Comments by "Andy Monaghan" (@229andymon) on "Richard J Murphy" channel.

  1. I am a socialist. I hate the Labour Party.
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  2. Governments are fond of targets. Well, the Labour government that sets itself targets to do such as; reduce the gap between rich and poor, reduce child and adult poverty, increase the atrocious Brit state pension, increase minimum wages, properly fund the NHS and eliminate Brit tax havens will get my support. Until and unless Sir Keir’s government starts doing things like that, they will not.
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  3. When Labour won't even acknowledge the inherent and gross unfairness of how they gained their massive majority far less plan to do anything about it, I reckon it's not being cynical to doubt their capacity to do what Murphy is suggesting.
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  4. I expect the best way to make banks go bust is to pay off our overdrafts and keep in credit.
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  5. For me, the most important political issues in UK right now (apart from the denial of basic democracy in Scotland) are - the ending of the unfair and undemocratic FPTP voting system and the ending of the practise of buying influence in Parliament through donations to parties and politicians. Another issue, far more tricky to resolve, is how to end the inbuilt right wing bias of much of the UK media. Criticising any particular party comes a distant second to those.
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  6. English independence! It’s there for the English people anytime they want, for whatever reason they choose. They have no-one to persuade other than themselves and no-one to ask “permission” from. What an excellent position to be in. The rest of us are in a different situation.
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  7.  @RobertMustoe  Labour used to *be* that….
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  8. I don’t see why we can’t do both, Richard. Given the wealthy are getting obscenely more wealthy and the gap between rich and poor is now at Grand Canyon level we clearly have a problem that is getting progressively worse. Why? Why can’t we reverse the trend? So we would have to employ an army of tax inspectors? Fine..! Let’s employ them. After all each “soldier” in this army would be earning us money. Let’s start with a few divisions and see what the results are, if they fight the good fight and reverse this sickening trend of haves and have nots, reinforce them with a few more. We *must*, at the very least, try to stop the rich dictating to us what they’re prepared to contribute.
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  9. Given us Scots had the temerity to use devolved power to chuck Labour out of power in Scotland, I’m not surprised Labour is “hesitant” regarding further devolution.
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  10.  @stephfoxwell4620 Agree completely. The problem in the UK is neither of the 2 establishment political parties that monopolise power is even interested in taxing wealth.
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  11. Well, yes, but PR is nonetheless a better system than first past the post, as we have in UK. Where the present govt got 2/3rds of MPs with 1/3rd of the votes.
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  12. ​ @jim-es8qk Sure, I don't know how someone didn't come up with the clever idea of levelling UK manufacturing and consigning entire communities to the scrapheap before. It had winner all over it.
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  13. And power is all about politics. Politics trumps every other source of influence in every society (now that religion is no longer influential). Even where corporate influence is huge, especially in the US for example, power has to be channeled through politics. People sometimes confuse power with the law - not so, laws are made (and unmade) by politicians.
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  14. OK, so what is it you know that legions of scientists don’t..?
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  15. Not sure what the difference is between MMT and good old fashioned Keynesian pump priming?
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  16.  @julianshepherd2038  For me it beggars belief how some people oppose the transition to viable renewables. Why on earth not move to energy sources that will be forever free, forever clean and forever local?
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  17.  @rfrisbee1  Stopping, or at least limiting, the blatant corruption of politics in UK and elsewhere via private funding and donations is not only IMO a moral imperative, but also very doable. Unlike “educating” the public better, which is very problematic. Labour has a stonking majority and may never get another chance to improve UK democracy as easily as they could now. They should implement changes that would prevent any funding being able to influence the people or parties it goes to. Say, limit donations to around £5k or so. Even UK politicians aren’t that cheap. But they won’t, same as Starmer won’t contemplate PR. Cowardice and hypocrisy is sadly a feature of Starmer’s reign.
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  18. Yes, but what has being the third party in Westminster actually got Scotland? I can’t think of a single thing. Isn’t it rather the the case that Westminster representation is as useful as a cat flap on a submarine to the Scottish independence cause? Westminster is the graveyard of Scottish ambition.
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  19.  @MisterBethany  There would be far more practical effects as well. England would have to renegotiate all its relations with other countries and organisations, and would probably lose much of the benefits it gets as UK. Westminster will cling on to the Celtic nations for grim death. We’ll have to prise the dead hand of Westminster rule off finger by finger.
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  20. Why not end the cap on council tax bands?
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  21. Not necessarily. So long as it can be ensured no attempt will be made to influence an outcome by means that will benefit the person or agency being lobbied. In other words, if I or my company have for example a new battery technology, there should be nothing stopping me promoting that to an Energy ministry. But… if I offer something of benefit (money, shares, a job etc) to the minister or similar, that should be illegal. Right now you only need to declare any interest and in the case of say a job afterward, poorly policed. Persons being lobbied in these circumstances should be legally prevented from receiving benefits and shouldn’t be able to work for any company they help, inc any group companies, for, say, 5 years. Not difficult to set up and police, I’d say.
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  22.  @helenheenan3447  I remember a wonderful cartoon a while back pictured in a lecture hall where a guy was lecturing about the effects of climate change and someone in the audience is shouting “but what if you’re wrong and we’re just improving the world- for nothing!” :)
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  23. And even then, per capita doesn't take the disparity between rich and poor into account. UK is a very unequal society.
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  24. Because it should trouble Labour’s conscience a wee bit more because they’re children? To be treating the most vulnerable in our society in such a barbarous way should make us want to act a bit more than if they were adult. Labour used to have both courage and principle. And I’m old enough to remember when.
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  25.  @stephfoxwell4620  And ignorance. They’re routinely ignored too.
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  26. Given it’s New Year’s Day I’m going to try to look for something positive about Reform. And, difficult as that is, I reckon I’ve found one. If Reform starts to seriously threaten the Tories domination of right wing politics in UK, then we may see the Tories consider supporting PR.
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  27. I reckon credibility went out the window of UK politics before the invention of glass.
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  28. If you want to evaluate the NHS, try living somewhere that doesn’t have one. If you’re wealthy, you’re fine - ignore this. If you’re not, prepare to be very worried.
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  29.  @ChrisJones-ht9zn  And many, many more not rich ones (were) that *do* need it. Thanks, “People’s Party”….
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  30. Yes, isn’t the Scottish Parliament working for Scots far better than your rubbish one is working for you? Anyhow, what did I say that made you come to the impression I was “feeling sorry for myself”? I said we used Holyrood to chuck Labour out (which we did). That’s not me feeling sorry, it’s me feeling happy and glad!
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  31.  @alanhat5252  it’s possible to be wrong about one thing and right on another. We’re human, it comes like that.
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  32.  @loc4725  No, you didn’t “explain” anything. You attempted to justify a craven and cynical veto on Scottish democracy and failed. If the conditions allowed for (according the Parliament you pledge allegiance to) a referendum in 2014, what is the difference now? The Scottish people, via their elected representatives, wanted indyref1 - and now, via the same mechanism, we want Indyref2. Westminster decided (since it was supremely confident it would win hands down) to “allow” Indyref1, but, because it’s running scared of Indyref2 has decided we’re to be denied another choice as to whether we want to be in your unequal, unfair and involuntary union. Let me “explain” to you what the situation is, it’s far simpler than you think. Big brave Dave Cameron thought he’d shoot the Scottish fox by “allowing” Indyref1 - when you lot were 70/30 up. Now that’s it’s far more even, Westminster has no stomach to test Brit “unity” in Scotland. It’s basic Brit political chicanery, cynicism, cowardice and fear, nothing more, nothing less.
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  33. Blacklisting has been, and I suspect still is, a potent and horrible tool employers have used in UK and elsewhere for a very long time.
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  34.  @edbop  I’m fairly sure my local takeaway would insist on getting money. I could try telling him money didn’t exist anymore, but I reckon his response would be - then the curry doesn’t exist either.
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  35. Sunack somehow managing to be both ridiculous and sinister. But, he’s not the first swivel-eyed right wing bampot the Tories have produced. Let’s not forget Margaret “Year Zero” Thatcher’s describing of the miners union as “The enemy within”. Yours, a proud (as defined by the Tories) extremist.
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  36.  @jim-es8qk  No, it would lead to a radical change to the country. Something I believe is decades overdue.
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  37. Do you really see doommongering? I see hope and vision. Perhaps we're so used to Tory graft, cronyism, sleaze and incompetence we think good sense is somehow radical.
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  38.  @nitsujism  What has Labour done re railways? It has said it will take back into public ownership rail franchises currently operated by the private sector. Sounds great, right? But - firstly, it was already happening, some have already been transferred under the Tories due to catastrophic performance and other issues. Labour’s only alternative would’ve been to continue the Tory policy and re-issue licences to obviously failing and incompetent private companies. Not exactly manning the barricades, eh? On the other hand we could discuss what Labour *aren’t* doing, like taxing the wealthy, tackle UK offshore tax havens or nationalising Water etc. If you follow the excellent Richard Murphy, as I do, you’ll see he’s created a long list of sensible, un-radical and viable things Labour could, should, but won’t do. Free breakfast clubs - yeah, a nice gesture, but what about Labour’s voting to continue the Tory 2 child benefits cap? Maybe if Labour wasn’t making so many poor people poorer, they wouldn’t need breakfast clubs, eh?
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  39.  @adenwellsmith6908  A lot, thanks to the economically illiterate Tories. Start taxing more those that can pay and ensure Brit tax havens are ended. That'll do for a start.
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  40. The Greens have vision, bravery and principles. Everything Labour should (and used to) have but doesn’t anymore.
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  41. How so, Rishi?
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  42. To vote independent, you’d have to know your persons views on every matter that means something to you, and even then, they could change their mind. When you vote for a party, as most of us do, you vote for a manifesto or a party with a certain tradition of support for certain issues that you agree with. Much better system.
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  43. @alanhat5252  I posted that precisely because there are those that would destroy the NHS as we know it. Left to the Tories and other right wing barbarians, we would slip into the kind of devil take the hindmost hell they think passes for society.
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  44. I find it depressing, if typical, that many Western leaders were happy to denounce Trump’s attempt to subvert democracy after losing the election before last in USA, but are strangely silent on the Georgian opposition trying to do the same thing. Principles bow down before geopolitics.
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  45.  @ScottishRoss27 They won’t offer the English a Parliament, because the English would never accept any limitations to it. Not that they’d have to - who tells the English what they can and can’t do?
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  46.  @ScottishRoss27 I’m struggling to think of a people more self confident than the English. I wish us Scots had their confidence in their own merits.
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  47.  @stevenwilliamson6236  I have nothing against the English people. My argument is with their elected politicians and the Westminster system. The English wouldn’t put up with the “stuff” we are for example…
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  48. @therealrobertbirchall  As a committed indy supporter since the 80s, for me Scotland is, most definitely, a nation. But... not a sovereign one. We are sadly a nation in name only, technically we are, as yet, part of UK. We are not in a voluntary union. If we were, would we be in the position we are now, with Indyref2 blocked by Westminster? The only nation of UK that can be said to be in the union voluntarily is England, since the English could leave when they please.
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  49.  @col.hertford9855  For interest, it can be questioned whether a second chamber is needed at all. In Holyrood, there is none, albeit the main levers of power in UK as yet reside with Westminster. Instead there is a system of committees, formed of a selection of MSPs from each party according to representation in the main chamber. No system is perfect, and Holyrood generally has its critics (especially from outwith Scotland) but the committee system is rarely criticised.
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  50.  @col.hertford9855  I agree about Scottish democracy being more “alive” than UKs. In UK its all about whether Labour will beat the Tories or vice versa. In Scotland we’re seeing PR bring new parties into the mix, since there’s a feeling there’s no such thing as a “wasted vote”. Coalition politics is, imo, much fairer and much more representative and dynamic, with less chance of one party getting a big majority and then we can all go to sleep for 5 years. The UK establishment parties (Lab and Tories) will hold onto undemocratic FPTP like grim death, because they don’t want vibrant politics. They want the “shots each” system. I have little regard for British politics.
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