses or 'managing of expectations' that could not be any lower anyway. Other countries have much stronger economies for a host of reasons. The UK political class is so arrogant and weeded to the group think of neoliberalism that it is both incapable and unwilling to recognise its failed policies for what they are. Neoliberalism needs to be consigned to the dustbin of history. All the defenders of ' new Labour' ignore the fact that for all its worthy social reforms and better economic performance than the last thirteen years under the Tories, its failure to do much more for millions on lower incomes created the perfect conditions for Brexit, driven by racism and also a cry of rage from those left behind.
    1
  2482.  @trapset1539  Sadly not but I would love to live on one where racism is banished and all police forces follow the rule of law. Hope not hate. Anti racism will prevail.
    1
  2483.  @seang2700  Funny how no-one challenges the RMT on Brexit.
    1
  2484.  @catgladwell5684  It is too late because Labour is neoliberal and supports the same policies as the Tories. of course it is too late. No amount of wishful thinking will change that. Just like the drastic action ( in the context of the time) that had to be taken by the Attlee government to reverse the impact of the war and the twenty years of disastrous Tory government ( apart from nine months in 1924 and 1929-1931) that preceded it.
    1
  2485.  @craigandrews2089  On the contrary. How are you able to discern that about someone's life when you cannot correctly use the word have in a sentence? Hidden gifts.
    1
  2486. Writing 'of' instead of 'have' is nothing to do with evolution of language. It is incorrect grammar. It speaks volumes that there are many people who learn English in other countries whose written and spoken use of the language is more accurate than many educated in the UK system. The decline in standards has been marked in the last twenty years. No-one would make a serious argument that it does not matter in the not too distant past. There should be adherence to a standard form of English. A dead language, by the way, is one that is no longer in use, which means that your assertion does not make sense.
    1
  2487.  @indivisible4835 I think the word you are searching for is arrant not apparent. Never mind.
    1
  2488.  @indivisible4835 A dead language is one which is no longer in everyday spoken use, such as Latin. Latin is not spoken widely as you state.
    1
  2489. @ Only someone hard of understanding like you would reach such a conclusion. If you listen he is often critical of Labour and has been consistent in this. Pay attention.
    1
  2490. Precisely. It is an empty vessel with no vision. The scale of the problems that Britain faces is on a magnitude analogous to the aftermath of World War Two yet it is saddled for now with a leader who is the opposite of what Labour should be about and the country needs. Britain needs an Attlee with a cabinet of major talents with the necessary heft. That is not going to happen under Starmer.
    1
  2491.  @pip1723  Corbyn living rent free in the minds of the right of Labour and the Conservative Party. It is not about him at all but all those who attacked Labour 2015 to 2019 have yet to explain what it was about the manifestos in 2017 and 2019 that they did not agree with. Moderate policies were demonised as extreme and dangerous when the real extremism is the neoliberalism that both the Conservatives and Labour are committed to, guaranteeing the further destruction of UK society and economy.
    1
  2492. Orange Jesus lost big time!
    1
  2493. I'd check your television is working properly if I were you-he is on television frequently.
    1
  2494. Exactly. Neoliberalism must also be reversed but it is unlikely that the NS will ever get on board with that or most of the delegates at the party conference. That is another elephant in the room for the past forty three years. Labour capitulated to it under Blair.
    1
  2495. The red Tories will ensure neoliberalism is safe in their hands. No redistribution of wealth under Starmer.
    1
  2496. He escaped via an open skylight. It is very tragic.
    1
  2497. Regional stations not getting the memo about maintaining the Tory establishment line on everything. Tut, tut. Very naughty to go against the state propaganda of the national channel.
    1
  2498. What is labours?
    1
  2499. Define the Brexit model of economics.
    1
  2500.  @keithparker1346  Self evident. Not a lot of deep thinking below the line here. The NS is hardly to the left- I have resubscribed for a year but after the subscription lapsed last month, I will not be renewing it. Cheerleading for Starmer's Labour without critical analysis does not suffice as far as I am concerned.
    1
  2501. That is a bit of a mouthful. This is the NS so better something about how great Starmer is whether relevant to the topic or not. Just on repeat.
    1
  2502.  @useruseruseruseruser790  Reactionary attitudes are being challenged the world over and that is a good thing. You cannot define woke, either. To say Australian culture has been destroyed by immigration is ahistorical- it is a nation of immigrants, and has been enhanced by immigration. Don't bother responding because I am not wasting any more of my time conversing with you.
    1
  2503. Good points. UBI is inevitable and the crises of this decade will force it into being.
    1
  2504.  @PoliticsJOE  No, I have just watched a few episodes last night and a couple of clips on You Tube today. Someone who lives in Scotland says below the line that the mad uncles sketch is like a documentary, which is funny and I assume tongue in cheek! I once met a vet in the middle of nowhere in France who had taught himself English by reading novels and is a huge Burnistoun fan. I have never understood why it did not take off UK wide. The occasional Burnistoun reference in Politics Joe in 2024 would be fun. Keep up the good work and happy New Year!
    1
  2505.  @sfshinz  Precisely. Burnistoun is so funny.
    1
  2506.  @PoliticsJOE  Dunno but nae rolls.
    1
  2507. The planet will die due to permanent neoliberalism, the extremist ideology that has destroyed the world since the late 1970s.
    1
  2508. The Tories are extremists and have been since 1979 under Thatcher. Economically and politically. Thatcher spoke of immigrants 'swamping' Britain in the 1979 election campaign, causing a controversy. The one nation Tories were purged under Thatcher and in 2019 under Johnson. People make the mistake of thinking that the current government is not far right- it is effectively UKIP in power. The far right are extremists. Conversely, anything that is referred to as hard or far left in Britain is nothing of the sort- on the continental mainland its policies and ideas would be seen as part of the mainstream. This underlines how extreme Britain has become as Thatcherism continues to cast a long shadow.
    1
  2509. No need for capital letters unless the keyboard got stuck due to the brilliance of your thinking. Highly unlikely. Talking of school, there is an apostrophe in i'm. Keep up at the back.
    1
  2510.  @djstuc  It's disrespectful. Just like calling everyone 'mate'. I wouldn't dream of calling someone I don't know this but overfamiliarity is the norm these days.
    1
  2511.  @whatscookin8269  He really is not funny. Burniston, on the other hand is hilarious. The cast of the show would make Scotland a very entertaining place. Met a vet in the middle of nowhere in South West France who is a fan of the programme.
    1
  2512.  @worldofjonny2  Precisely. Einstein was right when he spoke of doing the same things that do not work repeatedly and expecting a different result, or words to that effect.
    1
  2513. Borders- areas between countries. Boarders- people who lodge somewhere. See the difference?
    1
  2514.  @Contrarymary-pc9hm  The Democrats caused this. Bernie Sanders is right in calling out their failure.
    1
  2515. Labour was the answer in 2019.
    1
  2516.  @gregh4292  Fair enough.
    1
  2517.  @malcolmstockbridge2569  There seems to have been a mass outbreak of a contagion amongst some of the population labouring under illusion that Labour is a serious opposition party with any answers that will make a tangible difference to the lives of the majority. Even though it has more or less said 'vote for us, we will copy Tory policy'. Lemmings say ok then.
    1
  2518.  @Toquer88 Explain.
    1
  2519. Labour has ruled it out.
    1
  2520.  @garyt123  It might surprise you to learn that there are millions of socialists who Labour has abandoned who have legitimate criticisms of red Toryism under Starmer. It should not be so difficult to grasp. Nothing to do with Tory bot comments.
    1
  2521. You know very well the manifesto has not yet been published, or at least you should. Labour has signalled it is not going to differ substantially from Tory policies and priorities, and there have been articles in the media recently about Labour's lack of answers to the problems Britain faces due to the absence of anything substantial to differentiate it from the Tories. Anyone who supports the Blairite consensus imposed on the party and thinks it is going to effect the changes Britain needs is delusional.
    1
  2522.  @Coneman3  Exactly.
    1
  2523. Stupid and ignorant comment. Tebbit was wrong in 1990 when he spoke of the cricket test. There is absolutely no contradiction between identifying with many aspects of culture and also with a country where antecedents came from. Entirely reasonable in a multicultural country. Hope not hate.
    1
  2524.  @oneoflokis  It is all relative. Compared to other sectors fishing and music are miniscule. Do some comparisons.
    1
  2525.  @oneoflokis  Never heard of streaming. Listening to it now but not heard of it, obviously. Live music is an unsustainable model once heritage acts stop performing in the next few years. Regardless, the music industry does not contribute much. Fact.
    1
  2526.  @monkey1o8  All sectors that make a small contribution to the economy.Yes, important in their own right but the country should be manufacturing things that are useful for the domestic and export market. This is what Germany does and it works. Ditto China and other countries. Britain has not had a proper industrial policy for decades and it shows. The arts are important, of course, but they do not put bread on the table in any economy. Britain is not a trend setting nation in many areas either. It is delusional to think this.
    1
  2527.  @monkey1o8  Not stuck in the eighties but happy for you to think that if you want. Reductive comment but not surprising in what passes for discussion on You Tube. Music and fishing both make miniscule contributions to the UK economy compared to other sectors- it is indisputable. I suggest you look up some graphs to see the comparisons. The UK is an economic basket case which no amount of magical thinking about trend setting will fix. Hyperpop and the rest will not pay the bills or put bread on the table.
    1
  2528. The Tories have destroyed Britain for the past thirteen years and since 1979. Their extremist ideology of neoliberalism is the root cause of every problem facing the country.
    1
  2529.  @tristan_mcdonald  The most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria. Low wages, insecure work, zero hours contracts, and the rest. Wake up.
    1
  2530.  @tristan_mcdonald Don't call people buddy who you do not know. Overfamiliar and rude. There are billions in unclaimed benefits that people do not claim because they are unaware and/ or do not know their way around the system. Targeting the most vulnerable in society is not going to change as long as the right dominates the airwaves and online; it is too hard baked into society and people in Britain love to point the finger at others. Dealing with the demonising of benefit claimants and issues like inequality are not mutually exclusive.
    1
  2531. Well said and articulated. Nuances are lost on most people but the dynamics you describe are completely relevant. The ballot argument is a right wing red herring.
    1
  2532. Are you serious? It is will be consequential to the world if Trump is President again and not in any good way. Britain is a septic island but does not exist in its own neoliberal bubble immune to geopolitics.
    1
  2533. He makes a better argument than Robbie Williams.
    1
  2534.  @gio-oz8gf  From an online dictionary definition of the word observation: [countable] (formal) a comment, especially based on something you have seen, heard or read SYNONYM remark May I make a personal observation? observation about/on something He began by making a few general observations about the report. She has some interesting observations on possible future developments. her witty observations on life I hope this helps. Good luck!
    1
  2535.  @ileanamon3352  Krishnan Guru Murthy is a first class journalist who asks incisive questions on Channel 4 News in the UK. He also presents Unreported World, covering lesser known or ignored stories from around the world. There is nothing wrong with the questions he asks here or the way he does so and the answers are considered.
    1
  2536. Precisely. The Green Party has far more answers than the rest put together.
    1
  2537.  @bigpants6121  Neoliberalism destroyed it, the same ideology Labour surrendered to under Blair which Starmer is committed to continuing. Think about it. Labour has no meaningful answers to the problems facing Britain and has effectively signalled it will govern on the same basis as the Tories by copying their policies. What do you not understand about that?
    1
  2538. Kremlin is worried about what? That Trump might not be serious in giving it everything it wants? That he is playing an April fool in February? No, the Russians have nothing to worry about.
    1
  2539. MLK was heroic but sadly events of the last hundred years prove the quote attributed to him is largely untrue. The world is doomed in the next 100 years- this is probably the last century due to humanity's wish to destroy the world and self-destruct.
    1
  2540. Because millions vote for them regardless of their actions. They are disastrous for the economy, cause untold misery with their policies, caused thousands of excess deaths by mishandling Covid and thousands died due to cruel, callous austerity. The latter delayed recovery although the economy was growing when Labour left office in 2010 despite Tory lies to the contrary. It is economically illiterate, yet they are about to inflict more austerity to balance the books while handing tax cuts to the rich.
    1
  2541.  @phoenixshade3  Well done for confirming that MAGA is moron. There is no gotcha because I do not engage with dumb people. It is beneath me.
    1
  2542.  @DannyTimms-j8q  Read slowly. MAGA is moron. Repeat ten times.
    1
  2543. Disgraceful comment.
    1
  2544.  @alanhat5252  Eh?
    1
  2545.  @puclopuclik4108  Fined for going on strike. What planet are on ? Just remember your appalling attitude when your employer treats you badly with conditions of service. Do not complain, accept it.
    1
  2546.  @puclopuclik4108  No-one works without pay and everyone should be paid properly. Withdrawing labour is a last resort and done reluctantly. Large numbers of teachers do not strike mainly ecause they are afraid of management. The threshold for strike action is high due to the most stringent anti trade union legislation in Europe. Poor pay is one of the drivers of the recruitment and retention crisis. Nearly 90,000 teachers of working age have left education in the last two years. The next set of figures in a few months will be similar. Bad attitudes by parents over many issues are one of the reasons alongside pay. Teachers who strike are concerned about their pay like anyone who has ever gone on strike in history. Losing pay is the price of striking because the employer ( the Independent Pay Review Body in education, though no one really believes it is truly independent of government) will not pay a fair wage over time. Most of those who go on strike are also very concerned about the state of education; the strikes were not just about pay. Many schools are having to employ people they would rather not due to the decrease in calibre because of the shortage of teachers in most subjects. If the country wants a high quality education service it has to pay teachers properly. I understand that many families struggle financially and think it is a disgrace that everyone cannot afford holidays and other luxuries that make life better and less of a grind. The joy should not be confined to the rich. The average family in France and Germany is about £8,000 better off than in Britain. That is because the UK economy is run for the rich which is not going to change as income inequality widens further. The cost of living crisis is misnamed; it is caused by the greed of business and the rich. More wants more. It is wrong but Britain is a society where everything is a rip off because the majority are being exploited by the minority who pull the strings. I understand and empathise with the financial predicament facing families and think fines will not work ( unenforceable potentially, unfair by penalising poor families who cannot pay and no deterrent to those who will just pay the fine and not care about the amount as they can afford it) but there are too many parents undermining schools right left and centre, which goes way beyond the holiday issue. There is no answer to the problem as it would have been resolved otherwise. Pay everyone better and not just the rich and people can afford holidays notwithstanding the fact they should not be ripped off anyway. Government could lean on holiday companies if it wanted to but wild west capitalism dictates that the market must maximise profits at the expense of fairness.
    1
  2547.  @puclopuclik4108  Ludicrous. I wrote a considered reply that was deleted by You Tube. I do not know if you read it. End of discussion.
    1
  2548.  @puclopuclik4108  Not at all.
    1
  2549. Define woke. What are the polling ratings for Reform and the SDP?
    1
  2550.  @dddz961  Room for improvement for you judging by your comment. If only everyone was smarter because they took an interest in acquiring more knowledge so that they are well informed. It is possible.
    1
  2551.  @dddz961  Nothing condescending on my part. Simply making a comment expressing a view. It does not matter to me how many want to listen to what I have to say. One person who does is fine by me or none. The opposite of arrogance, in fact. It is arrogant to make assumptions about someone who you do not know.
    1
  2552.  @Truthseeker1515  It's. It's easy.
    1
  2553. Too many comments on here overstate the likelihood of the Tories doing very badly in the GE. Labour's poll support after the recent council elections is at the same level as in 2017, which shows that the Starmer project, for all its boasts about progress ( in reality moving the party even further to the right, if such a thing is possible), does not have traction in the way that the polls pointed in 1996 pointed to a landslide victory. Then Labour was 20 points ahead of the Tories consistently in a much more becalmed ( relatively) era, with a stronger economy, ironically due to the benefits of expulsion from the ERM in 1992. It destroyed Tory credibility but gifted Labour a stable economy.
    1
  2554. Why does the right care? Because pressure from some Tory MPs was applied to try to have Lineker sacked by the BBC for expressing the truth about this egregious, vicious and nasty government's proposed asylum legislation. He called them out and has won a victory for free speech. Now there are voices on the right that want to use the issue to abolish the licence fee- it won't work but nice try. The real cancel culture is the right trying to silence and demonise any views that challenge it. The real extremists are the hard right and gradually they are being called out. A generational shift is occurring- time's up for neoliberalism and its bogus culture wars.
    1
  2555. The Starmer project is the opposite of what Britain needs to address its problems. The 1997 Labour win meant the continuation of Thatcherism/ neoliberalism, the root cause of every problem plaguing Britain. Starmer will be a disastrous Prime Minister as his project has no meaningful answers to the problems facing Britain. See Owen Jones' article in The Guardian 25th January about the undermining of the the remainder of the left in Labour. The Blairite ascendency is a road to nowhere. Two years into a Labour government when little has changed, public discontent will be significant. Democratic socialism has all the answers- but the voters in their wisdom rejected even the moderate social democracy offered by Corbyn in 2017 and 2019. Time and again voting against their own self interest and content with precipitous decline in living standards and ever widening inequality.
    1
  2556. Have not of ended up.
    1
  2557. While this nutter plays drags his obese body around a golf course playing badly and planning his next move in delivering everything Putin wants, Europe is starting to get its act together and Zelenskyy continues to be a genuine hero. The Russians must have kompromat on the stooge in the White House- it goes way beyond sucking up to a dictator. He is sick.
    1
  2558. Calling Trump mentally ill is not going to win the next election for the Democrats who are predicably on course to learn no lessons from their abandonment of the core vote for thirty years. Bernie Sanders is right in his analysis which is precisely why he is ignored. The Democrats created Trump and the morons voted for him.
    1
  2559. It sounded like a Frank Sidebottom tribute. Voice really out of kilter.
    1
  2560.  @wilsonfisk6626  Political analysis is not your strong point. Embarrassing.
    1
  2561. It is affordable. Tax the rich properly and there is plenty of money to go around. Neoliberalism is about raiding the wealth of the workers to transfer the money to the rich and has been a roaring success by its own measure.
    1
  2562. Well said. It is one third who leave within five years but this figure will rise rapidly in the next few years. The system is toxic with bullying rife. Everyone does think they are an expert just because they have been to school. Ironic that many of those who are so critical of teachers will not have had the best attitude at school themselves, although it is not surprising. There has been a collapse in parenting in the UK which is guaranteed to worsen, not least of all because no-one recognises the problem. You cannot solve something you don't even think is an issue. The culture in Britain is rotten and many adults simply no longer grow up, which is a huge part of why there is a lack of support for teachers.
    1
  2563. MADgA.
    1
  2564. Get Exit Done. Exit is achieved at last. Brexit, of course, is not done. Far from it.
    1
  2565.  @ScottishRoss27  Torie?
    1
  2566.  @ScottishRoss27  Tory and Torie ( sic). Spot the difference.
    1
  2567.  @ScottishRoss27  I have not seen the Tory vote referred to as the Torie vote in any Scottish publication. It is Tory not Torie. It it Tories not Torys. It is the Tory party not the Torie party, to use another example. Serious use of the language for news, encyclopaedias, documentaries, etc., remains rare and usually reserved for niches where it is deemed acceptable, e.g. comedy, Burns Night, or representations of traditions and times gone by, according to Wikipedia. End of discussion.
    1
  2568.  @ScottishRoss27  Not necessary. English is the language being used below the line on the NS channel. I have told you the conversation is closed. Now go away.
    1
  2569. Hope not hate. Multiculturalism is a success. Enoch Powell was a racist and wrong in 1968. Braverman is a disgrace and wrong on so many levels in 2023, including her inflammatory lies about a non existent invasion on the South Coast and stirring up far right extremists on the streets of London. The crash course in the Israel/ Palestine conflict in the last ten days must have scrambled the single brain cells of knuckleheads all over the UK as they latch on to anything as an excuse for their hate. Long live multiculturalism.
    1
  2570. A 1990s dance act.
    1
  2571. 60% thanks to the rancid policies that protect the rich.
    1
  2572.  @donepearce  Apparently American English is not incorrect. I do not like it from an English perspective.
    1
  2573.  @dibblerd986  The Treasury has seen a draft of the OBR report according to The Guardian and it does not look good. They do not want it to be released officially which is why it was not commissioned because it will undermine their case- the numbers simply do not add up. The OBR has done a report anyway and no doubt it will leak in the next few days as the pound falls further. A run on the pound is very possible and there is talk of letters of no confidence going in about Truss as Prime Minister.
    1
  2574. I wonder how many Times Radio videos there will be today spreading alarm about the threat from Putin. I don't think anyone takes them seriously. Putin is evil and a menace but he is probably bluffing and a sense of proportion is needed. British intelligence has found no evidence of movements in Russian nuclear weapons that would suggest potential mobilisation and America will not exactly be asleep at the wheel in monitoring events. Anyone who lived through the Cold War knows the nuclear threat was real but the doctrine of mutually assured destruction ( MAD) probably had an impact on the calculations of both sides. Above all Putin knows that if he uses a nuclear weapon it will unite most of the world against him in a conflict he cannot win. He does not want to give up power. Russia's nuclear doctrine is a disgrace but will not be applied.
    1
  2575. Del Amitri had lots of hits in Britain. I knew Roll To Me did well in America.
    1
  2576.  @stephendavis5433  Precisely. Corbyn was the last chance for the UK to genuinely change course. He would have steered Britain back to social democracy not even the socialism he was demonised for. There is nothing in the 2017 and 2019 offer that anyone who is not a Tory could have objected to yet most of the self-appointed commentariat threw everything at preventing him from being elected, as did many in the PLP. Do they have regrets? No, of course not, because they wield unaccountable power and influence which has real world effect through the turmoil created by chaotic government. The Tories must go but the public need to wake up too. Not holding my breath. Labour under Starmer will be no better, committed to the same failed policies in the name of neoliberalism. Corbyn was the repudiation of Thatcherism the country needed but rejected.
    1
  2577.  @billa-bong1514  Only because the right wing media that supports the extremists in the Tory Party said so. Brexit is a cult and this government is an unmitigated disaster. By definition Corbyn could not have been worse and the city had worked closely with McDonnell on Labour's plans for the economy. None of this would have happened. Not hard to understand.
    1
  2578.  @weswheel4834  Apologies if I misunderstood.
    1
  2579. Mark Hollis. RIP.
    1
  2580. Kevin Maguire highlighted last week the irony of a generation who object to being told what to do by their parents supporting the idea of dictatorship ( not all, of course). The answers are to make voting compulsory as in Australia and reverse Thatcherism. Stop being the 51st state of America ( memo to Greenland; Britain got there first in 1945) and copy the best of the European model that provides opportunity and greater stability for people in housing, employment, etc.
    1
  2581.  @petternesset  Putin is an evil dictator.
    1
  2582.  MsMissy  Debatable but there have been worse things in culture than him.
    1
  2583.  @djpullen  That is true. It is a deliberate tactic of the UK media to distract from important issues in the UK. Gun crime in America is horrific but reporting on such incidents ( as opposed to the wider debate about reform) is not relevant to UK society or anywhere else in the world for that matter. Most stories occurring in Europe and other continents do not even register in the US media, they could not care less. Apart from popular cultural references in music and film, for example, one of the reasons US place names are so familiar is the constant reporting of issues that have little to no impact on the UK and elsewhere.
    1
  2584.  @ssorcnivek  What?
    1
  2585.  @tomgraham3206  No they did not. Where have you got that from? He surrendered to neoliberalism and sold Labour out completely from 1997 onwards. Do not try to re-write history.
    1
  2586.  @julianshepherd2038  The meaningless third way.
    1
  2587. It was a minor hit for DOA in the UK. Funky Town was a huge hit for Pseudo Echo in 1987 in Britain.
    1
  2588.  @hansiesma16  The number of solar panels installed is very small.
    1
  2589.  @hansiesma16  Nonsense. Around 20 million are going to be in fuel poverty, defined as spending more than ten percent of their income on energy. It is unprecedented, with people about to die from the cold.
    1
  2590.  @hansiesma16  They are not generous at all, otherwise there would not be a crisis. It is real and the suffering is not a figment of the imagination.
    1
  2591. Some principled Labour MPs, including Dave Nellist, took a workers wage. Of course, he was demonised by the right even though he was a decent, hard working MP.
    1
  2592. Enough is Enough is failing- not many attend its rallies and its website is not even kept up to date. It is now largely a slogan without impact. The RMT supports Brexit when 56% of those surveyed recently oppose it. Why does the left media not question the RMT about Brexit, the consequences of which it is fighting against? Why does the media not ask questions about the lack of progress in the RMTs strike action to date? The cause is right, the workers are being denied by government but it is going around in circles. The constant refrain of Mick and Eddie are great rings hollow to my ears.
    1
  2593.  @melanisticmandalorian  Thanks for your permission. I did not think it was needed but it is kind of you to extend it.
    1
  2594.  @melanisticmandalorian  It is not needed but I will use to help me reflect on Jerry's career. I am also very grateful for your forgiveness even though I do not know what I have done to deserve such magnanimity.
    1
  2595. Did any bands emerge from Fife? Five might be a stretch.
    1
  2596. There is no replacement. Disgraceful comment.
    1
  2597. There is little solidarity in the UK- it is too late. An unpalatable truth but the dye is cast after forty four years of neoliberal destruction and the capitulation of the so called party of the workers to Thatcherism ( except the Corbyn interregnum, which was brutally crushed to preserve neoliberalism). The voters are also to blame for their apathy over decades and voting against their own self interest ( millions not voting too) under FPTP for all that time.
    1
  2598. The only thing that matters to Trump and the rich is money to fuel their lust for more, regardless of the consequences for America and the world. Tax cuts to transfer money to the rich is the goal and the shock doctrine of exploitation of crises such as Gaza to line their pockets. One leading Democrat has said the money making opportunities behind the pronouncements on Gaza need to be investigated- as always with those who are content to see the world burn, follow the money. Trump must have been advised of the consequences of tariffs for America and world trade, therefore the only conclusion must be that he is willing to crash the world economy because he calculates the result from the wreckage will be more money for the rich to line their pockets. He is mad and bad but clear eyed about what how he thinks he will benefit even though it remains to be seen how it will play out.
    1
  2599. Sorry for your loss. Trickle down is a big fat whopping lie. Wealth has been transferred to the rich-cascade up would be more accurate. I am in the UK, the most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria. The poorest third of the population of eastern Europe are richer than the poorest third of the UK population due to income inequality caused by Thatcherism. Neoliberalism is a virus that has destroyed the economies of countries around the world all to serve the interests of the rich.
    1
  2600. Good point. There should not be a race to the bottom all the time for the workers and different rules for the rich. This is also about life expectancy too. The rich live longer on better pensions after a life of working less hard than the majority. Retirement ages are always the thin end of the wedge because if they could the rich would foist even higher retirement on everybody. Power never conceded anything without a struggle- this is true of pensions which had to be fought for in the early twentieth century. Notable that Germany was decades ahead of Britain. Give them an inch and they will take a mile- I am sure many politicians would raise retirement to 70 or higher if they could.
    1
  2601. ' This according to Nick Watt of BBC Newsnight; 'A group of senior Tories have been holding discussions + have decided the following: the sacking of @KwasiKwarteng will prompt them to come out publicly next week + call on @trussliz to resign.' The former head of the IEA has also called on Truss to resign and has said party will have to be handed back to the social democrats. The Bank of England has clearly asserted its independence and forced the government's hands making it clear the markets will dictate events not hard right ideology. It is only a matter of time before she resigns. I am one of the few socialists to have watched the Tory hustings in the summer and it was clear her premiership was going to be a disaster, but the speed of its unravelling has been dizzying.
    1
  2602. Missiles are mute.
    1
  2603. So why vote for the authors of the destruction of British society?
    1
  2604.  @martindornan1667  Precisely well said. Nothing will come of this despite the wishful thinking of the English establishment. Regardless of the outcome, the cause of independence will succeed before too long.
    1
  2605. A totally inappropriate comment that should be deleted.
    1
  2606.  @fredatlas4396  The comment by a poster that references Fred West.
    1
  2607.  @steveparker8065  I am a socialist and wholeheartedly opposed to Tory policies but the reference you made is in very poor taste and crass. Many would agree.
    1
  2608. Define woke.
    1
  2609. Walnuts.
    1
  2610. It was not the flu. Basic science. The WHO estimates that 20 million lives have been saved by vaccination. A cause for celebration.
    1
  2611.  @gdok6088  Excellent analysis. Keynes has the answers by borrowing to invest but adoption of Keynesian stimulus would mean reversal of Thatcherism which is unthinkable to the red Tories. Hence the doom loop Britain is in.
    1
  2612.  @markohenry5891  The same evidence for stronger economic growth has been cited and not contradicted on television by Labour MPs. If it was wrong it would have been corrected. I do not post anything that cannot be substantiated. You need to get your facts right.
    1
  2613.  @markohenry5891 They are correct. Look it up yourself seeing as you are so good at googling information. Disprove the figures if you are able to with the 'correct' information for growth under Labour and Tories 1997 to 2022. Don't be surprised if you make an inaccurate claim to find it corrected.
    1
  2614.  @markohenry5891  Already have. Verifiable fact. What are the correct figures if you believe they are wrong? It must involve percentages. If you cannot cite the 'real' figures, stop wasting time.
    1
  2615.  @bluecollarworker7560 Let's have state funding of political parties then. No more donations from the wealthy to Tory coffers. A level playing field.
    1
  2616. Solidarity with all vulnerable groups targeted by Braverman's vile rhetoric. Her leadership ambitions will flounder as only 40 MPs are likely to support her. She is unfit to be a minister and her racism shames Britain. Her career should end in ignominy either by being forced to resign or destroying the Tory Party with an even worse lurch to the right.
    1
  2617.  @ralphoperaphile  I knew ( pun partially intended) but thought I would riff on it a bit! All good except in the world of illiteracy where things are deteriorating at pace. Recent developments included 'Torries' for 'Tories' and 'as' for 'has'. Ridiculous.
    1
  2618.  @TxSparkee  Either I misread your comment or meant to reply to someone else. I think Trump is a disgrace and hope justice is served through the courts. He should be prevented from running for President- Congress could have barred him from public office for life but the Republicans ducked it through cowardice. Trump is evil and democracy will be destroyed if he wins in November. There re parallels with 1930s Germany in terms of the threat to democracy. It is all deeply worrying.
    1
  2619.  @kevinlongman007  Try to be precise in future if you are going to echo Tory talking points.
    1
  2620.  @kevinlongman007  I am entitled to comment. It is an open discussion.
    1
  2621.  @kevinlongman007  No need for an aggressive and ludicrous response. Anyone is entitled to comment. The criticism of the Sheffield rally is usually made by Tories to undermine KInnock and not normally from the left or right of the Labour Party. It is reasonable to have assumed that the comment may have been from a right wing perspective. I fail to understand why a Labour supporter would focus on such a trivial non issue as the Sheffield rally which had nothing to do with the defeat and not be able to cite the source of the claim made in the post. There were various reasons for Labour's defeat but the rally was not one of them.
    1
  2622. Failure to lock down early enough resulted in deaths. Not draconian enough. Elderly people were discharged from hospital into care homes without testing resulting in deaths that could have been minimised. Libertarian Toryism is key to the mess Britain is in.
    1
  2623. Standards of journalism in Britain are woeful in their own right and certainly compared to the past although the theme running through the past forty six years is slavish devotion to Thatcherism regardless of its deleterious effects on the economy and society. The UK media is diabolically biased, ensuring everything is framed through the prism of failed policies that do not serve the interests of the majority and have also largely failed by their own stated measure, although anyone paying attention knows the unstated aim of shovelling money into the hands of the rich has been wildly successful.
    1
  2624. Not sure any of this makes sense but if it means that the awful music of Take That, Oasis and grunge did not exist and was a figment of my fevered imagination, I can take some solace in that.
    1
  2625. The left is being purged by the Starmer iteration of the Labour Party. He is the establishment pick to maintain the status quo. The influence of so called 'new' Labour is clear and Britain is going nowhere fast with an incoming Labour government intent on following failed Tory policies. Doomed does not come close to describing Britain's fate in the next few years of disaster capitalism/ neoliberalism.
    1
  2626. 40+2= Level 42. Great band.
    1
  2627. The working class repeatedly votes against its own self interest. The UK is in serious, irreversible decline given the disgraceful conduct and incompetence of the Tory government, aided and abetted by the lies of the media and a public that blindly ' thinks' what it is told to without having the slightest understanding of issues. The more ignorant people are the more convinced they are that they know what they are talking about. Levels of political illiteracy are off the scale in Britain.
    1
  2628.  @alistairmonro  I do not support this channel at all. All forms of racism are wrong and should be challenged.
    1
  2629.  @joetrent4753  Arrant nonsense. You are assuming voters are not thick- most of them are profoundly ignorant. Corbyn did not even offer much that could be called socialism. Social democracy is not the same thing, and the 1945 Labour manifesto was to the left of what he offered in 2017 and 2019. I doubt you studied the manifestoes under Corbyn but they did not contain policies that only appealed to left-wing socialists as you put it. If you were paying attention you would know that many of the policies had widespread public support.
    1
  2630. Lack of investment because the money has gone to the rich ( part of neoliberalism, which most of the media loves), low tax for the rich. Public squalor and private affluence. You can't have Scandinavian levels of public services with American levels of taxation- don't tell that to the Blairites who can be relied upon to protect the interests of the rich if Labour forms a government.
    1
  2631.  @Tybourne1991  Fair enough, but I am not sure the PISA tables are telling the whole story. I think there has been a decline in the standard of written English and the ability to articulate ideas verbally in the past decade. The number of words that students ( and many adults) do not know the meaning of is astonishing. Decreasing attention spans and lack of reading ( interconnected) must play a large part in this. It never ceases to amaze me how articulate many people are for whom English is a second language whether they are from ethnic minority communities in the UK or live/ work/ study abroad. Much more than many students going through the education system of the UK in the past fifteen years or so. I appreciate that for the purposes of this post there is a degree of generalisation. I don't expect to see any long-term trend of improvement reflected in the PISA tables over the next decade.
    1
  2632. Don't mention poor behaviour in schools- like Brexit it must not be spoken of. It does not exist even though an OFSTED report in 2014 found that up to a day per week of learning is lost in some schools due to poor behaviour. Obviously nearly a decade later it will be much better even though attitudes of many in school towards the mildest expression of authority are appalling. It cannot be blamed on Covid because the long term trend was there for at least a decade before 2020. The NEU said recently that its members do not regard poor behaviour as near the top of their concerns ( paraphrased). Tell that to all those whose life chances are ruined by spending five years in schools where most teachers cannot control their classes and receive little support from management.
    1
  2633.  @BASED.88  The Clash were left wing. Just so you know.
    1
  2634. The media and most of the PLP acted deliberately and egregiously to stop Corbyn at all costs. Job done. Any antisemitism anywhere in society is wrong and should be addressed. The number of cases in Labour was very low. As soon as Corbyn resigned the constant headlines and stories about it ceased overnight. Purely co- incidental.
    1
  2635. Destroyed Britain. The consequences of her legacy are all around today. This is the dystopian nightmare we were warned about. Never ending.
    1
  2636. It would be hilarious.
    1
  2637. Brexiteers are so thick that very few have buyers remorse for their folly. No matter how bad it gets they will not admit that their ignorance and prejudice has caused disastrous consequences all for nothing. It is the same as the Trump base in America. The majority of them will not have heard of Keynes' maxim that 'when the facts change, I change my mind'. But then he had a brain.
    1
  2638.  @OfficialxSimple  No, they have regard for the constitution. A Trump Presidency means the end of democracy.
    1
  2639. Russian asset. They must have Kompromat on him- his adoration of Putin goes way beyond liking dictatorship.
    1
  2640.  @envy99976  Labour has no vision, no alternative to Tory policy and will govern just like the Tories on economic and social policy- what do you not understand about this?
    1
  2641. Absolutely right. We need less hyperbole. I am 53 so no doubt this view would be dismissed as old fashioned. Britain is way too hyper compared to how it was only twenty years ago and it shows in almost every aspect of life today. It is not like this in most other countries despite the myopic delusion of most Britons that the culture here is the only possible way everything should be done. Language matters.
    1
  2642. Iron commitment to platitudes.Reeves cannot be taken seriously. No specifics# from Blairbour. Lots of glottal stops. Red Tory nirvana.
    1
  2643.  @CupOfTeaX  You are welcome. No problem.
    1
  2644.  @CupOfTeaX  Thank you very much. Appreciated.
    1
  2645. London and the South East has disconnected from the rest of the UK. The disunited Kingdom. Take London out of the equation and the total value of the UK economy is less than that of America's poorest state Mississippi. That is the dire state of affairs Thatcherite neoliberalism had achieved, fully supported by the red Tories. Cuckoos in the nest and the public too gullible/ selfish/ blind ( delete as applicable) to see it. The poorest fifth of the population of Eastern Europe is wealthier than the poorest fifth of the UK population. Starmer must be replaced as leader or Labour is doomed.
    1
  2646. The use of counter protestors is very concerning, to say the least. They are far right extremists and should be labelled and described accurately. You can be sure that a bunch of communists would not be described as counter protestors. The media is obviously biased to the right but it is dangerous to allow far right extremists to shape the narrative by normalising its toxic presence on the streets and in society.
    1
  2647.  @alanmckay7040  Assuming you can read and think, look it up. Good for cognition. Best of luck.
    1
  2648.  @alanmckay7040  Judging by your bovine response you must be having problems with finding out what far right means. Keep trying.
    1
  2649.  @californiadreamin8423  I think their agenda is to represent their members effectively as any trade union should ( not all do). Lexit as it is often called is an old left wing tradition going back to the 1970s championed by Tony Benn and others that saw Europe ( EEC and EC) as a capitalist cartel run for corporations. The EU is not perfect but remain and reform was the right position, which Corbyn repeatedly enunciated in interviews as well as speeches that were barely covered in the media ( what a surprise). The media had the biggest influence in favour of the leave vote, both print and television. Most papers are right wing and the BBC was a disgrace in the false equivalence it gave to both sides of the argument, including an outrageous amount of airtime for Farage.
    1
  2650.  @intothemultiverse1033  Where has he said he supports the EEC? Please cite the source.
    1
  2651.  @californiadreamin8423  Lots of people argued for it. It was the Labour Party position and Corbyn gave a number of speeches in favour of remain. Forget the reform if you like but Corbyn backed remain. Alan Johnson also led a Labour campaign for Britain to remain in the EU in the run up to the referendum.
    1
  2652. He is very good. I like listening to what he says even if I do not always agree and he is definitely a serious figure but it sounds like you need to do more reading around issues if this is all a revelation to you. Others have said similar things for years.
    1
  2653.  @ianrobert6239  Say that to yourself when looking in a mirror. Repeat a hundred times and dedicate your time to opposing racism.
    1
  2654.  @summerrr1  There is no invasion. How's the weather in Moscow?
    1
  2655.  @bereal6590  Clearly I am referring to the country based on the voting system of first past the post. It should not be necessary to spell it out every single time for goodness sake. Patronising response too.
    1
  2656.  @davidsandz2186  On the contrary. In a number of sectors, especially education, support for strike action has been limited. NASUWT did not vote to strike. Most unions are weak and will recommend pay deals that are pay cuts- this is defeat and plays the bosses and government's game. The decline in wages is catastrophic and the union response is nowhere near enough- the workers and union leaders have failed to act for at least a decade and a half. This makes it much more difficult to act now- it is too little, too late. Powerful union leaders is an oxymoron. They do not have much due to anti trade union laws and few trade union executives are rock solid being robust in doing their job properly on behalf of members. Honourable exceptions such as the PCS is not enough. Pay in France and Germany is higher- the average family in France is 10% better off than in the UK and in Germany it is 20%. You might think things are going to change substantially but I very much doubt it. I hope I am wrong.
    1
  2657.  @jCrItCh5  The government has made a number of statements and adopted positions that can accurately be described as racist. A former senior minister in Johnson's government was reported as describing Braverman as a 'real racist bigot' in The Guardian recently. Look it up.
    1
  2658. There is no Brexit economic meltdown. Surely if there was there would be statistics to back it up in things like graphs. The BBC and other media would be reporting it and the Labour Party would be drawing attention to it every day of the week. We have had enough of facts, figures and evidence- Gove rightly spoke out against experts. Badenoch's modesty and calm explanation of the reality should reassure the doubters. Oh, rising import costs due to Brexit have got nothing to do with inflation being higher than other European countries. Nothing at all.
    1
  2659. The word literally is redundant- if she said it she said it, literally is not needed.
    1
  2660. Which election were you following? Labour won the 2024 election with no vision and a commitment to the same economic policies as the Tories. The red Tories are Thatcherites with nothing to offer the country because they have purged the left and will not countenance the necessary reversal of Thatcherism because it would mean conceding the argument and for many the career ending repudiation of everything they believe in. Many on the Labour right are nasty and more interested in factional warfare against some in the party than following policies that would make a tangible difference to the lives of the majority because it would entail governing from the left.
    1
  2661.  @Fidelista23  Misses the point. The legacy of the eighties is still working its poison through the world in the form of neoliberalism.
    1
  2662.  @archvaldor  Sticking to Tory spending commitments for the first two years was ludicrous- Ken Clarke said he would not have done the same, and he bequeathed Labour a strong economy. Ironies!
    1
  2663. The Guardian reports a former Tory minister in Johnson's government referring to Braverman as a 'real racist bigot'. The paper has condemned her rhetoric. She is a disgrace and should not hold ministerial office.
    1
  2664. Not remotely hyperbolic. You have called it right. Just like January 6th 2020 trying to overthrow an elected government, 28th February 2025 made history as Trump ambushed Zelenskyy in a despicable act of bullying in the service of the puppet master Putin. Trump will take the world down with him unless good people stand up for democracy order to avoid World War Three.
    1
  2665. The Blairites have no answers to the problems of the twenty first century. The limits of what The Spectator would hope for from Starmer is that he follows the preordained nostrums of neo liberal economics which do not challenge the inequities of capitalism. In other words, no change. I don't know why The Spectator is even considering the issue unless it is a contribution to the right wing echo chamber's insistence that even moderate social democracy is a mortal threat to society. Or else it's their sense of humour.
    1
  2666.  @Motocicloman  Precisely. It is astonishing the number of people who cannot see this. It is a re-run of the delusional belief that somehow Blair might govern more from the left with a large majority. It was obvious to me and others when he became leader in 1994 that Labour would move to the right and he was the worst choice for the party. That is what happened up to 1997 by which time Labour has capitulated to Thatcherism. Starmer is the establishment pick to maintain neoliberalism and ensure that little is done to address the major issues facing Britain. We are seeing the culmination of forty three years of Thatcherism playing out- it is worse now than the 1980s.
    1
  2667. Orange Jesus is being visited by karma. Big time. Pass the popcorn.
    1
  2668. On the cusp. How about nearly or soon to be 40?
    1
  2669.  @DianeD862  No-one questions the RMT on Brexit. Not heard anyone on the left actually provide an update on how the catastrophe of Brexit is playing out. Silence.
    1
  2670.  @superhumantrueman  If you have not understood my comment it is because you have not been thinking. Read it properly. For the avoidance of doubt Brexit is the single biggest act of national self harm since the Suez Crisis, and arguably even worse.
    1
  2671.  @richardlewis7498  The government was elected in 2019 to 'deliver' Brexit, the same policy the RMT supports.
    1
  2672.  @superhumantrueman  As a sentient being who can read I am aware of the survey you describe as an article doing the rounds. The Labour Party has been largely silent on Brexit as it is scared of leave voters not backing it at the next election. The unions have said little about Brexit in the media and it is barely mentioned on the BBC, one of the main platforms for views to be aired. Most media is right wing but even on the left discussion of it has been fairly muted for the last three years since Britain officially departed the EU.
    1
  2673. He is a socialist ( good for him) and is still writing music.
    1
  2674. Democracy is certainly not working and in desperate need of reform if it is to survive. There has never been true democracy anyway, only a sham semblance of it at best. The basis of Conservatism is greed and a belief that the poor deserve to be poor because they have not worked hard enough, etc. It is an organised conspiracy against the majority in plain sight yet millions of working people either do not vote or vote against their own self- interest.
    1
  2675.  @brendanpmaclean  I never said they did. You have misunderstood.
    1
  2676.  @brendanpmaclean  Thatcher converted Labour to her ideology, the process completed under Blair. Neoliberalism, the creed she espoused has been accepted by Labour on its own terms, a comprehensive victory for Thatcher- she described 'new' Labour has her greatest achievement. Most Tory switchers in 1997 identified with Tory policy in focus groups conducted after the election- there was not even a modest shift to the left. Policies demonised as radical or extreme in Britain are often part of the mainstream in other European countries. Britain has moved remorselessly to the right since 1979 to the extent that most voters do not realise and many are unable to distinguish between left and right in the UK context but also more broadly. The Overton Window describes the process- neoliberalism is embedded in the fabric of the economy and society. Labour Party activists are often to the left of the PLP but many Labour MPs are lined up behind a leader who has nothing but more Tory policy to offer and is to the right of Kinnock and Smith, both of whom were on the right of the party in the eighties/ early nineties even though Kinnock originated on the left. Owen Jones has rightly highlighted the fact that Labour has few meaningful answers to the problems that Britain faces. There is little enthusiasm for Labour partly for this reason as it lacks the vision needed and also because millions either do not vote or are content to support the worst government of all time in the UK.
    1
  2677. By election.
    1
  2678. No-one will be laughing in a few weeks when the spiral out of control of Britain's economy continues.
    1
  2679. Nonsense. The rally was reported as a success at the time and only became myth some time later. The Tories love to peddle myths about Labour to fool people and deflect from their own failings. Trouble is it works, to the detriment of the country. Thatcherism has destroyed Britain but if voters under FPTP want to keep voting against their own self interest time and again, it is their prerogative. That includes the Blairite conversion of Labour to neoliberalism and the Starmer project which has no answers, precisely because the red Tories will not reverse Thatcherism. The rich can continue happily under Labour because it will maintain the status quo. No need to write in capital letters either, by the way.
    1
  2680.  @chocolatesugar4434  The system is rigged in favour of the rich by design. The voters have been deluded enough to fall for it since 1979. The British version of the American Dream where the people are expected to venerate the rich, hope it could be them one day (like a lottery) and accept crumbs from the table.
    1
  2681.  @simonkapadia7582  It is not incoherent. You demonstrate confirmatory bias in that you have objected to the comments because they do not match with your own preconceptions. Teach critical thinking in schools and there will be more people able to challenge the consensus as part of the debate. Your response is embarrassing.
    1
  2682.  @MatthewChampiones  How come the authorities are concerned about the far right mobilising via football hooliganism? I read this recently in the context of Israel and Palestine. The overwhelming majority of those who attend football matches are genuine supporters and completely peaceful but there are others who associate themselves with the game to cause trouble. Hooliganism has not gone away despite all seater stadium, Nessum Dorma and prawn sandwiches.
    1
  2683.  @MatthewChampiones  You do not know what you are talking about. If you want to learn about the threat of football hooliganism read about it in articles or books. No point asking me- find out by reading. Most fans have not met a football hooligan given the vast majority are not involved in it ( what do you not understand about that?) but that does not mean it does not exist.
    1
  2684. ​ @WhoDaresWinso7  What would you recommend?
    1
  2685. Keith Lemon has lots of friends. He is very popular.
    1
  2686.  @cameronburnard2301  I have seen no evidence to suggest that poor productivity in the UK economy is due it being more service based. UK productivity was 17% lower than in France and Germany in 1980 at a time when Britain had not abandoned manufacturing to the extent it would have done by the end of the decade. The example of hairdressing is irrelevant to the issue.
    1
  2687.  @benedicthampus4964  Yeah, I read it in The Guardian. It is a newspaper. Aggregate is not backtracking, it is context. Clearly the idea of British productivity being poor upsets you. Just go and read about it and then you can explain to anyone who questions it why economists are wrong. I will say look it up if I wish. Economists are fully aware of the problem with UK productivity.
    1
  2688.  @Jay_Johnson  There is a regional imbalance, correct. London and the SE has pulled away from the rest of the UK for a long time. Income inequality has not been addressed by successive governments and education standards in the UK are very poor, no matter how much vested interests like to pretend otherwise (teachers and the unions, including the head teacher unions). Labour did invest in education, but it did not significantly raise standards. The idea of the Northen Powerhouse was a slogan, little else. There were various pots of money for investment but a lack of co-ordination to properly drive it. More like the northern soufle. There is zero prospect of education improving in the UK due to poor quality teaching, shortages across subjects, weak calibre of entrants who have not been educated to a high standard (vicious circle), poor behaviour that little to nothing is done about and a major problem with disengagement by students. Many Science teachers do not even have a 2:2 degree or above. Many teachers at all levels do not possess the gravitas to maintain control. They are also often not supported by management but if they are ineffective, it makes no difference. An OFSTED report in 2014 found that in some schools up to a day a week of learning is lost due to so-called low-level disruption (downgraded by the system to brush it under the carpet years ago). Behaviour has worsened significantly since then. Education is broken and cannot be fixed because almost no-one admits the problem exists. By the time the problem reaches the top of the agenda as it will need to, it will be too late.
    1
  2689.  @benedicthampus4964  I could but it is up to me. Look it up to verify and if you find evidence to the contrary let me know.
    1
  2690.  @upendasana7857  There are various reasons. Strong unions mean better working conditions which translates to better productivity. The 35 hour week ( with some exemptions) has been a great success, meaning the workforce is not exhausted as in Britain. The French work to live not the other way around as is enforced on people by the boss class in the UK. It is worse in the Anglo Saxon English speaking economies than anywhere else in the world (excluding dictatorships).
    1
  2691. I don't think you received the memo delivered in 1979 to the British electorate- Thatcherism is permanent. Capitalist realism as the late, great Mark Fisher described the neoliberal consensus that there is no alternative. Labour has adhered to this under Blair, Brown and Starmer.
    1
  2692.  @ukbloke28  The Attlee government of 1945-51 reversed the interwar consensus of balanced budgets, austerity and the small state. It set the template for the post war Keynesian consensus that saw capitalism regulated in order to reduce inequality. The left has made a huge error in repudiating Keynes as Callaghan did and Carter as US President. Thatcherism's sole purpose was to transfer wealth to the rich by reversing the post war consensus. It worked beyond anything its advocates could have thought possible in the decades when they were pushing for lower taxes for the rich, the shrunken state, public spending cuts, breaking the power of the unions to deliver wage increases and privatisation of natural monopolies. Reversal of Thatcherism would take time as it has held sway for forty six years but it could be done with the political will. Labour under Starmer has no meaningful solutions to Britain's problems and without a vision or bold agenda it can only preside over managed decline. The left has been purged even though its ideas offer the road map out of the crisis. The red Tories are more interested in factional war against the left than co-opting or absorbing its ideas into government policy in a once in a generation opportunity to effect significant change. It could even adopt the ideas of the left and present them as its own but instead is intent on continuing the acceptance of the Thatcherite consensus of the Blair era. After all Thatcher described 'new' Labour has her greatest achievement because it meant the end of socalism. Neoliberalism has failed because it does not work for the majority but then it was never intended to. Reduction of income inequality by redistributing wealth through progressive taxation of income, assets and land, together with capital investment in partnership with the private sector funded by deficit financing is the key to boosting a sclerotic economy. Instead Labour is committed to balanced budgets at all costs just like it was in the interwar years when so much damage was caused that could only be reversed by adopting Keynesian stimulus. The effects of the war made such a settlement necessary and possible. Similarly, the impact of nearly half a century of Thatcherism where the majority have seen living standards fall and the scarring consequences of ever widening inequality demand bold solutions. This is not about visions of a socialist society as per the debate on the left in the past- a regulated capitalism would suffice as the antidote to Thatcherism.
    1
  2693. @ My reply has been deleted.
    1
  2694.  @segovia5758  Thanks. Not surprising with You Tube whatever the reason. It happens to a lot of people. The amount of appalling far right wing comments on the channel that are allowed is unbelievable. By this I mean racist comments that even if reported are often still allowed. I have posted my reply below which might work.
    1
  2695. The Attlee government of 1945-51 reversed the interwar consensus of balanced budgets, austerity and the small state. It set the template for the post war Keynesian consensus that saw capitalism regulated in order to reduce inequality. The left has made a huge error in repudiating Keynes as Callaghan did and Carter as US President. Thatcherism's sole purpose was to transfer wealth to the rich by reversing the post war consensus. It worked beyond anything its advocates could have thought possible in the decades when they were pushing for lower taxes for the rich, the shrunken state, public spending cuts, breaking the power of the unions to deliver wage increases and privatisation of natural monopolies. Reversal of Thatcherism would take time as it has held sway for forty six years but it could be done with the political will. Labour under Starmer has no meaningful solutions to Britain's problems and without a vision or bold agenda it can only preside over managed decline. The left has been purged even though its ideas offer the road map out of the crisis. The red Tories are more interested in factional war against the left than co-opting or absorbing its ideas into government policy in a once in a generation opportunity to effect significant change. It could even adopt the ideas of the left and present them as its own but instead is intent on continuing the acceptance of the Thatcherite consensus of the Blair era. After all Thatcher described 'new' Labour has her greatest achievement because it meant the end of socalism. Neoliberalism has failed because it does not work for the majority but then it was never intended to. Reduction of income inequality by redistributing wealth through progressive taxation of income, assets and land, together with capital investment in partnership with the private sector funded by deficit financing is the key to boosting a sclerotic economy. Instead Labour is committed to balanced budgets at all costs just like it was in the interwar years when so much damage was caused that could only be reversed by adopting Keynesian stimulus. The effects of the war made such a settlement necessary and possible. Similarly, the impact of nearly half a century of Thatcherism where the majority have seen living standards fall and the scarring consequences of ever widening inequality demands bold solutions. This is not about visions of a socialist society as per the debate on the left in the past- a regulated capitalism would suffice as the antidote to Thatcherism.
    1
  2696.  @PGHEngineer Cite the source for your figure.
    1
  2697.  @PGHEngineer From HR Magazine January 2022: 'Output per hour worked by UK employees is among the lowest of all the G7 countries, according to new data published by the ONS. The analysis reveals that while all G7 countries have seen rises in productivity since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, workers in America were a staggering 23% more productive in 2019 than UK workers, while those in France and Germany were around 18% and 10% more productive than UK staff respectively. The data showed that, on average, the output of G7 workers – excluding those from the UK – was 13% higher than those British workers during 2019.'
    1
  2698.  @christga100  Eh?
    1
  2699.  @christga100  Frankly, I could not care less. This was a month ago and I had forgotten all about it. Find something else to argue about but it is pointless wasting my time. Run along.
    1
  2700. The Emperor Trump has no clothes. He is a weak, vile, wicked bully. The thought of him with no clothes is disgusting and vomit inducing but the description fits the lunatic in chief.
    1
  2701.  @nigeltrigger4499  Who told you that? Trigger from Only Fools and Horses?
    1
  2702. The election of the Orange Satan marked a nadir in US standards. The world will be re-shaped by the madman in power with many bad geopolitical consequences but some of them will be to the disadvantage of American hegemony. The price of eggs and petrol will be trivial compared to the squeeze on cost of living pressures more widely likely as a result. Trump will go down in history as the most consequential and worst President of all time. But at least the MAGA morons will understand what a tariff is.
    1
  2703.  @jeremysmith8035  Like red Tories in the Labour Party it is easy to be confused and end up in the wrong place. This must be the explanation.
    1
  2704.  @pocolol8424 Not at all. Putin, global warming, low tax for the rich, decreasing life expectancy due to widening inequality, and the threat of the far right are all much bigger problems than the EU. There is a left wing case against the EU and its previous iterations but Brexit will not deliver anything for the workers. Nothing at all.
    1
  2705.  @West1Think  Travel around EU nations and see if you can find the evidence of decay all around in crumbling public services, destitution, use of food banks on the same scale as the UK. You will not. I wonder if you have ever been to another European country. If the evidence suggested Brexit was a success, I would accept this. The BOE and the OBR have stated that Brexit has had a major negative effect on the UK economy. They don't just make things up for fun. UK economic growth is extremely weak and it is about to go into a recession. Wages are higher in the EU. Even if the EU is neoliberal as its critics claim, its brand of capitalism is doing much better than the Anglo Saxon version which has successfully destroyed the UK economy for most of the last 42 years.
    1
  2706. The state of the country is a product of forty years of neoliberalism and capitalist realism ( the late Mark Fisher) which posits that there is no alternative to the current iteration of turbo charged, wild west capitalism. Corbyn offered an alternative which many rejected although it could not have been worse and in all likelihood a lot better. To be clear Corbyn offered mild social democracy, to the right of the 1945 Labour manifesto yet the Overton window has been jammed wide open to the extent that it is easy for the right to demonise anything designed to recalibrate the political system and those who claim to be the on the left ( so called centrists) can claim that anything that promises to help tackle the multiple inequities of life in Britain is a mortal threat to the stability of the system. It was ever thus, going back to the first Labour Government of 1924. No-one can complain about the mess the country is in if they support first past the post, blame Corbyn for Labour's defeat in 2017 and 2019 ( sabotage by elements of the right in Labour contributed to defeat) or think there was anything remotely far left in the manifestos- there was not. Disagreement about policy proposals is fine but to suggest Labour was too left wing is a misreading of the political landscape of the past seventy years and underlines how far to the right Britain has moved since the election of Margaret Thatcher. This government is a disaster and has done serious damage to the economy, society, cohesion and faith in politics that may be impossible to undo-perhaps the rubicon has been crossed. I am on the left but Brown, Miliband, Corbyn and dare I say it even Blair, at least in domestic policy, offered a more humane alternative in a number of respects.
    1
  2707. That is no way to talk about farmers. Wurzels for Tax have apologised for opposing inheritance tax and now accept tax is the entrance price for a civilised society.
    1
  2708. Too far right? That ship sailed when Thatcher took over and the so called 'wets' were purged in short order. She re-made the party so that ' one nation' conservatism was consigned to history. I would do a bit of reading about the last fifty years if I were you.
    1
  2709. I before e except after c with a few exceptions.
    1
  2710. Perhaps you were in a newly tiled kitchen.
    1
  2711. Let's not.
    1
  2712. Are you serious? He is a journalist. Journalists are allowed to express views on a channel like this or in a newspaper article. Where have you been?
    1
  2713. She had destroyed the country when she left office and it has never recovered. We live in Thatcher's Britain in 2024 thanks to the egregious effects of her policies.
    1
  2714. There is no hard left in Britain. Tory myth.
    1
  2715.  @kalebdaark100  If you knew what you were talking about you would not be referring to the non existent hard left.
    1
  2716.  @kalebdaark100  It is not semantics and most definitely not an insult to make an observation about your factual inaccuracy which shows a lack of understanding. No-one on the left both now and in the past refers to themselves or others on the left as the hard left.
    1
  2717.  @kalebdaark100  I don't intend to address your point. I could not care less about it. I simply observed that you are wrong about hard left. Move on, in your own words.
    1
  2718.  @kalebdaark100  On the contrary it is the polar opposite. I object to the misnomer of the hard left because of how it wrongly categorises moderate policies. It is nothing to do with feeling good. No more to add and you really should desist from trying to continue the discussion. It has concluded.
    1
  2719.  @SlowhandGreg  You simply do not understand- continuing the same policies as the Tories is a road to nowhere in addressing the issues facing Britain. Labour is fully signed up to the same failed policies as the Tories. Both are neoliberal parties that believe in the extremist philosophy that has destroyed Britain since 1979. If you think Starmer is going to improve anything you are seriously deluded. Dream on.
    1
  2720.  @lindaselander9602  The whole world.
    1
  2721.  @RG-hf4et Every American who believes in democracy is opposed to Trump and his MAGA cult. Bye bye Orange Jesus in November.
    1
  2722. Populism has been captured by elites pretending to be on the side of working people when the opposite is true.
    1
  2723.  @Tombola8610  Labour is no panacea and has more than its fair share of arrogant careerists but the hope has to be that there are enough decent MPs and party members to keep the party honest and moral in office if it forms a government. The sooner this utterly disgraceful government goes the better. The British frequently denigrate other countries from the culture to how they are governed but as a nation it needs to grow up and get serious about the economy and society that we live in. The attitudes and arrogance of the politicians in Britain is surely a big part of the problem because too many of the politicians are blusterers and chancers. We all pay the price.
    1
  2724.  @Tombola8610  Cheers. Here's hoping!
    1
  2725.  @Tombola8610  Indeed. Now the Tories are scrambling to justify a stitch up choosing the next PM within a week. Constitutionally they can justify it with a 71 majority but morally they have no mandate. No Labour leader has changed more than once while still in office either. The Tories are carrying on like this is a game. To them it is but the real world consequences are so serious in the medium and long term. The damage they have caused is unreal.
    1
  2726. Ides of December.
    1
  2727. If the electorate was not so spectacularly thick it would not have happened in the first place or it would have been reversed years ago. It has never been election issue because fundamentally most voters don't care. Their low self esteem is fed by shovelling money to the rich because they love neo feudalism. From the Normans to the Victorians to Thatcher, the rich rule ok. Go neoliberalism. We love it.
    1
  2728. Look at other countries' measures to shield people. The Guardian published an article about it two days ago. It would be easy for the opposition to highlight this all the time by giving specific examples, but they are clearly reluctant to mention another country lest it offend the ears of the millions who think the only thing that matters is Britain and there is no other way for government to act. The reference to Rangers football club is pathetic- who cares?
    1
  2729. Never mid the nanny state. Such an unpleasant, patronising comment lacking empathy too. Thanks to the Tories since 1979 the state does far less for everyone than in many other European countries, including disabled people who need all the help they deserve. Have a heart.
    1
  2730. Good point. Just like Macron is not pronounced Macrone like the idiot in chief has done recently. He is obviously thick but equally it is possible he does it on purpose.
    1
  2731.  @taras6806  I agree but society is riven with it for a variety of reasons- right wing stirring of hate to distract from the failures of the right, hatred for the sake of it ( a lot of people are just plain nasty), Russian undermining of democracy all over the place via troll farms to stoke division, lack of education and critical thinking and the pernicious influence of so called social media. One thing good people can do is call out hate and defend those who are targeted , in the hope that hope and justice will prevail in the end. It is not easy but it has worked in the past. All the best.
    1
  2732. Bring in the clowns. The Tories are nasty and dim- it is starting to dawn on them that Gameron's return might not be universally popular. Austerity, needless referendum and Brexit disaster with no plan for after it, austerity punishing the poor for the poverty inflicted on them by the Tories, the fuelling of terrorism as a consequence of the removal of Gaddafi in 2011 (Foreign Affairs Select Committee Report September 2016) and more. The right wing media is excited by the reshuffle of the deckchairs on the Titanic. Sunak out and Starmer out. We have to stop allowing the worst people among us to rule and mess up the world.
    1
  2733. Which will make precisely no difference to anything.
    1
  2734.  @cathalduffy1618  Link?
    1
  2735. The comparison between Biden and the Queen is nonsensical. One is a politician and the other is the unelected head of state. Last time I checked America is a republic and presumably has no plans to become a monarchy. The stiff British upper lip is a myth in twenty first century Britain. It is rarely mentioned because it is not commonly understood to be a feature of life in the country.
    1
  2736. I have their greatest hits on a playlist. They did some good songs.
    1
  2737. I have read that Always The Last To Know by Del Amitri is one of his favourite songs because of how sad it is. The lyric at the end that delivers the twist in the tale is heart breaking.
    1
  2738. It was a stunning piece of oratory but if it was a turning point, paved the way for two election defeats and then Blair and Iraq. I would also say Brexit because if Labour had not presided over the loss of a million manufacturing jobs and taken other measures to protect workers' rights, I doubt it would have happened. Most voters were not bothered about the EU but Farage and co persuaded them it was the source of all our ills- light years from the truth. Kinnock's speech after the 1983 defeat is deeply moving as is his concession speech on the steps of Walworth Road HQ in the early hours of the morning of 10th April after the shattering defeat of 1992. It remains one of the saddest days of my life because hopes were high that a different type of society was possible after the carnage of the Thatcher years. Here were are thirty years later and the issues that 1992 could have gone some way to starting to address remain unresolved. We cannot have Scandinavian public services with US levels of taxation, for example. The outlook is bleak.
    1
  2739. Have to say from Liverpool. No-one cares.
    1
  2740.  @roadend78  So called friendliest city in the world. McDonalds curfew for under 18s after 5pm, poor education standards and a big problem with violent crime.
    1
  2741.  @roadend78  The truth.
    1
  2742.  @roadend78  I was not referring to The Sun. Do not misinterpret a common phrase. My comment is nothing to do with The Sun. The Sun lied but it is absurd to maintain a boycott of it when people have Sky TV and are happy to buy products from companies with all sorts of dubious practices.
    1
  2743. No surprise from the Tories. It is Labour the unions should be worried about. It will stick to the neoliberal script of its corporate masters and keep them distant as required. It will not reverse the worst anti trade union laws in Europe and is no friend of the workers. They have not yet cottoned on that Labour under Starmer will the same as the Tories in most ways.
    1
  2744. Exactly. Neoliberal extremism. It is a cult that is just as insidious as communism was but more dangerous because it is embedded in every aspect of the economy and society, so much so that most people do not see it.
    1
  2745. Correct. Labour has purged the left and is committed to the same neoliberal policies that have caused the utter mess Britain is in. The voters, of course, in a country with extremely low levels of political literacy ( or any kind, including the written form) do not join up the dots. They act as if the decline in living standards has happened by accident or the conspiracy against working people was not done in plain sight. Ever since 1979 th voters have accepted neoliberal polices, including in the Blair era. They rejected even moderate social democracy under Corbyn because they mistook it for radical, 'extreme' left socialism. Labour's support is soft and it may contrive to lose the next election in a re-run of 1992. But if it does form a government, it will continue the same policies that have destroyed Britain for forty four years. Living standards will continue to tank- the time for change has gone and it is too late.
    1
  2746.  @royalbrittania8399  Rubbish. Your screen name suggests you might not be the most reliable witness.
    1
  2747.  @ironbutterflyrusted  You seem to find it difficult to engage with and empathise with someone's loved experience. Are you thick and nasty?
    1
  2748. It is absurd.
    1
  2749.  @virgilblaze9090  Bizarre and illogical response. Never mind.
    1
  2750.  @GW2LearningResource  I was referring to one specific interview. Robust interviewing is desirable in general and too often the British media bowls soft questions because it is part of the problem. I wouldn't defend poor grammar if I were you when you don't realise there is an apostrophe missing in your last sentence. Amazing how many people in the UK are so upset when bad grammar is pointed out. No wonder education standards of the general population are so abysmal.
    1
  2751.  @yetidodger6650  If you understood the nuances of human behaviour in how people respond it would be clear she is not laughing. It is obvious that she does not find it funny.
    1
  2752.  Alex Holmes  It was not amusement. I am not a body language expert but I know the difference between amusement and what in her case I think was some sort of nervous response. I am fairly sure a body language expert would concur though. The Tories handling of Covid was appalling but it serves no purpose when some people want to think she was laughing which does not bear scrutiny. No politician would be stupid enough to laugh at such an issue and it is clear she was not remotely amused.
    1
  2753. Britain was already in the EEC before Thatcher came to power.
    1
  2754. Not sure about that. Sleep is just the gap in between the nightmare that is the human condition ( I am relatively fortunate and in good spirits compared to many of my fellow humans, so relatively speaking I do not have too much to complain about). I am making a general observation.
    1
  2755. Who?
    1
  2756. It is too late. Society has changed on so many levels that Britain is fundamentally unserious as a nation. A former Tory MP with a business background said a few years ago she was surprised at the poor calibre of many fellow MPs when she entered Parliament. The Blarite ascendancy of group think clones that dominates the cabinet is also a case in point, many of them lacking the intellectual depth, judgement and gravitas that is a key component of leadership ability. To be a fly on the wall as a civil servant would be interesting. A large number of MPs simply are not good enough to even be backbenchers never mind cabinet ministers, although there are signs that some of the new intake are promising, notwithstanding the unacceptability of many being imposed on local parties to stop left wing candidates standing in 2024. Put simply, if an MP is not very bright and lacks political judgement, by definition they are not going to be competent ministers and the cracks will inevitably appear.
    1
  2757. Correct.
    1
  2758. Only to some degree- income inequality and taxing the rich never discussed. Do this and it goes a long way to solving the problems. People need to stop making excuses for ASB- properly brought up children to do not do it, full stop. It is nothing to do with Covid or the bogus claim that there is nothing to do- it is down to parenting and always has been.
    1
  2759. Distasteful and extreme comment. It is not possible to vote for Putin in Russia of course in any meaningful way because it is a dictatorship and the elections are fixed.
    1
  2760. They would ban unions if they could. This would mean dictatorship but many would be comfortable with it.
    1
  2761.  @JP-jz4uq  The left. Labour under Starmer will implement Tory policy.
    1
  2762.  @JP-jz4uq Wrong again Rachel.
    1
  2763. Are you a Briton or the whole country? If it is the latter, that is amazing and congratulations are in order. I am hoping to become Iceland but so far visits to the shop have not helped this ambition.
    1
  2764. Labour is committed to neoliberalism and its maintenance, having surrendered to it under Blair. Taxing the rich and spending on public services is the only way to address the disastrous state of the public realm. See Will Hutton's article in The Observer from last Sunday- a better summary of the issues than most NS discussions.
    1
  2765.  @stephensmith2601  It manifestly does not believe in impartiality. It is an establishment mouthpiece. It is not necessary to be on the left to see this. It is objectively so. I suggest reading some Media Lens, which provides incisive, granular analysis of why the BBC and other media outlets are not impartial. The way it frames issues is part of an establishment stitch up all day long. General Strike 1926- the TUC was not allowed to broadcast on the radio but the government did to great effect given Baldwin's fabled communication skills. In 1984 the footage of police charging at miners at Orgreave was reversed when broadcast on the 9 O' Clock evening news bulletin to make it look like the police was under attack. Government influence of some sort is the only plausible explanation. Even Jeremy Corbyn did not get blamed for that. BBC coverage of Brexit has been a disgrace and Farage has been given acres of airtime compared to others.
    1
  2766.  @barbaraseymour3437  Barbara, what a silly response in such serious times.
    1
  2767. What do you mean?
    1
  2768. You cannot have Scandinavian public services with American levels of taxation. Neoliberalism demands low taxes for the rich and redistribution of wealth is not part of the agenda.
    1
  2769.  @jackdubz4247 New name on the door same Tory policies under Blairbour. No answers to the problems facing the country, no vision.
    1
  2770.  @wilsonfisk6626  Not true- he retained a belief in democratic socialism. Blair capitulated to neoliberalism by accepting the Thatcherite settlement. He hollowed out the Labour Party. If Kinnock had become Prime Minister the next few decades would have been very different. The same can be said if John Smith had lived. Much closer to continental European social democratic policies, almost certainly higher taxation for the rich and reduction of income inequality, reversal of anti trade union laws, no UK involvement in Iraq, no austerity and no Brexit. The latter is a product of neoliberalism, a cry of rage by the dispossessed and left behind. No excuse but the victims of deindustrialisation took out their anger by blaming immigrants in voting leave in 2016.
    1
  2771. Amnesia is one of the most powerful forces in British society. Coupled with the most politically illiterate electorate this side of North Korea, the Tories will be in government for decades to come. A nasty, intolerant country always votes Tory.
    1
  2772. The media has a lot to answer for in Britain in the last fifty years. The right wing echo chamber has amplified right wing lies and moved the Overton Window ever rightwards. The UK has been hijacked by a hard right cabal that poses as moderate, and has co-opted the Labour Party into its project- neoliberal hegemony. No wonder moderate social democratic policies advocated by Corbyn in 2017 and 2019 were framed as extremist/ hard left/ radical left. They were nothing of the sort but anything that does not concur with right wing lies is demonised. The response to Gary Lineker expressing an opinion proves the point. Hard right snowflakes.
    1
  2773. Red Torie have no answers. They are not going to reverse Thatcherism.
    1
  2774. Why the capital letter for politician? Explain your comment.
    1
  2775. They are not necessarily on course to lose the election. Millions will vote for them and their divisive rhetoric works on them. The electoral arithmetic is against Labour, not least because it has lost Scotland. But so what? Labour is a neoliberal party little different to the Tories. Its policies will be largely the same and it has no vision for the betterment of society and the economy. What happened to the ten pledges? The left has been purged so there will be no room for discussion of policy. Just like 1997. Fitting that some of the key figures from the Blair era are back on the scene.
    1
  2776.  @nnniprods  Def Leppard Animal. We must be.
    1
  2777.  @GeldardtheGrey At what price? Blair hollowed out the Labour Party and capitulated to neoliberalism/ Thatcherism, the root cause of all of our ills. Britain is the most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria, a process that started in 1979. The Tory Party exists to protect the interests of the wealthy- Blair sold out Labour values and destroyed the party and did immense damage to society as well.
    1
  2778. I am a socialist but I do not think Labour will win. Watch this space.
    1
  2779.  @person.X.  A monumental act of self- harm egged on by UKIP/ Vote Leave/ most of the tabloid press. Immigration was low down on the list of people's concerns only a few years before the 2016 referendum. Scapegoating migrants for economic and social problems is reprehensible and misses the point by a million miles. It is neoliberalism and the resulting levels of inequality that is at fault. The public have continued to vote for it under FPTP since 1979. I agree too many people in Britain are not serious enough. Levels of political literacy are extremely low- most of the public does not have a clue about issues yet so many seem happy in their ignorance and imperviousness to reason.
    1
  2780. So called leftish graduates are mostly fully paid up to neoliberalism, the poison that has created every problem in British society since 1979. They are no threat to the right, which won the ideological battle- Thatcher described 'new' Labour as her greatest creation. The tragedy is that she was correct. The right does not seem to have noticed that for most people capitalism is not working, except for the few at the top of the income bracket. It will carry on its destruction of economy and society as well as the planet itself. The cult of neoliberalism has so much to answer for.
    1
  2781.  @guyincognito.  In space.
    1
  2782.  @JackPerry-ym6ls  I cannot see them. In front of me is a coffee table, my own fat stomach ( I am trying to lose weight), the wall opposite with a television on it and a shelf of books. None of which explain the universe(s).
    1
  2783.  @JackPerry-ym6ls  The books are about pop music, Thatcher ( not a fan), Europe ( a fan), Diane Abbot ( fan) and Gorbachev ( great man) but no I cannot see nuclei of the atoms of the molecules all around me. I need better glasses.
    1
  2784. Buddhists have been involved in targeting others in Sri Lanka and Burma about a decade ago. I do not know all the details as I only read the article quickly but the BBC has an article about this from 2013. Counterintuitive for sure. I was surprised when I read it.
    1
  2785.  @secondtimearound2539  I have believed in solidarity for most of my 53 years but I see no point any more in that it is like pushing water uphill and those that the left wants to help often do not want that support, instead choosing to believe the lies and propaganda of the right via (anti) social media and the right wing press. The problems do go beyond the last forty three years without doubt but the pernicious effects of neoliberalism as a tool to widen and entrench inequality in the interests of the rich are the result of a systematic policy that is an ideological crusade to wipe out any alternative political positions that do not accord with its precepts. Plurality of thought is the enemy of neoliberalism- it is just as dogmatic as adherence to communism was in the twentieth century. The workers have been sold out by the Labour Party, most of the unions and each other. Thatcher converted Labour to neoliberalism and described 'new' Labour as her greatest achievement. We are living in the dystopian future the left predicted in the 1980s- the tragedy is that she was right in her claim about Labour.
    1
  2786. @Bessie Hillum The Tories have wrecked the country and have been doing so since around 1900.
    1
  2787.  @twisteddancer7773  It should reflect the reality of Labour's position though.
    1
  2788. That source of information the internet will probably tell you. Both higher than cleaner but lower than President.
    1
  2789.  @gabrielc1989w  Labour is on the side of the rich. It is not on the side of the majority. How could it be when it is a right wing party almost identical to the Tories. It has sought to eradicate the left under Starmer's leadership.
    1
  2790.  @marc1829  Who is going to do all the jobs that immigrants are needed to do because UK workers don't want to do them? Explain away the shortages. Most opposition to immigrants is driven by racism. That's the truth.
    1
  2791.  @alexgorron6470  Landlords increase rents. The word you are looking for is override but never mind. In the 1950s and 1960s the most egregious racism was meted out to immigrants invited to Britain and it has not stopped. They were not allowed to integrate then, which established separate communities. Now racists blame immigrants for supposedly not wanting to integrate. It also depends how integration is defined. Most opposition to immigration is driven by racism.
    1
  2792.  @hatchingdraggon8073  It is both. Not mutually exclusive in this case. There is abundant evidence of racism in Britain. The use of LOL suggests you still have some growing up to do. Intelligent, well argued comments never include LOL.
    1
  2793.  @internethardcase  It is. Disprove it.
    1
  2794.  @hatchingdraggon8073  Britain needs to look in the mirror and address its racism past and present. It takes many forms. Most of the leave vote was based on racism. Nothing more to add. I am having a day off from whatabourery. Egregious wrongs elsewhere do not excuse racism in Britain. This should be obvious.
    1
  2795. Poverty is the fault of Tory policy. No such thing as illegal immigrants until their case has been heard and if they are determined to be in the UK illegally, in which case they are removed from the country.
    1
  2796. The fascists cannot govern. Hopefully, they will not assume power but it looks as if they will sooner rather than later, with their eye on the Presidency in 2027. They are the same as they were twenty two years ago when the left had to hold its nose and vote Chirac to prevent Jean Marie le Pen from becoming President. The mainstream right and the left have both failed France in the meantime, especially the left, which has ceded ground to the fascists, who have pretended they have changed. Just as the Democratic Party abandoned its blue collar vote in America, thus enabling Trump, Hollande's disastrous Presidency destroyed the Partie Socialiste in France as an electoral force. God help France if National Rally form a government but it is bound to fail. Small consolation but it may be the only hope of France swinging decisively back to the left.
    1
  2797.  @comedyaddict123  He did not lose any of it. I disagree with him on Brexit but he is right on everything else. He passed the eleven plus aged 9, which shows his intellectual ability was already emerging before going to grammar school.
    1
  2798.  @ajarnwordsmith628 Did you or would you pass the eleven plus as he did aged nine? No, I thought not.
    1
  2799.  @letsdiscussitoversometea8479  Why?
    1
  2800.  @letsdiscussitoversometea8479  Makes no sense. What on earth is a frenetic ethos?
    1
  2801.  @humanchannel7825  That is not correct. The opposite is the case. The definition of the centre differs from one time period to another and indeed from country to country. A cursory examination of UK political history shows this as would a brief comparison with other countries. To take the example of Britain, the centre in the 1980s is not the same as it might be defined in this decade. The centre in 1945 would also be defined differently. Corbyn was demonised as being hard left which could not be further from the truth even though the manifesto in 2017 and 2019 contained policies the the right of the 1945 Attlee government.
    1
  2802.  @belladonnichazeyjane4887  Well said. Trump is evil. He is in league with the far right in other countries and wants to see Europe divided just like his friend Putin whose agenda he is serving by taking the side of Russia. Putin is pulling the strings and will be delighted by Trump's bullying of Zelenskyy.
    1
  2803.  @skyhighnightlight  For real? I hope so. As long as you are not a malfunctioning bot I will take your word for it!
    1
  2804.  @hayanah7525  Eh?
    1
  2805. He is right but the RMT is not affiliated to Labour. There is no chance of Labour working properly with the unions or unshackling them- it is hell bent on maintaining the status quo for the establishment. Anti trade union laws are crucial to this and they will not be reversed. Starmer is heir to Blair whose capitulation to Thatcherism hollowed out the Labour Party. Vote Green.
    1
  2806. Ridiculous comment. If you sell your labour you are working class.
    1
  2807. NS has been on board with 'new' Labour since Blair. I won't be buying it again as there are so many holes in many of the arguments put forward in some of its articles that it is not worth wasting the 20 minutes it takes to read the majority of the articles.
    1
  2808.  @benedictcowell6547  Mighty Wah!
    1
  2809. Russia started the war by attacking a sovereign country. Fact .
    1
  2810.  @truckerfromreno  Explain.
    1
  2811. He won't. One man cannot run them all by himself. Too much work for Al.
    1
  2812.  @danvez5656  Eaton? Is that a new spelling for eaten?
    1
  2813. First rule of writing a sentence is correct spelling and punctuation.
    1
  2814. Exactly. It is in a death spiral driven by English nationalism in all its nastiness and xenophobic hatred for immigrants and asylum seekers.
    1
  2815. Thatcherism is the primary cause- look up the statistics for the rise in violent crime from the late eighties ( 1987) onwards. We live in Thatcher's Britain today though most people do not realise it. Violent crime has no excuse but it is a fact that it is higher in unequal societies. Britain is the most unequal country in Europe except for Bulgaria.
    1
  2816.  @aesma2522  Labour and Tory are the same. Wake up.
    1
  2817.  @aesma2522  Explain the vast differences. Clearly you know more than a number of articles in the press recently discussing the similarity between the two parties.
    1
  2818.  @SimonWallwork  Incoherent and inappropriate response. Clearly you cannot define woke. The truth is that it is the right that wants to close down expression of views it does not approve of by claiming that the left is always trying to cancel others. The intolerance is from the right and bogus claims of woke are a smokescreen to perpetuate reactionary and prejudicial views and attitudes.
    1
  2819.  @chrissymon  Don't be silly.
    1
  2820. Well said. Nail on head. Only about thirty million more people need to grasp this. The planet is dying, murdered by neoliberalism. It is the root cause of every catastrophe we are surrounded by.
    1
  2821.  @Entropic_Meat_Machine Labour 1997 to 2010 capitulated to Thatcherism and was nowhere near as 'radical' as Blairites like to pretend. It did not tax the rich properly, subsidised low wages via tax credits and failed to redistribute wealth. It could have done far, far more with a huge majority but betrayed the majority, hence the large numbers who deserted it in this period.
    1
  2822. The future is bleak for Orange Jesus. The very stable Jesius is going down to a serious defeat in November and may well end up in jail. He is thick just like most of his supporters, always speaking in simple sentences. The fact that 30% of Americans according to a recent survey see this idiot as Jesus' representative on earth beggars belief. Thick as mince cultists. It is impossible to have any sympathy for Trump as he is reaping everything he has sown but I would not want to be him. Vile.
    1
  2823. Not even that.
    1
  2824.  @rowancrew2934  Depends how you define lightweight and where you are on the political spectrum. If you think the Starmer project is the answer to Britain's problems then shadow cabinet members like Cooper and others will meet your approval. On the other hand, if you think the same neoliberal policies under Labour will fail to reduce inequality and fix the economy and society and that the purge of the left by Starmer is fundamentally wrong, then the calibre of the front bench is very much open to being questioned.
    1
  2825.  @StratsRUs  Not surprising. Very telling.
    1
  2826.  @mudskippa8958  Or even Motorcycle Emptiness. Long live The Manic Street Preachers. 0
    1
  2827. Just Stop Oil should be backed by everyone. Any government will say it is not listening the world over but protest works. Voting is not the only way to change things and rarely counts, especially given Labour's capture by corporations and surrender to neoliberalism under Blair. JSO and other similar groups are on the right side of history and Labour is not fit for office. It will be a shambolic government if it wins the GE. Watch this space.
    1
  2828. Mid term elections ( if they take place) and build from the ashes of democracy in 2028 ( if the election is allowed) and listen to Bernie Sanders. Demand a change of Democratic Party policy to win back abandoned voters. Good luck from the UK.
    1
  2829. Stalinist. The charge against him in the NEC meeting today is reported to be that Labour's chances of winning the next GE will be 'significantly diminished' if he is allowed to be a candidate. If many in the PLP had not undermined him in collusion with the media he would have been Prime Minister in 2017. Outrageous but not surprising. The bogus accusation that the left prefers to be a protest movement than in power ( nonsensical anyway) was actually true of the right while he was leader, such was their determination to prevent him winning an election. The price is high though- Labour has no future in being the same as the Tories.
    1
  2830.  @jamesoakley4570  Not remotely. The Labour manifesto in both 2017 and 2019 was to the right of the 1945 Attlee manifesto. The more the delusion persists that anything that deviates from the narrow tenets of neoliberalism is radical or far left, the further away the country moves from any chance of its problems being addressed. Thatcher described 'new Labour' as her greatest triumph- she was right, as Labour accepted the Thatcherite settlement under Blair. The policies Corbyn and others on the left believe in are considered part of the mainstream in the rest of Europe- Britain really is an outlier in this respect compared to most other countries on the continent. Bernie Sanders was described as from the radical left on television recently and corrected it. Again, many of his policies would be regarded as the norm in America amongst democrats until the party sold out its base to represent the professional middle classes.
    1
  2831. The purpose of work in the UK is to make the rich more wealthy. It is the entire purpose of the neoliberal system in place since 1979 in order to facilitate the transfer of wealth from the workers to the rich. The comment about long answers is profoundly ignorant, very rude and patronising. These are experts in their field and if she is not capable of digesting a few sentences and concepts in their responses she should not be part of this select committee. Her demeanour is appalling.
    1
  2832. Nurses have in effect been given a pay cut for going to work and doing their job during Covid. A pay cut for working during the worst trauma for society since the Second World War. The NHS is underfunded compared to France and Germany, by about 7%. The Conservatives voted three times against the NHS in parliament before the legislation was passed and still they are undermining it because they do not like it as an example of the role of the state supporting people. Ideology before compassion. The idea on the right that the NHS is not as efficient as it should be is untrue.
    1
  2833.  @jim22277  Flabbergasted by fact. Odd.
    1
  2834.  @MrBurtonshaw  In theory standards would rise but the reality is that the quality of teaching in many state funded schools is often mediocre, bullying of staff and unsustainable/ unreasonable workload is rife and driving staff away, and appalling lack of respect/ poor behaviour are worsening significantly. I guarantee that none of these issues will be addressed in the next two decades. The educational establishment does not think there is a problem and has nothing to say about the nearly eight million adults in the UK who are illiterate because they were not taught properly. Families have a part to play in supporting schools, of course, but it is a scandal of epic proportions that goes virtually unremarked. British education has pockets of excellence but the general picture and outlook are both bleak.
    1
  2835. Guardian reports that unions are to discuss a collective day of action walk out to put pressure on the government to improve pay. The unions that mostly pretend to be on the side of the workers and who are going to sell them out for pathetic pay deals, having failed in most cases to secure better pay for at least a decade. Government to blame number 1 but most unions are weak, controlled opposition. Too cosy with the boss class by far. What happened to the co-ordinated action in October as a proxy for a general strike? Oh, it never happened, surprise surprise. Watch out for the skin deep backing of the workers by most unions and wait for the sell out coming soon.
    1
  2836.  @matthewhendy5785  I know I am right. Just read some articles in the press about the lack of difference. Just because Labour had a list of achievements that only reactionaries could disagree with does not invalidate the argument that the Blairites are the source of the problem for Labour due to their adherence to neoliberalism and all its tenets. Thatcherism should and could have been reversed. There were so many things Labour did not do, such as proper redistribution of wealth by taxing the rich properly, and scrapping Tory anti trade union legislation. Minimum wage legislation did not set the rate high enough, allowing employers to get away with paying the minimum while tax credits also subsidised low wages. It is possible to hold more than one thought at the same time-what matters now is the present, and Labour has nothing to offer. It is delusional to pretend otherwise.
    1
  2837. Static? Defending the indefensible.
    1
  2838. Austerity is the reason for the reduction in the number of hospital beds- it is one of the reasons why Britain struggled to cope with Covid. France and Germany do not have private health care instead of a national health service. It is a different system but not private.
    1
  2839. There should be PR but no, the sense of hopelessness is engendered by the pernicious effects of neoliberalism. It is this that is the root cause of every ill in society and the economy since 1979. It is not a bug in the system, it is by design. Labour's capitulation to it under Blair is the reason why it is impossible for Britain to reverse its decline with the two main parties committed to the same failed policies. Without abandoning neoliberalism, PR would not make any difference.
    1
  2840. Dagenham deserves its independence, long overdue.
    1
  2841. Buyers remorse? The Democrats created the Trump monster. Bernie Sanders called it right in his analysis of why they lost. There is zero chance they will learn the lessons in time for 2028. The same inquest into how people could vote for George Bush occurred in 2004 when Kerry lost by one state. Trump's victory was as decisive as it is disastrous for America. Harris had no policies or vision.
    1
  2842. @ They must have missed the 1939 section at least where the Nazis completed the takeover of Czechoslovakia and the Anglo- French guarantee to Poland had to be activated in September when Germany attacked Poland.
    1
  2843. @ Are you thick?
    1
  2844.  @mr.mayhem7402  Are you thick?
    1
  2845. Not sure your comment can be taken seriously when you do not know that the sentence should say ' could have' not 'could of'.
    1
  2846. There is no doubt he is the establishment candidate to maintain the neoliberal status quo in the interests of the rich. The reason Corbyn was stopped at all costs was to prevent Britain from repudiating and starting to reverse Thatcherism, which is exactly what his project was about. Without FPTP a majority would have voted for this and Corbyn would be PM. Labour surrendered to neoliberalism/ Thatcherism under Blair, whose rise from relative obscurity was an oddity at the time and still is. No-one with a knighthood should be leading the Labour Party. He is the opposite of what Britain needs to tackle its multiple crises at the most critical juncture in its history since 1945.
    1
  2847. For the avoidance of doubt and for the hard of understanding, there is no god. Whatever this insane existence is it is not explained by a man on a cloud. Who cares what the church says about homosexuality? It is made up by men (usually) to police others and gives rise to hatred and discrimination. The churches are full of hypocrisy and obscene wealth, so much for helping the poor too. Whenever religion is invoked, run for the hills.
    1
  2848. The RMT supports Brexit so surely it is the right government? The Lexit argument is nonsensical just like the hard right Brexit position, for different reasons. Neoliberalism had led us here by design and with the collusion of the electorate under FPTP, who have passed up multiple opportunities to turf them out. Cannot have the cake and eat it- either it is austerity, low wages, weak unions, permanently declining living standards and widening inequality, or proper left wing policies that reverse neoliberalism. The only conclusion must be that the voters are content with the system they have enabled since 1979. Don't be surprised and don't complain- it's what most voted for.
    1
  2849.  @kanedNunable  INo, I have no idea how it works. I hope to understand it one day. I am a socialist but like millions of others who have left the Labour Party and/ or cannot vote for it because it has abandoned its socialist roots, I will not vote for a party led by Starmer that will implement the same policies. As a democratic socialist I will vote Green.
    1
  2850.  @oneoflokis  Probably will be in most constituencies but the more who do the better because it will signal the extent of discontent. Labour must either change to start representing the needs and wants of the majority on key issues via policy, which will involve reversing neoliberalism, or it risks being overtaken by the Greens on the left or a new party. The Blairites are leading the party down a dead end on the altar of their own hubris. Blair hollowed out the party and his heir Starmer is doing exactly the same. As sure as day follows night.
    1
  2851. Starship did in 1987.
    1
  2852. Won lots of elections. The Scots are not thick. English gloating and arrogance over the cause of independence will not prevent independence. Quite the opposite- it will fuel it. Law of unintended consequences.
    1
  2853. Managed decline was never Tory policy. Thatcher destroyed the UK and we are living in Thatcher's Britain today with its poisonous legacy that has left Britain in terminal and probably irreversible decline. But Heseltine deserves credit for his work in the money that went into rejuvenating the place after the Toxteth riots in 1981. The International Garden Festival was a good example of this in 1984.
    1
  2854. Shakin Stevens for PM. He wasted a lot of time in the eighties being very successful and missed his calling.
    1
  2855. Johnson and Truss are what you get when rejecting a social democratic Labour government not once but twice in 2017 and 2019 because the Tories and media made millions think Labour would be worse? It could not have been any worse than so far but we have not seen anything yet. I am still waiting to hear the media mea culpa for the egregious attack on what passes for democracy by enabling the Tories to prevent any chance of the country tumbling into the abyss it now faces. Well done the media.
    1
  2856. Yes, America's reprehensible behaviour to Ukraine and Europe is going to strenghten Russia, China, Iran and North Korea because they will all be emboldened. American isolationsim will be catastrophic for world peace. All because of a moron as President working to further Russian interests. He is owned by Putin.
    1
  2857.  @ChrisD123  You do not seem to know your history. Thatcherism has been the ideology since 1979 including under Blair and Brown 1997 to 2010 given Labour's capitulation to her poisonous ideology under Blair from 1994. when he replaced John Smith. Without rejecting neoliberalism there is no way forward for Britain.
    1
  2858. Britons are economically illiterate. Let's count the ways, pun intended. 1. Supported austerity for several years despite it holding back recovery, loss of thousands of police, underfunding of public services, library closures and pot holes everywhere. But never mind, it must be right. 2. Nearly eight million adults are illiterate. No wonder slogans like Get Brexit Done and Stop The Boats work their poison. 3. Few appear to have noticed living standards plummeting since the 2008 crash year on year until recently, otherwise they would have gone on strike years ago for wages. All the money lost is never going to be recovered regardless of the useless below inflation pay deals many unions are going to settle for ( sell out the workers for). 4. The contradiction between US levels of taxation and public desire for high quality public services has delivered Tory election wins since 1979. The circle cannot be squared. If the rich are not taxed properly on income and wealth, inequality cannot be reduced. 5. Union membership is historically low. If the public were to the left on economics the reverse would be the case, as there would be a groundswell of support for collective action. Many in unions tolerate weak union leaders who do little to nothing to advance improvements in pay and conditions.
    1
  2859. Labour wants the votes of racists though in order to win the election. It may well not work anyway. Britain is now so right wing that millions of voters will agree with the Tories even though they are deliberately using politics to stoke hatred of immigrants. It is easy to say 'we are full up' than to make the argument for safe and legal routes. The know it all ( nothing in truth) boneheads that Labour wants to vote for it will not change their minds. A government of extremists backed by millions of racists who hate immigrants. The Tories cannot lose.
    1
  2860. Economically illiterate. Labour did not spend all of the country's money. The economy was growing when Labour left office in 2010. Austerity does not work. Osborne failed by his own measure to reduce the debt and deficit, missing the targets set. Austerity inhibits economic recovery.
    1
  2861. Eggs quadrupling in price, petrol going through the roof,tariffs about to crash the economy so the rich can pick the carcass when shares are cheap and chickens coming home to roost. It's going from strength to strength.
    1
  2862.  @DayneD89  A reasoned argument that highlights the dilemma. I don't believe in private schools but the state sector is in disarray and it is entirely understandable why parents would send their children to private school when they consider the often unpalatable alternative.
    1
  2863. The focus on Hancock is missing the point. Most of the public would do the same as him if they could. I do not support him at all but the green eyed monster and sanctimony are in play here. The programme is bread and circuses nonsense keeping people distracted from the bigger issues and it will soon be forgotten. Since 1918 Labour has been in power about 33 years and before 1997 it had only spent 20 years in office since 1900. Under FPTP the voters of Britain are fundamentally selfish Tories who do not care about society beyond a superficial level. You get the governments you deserve under a rotten society.
    1
  2864. No point in capping bankers' bonuses because the salaries are simply increased to compensate. Tax them properly including all of the rich, not just on income but also assets. Progressives rarely talk about tax, so successfully have the neoliberals removed it from the agenda. Higher taxes for the richest to pay their fair share are essential to reducing inequality- this is what most other European and Scandinavian countries understand. Here Thatcherism does not allow for higher taxes on the rich. Oh no.
    1
  2865. Disgraceful comment. Shame on you.
    1
  2866.  @jake751  Starmer is the establishment candidate to lead the Labour Party. No-one with a knighthood should lead the so-called party of the workers. He will be no friend of the workers if he becomes PM. Scotland has opted for social democracy under the SNP as a rejection of the Blairite nonsense of 1997-2010 and its people are no fools. It is still a spectacular failure of Labour that it contrived to lose most of its seats in Scotland but it happened due to a collapse in confidence in the party as voters shifted their allegiance to the SNP because they had nowhere else to go and the SNP is demonstrably on the side of the people. When the day of independence dawns it will be a happy day indeed. Nationalism is not socialism but in the context of the appalling policies of the UK Tory government, independence will be the best thing to happen to Scotland.
    1
  2867.  @containsthestrange3902 Not at all clear what your point is. Scotland will achieve independence via a referendum. What matters is how the issue progresses in the next couple of years.
    1
  2868.  @Soraviel  Truss has a middle class background in Leeds.
    1
  2869. It is great watching this unfold from the UK. Channels on You Tube are a more accurate barometer of Trump's impending downfall than the UK media which is missing out the majority of the coverage of what is going on. It is reporting the November election as if Trump is going to win. It is self evident that Orange Jesus is not going to win and his support will drop him. Cartwheels and hilarity all round when he loses.
    1
  2870.  @Z65-p9o  Ignorant. Not just in Maths. Staggeringly ill informed.
    1
  2871. It will only add 0.02 % to UK GDP anyway. Meaningless. Remember the trading bloc called Europe the Brexit con merchants have shunned to make the UK poorer and the rich even more wealthy?
    1
  2872.  @tomgraham3206  Thank you.
    1
  2873. Good summary. They are the most mendacious, incompetent and dangerous government ever to be inflicted on Britain although there are millions who approve of their egregious behaviour. Britain is increasingly unhinged and morality has gone out of the window in many cases.
    1
  2874. Not even that- voting Starmer's Labour is replacing one Tory party with another. Neoliberalism is the name of the game, that is why Corbyn's leadership had to be destroyed to prevent any moves to start reversing it. Britain will continue to have the government it deserves until or unless people wake up and realise they have fallen for a con trick for nearly fifty years. Oh well.
    1
  2875. Starmer should be replaced. The wheels are coming off the Starmer project even before or if Labour forms a government. The Blairites have massively miscalculated through their hubristic eradication of the left. Labour under Starmer has nothing to offer.
    1
  2876. If it is such an easy job explain why one third have left within three years to do jobs with less holiday entitlement. Not expecting to hear a sensible explanation but looking forward to hearing the reason for this conundrum.
    1
  2877.  @djstuc  One of the world's best education systems. Not remotely. Teaching to the test means a narrow curriculum that is the opposite of a broad education in the widest sense of the word. Most schools are exam factories and students and staff are under totally unreasonable pressure to achieve results. Expectations are too high for many students based on unrealistic targets that set them up to fail. Low standards of literacy and numeracy are a real issue- many people in their twenties and thirties are incapable of communicating in an articulate fashion. There is a noticeable generational difference. This will only worsen with the current generation in school who are spending too much time glued to screens, which is damaging their ability to communicate with each other and adults, whether their own family or staff in school. Behaviour is poor in many schools- an OFSTED report from 2014 said that in some so called low level disruption means a day of learning per week is lost. Low level disruption is a misnomer as most disruption usually stops a lesson even if only for a brief time but this still impacts on the flow of the learning. It is much worse nearly ten years later. Poor behaviour is one of the factors driving the exodus from teaching. Bullying of teachers by management is a major issue in schools but goes unchallenged because staff are scared witless in many schools and the unions often take the line of least resistance instead of doing what they are meant to by supporting staff who can easily be mistreated with no redress. UK education is in free fall yet there is no joined up thinking linking the issues. It is too late but unless the culture in schools changes recruitment and retention will continue to suffer while no-one grasps the nettle to tackle the issues systematically.
    1
  2878.  @djstuc  I do not know enough about the quality of UK universities compared to other countries. I know the Russell Group universities are centres of excellence. I was commenting solely on secondary schools. Grade inflation probably means a degree today is easier to obtain than twenty five years ago. The NAHT did not meet the threshold for strike action yet head teachers complain about funding. Surely the ballot was the opportunity to take a stand and back staff. Pay rises should all be centrally funded but the unions have sought to lead their members into strike action in part ( funding) over a battle that they should be negotiating with government over. NEU will settle for a paltry pay deal and that will be the end of strike action for at least another decade while pay continues its relentless decline. All academies have to do with the backing of government is change the contracts to lower pay, which they can do currently anyway. One way and another conditions of service are going to worsen. It may be counterintuitive when the opposite is needed to tackle recruitment and retention but not surprising in a society where there is so much antipathy to teachers. I am afraid it is a lost cause without a sea change in societal attitudes.
    1
  2879.  @djstuc  The system is completely dysfunctional and it is going to worsen considerably. It is too far gone now to retrieve the situation.
    1
  2880.  @HappyDinosaurFossils-xf4zw  Confirmation not conformation. Another rambling and incoherent post from you. Well done.
    1
  2881. Labour is going to be an unmitigated disaster if it wins the GE.
    1
  2882.  @rowdogspeaks5900  Even large numbers of Conservative voters back policies such as nationalisation. The Tories accepted it as part of the post war consensus until Thatcher dismantled it as a key element of the neoliberal shrinking of the state.
    1
  2883.  @mango4ttwo635  Corbyn is not very left wing. The policies he espoused were to the right of the 1945 manifesto. He has been demonised as very left wing by the Tories and media.
    1
  2884.  @gos4343  Exactly.
    1
  2885.  @keithparker1346  Policies that many Tories would not have batted an eyelid at only a few years ago.
    1
  2886.  @doctorravenclaw2649  Excellent recall. Blair hollowed out Labour, capitulating to neoliberalism, thus removing the chance for the UK to reverse course and undo the egregious damage of Thatcher. Hundreds of thousands deserted Labour as a result. Corbyn lived rent free in the heads of the right, who should be happy that the command all they survey. Never mind that Britain is doomed to terminal decline, as long as neoliberalism continue uninterrupted. The ideological purity of the project is paramount above the national interest.
    1
  2887.  @owenwinn2821  Anecdote is not the plural of data.
    1
  2888. Nu Shooz I Can't Wait. Huge hit in the UK, their only one. Not sure if it was their only hit in America though. Personally I don't like it but it was very popular.
    1
  2889.  @oppionatedindividual8256  British Rail was more efficient than the privatised system relative to the money going into it. I know right wingers do not want to hear it but it is the truth. Never mind the reductive nonsense peddled about soggy sandwiches to persuade an ignorant public that nationalisased railways were so bad. Britain has the highest ticket prices in Europe thanks for the disaster of privatisation.
    1
  2890. Where's Ed?
    1
  2891. Rent caps. Not difficult.
    1
  2892.  @notch7139  How about you explain why you do not think they would help?
    1
  2893. No.
    1
  2894. Forget it- Thatcherism is set to continue uninterrupted under Starmer. The Blairite ascendancy is well and truly in charge and the left will be eradicated from the party soon. Thatcherism/ neoliberalism is the root cause of everything that is wrong with the patient yet the same medicine keeps on being prescribed. As Einstein said, the definition of madness and all that. The voters under FPTP have had the society they voted for since 1979, with unions rendered almost powerless and wealth transferred from the majority to the rich- the first making the second possible. No-one is calling for the rejection and reversal of Thatcherism but it is the only answer to Britain's problems. Starmer has no meaningful answers as will be self evident two years into a Labour government when almost nothing has changed.
    1
  2895. Some Demamorons ( copyright) were suggesting Harris could run again. Risible idea showing they never learn going back to Clinton's' abandonment of workers in 1992. Even the sainted and rightly lauded Jimmy Carter gave a misguided speech as President in which he said government cannot solve the economy and there are limits to what it can and should do. Music to the ears of the neoliberals waiting in the wings with Reagan and Thatcher in the UK to taked a wrecking ball to relatively stable economies so that the rich could help themselves at the expense of the majority.
    1
  2896. @someuser828 Untrue. The left is virtually non existent in Labour and has been marginalised to the point of being almost silent. Ultimately, this will backfire on the Starmer project, not least of all because it has no meaningful answers to the problems facing Britain. Hubris will show through in due course. The left of the imagination of red Tories and Conservatives is nothing more than an advocate of moderate social democratic policies that the mainstream right in other countries would not bat an eyelid at. The Overton Window has worked so well for the hard right that it allows ideas that would have been seen as right wing to be demonised as extreme/ radical/ dangerous, etc. Pathetic.
    1
  2897.  @ajspice  The rich want to tank the economy so they can buy stocks at low prices and cash in when they rise in value. Looks like no-one told them it took until the mid 1950s for shares to return to their pre 1929 levels prior to the Wall Street Crash. At least the good news is the minerals are actually turnips. The Wurzel ( I am in the UK) will soon replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency.
    1
  2898. Behaviour. Explain.
    1
  2899. No, it was in 1979. Neoliberalism's design feature is widening inequality by transferring wealth to the rich. Socialism for the rich and capitalism for the majority. The metrics have worsened considerably since 2008 but the process began decades earlier with the advent of the Thatcher government that destroyed Britain, aided and abetted by the Blairite capitulation to neoliberalism.
    1
  2900. David Bowie This is Not America 1985. Trump is evil and going down to a massive defeat in November. It is going to be spectacular. I am in the UK and coverage in America is far more accurate about the weak performance of Trump in the primaries than here. It is being reported as if Trump is a certainty to win in November when it is clearly not the case. He is finished and the rest of his life is going to be very problematic for him. Anyone would have to have a heart of stone not to laugh. Cartwheels all round in November when he loses. Good riddance Orange Jesus.
    1
  2901. Don't be silly.
    1
  2902. Net zero is vital to save the planet. Renewables are cheaper than nuclear but there is not as much money in them for the disaster capitalists intent on plundering the world's resources for profit.
    1
  2903.  @lookwhatyoudidtomyfish4453  He's not there to thank although I assume that is your point.
    1
  2904.  @greatvision4808  Boy George does. He was a follower in the 1990s and released a record called Bow Down Mister.
    1
  2905.  @ukmaxi  Not surprising that you cite a right wing cliche. The Sheffield rally was praised at the time and received no negative press coverage. There was no common consensus whatsoever. Labour's shadow budget under John Smith was a key factor because it played into the Tories' hands with lies about increased taxation if Labour won. In fact, the average family would have been better off under Labour's plans but not matter, the damage was done. Labour ad men congratulated their opposite numbers working on the Tory account in early 1992 because they knew they had won the propaganda war on tax. This was not widely known at the time but Sam Delaney's book about the role of the media details the issue. Alwyn Turner has published an interesting short book about the 1992 election too.
    1
  2906. Short answer- no. Long answer- no. Committed to the same neoliberal agenda that got Britain into this mess. Not being the Conservatives is not the same as support for Labour. People will see what they want to see- it is called confirmatory bias. We are all guilty of it but there has to be an attempt to be objective. The evidence does not suggest that Labour in government would do the things needed to change the direction of the economy. For that to happen, there needs to be a repudiation of Thatcherism. Oliver Eagleton's book The Starmer Project is illuminating. Will LBC be interviewing him? No, I thought not.
    1
  2907.  @BJSteigner  Russian asset as President. If there is any Kompromat it needs to be leaked to the public domain.
    1
  2908. @ More like donkeys in the White House ( no disrespect to donkeys).
    1
  2909. Greta Thunberg is one of the most important individuals alive now. Climate deniers are either too stupid to engage with science/ reality, think about incontrovertible evidence or have a vested interest in supporting vested interests which know the truth but deny it because they support the continuation of the fossil fuel madness. They also cannot cope with the fact she is far more articulate than them and the idea of truth to power from another generation. The boomers after World War Two wrecked it and looked the other way while Rome burned ( it's a metaphor for the unfamiliar) and now don't like it when they are held accountable for the wreckage of their greed driven destruction of the earth.
    1
  2910. Disagree. Richard Burgon should be leader- he would be excellent. Not going to happen but he is an excellent communicator and is good on policy detail. Very sincere.
    1
  2911. Orange Jesus is a stable genius. Orange Jesius.
    1
  2912. The level of French debt is in the mid range of European nations. Most reporting will not mention that because it detracts from stoking trouble. The beneficiary of chaos in Europe is Putin and other bad actors in the world like China. Macron will not resign- it is absurd to even suggest it. He has been a disaster but he has no need to resign under French law.
    1
  2913. No-one- it is part of the establishment pretence of accountability. I have submitted complaints to OFCOM about clear bias and unacceptable treatment of individuals and/ or issues to do with the left but no cigar. No investigation, nothing to see.
    1
  2914. She will spend a lot of time outside the UK where she might find an audience with right wing think tanks in America and one or two other places but demand for her wisdom will be non existent in the UK. The rise in interest rates and mortgage costs for hundreds of thousands is catastrophic although I would not be at all surprised if the usual dim witted British amnesia takes effect as the Tories win the next election.
    1
  2915. Punctuation and spelling- capital letters, a full stop and privilege. What are you talking about?
    1
  2916. It does not matter. The Democrats have been hammered in the election due to abandoning core support. Bernie Sanders is right. No doubt the Democrats will fail to learn any lessons. The biggest shift to the right since Reagan in 1980 happened because the Democrats created Trump. Own it.
    1
  2917. Until the voters understand that neoliberalism is the disease and root cause of ALL of our problems, nothing can improve. It has to be repudiated to build a different economy and society to the one inflicted since 1979 to transfer money from workers to the rich. Labour capitulated to neoliberalism/ Thatcherism under Blair- the Starmer project is exactly the same. Welcome to Thatcher's Britain, 33 years after she left power, you are still living in it thanks to a failed ruling elite and the voters who keep on putting them in power. Not forgetting the 15 million who cannot be bothered to vote in every GE.
    1
  2918. That giraffe is a not a whale. Really. He is vile and evil, posing an existential threat to democracy in America. In Germany the Nazis dismantled it in eighteen months. Trump will do it much quicker. The UK media is not reporting the primaries the way the US media is.
    1
  2919.  @mihangelap-williams9871  Since 1900.
    1
  2920.  @stuartbrown3070  No hatred or confusion at all. I really do not know what you are on about. I will remember not to respond to anything you post in future. Thanks for the heads up.
    1
  2921.  @stuartbrown3070  Back again.
    1
  2922. Why?
    1
  2923.  @moran68  Most people would do the same. Too easy to point the figure at behaviour the majority would replicate. It's resentment at not having the same privileges. The House of Lords should be abolished but it is the political class that has to make that decision. It is nothing to do with Kinnock. One person turning down a peerage is not going to make the slightest difference. He may have changed his mind so it is reductive to cry hypocrisy. While it should be abolished and replaced with an elected chamber, it does do important work in scrutinising government legislation and holding government to account. In the big scheme of things there is far worse- perspective really is needed. Ultimately, who cares? There are much more important issues that are overlooked when it comes to Tory behaviour. Then it's ok.
    1
  2924.  @selahanany5645  Very well said. I agree with your points and good for you in standing you ground and making the argument.
    1
  2925.  @skyblazeeterno  No need for capitals. People can read. There is little standing between the red Tories who have destroyed the Labour Party ( only one in five voted for Labour in the election) by slavishly following Thatcherism/ neoliberalism and a Conservative return in 2029, most likely in alliance formal or otherwise with Reform. You would do well to read what Liam Byrne has been saying about inequality- he is associated with the right of the Labour Party. Even some Blairites may peel away from the Starmer project when the realise two years away from the election that Labour could well lose. Pay attention.
    1
  2926. ?
    1
  2927. Eh?
    1
  2928. They could have 50 years but implementing neoliberalism is not going to change anything. It is astonishing ( or perhaps predictable) the number of people who do not understand that it is the root cause of every problem in society and the economy.
    1
  2929. court not caught.
    1
  2930. Humble is not in her vocabulary. Pride before a fall and all that. Proof.
    1
  2931.  @aliasofanalias7448  Not at all. On the contrary. Thanks for your excellent contribution to the discussion. You are doing really well today.
    1
  2932.  @aliasofanalias7448 Not correct but looking forward to seeing more of your incisive comments. Very funny.
    1
  2933.  @aliasofanalias7448  Funnier still.
    1
  2934. Rasputin.
    1
  2935. Don't tell Orange Jesus about deep fried Mars Bars, a popular Scottish delicacy he might expect to be on the menu of fast foods outlets when his reign of horror and dishonour begins.
    1
  2936. Makes no difference while Labour remains the prisoner of the neoliberal right. They have no intention of changing society .
    1
  2937. The Russian regime is evil but humanity is doomed anyway. The climate emergency, World War Three at some point, the military industrial complex making money from death and destruction, neoliberalism, more pandemics, destruction of the natural habitat for greed, and the rest. Humans never learn and never will. Ever.
    1
  2938. That's The Way was a hit in the US in 1989 and Walking on Sunshine too in 1985. It is one of the most played summer songs on US radio each year. They are a great band. They played my university hall of residence Christmas ball in Leicester in 1988 and it was a blistering performance, to this day one of the best I have seen of any band. Completely professional at a time when they were on the way down after earlier hits ( including Sun Street, a hit in the UK). I was so pleased when they won Eurovision ( still am a mere 23 years later). It coincided with the general election of 1997 and a summer where the sun seemed to shine a lot and optimism was in the air in Britain. They are underrated and each of the band is very talented. Success in Germany followed in the early nineties before Eurovision. I saw them at the Mean Fiddler in Harlesden in 1995 as well and it was a good concert though I have read the band were on the verge of quitting. The Eurovision turn around was a surprise to everyone but what an incredible song and perfect performance on the night.
    1
  2939.  @karlwilliams2703  Sexist comment.
    1
  2940.  @BENTWOONEZERO  Academic research. Look it up. A very poor education system also breeds political illiteracy. There is no such word as messeaure- rather proves the point about illiteracy more widely.
    1
  2941.  @BENTWOONEZERO  I told you to look it up. I simply do not like engaging with illiteracy. Now go away.
    1
  2942. Disgraceful comment.
    1
  2943.  @scottmcginn2169  Silly response. The average family in France and Germany is 8000 pounds better off than in the UK. They still follow football and have fun. France even had so much fun they won the European Championship in 1984 and World Cup in 1998 in style, something England has not done since 1966 and is never likely to again. I used to follow football and have been listening to music since the mid seventies so I am not against fun and being interested in sport or other pastimes people wish to be involved in.I am against the obsession with football and the way everyone is expected to follow it to the point it has become a marker of social acceptance. No one cares in other countries with a more balanced perspective. They have fun and still have enough bandwith to cope with taking enough interest in politics to ensure people have enough to live on. But not in Britain of course where the level of political ignorance is off the scale. PS more people visit art galleries in Britain each week than attend football matches but most of the focus is on football. There will not be much fun this winter when millions are freezing and cannot afford to eat we will find for the first time since the 1920s and 30s, thanks to the Tories.
    1
  2944.  @whatayear  Nonsense. Also very stupid.
    1
  2945. The penny needs to drop Britain- Thatcherism does not work. Only when it is repudiated by the voters ( gonna have to do a bit of thinking about the last forty three years for a few minutes) can things change. The Tories are there to serve the rich only and are not your friends. They see the voters as useful idiots for the transfer of money from them to the rich. It is a scam- wake up people.
    1
  2946. Amazing RCN ballot result- only 43% of members voted so the threshold was missed. The 50% threshold has been in place since 2016- unfair and there should be online voting but how difficult is it to post a letter? Workers who won't support strike action cannot complain about the cost of living and ever declining living standards.
    1
  2947.  @andrewgilbertson5356  I did go for a walk yesterday and today, so it is not all eating biscuits.
    1
  2948.  @LoveJoyPeace4Life  Since my ill advised post I have had a health check. I discovered I am 91 kg ( height five foot seven) which is two stone ( UK) heavier than I was two years ago. Biscuits are now on hold for the foreseeable future and I am on a low calorie diet plus exercising ( walks) with the treadmill to follow.
    1
  2949.  @bigpants6121  Explain if you can spare the time.
    1
  2950.  @Breeze1  He is not a genius. Overrated. Failed to follow up one hit.
    1
  2951.  @Breeze1  Exactly. If it was that good it would have been widely known and feted. I'll have a listen tomorrow.
    1
  2952.  @jake751  Agreed. I am voting Green. I don't know how any Labour members can possibly argue for voting for Starmer in view of the stance on Israel and commitment to the same Tory policies. No point in changing the government in that case. Democracy is a total sham.
    1
  2953.  @kenb6102  Are you sure you are ok? I am in the UK and saw peaceful protest by Americans against Vance. The country is being turned into an oligarchy in real tiime with class war being waged against working people by the rich. Never mind classless you should be concerned about this as well as the baseless lies told about Zelenskyy and bullying of him by Trump and Vance who are two vile thugs. They bring shame on America and you should be ashamed for defending Vance.
    1
  2954. We need next level woke. It is happening before our eyes, which is fantastic. Reactionary views are on their way out no matter how much the right tries to manufacture culture wars.
    1
  2955. @Lazarus Confirmatory bias. This is not how it is defined. Reactionary attitudes are on the way out and next level woke is here to stay. Get on board.
    1
  2956. @Lazarus You again.
    1
  2957. @Lazarus I've moved on Laz. Bored of the discussion. See yah!
    1
  2958. Sentence makes no sense whatsoever.
    1
  2959. There should be a leadership challenge. Starmer is an existential threat to the survival of socialism in Britain. The left faces the risk of being eradicated.
    1
  2960.  @billB101  It happens all the time on You Tube. Right wing comments are ok and all over You Tube, as well as racism but it is not removed. I have reported comments that should be deemed in breach of the community guidelines and they are returned below the line most of the time.
    1
  2961.  @trytellingthetruth.2068 How predictable. Abbott has been a first class MP since 1987 and deserves immense respect for her contribution to public life. She stumbled once in an interview but the difference is that unlike other senior politicians who did similar, in her case it was seized on by the right wing media and all the nasty people that have thrown abuse at her. Utterly shameful.
    1
  2962.  @ozzie2612  Perfect Tory measure then. Bet that won't be reported on the BBC. Perish the thought.
    1
  2963.  @rufdymond  Totally agree. It is the worst government in living memory and also the last 123 years since the dawn of the twentieth century. No doubt. The calibre of the politicians in Britain is woefully lacking with some exceptions. The Labour Party is going to struggle to govern because its unwavering commitment to maintaining neoliberalism is the last thing needed to turn the sinking ship around and many of its own MPs are clearly not up to the job of being ministers. This will be glaringly obvious within a couple of months of taking office if it wins the election. The future is indeed very grim.
    1
  2964. It is exactly what America deserves. The warnings were clear but millions voted for Trump and millions did not bother to vote at all. The country has to own the consequences.
    1
  2965. Correct about the Finnish model.
    1
  2966. Red Tory nirvana coming soon. Pennies are always slow to drop in Britain but with Starmer committed to never ending Thatcherism and having no meaningful answers to Britain's' problems there is nothing to look forward to. The wrong Labour leader and the opposite of what Britain needs to reverse its decline and grotesque levels of inequality in a economy that simply does not work for the majority.
    1
  2967. Nationalise all utilities. Remember this is what Corbyn pledged but the electorate said no because it is scared of anything that will benefit people by reducing costs. A former BOE policy advisor has said that 80 percent of inflation in Britain is due to Brexit but Labour has nothing to say about it and the media serve their masters by maintaining silence.
    1
  2968.  @victornwachukwu527  Discipline in schools is a major issue but there is a whole army of people on the liberal left that will defend the indefensible. I am very much on the left but this does not excuse poor behaviour in schools, which has worsened significantly in the last 15 years. It is the elephant in the room- lack of parental support for schools is a growing issue- the social contract between parents and schools is on the verge of collapse. Sanctions in schools are ineffective and inconsistently applied in many institutions. Most teachers cannot control their classes but nothing is done about it. Teachers are often blamed for this but do not receive support from often ineffectual managers who themselves do not command respect from students. It is a vicious circle and is only set to worsen. Students spend 80% of their time outside school so parenting is a major cause of the dreadful attitudes that many of the younger generation have towards each other and even the mildest forms of authority.
    1
  2969. There is no god.
    1
  2970. High prices and low wages here to stay, of course. The rich can absorb inflation and claims of cost of living affecting everyone are yet another lie to deflect responsibility for the crisis they have created. Profiteering by companies ( done by spivs in the second world war) is driving inflation as well as Brexit, which must not be mentioned. Import costs have gone up, driving up prices. That is why UK inflation is higher than other European countries and America.
    1
  2971. Agree with the methods but not the way of going about it and it is just done for the sake of it are two of the favourite red herrings used by those defending the indefensible in terms of oil. It is only performative in that it has a purpose. History will vindicate Just Stop Oil but by then it will be too late. Well done Dale Vince- he explained everything clearly and is clearly in command of the facts.
    1
  2972. Thanks Doug.
    1
  2973. Correct. The IMF says to reverse the budget and they send out a junior minister to double down and continue digging the hole they have created. This will spook the markets further and do nothing to stabilise the crisis. Truss should not have even been elected a councillor never mind make it to Prime Minister- the dysfunctionality of the UK political system is astounding. The break with orthodoxy is extremely dangerous and has put the entire economy at risk. The IMF has lost confidence in the government which, in effect, has arrived as a fully formed zombie administration that cannot continue. A GE beckons and Truss will be the shortest serving PM.
    1
  2974. Austerity is a political choice. There is no financial black hole in the public finances. This is the starting point to understanding austerity 2. The debt can be paid down more slowly by setting different targets or counting government debt differently. It is all smoke and mirrors to the fool the public that there is no alternative and to punish the poor for the greed and mistakes of the rich. Most of the media is pushing the false narrative of a black hole in finances- it is a con manufactured by the Tories.
    1
  2975.  @alexharrington6459  Very possible. People have been voting against their own self interest ever since universal suffrage. The most politically illiterate electorate in the world, except for North Korea, where different expectations apply.
    1
  2976.  @marvinlewis5591  Study the mountain Labour has to climb to win a majority of one. It is by no means certain it will the election. Sunak is across the detail and the voters in one of the most poorly educated countries in Europe are prone to falling for simple slogans like 'stop the boats'. Remember 'bet Brexit done' in 2019; it worked for Johnson. Britons know little but take pride in how ill informed they are. Works well for the Tories.
    1
  2977.  @abbersj2935  I am neither mathematically or politically illiterate.
    1
  2978.  @abbersj2935  Confirmatory bias. No comma in you're either.
    1
  2979.  @wolfen210959  Voting Green is not going to split the vote. Put another way many people are actually principled and see through the Starmer project as a continuation of Tory policy. Blair lost thousands of Labour voters and the same is happening now. Not rocket science to work out why.
    1
  2980.  @michaeljones3694  There is no excuse for the actions of Liverpool fans involved in violence at Heysel. I remember it from the time ( I was 15) and saw it on television. The footage is at least as shocking today all these years later. The fact is many so called Liverpool fans got away with their actions on that day that resulted in 39 deaths and a ban on English clubs for six years. Obscene beyond words.
    1
  2981.  @bobohare4825  Too not to. Think.
    1
  2982. I like Trevor Phillips but he needs to ask tougher questions and is perfectly capable of it as an experienced journalist. Marr was often not robust enough but his temporary replacement has failed to shine. The introduction to the programme last week or the one before stated that the country was going to have to learn to live with Covid as if it were an incontrovertible truth and not a contentious position. Coincidentally, it just so happened to be the government's talking point for that time.
    1
  2983.  @dixiecrane1  Trump is pure evil. He is self evidently unfit to be President. Vance is an abject disgrace. Zelenskyy conducted himself with great dignity and restraint in how he spoke. All decent people in America and the world can see what happened and the shameful behaviour of Trump and Vance-the only question is whether it was a planned ambush or if Trump and Vance lost control of their emotions and showed their true colours. Trump is a bully and the world can see it. If World War Three breaks out it will not be due to Ukraine but because of Putin and Trump's siding with Russia. I am in Britain and watched this unfold with horror and disbelief. The world needs to unite behind Ukraine.
    1
  2984. Ideologically unaligned and relatively moderate? What on earth do you mean? If you believe in specific policies and there is a common theme (s) between them, that means there is an ideological underpinning.
    1
  2985.  @timonsolus  Theocracy is a big word for below the line on You Tube! Religion is a scourge across the world. Humanist values are the answer in a secular society.
    1
  2986. That is the first time I have heard Putin referred to by that name. He probably hates everyone.
    1
  2987. No way. The RMT supports Brexit. I agree with much of what Mick Lynch says- his analysis of the UK economy is correct but add in the Brexit issue and it becomes more complicated. But there is no evidence to support the idea that he would be an effective politician. The role of union leader is different. Other than the issues to do with the rail industry which he is obviously an expert in, he has only recently come to public attention. There is too much focus on repeating the mantra that Mick is great, etc.
    1
  2988.  @dapdapbamban  The PLP does not trust the membership. Corbyn wanted true representative democracy. The left has always realised that if the members were given the say they should be, the PLP would not be able to ride roughshod over the wishes of the members.
    1
  2989. Roll on the mid terms when Americans might wake up after the chaos of the first two years of this lunatic's administration. The Republicans have narrow majorities and if the Democratic Party sorts out how to respond ( a big if) it shoud be able to sign post a path out of the hole Trump is digging for the economy and democracy.
    1
  2990.  @rogerwilco2  He is a wrecker. The New Deal was the answer from 1933 and was a great success to a large extent. It established the framework for the post war landscape until Reagan started to undo it, aided and abetted by the Democratic Party sell out of its core support. Just like parties of the left almost everywhere.
    1
  2991. Correct and enlightened thinking. Lower retirement has been proposed at different points in the last hundred years precisely because it would create jobs for the younger generation. Time the rich were confronted with the consequences of their grotesque greed which has disfigured societies around the world and made to pay for decent retirement ages and dignity older people everywhere after a lifetime of contributing to the economy and society.
    1
  2992. Change the ideology if you want better leadership- neoliberalism is the problem.
    1
  2993. Astonishing that Sky reported only tonight that Hunt's statement this morning was to prevent a crisis in the pensions market occurring today. I have had Sky on most of the day and no mention of it until about 8pm. The situation is critical.
    1
  2994. Orange Jesus heading for defeat in November. His future is bleak and the world will celebrate when he meets justice in the courts. Cartwheels all round.
    1
  2995. The Smiths were played lots which is why they had hits. Radio 1 had to play records for them to be a hit as you should be aware.
    1
  2996. Not clear Labour will win the next election by any means and the Starmer project has nothing to offer in terms of the change to society needed. It will fail and its main 'achievement' will be to destroy the left, one of its core missions in truth. Labour will allow further privatisation of the NHS. Founding father and real socialist Bevan would be turning in his grave.
    1
  2997. Numerous predictions that Ukraine is winning yet strangely victory has not yet been declared. Odd. Putin is evil and war crimes have been perpetrated against Ukraine but the public has little clue of what is going on from much of the reporting across the media.
    1
  2998. There? What do you mean?
    1
  2999.  @franksinatra1977  Maga is a cult of the stupid. Really thick.
    1
  3000. She had more hits in the UK but not as successful as Sleeping Satellite.
    1
  3001. More multiculturalism is needed. There are no open borders. Keep up at the back. I wonder what your level of education is.
    1
  3002. 1906 election was the Liberal landslide.
    1
  3003. Make America Moron Again is likely to double down on its support for Trump. The greatest help to the rich is the poor in most societies.There can be little confidence in the judgement of millions who are more concerned about the price of eggs ansd petrol than anything else, most of whom do not understand what a tariff is. Opinion polls do not suggest any haemorraghing of support for Trump even though his actions will make America worse off in every conceivable way. Democracy is being dismantled brick by brick at rapid speed. Nothing is going to be done about it and Trump's supporters will double down in their stupidity. Dunning Kruger-stay moron.
    1
  3004. They are the same option. I am not voting for Labour.
    1
  3005.  @stevel7977  The Sun claimed credit for the Tory victory in its headline the next day. On the day of the election it ran a headline saying 'if Kinnock wins today, will the last person to leave Britain turn the lights out?'. The Conservative press believed it won the election and Kinnock blamed the press too afterwards. I am not so sure about that as many readers of Tory papers do not vote for them despite the relentless propaganda. Thatcher did gerrymander votes through the right to buy policy for council houses at knock down prices- it bought votes from previous Labour voters. Labour only abandoned its opposition to the policy in 1987. However, the long term consequence of the policy has been to restrict availability of housing because councils had to sell off council housing and were prohibited from building new council houses under the legislation. Privatisation of utilities was sold on the basis of a share owning democracy to encourage popular support for it but there was a lot of opposition. The majority of shares were bought back by large investors within a few years of each privatisation. Natural monopolies should not have been privatised anyway- it has been a disaster of the highest order, pushing up prices to satisfy shareholder value alongside other problems. Rail privatisation has been catastrophic.
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  3006.  @aggie9487 It should be funded much more- France and Germany spend 7% more on healthcare than the UK. Money should be poured into health, as happened two years after Labour took power in 1997. It is still a very efficient service for the amount of money spent currently- it would possible to be even more efficient if more money was spent on it. Not a difficult concept.
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  3007.  @calumpiober1535  Indeed.
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  3008.  @matthewstokes1608  Thatcher destroyed the country. Churchill for all his faults and they were many was key (alongside Labour do not forget) to winning World War Two alongside Britain's allies. No comparison except in the minds of those who do not know what they are talking about and are ignorant of history and context.
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  3009.  @peterhiggins2928  Not centre right at all. Neoliberalism is an extremist ideology which the Labour right is fully on board with. It is the antithesis of democratic socialism or even regulating capitalism which One Nation Conservatism used to believe in before Thatcher purged the so called 'wets' on the left of the party in the early eighties.
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  3010.  @ReeRee_Donita  Well said.
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  3011. The result of Tory policies 1979 to 2023 including under Labour.
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  3012.  @TimoDyer  Rubbish. Let's see how well your trite observation ages when the Starmer project flounders precisely because it has no meaningful policies to address Britain's crises. Blame the left all you like and keep Corbyn living rent free in your mind, but in the end the choice for Britain will be permanent decline, chaos and even wider inequality for the majority due to never ending Thatcherism under the red Tories, or policies from the left that actually work. I don't know where you have been but neoliberalism does not work for the majority.
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  3013.  @aodhablackheart  Then and now. We are living in Thatcher's Britain today- she destroyed society.
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  3014. Illogical. If Labour had a large majority, PR would give it an advantage in subsequent elections at least for the foreseeable future. PR would favour Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Greens, as the majority of the population consistent votes for parties other than the Conservatives.
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  3015.  @errolmichaelphillips7763  I think you mean economic.
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  3016.  @stephenford2758  Exactly right.
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  3017.  @jonnyspeed8974  The seventies is 50 years ago. The Tories are going to have to do better than this because it does not resonate any longer. It is a waste of time indulging in pointless whataboutery when the Conservative Party's economic record over the past twelve years is so abysmal. They will be judged on this at the next GE and found severely wanting. If the seventies begat Thatcherism, the root cause of all the problems of 2022, we are about to witness the long overdue repudiation of Thatcherism by the public.
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  3018.  @andrewfrancis3591  Loose and lose have different meanings.
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  3019.  @b62boom1  He is hilarious.
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  3020. Minute progressivism is a contradiction in terms but I see what you mean. Clinton's shift away from representing the core support of the Democratic base set in motion the process that led to Trump. The Democrats created the monster that devoured them ( metaphorically, it is hard to picture Trump eating anything other than fast food). Even Carter declared when President that there were severe limits to what government could do. Patently untrue as many governments have proved ( Labour in Britain 1945-1951, the Scandinavian model post war, other European countries, and significantly Roosevelt's New Deal). Reagan exploited and cultivated the lie that government is the problem. It is the solution to enabling a fairer economy and society.
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  3021.  @tomestep8095  Makes no sense. Cheap Trick are superb but Waite's band at the time was extremely good so the performance will have been to a very high standard.
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  3022.  @tomestep8095  I can read so no, I did not miss it. I find it hard to believe in all honesty as Waite has always been known for his professionalism. It is not that important as it was 1985 but there will be plenty of bands who have imbibed alcohol or something else where it has not adversely impacted their performance. Seems a pointless comparison with Cheap Trick.
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  3023.  @tomestep8095  It was a reasonable interpretation. Save the lecture on people not knowing their own intentions for another discussion. The second half of the last sentence was meant to read ' which makes superimposing what you believe to be the intentions of others pointless'. To observe that following Cheap Trick is hard enough without a subpar performance is a comparison.
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  3024.  @tomestep8095  The point has been made that you made a comparison then said you had not, which is illogical. Nothing more to say.
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  3025. I hope you do not mind me mentioning Fiat Lux- I noticed you have them on your channel. I love Blue Emotion though I have not listened to it for a good while. I will put that right tonight- thanks for the reminder of a great song a mere forty years old!
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  3026.  @artseosamhogriobhta  ??
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  3027.  @artseosamhogriobhta  ??
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  3028.  @siddyskip  It is not. Look it up.
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  3029.  @siddyskip  ??
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  3030. Too late for that. Catholicism is overrated anyway and Trump is seen by some simpletons as Orange Jesus. The Holy Trinity has a new member in diapers. First communion, confirmation and confession- none of them will work for Trump.
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  3031.  @AK_UK_  Well said. Xenophobes who voted leave ( most who did were motivated by racism) are impervious to reality.
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  3032. Nonsensical.
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  3033.  @ritabos7162  Ditto my wife said her French accent is poor. My wife is French so obviously what would she know? Lots of ignoramuses raving about her accents. Only two sets of people I would trust on this- voice coaches and native speakers.
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  3034.  @timwoodger7896  I am not entirely clear what you mean. No-one associates modern day socialism with the party in power in Germany from 1933 to 1945 if indeed that is the comparison you were making. If you were not making that comparison, please clarify and I apologise if I have misunderstood your observation. I have deleted my comment too by way of retraction, if indeed I have misunderstood your point.
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  3035.  @jimbowers8278  I have made my point and put it in context. Nothing more to add. Do not reply.
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  3036. The UK media is beyond reproach, of course. The coverage of Corbyn was uniformly balanced and fair. Some delusional souls express the view that the media needs to be reformed and is an impediment to what passes for democracy. Media Lens is excellent for dissecting the reportage of the UK media. Highly recommended.
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  3037.  @jpeg.600x2  Or the simulation is a simulation. All things are possible.
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  3038.  @evearcana2392  Monks can make honey and beer.
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  3039. The Tories are the anti growth coalition. Labour must repeat this ad infinitum.
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  3040. Worst government since the extension of the vote ( 1918 and 1928). Bar none no matter how dreadful the Conservatives have been under previous leaders.
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  3041.  @datingdave1310  I am 52 and lived through the eighties and remember well how bad it was. I think she destroyed society and the consequences are still playing out today. I think her anti Europeanism sowed the seeds for the catastrophe of Brexit, which is the last gasp of empire. That said, many in the Conservative Party then were one nation Conservatives, more paternalistic in their outlook and conception of the role of the state. Not all by any means of course. The Johnson iteration of the Conservative Party is really a hard right ( a phrase the media never uses unlike hard left) takeover/ purge of what went before. There can be no excuse for the policies of the 1980s but some of the Conservative Party were motivated by a sense of public service and accepted the post war consensus with Labour. Their world view was shaped by the experience of the Second World War. The Johnson Conservative government is heavily populated with lightweight, unprincipled, dishonest opportunists who have dragged the country into the gutter.
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