Well that settles it - there MUST be criminal prosecutions and confiscation of bonuses arising from this scandal - perhaps those bonuses could go into the pot to recompense the Horizon victims?
More evidence the #Tories plan to push people into the arms of private #healthcare through an engineered #NHScrisis:
FT reports that:
'The percentage of people in the UK aged 18 to 64 with personal [health] cover jumped from 17% in March 2022 to 26% in September last year, while those taking out cover through company schemes rose from 21% to 28% over the same period'!
As they say follow the money; and the money is flowing into health insurance.
Is it a plot or just carelessness from an incompetent & unfeeling government?
Insulated by wealth & privilege, they simply do not care about the wellbeing of ordinary people, and the NHS crisis they have allowed to develop ever since 2010 will be costly & take years to resolve. They cannot be bothered to try
He told LBC the policy was subject to #labour fiscal rules*, but highlighted the party's aim of generating all electricity without using fossil fuels by 2030, saying he was "absolutely committed" to this target
We will see - I gather #labour do not beleive #sunak 's declared "working assumption" that he will wait till the autumn and are aiming to have the manifesto
ready for a May election
Starmer is not exactly charisma central & betrays inexperience by missteps - but i fail to see any evidence he is malign
I think you are right to worry - there is little scope for expensive new commitments and some that had been on the radar have been reduced as the economic position has deteriorated
There are a number of policy initiatives that do not cost billions - eg to clean up public life. I am hopeful we will have some of these to combat the corruption the Tories let in
Not heard that labour are promising to cut taxes.....I thnk you will find that is the other lot - the party for capitalists who will get re-elected were #labour daft enough to repeat the manifesto they had in 2019 - fortunately there is no chance of that
Like it or not, modern politics requires substantial cash to drive an election campaign - I am sure any offer you might make to replace the funds from source you disapprove of would be considered carefully5
#labour never has been a socialist party, but rather one with a minority of socialist members & is positoned on the centre-left
There are parties with "socialist" in the name - maybe some would be more comfortable in one of them
There is always a tension between being in a tribe where everyone thinks like you (aka a cult) and being in a larger association where you have a common interest but disagreement on the course to plot
You seem to think state ownership of industries is important, relevant and popular, but a few evil people have corrupted #labour since John Smith died and that is why it is off the table
I think you are totally wrong, and there is little electoral support for "public ownership of the means of production" - and that is why Labour have moved away from the notion
There is no reason to invent silly conspiracy theories that involve "devil-eyes" Blair
What is more, I will wager you cannot identify a single country in the entire world in the last ten years where a party with a socialist agenda as you describe it has been elected to power....
The answer is strong regulation - with teeth. And regulators who sympathise with consumers not apparatchiks from the industry, answerable directly to Parliament.
Not massive splurges of borrowed money secured by our future taxes on buying back industries after they have been gutted by capitalists. That way madness lies
This is OUR country, not global capitalists. If they want to run businesses here they do it on our terms. Else hand them back free of debt
I agree - we need to avoid all forms of rigid ideology - specifically any that require we bankrupt the nation
If rail returns to public sector, in whole or in part (much is already) it'll be thanks to how rail is structured. Other industries like water aren't structured the same way - without strong regulation it's hard to see any UK govt being able to afford to buy back water, now laden with debt thanks to incompetent way it was sold off by #toriesOut
Water is woefully under-regulated - dumping untreated waste in unprecedented volume in our rivers & seas. Fierce regulation - & corporate & personal liabiity strong enough to change behaviour - will have tdouble benefit of cleaning our waterways & reducing the value of the industry to its owners, who basically got away with murder for years. If they like, they can then hand it back (without any debt) once regulation has done its work in stopping exploitation.
Not convinced there is much "common sense" in your part of the political spectrum - certainly not common enbough to produce anything remotely approaching a majority....
As I said - the regulator needs real teeth - regardless of ownership
If you think being in the public sector prevents abuse, you are even more naive than I previously thought.....
actually the real rail assets - the track stations and signalling - are largely publicly owned already. The trainsets are leased from private owners but are a fraction of the total asset value
I suspect the incentives are perverse - HMG paid the TOCs for trains cancelled by staff strikes - so TOCs were in no hurry to settle; NB supermarkets raised staff pay by far more than rail with no strikes - because of course if they don't trade they lose money. The hated Thatcher would never have allowed HMG to subsidise non-operational rail
So I would not be surprised if they calculate on Southern that they make more profilt by NOT running trains now
But I rather doubt your assertion that the trainset owners can determine which routes and when they are run - or that a TOC cannot source transets from others. The mileage charge I do understand - if you hire a car the charge may be related to mileage
Tho it was Tories that privatised rail, it was #major, a sane tory, not a modern mad #toriesOut. So it must have made some sort of sense to him then
I remember the Cones hotline, Back to Basics & sleaze - Aitkin, Hamilton and the usual litany of those who could not keep it in their trousers - and the later revelations of an affair with Edwina Curry (Ugh!)
So it was all falling apart then - much as it is now really. But yes, #major was a more decent man than #sunak
Using the phrase "The reality is" does not improve your argument.
I agree that the Water industry as currently is not working for consumers or our environment - obsessing about ownership for a few years is kicking the can down the road - put someone like #fergalSharkey in charge of OfWat and give the regulator teeth will achieve far more at much less cost to taxpayers...
..Of course Water Companies will fight regulation (having a lawyer as PM will help ensure they lose) - but the idea that local apparatchiks of a state owned industry will clean the rivers better in the absence of regulation is for the birds