Comments by "80s Music" (@eightiesmusic1984) on "PoliticsJOE" channel.

  1. I am very much on the left. Me and my wife saw Rory Stewart in 2009 or 2010 at the Hay Festival in a talk in a small tent chaired by Jon Snow. It was very good and he came across as highly intelligent and interesting. He was wearing a very stylish ( and seemingly expensive) jacket which I think he said he got in Paris, if memory serves me rightly. Prior to this we had not heard of him but he has continued to impress with his interviews on a range of topics in the years since. I would no doubt disagree with him on a number of issues but the ability of politicians on both sides to be able to engage with each other in civilised discussion as exemplified by Rory Stewart is important to democracy and public life. He is positive about Theresa May; she cut police numbers disastrously under austerity as Home Secretary and oversaw the hostile environment policy to immigration, both unacceptable. The Guardian has published a timeline of the policy. Even Johnson when Mayor of London called for an amnesty for illegal immigrants, recognising their contribution to the economy.
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  2. Abysmal performance from Truss. Repeatedly not answering questions by talking about energy help. Dishonourable and disreputable. Britain cannot be governed this way, nowhere can. The markets will react to the claim that there will not be any cuts to public spending- the numbers do not add up. Starmer weak compared to Blackford and some other MPs. The call for a GE was the right one- it needs to happen immediately.
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  3. Adios, au revoir, good riddance ( English for goodbye Johnson). It is remarkable that the bible survived contact with Johnson's hand.
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  4. Thanks Rachel.
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  5. The civil service is impartial. Suggestions to the contrary are very dangerous. Banning work drinks, if it happened, out of sensitivity to others is to be welcomed. The country is saturated in alcohol. It does no harm to give it a miss every now and again. Education is not 'rotted' with the left. That is not remotely true. Teachers have a duty to be impartial and adhere to this. Many teachers vote Tory and identify with Tory policies, not hard given that Labour is Tory anyway.
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  6. 'As you was coming into the building'. Aside from how badly Anderson comes across as a person and MP he cannot speak properly. It is 'as you were coming into the building'. He is not the only MP that cannot speak English correctly all of the time. It is not asking much for goodness sake. His attitude to the Met Commissioner was extremely rude and disrespectful, adding nothing to the discussion. I will not hold my breath for the next election but public life will be better when Anderson is out of it and forgotten about.
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  7. The Tory benches were subdued at PMQs today as their 'leader' blathered on about nothing with answers that would be considered poor in a Sixth Form debate. Starmer was his usual inspiring self ( don't call him boring) while Stephen Flynn dispensed a zinger about Johnson and truth.
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  8. The work environment in the UK in general is toxic. Countless lives and careers have been destroyed through bullying and nothing is done about it. Colleagues look the other way- no solidarity in most UK workplaces, and victims are on their own. Most unions are weak. Parliament reflects the state of this society and the public has what it deserves.
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  9.  @stephanguitar9778  Well said.
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  10. Most of Britain is countryside once you leave the cities. Any train or car journey illustrates this. Don't tell the little Englander's though, they will be upset by facts.
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  11. Red Tory nirvana is going to be amazing. The disappointment of all the deluded who think a Labour government is going to be any different to the Tories will be quite something. Starmer needs to be removed as Labour leader before he does a lot of damage that will pave the way for a hard right nationalist Conservative resurgence at the following GE.
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  12.  @RC-9  Not necessary to put it in perspective for me. The economy was growing in 2010 when Labour left office. The Tories lied continuously claiming that the economy was left in a mess by Labour, making false comparions with Greece to justify austerity. Austerity held back recovery, and the Tories failed to reduce both debt and deficit by their own measures. Britain was not bankrupt in 2010-countries that issue their own currency cannot go bankrupt. Pay attention at the back. The BMA estimated that the Iraq war killed up to a million citizens in the country. Labour failed on many levels but its biggest mistake has been to capitulate to Thatcherism/ neoliberalism. the root cause of all UK problems since 1979.
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  13. Wrong on Brexit but still a working class hero.
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  14. A number of reasons. One is the thickest electorate in the world bar North Korea. Millions will never learn and it will worse than this in a decade, two decades, take your pick. On and on.
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  15. 18 months ago average dual fuel bills were £1000 a year. Now they are going to be approximately £5000 per year by next April. This is not a saving, far from it. This time last week the energy support package was going to be in place for two years, now it has been scrapped to reassure the markets. Reinstatement is inevitable but in the meantime, millions will be terrified that they will not be able to pay, with all the attendant stress it will cause.
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  16.  @alanhynd7886  The peak year for disposable income in the UK was 1976, the so called bad old days according to Tories. Many families did well enough on just one wage too. Since all the money was transferred from the workers to the rich ( shovel up has been a roaring success for the Tories), many parents have to do two or three jobs between them, and then often topped up by tax credits. Tories are not cheap.
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  17. She comes across very badly.
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  18. This has been known for some time so why have channels like this not highlighted it? It is a disastrously one-sided deal. Another Truss failure.
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  19. Scotland has a right to decide on its future- if the will of the majority is for independence, so be it. The English have no right to deny this. I am English but there is no future for the country and the rest of the union under failed neoliberal policies that have caused the only destruction you should be concerned about, i.e of economy and society.
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  20. Is this the same Liz Kendall who lost to Corbyn in the Labour leadership contest? Thought so. Labour under Starmer supports neoliberalism which has killed far more people through neglect of their needs on many levels than the pandemic has. Tory handling of the pandemic is a disgrace but Labour has no intention of reversing neoliberalism. The Corbyn government many in the PLP fought to prevent would have listened to the science and the result would have been a much lower death toll. The irony of Kendall and the rest of Labour beggars belief.
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  21. Well done the 57% of nurses who did not post a ballot form in the strike ballot. The outcome undermines all of the other unions and will not exactly help with efforts to pay the rent or the mortgage. Is it any wonder the bosses pay peanuts in the UK when there is little to no worker solidarity? Power cedes nothing without a struggle- the RCN has just lost the battle for the foreseeable future.
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  22. Starmer is the establishment pick to maintain neoliberalism. It is as simple as that. Labour surrendered to it under Blair and has nothing to offer. The SNP acts and sounds like an opposition and clearly has a critique of the wild west capitalism that has destroyed Britain,making it the most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria.The Green Party also understand the issues. The gap will widen under Labour if it forms a government and every problem of today will worsen while it keeps the seat warm for something worse under the Tories in five or ten years time. Under Starmer Labour will be a disaster.
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  23. Precisely. The government is happy to host the rich from anywhere in the world, no questions asked about dirty money in the money laundering capital of the world but compassion for the world's dispossessed is a different matter altogether. Talk about Britain being big hearted is cheap and blatantly false- the Conservatives would not let anyone settle in Britain from the Ukraine if they could get away with it. Watch the numbers actually let in. This is the country that passed a law in 1905 to restrict immigration from Eastern Europe and imposed strict conditions on the Kindertransport refugees fleeing the Nazis in 1939.
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  24. Stamer out, new party needed to represent the workers. Very articulate contribution from the councillor. Far more fluent and committed than many MPs in putting the issues into context.
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  25.  @jrobs1133  Disgraceful comment but not surprising. Show some humanity. Get used to this issue continuing in vast numbers as migration drastically increases due to failure to tackle global warming. The numbers now are nothing to migratory flows coming in the next few decades to all of Europe.
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  26. The Tory government is the worst ever in British history. But the calibre of many in the PLP leaves a lot to be desired. If Labour forms a government anyone who thinks it matters should be very concerned about the number of lightweight politicians in Labour's ranks. It is very doubtful that on the whole they will be a revelation in terms of how well they command their brief. Worrying.
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  27.  @MCDONALD6969  Spoiler alert- Britain is an extreme right wing capitalist country. Tories should be deliriously happy with inequality, poverty, crumbling public services, sewage in rivers, poor education outcomes, high levels of violent crime, stagnant wages, weak unions and the rest. I know it could be more hard line but the path to even more extremism is safe in the hands of Labour and Tory for the next few decades. Soon it will be the 100th anniversary of the 1979 election and we can all celebrate even greater inequality then. First the 50th anniversary in 2029. Roll on the good times.
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  28. There are two ways of looking at it. There was an article in The Guardian following the interaction which put it in a different light. Some of the criticism of Sunak on this occasion was unfair. To be clear that is not a wider defence of the Tories as they are the worst government of all time in the UK bar none.
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  29. Nonsense. There is plenty of money in the pot- the rich have got it all. Do not defend the indefensible.
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  30.  @saulgoodman2278  Blackford is an effective parliamentarian. His opponents will recognise this if they are honest just as Sturgeon's opponents understand that she is a formidable politician. Both are playing their part in delivering independence, which is inevitable. It is coming. I wish them luck from England so the Scottish people can be freed from the dead hand of English nationalism.
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  31. MPs should take a worker's wage. How many do? Dave Nellist did in the eighties and nineties when he was a Coventry MP. The Labour Party is committed to the same neoliberal policies as the Tories. Turn out in London is not that high considering how serious the plight of workers is. Do not be surprised if the Tories win the next election. The canary in the mine is the 1992 election when Major won against the odds.
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  32. Thanks Yvette.
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  33.  @bartman01021988  Nonsense. There is no foundation to your unsubstantiated assertions whatsoever. Shameful. Solidarity with all vulnerable groups targeted by Tories.
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  34. The class system explains everything about Britain. France and other European countries have been far more egalitarian for decades. Britain is the most unequal country in Europe except Bulgaria yet the word 'inequality' and discussion of higher taxation for the rich are not even on the agenda, proof of the triumph of Thatcherism and its grip on the Labour Party which has no intention of changing the status quo to give the workers the money they deserve. Thatcher's anti trade union laws which make strikes difficult will not be changed by Labour either. Sold down the river.
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  35. He is much better than Starmer, quicker on his feet and more articulate by far.
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  36. Great post. Thank you for being part of the UK and I hope you know how many people value EU citizens.
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  37. The money is there but the political will to do the right thing is lacking. It is also a moral issue because the country has lost its bearings in the last few decades. There should be no debate or need to argue about the merits of paying people enough to maintain a decent standard of living; it is not happening in other wealthy countries. Public support for the strikes across the board seems to be split down the middle, which is an indictment of the large numbers who are content to see people struggle to afford to live. It would be unthinkable in the not too distant past. Spending on healthcare in France and Germany is 7% higher than in the UK and I think it is 15,000 beds that have been lost due to austerity. No wonder the system is creaking at the seams. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly many in the UK are to accept regressive measures as part of the landscape with a resigned shrug- foodbanks and appalling wait times for ambulances, to name but two. In France and some other countries the people would take to the streets ( peacefully should be the default).
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  38. Britain would have finally repudiated neoliberalism, the root cause of all our ills since 1979. The unwanted gift that keeps on giving.
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  39. Divide and rule. There should not be a race to the bottom, I agree. But whataboutery is part of the problem. The turn out in London is not that high- this does not augur well for the chances of the strikes succeeding.
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  40. There are stupid people in every country although there is a markedly high number of stupid racists in Britain.
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  41. They are more focused, across the issues and their own brief ( if they have a portfolio) and serious in their politics. They have played an important role in holding the Tories to account for their egregious mismanagement and trashing of the economy/ society.
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  42. She may be on the spectrum. There are a number of traits that would be consistent with this. Rory Stewart has said it is difficult to have a conversation with her. The failure to engage with the questions of interviewers goes beyond the usual avoidance tactics of politicians. It suggests she is detached from the reality of what is happening.
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  43.  @wozzer3wa Because you cannot.
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  44.  @haydens.p3597  It's an idea any sensible person would fully endorse but it is likely to make the gammon tendency to become puce with rage. Sane ideas must be broken in gently.
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  45. He cannot be taken seriously.
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  46. He will do his best to. This is new Labour mark 2 re running the nineties. Never mind that the nineties look like a utopia compared to the problems of today, new Labour is back to serve the interests of the rich.
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  47. Well said. No grounds for complaint. As the late, great Desmond Tutu said, if you are do not speak out against injustice you are on the side of the oppressor. That applies to most people in Britain who are selfish, and do not care about all the dreadful things happening around them in plain sight. The Tories were returned to power in 2015 with the largest number of seats since 1992 after five years of needless, callous and economically illiterate austerity. Most voters backed austerity, swallowing hook, line and sinker the lies about debt and deficit peddled by the Tories. The treatment of disabled people in Britain is a disgrace. Amnesia rules in Britain with the worst death toll in Europe due to Covid now consigned to the dim and distant past in most people's minds. At every turn the voters have failed to reject the Tories. Most voters who switched to Labour in 1997 identified with Tory policies. Neoliberalism has won hands down and destroyed Britain. No going back now.
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  48. Well said. I watch Politics Live every day and sometimes watch debates in Parliament. The arrogance of the Tories never ceases to amaze me as well as the nastiness of many of them. It is not just what they say but also the demeanour through the negative body language the men exude. The way some of them congregate on the back benches like a gang is unedifying. The Labour MPs do not do the same.
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  49. Low productivity has been an issue with the UK economy since the early 1980s for various reasons, including the appalling management culture that has worsened considerably in the last 25 years. Bullying is rife in the UK, a nasty country where the nastiest go getters are often to be found in managerial positions in different sectors. Nothing is done about it most of the time, and lives and talent is destroyed without anyone batting an eyelid. Until bullying carries jail sentences ( not likely but the point is valid), nothing will change. It would drop precipitously overnight. There are other countries where the culture in the workplace is far less hierarchical, more collegiate, and workers have more protection. Workers show little to no solidarity in the workplace, too scared and spineless to support victims of bullying. Pastor Martin Niemoller's famous poem is apt about the importance of standing up for what is right but no-one is listening in Britain. No-one is talking about the fact that bullying is one of the major reasons for the exodus of teachers in the UK, either.
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  50.  @Elisa-ul2we  Disgraceful comment. Shameful.
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