Comments by "Helen Trope" (@heliotropezzz333) on "LBC" channel.

  1. Boris is such a practised liar that he has a fund of weasel words to try and dodge responsibility.
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  2. That woman in the stripey suit is talking like an extremist, grossly miscategorising marches for a ceasefire in Gaza and a free Gaza.
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  3. Voting Tory and voting for Brexit has done such damage.
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  4.  @An-Alien-On-Earth  What? Are you saying starving Palestinians are greedy? You are well named being truly from another planet.
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  5.  @williammohan9784  or perhaps you could change the h and a in your name to r and o
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  6.  @peterreeves6825  His hedge fund moved to Ireland but recently I read that it's closed down because most of the investors abandoned it. Lol.
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  7. He's been 'talking to the manufacturers'. He's been doing some homework. He's been consulting experts. He's been discussing a plan. He's been doing something useful. What a load of lazy useless politicians we have in government now, in comparison.
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  8. The £2000 Labour tax and saying these were Treasury figures. Have you not been listening to this video?​@Jackssw
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  9.  @ciararespect4296  So Kent is much better off now?
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  10. If I'm white but identify as black I can still go, it seems. No one can challenge self-identification.
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  11.  @namei8967  I don't think you've looked at the facts of this case to come out with such generalised twaddle.
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  12.  @tenniskinsella7768  Keep up. The Labour Party's not been in power for 13 years.
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  13. The Tories are not interested in much other than preserving their own wealth.
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  14. People who are publicly subsidised include MPs with their subsidised bars, food and housing. Are they going to give that up because the country is going through a cost of living crisis and the public finances are under pressure?
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  15. Education is very important for understanding how the world works ( and for being able to spell 'immigration' correctly). The uneducated are vulnerable to simplistic solutions, often hateful and violent ones because anything else is too difficult to grapple with.
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  16. Space hoppers will be handed out by the Tories so people can experience 'bounce back'. That's 'the plan'.
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  17.  @pipins3616 He inherited wealth.
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  18. They weren't even in a fighting zone, apparently.
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  19. Sunak would probably refer him to PREVENT.
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  20.  @amcc5887  That hedge fund has closed down I heard but he's not short of wonga.
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  21.  @asw16177  You that voted leave have seen no benefits from your Brexit delusion and that's a problem for everyone.
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  22. Tax on fuel has not been raised for ages and is not being raised now. Thank your luck you don't rely on public transport. Have a beer. Tax is going down on that. The minimum wage is rising. Allowances for carers are rising. Really only those with more discretionary money available to spend on additional assets will be taxed more e.g. on profits on those assets when sold or inheritance tax after death. Employers will be taxed more but smaller employers with have exemptions.
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  23. If Labour get the economy growing again and the cost of living down or pay goes up, these people will start voting Tory again I fear. They will fall for the siren call of the Tories who claim to support aspiring workers to reach their ambitions. Most think of individual circumstances and not the welfare of the country as a whole.
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  24.  @simonmaskell365  His name is in Private Eye Magazine. The Head of Manchester police I understand.
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  25. That wouldn't get you enough of a mortgage to buy in London where Eddie Dempsey lives and you have to have saved a hefty deposit. In any case he's only recently got that salary.
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  26. 'British values' will end up being what the Tories say they are, even though they themselves may not necessarily abide by what is often considered to be among them (such as tolerance, fairness and democracy).
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  27. In this case the card has been dealt by a Tory donor without any prompting.
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  28. Re the 'most convincing part of her speech', what she was (unwittingly) referring to in her experience in Scotland was not about growth but about fair distribution of wealth. The Tories have never been about fair distribution of wealth and are not now.
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  29. Because you didn't understand the facts here and the disaster it will be for the UK economy, if there's no deal with the EU? All hard Brexiteers should be forced to share the economic deficit from Brexit among themselves.
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  30. He stands for ensuring government does nothing to prevent the wealthy from continuing to enrich themselves at everyone else's expense. He was in a hedge fund whose actions partly caused the financial collapse of 2008.
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  31.  @georgeplatt4612  That's delusional. If there were English people wanting and qualified for the jobs they would have taken them by now but there are ever increasing numbers of vacancies in the NHS that can't be filled.
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  32.  @Confessionofteenagenuns  Well that probably because you only read Tory press. The Blair/Brown government reduced child poverty through child benefits and working tax credits and helped families with under school age children with Sure Start Centres. Pay was higher under Labour and we got minimum wage and paternity leave and better maternity leave. Equalities legislation helped women and the disabled among others. The NHS had the lowest ever waiting lists and the best ever results in the patient satisfaction survey. N Ireland got peace. Scotland and Wales got devolved governments. They also actually built and renovated hospitals instead of pretending to like the Tories and put more investment into education.. They created education maintenance allowances for 16-19 year olds to help them afford to stay at school for A levels which benefited working class kids. Students did not have to pay back their student grants. There were more leisure centres and youth centres for teenagers so they had safe meeting places rather than hanging around the streets. There were fewer homeless people. I'm sure there's more.
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  33. The EU was not to blame for austerity but it became a convenient scapegoat.
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  34. Free to be pumped with fake news.
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  35.  @reko7264  The British people do protest, they just don't normally riot like the French do.
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  36. @SillySausage2024 Those are the children (other people's children) that will be looking after the childfree when the childfree hit the care home stage or need social services. Children of the next generation pay the tax to fund the pensions of the older generation, the state pensions that everyone gets. They are also providing the cheap services that allow those with money (the childfree) to live a nice life.
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  37. Everyone's cannon fodder to Boris.
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  38. You should look at his voting record before making judgements. He's more right-wing than you might think.
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  39.  @AT-gr4qx  Why? She's not been convicted of anything, unlike many Tories.
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  40.  @Confessionofteenagenuns  A decade ago Labour was not in power and could not do anything against a Tory government with a huge majority.
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  41. I don't think moving her hair was 'physical violence', but it's just rude and unmannerly. The woman is antediluvian but she has stepped down from her post now.
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  42. There were softer Brexit options that the Tories ignored, such as remaining in the customs union or the single market. Those would have taken out the bureaucracy. However full membership is the best option but probably not deliverable now in this generation.
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  43.  @grtcara8386  Stop blaming boomers. That is just scapegoating. Boomers are often now supporting the younger generation in order to help them out and not all boomers vote Tory.
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  44. A second dose of the poison won't cure the effects of the first.
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  45. The NI protocol does not cause Brexit problems in NI more than in the rest of Britain. It's actually a better deal for NI than without the protocol - a better deal for the economy in NI than the rest of Britain. The majority of people in NI want the government to implement it fully. It's only the DUP that are strenuously complaining and that's really for underlying political reasons, but the DUP are motivated only by hate and fear - the desire for one part of the NI community to hold onto power at the expense of the other part, and fear of NI people preferring to solve the border issue via a united Ireland.
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  46.  @9418matthew  Do you know what trading on WTO rules (hard Brexit) would mean for the UK? No single country in the world trades solely under WTO rules because it's like being in the trading 4th division instead of the Premier League which is being part of a large trading block of having deals with them. Under WTO rules the UK would have to set a single tariff the same for all trading partners whereas in the EU we trade tariff free. If we set a tariff that will push the prices of all imports up so the cost of living will go up for everyone. If we set a zero tariff (perfectly possible), imports may become cheaper but we will be importing from countries where workers have no rights and are paid a pittance because they will produce the cheapest goods. This will undermine safety standards and wipe out British industry and farming as they won't be able to compete with such countries, as our workers and animals have rights. Also we'd be charging the EU zero tariffs while they could charge us 40% tariffs, making it uncompetitive for us to export. Most countries, like the USA are going down the protectionist route, protecting their home industries and China and Russia make if difficult to impossible for anyone to export to them. It will be a an economic disaster. Even the economist Patrick Minford, who is pro Brexit and pro using WTO terms, admits it will destroy British industry and agriculture. He does not mind about that. Brtain as a member of the EU currently has over 4000 trade deals with other countries. Those will immediately lapse as soon as we go out on a hard Brexit and Liam Fox only has 4 deals to put in their place. Trade deals usually take years to negotiate because of their size and complexity. There's no way there are not going to be massive consequences with a hard Brexit.
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  47. He just casts unfounded slurs and prejudices knowing that the Mayoral election is coming up. It's transparent.
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  48.  @jantyszka1036  Most of us care.
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  49. We hear you. It's the politicians who are not listening.
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  50. @SillySausage2024 They may have elderly parents who'll need care or have family members with health issues. Why would we want to meet everyone that public tax funded services are helping?
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  51. Or to put it another way, those who can more afford to pay to contribute more to public services we need.
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  52. Privatise the BBC and watch the crap it turns into just like every other privatised public service.
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  53. I sat next to him on the bus a couple of weeks ago. I didn't let on that I knew who he was as he seems a private type in real life.
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  54. Why, Because it's not what you want to hear?
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  55. 'A poor country with a few rich people', that's one of the definitions of a third world country.
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  56. But she can't understand why the government went for Chinese overpriced ventilators that were poor quality and didn't last. Sounds like incompetence to me at the very least.
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  57. What evidence do you have of positive discrimination? All she said was that black people suffer racism more often than some other groups which is obvious because they have a visible difference and the backgrounds of other groups would not be known unless they chose to reveal it. If being a terrible MP was a reason for ejecting her, she's certainly no worse than all the terrible MPs in the Tory government. There's no reason to believe that she was a terrible constituency MP and it's for the local party and her constituents to decide who they want to represent them. People don't like outsider clones being parachuted in at the last minute by the party leadership.
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  58.  @ltmund  It's not an empire though, Empires are created by conquest. The EU is a voluntary economic and self-protective bloc.
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  59. Sounds like a description of Boris. Takes one to know one.
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  60.  @steveinjava  Lol. I think Sunak would be ok as long as any foreigners were rich ones.
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  61.  @ben31uk  What will happen is that everyone who watches crap will be fed more of the same in 'recommended' feeds and will be forced to have their viewing interrupted by adverts unless they pay not to. Everything is paid for one way or another. There's no such thing as a free service or a free lunch. Your every response to what you watch, in future, will be fed into some database and sold to some marketing companies so they can better target you with more crap and fake news.
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  62.  @bushman143  Or more non voters and more voters for extremist politicians who provide easy scapegoats to blame.
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  63. It's been constantly 'reformed' by the Tories, ever since Thatcher's day. They've made it more expensive to run.
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  64. She's as thick as 2 short planks and her thought processes are those of a parrot. Someone taught her some phrases and she endlessly repeats them.
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  65.  @randyvalantino6850  Switzerland is a small country that relies on its banking and insurance sectors for its wealth. Norway is also a smaller population than the UK and it has oil.
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  66. He's also pretty ignorant.
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  67.  @Craig121000  Why is it fair for everyone to suffer? Fairness would be no one suffering. We are not a poor country.
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  68. I agree his Brexit stance wasn't popular but if you look at the policies in the Manifesto it would have helped the North a lot, but I suppose voters don't read the Manifestos.
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  69. @D C How do you know that 4 people use double the services that 2 people do? They may not. Unemployed people get a discount because they are in unfortunate circumstances - poorer than those who have a job. Civilised countries look after their poor better, or should do.
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  70.  @chrisj9700  I distrust the word 'modernisation' when used in politics. It's a charlatan's word - a word often used to make something distasteful sound reasonable.
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  71. or end up like India.
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  72. Inheritance tax does not affect people while they are alive and only affects 6% of households anyway.
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  73. She has served her constituents well.
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  74. All the Tories have left is marketing, no substance. There are still 1.6m people who will experience higher mortgages this year as their fixed ones come to an end.
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  75. It is for judges of the Supreme Court to interpret the law and the constitution. If there were no limits to a prorogation process, what's to stop the government from proroguing frequently or even permanently to get rid of democratic opposition which would turn us into a dictatorship. There have to be some limits and some justifications. I don't rate Sharkey that much. As a historian, he makes mistakes in his history programmes - elementary errors.
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  76. That was their biggest weakness for Labour though they did promise to honour Brexit if people still voted for it in a Referendum with a softer Brexit option (to protect jobs). I can see it was difficult for them because their voters were split over Leave and Remain and as information about what leave would be like under a hard Brexit came more and more to light, they could not see benefits for the average person only an economic hit. It is probably for the best that the Tories are responsible for Brexit now because it's their baby really and I think it's going to be a bumpy ride. If Labour had a bumpy ride with it or didn't do a hard Brexit, they would be blamed by the Tories for any problems. The truth is Brexit will be difficult for any political party to pull off without economic damage.
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  77. They do also have an ideology which works against the interests of all but the wealthiest in society, but they don't generally explain what that ideology is to voters. It's easier just to trigger their prejudices.
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  78.  @woodentie8815  Most hospitals are in big cities. Where do you expect nurses to live? Even if they could live somewhere commutable rail fares keep going up more than inflation and rail travel is getting more unreliable.
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  79. When the Tories came into power from 2010 they quickly reduced the civil service by over 500,000. Then they found that they did not have enough people to handle Brexit and Covid and they hired consultants and agency staff at much more expensive rates and with much less knowledge and expertise. There are people who always say reducing the civil service is some kind of benefit and that taxes are never low enough no matter how low they ever are. It's a kneejerk reaction for some political ideologists.
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  80.  @ednorton47  Is that because our GDP shrank or perhaps because the Tories have created more poverty and need or because of spending on the war in Ukraine? What's the reason? The population is ageing so more is spent on pensions. The Attlee government was spending after WW2 when Britain was essentially broke. We certainly spent a lot on Covid but much of that went on fraudulent and overpriced contracts. The Tories also love to hire expensive consultants and that expenditure has gone up. The Tory Health and Social Care Act 2012 created a lot of new Quangos.
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  81. You weren't being offered communism. Communism is doing away with capitalism. The programme on offer was no more communist than the Labour government's programme in 1945 when they were rebuilding Britain or the kind of model you have in Scandinavian countries which come high up in the world happness index.
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  82.  @alanbstard5584  Do you know why? Because Thatcher closed down a lot of industry there saying Britain didn't need it and she never replaced it with anything. Labour may have been in power locally but the Tories in government made sure they were powerless by vastly cutting the funding to local government and when in power the Tories always favour their own constituencies at the expense of Labour ones. Ironically Boris may throw some scraps to the north now in order to keep them voting Tory but don't expect the sort of investment that's really needed to turn things around. I also blame the Blair government. In some respects it acted like Tories in power -Tory-lite, because Blair was an admirer of Thatcher. Maybe Boris has more sense but I wonder. History doesn't allow for much hope. I don't want to be depressing though. I hope for the best for the north.
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  83. It makes me laugh when people object to any TV programmes that they don't personally watch. Selfish or what?
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  84.  @pamelapearse8474  ??? George Osborne's paper is The London Evening Standard. The Guardian would never have Osborne in control.
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  85. Where did you get the idea that the Conservatives don't want to privatise the BBC? Many of them do want to privatise it.
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  86. He took things for granted and didn't check for himself.
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  87. It's the equivalent of a sportsman voting against his own team. There's a risk they they could act to try and bring about the desired result.
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  88. It will be very difficult for Labour, given the state of things, but I think they'd want to try and set the economy on the right track and help those in need more. However the newspapers which are mostly Tory supporting will give no quarter to the Labour Party in the way they do to The Tories. The economy is so wrecked it will take time to turn it around and in that time the Tories will be constantly on the attack and the voters may expect instant relief. It's much easier to be in opposition than to be in government.
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  89. Taxpayers are not really made poorer overall by all the measures, only the wealthier ones but they won't be poor.
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  90. The fact that they are not abashed by the consequences of their actions makes me think this is their plot.
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  91. Some other clowns include Matt Hancock, Dominic Raab, Suella Braverman, Jacob Rees Mogg. None of them grown up or serious and competent politicians.
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  92. As Boris would say.
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  93. The traditional left position on the EU only works if you have Labour governments in the UK and then only in part. However as Tory governments are the norm in the UK, coming out of the EU just gives them the opportunity to demolish workers rights.
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  94. Who wants to live in a Singapore type society?
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  95.  @erynpimentel915  What is the cost of not treating them? Spread of disease to the wider population with even more cost?
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  96.  @nigget-tv-videos4135  Corbyn would not have let all those people die and nor would Starmer. No one could do worse than Boris. The only thing he got right was the vaccine and that's the thing saving him right now, but he never closed borders even when he knew about the Indian variant and that it was more transmissable. He was intending to open up from the remains of lockdown on 21 June but now he's hesitating again because the Covid case numbers are going up again, because he did not close the borders and it's here and spreading now.
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  97. @SillySausage2024 I don't think that will be the main determiner. Actually AI will be more of a threat to jobs unless we find a way to fairly share the profits generated by AI across society more generally.
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  98. Resignations?
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  99. Because Ukraine was a sovereign democracy which was entitled to decide its own affairs.
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  100.  @bigpants6121  Yes, it's not exactly supporting British industry. The only 'excuse' I can think of is if the Chinese could guarantee a sufficient supply and the British firm could not, and then the Chinese firm said to the government 'we will guarantee to supply the UK in the numbers it requires, if we are the sole supplier and have a monopoly', and at that point the government was desperate. All of this could have been avoided if the government acted on previous reports as far back as 2019 that warned them to prepare for a pandemic and recommended what actions to take.
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  101.  @bigpants6121  Yes there were a couple of reports the government received on the need to prepare for a pandemic, both of which they ignored.
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  102.  @Steven-bh3uk  They are not meant to 'serve' or be 'of use' to any political party. It's very common that conservatives think it's left wing when it does not slavishly follow conservative PR and similarly it's seen as right wing when it doesn't follow left wing PR. The fact is that the government chooses the governors of the BBC and the BBC's charter requires them to be balanced so they have to find views from all strands of opinion. Some people's definition of bias is a TV channel that does not reflect their own views.
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  103. One thing he could do is reclaim all the furlough money that was fraudulently claimed by zombie companies, but he didn't do it when he was Chancellor so I don't see him doing it now. Why should people suffer spending cuts when fraudsters are allowed to get off scot free?
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  104. *accept
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  105. I wish James O'Brien would curb his tendency to interrupt all the time.
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  106. What evidence do you have that these are overpaid since any wage rises have been below inflation for years while workloads have been growing and and consequently he services have found it difficult to fill vacancies and staff opt to go abroad where health service pay rates are higher?
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  107.  @snowyowel7961  The IFS criticised both Labour and Tory Manifestos. This comment was about the Tory one 'The analysis also highlights the high risk of a no-deal Brexit at the end of 2020, if Boris Johnson wins the election, after he ruled out extending the transition period during which the UK will remain aligned with the EU. Calling it another “die in a ditch” style promise, the IFS said: “That would harm the economy and of course increase the debt and deficit.” And it warned the Tory prospectus would leave spending on public services other than health a striking 14 per cent lower in 2024 than when austerity began in 2010. “No more austerity perhaps, but an awful lot of it baked in,” said Paul Johnson, the IFS director.'
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  108. @Andrew Battersby That's just a slogan. Actually the UK government controls 99% of UK spending and could have given power to the people any time they wanted to. They never wanted to.
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  109. Yes I subsequently listened Andrew Brigden's actual statement about this and it didn't seem to depend on him thinking that he had any Irish ancestry. He just assumed that because he could travel to Ireland without a passport, he was entitled to Irish citizenship if he applied for it. Lol. Under the Good Friday agreement, I understand people in the North of Ireland can hold both British and Irish passports if they wish. Perhaps that also muddled Andrew Brigden's thinking. It's amazing how dim some of these politicians are though. Dominic Raab, currently standing for Conservative Party leader and therefore de facto P.M admitted he didn't realise the importance of the port of Dover for UK/EU trade, until he was appointed Brexit Secretary, a post he soon resigned from, but a subject he now feels qualified to deal with as P.M. Heaven help us! A person with Irish ancestry (parent or grandparent) can apply for Irish citizenship and I have my application ready, because I can see us heading for a hard Brexit now which would be disastrous.
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  110. The government counts spending that goes to private firms providing services on NHS contracts, as spending on the NHS, but private firms siphon off a profit element. There wasn't a 'structural issue with the NHS that needs to be addressed' before the Tories got their hands on it.
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  111.  @Mounhas  Indeed.
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  112.  @jonnybyrne989  It's not habitual, and that was Tony Blair, not typical Labour by any means. He was an admirer of Margaret Thatcher.
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  113.  @georgewright9914  Brown actually saved the world capitalist finance systems from collapse and along with them, whole countries' economies.
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  114.  @capuchinseven  That's not true. EU countries each chose how to handle the banking crisis and aftermath. Portugal for instance, never had an austerity policy.
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  115.  @Space.Ghost.  Let's both go to sleep.
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  116.  @ianexcalibur7096  I could come up with a lot more but there really isn't any point in wasting my time on you. Your mind is a sealed vacuum, and all you can do is resort to insults because you don't have any answers.
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  117.  @ianexcalibur7096  I'll let you have the last word.
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  118.  @richardfox6595  That constipated lump is called 'Brexit'.
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  119. The BBC uses proper journalists who check their facts. They don't indulge in fake news like Fox news for instance.
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  120.  @sentinal2343  Given up now?
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  121. According to Private Eye magazine, it's not true that Andrew wanted to wear an Admiral's suit, and it's not true that uniforms were banned by the Queen because otherwise Harry would be the only one not wearing one and because of Andrew's demand. Harry's cousin Peter Phillips and some other attendees would not have been wearing one and in any case Harry was entitled to wear the uniform of the Blues and Royals whom he served with, if he wished. It's a story made up by the newspapers.
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  122. Meaning what in terms of London?
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  123.  @evolassunglasses4673  'Wanting his country back'. How does that translate into policy?
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  124. How can we get people who know what they are doing economically to stand for leadership? Are there any such people? The economy is now in such a mess, can even people with government finance and economic knowledge sort it out? I would guess not within the 5 year election timescales. It needs to be done in a way that helps struggling people and is fair socially. It needs to have an appeal to voters as well as being able to work economically.
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  125. Britain is therefore nicer.
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  126.  @ruthbashford3176  Why should we shut up and leave people in ignorance. If you saw people heading for a cliff would you keep quiet for the satisfaction of saying 'I told you so' when they fell over it. A hard Brexit will affect us all, not just those who want it.
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  127.  @hoodoooperator.5197  Where can you get TV for free? You pay for what you get and you get what you pay for.
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  128.  @hoodoooperator.5197  Like what?
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  129.  @hoodoooperator.5197  Those you have listed are not free. They are more expensive than the TV licence for the BBC and the quality of news is lower on Sky. I'm not sure that Amazon and Netflix produce news programmes.
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  130.  Bromley John John  The BBC licence costs £155 a year. Netflix is around £10 per month,. That's £120 per year, not much different. Does Netflix do a good news programme? I like history, news and documentaries as well as new BBC drama. I don't know that Netflix does these. You can bet your bottom dollar that if the BBC drops out of the picture through lack of licence fee funding, the prices of these other companies will go up. It depends what you have from Now TV how expensive it is and Amazon Prime always has shows after they've already been on TV and sometimes you have to wait a year for them. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-48458598. I have American friends who are disappointed that they can't see what I'm watching on the BBC.
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  131.  @hoodoooperator.5197  Youtube zerohedge seems to provide local USA news with presenters who are less than professional. Interesting, but not wide enough coverage for me.On the BBC you get world news and there are also investigative programmes like 'Panorama'. I also like channel 4's 'Dispatches' programme. This is in depth investigative journalism and I read 'Private Eye' which investigates what goes on in public life that isn't usually broadcast on TV.
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  132. I hope the National Audit Office looks into this and brings in the police if there's no valid reason for writing off such a huge amount.
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  133.  @tonydavenport100  Read 'Private Eye' for exposure of what the media won't say.
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  134.  @godzilla2k26  With the post office/Royal Mail, the government still owns about 51% but they've been thinking of selling their majority. They opened up the market by allowing other firms to compete with Roysl Mail. They outsourced some of the probation services to private companies but then had to take some back into public service when the private company did a bad job and also defrauded the government of public funds. In education the public schools (which are private) are most supported by the Tories and many schools under local government control were given over to Academy Trusts which could be private companies. These still get public funding but the Tories do things step by step 'so as not to frighten the children' as the saying goes. Privatising all at once would arouse too much public opposition. Like the right, they believe in 'small government'.
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  135. Rishi Sunak seems really uncomfortable with people whether it's ordinary people or world leaders. It's like he'd avoid social events if he could get away with it.
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  136. Starmer is terrified that the Tory media will portray him as a supporter of strikes and that will lose him the next election. In the end he'll have to give people reasons to vote for him.
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  137. Defined as anyone to the left of Genghis Khan?
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  138.  @MrTeaTwoSugars  Outrage not voiced by the press, and which rolls off Tory backs like water off a duck's back.
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  139. James O'Brien seems to have a compulsion to interrupt. He's a bit me me me.
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  140.  @evolassunglasses4673  My part's nice. Yours sounds interesting but it's not to do with Khan if they enter legally or get past Border Force.
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  141. I don't know how someone could leave a family member, father of their children in that state even if they are an ex, especially someone who is wealthier and has moved on to an even wealthier partner. Unless the ex had been abusive or violent, you'd think they'd have some compassion, even if it was only for the sake of closeness in the past and the children.
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  142.  Paul Conway  Corbyn does not hate Jews. He hates the illegal and oppressive political and military stance of the Israeli government against Palestinians, that's all.
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  143.  @kepnjem  Blair didn't leave the country skint. He wasn't P.M in 2008, Gordon Brown was, and it was a worldwide banking crisis (a crisis of deregulated capitalism) that caused Britain to have to spend billions propping up the banks, and the crisis started first in the USA with sub prime mortgages which borrowers could not afford to repay because their ability to repay was ignored. Then many banks worldwide took a slice of the business and it sunk them. It wasn't just British banks that were affected.
    2
  144.  @steve-en7bm  When they aim to protect the public from lunatics like these.
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  145.  @abethebabe3835  That's an ignorant comment.
    2
  146. @SillySausage2024 Corporations will make vase profits from AI at first when it's fully deployed. How will it increase people's qualities of life if there is a huge pool of unemployed whose jobs have been replaced with AI? What will that quality of life consist of with no income and therefore no choices? Who will Corporations eventually make profits from once there are fewer and fewer people who can afford to buy their products and services? Will there be a wealthy elite who will sell products to each other for high prices and a large pool of people who will serve them for just food and lodging or will society come up with some fairer solution?
    2
  147.  @glennjones2635  Thanks. I was too lazy to look it up.
    2
  148.  @stanleypines1026  No one's opinion is invalid on the internet. It's open for comment.
    2
  149.  @westcoast747  She doesn't dislike white people but she was the first female black MP elected to Parliament 33 years ago and given the inequality and discrimination around you would expect her to bat for her constituency, just as Tory MPs bat for the wealthy and the corporate lobby groups.
    2
  150. Aren't they starving to death? Perhaps they want to repopulate Shanghai.
    2
  151.  @jb175  They seem perfectly happy in Scandinavian countries which is really the model Labour was copying.
    2
  152.  @veggie42  Anderson was just a useful tool for the Tories, while he lasted, to make them seem more connected with the 'working class'.
    2
  153. @Seymour Butts No. I know much more than you about how the world works, I'm sure.
    2
  154. @Seymour Butts Stay blissful in your ignorance then.
    2
  155.  @Dazwa  Well, I find people complaining that the BBC is biased against Jeremy Corbyn and I find Liam Fox complaining about the BBC too. Since they are on different sides of the political spectrum, I thin that means the BBC is somewhere in the centre as I said before in one comment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMx78U0V1Cc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7a6IRRDgvg
    2
  156. @Seymour Butts Thank you.
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  157.  @yojimbo843  If there was anyone who should respect the American office, it should be Trump but he has no respect for it at all and treats it as his personal fiefdom where he can break the rules and ignore the constitution as he pleases. Just showing Trump on TV is disrespectful to the 'American office' as he makes a mockery of it himself. As you can see I'm not a Trump supporter, but I do believe his asinine views should be heard without any censorship, so I think I am fair in that.
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  158.  @paulgibbons2320  I seem to have heard a lot of Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson on the BBC. They've not been left out. If you want even more of their views, virtually the whole of the press, with one or two exceptions is pro Tory. I think what undermines their presentation is when the BBC presents some facts. Anyway how can anyone represent Boris' views. He flip flops so much to switch to whatever opinion will progress his career most.
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  159.  @georgewright9914  One definition of politics is that it's about 'who gets what' so it's naturally linked with finance. Labour had to bail out the banks in 2008 as there was a world financial crisis caused by too light regulation of the banking sector, which allowed them to get embroiled in the sub prime mortgage investment bubble to the extent that people's savings would have been lost if the banks had collapsed, and a collapse of confidence in the world's finance systems would have caused whole economies to fail. Brown spent time persuading the EU and US to similarly support the banking sector, and saved the world capitalist system. How's that for a socialist?
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  160. Corrupt, corrupt corrupt.
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  161.  @highpath4776  The only checks introduced are those that 3rd party countries, outside of the EU, are obligated to. Apart from any trade deals that have been negotiated and agreed, the rules that apply are those of the withdrawal agreement the UK signed up to, or WTO rules.
    2
  162. More so than 'classics' which the Eton mob tend to study at Oxford?
    2
  163.  @cupguin  I understand that but don't you know that this guy was betting that he'd lose, so the risk is that he'd do his best to lose. Not the desired position for a chosen Labour Party candidate.
    2
  164. Overflowed with love.
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  165. Water is a natural monopoly! Nationalisation is the right thing to do.
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  166.  @snowyowel7961  What they didn't really publicise, and what wasn't clear unless you read the Manifesto was that it was a programme for more than one Parliament. They weren't expecting to do it all over 5 years but would have carried on with it if elected for a second term. They would have done some of it in 5 years anyway.
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  167.  @snowyowel7961  He wasn't intending to retire but so what, any new leader would be honour bound to implement the Manifesto promises if they won an election on the strength of them.
    2
  168. He needs a job that doesn't require too much effort.
    2
  169.  @ForgedPlanetTV  Everything is being privatised under the Tories so that their supporters and mates can stick their noses in the trough of profiting from ex-public services. That's not going to change under this government. Only Labour have said they will take privatised services back into public control.
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  170.  @nathanielsmith420  O dear. Maybe that's why we're in the state we're in. Too much ignorance among the electorate.
    2
  171.  @JelWard-y1v  Surely you didn't expect magic overnight repair after so many years of neglect?
    2
  172. No only met him but promoted him to the House of Lords against security advice.
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  173. @D C Look at it another way and household poll tax could be 4 times as much as paid previously, even though not everyone was earning.
    2
  174. But who will repeal UKIP?
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  175. He is undoubtedly ignorant, and he may be getting muddled because for some time (not sure how long) it's not been necessary for people travelling to Eire from the UK, and vice versa, to have a passport, but that's not the same as qualifying for citizenship.
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  176.  @yuccatree4298  Well that's the Tory Party for you. It's full of ignorant bigoted morons, only mildly less so than the DUP. I doubt they'll get any change to the backstop agreement so it will be a choice of hard Brexit or Remain. If you think they are a concern for you, they are also a concern for us. We are being governed by them. Most of the public would not support any extremes they are proposing. The heartening thing is that David Davis is not longer the Brexit Secretary. Patel fell from grace a while ago over trying to make secret deals with Israel contrary to government policy so their influence is diminished. I fear that Boris Johnson may be elected leader if the MPs don't get rid of him before the final selection, as the final selection is done by party members who think he is popular and for hard Brexit.
    2
  177.  @yuccatree4298  Strangely enough I read a book called 'Hell or Connaught' and realised there were even worse people than Cromwell in Irish history though he did some terrible things. Some of those who followed him were for genocide. I think people these days have a more nuanced reading of history. It's not all presented as black and white, but it's one of those subjects that the present government and many young people regard as 'useless' so it's less and less popular as a subject to take. Both my parents were Irish but I was born in England. We are all basically the same peoples in these islands. It was the Normans who conquered England and were in control when they also conquered Wales, Ireland, and attempted to conquer Scotland. and they used a tactic of divide and conquer so they allied with some Irish clans and then conquered them after conquering their enemies first. (The Romans did the same thing with the British tribes when they conquered England) After that Britain followed up by trying to consolidate their grip on Ireland and keep control of it. (I've never read a sadder history than Ireland's. There seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel for century after century). I see no intention in the UK to do Ireland down now,. Things have changed and the attitude to Ireland is a friendly one. However it's true that politically Britain will put her interests first (as other countries do) if they believe there's a clash with the interests of neighbouring countries. It should be possible to avoid a clash with good will on both sides, I hope, though Brexit in the current UK political set up is a bit of a political nightmare apart from the economic damage that will occur. I have listened to JOB on LBC on youtube now and again. He makes some good points though his attitude can be annoying at times.
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  178. Non voters can hardly complain about the result.
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  179. There's plenty of right wing agenda on the BBC too. It's charter obliges it to be balanced and if you have collected evidence that it's not, you should submit it to the BBC governors.
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  180.  @davidcarroll3169  In my opinion the BBC spent far too much time showing what Trump and his family were doing almost every minute of the day in the UK. Unnecessary overload.
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  181. It's gonna affect you too.
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  182.  @Vegan123  You're welcome.
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  183. There's one way to find out James.
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  184.  @chrisj9700  'heads in the sand'. They were modernisers if 'modernisation' means making things worse.
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  185.  @lisab4207  I agree. My husband always says that and laments his early death.
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  186. How conned?
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  187. Rees Mogg and candour? I don't think they are related. JRM said the French would cause delays in Calais so the British government would not need to do anything to prepare in Dover. What a shyster. He behaves as if we're still in the EU and the French are doing something wrong. In fact it was the French who suggested the British government should create more capacity at Dover, given that passport checks would take longer after Brexit, by creating more border posts and the British government refused. You half skewered JRM with his past errors but it wasn't the full skewer you could have done.
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  188. Many contracts went to cronies of the Conservative Party, those who were able to ring Boris and suchlike or who could cough up some moolah for the Conservative Party
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  189.  @davidwarnes5158  I never read the Sun or any other similar rag. I don't employ anyone and have not invented anything commercially, but I pay my taxes and don't try to avoid them. Dyson employs people mainly abroad because he moved his factory from the UK to Asia. I don't buy his products now, having bought them in the past. I've found better ones ( a USA brand) that are cheaper, easier to maintain and just as effective. I don't know why the government couldn't buy from existing British Companies that made ventilators, rather than going for an uncertain untested product from Dyson.
    2
  190. The abolition of the death penalty is something the UK Parliament voted for.
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  191. What a terrible crime.
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  192.  @blue_jay31  Do you mean 'accepts'?.
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  193. Bold? Bringing back some useless and dangerous ones like Suella Braverman, Dominic Raab and Gavin Williamson. I don't see that ending well.
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  194. The patients aren't helped by people abandoning them though.
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  195.  @TheNDofUO  Well if all they read is tabloid press, that's the sort of viewpoint they are being fed. If you asked them exactly what was wonderful about Margaret Thatcher, they'd probably say something very trite. She would have lost the 1983 election but for the Falklands War. She had become more unpopular until her war 'victory'. She would not let the wounded take part in the Victory parade either.
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  196. On Channel 4 News an ex IDF man said there was nothing to stop the IDF shooting anyone no matter who. There was no penalty and in fact they were encouraged by the government to shoot. So it doesn't seem like it was done by rogue IDF. The cars were clearly marked. The aid workers' position and route was notified to the IDF beforehand and they had permission to travel and the shooters systematically shot one car after another. It seems Israel just doesn't want food getting to Palestinians in Gaza.
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  197.  @kanedNunable  And the French holding out.
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  198.  @Space.Ghost.  The old ones are the best.
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  199.  @Space.Ghost.  Yawn
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  200.  @stephenweir9871  Yes but it's one lump in a world of lumps and it is probably the most benign of the world's lumps.
    1
  201. He has already commented.
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  202.  @morpheus9137  Not that.
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  203.  @johnrussell3961  I agree with what you say.. At the time of the GFA it didn't need to say anything about equality and equivalence between NI and GB. It didn't need to because it wasn't an issue that related to achieving peace in NI. In fact NI has avoided being in line with UK legislation on abortion and a few other issues. There have been differences between NI and the rest of the UK because of its delegated authority as a result of devolved government. Devolved government means there can be differences between England and the other countries of the UK on devolved issues, but human rights legislation means that there should not be differences on human rights that all member of the UK are entitled to. The NI protocol in all its ramifications deals with trade issues. It does not affect human rights issues or deal in nationality issues.
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  204.  @johnrussell3961  Yes as long as there's also justice and equality of rights (in practice).
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  205.  @johnrussell3961  I don't see that. The GFA was agreed in 1998 when both Ireland and the UK were in the EU. Economic ties were strong then. It was Brexit that caused the rift in economic ties, something that NI didn't vote for.
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  206.  @johnrussell3961  In terms of equality I'm referring to human rights. I'm not sure what the GFA has to say about that. I must have a look, but at the time Ireland and the UK, as part of the EU were on the same page when it came to human rights. That could change as the UK government shamefully now threatens to withdraw form the ECHR. There are areas where the GFA allows equivalence with both Ireland and the UK. For instance people in NI can choose whether to have and Irish or a British passport or they can have both.
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  207. Do these people want us to end up like India?
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  208. We won't because we listen to the science rather than to uninformed people.
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  209. Why don't Labour follow Keynesian economics? However to add some balance it doesn't seem that the UK financially is doing worse than the rest of Europe. The pound and the Euro have fallen against the dollar.
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  210.  @lechatel  Employing lefties does not automatically mean the news is not fact checked. They employ righties too, by the way. I do think lefties are more open to having their views challenged than righties are. Righties seem to think it should not be allowed and get mightily offended by different opinions. Their instincts don't seem democratic.
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  211. He is appealing to the worst instincts of the Tory Party membership and the ERG. Dictionary definition of vilify. speak or write about in an abusively disparaging manner: synonyms: disparage · denigrate · defame · run down · revile · berate · belittle · abuse · insult · slight · attack · speak ill of · speak evil of · pour scorn on · cast aspersions on · criticize · censure · condemn · decry · denounce · pillory · lambast · fulminate against · rail against · inveigh against · malign · slander · libel · conduct a smear campaign against · spread lies about · blacken the name/reputation of · sully the reputation of · give someone a bad name · bring someone into disrepute · discredit · stigmatize · traduce · calumniate · impugn · slur · contemn · derogate · vituperate · asperse · vilipend
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  212.  @evolassunglasses4673  He was so hammered by the media and traditional Labour voters did not identify with him because he had an international outlook, didn't have an obsession with immigration, came from the south of England and not from traditional working class roots. Not many of them read his manifesto to see how well his policies would have benefited them. In terms of Brexit he offered people a choice, a new vote on the proposal now that people had more information and could see what the proposed deal was under Theresa May, with a choice of options from Remain, to various other Brexit options. Unfortunately by then people were so fed up with the length of time Brexit was taking they didn't want any further lengthy procedures and leavers didn't want to risk the referendum result being overturned in a further vote.
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  213.  @thedead073  Not crying. Just observing.
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  214. @al2343 The information on this event says that those self-identifying as black are eligible. How can you challenge someone who self-identifies and doesn't this event suggest that skin colour is the most important thing in judging people? Is that what black people have objected to as racism? Personally I've no objection to it as it's only for a couple of days, but it's mighty hard to justify philosophically without straying into dodgy ground.
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  215.  @sentinal2343 What do you expect me to see?
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  216.  @sentinal2343  Do you not know that self-identification does not depend on looks?
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  217.  @sentinal2343  Don't get annoyed. That's not my aim. I was just debating. Take care.
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  218. @al2343 What type of delusions would those be? I'm speaking theoretically not personally. You seem angry with all those exclamation marks.
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  219. Sadly price is the biggest factor for most consumers.
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  220.  @kasegiyabu5030  There won't be any British manufacturing if we have a hard Brexit, unless we set a tariff under WTO terms to protect against unfair competition, but that would put prices up on imports for British consumers and the EU tariff for us would be 40%.
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  221.  @bobbybrown9570  Ironically those who support hard Brexit for patriotic reasons, and think that the time of the British Empire is when Britain was at its best as well as WW2 etc, and who are proud that Britain has not been defeated for centuries, are about to inflict some of the biggest destruction on Britain in its history without even being informed or aware about the consequences of what they are doing, destroying their own prospects and those of their fellow Britons, and leading to the break up of the UK. Britain will be defeated by the actions of its own people.
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  222.  @Blazegraze12  I feel I have to try, even if it's wasted breath. So little honest information has been given to the Public of what a post hard Brexit world would be like. I was pleased to see Liam Fox (at the week-end) being honest and realistic about fantasy stuff Boris Johnson was spouting, but that's only because Fox supports Hunt (there's a joke there somewhere). Before then Fox was all gung ho for Brexit. He's open about supporting a deal now.
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  223. Then are you proposing to do without a democratic system? What do you put in its place? Even Churchill said democracy is the worst system except for all the alternatives.
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  224.  @ScarsNotFresh  Yes and it was a silly comment. They are not all useless, only the ones in government and that's because Boris J appointed a lot of useless MPs to Ministerial roles so that they would not show up his own incompetence. I do remember Labour governments that achieved things and that can happen again if Starmer lets it.
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  225. Inquiries are set up as independent inquiries. The government can't legally control them.
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  226. Khan.
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  227.  @Steve-bj3op  their
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  228.  @noramartin96  epidemic
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  229.  @niguel4438  To go along with alternative facts?
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  230. I can't understand why he would want it to win now. Is it selfish motives regardless of the effect on the majority of the population? It must be.
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  231. If Commissioners had to resign every time an upsetting crime happened there'd be no stability in the police force.
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  232.  @AllanHinde-mb2pr  How does that translate into policy and by the way the Reform party does not believe in funding public services.
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  233.  @nedkelly33  They were not they was. They were part of an organisation serving over 300,000 meals a day to hungry Palestinians.
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  234. This guy isn't listening.
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  235.  @johncobourne361  Brilliant.
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  236. But also an increase in the amount that can carers can earn before carer's allowance is removed and wages are generally increasing including minimum wage rates.
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  237. Do you mean Khan? He wasn't 'hired' either. He was elected and the Mayor can't predict where the mentally unwell will appear these days. It the government who funds (of fails to fund) NHS services.
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  238.  @XENONEOMORPH1979  You're out of date. Khan increased knife searches as announced on 10 Jan 2018. Re the NHS. What on Earth are you on about? Evidence please? if you are referring to Labour MP Rebecca Long Bailey, she's never been in government.
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  239.  @XENONEOMORPH1979  Khan increased searches for knives as announced on 10 January 2018. What are you talking about in reference to the NHS? It's not owned by Luxembourg and if you are referring to Rebecca Long Bailey, Labour MP, she's never been in government. Are you saying the first nonsense that comes into your head?
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  240.  @XENONEOMORPH1979  Why don't you look up the stop and search stats and compare them to those before 2018 or can't you be bothered? Stopped St George? There's no evidence that St George existed never mind 'going through London'. He's regarded as a mythical figure. Do you mean the flag of St George? Do you mean the violent protest by the Tommy Robinson supporters who arrived ready for a fight? I'm not sure they were banned from London. I saw a video of them in London giving the police a hard time.
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  241.  @tennis5011  He was, but he accepts the results of the Referendum.
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  242. So as not to prejudice a trial.
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  243. The BBC is what's holding up the news standards for the rest. Once it goes, watch standards drop.
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  244.  @-DC-  The sad thing is that ingmorant people will only want to pay for TV that spouts their own ignorant opinions and you'd get the sort of stupid TV they have in the States with people as much in the dark as many of them are there.
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  245.  @-DC-  Anyone can do TV on the cheap if they don't bother with good journalism and if they don't check their facts.
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  246.  @shadejalik4769  I was listening to this while you were wittering on about Meds. It's quite an interesting debate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k448JqQyj8
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  247. @Seymour Butts I never said the BBC was perfect. I don't think a perfect broadcaster exists, but it's a lot better than many of the alternatives.
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  248. That should be up to her local party and her constituents.
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  249.  @robtyman4281  That should be up to her local party and local voters.
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  250. @my self So do you choose not to watch any news programmes? Are you choosing to be uninformed?
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  251. @Gary Foster Most of the newspapers are right wing as their proprietors are rich men with their own personal political agendas. The BBC at least isn't run by single proprietors who are very selective about what they publish and the slant they give to it. 'Private Eye' is a good magazine because it exposes corruption no matter what side of politics it comes from.
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  252.  @Analiffey1916  The BBC was forced into that position on the elderly by the government because the government withdrew the amount they were paying the BBC to allow free licences for the over 75s. They then said it was up to the BBC to decide whether to continue supporting the free licences, knowing full well that the BBC no longer had the funds to do it, but the BBC not the government would get the blame for stopping it. All those who don't pay their TV licences also make it harder for the BBC to give those concessions because their funds are reducing.
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  253.  Moonshine Buck  I believe in paying to get a good standard of TV. If no one paid you'd get nothing good and that's the way it seems to be going. People who complain that there's nothing good to watch on BBC TV seem not to understand that not paying a licence will not improve that. It will make it worse.
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  254.  Moonshine Buck  Oh don't be so silly. People are getting intolerant now and can't bear to hear anything that disagrees with their own personal views,calling it 'biased' and those sort of intolerant attitudes led to people voting for the Nazis in Germany. I can just see many people slipping into that sort of thing now, the way things are going.
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  255.  @hoodoooperator.5197  I searched for the videos on youtube and looked at what came up, but I also get impatient with amateur presenters wittering on. Be focused and concise I say.
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  256.  @jamiebrooks3864  *biased. It's not the same bias though. No media is perfectly unbiased. Even if they try to be objective, there is such a thing as subconscious bias, but they best ones understand this and at least aim to have good journalists who check their facts. The cheapskate ones don't bother with such things as checking facts. They go for sensationalism whether true or false, to hook in viewers. Clickbait is part of this, when it's news online.
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  257.  @polm4074  Because as soon as the BBC goes those other stations will drop their quality and up their prices.
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  258.  Robert Britton  No. Do you have racist friends?
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  259.  Robert Britton  I'm one who seems to draw comments from goons.
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  260.  @ludwigwittgenstein2422  Hardly as the people I vote for are not the clowns in power now.
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  261.  @ludwigwittgenstein2422  Of course. That goes without saying. Who else's opinion would it be?
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  262.  @divinestrike00x78  The NHS will not be sold off wholesale but little by little it's being more and more put into private company hands under the NHS logo, which the Tories will keep and regard as a 'brand'. As long as it's still free at the point of use they hope people won't notice how much public funding is going into private shareholders pockets. The USA at the very least will be interested in upping the prices of drugs they sell to the NHS.
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  263.  @Aaron-he3qd  I think the fact that they voted to stay in the EU whereas England and Wales voted to stay is enough of a reason for another referendum. The previous Scottish independence referendum was well before the referendum on EU membership, so that's significant change warranting another independence vote.
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  264.  @rintymcginty5618  They have to be careful because their charter requires them to have balance, and the UK government appoints their governors. However, the UK government is Tory and right wing (since 2010) and yet lots of people accuse the BBC of being left wing. Since they get accused of being opposite things (government { right wing} propaganda, and left wing propaganda) that's an indication that they sit somewhere in the middle of those two.
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  265.  @BobBob-cn1yy  No.
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  266. @giddy What country are you talking about? You can't call the Tories left wing.That's so ignorant. All modern countries tax and regulate. You're not living in Victorian times. Tory governments deregulated the financial system in Thatcher's time, leading to globalisation of capitalism that can move money and jobs to the countries with the cheapest most exploited labour. It allows rich people to keep their profits in offshore tax havens, it privatised the railways, water, gas and electricity and the forensic service, Treasury buildings, and army recruitment. It allows foreign corporations and foreign criminals laundering money to buy British property. It semi privatised the post office, education, prisons , court services and the probation service. It required the NHS to put its services out to tender with private companies. There are a lot more public services that have been outsourced or privatised - too many to mention. They hate Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party who are socialists. Socialists would not do any of the above. It's true that hate speech is banned. The government doesn't want civil disturbances. Your comment about being told what colour underwear to wear shows just how childish, ignorant and self pitying your thought process and your level of understanding is.
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  267.  @lomgshorts3  If that was the case, you would have no one in politics who was representative of the average person. Only the very wealthy would be able to afford to go into politics and their interests are very different from those of the average worker.
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  268. Make them work for advertisers rather, and serve up cheap fare - more reality TV is what's needed isn't it, because we just don't have enough of that and it takes our minds of stuff that really matters.
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  269.  Hugh G. Rection  How people well name themselves on youtube never fails to surprise.
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  270.  @richkingb01  Yes it is. BBC 4 is brilliant for my tastes and interests. I also like BBC2 which Peaky Blinders debuted on, and lately there was Peaky Blinders on BBC1 as well as Poldark. The BBC also was a co-producer of the brilliant TV series 'Rome'. If you didn't have the BBC you wouldn't have their brilliant back catalogue either. I also like Radio 4 though it's dumbing down a bit now it's being squeezed of funds.
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  271.  @godzilla2k26  What do you mean 'so you settled'?
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  272. I think he wanted to be in power to be able to control the financial framework that allows him and other wealthy Tories to carry on making a lot of money without restraint. I think that's what most Tory MPs are concerned with. They fear Labour will regulate more, tax the wealthy more, chase up tax avoiders and plug tax loopholes.
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  273. Brexiteers were told to ignore experts before the Referendum and generally did. Even if the UK voted to rejoin the single market now, the EU might not accept us. It only takes one dissenting EU member to block a rejoin application. Starmer probably wants to avoid promising something he knows can't be delivered within maybe a decade and more now.
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  274.  @jamesoneill2933  Don't speculate based on your prejudices. Wait for the facts to emerge.
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  275. They are all for the filthy rich in fact, though they have a facade of being blokish and for the ordinary man
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  276. Paul Starmer. The 17.4 million stabbed themselves in the back and when politicians try to save them, they insist they don't want the treatment. Fine. Let's just see how that goes.
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  277.  @chrismcparland5274  But we were never told what leave would mean for the economy. The Leave Manifesto suggested we would have a great deal but it can take up to 10 years to negotiate trade deals. In the meantime WTO rules would apply which mean tariffs on trade and what that would mean for the economy was never discussed. In any case the EU won't be offering us, in a deal, the kind of terms we had as a member of the EU so there will be an econimic hit and it was never admitted or assessed at the time. Cameron never had a plan for leave as he was convinced that Remain would win and when leave won, he resigned leaving others to sort things out.
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  278.  @chrismcparland5274  In answer to your last question. They will hope we still continue to buy from them but they will certainly make it more difficult for us to sell to them. At least I've looked up the rules rather than just throwing about slogans like 'project fear'. Anyway we will see as Brexit is going to happen now though there will be a one year transition period unless Boris dumps his withdrawal agreement. He has said he will get a deal with the EU ready for a year's time, but since EU deals have never been negotiated in such a short space of time, it remains to be seen whether he can do it or even whether he really wants to do it.
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  279.  @chrismcparland5274  Yep. It's a tough old world out there and no one will be doing us favours when we're out of the EU.
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  280. @Andrew Battersby What I mean is to contrast a hard Brexit which is leaving the EU without a deal, with Corbyn's idea of a Brexit to save jobs, which was staying in a customs union with the EU. A few countries have arrangements like that with the EU but they are not in the EU. I can't remember them all off the top of my head Turkey is one.
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  281. @Andrew Battersby Well if our government has overseen a 67bn trade deficit inside the EU, I don't hold out much hope of them doing well in the wider world. We are governed by incompetents. Look, though I don't have confidence in the Tories, I hope things work out well for the north of England and for long neglected areas in the UK.
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  282. This title is silly and illogical and incorrectly paraphrases what the Professor said. Of course conservatives losing in 2024 would be unprecedented, because there is no other year 2024 which could be a precedent.
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  283. Andrew Marr has no judgement. He was extolling the virtues of Liz Truss a month before she crashed. Now he extols the virtues of Penny Mordaunt but in her previous race for the leadership she showed herself to be very naive and ignorant and made very bad mistakes.
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  284.  @cgdimension  No. The right will turn on the left first and vice versa.
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  285. Their news programmes keep up the standard of news on other channels. Their new dramas keep up the standards of dramas. Bin it and watch standards drop, and you'd be expected to pay anyway if you want to watch TV without adverts every few minutes.
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  286.  @sudo_nym  I hate adverts interrupting programmes every few minutes and taking ages to run through so that it a problem for me and I watch the BBC more than any other station. I like the quality of shows - pity about the repeats but I don't want to pay more for all these commercial stations and get adverts thrown at me as well. Commercial stations are more likely to field fake news because they have fewer checks on it.
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  287. Auditors can always challenge the accounts and writings off and refuse to sign off the accounts if they are not satisfied - even bring in the police maybe. The NAO (National Audit Office) should be looking into this.
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  288. ?
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  289. I wanted to find out who. At one time some national newspapers used to publish details results for every constituency but alas no more it seems.
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  290. The Titchfield Thunderbolt is not 'cobblers'. Anyway the licence doesn't just pay for TV it pays for news and radio, and iplayer and the pleasure of watching programmes without adverts every few minutes.
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  291. Is this policy aimed at Remainers who don't like what Britain is becoming under Brexit? As for those who are against the existence of the country, is he going to lock up those Scots who want to break away from the UK by voting for Scottish independence.
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  292. Like the bonehead he is. He is gambling on the EU changing their negotiating position which they have always said they won't. Rees Mogg really hopes for a no deal Brexit but I can't somehow see him feeding his kids hormone fed beef but he's happy that it will go to other people's kids. Patrick Minford is a one song singer and he's prepared to sacrifice British manufacturing and industry.
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  293.  @tahirmahmood6316  Appalled? Applaud means the opposite.
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  294. Cultural Marxism does not exist. It's an invention of the right. They decided it's a thing and they decided to call it that.
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  295.  @mogznwaz  The biggest demand on the NHS is from the ageing population in Britain. Immigrants are needed to care for them both in the NHS and social care. Immigrants tend to be younger people and younger people don't use the NHS as much.
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  296. It's because pay has not kept pace with inflation.
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  297. I think a less simple analogy would be that she bought a porsche and a lamborghini without saying how she was going to pay back the money she borrowed for that with a risk of going bankrupt. The lamborghini was a gift for her already wealthy friend (who has 4 lamborghinis already). She says 'why are you asking why I've bought a lamborghini and how I'm going to pay for it? Why is no one talking about the porsche that I've bought to donate to a charity. I bought it with borrowed cash. I gave the cash to another friend, Mr Energy Company, to pay for that and by the way, the charity will be paying Mr Energy Company back for it over the longer term, (but he won't be paying it back to me). I am doing this in the hope that a wealthy relative might leave me something in their will in future though I can't say who that might be or whether they will. The banks are upset at my hopeless lack of credible plans, and they are now threatening to withdraw my credit unless I pay higher interest.
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  298. *indictment
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  299. It sounds like she could sue her insurance company if her cancer cover is 'fully comprehensive' though who has the energy for that at such a time. It may be that NIHCE have licensed the drug but won't make it available on the NHS because of cost or cost effectiveness? It needs clarification. She should write to her MP and the Health Minister.
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  300. Ultimately it's the government that people keep voting in.
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  301. Eh? I've heard of diversion tactics but this is ridiculous.
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  302. Only the government can properly fund the NHS. Public donations can't be used to expand services or increase staff numbers. That's not allowed. They can be used to buy medical equipment provided there are staff to operate it, and to make things more comfortable for patients.
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  303. Respect needs to be earned.
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  304.  @woodentie8815  It's hard when people feel strongly about things. They tend to miss the joke. Perhaps you should have used smiley emojis.
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  305.  @DavidCodyPeppers.  In what respect, because we'll desperately need escapism?
    1
  306. Didn't Kwarteng also remove the cap on bankers' bonuses?
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  307. She is the Chair of the ERG group. I think it's Sunak's attempt to hold the Tory Party together but she'll be a disaster.
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  308. Perhaps he thinks he's one of the elite that the Tories protect.
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  309. In terms of the affordability test, I doubt that before September 2022, any lender realised that rates would rise so high so fast, and such increases would not have been included in the calculations. If they were, far fewer people would have been granted a mortgage and all those coming to the end of a fixed mortgage were caught out too.
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  310.  @Royboy50  Putting up interest rates increases inflation when measured in RPI, so it's fuel for inflation.
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  311. Unnevervingly I've just realised his voice sounds like Tony Blair's
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  312.  @happyjonn9242  They vote on a wide range of issues in Parliament that they may not speak about but quietly vote in line with the majority of Tories.
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  313. Crass with a long a sound doesn't sound as crass as crass with a short a sound. Anglo Saxon vowel sounds are best for insults and swearing.
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  314. John Redwood is an alien or the nearest thing we have to one.
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  315. Everything to these people is a source of wealth creation. It has no other significance or value to them. It's football, but it could be anything else. (We need to guard our NHS too). Maybe we should be grateful to the Glazers for showing us the truth so starkly.
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  316. As an older person growing up in the UK, I feel we need to kick the Tories out, a.s.a.p as they are the ones doing most damage to the country.
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  317. The French actually offered to put more people on the border quite some time ago if the British erected more border posts and the British refused. Were many of these Ministers just following or accepting Boris's lies about border checks without checking? I can't believe their civil servants weren't telling them those statements were wrong. Remember when the public was told that 'we've had enough of experts' when those experts tried to explain the true position.
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  318. It's not normal to do so, if they are in custody, until they have been charged.
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  319. Jacob Rees Mogg is like Jon Snow. He knows nothing. He's just able to speak confidently as if he does.
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  320.  @bolasworld5425  Ukraine has always been nice to its neighbours but Putin invaded Ukraine. That's not being nice to neighbours.
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  321.  @patriciasullivan2817  You haven't been researching.Jacob Rees Mogg who is pro hard Brexit, relies on economist Patrick Minford in support of this, but even Minford says a hard Brexit will destroy British agriculture and manufacturing.
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  322.  @jb175  Neither was Labour's Manifesto full blown socialist. As I said it was more along Scandinavian lines.
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  323.  @jb175  Same as with Corbyn's plans. They did not remove capitalism.
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  324.  @jb175  Yep. Cobyn was never proposing that the state should own all the means of production. It was more like the Scandinavian model with some differences which I mentioned in another response to you.
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  325.  @alanbstard5584  I don't know but the work was dangerous and many suffered lung complaints and didn't live a full life span or live to collect a pension so I would have expected them to be well rewarded. The unions were necessary because in the history of mining safety was never a great concern of employers and the unions were bound to resist when Thatcher decided to close the mines because it meant the death of many communities.
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  326. This woman is thick. She can't understand a theoretical argument.
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  327. That was Brexit thinking. Why not await the results of the election?
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  328. You just don't want to hear anything against your dear leader.
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  329.  @VPhantom-rf3qo  I don't like O'Brien's style. To me it's bullying and bombastic but I distinguish between personalities and politics.
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  330.  @tonydavenport100  Read 'Private Eye'
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  331. Not until he's been charged.
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  332.  @Norfolkandchance886  You might be right. Innocence until proven guilty is the presumption at a trial and if he is judged to be not guilty, would it matter that his name was mentioned when charged?
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  333. It's not a propaganda machine as its charter obliges it to balance up the opinions they show, so even something that scientists overwhelmingly agree about has to be balanced by the views of some eccentric nutter with no facts to support their views.
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  334.  @yojimbo843  Bad because they don't agree with your own opinions? As I said they are bound by their charter to balance up opinions so they always have to put the other side to any argument and that's not bias to my mind.
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  335.  @tommybcfckrosotv  No I've always been left wing since I was 14 and I was capable of thinking about politics. My family was not left wing. I know no one who works for the BBC. You don't seem to think that people can think for themselves if they take an interest and seek to be informed. I don't think the BBC is left wing. They are fairly central.
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  336.  @Dazwa  I do watch the BBC. What and where is the proof? If sent to the BBC governors they would be obliged to correct it in line with the requirements of their charter - if it's statistically proved and not just subjective opinion.
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  337. 2 days ago no deaths and 3k new cases. Yesterday 12 deaths and 4k new cases. Today 18 deaths and 5k new cases. Seems like Covid spread is taking off again. Unfortunately keeping quiet and not being accountable seems to work for them with the voters who don't notice.
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  338. They had tasers. Not sure whether the injured ones had tasers.
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  339. You have to be pretty close (within samurai sword distance) to use a baton or a spray. Tasers are the tools that let you stay more at a distance
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  340. Labour prioritises people over money. Conservatives prioritise money over people (except when a general election is looming). If Labour were in power perhaps they would claw back some of the fraudulently acquired funds that the Conservatives let go, and tighten up on some tax loopholes.
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  341.  @paulgibbons2320  It's easy to get a simplistic message with simple slogans across to simple folk and harder to get a more complex argument across. People like simplicity because it's easy. They don't need to make an effort to find out facts etc.
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  342.  @paulgibbons2320  I never said I was the only one in the world that uses facts. Far from it. You are misrepresenting my argument. How like the bad news channels. My ego doesn't come into this, just my fear of what people will do and the decisions they will make based on bad information. Decisions that will affect us all. My parents died in the 1970s so I have been managing and making decisions for myself since young and I've been successful at that so far, but the great divisions in society over Brexit and the poor information we get about it are scary for their potential consequences. I also think a lot of hate is fuelled by poor journalism as people look for someone else to blame.
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  343.  @starbar1958  The Metro is pro Tory . It's owned by The Daily Mail. The New Statesman is a magazine. Magazines don't have the same circulation. The 'i' which used to stand for The Independent, is also owned now by The Daily Mail.
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  344. When they bothered to understand the details because they cared, were interested and not lazy.
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  345.  @georgewright9914  You left yours at home.
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  346. The one who we see charging him had a taser which brought him down. Getting to the scene of the crime quickly was obviously more important in protecting the public than waiting for an armed response unit to be assembled.
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  347. If they did understand they would not care although they would say they do.
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  348. It's just shysterism and chicanery. They know very well what the situation is.
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  349.  @highpath4776  The other options were to remain in the customs union (that would mean no outside trade deals but since none of those deals are better than we had in the EU and there are fewer of them, that's not much of a price to pay though there may be a fee for being in the customs union) or stay in the single market but without being part of the EU (that would mean paying a fee, abiding by all the single market rules but having no say on them). I wish we had at least stayed in the customs union.
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  350.  @chatham43  In third world countries most people have little power and can't stop corporations ripping them off in collusion with their government and can't stop their streams and rivers being polluted and their environments being degraded, and often can't afford to feed themselves and their families, er, er, er.
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  351. Names aren't mentioned until the person is charged.
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  352.  @mohamedabdillahi6180  Well last I heard the police had not interviewed him as he was receiving treatment in hospital. I don't suppose it will be long though.
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  353.  @mohamedabdillahi6180  Read a decent source of news or maybe the Mirror didn't come out in time to issue the latest. news. TV news would be more up to date. His name is Marcus Monzo. He has dual Spanish and Brazilian nationality. Those countries are mostly Catholic but whether he has any beliefs I don't know. He was previously registered as a Director of a real estate company. It sounds like he had some mental breakdown or psychotic episode. I expect more will be revealed on that at the trial.
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  354. That's nonsensical 'what iffery' backed by no evidence. Workers pay has historically been higher under Labour. People were not worse off.
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  355. Don't blame Labour for years of Tory austerity, Anna Soubry!
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  356. Or rather the incident has impacted on the 'hatred between police and the public' by improving relationships?
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  357. Everyone the guy injured is a victim of his violence.
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  358.  @Confessionofteenagenuns  No I'm not locked into partisan thinking. I accept what you say and Labour made mistakes but I was answering a comment that said Labour abandoned the working class so I was listing evidence to show they did do things to benefit the working class. As for privatising the NHS. Yes Labour agreed short term contracts with private health sector to quickly reduce waiting lists on operations such as cataracts and hip replacements but it was the Coalition government (Tories and Lib Dems) who introduced routine privatisation of the NHS through the Health and Social Care Act 2012 which required the NHS to invite the private health sector to bid for any health contract going. The private health sector only wanted to cherry pick profitable areas of NHS services though. The unprofitable parts were left to the NHS. I was born in 1954 to a working class family and I've worked in the health sector and seen all the changes.
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  359. He thinks the wealth we gained from exploiting countries in the British Empire is the same as wealth to be gained from trading with them. He thinks we'd get the same amount of wealth from trade as from exploitation. He doesn't think at all. His brain is full of Tory tabloid propaganda and is just a collection of prejudices.
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  360. It's not true that we've not seen an unassailable majority before in recent history. Boris Johnson got an 80 seat majority in 2019 but the Tories have blown that. What worries me is that if Labour don't deliver the country may swing strongly to the right at the next election or maybe the one after that. Labour don't have much money to play with either.
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  361. It's called a General Election although people vote constituency by constituency. Local elections are elections for local councillors and don't happen at the same time
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  362. We are stuck in an economic impasse now. The only way to produce growth with no pain for voters is to levy higher tax on the corporate sector that can afford to pay and to invest that money for growth. Also to reverse Brexit so we can export again more easily. These are not Tory policies as they don't fit with Tory ideology.
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  363. The future's so scary with AI and if people's access to the truth is being overthrown in favour of lies and conspiracy theories.
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  364. I think his ex wife should support him more for the sake of the kids as they are both responsible for their welfare. Look at the state the lack of adequate universal credit has got him into. It sounds like he's going to get ill through stress. He really doesn't know which way to turn. I wish people would come together as a community. For instance getting together with others in the same situation to share and pool resources in terms of childcare and work and rent. Communal living might be a way to go as this government is uncaring. Everyone is left to sink or swim on their own.
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  365.  @christalmeth613  Even Putin couldn't do that much damage.
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  366. The Tories will be hoping for some payback from the wealthy beneficiaries in terms of contributions to the Tory Party.
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  367. He's got some points to make but he's long winded about it.
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  368. And how is your unnumbed brain doing?
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  369.  John Munroe  You know nothing John Munroe (aka Snow). The BBC is controlled by its governors and the Chief Executive. This Tory government has appointed the governors and they appointed a hard market Chief Executive who privatised as much as he could, as they wanted him to. I wish they taught politics and government at school so people would know how things work.
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  370.  @Human_Harvest  How is it that he asked a woman to let the person on his phone know his location then? She realised he wasn't right in the head just by the look of him.
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  371. Boris doesn't have the interest or skills or knowledge to negotiate properly. For him it's always wanting to be seen as some sort of victor in a macho sense, even when he's proposing nonsense.
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  372. When he was talking about the EU it struck me that's just what Boris would love 'power without accountability' and page 48 of his manifesto indicates he's working towards that. As for being bullied, the UK government instigated or voted for 98% of EU regulations.
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  373.  @samanthawhiting7962  People can choose how to spend their money though. Is yours an argument for paying the lowest possible wages?
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  374.  @samanthawhiting7962  I don't understand your penultimate sentence. It's not grammatical and doesn't seem to make sense.
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  375. It's not normal to release a person's name when they are in custody, until they have been charged. It looks like a white guy though and the woman he first spoke to said he looked not right which would probably mean he looked mentally ill.
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  376.  @NecessaryDramaAddictionNDA  How can you tell his nationality from the videos and stills?
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  377.  @NecessaryDramaAddictionNDA  Why would that be relevant?
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  378.  @NecessaryDramaAddictionNDA  What exactly did you hear? What was the impression you got from that?
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  379.  @NecessaryDramaAddictionNDA  I don't know yet.
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  380. No he didn't. JRM avoided answering some of JOB's key questions, such as the fact that economist and pro Brexiteer Patrick Minford, whom JRM cites in support of hard Brexit, has stated that hard Brexit will destroy British manufacturing and farming. Minford is quite o.k with that. He doesn't think it's important, but will the public be so willing to accept it. JRM wouldn't even admit that's what Patrick Minford said. Nor could he deny it. He just ignored the question completely. He does that when the facts don't suit his argument.
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  381. He was either seeking an answer from the paper or doing a variation on la la la not listening.
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  382. Redwood has always been nuts. The others are probably aware that they are lying.
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  383.  @yuccatree4298  Yes that's the origin of the word. They were given that name by their opponents The Whigs, I think and it was meant as an insult. The word Whig was also an insult and meant country bumpkin. I'm not sure what Stephen Fry video you are referring to.
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  384.  @yuccatree4298  I'll have a look at the video. You know cultural influences come from all over what was The British Empire. Those cultures have influenced Britain which is why our most popular dish is curry and we have lots of Indian words in the language like pyjamas, shampoo and bungalow. It doesn't always mean something negative. Sometimes Brtain has adopted concepts or words they've admired or learned from or that are lacking in our own language or expressed better in another. Tory may be one of those and we have the term Boycott as well. I'm sure there are many others. Britain is also a very diverse country now. There isn't a single English or British view of things.
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  385.  @yuccatree4298  Sorry I can't find the link from your earlier post. Could you possibly copy and paste it to me in reply?
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  386.  @yuccatree4298  What a brilliant video. I think it's spot on. I will be sharing it with any deluded Brexiteers I come across.
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  387. I'm being treated by foreign born nurses and doctors as well as British born and I can't fault any of them on the question of compassion. Lovely people.
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  388. Which Tory propaganda has he been swallowing. He doesn't seem to realise there are far more tax paying workers than rich people tax payers. Wealthy taxpayers are often parking their wealth in offshore tax havens.
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  389. Johnson has refused to apologise for that lie.
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  390. I suppose the markets have the same sort of view as mortgage brokers when they impose an affordability test on would be borrowers. They want to know when and how borrowing can be paid back. They won't rely on some nebulous theory of growth of income in future particularly when the outlook for the future looks difficult. This is interesting because Labour has in its past manifestos, talked of borrowing for investment to produce growth. Investment is more likely to produce growth than tax cuts because it is more targeted at businesses that have consumer demand or can create it, to produce growth and it's growth that will allow the repayment of debt. It's also possible to calculate the anticipated return on investment. However nothing is without any risk. Would the markets, who are risk averse, have taken the same view of Labour's plans I wonder. I'm not defending the Tories here as I can't see how their cuts would have produced growth, but are the markets intolerant of all borrowing by a country already in debt unless there's absolute certainty about the pay back mechanism or is borrowing for investment with a calculated payback time acceptable? The only alternatives seem to be growth in exports (difficult post Brexit) or cuts in spending (difficult politically and morally). I suppose the answer is for countries not to corner themselves in the first place but we are where we are now.
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  391.  @davidcarroll3169  *you're. I think they were fairly decent to Trump given that the man makes a fool of himself each time he opens his mouth. In Ireland he didn't remember the name of the P.M. he was meeting and he thought they wanted a wall like the US. What an idiot. He then contradicted what he'd said when the Irish P.M indicated that he'd got the wrong end of the stick.
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  392.  @rinaa6865  It's not propaganda you could actually see the words come out of his mouth. Name a President who is as ignorant as Trump? He clearly talks cobblers and knows nothing about the Irish border situation. Everything it always going to be good and fine and work out well, except that he said that about North Korea and China . They were his good friends and look how that turned out. It's all cobblers. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2019/jun/05/trump-compares-post-brexit-irish-border-issue-to-plans-for-us-mexico-wall-video
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  393.  @davidcarroll3169  Bill who?
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  394. @Shlomo Bergenstein No. I never believed Iraq had WMDs.
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  395.  @shadejalik4769  Well that's just a prejudiced argument. Nothing to do with facts.
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  396.  @shadejalik4769  Ah well, once you start ad hominem attacks you''ve lost the argument, since you've given up on everything except attacking the person.
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  397.  @rinaa6865  He keeps saying that so many foreign dictators are his friends and how well he gets on with them and how good trade is going to be but in reality the doesn't improve relationships one bit,and a trade war won't necessarily benefit the US. I think his tearing up of the treaty with Iran is dangerous and could lead to conflict in the strait of Hormuz. O.K if the US is prepared to spend billions on war and send off many of its young men to be killed. The alternative is nuclear war which would kill even more people. He is trying to undermine Medicare, having failed to get it overturned in Congress, but it's your country, if that's what you want. I don't have to admire it though, do I?
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  398. Stress can lower the immune system and sometimes there's a link between stress and cancer. They've had to put up with the shenanigans of the Sussexes for years now.
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  399.  @andrewjohn5951  Time is not long enough to list them. Do some research yourself.
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  400.  @prasanamcdonald7991  Why?
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  401.  @skinnytinny9023  She's not accountable to the Tory press for her personal tax affairs. That would be a bad precedent to set. She's only accountable to HMRC.
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  402. He used to be the Secretary of State for Health so he thinks he knows a lot.
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  403. So they sit around moaning all day and the media spends its time moaning about them. Lol.
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  404. I'm sure the police or the inquiry will attempt to establish with Boris what his diary entries mean.
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  405. Tunbridge Wells is not the countryside. I've been there. It's posh and wealthy. Even the countryside around it is wealthy.
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  406. You think they are politically biased towards Labour. Then why is this happening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMx78U0V1Cc&t=43s
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  407. On Channel 4 (the channel Dorries wants to flog off, remember), an expert was talking about how most of our gas comes from our own shores, The North Sea, and though it's subject to world pricing, we don't have to go along with that. The government could unilaterally reduce or cap the price of our supplies, but will they even think about doing that? I doubt it. The other piece of information I came across was that the energy companies the government met with over the last few days are the retailers (the ones that are barely surviving) and not the wholesalers (the ones that are raking in the massive profits). Not very useful, and it didn't produce any new announcements about help. In politics, where there's a will, there's a way, but I detect no will in this government to really get to grips with the issue in a way that will stave off the massive pressure on people's finances that's to come.
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  408. Unless it comes out of profits rather than prices. Competition should keep prices down. Wages are going up in any case and that hasn't caused an increase in inflation,. so far, despite all the grisly warnings in the Tory press.
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  409. I think tasers may have overtaken them. If you get close enough to use a baton, you'd be too close to a samurai sword or machete for safety.
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  410. I think it's worse for all non-Tory voters in the UK.
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  411. You would also wonder who would now vote for Donald Trump but he still has a lot of support from those who don't care or believe what he's done.
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  412. Civil Servants can't be expected to or asked to break the law. That's it. Why is it in the government approved Code if that's not the case? Wouldn't Jews in Germany have welcomed it if civil servants and officials being asked to arrange atrocities against the Jews in WW2 had stood up and refused to do it?
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  413.  @georgewright9914  No it's not a lie. I agree with your first sentence. I just didn't go into the history in my comment but I have elsewhere on this page. I didn't want to repeat myself. Yes Brown allowed regulation that was too light but the opposition Tory Party at the time wanted even lighter regulation so there was no significant opposition calling for tougher regulation in the UK before the crash. After the crash Brown decided that the banks in the UK needed to be supported to maintain people's savings and also to prevent a complete collapse of confidence in the capitalist financial systems, that would otherwise have caused the collapse of countries economies. Realising that it was not just a UK issue and the solution could not just be a UK solution he travelled to the EU and the USA to persuade them of the need for them also to prop up their banks.
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  414. Tories borrowed 450bn to deal with Covid (as he says) and funnelled quite a lot of it to their friends and supporters for fraudulent or non performing contracts
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  415. Looking pleased with yourself before achieving anything or in spite of achieving very little seems to be a prerequisite of the Tory Party.
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  416. Because the government does not really want to payout any more to people if they can possibly avoid it. It doesn't fit with their ideology of small government and leaving individuals to stand or fall on their own feet. They might have to do something in order to try and get elected again but for the moment the leadership contenders are trying to impress Tory MPs and 160,000 Tory party members who don't believe in handouts or support. As for Boris he's off on holiday saying it's nothing to do with him, but he's basically in support of the no payout line.
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  417. She actually said that Hunt shares her views on the economy. Either she's not being honest or she's delusional or he's changed or she just means they both want growth. The Tory Party is so ideologically divided how are they ever going to coalesce around a single set of coherent policies. For heaven's sake don't bring George Osborne back. Rigid thinkers, Truss, May and Thatcher have all been rigid thinkers. The least rigid of which was Thatcher.
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  418. 'I've always been a right wing Conservative'. Well there's your problem.
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  419.  @julian-xd6iz  O what a crime? If only the Tory useless and corrupt had merely had a problem with their shoes.
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  420.  @TheNDofUO  I don't think those who voted for it understand that.
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  421. It is for judges of the Supreme Court to interpret the law and the constitution. If there were no limits to a prorogation process, what's to stop the government from proroguing frequently or even permanently to get rid of democratic opposition which would turn us into a dictatorship. There have to be some limits. I don't rate Sharkey that much. As a historian, he makes mistakes in his history programmes, elementary errors.
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  422.  @chinogambino9375  They're not docile serfs but they respect the law because if you have no law you have chaos with the strongest most violent bully prevailing. We've been through that already in history and learned from it. There are democratic ways to change the law if enough people vote to do so.
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  423. Stop posting people's 'suggestions' Nigel if you know F all.
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  424. So rail workers and others are supposed to accept continual cuts in the value of their pay in order to court popularity? When will company bosses decide to take continual below inflation pay rises? Sorry but someone working on buses or retail don't require the same training and qualifications as a train driver and don't bear the same level of responsibilities. Why doesn't he compare MPs pay to that of retail workers then? When arguments are bankrupt, Tories resort to insults. I think the Tories are doing a better job or bringing down the country than the unions are.
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  425. their. He didn't want to underplay the seriousness of the guy's condition.
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  426. In early days of Brexit it struck me that it would be a problem for NI. The border is one thing but it goes wider than that. The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 was possible because of Human Rights legislation and Equality legislation which makes it illegal for one part of the population to discriminate against the other (the cause of the troubles in the 60s and 70s) but Leavers who are Tories have often said that they want to get rid of the Human Rights legislation which they think they can do once the UK is outside of the EU and allow them to remove some protections from people (workers for instance) - protections they disapprove of, but it would light a fire under NI again undermining the Good Friday Agreement. It would also suit the DUP to have hard border, because they see it as setting up a barrier against the risk of a United Ireland as does leaving the EU while the Republic of Ireland stays in the EU. They try to play down the risk of a hard border because they know it's not popular with many people in NI. Honesty is welcome but sadly honest information gets drowned out by ill-informed shouters.
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  427. The diabetic guy that can't afford food should go to a food bank. He needs to for the sake of his health.
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