UK General Discussion: Rishecession

[CumbrianLefty]

Expect the Tories to run with this every day until the election - if they are allowed to.

[afleitch]

Peak messaging from the government today:


Which, almost immediately, was followed by this from Labour:

If you ask the Tories what to do about the big shark, they'll investigate whether the lifeguards are too 'woke.'

If you ask Labour what they plan to do about the big shark they'll say they can't make fiscally irresponsible commitments to remove it. Despite Starmer giving a speech last year on shark removal.

If you ask the Lib Dems what to do about the big shark, they tell you as long as it represents a rural constituency, then job done.

[Torrain]

If you asked the SNP what to do about the shark, they'll tell you how seriously they take shark attacks, point to their 2017 Shark Attack Vow, but point out that *really*, the fact that people are still dying via shark attack is the fault of a heartless Westminster government who won't allocate more money for harpoons.

I assume Plaid Cyrmu would just convene a working group to discuss the Welsh etymology for shark, and then bully a staffer.

Presumably, the Greens are still pro-shark.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Expect the Tories to run with this every day until the election - if they are allowed to.

That wouldn't be a very good idea: plenty of local authorities with Conservative administrations have done the same thing, and the specific millstone around Birmingham CCs neck - the equal pay fiasco - was a problem when the Conservatives last ran the council in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. That administration ran the show from 2004 until 2012 and the first defeat over the issue in the courts was in 2010 and the final one in 2012, just a few months after it had lost office.

[CumbrianLefty]

Yes, but who cares about Northants in comparison?

(outside Northants, anyway)

I'm not saying they will get away with it if they do it, or even that it is a good idea - but you can see how a by now increasingly desperate party might be tempted.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yes, but who cares about Northants in comparison?

(outside Northants, anyway)

I'm not saying they will get away with it if they do it, or even that it is a good idea - but you can see how a by now increasingly desperate party might be tempted.

Well, they can hardly be accused of having good judgment at present. The other issue, of course, is that the 'Ford to City: Drop Dead' look isn't actually a very good one either.

[afleitch]

If you asked the SNP what to do about the shark, they'll tell you how seriously they take shark attacks, point to their 2017 Shark Attack Vow, but point out that *really*, the fact that people are still dying via shark attack is the fault of a heartless Westminster government who won't allocate more money for harpoons.

I assume Plaid Cyrmu would just convene a working group to discuss the Welsh etymology for shark, and then bully a staffer.

Presumably, the Greens are still pro-shark.

Now now. We all know the SNP would claim they didn't have the powers to remove the shark only if it's on the Scottish continental shelf.

[YL]

Yes, but who cares about Northants in comparison?

(outside Northants, anyway)

Based on local election results since the fiasco, they don’t even care in it.

[EastAnglianLefty]

Yes, but who cares about Northants in comparison?

(outside Northants, anyway)

Based on local election results since the fiasco, they don’t even care in it.

Though those were in 2021 and the pandemic was somewhat more prominent in voters' mind than something that happened four years earlier.

[TheTide]

So, over the past week or so, this country has seen:

- Its air traffic control system break down
- Various schools being forced to close due to being on the brink of literal collapse
- Its second largest city declaring itself bankrupt

All is well and good.

[Cassius]

So, over the past week or so, this country has seen:

- Its air traffic control system break down
- Various schools being forced to close due to being on the brink of literal collapse
- Its second largest city declaring itself bankrupt

All is well and good.

Rishi and Jez irl.

[Torrain]

Somehow, the metaphors can get even more on-the-nose:
https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1699097385262100678

[MaxQue]

Birmingham is broke: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-66715441

Can they just sell Sutton Coldfield?

[Mike88]

Birmingham is broke: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-66715441

Interesting that this is announced on the same day that we mark exactly one year of the day one of the world's most (insert adjective) leader rose to power... Liz Truss.

[Pericles]

Funny result from Lord Ashcroft's survey given New Zealanders are also negative about the direction of our country and have the same complaints that Brits do. I think we do know it is worse in the UK, and politically our government is not as toxic as the Tories are. 

[Torrain]

Labour are still releasing lists of their new junior ministers. Most notable is probably that Chris Bryant is back on the frontbench in some sort of “digital and creative industries” role - as a junior minister across both DSIT and DCMS.

Which means the Commons needs a new chair for the Standards Committee (in addition to the Business Chair vacated by Darren Jones). Given recent experiences with that committee, it’ll be interesting to see who steps forward, and which candidate the government then tries to whip its MPs behind.

[rc18]

Funny result from Lord Ashcroft's survey given New Zealanders are also negative about the direction of our country and have the same complaints that Brits do. I think we do know it is worse in the UK, and politically our government is not as toxic as the Tories are.  

For most Brits NZ is just Middle Earth with added sheep, so it has an imagined bucolic charm that is lost here.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

British stereotypes about New Zealand still reflect how the country was before Rogernomics (and, no, we didn't notice that it was in a structural economic crisis either) and if people are away of that whole period, the tendency is to assume that our fellow post-socialist state had a Thatcher-to-Blair experience like we did, but perhaps a little nicer. Ah well.

[CumbrianLefty]

British stereotypes about New Zealand still reflect how the country was before Rogernomics

The view of it as a present day 1950s Britain is still remarkably persistent.

And, of course, inaccurate.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

British stereotypes about New Zealand still reflect how the country was before Rogernomics

The view of it as a present day 1950s Britain is still remarkably persistent.

And, of course, inaccurate.

It's still Austin Mitchell's Half-Gallon Quarter-Acre Pavlova Paradise to people here, yes.

[TheTide]

British stereotypes about New Zealand still reflect how the country was before Rogernomics (and, no, we didn't notice that it was in a structural economic crisis either) and if people are away of that whole period, the tendency is to assume that our fellow post-socialist state had a Thatcher-to-Blair experience like we did, but perhaps a little nicer. Ah well.

If Britain had gone through a similar experience, it would have had a Labour government in the 1980s with John Redwood as Chancellor followed by a Tory government with John Major as Prime Minister and Margaret Thatcher as Chancellor.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

British stereotypes about New Zealand still reflect how the country was before Rogernomics (and, no, we didn't notice that it was in a structural economic crisis either) and if people are away of that whole period, the tendency is to assume that our fellow post-socialist state had a Thatcher-to-Blair experience like we did, but perhaps a little nicer. Ah well.

If Britain had gone through a similar experience, it would have had a Labour government in the 1980s with John Redwood as Chancellor followed by a Tory government with John Major as Prime Minister and Margaret Thatcher as Chancellor.

Gotta find a Muldoon equivalent too given his absurdly harmful policies necessitated such extreme fiscal measures.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Gotta find a Muldoon equivalent too given his absurdly harmful policies necessitated such extreme fiscal measures.

That one is easy enough: just making Anthony Barber a long-serving Prime Minister.

[Blair]

The news really is a parody of the 1990s lately. Surprised Sunak hasn’t done a back me or sack yet.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

Gotta find a Muldoon equivalent too given his absurdly harmful policies necessitated such extreme fiscal measures.

That one is easy enough: just making Anthony Barber a long-serving Prime Minister.

Matches to an extent on policy I suppose. Lacks the personality and temperament that really coloured his term in office though.