Political Discussions And Ranting Thread

[En Passant 3,741]

3 hours ago, The Old Crem said:

With Labour assume anything they won’t rule out doing when asked as something that is going to happen. 

 

They'd better bloody not. It's already one of the most wildly unfair taxes where a two up two down in Hartlepool or somewhere similar pays more for 'local' services than a mansion in Westminster. It needs reform without question, but not that way.

 

Any decent society should pay for services such as adult social care. it should not however do it on the basis that more social care is required in poorer local areas than in rich  Central London ones on the basis that thats where the social care is required (and even possibly that's where they put the  recipients in the first place because it was cheap). In my view even the poll tax was fairer - why should a single person pay effectively double what a couple does? They already pay 1.5 times the amount.

There's nothing 'local' about it - it's a nationwide obligation and should be paid for nationally.

 

[The Old Crem 3,583]

13 hours ago, En Passant said:

 

They'd better bloody not. It's already one of the most wildly unfair taxes where a two up two down in Hartlepool or somewhere similar pays more for 'local' services than a mansion in Westminster. It needs reform without question, but not that way.

 

Any decent society should pay for services such as adult social care. it should not however do it on the basis that more social care is required in poorer local areas than in rich  Central London ones on the basis that thats where the social care is required (and even possibly that's where they put the  recipients in the first place because it was cheap). In my view even the poll tax was fairer - why should a single person pay effectively double what a couple does? They already pay 1.5 times the amount.

There's nothing 'local' about it - it's a nationwide obligation and should be paid for nationally.

 

Labour ruled out updating the bands (Would be electoral suicide in London as even the poorer areas like where I am wouid get massively higher bills). 
 

 

I agree that Social care really should be a National funded thing. The postcode lottery has been very noticeable for a long while. 

[En Passant 3,741]

1 hour ago, The Old Crem said:

I agree that Social care really should be a National funded thing. The postcode lottery has been very noticeable for a long while. 

 

And for those under the misapprehension that council tax is mostly spent on bin collection, the police and fire services and potholes or suchforth (nobody really does but it's oft quoted) -around 60p in the pound in 2020 went on either adult or childrens social care (split about 70/30 adult/child).  The table quoted was a forecast at the time not hard data - it's the best I found with a short search.

 

Re-iteration, I'm not saying these costs should not be paid, of course they should - I am saying I can see no justifiable reason why folks in Hartlepool should pay more for them because more care homes are located there than in Oxford Street, Pall Mall or Mayfair.

 

1 hour ago, The Old Crem said:

Labour ruled out updating the bands (Would be electoral suicide in London as even the poorer areas like where I am wouid get massively higher bills). 

 

As to this, it's a fudge at best anyway. What would be the point in Westminster or Kensington and Chelsea having a huge surplus whilst poorer areas were still left with Councils going bust? It needs a complete overhaul and the only reason I can think of that it hasn't is that all parties are terrified of it electorally - especially those with memories long enough for the poll tax riots.

[The Old Crem 3,583]

Sussex school bans mobile phones and smartwatches to cut out 'distractions'

 

Schools should be urging BT to bring back public phone-boxes. That’s the big difference between now and the pre mobile phone era. I don’t think it should be public policy to encourage teens to have to ask random strangers if needed. 

 

[The Old Crem 3,583]

2 hours ago, En Passant said:

 

And for those under the misapprehension that council tax is mostly spent on bin collection, the police and fire services and potholes or suchforth (nobody really does but it's oft quoted) -around 60p in the pound in 2020 went on either adult or childrens social care (split about 70/30 adult/child).  The table quoted was a forecast at the time not hard data - it's the best I found with a short search.

 

Re-iteration, I'm not saying these costs should not be paid, of course they should - I am saying I can see no justifiable reason why folks in Hartlepool should pay more for them because more care homes are located there than in Oxford Street, Pall Mall or Mayfair.

 

 

As to this, it's a fudge at best anyway. What would be the point in Westminster or Kensington and Chelsea having a huge surplus whilst poorer areas were still left with Councils going bust? It needs a complete overhaul and the only reason I can think of that it hasn't is that all parties are terrified of it electorally - especially those with memories long enough for the poll tax riots.

I thought the council the person is from pays for care homes for those who can’t access (Normally due to living ‘healthy’ spouse) or do not have any money? Rather than the council where the person lives. Otherwise I agree that is an even more unfair burden on areas which appear to have more homes than other areas - on top of the natural fact that people who can’t pay for a home are not evenly distributed 

 

[ladyfiona 2,578]

5 hours ago, The Old Crem said:

Sussex school bans mobile phones and smartwatches to cut out 'distractions'

 

Schools should be urging BT to bring back public phone-boxes. That’s the big difference between now and the pre mobile phone era. I don’t think it should be public policy to encourage teens to have to ask random strangers if needed. 

 

 

We had this rule in 2000 when I had Nokia 3210. People still took phones to school, just made sure they were off or on silent. Not all kids are obsessed with TikTok. They may actually need their phone on/nearby for medical reasons, being a carer etc. There are even apps on phones that are for anxiety, tuition...etc etc.

 

Don't have a smartwatch, but you will still get boys having a watch that has an alarm that distracts everyone in lesson. Not even sure what that was about in the 00's when I was at school.

[Lord Fellatio Nelson 6,218]

My, oh my!

We didn't have mobile phones when I was at school, yeah, I'm cracking on a bit!

How did we ever get through school and life without one!!

[JQW 281]

We only had a landline at home because my dad needed it for his job - our house was tied to his then workplace.

[Toast 16,137]

1 hour ago, Lord Fellatio Nelson said:

My, oh my!

We didn't have mobile phones when I was at school, yeah, I'm cracking on a bit!

How did we ever get through school and life without one!!

 

It's a wonder we survived with all the deadly hazards.

 

https://twitter.com/ScarredForLife2/status/1835352272563286435

 

(Note - changing x to twitter in the url didn't work for me)

[time 8,599]

11 hours ago, Toast said:

 

It's a wonder we survived with all the deadly hazards.

 

https://twitter.com/ScarredForLife2/status/1835352272563286435

 

(Note - changing x to twitter in the url didn't work for me)

Despite appearances, that's still an 'x' url (hover your cursor over it)

 

 

 

[Toast 16,137]

1 hour ago, time said:

Despite appearances, that's still an 'x' url (hover your cursor over it)

 

So what does one have to do to make it work?

[Lord Fellatio Nelson 6,218]

14 hours ago, Toast said:

 

It's a wonder we survived with all the deadly hazards.

 

https://twitter.com/ScarredForLife2/status/1835352272563286435

 

(Note - changing x to twitter in the url didn't work for me)

Yes, the good old public information films! There are some absolute corkers out there!

[Toast 16,137]

4 hours ago, Lord Fellatio Nelson said:

Yes, the good old public information films! There are some absolute corkers out there!

 

Indeed there are. Surely there must be a thread about them.

[Brad252 807]

https://x.com/BrexitPirates/status/1836436968768422358

 

[YoungWillz 21,037]

Is it absolutely impossible for Starmer to pay for his wife's dresses or tickets to see his favourite footy team or pop idols?

 

Needs to get his fucking shit together. Either that or he can leave. Get to work on the country's problems and keep doing that until you drop. Forget about your trips, your freebies and bribes and do your job.

[The Old Crem 3,583]

Starmer has once again refused to rule out axing the single person council tax discount. 

[maryportfuncity 10,646]

 

I'm wondering if there's Truss vs lettuce potential here. This robust ex-serviceman will survive the winter but who'll go first; the Daily Express which has shed around 90% of its readers in 30 years or the last of Britain's atomic test veterans. Either way, let's celebrate once more  the style and accuracy that's taken the Express to its current level of popularity and relevance.

 

 

[JQW 281]

I gather Daily Express editor Gary Jones stood down this week after a tenure of about six years. Does this point to problems at the rag?

[Summer in Transylvania 2,175]

This is probably the funniest thing I have seen all day.

 

[ladyfiona 2,578]

My team leader won't shut up about hating Kier Starmer and thinks I love him (I literally voted Lib Dem). She reads Daily Mail at her desk and gives Priti Patel a run for her money regarding her right wing views.

 

I just nod along because work wise she is a good team leader/manager and I need her on my side at work in the coming months because of reasons.

[RoverAndOut 4,746]

On 16/09/2024 at 15:32, The Old Crem said:

Sussex school bans mobile phones and smartwatches to cut out 'distractions'

 

Schools should be urging BT to bring back public phone-boxes. That’s the big difference between now and the pre mobile phone era. I don’t think it should be public policy to encourage teens to have to ask random strangers if needed. 

 

This is not unusual. The school I'm currently in has a "no phones" policy. They are switched off and in their bags. If it goes off, it is confiscated and collected from the office by a parent. The previous school I worked in allowed them more, but there were still confiscations if they were out in class. Another school I've worked in required students to hand their phones in during form at the start of the day and collect them from form at the end of the day. There are loads of rules around no phones in school and there is no requirement for them to have access to them during school time. The worst offenders are actually parents texting their children instead of phoning the school to pass on a message as they're supposed to. But what you're saying is (once again) a fucking nonsense. They are capable of having access to their phones for the journey to and from school without having it in school. It's not hard.

[RoverAndOut 4,746]

On 17/09/2024 at 12:04, Toast said:

So what does one have to do to make it work?

 

As you don't seem to have received an answer to this, I have discovered the way to make it work is to retype the url in the forum. If you copy and paste the url and then change the x.com to twitter.com, then it stays a link. So instead, I copy and paste it but then underneath type out exactly what it says (including all the numbers) but with twitter.com instead of x.com and then it loads as it used to (you can delete the pasted x.com link then too). Takes a minute or two but at least the tweets show up as they should. Fucking Elon Musk.

[maryportfuncity 10,646]

On 20/09/2024 at 11:21, JQW said:

I gather Daily Express editor Gary Jones stood down this week after a tenure of about six years. Does this point to problems at the rag?

 

There have been problems there for years, the obvious one being a lack of readers. Not sure his departure indicates a new level of panic.

[The Old Crem 3,583]

Labour U turn and decide to keep the single person council tax discount says the Telegraph.. 

[AstroKat 532]

Since the removal of the single person council tax reduction was merely speculation, though not publicly ruled out, this is not technically a U turn.