Agree - my modelling has an absolute minimum majority of 42, gradual very realistic upside to 96 and then a 'blue sky' upper limit of 144 if all of their stars align.
There are a number of posts about further 'savings'. Like means testing the fuel allowance, or school meal entitlement, prescriptions, bus passes, and pensions (incidentally pensioners pay income tax if they get enough money in), but where is the line to be drawn. It feels like scouring the fridge, the freezer and the pantry to use up every scrap hanging around so it doesn't go to waste. Some things, like Trident (!) simply have to be paid for one way or another.
The conversation might go:
'So you want to scrap our nuclear deterrent, and leave the aggressor free to invade' 'So you want to stop free school meals and leave our kids to starve'.
Whatever we spend money on has to be paid for. There are no fun runs or jumble sales for submarine refurbishment as far as I know, but hospitals and schools have such events aplenty. As well as a lot of unpaid service from workers in those areas.
The issue is about what we want to provide ourselves with as a society, and then raising the money to get it. There are those who scoff and say 'not in my name' to state armaments, and state schooling too. Therein lies the issue, not brexit, but what kind of society we want to have, and how we muster the resources to get it. Mark Twain said the only two certainties were death and taxes.
After I pay my council tax, gas, electricity and whatever fixed costs I have per month, my remaining disposable income for clothes, food, emergencies and luxuries and so on is a very high £45 per day. I am consequently in the nice position of being able to pay £272 per month for my car. If the wider community were to genuinely benefit, and if it was a collective requirement rather than an individual contribution, then I could very easily get by on £40 per day I reckon.
What industries aren't meritocratic out of interest?
(in my experience the least meritocratic employers are in the public sector with their tightly structured pay scales and promotion based on age/tenure rather than ability)
I thought about ignoring this nonsense as it's not directly related to the election. But then again it is if you think about it.
Firstly, it's just plain wrong in my experience. @NornIrishAddick has already pointed out its not applicable in the civil service. Neither is it in local government. With 30 odd years in 5 local authorities I've worked with, for and come into contact with 100's and 100's of managers at all levels in the organisation. They've ranged in ages from their 20's to 60's. I was running a team of older colleagues myself in my 20's after going through the same open application and interview process as each of those 100's of other managers. The idea that you are awarded promotion on the basis of sticking around longer than your colleagues and not on ability is frankly insulting to the millions of people working in the public sector.
Secondly, it's the sort of groundless bullshit statement made by the likes of Richard Littlejohn or Charles Moore designed to illicit agreeing nods from Daily Mail or Telegraph readers. It doesn't matter that it's not true at all, only that it reconfirms the false narrative the newspapers and right wing politicians have been pushing for decades now - that those that work in our public sector are in some way inferior and worth less than those in the private sector.
And that's just harmful because it reinforces a culture where our government is able to target many 100,000's of ordinary working people doing a good job for societies benefit for redundancy. Without barely a word of public protest. I'll remind you again the Tories are planning on continuing their austerity measures until 2025.
A conservative majority of less than thirty and May is toast. Between 40 - 50 and she's under real pressure. More than 50 and she can breathe again. That I heard on the radio is the rumour going around in conservative circles.
If May wins but with an unconvincing majority and the Tories decide to dump her, who would be the next unelected PM?
BoJo.....
Ladbrokes are offering 100/1 that Boris will be Prime Minister by 1 July. Someone has already put £2,000 on it.
Can anyone voting Tory say who they would prefer if May were to step down. I think these last few weeks have shown she's a mess under media and public scrutiny. I think she's underestimated just how Britain feels at the moment. Imo from what I've seen, the EU will piss all over her and she'll resort to threats about corporation tax and there will be no deal
If May wins but with an unconvincing majority and the Tories decide to dump her, who would be the next unelected PM?
BoJo.....
Ladbrokes are offering 100/1 that Boris will be Prime Minister by 1 July. Someone has already put £2,000 on it.
Can anyone voting Tory say who they would prefer if May were to step down. I think these last few weeks have shown she's a mess under media and public scrutiny. I think she's underestimated just how Britain feels at the moment. Imo from what I've seen, the EU will piss all over her and she'll resort to threats about corporation tax and there will be no deal
There simply isn't going to be a deal unless we get something like 'please can we give you £400million a week to keep things as they are?' This so called and mythical 'deal' simply does not exist, even in the imagination. I said earlier 'no deal is better than a bad deal'. If Theresa May is honest, a couple of weeks after the election she could announce that we go to WTO rules, EU nationals have six months to leave the country, and we make ready for the 1 million UK returnees. In addition we build a wall and watchtowers on the island of Ireland. Get to it, that is what 'no deal' is going to look like she should bring it on. What will happen is that she will cobble together some kind of mish mash of something, and call it a 'good deal' even if the experts say it stinks the place out. I am all for chaos right now rather than waiting the two years for it.
Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) tweeted at 7:56 pm on Thursday, June 1st, 2017: Fox hunting is barbarous. Under Labour it will remain banned and we will advance animal rights. #KeepTheBan
The latest I have heard is that Labour want to clear student debts currently incurred by graduates but I need to check on the details.... Is this the case?
Nobody cleared mine - why do people get a free pass to get their debts cleared rather than do what everyone else has to do which is go to work? It was my choice to go to uni and I don't expect the taxpayer to cover my bill at the end of it
Just another gimmick to try & get the under 25's to vote for them. Like free tuition fees, more bank holidays, free schools meals, free nursery places etc etc. They haven't had the life experiences that the over 40's have had & don't know what its like living in the real world.
I'm not even under 25 and I find this comment ridiculous.
Maybe you don't know what the real world feels like? Maybe your experiences whether better or worse differ to another 40+ year old. Maybe you're an individual just like everyone else on this planet.
Please list out what you think these extra 'experiences' are? Genuinely I am interested to know what triggered your disgustingly ageist comment.
Having to pay a mortgage with rate of 12% in the early 90's compared to an average 2% now. Inflation in double digits compared to 2.5% now.
To answer a previous post - I'm not saying the Under 25's are getting free school meals or nursery places - but their children are (if they have any) . I'm not denying other parties are targeting other age groups - its well known that the Conservatives rely v heavily on the retired - I was merely answering a post saying why are Labour looking to wipe off existing tuition fees.
Remind us again who was in power in the 90s when interest rates were at 12% and people were in negative equity all over the country?
Still wouldn't vote for Corbyn - for May neither - the whole scene is an utter shambles.
This is really quite extraordinary, Theresa May is getting absolutely mullered in this by campaign, completely fucking embarrassed in fact, by JEREMY FUCKING CORBYN.
The woman is an absolute fraud and imposter of the highest order, she had a shocking record as Home Secretary and only got to be PM because Brexit took out the two top players in Cameron and Osborne leaving her as the best of an awful bunch.
May is running a shambolic and incoherent campaign - would you really trust this woman to run the Brexit negotiations? I wouldn't leave her in charge of the fucking Parish Church Fete.
Doesn't surprise me, despite the rhetoric on the higher earners getting away with murder when it comes to tax under the conservatives the truth is somewhat different and anyone earning over £100k will be paying quite a bit more tax than in 2010 (and so they should). Anyone with children earning over 60k will also be paying more.
The second link also doesn't surprise me that the top 0.01% are able to offshore etc and avoid paying tax they should be, how you resolve that I don't know.
Doesn't surprise me, despite the rhetoric on the higher earners getting away with murder when it comes to tax under the conservatives the truth is somewhat different and anyone earning over £100k will be paying quite a bit more tax than in 2010 (and so they should). Anyone with children earning over 60k will also be paying more.
The second link also doesn't surprise me that the top 0.01% are able to offshore etc and avoid paying tax they should be, how you resolve that I don't know.
Doesn't surprise me, despite the rhetoric on the higher earners getting away with murder when it comes to tax under the conservatives the truth is somewhat different and anyone earning over £100k will be paying quite a bit more tax than in 2010 (and so they should). Anyone with children earning over 60k will also be paying more.
The second link also doesn't surprise me that the top 0.01% are able to offshore etc and avoid paying tax they should be, how you resolve that I don't know.
David Davis talks a lot of sense and seems like a nice, pragmatic, intelligent, informed and decent man. But if you lose a charisma contest to David "Stereotype" Cameron you ain't going nowhere.
Comments
Pic is from a low level Communist march in Austin TX, not the BBC debate.
It feels like scouring the fridge, the freezer and the pantry to use up every scrap hanging around so it doesn't go to waste.
Some things, like Trident (!) simply have to be paid for one way or another.
The conversation might go:
'So you want to scrap our nuclear deterrent, and leave the aggressor free to invade'
'So you want to stop free school meals and leave our kids to starve'.
Whatever we spend money on has to be paid for. There are no fun runs or jumble sales for submarine refurbishment as far as I know, but hospitals and schools have such events aplenty. As well as a lot of unpaid service from workers in those areas.
The issue is about what we want to provide ourselves with as a society, and then raising the money to get it. There are those who scoff and say 'not in my name' to state armaments, and state schooling too. Therein lies the issue, not brexit, but what kind of society we want to have, and how we muster the resources to get it. Mark Twain said the only two certainties were death and taxes.
After I pay my council tax, gas, electricity and whatever fixed costs I have per month, my remaining disposable income for clothes, food, emergencies and luxuries and so on is a very high £45 per day. I am consequently in the nice position of being able to pay £272 per month for my car.
If the wider community were to genuinely benefit, and if it was a collective requirement rather than an individual contribution, then I could very easily get by on £40 per day I reckon.
How long you been sitting on that one for? If only you'd raised it earlier we could have saved a lot of argument.
What industries aren't meritocratic out of interest?
(in my experience the least meritocratic employers are in the public sector with their tightly structured pay scales and promotion based on age/tenure rather than ability)
I thought about ignoring this nonsense as it's not directly related to the election. But then again it is if you think about it.
Firstly, it's just plain wrong in my experience. @NornIrishAddick has already pointed out its not applicable in the civil service. Neither is it in local government. With 30 odd years in 5 local authorities I've worked with, for and come into contact with 100's and 100's of managers at all levels in the organisation. They've ranged in ages from their 20's to 60's. I was running a team of older colleagues myself in my 20's after going through the same open application and interview process as each of those 100's of other managers. The idea that you are awarded promotion on the basis of sticking around longer than your colleagues and not on ability is frankly insulting to the millions of people working in the public sector.
Secondly, it's the sort of groundless bullshit statement made by the likes of Richard Littlejohn or Charles Moore designed to illicit agreeing nods from Daily Mail or Telegraph readers. It doesn't matter that it's not true at all, only that it reconfirms the false narrative the newspapers and right wing politicians have been pushing for decades now - that those that work in our public sector are in some way inferior and worth less than those in the private sector.
And that's just harmful because it reinforces a culture where our government is able to target many 100,000's of ordinary working people doing a good job for societies benefit for redundancy. Without barely a word of public protest. I'll remind you again the Tories are planning on continuing their austerity measures until 2025.
Some great gifs in the comments
This so called and mythical 'deal' simply does not exist, even in the imagination. I said earlier 'no deal is better than a bad deal'. If Theresa May is honest, a couple of weeks after the election she could announce that we go to WTO rules, EU nationals have six months to leave the country, and we make ready for the 1 million UK returnees. In addition we build a wall and watchtowers on the island of Ireland.
Get to it, that is what 'no deal' is going to look like she should bring it on.
What will happen is that she will cobble together some kind of mish mash of something, and call it a 'good deal' even if the experts say it stinks the place out.
I am all for chaos right now rather than waiting the two years for it.
Fox hunting is barbarous. Under Labour it will remain banned and we will advance animal rights. #KeepTheBan
Independent newspaper (with video of JC making speech about the abuse of animals): https://t.co/WOQCpZVbkC
Meanwhile:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/01/super-rich-evade-on-average-nearly-third-of-their-due-tax
Still wouldn't vote for Corbyn - for May neither - the whole scene is an utter shambles.
The woman is an absolute fraud and imposter of the highest order, she had a shocking record as Home Secretary and only got to be PM because Brexit took out the two top players in Cameron and Osborne leaving her as the best of an awful bunch.
May is running a shambolic and incoherent campaign - would you really trust this woman to run the Brexit negotiations? I wouldn't leave her in charge of the fucking Parish Church Fete.
My God, what on earth is happening over there?
The second link also doesn't surprise me that the top 0.01% are able to offshore etc and avoid paying tax they should be, how you resolve that I don't know.