UK General Discussion:The Rt. Hon Alex Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, Populist Hero

[Zinneke]

Pass the pipe when you are done!

[Statilius the Epicurean]

Ah, much better.

[cp]

Ah, much better.

Hehe, well done. For me it was the despicable transphobia, but whatever gets you there is a good choice.

[Geoffrey Howe]

picture

Ah, much better.

Hehe, well done. For me it was the despicable transphobia, but whatever gets you there is a good choice.

He put Bronz4141 (who has now deleted his posts) on ignore, and I don't think that's who you were thinking of.

[cp]

picture

Ah, much better.

Hehe, well done. For me it was the despicable transphobia, but whatever gets you there is a good choice.

He put Bronz4141 (who has now deleted his posts) on ignore, and I don't think that's who you were thinking of.

Aah. I must have missed the deleted posts.

Glad to see we all know automatically who I was thinking of

[Zinneke]

https://twitter.com/search?q=neil%20oliver&src=typed_query

Strangely Neil Oliver's view of parents having complete supremacy over their children is similar to the views of some "left-wing" American posters.

[Suburbia]

Is there any Home Depot in Britain?

[S019]

Is there any Home Depot in Britain?

Atlas is not your personal Google, now please stop trying to ruin this thread for those of us who enjoy reading it.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

Is there any Home Depot in Britain?

It's called world wide web www

[Blair]

It seems the social care funding proposal is going down quite badly- well specifically the breaking of the manifesto commitment not to raise national insurance.

Some thoughts,

1.) I think voters will broadly support it- it’s not income tax, and I think the pandemic has probably softened Tory attitudes towards taxation. Besides the last rise like this in 2002 was very popular.

2.) it’s annoying how much of it is reduced to a Westminster row (with the typical ‘oh what will Labour do, as if that matters!) This means we’re ignoring key parts of the policy and just focusing on the funding. Which leads to…

3.) There’s still huge problems that will exist in social care;  staffing levels, the quality of care, the huge cuts to local governments and  the need for much longer periods of care- and of course the fact that 50% of care spending is on people with disbabilities.

[Pericles]

Scottish independence would be 'Brexit times ten'

This is a basic point that has been missed. Scotland is linked so much more closely to the rest of the UK than it was to the EU. Just like Brexit, independence is an emotional but economically irrational policy, with no clear plan for how it can be done safely. Fortunately, despite feverish media commentary, a hypothetical second referendum is not a done deal by any means for Yes.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

Scottish independence would be 'Brexit times ten'

This is a basic point that has been missed. Scotland is linked so much more closely to the rest of the UK than it was to the EU. Just like Brexit, independence is an emotional but economically irrational policy, with no clear plan for how it can be done safely. Fortunately, despite feverish media commentary, a hypothetical second referendum is not a done deal by any means for Yes.

don't tell that to the fine inhabitants of /r/scotland.

[Zinneke]

Raab went from top choice in the Cabinet amongst Conservative Home readers to 4th from bottom. Beautiful seeing that peepsqueak psychopath get bludgeoned by his own.

[Cassius]

It seems the social care funding proposal is going down quite badly- well specifically the breaking of the manifesto commitment not to raise national insurance.

Some thoughts,

1.) I think voters will broadly support it- it’s not income tax, and I think the pandemic has probably softened Tory attitudes towards taxation. Besides the last rise like this in 2002 was very popular.

2.) it’s annoying how much of it is reduced to a Westminster row (with the typical ‘oh what will Labour do, as if that matters!) This means we’re ignoring key parts of the policy and just focusing on the funding. Which leads to…

3.) There’s still huge problems that will exist in social care;  staffing levels, the quality of care, the huge cuts to local governments and  the need for much longer periods of care- and of course the fact that 50% of care spending is on people with disbabilities.

I think the anguish over breaking a manifesto commitment is a little misplaced given that nobody trusts Boris Johnson or expects him to be a ‘man of his word’ anyway (plus that manifesto was released in very different circumstances). For what it’s worth I broadly support the policy - the vast majority won’t notice the rise in their pay packet, the only concern is as regards those on minimum wage for whom even losing £10 per month could mean the difference between making rent and not making it.

[Blair]

There’s also quite a funny tendency from the lobby to go into a panic about how Labour now need to put forward a policy as they’re opposing the NI hike.

As others have pointed two things would happen if Labour had put forward a policy- it would either be stolen by the government or we would have three or four years of the government fear mongering and scare mongering about Labour‘s tax rise compared to their own tax rise.

I say this as someone who believes Labour should actually follow something similar to Japan or Germany with over 40s paying more.

[CumbrianLefty]

It seems the social care funding proposal is going down quite badly- well specifically the breaking of the manifesto commitment not to raise national insurance.

Some thoughts,

1.) I think voters will broadly support it- it’s not income tax, and I think the pandemic has probably softened Tory attitudes towards taxation. Besides the last rise like this in 2002 was very popular.

2.) it’s annoying how much of it is reduced to a Westminster row (with the typical ‘oh what will Labour do, as if that matters!) This means we’re ignoring key parts of the policy and just focusing on the funding. Which leads to…

3.) There’s still huge problems that will exist in social care;  staffing levels, the quality of care, the huge cuts to local governments and  the need for much longer periods of care- and of course the fact that 50% of care spending is on people with disbabilities.

I think the anguish over breaking a manifesto commitment is a little misplaced given that nobody trusts Boris Johnson or expects him to be a ‘man of his word’ anyway (plus that manifesto was released in very different circumstances). For what it’s worth I broadly support the policy - the vast majority won’t notice the rise in their pay packet, the only concern is as regards those on minimum wage for whom even losing £10 per month could mean the difference between making rent and not making it.

Yes but as the ghost of Bush Snr could tell you, there is something neuralgic about right wingers and breaking "no increased/new taxes" pledges. BoJo being utterly untrustworthy on literally everything may not actually make much of a difference to that. Nor the actual proposals being widely popular.

[Cassius]

It seems the social care funding proposal is going down quite badly- well specifically the breaking of the manifesto commitment not to raise national insurance.

Some thoughts,

1.) I think voters will broadly support it- it’s not income tax, and I think the pandemic has probably softened Tory attitudes towards taxation. Besides the last rise like this in 2002 was very popular.

2.) it’s annoying how much of it is reduced to a Westminster row (with the typical ‘oh what will Labour do, as if that matters!) This means we’re ignoring key parts of the policy and just focusing on the funding. Which leads to…

3.) There’s still huge problems that will exist in social care;  staffing levels, the quality of care, the huge cuts to local governments and  the need for much longer periods of care- and of course the fact that 50% of care spending is on people with disbabilities.

I think the anguish over breaking a manifesto commitment is a little misplaced given that nobody trusts Boris Johnson or expects him to be a ‘man of his word’ anyway (plus that manifesto was released in very different circumstances). For what it’s worth I broadly support the policy - the vast majority won’t notice the rise in their pay packet, the only concern is as regards those on minimum wage for whom even losing £10 per month could mean the difference between making rent and not making it.

Yes but as the ghost of Bush Snr could tell you, there is something neuralgic about right wingers and breaking "no increased/new taxes" pledges. BoJo being utterly untrustworthy on literally everything may not actually make much of a difference to that. Nor the actual proposals being widely popular.

The greedies in the press and on the backbenches will certainly moan about it, but I think if they’re faced with a choice between this and jacking capital gains and income tax they’ll take this every time.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Social Care is the opposite of Housing as an issue: everyone thinks it's about money, but actually it mostly isn't.

[Suburbia]

Is there any Home Depot in Britain?

It's called world wide web www

Fine, I will research on my own. I have not been to England in a long time, so I don't remember how the place is these days.

All I know is that they have a crazy caste system.......but there is rags to riches stories in Britain (Ozzy Osbourne, etc.)

[Blair]

That’s some nostalgia. Haven’t heard that name since One Direction were on X factor.

[Suburbia]

That’s some nostalgia. Haven’t heard that name since One Direction were on X factor.

The Osbournes split their time between U.S. and Britain, like their friend Piers Morgan and plenty other British Americans.....

[Blair]

How can you be a senior political journalist and get away with such rubbish? The Blair cabinet was so useless that my A-level politics textbook featured it as a case study…

https://mobile.twitter.com/Peston/status/1434948841594400777

[Blair]

I always translate a ‘return to cabinet government’ as meaning ‘I want the cabinet to block policies I don’t like’.

[Suburbia]

Is the British pro-life/antiabortion movement as strong and fierce as the American counterparts and what is the status of abortion rights in Britain? Is there any at all?

[Silent Hunter]

Is the British pro-life/antiabortion movement as strong and fierce as the American counterparts and what is the status of abortion rights in Britain? Is there any at all?

It definitely exists, but nowhere near as strong. Abortion has been legal since 1967, although does require two doctors to sign off on it. No serious support for anything bar a reduction in maximum time from 24 weeks, which is very high by European standards, 12 being the norm.